Still a little rough today but better. Sort of. xD

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 69

Lord Renard sent them letters with the date and the time, and Lady Goodwitch remained busy with the hunts, dispatching swathes of Crimson and White Arcanists to the Outskirts. What little time she did find with the woman was tense and quiet, spent poring over tomes while Ruby filtered the important letters from the unimportant or was sent to deliver a message here or there. Goodwitch never mention the rites of passage, so she assumed Renard had been as good as his word and kept it quiet.

That was a White Arcana speciality, after all.

They were all nervous when the day came and the three of them met outside the Cathedral. Pyrrha was the least so, but despite Weiss' best efforts to appear prim and proper, her shoulders were tense, and her eyes darted left and right.

Ruby didn't try to hide her own anxiety. It was a good mask for her real fear – that she might let loose some key clue to her nature in the test and have the White come crashing down on her head. She hadn't dared tell Cinder or Adam what she planned. Cinder would be furious.

"Remember that it's a three-part test." Ruby said. "Intelligence, strength and conviction. If we know what they're looking for, we know what to do."

"Right." Pyrrha said. "Don't brute force the first, don't overthink the second and don't hesitate on the third. I expect it'll be harder than that, but it's something worth keeping in mind."

"Much harder, Initiates." Lord Renard stepped down the stairs with an easy-going smile. "If it wasn't, we would have thousands of White Arcanists walking around, wouldn't we? Still, you've done your research. That bodes well. An unprepared mind is weak and easily manipulated."

"You're not going to change the test now we know, are you?" Ruby asked suspiciously.

"We would not reward hard work by cheating those who give it. Intelligence, strength, conviction; your trials shall remain the same. Come."

The Arcanist led them into the Cathedral building, but then past the halls and small classrooms, toward a simple and unadorned doorway he opened with a touch of his hand and a flare of a white glyph. It slid aside to reveal a long staircase leading down, wreathed in blackness as far as the eye could see.

Is this conviction already? Ruby thought. For all we know, the test has started right now!

The corridor was manmade, stone steps and walls with light coming from a small ball Renard summoned above his hand. They had to travel by that, carefully picking their steps as the hustle and bustle of the Collegium faded away behind them.

"We normally only do one rite at a time," Renard said. "That's not to say we can't do more. You will enter simultaneously to prevent you sharing any information and helping one another."

"Will they be separate?" Weiss asked.

"They always are. The rite is a test of individual ability. Teamwork is respected and welcomed, but a team is only as reliable as its weakest member. We must ensure all our Arcanists are capable."

They came to a small room, within which stood two other cowled figures, their faces hidden. They moved slowly forward, and Renard gently pushed Pyrrha and Weiss toward one each. Ruby assumed that meant she was being tested by him. Her eyes scanned the chamber, taking in the uncomfortable stone benches and the lack of any furnishings. If it wasn't for the angular nature of the walls and ceiling, it might as well have been a cave.

What did stand out were five doors. For a moment she thought it a test – use her intelligence to find the right one – but that passed when Pyrrha was led through the left most and Weiss through the one beside it. They were just five different testing chambers.

"Come, Initiate. I shall adjudicate your rite."

"Will I need anything?"

"Only your wits, skill and spirit."

The stone door opened remarkably easily, swinging inward and then shut behind them. Inside was one small room, beyond that another. The first room had another stone bench inside, but also a clear mirror opposite.

"This mirror will allow me to watch your rite," Renard explained. "It was created by the Black, as was most of this. You shall enter the other room. There are three in total, each connected by a locked door. The final door will lean to a corridor that will bring you back round to the main chamber, so you're free to return once you've completed the rite, pass or fail."

"It's not dangerous, then?"

"All magic is dangerous. You could gravely injure yourself with the simplest spell. Should that happen, I'll recover and take you to the Emerald Arcana. Naturally, that will count as a failure on your part."

Ruby giggled nervously. "Yeah. I figured."

"Only two people have ever died in the rite."

"Only…!?"

"Two out of hundreds or thousands who have attempted it. One attempted to bring down the walls in the first rite. I will warn you now that is not a good idea. We are deep underground. Consider that."

"They collapsed the roof, didn't they?"

The Arcanist nodded solemnly. That seemed like such a stupidly obvious thing, but then she didn't know what the rites were like, so she couldn't say. Don't attack the walls, though. Easy enough to remember. "What do I do?"

