And now, the beginning of the end...

A reminder: I am asking you if you want a 13k(ish) chapter, or two 7k(ish) chapter. Tell me. If you do not, I will go with all who have.

The muse is actually at work right now, so I'll keep this brief.

Disclaimer: Strap on your seatbelts, it ain't dark yet, but there are stormclouds that RT could never even imagine on the horizon.

It's all over.

Ruby's funeral was yesterday, and there were so many people who came, even though only a handful actually knew her.

I was one of them.

I'm supposed to head home now, apparently, but I don't think I will. My father wants another puppet. Apparently Whitley has stopped listening.

Good for him.

I'm going back. I'm going hunting. I'm going to annihilate every Grimm on this planet, and then I'm going to kill them as they are born.

As for father, he needs to be dealt with. Harshly.

It's funny how losing Ruby has affected me. I should have cried, realized what I lost, completely destroyed Salem…

But I didn't.

I carefully covered Yang's back as she annihilated that monster, as I let her have revenge, and it was when they denied me my right as her… friend that I struck.

Did you know that gods bleed?

-A journal entry found in the west woods

Weiss glared at the group of soldiers.

This was not right. As a huntress, she was allowed and encouraged to go hunting Grimm. It was the reason that hunters existed, for crying out loud! Instead, as she tracked an unusually large Ursa she had been overtaken by a pair of nearly silent ships. They had landed and her own sister had explained there were two options: go with them peacefully or see if Winter was still the better fighter.

In Weiss' opinion, her sister was the dirtier fighter, as the bitch had continuously brought up Weiss' many failures, ultimately culminating by asking just how she could have let her best friend die.

Needless to say, Weiss had neither won the duel nor said a word to Winter since.

Now she was sitting on a bed in her sister's barracks room waiting for… probably Ironwood, if she was honest. She knew who her sister worked for... and she was aware Winter wouldn't blink without her superior's blessing.

'Probably would do anything he asks,' she thought vindictively. Weiss knew Ironwood well enough to know that he wasn't that kind of man, but that didn't keep her from hating what her sister was becoming: a good little soldier who did everything she was told. 'Almost makes me wonder why she didn't just play our father's game. I guess she just figured Ironwood was more handsome.' The door in front of her finally opened, and she ignored her sister in favor of the man who walked in behind her. They left the door open, though she could see a group of guards milling about in the hallway. No making a break for it then.

"Huntress Schnee," Ironwood began as he took a seat on a nearby chair, "I owe you an apology for my… unorthodox means of getting you here, but Atlas is facing a crisis that I'm afraid we need your help with."

Weiss sat back with a raised eyebrow and made a 'get on with it' gesture.

"Weiss!" her sister growled. "Be polite."

Weiss gave her sister a cool look before addressing Ironwood. "General, does she need to be here?" Winter looked like she'd been slapped.

Ironwood blinked. "No, but I allowed her to be since I thought it might help to have a friendly face to reassure you-" Weiss waved her hand to cut him off.

"General, right now I would trust my brother more than her." Ironwood looked surprised and Weiss sighed. "In case you forgot, you just sent her to kidnap me. If that wasn't bad enough we fought, brutally, and… things were… said."

Winter scoffed. "I thought I taught you better than to take words said when fighting to heart."

The shorter girl stared at her sister blankly for a moment before returning her attention to the man seated before her. "You had a problem, General." There would be time to deal with Winter later.

Ironwood cleared his throat. "Atlas is going through quite a bit of Dust. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, except your brother has pulled from our contracts and is demanding… you."

The huntress raised her eyebrows. "Me," she said flatly. She glanced at her sister, who was looking away guiltily. "I see." Turning back to Ironwood, she narrowed her eyes. "Let me be very clear, General. I am not a pretty little wallflower to be picked whenever someone chooses. If you try this, I will ensure that I won't survive it, and I will do my damndest to make sure that neither of you two do either." She stood up and glared at Winter, who was still refusing to meet her eyes. Something clicked: Winter had known about this.

