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Chapter 58

The slums were still wet, and Ruby's boots splashed down into puddles grimy with muck and animal droppings. The buildings were in disarray, some sunken on one side with evident flood damage and others stripped down entirely. In their place, shacks and wooden stalls had been set up as make-do living accommodation, the homeless under them laying with the rats and hoping their fingers wouldn't be nibbled off. Some knelt with clear signs of disease wracking their faces, hands outstretched and cupped upward.

"Please, good lady, spare some lien."

"Good lady-"

"M lady-"

It took Ruby a few minutes of pushing by grasping hands and pitiful pleas to realise they were talking to her. The fact stopped her dead. Beggars knew who to ask for coin and it definitely wasn't some shitty street urchin like her. They might as well have asked a starving man for food. Times must be desperate, she thought, pushing on. That was the only way to explain it.

The narrow street known as the corridor where people peddled stolen goods and their own bodies was deserted; left flooded with puddles of water a foot or more deep in places. Clucking her teeth, Ruby skirted around and toward the main thoroughfare, wishing she had a cloak to cover her face and hair from view, especially when people turned to stop and stare at her. Had Junior put out a bounty on her head? He shouldn't have, yet the way people kept watching her left a lot to be desired. You didn't want to draw attention in the slums.

The river was still overflowing down the centre of the slums, cutting the region in two and leaving no option but to swim over or go all the way around the outer wall and enter by the other gate. Luckily, she was on the right side of it, and even more luckily everyone there was too busy dipping their hands in the water and rummaging around the silt and filth.

Dredging. The act that earned them their less than stellar name. The children were looking for food or valuables they could bring back to parents, or gang leaders in the event of the orphans, picking their way through shit, disease and the occasional dead body for anything that might be sold. It'd been years since she had to, and the thought of it now brought sickening bile up her throat that threatened to burst forth. The floods had been bad this year; that much was obvious. She hoped Yang was okay.

Where the streets were dryer, the buildings were more whole, surviving the floods and glowing with warm light from within. Mac's bar was open for business, but she kept away from it, avoiding the loud chatter and clink of wooden flagons to slip down whore's road toward where Junior's hovel lay. Men and women – as well as boys and girls – plied their trade under the shade of the buildings, posing and showing off their bodies, calling out to those who passed by.

"How about a knight in shining armour for your arm, my good lady?" one overly painted and braided-haired boy of around sixteen summers called out to her alluringly. "I can be yours for as long as you want me."

Blood rushed up her face and dyed it red. Ducking her head, she hurried on, mortified. Yang had received her fair share of propositions, but not her. Then again, most of the guys probably thought she was one of them. A few more, men and women both, called out to her as she darted down, blushing up a storm and cursing Yang's name under her breath. If this was some prank on her part, it wasn't funny.

Junior's home wasn't far thankfully. Pushing through whore's road and making a mental note to take a different way back, she cut past the old bakery that had closed down a year back, slipped through an alley and skirted round a wild dog eating a dead rat that growled threateningly her way, and then came out onto the wider road that had once been for carriages, in before carriages stopped coming to the slums. Now, it served the occasional market day when the weather was better, and the slums wasn't full of so much misery. On the far end, still in one piece but with several holes patched up, the place she'd called home for the last ten years stood.

It looked like shit. Not badly damaged, but just dark and miserable and uninviting, even if she'd always seen it as a safe haven before. Ruby swallowed and approached nervously, wondering if she should rap on the door and have Junior let her in or scale the outside. The wooden beams were never as strong after a flood but going through the door like this might have Junior and the twins demanding money. They thought she'd landed a cushy job in the Merchant's Quarter, and they wouldn't be above trying to shake some lien out of her.

Outside it is. Moving into the shadows by the left side of the building, she took a quick run up, kicked off the back wall and threw her hands up for the first roof. Years of practice and training kicked in, latching her fingers on, but she swung against the wall and whined in pain as two obstacles she'd never had to deal with before squashed flat into the hard wood. Groaning softly, she let herself drop, crouched down and massaged her bruised chest.