"You will know when you enter. The instructions will be clear."

Ominous. "So, shall I…?"

Renard sat, stroking his robes out over his legs. He gestured to the door. "Whenever you're ready."

/-/

The room Ruby stepped into was impossible – which meant it had to be magic. That fact was obvious because she walked into a grand library with large, open windows spilling in warm sunlight over a panelled, wooden floor. Two large bookcases stood on either side of the window, while two more framed an empty space of wall opposite. A fire roared in a hearth on the far wall, beside which sat two red armchairs. The door she had walked through remained, but she figured going back through would mean giving up.

Curiously, she walked to the window and looked out. Long, rolling hills carried on into the distance – a vista unseen in Vale, and one that was notable only because of how empty it was. There wasn't a tree in sight, nor a hedge, flower, animal, bird or any other sign of civilisation. If that wasn't suspicious enough already, the window was firmly locked and pressing on the glass suggested a strength no windowpane should possess.

"This is an illusion. Or I've been transported somewhere."

The first idea felt most likely. Stepping back, she looked around the room, finally noticing a small piece of paper on a desk by the two armchairs. Walking over, she picked it up and read the black ink writing.

"Find your way to the next rite."

Ruby set it down. "This is the Rite of Intelligence, then? I have to figure out how to get into the next room." There weren't any doors other than the one she'd entered through. Somehow, she doubted it'd be as easy as walking back. "I guess the person who died tried to brute force through the walls. Not very intelligent…"

Renard was watching, likely chuckling, so Ruby got to work walking around the room looking behind the furniture. She moved the bookshelves, checked the corners, tapped on the wooden walls and even peered through the fire to make sure there wasn't anything behind. There was nothing. This being the Collegium of Magic, however, that wasn't so hard to believe. If the room was an illusion then it stood to reason the door might be hidden behind one, too.

There hadn't been a time limit given, so Ruby moved over to the bookshelves and skimmed over the spines. They probably weren't there for ornaments and intellect and books went hand in hand. I'd love to have the Rubricator for this. Stupid White Arcana shutting down the Archives…

Many of the books had generic titles. Old, fictional tales, cookery books and even one or two on noble etiquette. Weiss would have loved to shove those down her throat. Abandoning the first shelf and then the second, one book on the third caught her eye.

Beyond the Mirror

That sounded like it could be a story but also something related to Renard's words. Rather than sit down with it, she threw it on one of the armchairs and kept looking, finding a second titled `More than Meets the Eye` and then another off the final bookshelf called `Keys to the Soul`. All sounded out of place enough to be worth looking at. Just in case, she also ran a hand over the shelves, knocking all the other books off and to the floor. Nothing tinkled out and no secrets were revealed, though she made a merry mess over the small library.

`Keys to the Soul` turned out to be a romance novel. Ruby tossed it aside once she figured that out. `More than Meets the Eye` talked about a theory that everything a person saw existed only in the eye of the beholder, not just beauty but every little thing that existed. It claimed that one person's interpretation of a colour might be so alien and so different to another's, and yet neither would ever know, because what one person called green might be red to another. It could have been gibberish, but it could also have meant something.

`Beyond the Mirror` turned out to be a children's poem – which she initially thought to ignore until she realised it was about a girl trapped in another world who had to find a way out. Looking out the window at the impossibly endless hills, Ruby wondered if that wasn't more literal than she imagined.

They must want me to figure something out from these books.

As good as a realisation as that was – and as clever as she felt for finding it – knowing didn't make it any better. Puzzles had never been her strong point. No one had time for that kind of thing. Slum kids focused on games that improved dexterity and attention, things they'd need in life. One of the first games Yang taught her was a card game that involved snatching pairs of cards faster than the other person could. Applicable, real world skills. Not silly riddles and word games. This was Weiss' field. She was probably through already!

Ruby read over the poem twice. Flowery and sweet, it didn't come out as anything more than a poem to her. What am I supposed to do? I don't know how to work this out. Gah! Think, Ruby. Think. This is a test of smarts. Be clever.

Clever. Smart. Intelligent.

Those words really didn't fit her.

Cunning, though. Ruby liked to think she could be that. Sometimes.

Setting the book down, she imagined the room more as a prison. A watchman's cell that she'd been thrown into. A really nice one, but one all the same. The guards would be coming in the morning, likely to beat or flog her for stealing. She had to get out before then.

