Sorry for last week – things have been hectic. Should be sorted with that now I have my full-time employee hired and helping out. Still not as good as a long-time employee, but she's learning and taking some of my workload so that's a relief.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 110

The Sanctum loomed imposingly behind Ruby as she slunk away. Its windows were lit against the dark, and yet there was no warmth to its rough stone and marble. The guards – huntsmen both – stood still and silent either side of the wrought iron gates. They didn't talk as the city watch might have; they didn't chatter or fidget. They were as motionless as the statues that lined the buildings bottom floor. Emotionless.

Jaune would become like that eventually. He was already forgetting things, already finding grey hairs, and if Nicholas' fear for his son was any indication, then it might happen soon.

This inner sanctum. I don't like it…

Too many secrets. Months ago, she might have consigned herself to the Azure Archives to search out the answers, but now… what was the point? The time it would take might mean the death of Jaune's mind. She'd already seen just how far the Collegium was willing to go. They even killed Merlot.

He had brought the Grimm, yes – it was an evil act. But his death hadn't fixed the evil, hadn't stopped it. The White were now in control of the Grimm and things were just as bad as they'd always been. Merlot had been right in saying nothing would change without something to push it along. The nobles didn't want change. It terrified them. The White Arcana had become its own miniature nobility within the Collegium as well. They lorded it over their fellows and over the common people too.

"Why am I still here?" Ruby asked herself.

Merlot was gone; Weiss was gone; Jaune was suffering; Cinder and Adam were prisoners. Blake and Yang were done with the city too. Everyone they'd ever known in the slums was dead. I hate this place, she thought. I hate how much it's taken from us. Mom, dad, the twins and now everything else. Getting magic wasn't worth all this.

And yet without magic, without Blake and her wild entry into the Collegium, she and Yang would have undoubtedly died when the White Arcana used them as bait for the Grimm and flooded the slums.

She hated it. She hated it so damn much!

"Rarghhh!"

Ruby launched her fist at the nearest thing she could. No wall – and even if there had been she'd have just broken her hand. She instead buried herself wrist-deep into the trimmed hedges around the Sanctum, cutting and scoring red lines from sharp branches into her skin. Pain throbbed down her arm, satisfying in a disgusting way. Or maybe the physical hurt took away from the emotional. Distracted her.

"Fuck!" she swore loudly. Lashing out at things, swearing – maybe she really was Yang's sister in more ways than one. The thought had bitter tears running down her cheek, aided by the stinging on her hand. "F-Fuck," she swore again. "I'm a mess. Ahah. W-What am I doing?" Sinking to her knees, she punched the ground. "What am I even doing? What do I want here? What am I supposed to do?"

The Huntsmen nearby noted her but didn't react. No sympathy, no curiosity, not even the slightest twitch of an eyebrow. As long as she didn't actively break any of their laws, they would have let her hike up her robes and pee on their feet. Quietly, Ruby pushed herself back up to her feet and trudged away.

Maybe things would make more sense in the morning.

/-/

Wake. Bathe. Eat. Contemplate.

Weiss would have called it sulk if she were still here to call it anything. Ruby sat at her table alone with the half-eaten remains of a breakfast she would have normally called too small. For the first time in what felt like years, she didn't have an appetite.

The quiet gave her a chance to watch Arcanists go by their day. It amazed her how little was different to them, even though they were nobles and the king had died. She would have expected a lot more given how close the nobles were all meant to be. They'd worn funeral robes for all of a day, but were now back in red, green, white and brown. There were very little Azure Arcanists to be seen now that they didn't have a home. How many had up and quit? Probably quite a few. Ren had already hung up his mantle.

Sighing, she pushed the food away and rose, rushed out the doors and towards the Newblood training fields where Sun should be – and, if she was lucky, Jaune as well. It was a blast from the past to see the grassy field beside it dotted with picnic blankets and Initiates. The young girls giggled and vied for the attention of the big, strong guards, while the male Initiates vied for the attention of the girls. It as all so stupid and pointless.

Didn't they realise the Grimm were still under the White's control? Didn't they realise how close they'd all come to death? Ruby gnashed her teeth as she picked her way between the blankets, ignoring the polite "Lady Arcanist" a few of the awed Initiates, many older than her, whispered.

