(Back to this story again as well. For the most part, I'm sticking to my original plans for it despite the volume of RWBY that have dropped since then. Hopefully I can keep the flow going with this alternate imagining of the series progression.

Enjoy!)

Thoughts of Home

Ruby cupped her hands around the bowl of hot soup in front of her, forgoing dining in favor of warming up her hands. The aroma of the broth was tempting, but it didn't overpower the chill that she felt even in her bones. Northern Anima was a ridiculously cold place to be during the winter.

Nora was digging into her own soup, chattering away at Ren as she described the previous day's Grimm kills with a blow-by-blow analysis. For his part, Ren played the part of the attentive listener while slowly picking into steamed potatoes. The fact that he had been fighting alongside Nora the entire time did not seem to matter to her, as she dramatically recounted the smashing of a Beowulf's skull as it had leapt for Ruby's back.

A few of the inn's other patrons were giving them curious looks, mostly because Nora was easily the loudest one there. There were maybe two dozen people in the large common room, many of them lumberjacks or ice fishers who had come in from a day's work in the cold. There were no other Huntsmen in the place besides Ruby, Ren, and Nora, so being armed made them stick out even more. Despite the uncomfortable amount of attention, there wasn't really anywhere else for the three of them to go in the small town of Northstead Crossing.

They'd arrived today only to find themselves caught in yet another heavy snowstorm and unable to keep moving. The town itself had maybe fifty buildings total, most of them small homes for the hundred or so people living there. The watchman at the town gate directed Ruby and the others to the Ramshackle Shack, the only inn present. Despite the town being situated on a major crossroads and even being named for it, there were few travelers on the roads at this time of year, and rooms had thankfully been available.

Ruby knew they needed to wait out the storm, but she couldn't help but get impatient once more as she felt the blood start flowing in her hands again. Worries about what dreadful plans Cinder Fall might have for Mistral and Anima had plagued her lately, and sitting around waiting for some snow to die down wasn't getting them any closer to stopping her. She hadn't pressed Ren and Nora to travel faster; they were here of their own accord, and she'd never boss them around like that anyway.

She did wish her sister was there with them though. And Weiss, Blake, Jaune and Pyrrah and all their friends from Beacon. Ruby missed them all terribly, and she'd have felt far more confident with a large group of friends along for the journey instead of just the three of them. As things stood, she wasn't certain what the plan would be even if they found Cinder Fall and her allies. It still haunted her how Cinder had beaten Pyrrha and toyed with Weiss and herself afterward.

"Ruby?" Ren's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she found his eyes focused on her with a hint of concern. Ruby realized he'd said her name twice now and blushed a bit, embarrassed at being so unattentive.

"Are you alright, Ruby? You're staring into space and not eating at all. That soup's gonna go to waste!" Nora seemed more concerned at the prospect of wasted food than anything, but even she was gazing at Ruby curiously.

"I… yeah, I'm ok,' Ruby replied. "Sorry. I was thinking about Beacon, and our friends, and I don't know..." She set her soup down and hastily swallowed a spoonful, collecting her thoughts. "I guess I'm not used to just waiting around like this. It feels weird and I get distracted and all the bad stuff that's happened lately starts creeping up again."

"The events in Vale are weighing heavily on everyone, Ruby. You're not alone in dwelling on them and being concerned for the future." Ren took another small bite of potatoes and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing and speaking again. "Is there something else on your mind? Not that I'm trying to pry, but-"

"What he's getting at, is that we don't want you bottling anything up, Ruby," Nora cut him off. "Holding it in just makes you go crazy, after all! I know this isn't team RWBY or anything, but we're in this together and that means we help each other with anything, especially chatting about our problems. So come on, tell us what's up!"

Ruby looked at them both, seeing the concern on their faces, and she couldn't help but remember the day they had left Patch and the expressions Nora and Ren had worn then. They'd looked resolute but downtrodden, all due to the heated confrontation that'd taken place outside of Pyrrahs' room in Signal Hospital. The memory of Jaune's anger surfaced all too easily, and Ruby looked away for a moment, chewing on her lip.

"Have you guys been thinking about Jaune?" she finally asked. "Everything that was said the day we left Vale, I tried to ignore it and hoped that Jaune was wrong and that he'd realize it. Now I'm worrying that each day we're here just makes it worse and that he'll never forgive me." Ruby swallowed and looked at her friends, Nora wide-eyed and Ren's face carefully blank. "He definitely won't forgive me if you guys get hurt, or..."

She didn't finish, not bothering to even entertain the idea, but Nora spoke up afterward. "Is that what's been bothering you? Oh, Ruby… come on, that's not on you. None of that little spat was."

