Moaning to herself groggily, Scythe slowly cracked open her eyes, taking in the image of her now empty room before pushing herself into a sitting position on her bed. It buckled and shifted with her weight, much more-so than the suspended bed of her sister should have, and it felt as though it were conforming to her curves greatly. Sitting up and quickly surveying her surroundings, Scythle realized that all four beds of Team RWBY were not only empty, but also in perfect view from her corner of the room. Looking down, Scythle realized that she was currently tucked into a hammock, made out of a spare bed sheet, and tied to the beams overhead with thick ropes.

'Right,' Scythle thought as she swung her legs out from under the thin sheet on top of her. 'Ruby Rigged This Up Yesterday.' Gently hopping out of the makeshift bed, Scythle inserted her stump into her Scythleg, finally removed from the wall, and hooked up the latches before walking out towards the middle of the room.

The rest of the lights were off, the fixtures overhead, Blake's reading light, the lamps at the desks, none of them were on; yet the room was still so brightly lit, it was nowhere near as dark as it should have been. Scythle's stomach growled, and she came to realize that, in her sister's absence, the sense of hunger was probably what woke her up. She scowled to herself as she imagined her sister leaving without her for the third day in a row as she looked over at the digital clock between all the beds.

9:44 AM.

"Crap, I'm So Late!" Scythle cried out as she quickly spun around and darted into the closet behind her, leaving behind a trail of purple rose petals as she quickly threw on her uniform.


Scythle took another step back, holding her arms behind her back as she once again stepped out of the way of Jaune's attack before the blond attempted to slash at her again. The purple girl just closed her eyes and leaned back, feeling her incorrectly worn uniform tug at her as she did so. Jaune brought back his shield with the motion before attempting to swat Scythle with it, only for the girl to catch onto it before flipping over him, quickly yanking the shield out of his grip and throwing it across the arena. Tightening his grip on the handle, Jaune attempted to bash Scythle over the back of the head with it, only for the purple girl to step out of the way.

Almost immediately, Jaune bashed Scythle in the side of the head with an elbow strike, causing the girl to stumble for a few steps. Looking back at where the blond once was as she got her footing, Scythle found nothing but air, the quick stomping of his boots echoing through the arena. Looking in their direction, Scythle found Jaune picking up his shield once more. Sighing behind her popped, incorrectly buttoned collar, Scythle lifted up her Scythleg and, with a swift kick, launched a shot off at the blond.

Lifting up his shield, the bullet reflected off the arc symbol as Jaune began to close the distance between himself and his opponent. Scythle launched off more shots, and each one ricocheted off his shield as Jaune brandished his sword, ready to strike. Feeling her eyebrows tighten, Scythle ran towards the blond before jumping above his head, quickly aiming her Scythleg at him as she went in for a double kick.

Instead, the only thing she hit was his shield, the bullet rattling within the barrel of her leg as Jaune quickly swung it out from under her, removing her footing before swinging his sword down at her, slamming her into the ground. Before Scythle could get up, Jaune quickly brought his shield down on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As Jaune prepared to land another strike, Scythle braced her gunleg against the ground and let out a shot, quickly throwing herself away from the blond in an acrobatic spin, an edge of her dress shirt attempting to fly out.

Bracing against the floor as she landed, Scythle let out another shot and launched herself at Jaune, fists at the ready as she flew towards her target. Jaune once again brought up his shield, allowing Scythle to smack face first into it before giving her another bap with it, knocking her back. As stumbling on her feet, Jaune quickly took advantage of Scythle's state and bashed the hilt of his sword against her head, knocking her to the ground.

As she hit the ground, a buzzer rang out through the arena. Scythle looked up at the screens above her, finding her bar in the red and Jaune's in yellow. She scowled as she silently got up to her feet, once again feeling her backwards uniform tugging at her as Glynda concluded the match.

As Scythle began walking towards the arena's stairs to leave the arena, she heard Pr. Goodwitch call out to her. "And Ms. Dieful, I'd like to speak with you after class."