Window is sealed and doesn't break. Pretend the door back doesn't exist. That means there has to be another way out – it's just hidden. Ceiling? Floor?

Ruby stood and moved around, peeling up the rug and looking upward to no avail. Then, she turned her attentions on the walls once more. Walls were meant to be strong points, but they weren't always. Aside from climbing them, some of the cell blocks in the walls lining the slums were so broken down you could chip away at the mortar between the big bricks. Ruby tried running her fingernails over the wood, but it didn't yield. Probably because it wasn't wood. It was stone with an illusion over it.

An illusion. Those could be broken, right? All magic could be counteracted – especially since Arcanist magic took vast amounts of concentration. Ruby giggled at the idea that Renard might be doing it and watching her. What if she took her top off and flashed him? She wouldn't, of course, but she could imagine Yang losing patience and doing it. She'd like to see a stuffy Arcanist keep their cool if that happened.

This room was probably more of a Black Arcana thing, though. It would be working on its own. That meant there was something enchanted in the room, something maintaining the illusion. Closing her eyes, she concentrated. There was magic all over the place: of course there was, this was the Collegium of Magic. Still, there was a lot in the room from the illusion, but the more she concentrated, the more she was able to pinpoint a slightly larger amount. Moving slowly, she paced toward the armchair and knelt, picking up one of the books she'd discarded.

"More than Meets the Eye," she whispered. "I guess you were a lot more literal than I thought." She eyed the fire. "You're not real, either. Well, maybe this'll do it."

Opening the book, Ruby gripped a handful of pages and tore them out.

The room shifted and shimmered. Ripping out more pages and tossing them down, the wooden walls shattered, and the light faded, throwing her back into a darkened room lit only by a small candle burning on the far wall. In her hand were clutched a bunch of yellowing pages. More were scattered loosely over the floor. There was a door behind her but also one ahead.

"Ruby Rose. Genius." Chucking the two halves of the book away, she pushed through the door and let it close. "Bring on the Rite of Stre-"

A sword lunged for her face.

Ruby grew up in the slums. In the slums, you didn't freeze when something came at you. You ducked. Before she could even panic, her legs gave way and she flung herself down, rolling desperately to the side and away as the metal blade hovered in the air above her. The man gripping it was armoured from head to toe, his face covered.

Laid on her back, no spells came to Ruby's mind. Only action. She kicked both feet into the back of one of his knees, knowing she'd have to use both to stagger him. The man buckled and started to turn, but by that point she'd scrabbled to her feet and tackled him around his waist.

With his back to her, she was able to drive him into the wall. His sword skittered up the stone going upward and was wrenched from his hand when he was forced to either let go or break his wrist. Ignoring that – it was too heavy for her anyway – she jumped off before he could bring his strength to bare, rushing back and taking a quick breath.

Rite of Strength. Use magic, idiot!

"F-Flame net!" she shouted, throwing out her hand. "Entangle my foe!"

The fire was a little uneven and hot at first, but she wrestled it under control and imagined what it was she wanted: her foe trapped, alive and safe. It wouldn't do to lose control and hurt someone, illusionary or not. The net struck the man when he had fully turned. He held up his hands as if to block it, but the net washed over and bore him down.

Ruby ran up and grabbed his sword, clumsily pulling it up and pointing it at him. In any real fight, someone his size would slap it away, but he was on the floor and at her mercy. "Surrender!"

"I give!" The man laughed. "You win, Ruby. Sheesh."

The voice was familiar. The sword dipped. "Sun…?"

When the helmet was drawn back, the tanned, grinning face of Sun Wukong was revealed. He ran a gauntlet over his hair, laughing as she dispelled the net and offered him a hand. He took one look at it and pushed himself up instead. "I'm heavy like this," he said by way of explanation. "Not sure a little thing like you could pick me up. Then again, you did kick me ass…"

Ruby didn't listen. "What are you doing here?"

"I was chosen to assist. Not sure why they wanted me, but Lord Renard said it had to be someone you knew. Said it had to be someone close." Sun shrugged and held his hand out. Ruby gave him the sword back and he sheathed it at his side. "You passed the Rite of Strength. I'm meant to say that. Kinda figured you'd be using more magic to do it, but I guess that's what I get for underestimating you. An Arcanist who runs with us Newbloods was always going to be a little more physical."

"You know me."