Ruby reached the wooden fence dividing the field from the training ground and gripped it tight, peering over to inspect each face in turn. They were sparring today with wooden staves, beating one another with sharp raps of the sticks while instructors moved between to correct and offer advice. Ruby let out an angry sigh when she failed to find Jaune among them. His hair would have made him stand out and he definitely wasn't there.

Still in the inner sanctum. Damn it. Sun should be here though…

Should be. Wasn't. Ruby strained her eyes for a flash of his tail but couldn't catch anything. Eventually, she whistled to a nearby instructor as they moved along the edge. The man scowled her way, but that quickly evaporated when he realised she was an Arcanist and not some besotted girl trying to call out to her beau.

"Lady Arcanist," he said, approaching with a polite and deferential nod of his head. "May I be of assistance?"

"I-I am looking for someone," she said. "Sun Wukong. He is… required for something important. I must speak with him."

"Important? I see." She wasn't sure if he doubted her or not, but they both knew it wasn't in his interests to question her. "Wukong. Wukong. Where is he?" the sergeant joined her in searching, then sighed and shouted, "Lord Winchester! We have an Arcanist looking for Wukong. Has he been seen today?"

Lord Commander Winchester left the pair of men he was advising and stalked over. He was big – huge – with a full set of plate armour that covered him from neck to toe. That much armour was so expensive that even the city guard couldn't afford it – they wore chainmail at best, leather and padded gambesons more often. This man was a wealthy noble as well as a commander.

"Wukong, is it?" He bowed his head slightly. "Lady Arcanist. I'm afraid he isn't taking part in training today. He's at the Emerald Gardens. Took a nasty fall, or so I was told," he said when Ruby's surprise showed. "He was out last night, likely visiting some young lady. I only got the missive this morn that he's been brought in for healing."

"He was hurt?" Ruby gasped. "But he was fine when I left him!"

"Hmmm?" Lord Winchester rolled his eyes. "This happened late at night, Lady Arcanist. He's fortunate the Emerald Arcana saw fit to inform me. I don't take kindly to recruits trying to dodge training. Now, if you'll allow us to return to our training, my lady?"

Lord Winchester didn't wait for her response. He took the sergeant's shoulder, turned him away and then both walked back – barking out commands for people to stop slacking. The loud smack of wooden sticks intensified as they moved back among the Newbloods.

Ruby backed away from the fence. Sun had been hurt. When? How? She'd left him in the afternoon to go to the Sanctum, and he'd been fine then. It wasn't impossible that he'd gotten hurt later, but she hadn't heard of any Grimm getting into the Collegium. That kind of news would have spread.

The Emerald Arcana would have answers. Ruby pushed away and hurried back through the picnicking Initiates. On the way, someone stepped into her path. The face was familiar – but it wasn't until he spoke that she recognised him.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Lady Rose. Finally come out of hiding, have you?"

"For fuck's sake," Ruby hissed. "Martyn!" she said, louder. "I don't have time to deal with you right now."

"You don't? Oh, my apologies." He bowed dramatically and his cronies laughed. Most of them were still Initiates, and it wasn't common for Initiates and Arcanists to hang out. Martyn must have loved the awe they had for him since he'd officially joined the Crimson. "Lady Rose is far too busy for the simple likes of us. Perhaps she is on official White business." His eyes rose to meet hers. "Like capturing that evil Rogue Arcanist, Weiss Schnee."

Ruby almost tripped. "W-What did you say…?"

"It's all the news around here, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "Everyone has heard. Imagine someone from our very classes, someone we sat and studied behind, being such an evil and disgusting person all along."

She couldn't believe he'd go there. Couldn't comprehend it. There should have been boiling rage, but she felt shock most of all. It left her flat-footed and nauseous, the world feeling like it was slipping out from under her.

Martyn took that as his victory and laughed. "You're surprised as well, huh? Well, I guess it isn't your fault. The Schnee probably fooled you as much as she did everyone else. You wouldn't have even known her family since you're an outsider."

"I heard the last Schnee married a merchant," one of his followers said.

"It's true." Martyn nodded sagely. "The once-noble Schnee line, tainted with common blood – and then this happens. Let that be a lesson to you all. Nothing good comes of mingling with filth."