Scythle felt her blood run cold as she climbed the stairs, approaching her excluded seat with nearly ever eye in the room on her, just as when she came in nearly a full hour late with her incorrectly worn uniform. She scooted into her seat, bare legs making contact with the cold chair, mouth almost hidden behind her asymmetrically buttoned collar, one side sticking out higher than the other, free of the ribbon, as she laid her chin in her arms as Ruby was called down. The red girl paid no mind to her purple version as she walked by, neither did Scythle pay Ruby; she was much too busy thinking about how screwed she was.

There was nothing else for the girl to do but wait for the inevitable. She couldn't escape from Beacon, her plan to short-out the track device and cause explosive distractions across Beacon was completely out of the window after her and Ruby's fight; and with the tracking device strapped to her wrist, there was nowhere for her to run or hide. She was fast, but not even she could have escaped from Vale within a day's limit, even without the tracking device. She was helpless, there was nothing for her to do.

As Goodwitch began wrapping up the fight Scythle wasn't even aware had ended, she quickly dismissed the rest of the class as the bell rang. Everyone in the room save Scythle got up to leave, the purple girl not even noticing as Ruby passed by her desk, sending a harsh glare at her look alike before catching up with her team.

'So This Is How My Story Ends?' Scythle thought as Goodwitch's heels clicked up the stairs towards her. She heard a chair scuffing across the floor besides her, but refused to move her eyes up to look at the blonde teacher as she sat down.

"Your failure to follow the dress code would be cause enough for me to hold you after class," Goodwitch stated, placing her intertwined hands on the table as she looked Scythle over. "Though your recent grades have also been cause for concern."

"I Fail At Everything." Scythle mumbled into her arms.

"Academically, yes, you've always been terrible at those," Goodwitch began. "But your performance in combat has also begun to slip. And then there's been your recent behavior."

"I Haven't Been Doing Anything." Scythle snarled, looking up at the teacher without changing her position, finally showing an emotion as a glint of anger flared through her eyes.

"Exactly." Goodwitch said. "Outside of your tardiness and your inability to dress yourself, you haven't been misbehaving. Just today, you've missed at least three different opportunities to make some innuendo or double entendre at something I said. Me wanting to see you after class, for instance."

Scythle felt her eyes fall as she stared back down at the desk, once more unwilling to look at anything around her. "Yeah." She muttered out, more to herself than to the teacher.

"And then there's been the way you and your teammates have been seemingly avoiding each other." Goodwitch concluded before turning to face Scythle completely. "I've seen stuff like this before, Ms. Dieful, it can prove rather common. What I'm trying to ask, is what's wrong?"

"… What Do You Care?" Scythle snarled out under her breath, still not lifting her head as she glanced up at her teacher. "You Didn't Even Want Me Here, And You've Responded To My Presence With Anything But Kindness. You Have A Chance To End Me, Shouldn't You Be Doing A Jig Right About Now?"

The professor glared at her student for a moment, opening her mouth to undoubtedly go on so sort of lecture about Scythle's behavior, but she quickly closed her mouth, closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath before sending Scythle another sympathetic look. "You want me to be honest?"

Scythle nodded slightly before Glynda looked down, rolling her eyes around as she tried to figure out how to phrase what she was going to say. "I… I really don't care about you." She began, looking back up at Scythle with an attempt at a harder look. "You're right, I never did want you here, and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon. After all of the people you've hurt, all the people you've killed by abusing your powers, I hated the idea of you becoming one of my students. If it were up to me, your punishment would have been much, much more severe."

Scythle went back to looking down grimly as Goodwitch took in another breath, loosening her face as she placed a hand on Scythle's shoulder. "But whether I like it or not, you're one of my students now. And it's my job to care for each of them, to help them through any problems they may have. Now please, Scythle, tell me what's wrong."

Scythle stared down blankly before glancing back up at Glynda, lifting up her chin to get a better look at the woman's face, much softer and kinder than she had ever seen it. "You… You Really Want To Help Me?"

"I'm a teacher, Ms. Dieful." Glynda said. "If I were unwilling to help a student like you, I would never have taken the job offer."

Scythle looked back down at the table as she slowly sat up, feeling her eyes start to water as she slowly processed the idea that Glynda Goodwitch, strictest teacher in Beacon, after everything the two had said about each other, was willing to help her. She clenched her fists in a quick attempt to fight the tears back as she looked up at the woman. "Ruby Hates Me." She blurted out, almost too quick for Glynda to process.

