Ok so honestly I got super busy, that and this chapter kept giving me writers block. Needless to say this is what came out. The battle of Haven will be soon, probably in the next chapter. But here it is. I am not too thrilled with it, but it was pretty difficult to get through.

New Divide

Into this wilde Abyss,

The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,

Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,

But all these in their pregnant causes mixt

Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,

Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain

His dark materials to create more Worlds,

Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend

Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,

Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith

He had to cross.

Paradise Lost, Book 2, lines 910–920

What did I do? Oh brothers what did I do?

She was on her hands and knees looking around her. Her scythe was broken next to her, but that did little to nothing to break her out of her mind as she stares ahead of her.

Jaune was on his knees, his hands glowing over Pyrrha's still form, trying to heal a mortal wound. Ren was at her head, trying to keep an eye for any signs of life from the gladiator. Nora was next to Jaune, offering silent encouragement and supportiveness, but underneath all of that was worry and fear. Fear that her friend was dying and that was no chance of a recovery.

What did I do? What did I do?

Blake was on her knees over by the entrance to the Spring Vault. On her lap, Yang's head was resting, her coat covering the blonde's body. However the beginnings of a red stain started forming near the brawler's right side where her right arm would have been. The relic of knowledge lying next to the pair. She looked at them as Blake was talking to Yang, trying to get the blonde to respond.

What did I do? What did I do?

"Ruby?"

She doesn't acknowledge the voice that called out to her as she sees Qrow with an unconscious Oscar. Both of them were battered and banged up from their fight with Hazel, but even those wounds were exasperated from the other beating they had just endured…her own.

"Ruby."

The voice is weakened and yet she couldn't bring herself to look. All she could do was stare at her team. She takes a deep breath, "How could this have happened? It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"It wasn't your fault."

People are rushing in now. It is now that she hears shouts, and orders outside. To her, the chaos outside is muffled, like she is underwater. She barely recognizes team SSSN and the Belladonnas leading the medics in the building to assess the situation, "What did I do?" She repeats.

Weiss just kneels down next to her friend. She tries to place a hand on the reaper's shoulder, but her friend flinches away from her. Weiss winces herself as she moves closer, as her left arm hugs her own side where she had taken a direct hit, her aura having been shattered.

She sees that Ruby is once again lost in her own mind, piercing fierce silver suddenly dull and near lifeless as she tries to process everything around her. Lips moving, yet no words coming out; but Weiss doesn't need the vocalizing in order to hear them:

What did I do?

Weiss looks next to Ruby and sees the broken Crescent Rose, and as she looks around at the now chaotic scene of assessment and recovery, her mind flashes in reverse to answer the silent question:

What did I do?

One week ago-

Ever vigilant built from the years, Ruby sensed when the majority of the others finally emerged from the training room and made their way to their rooms to get changed as she continued to prepare their late lunch early supper. She tried to not be too disappointed in the fact that her uncle had not yet returned. Sighing she shook her head as she continued to cut the tomatoes before tossing them in the sizzling pot with the onions and garlic, "Whatever you are making, smells really good." She smirked lightly at the voice.

"Of course you'd volunteer to stay behind." She comments, giving the former farmhand a look before returning to cut her next ingredient, "Going to try and give me a pep-talk?"

"No." Oscar says going to the refrigerator and pulls out a bottle of water and watches as the reaper rapidly cuts a few peppers, "Just offering to be an ear. I figured that I am still a stranger, it might be easier for you to talk that's all."

Ruby briefly glances up and sees that there is no judgement or pity to his gaze. Frankly she doesn't know to be thankful or annoyed at how much he looks like her headmaster as he stares at her attentively. What she does recognize though, is amusement, "Stranger huh? In case you have forgotten you are no stranger to me." She resumes her cooking, tossing in the herbs and giving the pot a quick stir before turning the heat down a few notches.

Go on, he hears Oz say, you are doing fine, "I haven't forgotten. Kind of a hard thing to forget right?"

"Unless Yang, Blake, or Nora had hit you over the head hard enough to get amnesia, then it wouldn't be difficult." She then chuckles, "Actually I wouldn't put it passed Nora to actually land a hit that hard."

"She can be rather…over enthusiastic."