Ruby's hands balled into fists.

"That's why I say the floods were the best thing that could have happened to the city. Washed out all the manure in the slums. Maybe not they can be repopulated with decent folk-"

Martyn was a bigger man than her, but he still gasped when she tackled him with her entire body and dragged him to the floor. The others cried out and made space almost like they'd planned it – and they probably had. Martyn was a Crimson Arcanist now. He had been taught and trained for combat and would know the kinds of offensive spells she could never hope to master. True to that, his snarl had ass victorious tint to it even as she settled atop him.

"Fires of ages past!" he intoned. "Come to my-"

Blood and spittle smashed against Ruby's fist. His incantation ended in a bloody gurgle. Arcanists needed time to incant. It wasn't required but it helped form the discipline and direction of their magic, and someone as new to the art as Martyn certainly wouldn't be casting without it. In any other time, Ruby would have liked to say she considered that when she tackled him and punched him in the jaw. That wouldn't have been the truth, though.

Rage and pain and doubt and fear all mingled together in her head. Her disguise was thrown aside, all the little teachings of noblesse oblige from Weiss ignored. Ruby fought like a peasant- like a Dredger. Smaller than Martyn, weaker than Martyn, but one hundred times as vicious – she brought her fists up and down as if she were churning milk, snarling and spitting as she laid into him.

Smack. Thwack. Crack. Left. Right. Left. Ruby joined both her hands together and brought them down in a hammer blow. Martyn cried out like a child, his back arching as he spat blood and two teeth into the air. He lay there, limp and broken, eyes misty and stained with tears. Snarling, she fisted her hands in his crimson robes, now wet with blood and saliva, and dragged his face up to meet hers.

Words twisted and coiled on the tip of her tongue. In the moment, however, none would come. None felt strong enough. Instead, she spat in his face and ushed him back down, dug her knees into his chest and pushed herself back to her feet, swaying slightly as the adrenaline pumped through her.

Martyn's friends backed away, cowering from a wild animal. Many of the other Initiates had turned to look, startled by the sudden fight between two Arcanists, but now horrified by the brutality of it. They'd expected a show. Grand spells, incredible magic and grace. Instead, they'd witnessed a back-alley beatdown.

Lord Winchester and another of his people were already vaulting the fence to break it up. Swearing under her breath, heart still pounding, Ruby turned and ran, stamping on Martyn's chest as she did and leaving him gasping for air. Winchester and his guards may have been trained, but they couldn't keep up with a thief on the run.

Ruby lost them within seconds.

/-/

No one questioned a White Arcanist at the Emerald Gardens. An elderly and kind-looking woman with gnarled lines across her face greeted her, asked if she needed her wounds treating and then placed her hands on Ruby's. The cuts from the hedge and the bruises from Martyn's teeth and jaw smoothed over, vanishing into unblemished skin.

"T-Thank you," Ruby whispered, her fury still boiling away but tempered somewhat. Or maybe just exhausted after a chance to b vented. "I'm here to see someone. Sun Wukong? He's a guard. A Newblood."

"Hmmm." The woman brought Ruby to a nearby table. "I don't recognise the name but so many people come and go here. Let me check the books quickly. If he came, he will have been signed in. Do you know when it was?"

"Last night."

"Ah. Good. Then he should be recent. Ah, here he is!" The woman smiled over the pages. "Yes, he's still here. Come, I shall bring you to his room."

That easily. Ruby stood. "Is he okay?"

"I wouldn't know just from the book, I'm afraid. It only tells me he is here and where he was placed. There should be more detail in his room. Worry not, if he has been here all night then he should be fine. I know for a fact we haven't lost any patients within the last month. There has been a lot less of that since the Grimm were dealt with."

The corridors of the Emerald Gardens were wide and calming – not peaceful. People in Emerald robes moved about quickly, and patients stumbled or moved with the aid of crutches or another person. They were pretty, though. Flowers could be seen everywhere, and the air smelled of roses and herbs. Tall, wide windows let natural light spill inside in abundance, and the air was pleasantly warm.

