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Chapter 10

Ruby had reached her least favorite part of the night. The part where the effects of the alcohol still lingered but her mind began to clear somewhat. Most nights, she did everything in her power to avoid this feeling, whether that meant drinking so much that she passed out or drinking so much that she vomited and then passed out due to exhaustion. She knew that neither would be happening in this instance.

The voices in Ruby's head still yelled at her, reminding her she was a failure. She never disagreed with them, knowing full well that they were right. Worst part was that, in this specific instance, there no arguing that her current rut was anything but her own fault.

After all, she had gotten exactly what she wanted. Her team was back together, only for them to implode in on themselves the second they got out in the field. Once again, she had failed to be the leader they needed her to be. This entire mission had been doomed the second Oscar had given it to her to complete.

"Just a little further, Ruby," Weiss said softly.

Ruby looked forward, realizing she had fallen a few steps behind her partner as they made their way back to the inn. The streets were deserted, however, so urgency didn't seem to be a priority at the moment.

Seeing the worry in Weiss' face and not wanting to add to it, however, Ruby simply nodded and picked up her pace. She had already created enough problems for Weiss since the mission began.

The voices seemed to get louder, and again Ruby knew what they were saying was true. Weiss had taken it upon herself to look after Ruby, either because it was an assignment or because she cared and wanted to help. The idea of the latter being the reason somehow made Ruby feel worse.

If Weiss' loyalty really did come from a place of caring, these feelings were for a different version of Ruby, one she had met and become partners with at Beacon and eventually formed a family with. That version of Ruby didn't exist anymore, and the more time that passed, the more Ruby was convinced that that version of herself had never existed to begin with. It was unfair, and Weiss deserved so much better than being leashed to a huntress who had outlived her ability to do her job.

All of her friends and family deserved better, though Ruby had no idea how to give them that. The best she could do was force her way forward so they could complete the mission and she could stop disrupting their lives.


"What exactly did that accomplish?"

Greger did his best to keep his voice calm and level as they navigated the forest around Holzfäller. Escaping the village itself unseen had been easy, knowing it as well as they did. Traversal became more difficult once they left its confines, partially just due to them lacking their exosuits making the journey much slower. Also not helping was how much Greger found himself looking over his shoulder, just to make sure they were not leaving a trail that could be followed.

Despite clearly hearing him, Hana did not turn her head to give a response. Their was anger forming on her face, though, much in the same way it did when she did not get her way as a child.

"Intel gathering," she finally said, still keeping her eyes narrowed on their improvised path.

"What could you have possibly have learned that we didn't already know?" Greger asked, his expectations minimal.

"Schnee is overprotective of Rose." A snarl formed at the corner of Hana's mouth. "We can use that to our advantage."

"You haven't answered my question."

Hana marched forward, putting enough distance between them to end the conversation.

Greger was not surprised. Hana had already decided that Weiss Schnee would be the focus of her aggression, back when their wayward father had first returned and briefed them on the most notable threats of Ozpin's forces. Hana was set on winning their father's approval, so it was only natural she would choose the former heiress who had walked away from her family legacy to harbor a personal vendetta against.

Greger looked back in the direction of Holzfäller one final time, hoping that this vendetta had not jeopardized their mission. They only needed to remain hidden for one more day, and then everything they had worked for would come to fruition.


"I don't want you to end up like her."

Qrow turned his head to face Summer, who herself was still looking in the opposite direction. She had been quiet for some time, stewing over whatever had been on her mind when they ended their last conversation.

"Like Phaela?" Qrow questioned, not knowing many other people she could be referring to.

Summer nodded as she faced him. "She never got over Gretchen's death. I don't want that for you."

"Phaela's situation is complicated," Qrow replied, trying to be reassuring. "A lot has to go wrong to become what she has."

"Everyone's life is complicated. What makes a difference is not letting those complications turn you into something you're not."

Steadfast silver eyes punctuated Summer's words. That had always been her superpower. Not some ancestral ability that made her better at killing Grimm, but her innate ability to make anyone she spoke to want to be the best version of themselves. Summer spoke, and people listened to and believed her. She had turned around many Team STRQ missions that seemed doomed with just her words, as even Raven's pessimism fell away under her leadership.

Qrow couldn't look at Summer and not see Ruby, even if he were blind and ignorant to the physical resemblance. Somehow, their daughter had inherited her mother's most powerful traits despite barely having known her. Few people would admit it, including Ruby herself, but the war would have likely ended differently for a lot of people had Ruby turned out any other way.

"I'll try," Qrow said, knowing she would never let him live with doing any less.

"Don't try," Summer pushed back, little to his surprise. "Just do it, and if it ever gets hard, you've got your whole family to lean on."

"They'd all probably agree with you too."

"All the better. That means 'Operation: Don't be like Phaela' can go off without a hitch."

Qrow smirked and stayed quiet, ready to let the conversation come to an end. He kept his gaze on Summer, though, whose own eyes were nervously darting back and forth between him and other random spots in the room. She had something else to add, something she was having trouble figuring out how to articulate.