"Electrifying is more appropriate." Ruby said laughing to herself at what Oscar assumed was meant to be an inside-joke.

"That too." Oscar agreed. Then he sighed as he watched Ruby get another pot, this time filling it with water, "Seriously though. I just want to help."

Ruby smiles sadly as she turns the faucet off and places the pot on the stove. Turning the burner on, she places the lid over the pot, leaving just enough room for steam to escape before adding a jar of sauce to the other pot with the herbs, "I know, and frankly there is really nothing you can do. This is something for me to fix."

"Forgive me, but you've been trying and it really hasn't gone according to your plan." He states as she pauses in her stirring for a brief moment, caught momentarily off guard, "Unless I am over-reaching, but that is what I have gathered from your story and from what you eluded to downstairs."

She moves the sauce off the burner for now, and sighs. Leaning against the counter, she looks at the farmhand, "He is listening right?"

"Yes, but he is not really saying much. I am…taking the lead on this." And I am not entirely sure I am doing a good job, he adds in his head.

You are doing fine, trust me on this. If you'd like, think about this as another training exercise: confidence building. Came the response encouragingly enough that Oscar could almost see the smile to match the tone. He assumed once a professor, always a professor. Never losing sight of a 'teachable moment'.

Ruby shakes her head as if she could see the conversation that was taking place, "You are right. I am trying hard to fix things, but it isn't going exactly as planned."

"Perhaps you are focusing on the wrong things." Oscar says after a moment of silence.

"In what way?"

Oscar looks at her and knows that this…this moment was the real test. Granted he has only known this young woman for a few days, but somehow, just looking at her, it feels like he has known her for years…which, he supposed, was partially true, "You are focusing on the past too much. And I mean your past." He quickly says before she could contraindicate him for the word usage.

"That's the whole reason why I am here though." Ruby said slowly as she raised an eyebrow towards him, "To fix the past." He waited patiently as she turned back around to gather her thoughts. She stirs the pot with the water as it starts to bubble a bit before stirring the sauce pot, "After the Fall of Beacon…that is my Fall of Beacon, I took on a job. In some convoluted way, you gave me a job. A job that I had always wanted. To help people. To be a hero."

He watches her and then notices the others slowly coming forward. He thinks that Ruby either doesn't notice or pretends to not notice them as she keeps speaking, "I hadn't given it another thought. I thought it was important, that it could help a lot of people, hopefully even bring my team…my friends back to me. What Qrow was alluding to before, and I owned up to, was correct: I was too innocent, too spontaneous, too much of a free spirit. I was naive, foolish, and reckless. Everything went to shit rather quickly. I lost everything."

She turns around now and looks at him. He tries to convey through his gaze that she was being too hard on herself, but she doesn't see it or just ignores it all together as she continues, "To be given another chance, a do over, was a blessing. However since then no matter what I do, nothing gets better. If anything, it only gets worse."

"I think I get it. I don't want to speak on Ozpin's behalf, but I believe he also gets it." Oscar says. I do understand, Ozpin's forlorn voice echoes in his mind, "But when times are tough, you just got to trust that maybe fate has a plan." Oscar continued, mentally apologizing to the wizard.

Ruby scoffs and reaches in the cabinet to pull out two boxes of pasta, "Fate. I've been trying to fight fate. I keep trying to change that plan. To…to make a person go left instead of right, or backward instead of forward. Hell I've been giving the chance to change the course of my history, your futures!"

There is silence as he watches her take a shaky breath, "What are you asking exactly? What are you ultimately looking for?"

Ruby knows they are waiting in the hallway. Waiting to come into the kitchen until they are done with the conversation. The only sound that could be heard is the bubbling of the water. She sighs, "I guess I am asking or looking for some type of absolution."

"There is nothing you've done that needs absolving."

Ruby breaks the pasta and allows them to fall into the boiling water, "I've seen too much violence. I had been aimless, and confused. I stopped knowing or caring about what's right or wrong, good or bad."

"I don't believe that and you don't believe that either. From the short time I've known you, you do not seem aimless. Battered, and maybe broke down to some degree yes. However you are also getting ready to stand back up and fight. There's a difference."

"Kid is right." They turn to see Qrow coming into the kitchen. His hands are in his pocket, and he is not looking directly at them.