"Oww. That never happened before…"

Why had she ever wanted these things again? Grumbling, she tried a second time, this time putting her feet forward to catch herself against the wall. Scrabbling up was harder than it used to be, too. It took her a few seconds to realise it was her weight. Before, she'd been so thin and small that it hadn't taken much strength to haul her up steep surfaces.

Now, she had to swing sideways and hook a leg over the ledge, then use both that and her arms to haul herself up. Again, her bosom scraped against the lip as she crawled over, pinching and grinding painfully against wooden beams. Ruby rolled onto the low roof with an upset mutter and laid there for a few seconds to catch her breath.

How am I this unfit? Gah. The Collegium has made me so soft…

Running with the Newbloods in the morning obviously wasn't comparing to running all day, climbing and roof hopping. It was just too easy to fall into lazy routine of a huge breakfast, sitting down for lessons, an even bigger lunch, more lessons, the best dinner of her life and then lounging around with Weiss in their room or laying on the gardens under a parasol with some cake and flavoured tea. No wonder the nobles were all so fat and lazy.

Pushing herself up, she made her way to the window that had always been hers and Yang's. There was a good chance Yang would have changed rooms, especially if hers was flooded or damaged, but she had to try this one first. Letting herself in would get a dagger through the eyes before Yang could tell who it was, so she ducked down, rapped her fist on the wooden shutter and began to whistle, giving the few sharp blasts and the musical trail off that was their own little code.

It took repeating it a few times before she heard movement inside. Ruby shied away from the window just in case it was someone else, but Yang's answering whistle – and then her voice – came through. "Ruby?"

"It's me!" she hissed. "Let me in."

"Ruby!" The window shutters slammed open and Yang's hugely smiling face appeared. Ruby barely had the time to register it before she was dragged bodily inside and crushed into her sister's chest. "You're okay! I was so worried, why didn't you come see me after the floods? I thought something terrible had happened!"

"I couldn't leave! Stuff happened. Is Blake still around-?"

"I am," the cowled Arcanist answered from the table in the centre of the room. "Good to see you again, Ruby."

"Blake's been helping out here," Yang explained, finally letting go of her and all but dragging her to the table. "Practically lives here now, the freeloader."

"Freeloader?" Blake's eyebrow rose slowly. "After I provided us food and saved your life?"

Ruby choked. "Saved-?"

"Gee, thanks Blake, almost like I didn't want that mentioning. Ruby, chill. It's fine. I had… I got hit by a rock when I was climbing away from the floods. Assholes up top, you know how it is. Blake helped use her magic to get us a place to stay. I'm alright now."

Ruby swallowed and looked Yang up and down. What stood out the most, apart from how thin and dirty she was compared to everyone in the Collegium, was the small red scar between her eyebrows and above her nose. It was almost perfectly centre to her face, healed over by now but an angry red standing out from her skin.

"T-Thanks for looking out for her," she mumbled to Blake.

"Enough of that!" Yang said. "I want to hear what's taken you so long to get here and what you've been up to. Ignore the shit here. The flood is the flood. We lived to see another year and that's all that matters. I want to hear about you."

"Fine. I don't have long, though. My mentor can only buy me an hour max."

"Mentor?"

Ugh. Yang and Blake really didn't know anything she was talking about. Maybe it would be a good idea to explain. Sitting down and taking a deep breath, Ruby began from the moment her wild magic cracked the walls open and caused the lockdown that kept her and everyone else trapped in the Collegium.

/-/

"Damn. I thought the Collegium was meant to be safer than here. Not worse."

"That's what we thought about Menagerie," Blake pointed out. "You saw how that ended."

"Oh. That reminds me." Ruby dug under her tunic and brought out a sealed package wrapped in light brown string. "These were the letters Adam, the Wildmage, had on him. He says they were from your mother, and most of them are addressed to you…"

Blake took them reverently, eyes shadowed and heavy, lips parted. Her fingers shook slightly, and she didn't open them. Ruby wasn't sure what she'd have done if she suddenly had messages from Summer; part of her thought she'd rip them open and read them right there, but she wasn't so sure. The weight of not knowing what you'd find within must have been crushing. Neither of them commented as Blake pushed the bundle under her dark grey cloak, clearly intending to read them in private and away from anyone else.