"I sure do." He laughed and moved for the doorway she'd come through. "I'll head back through. Good luck on the rest. Let me know how it goes later, yeah?"

He went through the door to where she'd done the first rite and let it close behind him. That had been quick, almost too quick. Most fights were. Yang always said a fight was determined by who struck first and hardest, and Sun could have knocked her down then and there. He'd have probably held off or maybe the sword had been blunted. Either way, it'd been close. Most people would have frozen up.

I hope Weiss is okay…

Pyrrha was a Crimson Arcanist, so an attack like that shouldn't have been anything out the ordinary for her, but how often had Weiss experienced a sudden ambush? For Ruby, there were many times someone tried to jump her with a knife or a club. You learned to be quick on your feet.

Hopefully, Renard didn't think that too unusual. Could he fail her for not using enough magic? The average Arcanist was probably meant to deflect the attack with magic, force Sun back and then defeat him with a flurry of powerful spells. There wasn't any way to tell if she was okay or not. Renard didn't come through and the last doorway remained. The Rite of Conviction.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby walked through.

And straight into a barren stone room.

No illusion, no pretences, just an empty toom with a stone bench. There was movement behind. Ruby tensed, but when the wriggling shape didn't attack, she slowly moved forward.

It was a body. A living body. The lower half wore a rich, red dress, while the person's head was hidden by a burlap sack. Their hands were tied behind their back, their feet similarly bound. Unsure, Ruby pulled the sack back, letting long, golden hair spill out.

"Ruby!"

Ruby's heart almost exploded. "Y-Yang!?"

"Ruby!" Yang gasped. "They found me! You have to help me get out!"

"W-What is-? How? What about Blake!?"

"They got her, too," Yang said. "They found all of us."

All of them…?

"We escaped Menagerie!" Yang said, face showing so much raw relief and joy that Ruby, for a moment, almost couldn't think. "We got out. Me, Blake, mom and everyone. Ruby, you can't believe how happy I am to see you! All this time, we thought you were dead. Mom is going to be so relieved!"

Ruby looked her sister up and down. The red dress was expensive and fancy, form-fitting and clutching to her large bosom tightly. Yang's hair was beautifully washed and kept, shining like spun gold, and her skin was silky smooth, her eyes wide and bright and her lips painted cherry red. Her sister looked up at her lovingly.

"Come on, Ruby. Help me get out of this!"

Slowly, Ruby swallowed. "You survived Menagerie…?"

"We all did! We're all here, Ruby. Let's get out and I'll take you to them-"

"Initiate Rose." Renard came bursting through the door Sun had left through. His face was set like thunder. "Your test of Conviction has been altered," he stated angrily. "We caught this girl who claims to be your sister travelling with a confirmed Wildmage freed from Menagerie's Sanctum. When we attempted to arrest him, she and those with her came to his defence."

"He saved our lives!" Yang cried. "We owed him a debt of honour!"

"They were able to gravely wound an Arcanist who tried to calm them," Renard went on. "The Wildmage also attacked, killing two more."

"You attacked us first! Ruby, don't listen to him! I'm your sister!"

"We can't let it be known that the Wildmages and Rogue Arcanists escaped from Menagerie's Sanctum, Initiate. If we do, there will be complete panic, not to mention a breakdown in the trust placed in our ability to maintain the law. That would mean more than just a loss of faith from the people. It would mean greater chances of our own going Rogue. You've seen first-hand the risk of that." Renard reached into his robe and drew out a wickedly sharp dagger, holding it out to her hilt first. "We will claim she was ambushed and slain by bandits. I understand this is difficult, but the task falls to you. This, Ruby Rose, is your Rite of Conviction."

Yang squirmed and sobbed brokenly. "No! Ruby, please! I love you! Mom and Dad are here! They're safe! We can all be together again!"

Ruby took the knife.

Her heart was empty, as were her eyes. It wasn't Yang. It never could have been Yang, not so pampered and clean and fragile. The Collegium could have never known that. They had their assumptions on who she was, what she was, and while whatever magic they used could match the appearance of her sister, it couldn't know her mannerisms.

It wasn't Yang, but as Ruby slit the throat of the illusion and watched it die in her hands, she could imagine that it was her sister's dying eyes that stared back up at her so forlornly.

The knife clattered to the floor and her sister shimmered into a sack and cloth strawman in front of her. Little more than a scarecrow. Ruby let it fall, standing with an agonised gulp.