Ruby looks at him and is eyeing him critically, not liking how silent he appeared in the kitchen. Either they were so engrossed in the conversation, they did not notice he came back or he had flown in as a crow through one of the open windows, "Finally came back huh?"

He sighs and pulls out the lien that she had thrust at him, "Here. I didn't spend it."

Surprise crosses her face, "Really?"

As proof, he pulls out the flask and swirls it while looking at her, meeting her gaze, "Really. It's going to be hard, but I am willing to try and be better. I…" He trails off looking away, "I want to do better."

"Qrow-" Oscar starts out.

Qrow cuts him off, pale red eyes blazing slightly, "I am not ready to forgive you at all." His fury dies down slightly, seeing the scared look that Oscar gives him, "I know you are not Oz, but he is there inside of you. I am not ready to forgive him, however I am still willing to work with him."

He then looks at Ruby, "So long as there are no more secrets between us. There cannot be anymore secrets."

Ruby looks away and tests out the pasta before draining it and reheating the sauce quick, "Speaking of secrets, you all don't have to spy on us anymore." Ruby calls over to them.

Slowly they come down and take their seats at the table as Ruby finishes getting the meal together. Sensing that their conversation was finished, Oscar starts to move towards the hallway, "Where are you going?" Qrow asks as he goes to sit down at the table, receiving questioning looks from the others.

"I am going to get cleaned up before eating. We got to talking and lost track of time. Ruby one more thing?" He motions for her to follow him away from the group so he could respect her privacy.

She follows him and he says softly, "Earlier? I meant that you are still caught up in your grief in your past, your pain, and you still can't let go. So indirectly you just continue to hurt people. You have to stop trying to fix the past…your past, and focus on the present. Our present." He offers a light smile and walks towards his room.

Nicely done, Ozpin compliments him.

His smile falls, I hope it helps her.

I'm sure she will take your words to heart. Ozpin frowns in his head that Oscar could almost picture it, I hope Qrow will be ok, I honestly did not mean any ill-intentioned harm.

Like I told Ruby, you have to stop trying to fix the past, and focus on the present, Oscar tells him as he enters his room and looks in the mirror.

Easier said than done I'm afraid. With that he feels the wizard's presence fade and knows that Ozpin is giving him some privacy as he prepares for dinner.

-Snoopykid-

"So where did you go?" Yang asks Qrow as she watches Ruby going back into the kitchen to get the rest of the utensils needed for dinner. Ren had offered to help, but Ruby waved him off and told him to sit as she finishes setting the table. The reaper's face remained passive after whatever words Oscar had muttered to her. It was unnerving to say the least at how well Ruby had become unreadable when she wanted to be.

"Well I did go to a bar, but I sat outside contemplating things." Qrow answered elusively, "Then after much thought, I went to see about some friends that could help us. Which by the way, with how things ended when you all first got here, I didn't give you these." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out three envelops, "Here. One for Ice Queen." Weiss frowns but accepts the envelope instantly brightening at her sister's handwriting, "One for you kiddo." He hands Ruby her envelope once she is seated, "And I guess I can burn Oscar's since he is here…" Qrow trails off looking in the direction of the bedrooms.

Nora starts to pile her plate with food as she sees Weiss expression, "Wow so the Ice Queen can smile."

"Shut up, of course I can." Weiss says annoyed but still having a smile on her face as she stares at her sister's handwriting.

"Just open it." Blake says with an amused eye roll.

"I will, but later." Weiss comments as she places the envelope down beside her, "Right now we are all together and about to eat."

Ruby ignored the comment and opened her own letter, "Rubes didn't get the memo it seems." Yang says airily as she accepts the bowl of pasta from Ren.

"I'm sorry, but this is important." Ruby said fairly quickly and they watch as her eyes fly across the page. One minute she smiles in satisfaction and then on the next she frowns darkly.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asks as Ruby looks at the second page with a shake of her head.

"Ironwood is what's wrong." Ruby says with a sigh as she folds the letters up and places them to the side for now to get her food.

"What did he do?" Pyrrha asks as she takes a sip of water before returning to her meal, "I mean he must have done something right if you looked pleased just a few moments before."