"Tell… Tell the Wildmage he has my thanks," she whispered. "For everything."

"I will."

Yang ruffled her hair and leaned into her a little. "You Arcanists sound like nutcases, not going to lie. Attacking people because they have magic, controlling everything and killing one another for going against the rules. This is sounding less and less like a school and more like a cult."

"And Ruby has joined the worst of them," Blake spat.

"I had no choice! The White were all over me and the Azure had been torn in two. I'd have rather stayed with the Azure and-"

"Do you even hear yourself? Why are you so loyal to the Azure? Why do you care?" Blake slammed her hand down, angry most likely thanks to what she'd learned about her mother, but angry all the same. "Are you blind, Ruby? You're falling for the same manipulation you've been complaining about all this time. There's a reason the Collegium is split into Arcana. Think."

"It… It's because they can limit what you learn. You can only have two Arcana."

"That could be done with schools of magic or just by limiting all dangerous kinds. The colours, Ruby. The houses, the competitive atmosphere – it's all to build blind and unflinching loyalty. And to what, a colour? Listen to yourself. You decry the White and talk about the Azure as if they were somehow better, but they're both the same thing. Arcanists. You're falling into their trap."

Was she-? Ruby swallowed her instinctive denial to think about it. She'd only joined the Azure because it was a means to an end, a way to find out about her Wildmage side in private under the guise of research. After discovering the Archives, that had become another benefit. It wasn't like Weiss, who joined the White because she was enamoured with it. To her, the Azure was always just because it served her interests.

Then why was she defending it so? Why was she holding it on a pedestal? Even after she joined the White, she'd told Glynda and Weiss she intended to be White-Azure, but what was the point of that? If the Azure no longer had the Archives, then there was no reason to waste a gem on them. No reason other than some weird loyalty she'd thrown toward them.

Why? I'm not loyal to anyone but myself and Yang, so when did I start thinking the Azure was worth mine?

"I… I didn't even notice…"

"It's subtle," Blake said. "It always is. I was the same with the Shadow, defending it staunchly against any who dared criticise us. It wasn't until Menagerie fell that I realised what it was. A colour. Nothing more. The Arcana set themselves up as institutions to be proud of, with their history and their quotes, their accomplishments and their prestige, but it's all just one more way to keep you happy in captivity. To make you a smaller part of a larger organism."

Ruby scowled down at the table, tracing the grooves and nick marks where she and Yang would occasionally stab daggers down into it for their own amusement. It had been through a lot, just like them.

"The White say they know what happened to Menagerie."

"They don't." Blake laughed scornfully. "If they did then they wouldn't have died uselessly like the rest of us. They may have ideas, they may think they know, but if all they're doing is blaming the Arcana of Shadows again, then they're wasting their time. We had nothing to do with what happened."

"What were the Shadow Arcana? Why does the White hate you so much?"

"We were… I'm not sure what we were meant to be. We were new and trying to find out place. Maybe we'd have helped the Crimson in dealing with Rogue Arcanists, but we never had the chance. The White despised us. They said magic shouldn't be used for hiding away, that it shouldn't seek to conceal itself because then you create the image of Arcanists capable of hiding their misdeeds. They said that people would panic and blame Arcanists for things that went wrong, saying it must have been a Shadow Arcanist who did it. It was always about how reputable the Collegium looked; we didn't commit any crime they could pin on us."

"Your father was the Grand Arcanist," Ruby said. "Adam said so."

Blake nodded. "He was."

"Was he of the Shadow Arcana?"

"Yes."

"But also the White?"

"No."

Ruby leaned back, surprised. "But the White Arcana said there hasn't been a Grand Arcanist not of the White for as long as history has come back."

"There hadn't been for us either. My father was the first Grand Arcanist to be elected in Menagerie who wasn't of the White Arcana." Blake smiled proudly. "It caused a bit of an uproar, but he was very popular, and people trusted him. He was soft, though. He said he'd use his fourth gem to master the White and ease tensions before they could bubble over. That… well, he never had the chance to."

"The Grimm have been active around town." Yang said. "I hate to break in, but Blake and I saw one – and there's been attacks on the outlying farms. We're worried it might be another Menagerie."