"After she was so adamant about bringing you in, I find that unlikely." Glynda said as Scythle quickly spun around in in her seat.

"She Does Now." Scythle said, feeling the tears slowly start to trickle down her cheeks. "I Tried To Escape A Few Nights Ago, And When She Tried To Stop Me, I Told Her So Many Hurtful Things After Everything She's Done For Me And She – She's Just Done With Me Now. She Doesn't Want Anything To Do With Me Anymore." Scythle brought up a hand to try to wipe the tears out of her eye, as if it would somehow stop more from pouring out. "I've Been On My Own For, Oum, Twelve Years? And She Was My One Chance At Having A Real Family And I Just-I Just Blew It."

"Easy there, Scythle." Glynda said calmly, gently pulling Scythle closer, rubbing a circle into the girl's shoulder in an attempt to calm the girl down.

"It's Not Like I Blame Her Or Anything." Scythle said. "At This Point, I'd Hate Me. I Do Hate Me. Oum, Why Am I Such A Fucking Idiot?"

"Have you told her any of this?" Glynda asked, seemingly causing more tears to well up in Scythle's eyes.

"N-No, I Haven't." Scythle said, looking down at the puddle she was creating under her chin. "But It's Not Like She Would Listen To Me Anyway."

"Of course she would," Glynda said, pulling Scythle's chin up, guiding Scythle's gaze back up towards her. "She's your sister, and she loves you dearly. If she didn't, she wouldn't have convinced us to bring you in."

"I… What If It Doesn't Do Anything?" Scythle asked. "What If I Tell Her And She Still Doesn't Like Me, What If She Still Hates Me?"

"I don't think Ruby has it in her to hate anyone." Glynda stated. "She's shown concern for Cardin Winchester and the rest of his team, and she and Weiss are becoming fast friends after a... Rocky introduction."

"And What If I'm The Exception?"

"Would you rather wallow in your own self-pity?" Glynda asked, causing Scythle's eyes to deviate from her. "Or would you want to at least try to make amends?"

"I…" Scythle muttered to herself, whipping away the remainders of her tears before looking up at Glynda, feeling a smile begin to cross her lips. "Th-Thanks, Pr. Goodwitch, I Think I Know What To Do Now."

"Good." Glynda said, reaching out behind herself before grabbing the hem of Scythle's cape as the purple girl tried to dart off, a wave of rose petals flying past her into the air above her head. "Now then, about that escape attempt you mentioned?"

Scythle grit her teeth and scrunched her right eye, a second wave of fear shooting through her as she looked back at the blonde teacher. "Heh, Not Letting Me Off The Hook About That, Are You?"

Scowling once more, Glynda slowly shook her head before Scythle pulled out a seat, smiling nervously in an attempt to reassure herself as she broke eye contact. "I-In Fairness, It Was Probably Doomed To Fail Anyway, And I-I Do Very Much Regret It."

"You better make this good, Dieful."


Ruby ran her sharpening stone across Crescent Rose's blade harshly, creating a loud cry as she quickly flicked it off the silver metal before running it across again. Normally, nearly nothing would bring her greater joy then being able to work on her baby in peace, no projects to work on, no homework to complete, and no teammates to annoy her. Yet instead of smiling, she stared down at the blade with a scowl, meticulously sharpening it with a harsh look in her eye as she sat alone in her team's room, the rest of her team out doing their own things; Yang spending time with her friends from Signal, Blake reading in the library, Weiss off doing whatever Weiss considered fun, and she honestly doubted she could care less about whatever Scythle was doing.

Setting down the tool, she let out a sigh at the thought of the criminal, the mere thought of her setting a flicker of rage alight inside her. She still couldn't believe it, after everything she had done for her, everything they had said to each other, Violet still tried to reject it all. She wasn't even sure if Violet was her real name anymore, probably another fake backstory to gain some sympathy. Well, if 'Violet' didn't want her, then Ruby didn't want her either.

Gritting her teeth, Ruby quickly shock her head, attempting to get the thought out as she stared down at her reflection. "Come on, Ruby, don't do this. Remember what Yang said, 'Hate's too strong an emotion to waste on someone you don't-"

*Vuuuuuum* * Vuuuuuum*

Looking up from the shining blade, Ruby looked over the white case of her scroll as it slowly dragged itself across the table before reaching for it. Flicking it open, she was greeted by the image of her partner, her emblem at the top corner of her icon as the message quickly displayed itself.