After passing many rooms, the woman paused at one and opened it, stepping inside and motioning for Ruby to follow. The room was spacious and heated by a low burning fire. A large bed sat in the centre, with a figure on it that Ruby didn't recognise for a moment. That was because Sun's head was wrapped up in white bandages, only a few tufts of his blond hair poking out. If there had been any doubt of the truth of Lord Winchester's words, those were erased now.

"Sun!" she gasped. "What happened to you!?"

"Huh?" Sun looked over with a dazed expression. "R-Ruby…?"

"You have a visitor Mr Wukong," the Emerald Arcanist said sweetly. "You're a fortunate young man." She moved to the foot of his bed, where a parchment had been attached. Taking it, she read, "Mr Wukong suffered from a fractured skull and intense bleeding from the scalp. It has been healed up, both inside and out, but much of the hair on the left side of his head had to be carefully cut away to reach the wound."

Ruby shivered at the imagery. What had happened to him?

"How do you feel, Mr Wukong?" the Arcanist asked.

"Woozy," he said. "Still… Still a little out of it…"

"Do you feel headaches? Is your vision blurred?"

"No."

"Hmm. Then it may just be the medicine," she explained. "You are on some rather potent mixtures right now. I apologise for the lack of clarity, but that is better than the pain."

Sun laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I'll take that."

"I'll leave you two in peace," the woman said, stepping back with an amused smile. She must have thought them lovers by Ruby's concern. "Visiting hours are until the evening if you wish it. Please call on any of us if Mr Wukong needs anything." The woman closed the door gently behind her.

Ruby couldn't hold it in any longer. "What the hell happened to you!?" she cried. "I left you yesterday and you were fine!"

"Ahah." Sun blushed and glanced away. "I was fine at that point."

"Then what? Were you attacked?"

"I don't really remember…"

Ruby glared at him. "What!?"

"Hey. Hey. They said that's to be expected. I got my noggin split open." He tapped his head, then winced badly. "Ow. Shit. Not touching it. A-Anyway, I remember us talking and then I had dinner and went for a walk later in the evening. I can't remember what happened after that. I…" His face scrunched up. "I know I decided on something. I was going to do something. Something dumb," he admitted. "Then the next thing I know I'm waking up and someone is kneeling next to me asking if I'm alright. My head hurt and there were people shouting for a stretcher."

"You can't remember what caused it?"

"No." He sighed and leaned back on the plush cushions. "The Arcanists here said that's not unusual. People who take hits to the head can forget little things. They said the damage looked like it was caused by my head hitting something rather than me being attacked. The wound isn't the same, they say. A sword would have split my head in two and a blunt weapon would have shattered my skull. They think I fell and hit a rock or a step. That…" He clenched his eyes shut. "I can remember something like that…"

"You can?"

"Yeah. Vaguely. Like, I was holding onto something, then people were shouting. I remember being knocked off – then this sickening sense of vertigo." He sighed. "Then waking up to someone asking me if I'm okay, asking me what I remember."

Memories.

"An Emerald Arcanist…?" she asked.

"No. It was White, actually. A bunch of them."

A cold weight settled on Ruby's chest. "White Arcana? Why? Why were they the ones to find you?"

"I… I don't know. They must have just been the ones to come across me. To be fair, I was close to the White Cathedral. Right by…" He cupped his face. "Right by the Sanctum."

"The Sanctum…" Ruby whispered its name. She'd left in the afternoon and Sun had been there in the evening. They must have just missed one another. The chill seeped into her muscles and bones. "W-Why were you there?" she asked. "What were you doing there?"

"Like I said, I can't remember. Maybe I was just out for a walk."

"No. Think, Sun." She gripped his shoulders. "What were you doing out there before the Arcanists found you?"

"H-hey. Hey!" Sun fought weakly to escape her grip. "I don't know! Okay? I… I don't know. Literally, the only thing I can remember is falling. Then nothing. I don't know what I was doing out there. What's the issue? I'm fine." He laughed. "Sorta. My hair will grow back, then I'll be back to my handsome self."

The desire to scream and pull her hair out was strong but she persevered. Sun didn't understand why the things he was saying had her so on edge. He was at the Sanctum. That can't be any accident. The Huntsmen wouldn't have let him in since he isn't an Arcanist, but they wouldn't attack him either and the Emerald say his wounds came from a fall.