"I know," Ruby said. "I was out there tonight. Blake saw me."

Blake's face creased up. "I did not."

"Sure you did. I was – oh, I was wearing my hood. I was the White Arcanist with the Azure and the Huntsman. About an hour and a half ago-"

"Ruby," Yang interrupted. "Blake's been with me all night."

What? That couldn't be right, but Blake was nodding, and Yang wouldn't have lied to her. Nervously, Ruby explain what she'd seen – or rather, what they hadn't. Yang and Blake remained silent through it, even if Blake looked more and more alarmed by the time she was done. Her chair scraped back, and she stood up and stepped away from the table.

"Did it feel like this?" she asked, then began to whisper under her breath.

Shadows coiled up Blake's legs like smoke, far too obvious to be subtle for a few seconds, but then expelling outward and vanishing, much like the Arcanist herself. It was like she wasn't there, only the beds behind her with not even a shimmer of light to denote her position.

"Ugh." Yang shivered. "And I almost forgot how creepy you can be."

Ruby ignored her and tapped into her own senses, tracing the magic as they'd been taught. Using her own would set the alarm bells tolling and have Huntsmen crawling over the slums, but Blake's magic was normal and wouldn't do that. If Arcanists could, the bells in the Collegium would be ringing all day and night.

There was no magic where Blake had stood – but none at all, and that was suspicious. It felt like a lesser version of Jaune, and lesser in the same way as what she'd felt before. It was something so subtle she wouldn't have noticed it if she wasn't looking, which matched what happened with her and Merlot in the outskirts. If it hadn't been for Jaune being able to see right through it, they'd have never known they were being watched.

"That's what it felt like. Almost perfectly."

The spell ended and Blake came back in a puff of silvery mist, frowning sharply. "This is a spell taught only to those earning their gemstone in the Shadow Arcana. No one else should know it."

"So, it is someone from the Shadow." Yang said.

"Most likely, yes, but we weren't responsible for the fall of Menagerie!"

"You may not have been, but are you sure someone else wasn't?"

"I'm sure!"

"How sure?" Yang prodded. "You just got done telling Ruby the Arcana are made to make you feel loyal to one or the other. Don't say that then act like yours can't possible do any wrong. How can you know for sure the White isn't right?"

"Because we wouldn't have been capable of what they're accusing us!" Blake argued. "We were new, small, no more than thirty Arcanists and twice as many Initiates. Our magic focused around secrecy, something that the Grimm don't care for. They can see through our spells as easily as a Huntsman, so how could we have drawn them to Menagerie, let alone in numbers enough to destroy the city?"

"How could anyone?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know. The attack came without warning and the Shadow Arcana fought on the frontlines with everyone else. There wouldn't have been any good reason for us to want the city gone, especially now when our Arcana wouldn't be welcome anywhere else."

"Couldn't it have been one person? Someone who hated Menagerie?"

"Perhaps," she allowed, "But how would one person summon that many Grimm and direct them? Why would they then come to Vale and repeat it here? I'm no one special," she added. "Daughter of a dead Grand Arcanist doesn't mean much. They're not here looking for me."

Ruby swallowed. "Do you think it could be a Wildmage…?"

Wildmages drew Grimm. Wildmages had every reason to hate the Collegium. Wildmages could mimic the spells of other Arcana, or at the very least develop ones instinctively that acted and looked like other spells, much like her own invisibility. If Menagerie had its own White Arcana, then it had to have a bunch of Wildmages like Adam they'd captured, some of which might have evaded capture and held a grudge against the Collegium.

To destroy an entire city and everyone in it just to get back at the Arcanists, though. It was disgusting. That would make them – or her – no better than the worst of the White. Even if she intended to get Adam and Cinder out, it wasn't going to be at the expense of everyone's lives.

"It's a possibility, I suppose," Blake said. "I can't think of anyone we were supposed to be looking out for, however. The White didn't much like us, but we were still Arcanists and if there was a dangerous Wildmage on the loose then we would have been informed."

"You like to think," Yang said.