'Meat Me in the Cafeteria.'

Cocking an eyebrow as she read over the message a second and third time, Ruby shrugged her shoulders before stuffing the scroll in her pocket and heading out, trying to figure out what Weiss would need her for at the cafeteria. She didn't remember Weiss say she would be doing anything involving the cafeteria when she left, though she also didn't remember Weiss saying much of anything when she left, so maybe she just wasn't paying attention.

Even with the cafeteria doors closed, Ruby could make out the hustle and bustle clearly, with the sound of clattering echoing into the hallway before she even got close. This only left Ruby more confused with Weiss's message, she didn't remember anyone mentioning any special events that would need that much preparation, or any preparation, really. As she reached for the handle, she also noted that Weiss didn't have enough friends at Beacon for this to be a personal thing.

Still expecting a large crowd when she pulled the door open, Ruby found herself standing in front of a barren cafeteria, devoid of any other students. Instead, the room seemed to have been decorated with an excessive amount of posters and ribbons, with one large banner hanging from one pillar to another all the way down, crudely painted letters stretching across them in purple paint. Though what caught Ruby's attention the quickest was the purple blur darting around the room, leaving a trail of violet rose petals behind her before quickly zipping in front of her.

With a quick gust of wind pulling their capes to the side, Scythle stood before Ruby, panting heavily as she quickly glanced back at the cafeteria to make sure all the decorations were in place before looking back at her sister, nervously smiling at her. "Hey… Sis… You're Early."

Without another word, Ruby spun around on her heel and began to walk back down the hall before Scythle reached out and grabbed her wrist. "H-Hey, You Can't Leave So Soon!"

"Why not?" Ruby asked, quickly pulling her hand out of her look-alike's grip as she looked back at her. "You stole Weiss's scroll just so you could trick me into showing up."

"Actually, She Lent It To Me." Scythle corrected. "With Actual Permission And Knowledge Of Why."

"And I'm just supposed to believe you?" Ruby asked, glaring at her look-alike. "You made it clear you lied to me before, why should I trust you now?"

"Just Give Me Three Minutes-!"

"Goodbye, Scythle." Ruby snarled before attempting to walk away again.

*Cl-Click*

"What the…" Ruby turned back once more to look down at her right wrist, now wrapped in the black and purple metal of Scythle's handcuffs, the other end trailing towards a similar cuff around Scythle's right wrist. Scowling, Ruby lifted up their linked wrists, pulling the purple girl towards her. "Scythle, uncuff us, right now."

"No Can Do."

"Scythle, as your leader, I order you to-"

"No, I Mean I Actually Can't Open These." Scythle said as she pointed down at the black pad on her cuff, now with a faint green glow cutting through it. "I Had Them Rigged To Work On A Timer, They Won't Open For The Next Five Minutes."

"Why?" Ruby said as Scythle began guiding her back into the cafeteria.

"Because I Figured It'd Be The Only Way I'd Get You To Listen." Scythle said before gesturing up towards the first banner, reading 'I'm So Sarry,' before looking back at her sister. "Look, Ruby, I… I Understand Why You Wouldn't Want Anything To Do With Me Anymore. First Chance At Having A Big Sister, First Chance That Maybe Our Parents Left Us Something A Little More Than A Few Cloaks, First Chance To Play Big Sis, And I Was Trying To Sabotage It And Making It So Much Harder Than It Should Have Been."

"That's an understatement." Ruby huffed, crossing her arms in spite the way it tugged Scythle's arm towards her chest.

"I Know, I Know." Scythle said, looking down at their shoes. "I've Spent So Long Doing Things On My Own, So Much Time Needing To Care About No One But Myself, Going Up Against So Many People Who Only Cared About Their Selves, I Forgot That Sometimes, People Do Care." Scythle looked back up at Ruby, the rehearsed speech she had prepared all but completely forgotten as she tried to figure out where to go next. "Our Mom, You Miss Her, Right?"

"… Yeah." Ruby mumbled out, still trying to scowl at the purple girl.