Renard's hand fell on her shoulder. "Congratulations, Initiate. Or should I say Arcanist. The White does not falter. Neither did you. Welcome to your new family."

Ruby wished she could stab him as well.

/-/

Lord Renard let her sit on a bench with her head in her hands while Pyrrha and Weiss finished their own rites. Pyrrha was the first out, drenched in sweat and shaking badly. Ruby wondered what it said about her that she didn't have such a violent reaction. She'd known it wasn't Yang, but even so, it had felt and looked so real.

"I-I passed," Pyrrha said, stumbling over to sit next to Ruby. "I… That was horrible. The Crimson Rites were physically taxing, but this was… this was just horrible."

"Who did they show you?" Ruby asked weakly.

"My mother."

"You killed her?"

Pyrrha couldn't meet her eyes.

That she was here and had passed meant she had, and Ruby wasn't sure if she knew the girl anymore. Arguably, she had an excuse in knowing Yang wasn't real, but did Pyrrha? Had Pyrrha really known it was her mother, and yet gone ahead and killed her anyway?

How was Ruby meant to ask that? Should she? The silence stretched between them, growing more awkward by the second. Their choice of using Sun must have been a clever ploy. He'd been real, so they brought him in as a way of showing they weren't afraid to make her face close friends. He'd even said it had to be someone close.

So, they brought him in to make it clear they could reach out and pick their targets, then they followed that with an illusion designed to look like a family member. Someone special. And you were left to think that if they could pick your enemy in one, why should they not pick your victim in the next? The only reason it failed on her was because Yang had never been anywhere close to Menagerie.

"How did your first go?" Pyrrha asked, breaking the silence.

"I realised it was an illusion and found the enchanted item. I broke it and the illusion came down."

Pyrrha stared at her. "I didn't think of that…"

"What did you do?"

"I deciphered the riddle. It took me almost an hour." She laughed, trying for humour but sounding too brittle for it. "The poem led to the curtains, which held weave pointing to a single tiled section of floor. There was a seal on it that had to be undone, and after that a lockbox with a key. The key, when inserted into the door we came through, caused another to appear on the opposite wall."

Ruby considered that for a moment. "Sounds complicated."

"Your solution makes me feel a bit simple if I'm honest," Pyrrha admitted. "I knew it had to be an illusion, but I didn't once think of just breaking it down."

"Different solutions to the same problem." Lord Renard said from behind them. He was busy over a small, stone alter, magic glinting between his hands as he worked. "That is not so bad. The world is not so black and white that one approach can fit all. The main point is that you each considered your environments and found ways around it, then pursued your conclusions to the goal. The White does not care how you protect our way of life, only that you do so successfully."

He hummed. Light flashed and he stepped back, breathing out proudly.

"Ah. Come. Your Arcanum are complete."

Ruby and Pyrrha stood and approached together. On the alter before Renard were two twisted pieces of metal, one the snakes of Vale and her own, the snarling wolf's head. Blake's Arcanum, not her own, though Blake's gemstones had been removed.

Now, where there once must have been a shadowy grey gem, stood a single, pristine, white stone. It was clear and beautiful, reflecting the light of the torches burning on the walls.

Her first gemstone.

"Congratulations, Lady Rose. You are henceforth an Arcanist. And to Lady Nikos, for succeeding your second gem at so young an age. Perhaps we have our next Grand Arcanist in the making there."

Pyrrha smiled weakly. Her heart wasn't in it. Neither was Ruby's. Instead, she reached out and took her Arcanum, inspecting it for a long moment before hanging it around her neck. Maybe she'd feel prouder of the accomplishment later, away from this place or even in the slums where she could see and hold Yang and convince herself everything was okay.

The second door opened with a loud grating sound, making Ruby flinch. When Weiss came out, she almost flinched again. Her roommate, her best friend, had long tear tracks running down her face. Her eyes were rimmed with red and she almost stumbled and fell as the Arcanist led her out. Ruby rushed to her, catching Weiss as her legs gave way. Weiss' face pressed into her neck, soaking her with warm tears.

"It's okay," Ruby whispered, rubbing her back. "It was all just an-"

The Arcanist who had led her out cut Ruby off. "Initiate Schnee has failed the Rite of Conviction."

And in a way, passed the rite of not having to explain why or how she could bring herself to murder a family member. I don't know. Maybe I'd take that as better.

Next Chapter: 20th December

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