Ruby snorts as she starts to dig in, "He gave me what I wanted yes, which is for us to have safe passage out of Argus to Atlas so we don't have to deal with Caroline Cordovin and her uptight fanatical Atlas brainwashing bullshit and nearly cause the destruction of Argus. However what he implies in his letter is the start of Atlas's fall."

She then thinks about what she said and sighs, reeling herself back in, "I suppose though he is not totally in the blame as of right now. After all we weren't made aware of his plans until it was too late, and I wasn't aware of when exactly he came up with this hair brained scheme either."

Qrow looks mildly surprised at this, "Ironwood and 'hair brained' should not even be in the same sentence kid."

Ruby shakes her head and pulls out her letter and reads:

Ms. Rose,

Your uncle assures me that you know what it is you are doing and has placed great faith into your abilities to see the bigger picture. Not only that, but your bravery and tenacity during the fall of Beacon has resonated hope in me that you will continue to fight for the whole of Remnant.

It is for this reason that per your request, I give you the official letter which is to be given to Specialist Caroline Cordovin. I assure you that no trouble will come to you and your party when trying to cross into Atlas's borders from Argus.

On another note, it would do me great honor if you and your team will join me in continuing the fight for all of Remnant here in Atlas. For reasons that I cannot disclose the nature of my plan, all I can say is that soon, with your help, we can gather those that seek what we desire most in this life, and that is peace between all Kingdoms.

I look forward to seeing you and your party in great spirits here in the Kingdom of Atlas,

General James Ironwood

"That doesn't sound so bad though." Weiss said slowly, gauging Ruby's reaction as she once more folded the letters up and placed them to the side, "Sounds like he is genuinely trying to help."

Ruby hesitates for a brief moment and allows herself to eat as she thinks of a way to respond. The others watch on, waiting as she gathers her thoughts. Gently she places her fork down and wipes her mouth and says, "For all of his good intentions, he is immensely hypocritical, and sets a lot of double standards. He wants people to trust him, but is very hesitant to trust others."

"You mean like you did with us?" Nora asks bitingly.

"I am not going to make an excuse for that. You all know of my reasons." Ruby says tiredly, but goes on with her conversation, "In my timeline, as I am sure is the same as this one, his control over Mantle is…dreadful. When…Nora tried to criticize on the negative effect his regime had, he blew her off by claiming that everyone is making sacrifices."

Ren holds her shoulder to keep Nora quiet, but says to Ruby, "That could not gone over too well."

"Did I break his legs?" Nora asks shooting Ren a look as if to say 'Nice try'.

Ruby chuckles, "No, but you did give him a good jibe by pointing out what we were all thinking which was-is-Mantle having to bear all of the burden for the entire kingdom." She then got serious, and a dark expression marred her face, "He got worse though over time. He yelled at Yang and Blake when they opted to disobey an order to capture a woman by the name of Robyn Hill."

Yang and Blake look at one another in surprise, "We betray Ironwood?" Yang asks as she looks back to Ruby.

Ruby shakes her head, "No. That lies all on me. He wanted her arrested because her group was stealing materials needed for the Amity CCT project and you both thought you were doing the right thing about informing her of Ironwood's plans. However that did not fly over so well and he was in a rage, screaming that 'Loyalty ALWAYS matters'."

"That doesn't sound like Jimmy." Qrow said slowly as he absorbed the information. He pulls out his own letter and hands it to Ruby.

Ruby looks it over and shakes her head, handing it back to him, "Maybe not the Jimmy you knew, but the Fall changes him; of that I can assure you. He starts suffering an increased sense of paranoia, and an increased desperation to stop Salem by any means. This, now coupled with his typical bullheadedness and bluntness made him make several decisions that have led to many of his own people from Atlas to see him in a bad light due to the countermeasures he had implemented."

Blake's ears fold down and she looks at Weiss as she starts to pull out her own letter again, this time looking more worried than relieved, "You said he was willing to abandon Mantle despite the people not being fully evacuated and use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas into the sky instead of Amity Tower, deciding he'd abandon his original plan to solely save his city instead." Blake commented.

"Yes. He was also willing to have Fria killed in order to make Winter Schnee the next Winter Maiden. And Winter…" Weiss looks to Ruby as the silver eyed huntress avoids her gaze, "She follows orders, at least up until the beginning of the war."