"Well, That's Something We Have In Common." Scythle said. "I… I Never Got The Chance To Know Her, Really, Just A Few Images Without Context. The Only Way I Really Learned About Her Was Through Whatever I Could Find Online. She… She'd Be Disgusted By Me, And I Know It. I Never Really Had A Family, Whatever Friendships I Made Were Short Lived, I… I Guess I Started Devaluing That Stuff, 'If I Don't Have It, No One Does,' Or Something Like That, But… Seeing You With Yang… You Don't Even Have Blood Ties, And She Treats You So Well."

Ruby had long since dropped her scowl as Scythle reached up to scratch the back of her head. "I… I've Always Wanted Something Like That. Someone Who'd Always Be There For Me Even At My Worst, Pushes Me To New Limits, Someone Who Wants To Help Me… Just Cause She Cares, Ya Know? I… I Get That I Might Not Ever Make Up For Lying To You Like That For So Long, And I Get That You Have No Reason To Believe I Mean Any Of This… But I Don't Know-I Don't Think-… I Wouldn't Be Able To Live With Myself If I Didn't At Least Try To Show How Much The Chance At A Family Means To Me."

Looking down at her stretched out hand, Scythle gently pulled it back, allowing Ruby's to hang limply as Scythle looked back up at her sister. "If You're Willing To Give Me Another Chance… Then I Promise I Won't Make You Regret It…"

"… How do I know you're not lying?" Ruby asked, putting on a suspicious, though much less aggressive, look as she cocked an eyebrow at her sister.

"I Get That My Word Isn't Much To Go On, But…" Violet began, muttering the last word to herself as she racked her brain trying to figure out where to go from there. "They've Already Got Me On Death Row, Sis. If Ya Ever Think I'm Trying To Back Out of This, You Can Tell 'Em Ta Do As They Please With Me."

Ruby looked back up at the banners strung across the room, quickly reading over every poorly spelled apology as they moved on towards the other side of the room, suspended on pillars wrapped with ribbons of various colors. She wasn't too sure where Scythle had found the material for half of this stuff, yet here it all was. Let it never be said that her sister doesn't go big.

Sister…

"One more chance." Ruby said, giving her sister a smile as she grabbed the hand at the other end of the cuffs. "And you better have learned something from this."

Quickly beaming with one of the biggest smiles Ruby ever saw Violet give, the purple girl quickly pulled her red sister into a hug roughly. "I Promise Not To Let You Down This Time!" She cried out, causing Ruby's ear to slightly ring.

'Maybe we are making progress.' Ruby thought as she brought her free arm around her sister's shoulder. 'Even if she'd refuse to admit it.'

"Now Then," The purple girl said as she pulled back from Ruby, still gripping her cuffed hand tightly. "How's About You And Me Catch Up With Each Other, For Real This Time."

"I'd really like that, Violet." Ruby smiled.

"Amethyst." Scythle corrected before scratching the back of her head. "My Real Name's Amethyst."

Despite the fact that her sister was telling her that one of the first things she told her was a lie, Ruby couldn't help but keep the smile going as Scythle started pulling her towards one of the tables, across which was a variety of baked goods that all looked hastily thrown together, teetering cakes, deformed pies, misshaped cookies. Ruby was oddly touched by all of it as she looked down at her and Amethyst's wrists. "Can you take these cuffs off now? Eating's kinda hard with one hand."

"Eh?" Amethyst said before pulling up their still liked wrists. "That's Weird, They Should Have Opened A Few Minutes Ago." The purple girl began pulling on the black metal strap, finding it refusing to move out of its lock before looking down at the black pad, narrowing her eyes before they shot open. In an instant, the girl found herself smiling awkwardly, scratching the back of her head. "M-My Mistake, I Set The Clock For Five Hours, Not Five Minutes."

Ruby let out a sigh, shaking her head as her sister chuckled nervously. "Sis…" She wasn't sure what to say really, she just felt like saying something. "You really are a mess, you know that?"

"Well, That's Why I'm Here, Right?" Scythle chuckled before grabbing Ruby's hand again. "So That I Can Become Less Of A Mess."

"Yeah, I guess." Ruby said as she turned her attention back towards the various goods across the tables. "So where do you want to start?"