"But he was so angry…" Ruby whispered.

"Anger is a common mask for one's own fear," Ren murmured. "The things he said were spoken out of concern, not malice, and he didn't truly mean any of it. What's more, I think he blames only himself for our team being separated right now. He likely believes that if he was a better and stronger team leader, he might have prevented Pyrrah from being so badly hurt and kept us all together."

"That wasn't his fault!" Ruby blurted out. "Nothing that happened is! I don't want him beating himself up and taking the blame for anything. I really don't want him to think that any of us blame him either, or that you guys let me drag you here because you didn't want to stay with him and Pyrrha-"

"Woah, woah, wait just a minute there," Nora cut her off. "Drag us here? Ruby, you know that Ren and I want to stop that Cinder lady as much as you do. She hurt Pyrrha and so many others that night; she can't be allowed to do it again. We chose to come here, and Jaune knows that deep down. He'll be over it as soon as Pyrrha gets better and he can stop stressing out over her, don't you worry!"

The beaming redhead's certainty was contagious to the point that Ruby couldn't help but smile as well. "I guess you're right, I should be giving Jaune more credit. I will give him more credit, and we can focus on what comes next instead."

"Pardon the intrusion, but… might I ask what that would be?"

All three of them turned to see a large, older man with greying hair next to their table, wearing a heavy coat even while indoors. His weathered face and wrinkled eyes made him look at least 50 years old. Ruby recognized him from one of the groups of lumberjacks she'd seen on the other side of the room.

"Oh, uh, we're… travelers?" she stammered out. "We're just trying to get to Mistral once the snow stops. Sorry, but who are…?"

"Just a citizen of the town, miss," the man replied. "Markus Whiddicker, been hauling wood in these parts for 20 years now. Couldn't help but notice that Huntsmen had shown up in town and was hoping to talk to you, see."

Ruby, Ren and Nora all looked at each other, and the same question Ruby was asking herself was visible on their faces as well. People came to Huntsmen for help, and they were already on a tight schedule with helping everyone with the Cinder problem. The issue had been discussed at the start of the trip, and Ruby had reluctantly agreed to at least not go looking for trouble or missions while they were on their way to Mistral. Saying no to someone who had sought them out would be more difficult, though.

"Sir, we're not really full-fledged Huntsmen. No licences or anything," Ruby began. "We do have a mission we're already on, sort of. Is there an emergency or something no one else in the town can do?"

"Ah, well, I wouldn't call it an emergency," Whiddicker replied with a cheerful tone. "Nothing so serious, no. It's just that we've had to keep people on watch around the town walls for a week or so now. Grimm are out and about since folks are stressing over the bad news trickling in lately, especially that mess with the White Fang in the south and east. Could use a bit of a morale boost to keep the town safer through the rest of the winter, and, well…"

All three of them seemed to catch on at once, but it was Nora that spoke up first. "Ooh, you need us to show off while killing Grimm? A big fight for the whole town to watch?"

Whiddicker nodded at her. "Exactly, miss! Folks haven't lost faith in Huntsmen yet, they just need a reminder that we aren't alone out here. It'll get everyone back in high spirits, seeing fighters like yourselves taking on those beasts and winning."

Ruby looked at her friends again, and Ren shrugged and said, "The snow is supposed to keep falling for a while yet. The roads may not be suitable for a day or two; it could hardly hurt to be productive with that time."

After a slight hesitation, Ruby nodded and allowed herself to smile. "I guess we have enough time. It'll be good for these people if we can help out even a little with the Grimm."

"Oh, heck yeah! One big helping of Grimm pancakes, coming right up!" Magnhild transformed in Nora's hands, the redhead whipping her weapon out and planting the end on the floor with a bang that had the entire inn looking at them. Nora barely seemed to notice, however, as she beamed and stood up tall. "You leave it to us, Mister Markus. We'll send those Grimm running for the hills and give this town something to party about!"

For a moment, Ruby felt mortified at the idea that they were causing a scene, but all the patrons in the inn let out cheers of varying heartiness at Nora's proclamation, some raising their mugs in acknowledgment. Nora laughed and raised her hammer in return; Ruby couldn't help but giggle, seeing the other girl's display and the small smile that flashed across Ren's face.

Nora sat back down, cheerfully grabbing her bowl of soup and finishing it off in one big gulp. Ren looked like he might admonish her for her table manners, but instead he just shook his head and finished off his own soup with a few more bites. Swallowing, he looked at Ruby and said, "We'll have to make a plan if we're going through with this. Hunting Grimm down one at a time in the wilderness is one thing, baiting many into attacking us near a town is another."