"Fria?" Heads turned to Oscar coming out of the kitchen, looking a bit more refreshed, "What are we talking about?"

"Ironwood's escalating paranoia." Jaune says as he now watches Weiss open her letter. He sees blue eyes glisten a bit as they fly over the page. No one dares interrupt her.

Oscar looks over at the former heiress concerned as he takes his seat and starts to fill his plate, "He even went so far as to shoot Oscar without any hesitation afterwards so he could proceed with his plan." Ruby continues as if not having been interrupted.

Oscar looks surprised and could feel the surprise from Ozpin. However before he could say anything, Weiss gasps and all eyes turn to her, "It's true. What you suspected." She says looking at Ruby, "I am disowned." She pushes her plate away, suddenly not in the mood to eat.

Ruby looks at her partner with sympathy, "She actually stated it in the letter." Qrow said, leaning back, pushing his plate away.

"You talked to her?" Weiss asked.

"Well I had to if I was to get to Ironwood. She looked good if that helps, even if she was a bit off at first."

"Off? Off how?"

"Troubled. However in pure Schnee fashion, she recovered quickly enough. I mentioned you and that is when she asked me to deliver the letter, and to discuss what Ruby was doing…"

"What did you tell her?" Ruby asked folding her hands on the table looking at him.

Visibly uncomfortable, he looks anywhere else but at her, "I told her what you told me. The whole future time travel thing." Then he gathered some courage, he looks her in the eyes and says, '"I'm sorry, but we were…co-workers despite our…clashing personalities. She asked me a direct question and I couldn't lie to her." Then he added as an afterthought, "She didn't believe me if that helps."

Ruby thought for a moment and shrugged, "It does but it doesn't. The only way I'd get Gen…sorry Specialist Schnee to believe me is using…Robyn Hill." They watch her eyes go wide and her posture stiffen as if someone had poured ice down her back, "Oh fuck my life! Damn it!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"What now?" Yang demanded as Ruby got up.

"I am an idiot!"

"Well lately I think, we can all agree to that. To what are you referring to this time?" Weiss asked as the surprise of her disinheritance was wearing off.

Ruby ignores that jab and starts to pace, "Why didn't I have you go to Robyn and Professor Polendina?" She ran a hand through her hair and groaned, "This would have solved more than half the problem. Argh!" With that she hit her head on the wall.

"Kid settle down!" Qrow exclaimed as he got up and stopped Ruby from banging her head against the wall, "You mentioned this Robyn Hill earlier. Just who is she and this Professor Polendina?"

Ruby sighs and allows Qrow to lead her back to the table, "Robyn Hill is a graduate of Atlas Academy. When Atlas is having its election for the council, she becomes or will become one of the candidates. The other candidate will be Jacques Schnee."

Everyone looks at Weiss, who ponders it for a moment. Seeing their looks, she asks, "What? I really cannot say I am surprised. Besides from what Ruby just described, she wins so I am not worried."

Ruby scratches the back of her head, "Right…about that. She initially loses and Jackass wins. Anyway, more on that at a later date. She does eventually come out on top until her and Ironwood team up initially before Ironwood utterly loses it. Professor Polendina is Penny's creator and father. He ends up re-building her and Ironwood deems her the 'Protector of Mantle'. She will eventually become the 'Winter Maiden', but Watts did…will…hack her system. Just like he did at Vytal."

"Rewind just a minute. Aside from ensuring that she wins the first time around, what is so special about Hill?" Pyrrha asks.

"Her semblance is Lie Detection." Ruby said, "She could validate everything I am saying so there is no issues."

They all stare at her in amazement, "And this is why you should have been straight with us from the start…" Blake comments, being the first to recover.

"You are focusing on too many things at once;" Ren states, "and things are getting missed. Focus on one thing at a time. We cannot help Atlas right now, because as you admitted earlier, we…you were not there until much later yes?"

"Yeah." Ruby admitted as she swallowed a lump in her throat at the thought of not planning ahead.

"So you do not know when certain events happened that you could have potentially intervened with. You can only focus on the here and now." Ren continues, "So let's place some of this on a shelf for now and focus on what we can control."

Ruby looks at her team and sighs, "Ok, you're right. I guess that means we are talking about Haven now?" At their shrugs, she nods, "Ok then. Where shall I start?"