Could he have been trying to climb inside? The hedges outside with the iron spikes above them wouldn't have been good for that, but Sun could have gone around to where they gave way to the building itself. Every window was barred, but he could have been trying to scale around and drop down on the inside of the walls. There was plenty of stone masonry there to bang one's head against. It would also explain why the White Arcana were there when he woke up.

"Were you looking for Jaune?" she asked him.

"Huh?"

"Jaune!" she hissed. "Is that why you went to the Sanctum? Were you trying to find out what happened to Jaune?"

"Ruby…" Sun stared deep into her eyes. "Who's Jaune…?"

/-/

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Lady Glynda Goodwitch looked more than a little startled as Ruby burst into her office, struggling with an Arcanist grasping onto each arm and trying to drag her away. The younger girl fought against them hard enough to get in, elbowing one in the face and twisting her arm to make the other lose grip. The Arcanist cursed and incanted a spell, only to lose it as she butted her head into his nose with a wet crack.

"What is the meaning of this?" Glynda hissed. When she went unheard, she took a glass goblet from her desk and threw it down to shatter on the floor. "CEASE!" she roared. "Enough!"

"My lady!" one of the Arcanists gasped. "This one demanded to see you, refused to be turned away. W-We tried to stop her but-"

"I can see full well how that went. Enough. Take your fellow to the Emerald Gardens and have his nose seen to. Lady Rose, let them go. You have come here violently demanding an audience and I will give you one. Go, go," she told her guards. The first bowed and helped the second up and away. Glynda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You've chosen a bad enough time to come demanding my attention, Lady Rose. What is it that demands you attack your fellows so?"

Rose stalked forward. "You stole my friend's memories away!"

"Your friend-?" Glynda frowned. "Ah. The faunus who was caught last night breaking into the Sanctum." A heavy sigh escaped her. "Of course he would be someone close to you…"

"You admit it!"

"You act as though it is a crime." Glynda sighed again. She'd dreaded this conversation, as much as she knew it had to happen eventually. "Take a seat. Allow me to explain."

"Explain what?" the girl snapped. "How you hurt my friend, forced his memories of his best friend away? Or maybe you want to explain why you're erasing people's memories of Jaune!"

"Lady Rose-"

"Or maybe," the girl snarled, "You want to explain why you used Merlot's sceptre to murder the king and queen!"

A pin dropping would have been deafening in the silence. Glynda looked past the girl to the door, grateful to see her guards had long gone. This, she reflected, was the problem with smart people. They were wonderful to have around, the best you could have when you needed something fixing, but they tended to notice more than they ought to.

"Sit down, Ruby," Glynda said, taking a seat herself. "Sit down and let us talk as adults."

"I'll stand."

Glynda waved her finger and the chair behind Ruby shot forward, struck the back of her knee and tripped her into it. She would have fallen backwards but for Glynda using her magic to control the chair and stop it flipping. It pushed Ruby's knees under the desk instead, seating her opposite. The girl glared and clenched the wooden desk so hard her fingers turned white.

"You will sit. Forget not who I am, Ruby. I am Glynda Goodwitch. I rule the White."

"And the Collegium? You want to be Grand Arcanist after all."

"As if I ever wanted that cursed position. That work, that responsibility. No, I'd rather have nothing to do with it, but someone has to take control. Someone has to lead. If no one else can be trusted to, I must take it for myself. Which means I need someone to replace me here." Glynda fixed Ruby with a stare. "For the longest time, I thought Lady Schnee might be that someone."

"Curse Maria for stealing her away," she spat. "That crone can see potential as well as I can. And she would just love ruining my day. And for what? Her pettiness over not being nominated Grand Arcanist. I spoke against her, you know. That is why she hates me. Do you know why I spoke against her? It was because she wanted the position for nothing more than the ability to study two additional Arcana. That was it. The Grand Arcanist is responsible for the whole Collegium and everyone inside. Their responsibilities are numerous. Maria Calavera would have ignored all of that and buried herself in books to satisfy her curiosity. All while the Collegium burned down around her ears."

"What does she have to do with this?" Ruby hissed.

"Nothing. I only explain so you understand what is needed. Not ambition," Glynda stressed. "Not greed or selfishness or lust for power. Those in control must be committed to the cause. They must be prepared – nay, willing – to do whatever they need to for success. I saw that in Miss Schnee. To a degree, I also see it in you."