"Yeah. We'll need to ask around a bit to learn about the area. And we need to make sure the town's secure enough that one or two Grimm can't get by us and break through immediately. We can't put the townspeople at risk for this idea, even if they asked us to do it."

"Agreed."

"Well, duh!" Nora added, grinning like mad at the prospect of a good fight. "We're trying to cheer these folks up, not scare them to death by letting Grimm get in their face. Gotta make it look like a cakewalk!"

Her eyes lit up then, seemingly struck by inspiration. "Ooh, wait, plan coming together. We find a big hill where the townspeople can see us without being too close. Ren and I climb the hill while Ruby runs around really fast and gets a ton of Grimm to chase her. Then she leads them up the hill, and we smack them all back down it!" She looked back and forth between her friends, clearly expecting them to be mind-blown. "Awesome plan, right?"

Ruby and Ren shared amused glances. "It's… well, it's a good start, Nora," Ren slowly replied. "We might need a bit more preparation beforehand, but it is a good idea to keep these folks as far from the fight as possible. Maybe you can ask some of the people in here if there are any suitable hills near the town."

"YES! Score one for Nora!" The redhead laughed and jumped back to her feet. "I'll go find out right now. Talk to you guys in a bit!"

Nora rushed off to find the largest table of townsfolk in the palace and jabber away at them. Ren watched her go with a hint of laughter in his eyes, although he kept his expression mostly blank. For her part, Ruby went back to work on her soup, unable to keep a smile off her own face. For all the difficulties of the journey and uncertainty of the future, having the inseparable duo with her had made the daunting mission bearable. It wasn't the same as having team RWBY with her, but it was close enough.

A thought concerning her team- one of them in particular- prompted a small laugh from Ruby, and Ren looked back over at her. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. I just… kinda wish Yang was here." Ruby looked up after swallowing another spoonful of soup to see Ren watching her with concern in his eyes again, and she hastily backtracked. "I mean, um… I didn't mean that in the mopey way I was talking before! Kinda more like I wish she wasn't missing out on this."

Ren titled his head inquisitively. "How so?"

"Well, she's never been afraid of a fight in her life, and would start them herself sometimes. Baiting a ton of Grimm into a brawl to show off for people? This sort of thing would be right up her alley." Ruby let her smile widen; it helped to talk about family. "She's always been the coolest big sister."

"She certainly made an impression at Beacon. With a strong spirit like hers, I would think that even such an injury won't keep her down for long."

"Yeah…" Ruby shrugged, her enthusiasm fading a little, but she didn't disagree. "She wasn't taking it really well when we left Patch, but it's not like anyone would. I can't see her letting anything get her down forever though. I bet by now she's already gotten back to training and learned how to choke a Beowulf out with one arm from Dad."

"Well, that would certainly be a sight." Ren offered her a kind smile as Nora's voice grew ever louder and more excited behind them. "We'd better start planning on how to take down a whole lot of Grimm ourselves, though. I don't think you need to worry about your sister in the meantime, Ruby. I'm sure she's doing just fine back at your family's home."

Wooden planks cracked, splintered, and finally burst inwards as Yang's back hit the wall behind her and punched straight through. Her legs caught on the edge of the gaping hole that she'd just opened in the building, flipping her halfway over and causing her to crash headfirst into a table. She ended up sprawled on the floor, upended furniture lying around her and the sound of gunfire from beyond the building ringing in her ears.

Louder still was the sound of shoes hitting the floor behind her.

Yang's training kicked in and she got her arms under her, one of flesh and blood and one of steel and plastic, and she shoved herself off the floor hard. Jumping back to her feet, she whirled around, raising her arms into a fighting stance as she did so, and caught sight of the fist flying right through her guard half a second before it impacted against her nose.

Dammit.

The force of the blow sent her flying backwards once more, only now she crashed into a bar counter which proved more resilient than the wall. Glass bottles clinked against one another from the impact or fell to the floor and shattered. Yang slumped halfway to the floor, woozy and shaking her head as she grabbed hold of the bar to keep herself on her feet.

She felt creeping warmth on her chin and lips, and running her good hand under her nose as she staggered back upright left blood on the back of it. Even with aura, that one had hurt. Raising her eyes, she glared defiantly at the woman who stood before her, flicking Yang's blood off her own hand. Sky blue eyes, set in a face of pale skin and with a terrible scar running nearly from eyebrow to chin, glittered with amusement back at her.

"Alright, gorgeous," her opponent chuckled. "Let's have some fun."