"You know..." Summer began slowly and almost reluctantly. "...'moving on' can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people."

"Such as?" Qrow asked with a raised eyebrow.

Summer's right eye twitched. "Are you really gonna make me spell it out for you?"

"When you're being vague, yes."

"Fine," Summer growled through a fake smile. "It's just that it's been a while since you've been in any kind of meaningful relationship, and while it's huge comfort to know how much I meant to you, there is such a thing as too long."

"So..." Qrow tried to choose his words carefully. "...you want me to get hitched again?"

"Should the right person come along..." Summer averted her eyes from him. At the very least, it helped to know that she wasn't enjoying the conversation any more than he was.

"Might be a tough promise to keep." Qrow's smirk came back. "After all, who could ever live up to you?"

Summer's eyes dropped to her lap. "One person seemed up to try."

Qrow caught himself before he spoke again. Who exactly it was Summer was talking about was not something he needed spelled out.

Robyn Hill had definitely left an impact on him. While their friendship wasn't one that Qrow would necessarily describe as romantic, he couldn't deny that they had formed some kind of connection. Whether it was due to them both having semblances that made them pariahs while growing up or due to the trust in each other they had to have when fate and the war put them together, he couldn't be sure.

Not that it made much of a difference at this point. With Salem defeated, the two of them went their separate ways. Last Qrow had heard, Robyn had returned to Mantle, to rebuild the version Atlas she had been fighting for before it fell. It felt selfish to squeeze his way back into her life at this point, especially since he hadn't even tried to keep in touch.

"Like I said, it might be a tough promise to keep," Qrow summarized, knowing Summer would understand his reasoning.

Summer looked back up at him, conviction still in her eyes. She wanted what she thought was best for him, though fate rarely bent based simply on what people wanted. What Qrow actually wanted was for Summer to be alive and actually there with him, which he knew to be an empty wish at this point. Again, the looks passed between them communicated these thoughts just the same.

"I love you," Summer said instead.

"Only because you never knew any better," Qrow deflected, finally getting a smile out of Summer.

"You're a jerk," Summer shot back as she lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"And you're a brat."

Summer's response was a simple snort before she slid over and rested her head on his shoulder.

Qrow let his eyes close a few minutes after that. Hazel was still planning something, and he knew he would need all his faculties about him to stop whatever was coming next.


Yang regretted not having another drink. With Weiss having insisted on being the one to walk Ruby back to the inn, Yang had to hold back to help look for clues that may or may not have been left behind by the two individuals who may or may not have been the assassins they had fought earlier. This all meant that Yang was now completely sober and alone with the very person she couldn't get out of her head.

She watched as Blake poked around what was now the third alleyway they had checked since leaving the bar, and probably wouldn't have been much help if she hadn't been distracted. Blake's current investigation involved a couple scuff marks in the mud, and they seemed to be frustrating her regardless of whether or not they were an actual trail for her to follow.

Part of Yang hoped Blake didn't find anything concrete, as she didn't think her mind was in a place for another fight at the moment. Again, her thoughts were fixated on her partner, more specifically on something she had said that hadn't even been directed at her. Yang wasn't sure what to do with what she had heard, whether she should stuff it down or be direct to keep it from eating away at her more than it already had.

"Yang!" Blake's voice suddenly cut in, interrupting her thoughts. "Did you hear me?"

Still unsure of how to choose her words, Yang simply turned her head, hoping that was enough to communicate she was paying attention.

"I said we should keep moving," Blake continued. "We still might be able to catch their trail if we hurry."

With a sudden need to grab her moment while she could, Yang locked eyes with her partner. "You never answered my question."

Blake's expression sank, a sign that she remembered what she had been asked. More than likely, she had hoped the question would go away once they got back to the task at hand. In her defense, though, she stood her ground all the same.

"Of course I don't regret being a huntress," Blake said, retaining most of her composure. "With all the lives we saved, how could I?"

"Then why did you leave," Yang asked, deciding there was no point in not being direct now.

Blake pinched the bridge of her nose. "I thought we agreed to put our personal feelings aside."

"I did too."

"Then what changed?"

"Nothing!" Yang yelled, pausing immediately after to calm down. She tried to speak softer. "Nothing's changed, and that's the problem. I'm still in love with you."

Amber eyes looked nervously at her. Yang knew better than to drive herself crazy trying to guess what Blake was thinking.

"I'm not even expecting you to say you still feel the same way," Yang pushed on. "I just want to know what went wrong."

"Who said anything went wrong?" Blake asked back, her voice cracking briefly but noticeably.

"It felt like you did. One day we were a team and the next..." Yang trailed off, her thoughts a bit more jumbled than she thought they would be. "You didn't even ask me to come with you."

Blake's eye-line shifted downward for a split second before returning to Yang. "Would you have come if I did?"

"Of course."

"Would you have been happy?"

Yang hesitated, thinking back to the days leading up to Blake leaving Team RWBY. Yang had spent most of her life in Vale, though had learned to live in a number of different places as her team was constantly forced to relocate as the war with Salem escalated. She didn't know much about Menagerie, let alone what kind of work a huntress could expect to find there. Her other skills were limited, though Yang believed she would have gotten used to the lifestyle change after a small adjustment period.

What gave Yang further pause her current family situation, and how she would have coped with the separation. Granted, the exact extent of the toll taken on Ruby by the war hadn't yet fully manifested, and it wasn't as though her presence had ended up helping much. Still, Yang knew that it would have been torture to know that her sister was suffering on the other side of the world, and would have ultimately blamed herself for not being there.

"We both needed different things back then," Blake said. "We'd have resented each other if we pretended otherwise."

"What about now?" Yang asked, desperate for closure if nothing else.

Blake crossed her arms and turned her head away. "I'm gonna go scout around on my own a bit. That way we can both clear our heads."

Before Blake could spin around and walk away, Yang considered stopping her and calling her out for almost everything from her side of the exchange. After all, Blake had no way of knowing exactly what could or would have been, and pretending to was no different than any of the other times she had run away.

Yang held her tongue, however, knowing that falling back on pettiness and anger would set them back even further. Instead, all she could do was watch her partner walk away and hope that waiting wouldn't end the same way.


Weiss closed the door to their room behind her as she and Ruby stepped inside. The walk back had been uneventful compared to their time at the bar, though Weiss still kept her guard up to be on the safe side.

At the same time, she kept Ruby as the center of her attention, not sure if the night was over just yet. Ruby detached Crescent Rose from her belt, aiming to lean it up against the nightstand, only to miss her mark and let it fall to the floor. Ignoring the scythe, quite possibly the most un-Ruby thing Weiss had ever seen, she slumped to the floor and leaned back against the bed.

Weiss immediately stepped forward to set Crescent Rose upright, though paused before turning around to face Ruby herself. She knew what she going to do, which was help her partner. Where she found herself stuck was how she would accomplish this. She had already exhausted every idea she had, and she worried she had only made things worse, and would only continue that trend if she made the wrong decision.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said suddenly, her voice cracking ever-so-slightly.

Weiss instantly turned around, finding Ruby looking back up at her with wide and watery eyes. Ruby had become adept at keeping her emotions hidden during the war, a mechanism to keep up appearances around people under her protection and command. The fact that they were spilling out like this gave Weiss a decent indication of everything her partner was internalizing.

Weiss carefully sat down on the floor. "You don't have anything to be sorry about."

"Yes, I do." Ruby looked away, almost as though she were ashamed of herself.

A knot formed in Weiss' chest, a reminder of how she pried Ruby away from the bar, and thus was likely playing a part in the mess of emotions Ruby currently was. For however little it would help, Weiss knew she had to put things right.

"I'm the one who's sorry, Ruby." Weiss inched closer to Ruby. "I only said that stuff about my mother-"

"To get me to leave, I know." Ruby glanced back in her direction, no blame in her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Weiss. I know how big a screw up I am."

"Ruby-"

"And the worst part is that it's all my own fault."

Weiss took a second to process this claim, not sure where it was coming from. Ruby had been through a lot since they first arrived at Beacon, and had been forced to make number of unfair decisions as a result, though nothing Weiss could think of could be construed as Ruby's own doing. Whatever was eating at her conscience was something Weiss was not aware of.

"How so?" Weiss asked carefully.

Ruby took her own pause, her eyes darting between Weiss and the room's exit. Her fists clenched together, among other mounting signs that nervousness was mixing with her guilt and sadness.

"I broke the rules."

"What rules?" Weiss replied, the answer having not alleviated any of her confusion.

Ruby stared blankly at Weiss. If she had a reply to give, she did not know how to share it.

"Did something happen during the war?" Weiss questioned, hoping she was succeeding at keeping accusation out of her voice. "Something you didn't tell me about?"

Ruby turned away, a gesture Weiss took as sign to change her approach.

"Look, Ruby..." Weiss reached out to her partner, interlacing her left with hand with Ruby's and using her right to cup Ruby's cheek and gently shift her head so they were facing each other again. "You don't have to tell me now, but just know that there is nothing you could have done that will make me think less of you."

Ruby sniffled once, her eyes still weary. Knowing her and the pressure she often put on herself, she did not believe what was being said to her.

"And since we're talking now and I've never actually said this to you..." Weiss continued, suddenly feeling nervous for reasons she could not quite pin down. "You are not an obligation or burden to me. You are important to me, and I will always be here for you."

One more sniffle followed before Ruby leaned forward, burying her face in the crook of Weiss' neck. Weiss felt Ruby's body tremble against hers, with the sobs coming one at a time soon after. Weiss did not let go, though, even with tears rolling down her neck and the feeling of Ruby breathing against her chest. If anything, she only held her partner tighter as this continued.

A long time ago, Weiss had promised Ruby that she would be the best partner she could. Despite not knowing what was hurting Ruby or even a reliable way to make her feel better, she had absolutely zero intention of going back on her word. For the time being, Weiss knew she would just have to work with what she had.