"Yes. There's always the chance it was kept secret. Whatever the case, someone was there tonight in the forests with Ruby, and it wasn't me. I'm not sure we can assume it's someone responsible for anything, though. Did they try and attack you?"

Ruby shook her head. The person had watched but run when Jaune called them out, which could have meant anything. Maybe they'd developed a spell or were interested in the Shadow Arcana. If it was her, she'd run rather than admit to looking into things the White didn't want. It might even have been a Rogue Arcanist, someone fleeing the Collegium. There wasn't enough to say they were even a threat to her and Merlot, let alone intending any harm.

"I shall take a look around the outskirts tomorrow," Blake said. "If it is someone from the Shadow, I'll have the best chance of finding them."

"Will you be able to get out more?" Yang asked. "I've missed having you around."

"I've missed being around," Ruby said, hugging her. "And I'll try. Merlot is going to try and use tonight as proof I can be trusted out with him, and if we can find more times to come out, he's willing to let me slip away to see you."

"Not sure I like you trusting this guy, Ruby…"

"Merlot is fine! He hasn't ratted me out yet."

"His life would be over once he did," Blake pointed out. "Not necessarily from Ruby, either. He'd surely be thrown in the Sanctum. The question is, why is he willing to risk so much by keeping your secret? It's strange."

"He says having a Wildmage on hand makes researching the Grimm easier."

"Well, you certainly would draw more of them, but I wouldn't have thought quantity would be a problem with their numbers rising as much as they are." That was a good point. "Then again, he might just feel safer with you around. Or maybe the real curiosity is Wildmages and he's using the Grimm as a distraction and a means of testing you."

If he was, then he was wasting his time. She'd bend over backwards to know more about what made her what she was, so if he wanted to research that, he should have just said so. No, it was the Grimm. There was no way to fake that weird and obsessive look in his eyes whenever he was close to them, the fond, almost loving, way he spoke about them.

"That means you need to come down again to see what Blake finds," Yang said.

"I said I will. I miss this place." Grinning, Ruby pulled out a small pouch of coins and set it on the table. "And this is what I was able to steal this time. Not as much with Atlas sending people here, but it should buy you proper food."

"Aw, Ruby." Yang looked conflicted as she took it. Relieved and grateful in a way only someone constantly afraid of starvation could be, but guilty at taking it from her. "Are you sure? I don't want you to feel you have to do all this for me…"

"You looked after me for ten years, Yang. Let me look after you a little."

"Argh. I can't argue with that. Thanks, sis. I'm surprised someone didn't try and mug you on the way here carrying all this around."

"Yeah, well, they tried to proposition and beg to me," she whined. "I've never been so embarrassed. How bad are things down here that they'd think I could pay for a tumble? I mean, look at me!"

"Uh. Ruby." Yang chuckled. "Not for nothing, but you look like a noble lady."

Ruby's jaw hung. "W-What? No, I don't!"

"You do. I mean, look at your face. It's so clean and fresh. And your hair." Yang reached over to pick a lock up, rubbing it between her fingers. "I've never seen your hair look so soft or shiny. It's like silk. And it's so perfectly brushed, too."

Burning a little, she muttered, "Weiss likes to brush my hair. Says it's too short…"

"It is for a noble lady," Blake said, "But Yang is right. You look wealthier than anyone else in the slums. You're better fed, clean and wearing fine clothing-"

"These are the rattiest things I could find!"

"And they're still a fitted tunic with all its buttons, embroidery and not a torn thread in sight, tucked into tight pants with a leather belt." Blake pointed each thing out in turn, causing Ruby to look down herself and blush. It was the kind of clothing she'd gotten used to, the kind of quality she'd gotten used to, but it wasn't what anyone else wore down here. Even the buttons and the fact she had all of them stood out, and the weave was airy and soft, the material fine cotton and hide.

She didn't look like she belonged in the slums anymore, not her clothing, her face or her figure. Even her body was healthier, thanks in no small part to the medicine the Emerald Arcana had given her. In contrast, Blake looked tired and worn, dirty with her fingernails blackened at the ends and her eyes sunken.

The noble looked more like a Dredger than she did, and that it could all happen in such a short amount of time bothered her. Was that the only difference between them, that those higher up lived better lives? It was all so unfair.