The girl crossed her arms. "I'm not like you."

"No. You're not. Not yet. You're still too naïve and idealistic. I was too. Once." She sighed. "Back when I was a young girl your age and thought I could change the world. You soon learn that very few people want change. Not the nobles, not the merchants, not the common folk. They may say they do but change means chaos and they all shy away from that. People want their quiet, predictable lives. That, however, can only be achieved if some bleed. If people like myself work to the bone to make it happen."

"You're a resourceful young woman." Glynda rose and paced about before her desk. "You get things done. You've risen quickly and you're indomitable. Stubborn. Clever. Not wise – not intelligent – but smart. Cunning. The best kind in my eyes. Intellect can be taught, but there are some very intelligent people out there who are too stupid to survive on their own. You're not one of them. There's a reason I included you and Miss Schnee in bringing down Merlot. It was not, despite what Lord Qrow may have believed, because I saw you as expendable. Quite the opposite."

"You were… testing us…?"

"Testing you? No. Grooming you. Training you. Exposing you to challenges to help you grow. I knew that one or both of you would be the perfect successors. In time, perhaps, one to be Grand Arcanist and one to rule the White Arcana. Allies, friends, companions. The Collegium would be united under you. Or…" she hissed, "It would have been. If not for Maria and Merlot."

"How does this excuse you wiping Sun's memories? What's happening to Jaune?"

"Mr Arc's condition is deteriorating. The man you are close will soon be no more." Glynda took little pleasure in the girl's shock. "I'm sorry. Mr Wukong's memories were altered because he sought to reach his friend. Commendable, but dangerous. It is better for all, himself included, if he forgets it ever happened. If he forgets what it was he saw."

"What did he see?"

"That is of no concern here. To keep the Collegium running requires sacrifice. It requires personal sacrifice. There is nothing you could do to save Mr Arc and nothing Mr Wukong could have done. It is a generosity that I have taken the pain and grief away from him. I will remember, of course. I will feel the guilt. But I know I must rise above it. The question, Ruby Rose, is whether you understand the same. Whether you have what it takes to succeed me."

"A-And the Grimm? You killed the royal family."

"They were working to curtail the Collegium's influence."

"You're keeping the Grimm around! People are dying!"

"People die all the time, child. At least here they die for a purpose!"

"That's not right!" Ruby screamed.

"The world isn't right!" Glynda fired back. "The world is a twisted, sick place where people abuse their power. Without us – without the White – Arcanists would run rampant over the population. They would use their powers to control, terrify and destroy!" Glynda slammed her hands on the table. "We are necessary! A necessary evil to keep human greed, curiosity and lust for power at bay!"

Pushing off the desk, she opened the top drawer and brought out a silver vial. The girl's eyes, the same colour, widened drastically. She knew what it was. Good.

"I will offer you a choice, Lady Rose. Accept to learn under me and look over the Collegium as I do. Or forget this ever happened. Forget Mr Arc, Lady Schnee, Merlot and all your troubles."

"You… You're going to erase my mind too if I disagree!?"

Glynda tapped the stopper with her fingernail. "It is not out of cruelty. Won't you be happier with all of this forgotten? You will not have to see Mr Arc's descent into the loss of his mind. You will not feel sorrow when your friend is captured, brought here and sentenced to the Sanctum. You will not have to live with the knowledge of the cruel things we do. Ignorance is bliss in a way, and I offer you blessed ignorance here."

"And what if I say no and refuse to take it?" Rose demanded. "What if I refuse any of that at all?"

Glynda smiled sadly. "You don't have a choice in the matter. You're an intelligent child and your future is bright, but I am an Arcanist of over twenty years to your one." Glynda brought her finger up and let little motes of flame dance around it. "Do you truly believe you can best me…?"

The girl did not slump. Her eyes did not waver. If anything, they began to glow faintly. Without incanting, without any concentration, the flames around Glynda's fingers were snuffed out. Wrested from her control and dashed away. It was all she could do to stare at her own finger in confusion.

"Yes." Ruby Rose said, standing. "I know I can."

Wildmage Ruby incoming.

Next Chapter: 28th November

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur