AUTHOR'S NOTES: More like a warning. This is by far the most depressing chapter I've written for this fanfic. But our heroines just got hit pretty bad, and they're not just going to spring back. Not even Ruby. Just remember, though: it's always darkest before the dawn.

Eisenhower Armed Forces Medical Center

Augusta, Georgia, United States of Canada

18 May 2001

Ruby Rose had the oddest sensation: she could actually feel her body coming awake. It started at her toes and fingers, which twitched a little, then spread up her body, returning feeling to her brain before it reached her eyes. She slowly opened them. Something felt nice and fluffy under her head, warm over her body, and soft beneath it, but there was an antiseptic smell she couldn't quite place.

As her eyes came open and she looked around, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling and walls, then the hospital bed she was in, and the machines next to it that gave her vital signs. An IV bag was placed over her and tubes snaked down to her arm, and under the covers to places she really didn't want to think about. Then her eyes focused on the other person in the room. "Dad?"

Taiyang Xiao Long was sprawled in a chair, asleep. Though retired from the USAF now, he still wore his blond hair short. He was also still proud that, despite pushing forty, he still wore the same size as he had while on active duty—if anything, hard work around the farm at Patch had added bulk and muscle to him. Yet Ruby knew that her father was one of the most gentle men in the world, a single dad who had managed to raise two rough-and-tumble daughters after one wife had deserted him, and another had disappeared. "Dad?" Ruby repeated. Her throat was dry, scratchy.

Tai stirred, blinked, then sat up straight so fast he nearly fell out of the chair. "Ruby?" He got out of the chair and crossed to her side, taking her hands in his. "Oh God, Ruby!"

She smiled weakly. "Hey, Daddy."

"My little girl." He kissed her forehead. Ruby sat up a little straighter, and felt pain encircle her head like a band. "Ow." As he scooted his chair up to the bedside, she looked around again. "Where am I?"

"Eisenhower Military Hospital in Georgia. It was as close as I could get you and Yang to home-among other reasons."

"Oh, that makes…" Her voice trailed off as she realized what he'd said. "Wait, why's Yang here?"

Tai hesitated, then asked her, "What do you remember last, Ruby?"

Ruby knew she was being deflected, but went along with it for now. "Oh, well…let's see…after the big dogfight with the Wyvern, we got the order from Ozpin to get away from it for some reason…figured maybe they were going to hit it with cruise missiles or something. Anyway, then I got there right after that Cinder chick had shot down Pyrrha and Jaune…she was going to gun Pyrrha in her 'chute, and all I had left was an AMRAAM. So I, uh…" Ruby laughed. "I rammed her, Dad. Don't know how I managed to do it, but I did. Took the wing off my bird…didn't see what it did to her. The last thing I remember is ejecting, and then everything went kinda dark. And here I am." She winced as a little tendril of pain made its way up her back. "I've been out for awhile, huh?"

"Four days. Combat SAR found you hanging from a tree. They think you hit the canopy on the way out."

Ruby whistled softly. "Pulled a Goose, huh? How come I'm not dead?"

"You probably just grazed it. Your helmet took the worst of it; leastways you've got a huge gash in it. You had a severe concussion and a cracked skull. Just a hairline crack, though. No swelling, so you don't have any brain damage—no more than you did already, anyway."

"Oh, thanks, Dad," Ruby grumped, though she was smiling.

He gently ruffled her hair. "Good thing you inherited having a thick skull from me and your mom."

"True." She folded her arms and looked at her father. "So. What's going on with Yang?"

"Yang." Tai sighed, and couldn't meet his youngest daughter's eyes. "Well, she's still alive."

"That's a plus. What's the problem, Dad? You almost sound like Yang being alive is a bad thing."

Tai did finally face her. "She lost her arm, Ruby. Her right arm, at the elbow. That Marine of yours—Blake—she said that it got taken off by a twenty mike-mike shell. Yang nearly bled out. Luckily, Blake landed her F-14 somehow and got a tourniquet on her before the Army picked her up." He wiped his eyes. "She almost died. Came really close to dying from shock. We had her transferred here in the same medevac as you. She'll make a full recovery, but…" Tai bit his lip. "She's not the same, Ruby."

"Can I see her?"

"I'll ask the doc." He got up, but Ruby grabbed his hand. "Blake and Weiss?" she asked.

Tai sighed again. "They're both fine, but…they're gone. Weiss got recalled back to Germany. Maybe it's only temporary; the Germans want to know what the hell happened at Beacon. Blake…I don't know where she is. She's disappeared. She made sure that you and Yang got on the medevac at Madison, but after that…I don't know."

Ruby closed her eyes. At least her flight was alive. That was something, at least. "What about Pyrrha and Jaune? Are they okay?" She saw the look on his face and gripped his hand harder. "Tell me, Dad. Give it to me straight."

"I wouldn't do it any other way, Ruby." Tai took a breath. "Jaune Arc is dead. He wasn't able to get out. I guess they recovered some…some remains…"

Ruby covered her eyes with her free hand. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. Jaune Arc. Gawky, loveable, silly Jaune. Her first friend at Vytal Flag. He couldn't be dead. You didn't kill people like Jaune. No, he was probably wandering around the woods of Wisconsin aimlessly somewhere. Ruby nodded to herself. Her dad was wrong. Jaune was alive.

"Pyrrha Nikos is all right," Tai continued. "In fact, she's here. It made more sense to quarantine all of you here—"

"Quarantine? We get infected with something?" Ruby interrupted.

"For the court of inquiry. The shit hit the fan, Ruby. President Shawcross had to admit the US has orbital weapons. The world's outraged. Congress is thinking about impeaching him—don't think that'll go anywhere, but that tells you the shitstorm the Battle of Beacon stirred up. Secretary of Defense Terasoma resigned, and Congress intends to rake him over the coals when they have their investigation. There's a good portion of Wisconsin that's just a disaster area. Beacon's gone. There's nothing left."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh shit! Zwei!"

Tai winked and smiled. "Zwei's okay. He's at home—Mrs. Mallari is housesitting right now. Just before Jim Ironwood left the base, Zwei came running towards him, barking his head off. The General grabbed him and put him in a Humvee. Zwei found Yang in the hospital and wouldn't leave either one of you until you got here. He'd still be here if the hospital allowed it. He's a good doggie."

"Whew." At least Zwei was all right. "But if Beacon—"

Now it was Tai who got a bit misty-eyed. "Ozpin's dead, Ruby. That Wyvern thing fell on top of the control tower. There's nothing left of either of them." He patted her hand. "That's enough for now, kiddo. Let me check with the docs if it's okay for you to move around and see Yang. And Pyrrha, too."

Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 4 (VX-4) Headquarters

Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, United States of Canada

18 May 2001

"Captain Blake Belladonna, reporting as ordered, sir." Blake came to attention the required number of paces from the commander's desk. She was dressed in crisp khakis, the creases so sharp she could cut someone with them. Her medals and wings were aligned perfectly. The only thing that wasn't regulation was the ribbon in her hair.

Commander Nolan Malikov motioned her to a seat. "Good afternoon, Captain." Blake took a seat, and sat practically at attention. Malikov seemed nervous, she thought. He ran his hands through his short hair, over the small horns curving back from his forehead, then shuffled the papers in front of him. "Sorry you were confined to quarters after you got here, Captain Belladonna. Truth to tell, we weren't sure what to do with you."

"I understand, Commander." After the destruction of Beacon, Blake had landed at La Crosse just long enough to take on fuel. Then she'd flown the short hop to Madison, to make sure both Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long were loaded onto the medical evacuation aircraft. Both of her friends were unconscious; both had looked dead. She knew they weren't, but their appearance was enough to frighten her. Once that was done, she had gotten in Gambol Shroud and flown east, unsure of what to do or where to go. Since technically she was still assigned to VX-4, she had landed at Patuxent River, on the edge of the Maryland Dead Zone, and reported to Commander Malikov. Since Malikov hadn't been sure what Blake's status was now, he confined her to quarters and called for instructions. In the confusion after the fall of Beacon, it had apparently taken this long to find out what to do with her.

"Well, here's the deal," Malikov began. "You've been ordered to report to Eisenhower Medical Center at Augusta, Georgia. There's going to be a joint inquiry into what happened at Beacon." He tapped the papers on his desk; she saw it was the report she had written. While confined, Blake had nothing better to do, and writing helped keep the self-loathing at bay. For awhile, anyway.

Blake could not help but swallow nervously. I can't go there, she thought in terror. I can't see them…I can't see Yang. It's my fault she's there. And if I go there, what's to stop Adam from coming after us there? No one knew what had happened after Beacon. Moonslice had last been seen heading northwest, and though the news had reported the White Fang attack, and confirmed the death of Roman Torchwick—the one good thing that had come out of the entire debacle—there had been nothing on Sienna Khan or anyone else. That meant that the White Fang not captured or killed at Beacon had made a clean getaway, which meant that every moment she spent anywhere endangered someone else. But what choice did she have? To disobey a direct order was to get court-martialed. She would never fly again. And how long before she simply ran back to the White Fang, just as Adam predicted?

"At least, that was the order I was given." Blake looked up at Malikov's strange words. To her surprise, he looked as confused as she was. He picked up the phone and punched a button. "She's here, ma'am."

A few moments later, the door opened, admitting a short woman Blake thought looked dimly familiar; she'd seen her at Beacon. "Good afternoon, Captain—Commander," she said to them as she closed the door. She then walked over to the desk, excused herself as she reached over and picked up Blake's orders to Georgia, pulled out a lighter, and set the orders on fire. She waited as both pilots stared at her, then dropped the burning paper into the empty trashcan just before it would've burned her fingers. She then reached into the interior of her sharply-cut business suit and pulled out a new set of papers, handing them to Blake. "Request for leave approved, Captain."

Blake took the papers from her as if in a trance, and read them. It approved Captain Blake Belladonna, USMC, attached VX-4 Patuxent River, for one month's leave to Menagerie. "But…but I didn't…" she stammered.

"Captain, have we met?" the short woman asked.

"You look a little familiar, but no, I don't believe so."

"Very well. My name is Rissa Arashikaze. I am the Deputy Director of Intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency. You may have heard of us." Arashikaze reached over and tapped the report. "I read this after I got on base yesterday. It's a very honest and quite superb report. And it will be more than enough for the court of inquiry. Which won't go very far, I suspect. None of you pilots are responsible for what happened, and in fact all of you did quite well under the circumstances. The court of inquiry needs a scapegoat, and they will find it in Captain Ozpin. It's not fair, but it tidies everything up quite nicely. There's no reason for you to be there." She raised an eyebrow at Blake. "Unless you want to be."

"N-no," Blake replied. She knew the fear showed on her face and hated herself for it.

"Then take a month's leave. See your family. Get some perspective. And when you're ready, Captain, let me know. I'll have work for you." Arashikaze perched herself on one corner of the desk. "Unless you were planning on turning those in." She pointed to the wings of gold pinned over Blake's left breast.

Blake looked down at the wings. She had considered it. The Navy and the Marines allowed it. A pilot couldn't hack it for one reason or another, and all they had to do was walk into their commanding officer's office, and turn in their wings. They would never fly again. The Navy accepted the loss of millions of dollars worth of training; if a pilot was that rattled, that unable to perform their duties, then they were a danger to themselves and everyone around them.

But she wanted to fly. "No," she said firmly.

"Good. That would be a waste." Arashikaze got up and faced Malikov. "Please make the arrangements, Commander. If there's any trouble, just call this number and I'll smooth everything over." She handed him a card, with only a telephone number on it. Arashikaze walked towards the door. "Oh, Commander?"

Malikov looked up. He had been clearly blindsided by the whole thing, even more than Blake. "Yes, Director?"

"Make sure she takes the Tomcat with her. It may be needed." She paused at the door. "One more thing, Commander Malikov—Captain Belladonna." Arashikaze smiled. "I was never here." She opened the door and closed it, and was gone.

"What just happened?" Blake said aloud.

Malikov spread his hands helplessly. "I don't know, Captain, but she walked in here yesterday, just like that, off a C-130 from Europe. Next thing I know, I'm getting a call from the Chief of Naval Operations telling me to do whatever she says." He shrugged. "Oh well. Guess you're going on leave."

"Looks that way." She ran her fingers over the paper.

"Menagerie. You know, I've never been there?" Malikov tapped his horns. "Oh well. All right." He pulled a form out of his desk. "I'll have the yeoman type this up for you. I was going to have you leave Gambol Shroud here, but since the CIA wants you to take it with you, I guess you'll take it with you. Can't have it parked at the Menagerie airport, though, so…Holy Loch is close. That's the nearest naval base we have there." Blake nodded. The US Navy's association with the naval base at Holy Loch predated the Cuban Missile Crisis; somehow, it had escaped destruction during the Third World War. The US government leased the base from Menagerie.

"Okay," Malikov said, scratching away with an official US Government issue ballpoint pen, "so you'll fly to Holy Loch. We'll detach you to there while you're on leave. Don't be surprised if you get called away to go talk to the Brits about the hologram system; supposedly they want to put it on one of their Typhoons. We'll fax you orders if that happens."

"I won't have the fuel to make it transatlantic," Blake pointed out.

"I know." Malikov stopped writing, grabbed a folder, and flipped through it. "Let's see…what does 2nd Fleet have up there right now…ah, here we go." He went back to the form. "Fly out to the Reagan. She's two days out of Norfolk, headed for the Northern Patrol Barrier. You can fly off her to Holy Loch. Sound good?"

"I guess." She took the order forms from the commander. "Sir," she added.

He looked at her. "Blake, listen. You said in your report that you were fighting the White Fang's field commander. I've heard of Adam Taurus. Didn't realize he was a fighter pilot as well as a terrorist, but whatever. You lost some friends up there. Beacon's gone. We haven't been hit this hard since Cuba. You probably need some time off. Go hit the beach, or look for the Loch Ness Monster, or whatever it is you folks do up there. See you in a month." He paused. "And be careful. As you know, the fucking White Fang operates legally there."

Only too well. She gathered up the papers, stood to attention, then executed a parade-ground about face and left the office.

Malikov sat back down, stared at the door for awhile, then picked up the phone. "Yeoman Rand? I'll need you to type up those orders for Captain Belladonna. After you've done that, I need the number to personnel. I'm still waiting to hear what's happened to my sister."

Eisenhower Medical Center

Augusta, Georgia, United States of Canada

18 May 2001

"Careful, now." Tai helped Ruby down the hall. She let him guide her arm, though it was more for his peace of mind than hers. Except for a slight bit of dizziness and a lot of hunger, she felt pretty good. The doctors had come in, checked her over, shined lights into her eyes, and removed tubes from rather embarrassing places. She still had the IV attached, but at least she had on a robe and her old pajama bottoms—brought from home by Tai—instead of the open-backed hospital robe that left her feeling more naked than if she was naked.

They stopped outside Yang's room. Tai dropped his voice. "Ruby, I'm going to warn you again—"

"She's my sister, Dad. She'll be okay." Ruby gently took her arm away from Tai, hung onto the IV stand, and walked into the room.

Yang was awake. She lay in the bed, no tubes attached to her, though the same machines were present. She was staring out the window. There wasn't a lot to see in that direction. "Hey," Ruby said.

Her sister turned, and Ruby barely suppressed a gasp. Yang's lilac eyes were dead. There was no emotion, no anything there at all. "Hey, Rubes," she said, in a flat voice.

Ruby trundled in. Tai nodded to her, and stayed outside, giving his daughters room. Ruby went over and sat on the bed. It was then she saw the arm.

She'd expected to see Yang's right sleeve to be empty, pinned up like she'd seen in movies or old Civil War photographs. Instead, the sleeve was normal. What was not was the arm. It was a streamlined limb of silver metal and black plastic. It was no crude prosthetic or hook, but an actual arm, and yet not one.

Yang saw her staring at it. "You like it? I'm sort of attached to it." A tiny smile, just a flash of the old Yang. With effort, she lifted it with her shoulder. It remained stretched out, the fingers limp. "Turns out they've got quite the artificial limb clinic here. I woke up yesterday and there it was. Can't move it very well, but the doctors say I will someday. Just like my old arm." She let the arm drop. "Courtesy of General Ironwood. They attached it while I was out. Lucky fucking me."

"Yang, that's…that's pretty awesome," Ruby said. "You'll get that working in no time. We'll have you back in the cockpit!"

"Who cares."

Ruby shrank back, as if Yang had transformed into a monster. "What?"

Yang stared at her sister, and now there was some life in those eyes, even if it was anger. "It's all gone, Ruby. Beacon, Penny…Jaune…and this." She gestured at the arm with her flesh-and-blood one. "Did Dad tell you? About Jaune?"

Ruby nodded. "And it's bullshit, Yang. He got out. I know he did."

"You saw him?" Yang asked.

"He got out," Ruby insisted, and her tone brooked no argument. "Dad told me about Weiss and Blake—"

"Blake ran!" Yang suddenly exploded. "She fucking ran!"

"Dad said she flew down to Madison when we were flown out—"

Yang cut her off. "Yeah? Where the fuck is she now, Ruby? She's my wingman—wingmate, what the fuck ever. Weiss didn't have a choice—the Luftwaffe ordered her back to Germany. Probably her dad was behind that, but Weissy's tough; she'll come back. But Blake fucking ran. Just like that cocksucking bastard of an ex-boyfriend of hers, who did that to me—" She half-raised the arm again. "Adam said she'd run. I heard it over the radio. And by God, he was fucking right." Yang seemed drained by the explosion, and leaned back against her pillows. "She should be here, Rubes. She should be here with her flight. But she's hauled ass somewhere. Maybe even back to the White Fang—"

"Now that's enough." Yang blinked at the steel in her sister's voice. "You're depressed, Yang. I get it." She cut off Yang's retort. "Okay, I don't get it. But maybe the Marines or the Navy have got her squirreled away somewhere. Maybe she can't come back, Yang! Like Weiss!"

Yang sighed. "She ran, Ruby. I'm sorry. But I know Blake, better than you. And she was always afraid she'd run away again. And wherever she is, I guarantee you she's running. Okay, not back to the White Fang. But she's still running."

"There has to be a reason," Ruby began.

"No, there doesn't." Yang looked away. "Sometimes bad things just happen, Ruby."

Ruby nodded. The two sisters were silent for a long moment. "What do we do now?" Ruby asked softly.

"You can do whatever you want." Yang's moroseness had returned. She went back to staring at the window. "I'm just going to lie here."

"Yang, you—"

"Just leave me alone, Ruby."

Ruby slowly got up, stood straight for a moment to let the brief dizziness pass, and then walked towards the door. "Yang?" She looked at her sister. "I love you, Yang." Then she left, shutting the door behind her.

Tears welled up and ran down Yang's face. "I love you too, sis," she whispered. Then something caught her eye. Using her good arm, she raised the artificial one.

The fingers had curled into a fist.

"I'm sorry," Tai said sadly. "She's…she just needs time."

"Yeah." Ruby wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Where's Pyrrha?"

Tai blew out a breath. "Hoo boy. You sure? She's in pretty bad shape too."

"She got hurt?"

"Not physically." Tai took her arm—without protest this time—and led Ruby further down the hall. Four doors down, they came to another room. There was a guard on it. "I gotta warn you," Tai said. "This might be worse than Yang." He nodded to the guard. "This is my daughter, Lieutenant Rose."

The guard checked a clipboard. "Oh yes. She's on the list. But not you, sir," the guard told Tai.

"I'll wait."

The guard opened the door, and she went inside. She expected a padded room, or Pyrrha chained to a wall. In actuality, it was the same basic hospital room as her own, and Yang's. Pyrrha was hooked up to no tubes, or even machines. Instead, she lay on a bed, in a hospital robe. It was then that Ruby saw there were no other fixtures in the room, and the restraints on the bed. Pyrrha was not in them, but they were there.

As for Pyrrha Nikos herself, Ruby wondered if the other girl was alive or dead. She lay motionless in the bed, like Yang, staring aimlessly out the window. Unlike Yang, her hair was a mess, her eyes sunk in deep hollows, her skin paler than usual. "Is it time, doctor?" she mumbled.

"Pyrrha?" Ruby asked. A part of her refused to believe this was Pyrrha at all.

One green eye turned in her direction. "Ruby?" The voice was just a bit less listless. Her head turned. "Ruby?"

Ruby smiled. "Hey, Pyrrha."

"Oh, Ruby." Pyrrha slowly levered herself up to a sitting position and held out her arms. Ruby gave a start at the bandages on both wrists. Pyrrha noticed and smiled back. "Oh, that. I'm…better now. Yes. It was bad, at first." Ruby got closer, and let the other woman hug her. Her skin was clammy. "How are you?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, I'm okay. Got my bell rung, that's all. Little skull fracture, but I got a thick skull!" Ruby laughed, but it was artificial. She blushed. Pyrrha's robe had fallen open. She wore nothing beneath it. Neither did she seem to notice. "Uh, Pyr—" Ruby finally pointed.

Pyrrha shrugged. "We're both girls, Ruby. Does it matter?" But she did draw the robe shut, after Ruby looked more uncomfortable. She looked at Ruby, and took her friend's hands in her own. "Ren and Nora are okay. Ren got some shrapnel in his leg, but he'll be all right."

"Well, that's great, Pyrrha—"

"And Jaune's dead. Yes. Cinder shot him down. No parachute." Pyrrha held up a finger, and reached onto the small nightstand next to the bed. There were no drawers on it, but on the top was a chain and a single dogtag. "They found this in the wreckage. Amazing how it didn't get burned or anything." She dropped it into Ruby's hand. It was Jaune's dogtag, amazingly intact. "They found his watch, too, but they wouldn't let me see it. Yes. I suppose it was badly damaged."

Ruby was suddenly seized with the impulse to run away from the room, as fast as she could. Pyrrha's voice was matter-of-fact. She wasn't acting like she was discussing her best friend and possible lover's death; she was speaking like they were discussing the weather. Ruby looked at her. There was a faint smile on the redhead's lips, almost as if she was waiting for Ruby to approve of her words.

Then she stared back at the dogtag, and there was no more denial of reality. Jaune Arc was dead. Ozpin was dead. Yang was crippled. Weiss was gone. Blake was gone. And how many others were dead that she'd known? Penny. Ciel. Maybe Glynda; no one had told her yet.

Ruby cradled the dogtag, tried to hold the tears back, but they burst like a failed dam. She bent over, weeping, bawling, unable to stop. It was all over. It was all gone. She felt a hand on her back. "It's all right," Pyrrha said. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I didn't mean to upset you so. But it's all right, you see. Jaune is still here. Yes. I see him every night. He's so beautiful, Ruby, like the angel he is now, and I wish I could fly with him, but the doctors, they won't allow me to, even though I tried—"

"Stop it!" Ruby shouted, shoving Pyrrha away. She threw the dogtag against the wall. "Stop it, Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha looked confused, like a dog that had offended its owner but didn't know why. "I'm sorry," she repeated.

Ruby got up, and nearly fell. She had to leave. Her father had been right. It was worse than Yang: Pyrrha, poor Pyrrha, was insane. She tried to say something, couldn't, and then fled. Pyrrha watched her go, then leaned back against the pillows. She stared at the dogtag on the floor. "It's okay," she whispered. "It's going to be okay. Right, Jaune?"