Weiss started toward her sister. "You absolute BITCH!" She may not have been the best at fighting without a blade, but the older woman's nose still made a satisfying crunch as it connected with her fist. "You would sell me, your own blood, to be our brother's trophy? To be sold as a piece of meat to the highest bidder?" Dragging Winter to the door, she threw her into the hall, where she landed hard and held her nose to try to stem the flow of blood. "Or did you think he'd keep me around?" Weiss shouted, ignoring the guards in the hall going for their weapons. "He always said he would never sell me to someone else. Just what did you think he meant?" She lunged at the prone woman, only to feel a pair of arms grab her from behind. "Let me go, Ironwood! You're bad enough, being willing to sell me into slavery, but she's blood! She never should have agreed, much less personally collected me!" Although Weiss knew that she wasn't going to break Ironwood's hold (the man was cybernetic, after all), she still struggled to get out of his grip.

"Smith, take the Specialist to the medbay. You and Schnee were training, understand?" One of the soldiers nodded and helped Winter stand up, the woman clearly in shock, before supporting and leading her away. "Wesson, you're with me." A younger woman nodded and stepped forward, but Weiss wasn't entirely done with Winter.

"A traitor like you has no family!" the huntress screamed after the departing form of her sister. "You and I may share a name, but that's all we share!" Weiss caught herself as she realized the two soldiers had stopped and were looking at her. Meeting the eyes of the woman who had always been there for her, had always supported her, who had utterly betrayed her, she bared her teeth. "You are no sister of mine."

She watched with no small sense of satisfaction as Winter sagged into the arms of Smith and was practically carried away, her shoulders shaking, no doubt with tears. Weiss stopped struggling.

"Huntress Schnee, I don't think she knew-"

Weiss allowed herself to be led back inside with Ironwood and Wesson, but she had no interest in letting Ironwood finish. "No, she knew. You could see it in the way she was acting, how she avoided looking at me." The huntress sighed. "General Ironwood, your plans are legendary, but ever since the fall of Beacon you've been holding back. It's actually something Winter and I talked about before I left with… my team." She met his gaze with a hard one of her own. "And, we both know how you can act when you're afraid. Unless you told her that you had a plan, I suspect she expected you to hand me over." She turned and sat down on the bed again. Ironwood retook his seat a bit warily.

"Huntress Schnee,allow me to assure you that I am not going to give in to your brother's demands without your consent. You are, however, in a unique position: you are an excellent huntress, a hero many times over across Remnant, and a Schnee. This means that you could try to claim a position here in Atlas on the board of the company…" He began to outline a plan for her to build public support in a way that would force her family to accept her back, something Weiss immediately dismissed. Schnee Dust Company was a monopoly and everyone knew it. Boycotting Dust just wasn't realistic, and her remaining family didn't care about public opinion as long as the Lien kept flowing. 'But there are other ways…' she thought. 'Darker ways.'

"General Ironwood," Weiss interrupted, "I'm sure that there is some sort of way to fix this. How long do you have before I need to be 'delivered?'"

Ironwood looked worried. "A month, maybe more if Winter were to join him."

Weiss smiled. "I can figure something out. Tomorrow would be a good time for me to go back to where I was so they don't realize you ever had me. I'll be there in time. Don't worry about that."

Ironwood shook his head. "I'm not just going to let you leave-."

"Then send Wesson with me to make sure I get back." Weiss waved her hand, dismissing his concerns. "Though I assure you, you won't need to." She leaned back as Ironwood nodded, lost in thought. 'It's all going to plan.'

The gods threatened and yelled and said that all mankind must be bad… and then Blake tore them to shreds verbally.

She blamed them for what they did to Salem, for what they did to us, for what they did to Ruby…and then we were done.

The gods denied us, we knew they would, they don't understand love, but they let us go; and they promised we would see Ruby again.

I have every intention of showing them the mistake they made. Unlike Salem, I don't need an army to create resentment, to foster hate. The gods want to be worshipped, but perhaps it's time for them to be forgotten instead.

This will take time and resources. I will need to be renamed heiress on my own terms (I'll drop my little brother a letter reminding him of his failures tomorrow. He will start his final act now) and I can't let something simple like a few deaths stop me.

The gods will regret the day they took Ruby.

-A torn page of a journal found in the west woods

Chapter Title Credit: Muse

Thanks for reading.

R&R