"I wouldn't be surprised if news was out a noble lady was down here," Yang said. "Junior will be looking and I bet a few other enterprising fellows will be as well, and not to get down on one knee and ask your name. You'd better be careful on your way out, Ruby. No telling what they'll try if they catch wind of you."

"Yeah. I… I didn't realise. Can I borrow your cloak?"

Yang pulled it off the door and tossed it to her. Thick, long and most importantly covered in filth and worn with patches and tears, it would cover her up and leave her a pauper. Perfect for getting back out to Merlot.

"Don't look so upset," Yang said. "I'm glad you're having a better time of things than we are. You're safe and that's all that matters. We're safe, too. Next flood won't be for another year and the worst of the diseases have run their course."

"Do you think you'll be able to move out soon? You're saving some of the money, right?"

"All I can afford to, yeah. It's not easy, though. You know that. I'd need well over five thousand lien to afford a small place on the next tier, and that's not the kind of money you should be thinking about trying to life from the Collegium. People will notice that."

Damn it. Was it so wrong to want to help? Leaving Yang here hurt, especially with that scar as a reminder of what she was leaving her to. The worms, as well. If she had them then so did Yang, and probably Blake as well now. They wouldn't have the benefit of magical medicine designed by Emerald Arcanists.

I can't do everything. I already need to find out what's happening to Jaune, break Adam and Cinder out and now find out what's happening with the Grimm. I can't add more in or I'll never get anything done.

"You should go." Yang said reluctantly. "It's almost been an hour. I can wait to see you again if it means you get back safe and sound."

Ruby nodded and stood. When she moved over, Yang already had her arms open and they clung onto one another, one of them smelling of water and shit, the other of fine perfume and clean linen. Ruby missed the more earthy smell and sniffled mournfully.

"Hey. It's okay. Things will be better now. Go on." Yang gave her a little push and a warm smile. "Blake and I will look out for one another. You focus on keeping yourself safe, then once you have your gemstone and become a proper Arcanist you can move out of the Collegium and things will get better. You can get yourself a place in the Merchant's Quarter and take on a kickass blonde maid with an attitude."

"Yeah." Ruby grinned at the thought. "I'll even have a frilly uniform ready for you."

"Ha! Don't push your luck, sis." Yang smiled. "Love you."

"Love you, too. Please look after her, Blake. I'll find out about Menagerie, just… keep Yang safe."

"Hmph. You needn't worry." Blake chuckled. "I've put too much effort into the idiot to let her die now. After carrying her ass through the floods, I'm not going to let her slink off and get herself killed."

"Blake just can't admit I'm growing on her."

"Like a disease."

"She loves me," Yang quipped. "I can tell."

Pulling the cloak around her and securing it in place to hide her clean hair and plump face, Ruby gave Yang one more hug, surprised Blake with one as well, and then leapt out the window, skidded to the edge of the roof and plummeted to the floor below. Her knees creaked, her body unused to the harsh exercise. Pulling the cloak tight and adopting a hunched walk, she staggered back to the gate, passing several rough looking men and women along the way.

/-/

Merlot was waiting for her impatiently at the gates to the Merchant's Quarter. He nodded and walked alongside her without a word, sliding her the white cloak back. Ditching Yang's in an alley, and with a mental reminder to buy her another, she pulled the white robes back on and stepped out into the street again, two Arcanists walking side by side.

"Did you get everything you needed to done?" Merlot asked.

"Yeah. I think I did."

"Good. I've kept my end of the bargain, Ruby, so now it's time for you to keep yours. I want to begin work on this fine specimen immediately, and I'll need your help to do so. You'll be expected to meet back with Lady Goodwitch once you return. Do so and then make your excuses. Come to the Archives; I will await you there."

"Should I mention the Arcanist we didn't see in the forest?"

"You ought to. The Huntsman will only mention it otherwise and Goodwitch might wonder why you did not. Be sure to say that you weren't able to sense him. Not every Initiate should have instincts as strong as your own. Do not give her any ideas. Let Lady Goodwitch make up her own mind." Merlot's eyes were shining. "We have more important things to focus on."

Next Chapter: 27th September

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