"Oh, The Cake!" Scythle said as she started dragging her sister towards the crumbling cake in question. "I Spent A Good Hour On It, And I Love Cake!"

"Guess we do have a few birthdays to catch up on." Ruby shrugged as she caught her footing and began following Scythle.


"Uh, I feel like I'm about to explode." Ruby whined as she lied on her bed, clutching her now bloated stomach.

"Of course, you do." Yang said, turning her attention back to the girl in purple, sitting in her hammock as she picked at her teeth with a wooden pick. "You made her eat how much."

"It Was Just Everything I Made." Scythle said as she flicked the toothpick into a random corner of the room. "'Waste Not, Want Not,' Right? Besides, It Was All Meant For Her Anyway."

"That doesn't mean you two eat the entire thing in one night." Weiss said. "Seriously, where did you get the ingredients for all that?"

"Oh Yeah, That Reminds Me, We Might Need To Go Out For Lunch And Dinner For A Few Days." Scythle stated, looking up at the girl in white across the room. "The Kitchen Seems To Have Suddenly Lost A Lot Of Their Reserves."

"What?"

"Don't Worry, I Got Their Permission." Scythle shrugged. "I'm Sure They'll Be Fine."

"Ytnom alive, I liked it better when you guys hated each other." Weiss said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "At least then you were quiet and out of the way."

"Yeah, That's Why We Skipped Over Those Days," Scythle said, laying down into her bed as she placed her hands behind her head. "They Were Boring."

"You know what, forget it." Weiss said as she pointed up toward her leader. "She's your problem again, I'm getting my ear muffs."

"Amethyst, why isn't your stomach…" Ruby began as she tried to look down at her sister, only to lie back down when a ting of pain shot through her stomach. "Hurting?"

"Bit Of Experience, Growing Up I Used To Eat My Meals In Bulk." Scythle said as she placed a hand over her stomach. "Get As Much As I Could In One Go, Though That Was A Bit Much Even For Me."

"If you two get sick tomorrow, you can take care of yourselves." Weiss stated as she slapped on her white earmuffs before pulling her sheets over her.

"Whatever You Say, Ice Queen." Amethyst said, rolling her eyes before looking up at Ruby. "Actually, Speaking Of Tomorrow, Do You Have Anything Planned, Sis?"

"Realign in pain." Ruby groaned before looking over at her sister. "Why?"

"Well, If You Need To Make A Rain Check On That, I Know This One Garden I've Been Meaning To Revisit." The purple girl began before sitting up to get a better look at her sister, causing her makeshift bed to buckle and bend under her. "Wanna Come?

"Love to." Ruby smiled before gripping her stomach again. "Once I've finished digesting half of the school's rations that is."

Smiling upon hearing this, Amethyst readjusted herself in her bed, realizing how comfy it was as she folded her hands behind her head. "It's A Date, Then." She said, as she took her eyes off her sister and began staring at the ceiling.

She was beginning to wonder why she wanted to leave.


When I was first conceptualizing this arch, I knew I wanted Ruby to confront Scythle when she was trying to escape, but the original idea was to have Scythle be working on setting up a charge when Ruby finds her and then they have their fight. Looking back, I'm not exactly sure why I nicked that idea, but instead, Ruby found Scythle before she even left the room.

The fight with Jaune was a last minute throw in, something I decided to work on later as I worked on the rest of the story, something to show how the fight with Ruby had effected Scythle. At first, it's place holder was just a few paragraphs going over how she had been showing up late to class, how RWBY had started excluding her, and how she was wearing the uniform wrong. I think the fight with Jaune did a better job showing all of that instead of just telling you all.

I was also sure I wanted Scythle to create this great big celebration thing to apologize to Ruby. An idea I had for this was Ruby's birthday, but according to RWBY Chibi (God that title sucks), her birthday is in October, which would have pushed it too close towards the Vytal Tournament for me to do some lesser archs to expand on the story and Scythle's character. I would have attempted to go with the date the Red trailer aired as Ruby's birthday, but that's in November, towards the end of fall, beginning of winter, and Ruby mentioned it was fall in Volume 3, even less time.

Aside from that, there's nothing else to say here, hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you all in the next update.