Ruby's muscles ached as she tiredly stretched them. Her week had been a rough one, training all day everyday until she collapsed. But Ruby didn't mind. Not only did she see the necessity of it, but she was also just glad to have time to spend with her mother. Summer had been acting as Ruby's mentor, teaching the girl the finer points of the Assassin's Creed. The Brotherhood was physically demanding, even for someone like Ruby, who had spent most of her life fighting and learning to fight. It made Ruby wonder how anyone who hadn't would have been able to complete the training process. Yet there were many who had, according to Summer.

Ruby scanned the leather straps that secured a blade to her wrist. It had been the first weapon that they had awarded her, and yet it was only the novice's Hidden Blade. The ones that Ruby had seen other Assassins wearing were entire gauntlets, stretching almost all the way to their elbows. Some had two, and others only had one. Ruby only had one, and she was getting good at using it in combat, as well as stealth. As a part of her training with the Hidden Blade,

Her training also included learning to fight with all sorts of weapons; guns, swords, axes, and whatever else an Assassin might have to use in the field. Improvisation was a necessary skill.

But as Summer had soon discovered; Ruby's weaknesses lied in hand to hand combat. She was very proud of how proficient her beloved daughter was in almost every form of weaponry, which was a byproduct of Ruby's lifelong love for weapons. That did not stop her from continually using Ruby's weaknesses as lessons. Everything was a lesson. Because everything had something to teach. Everyone and everything had a story and every story contained a lesson.

Not only had Summer taught Ruby how to fight in every way the girl didn't already know how—even if her hand-to-hand combat training was progressing rather slowly—she had also began teaching Ruby how to traverse any obstacle; "free running" as it was more commonly known.

[Shift]

Weiss' hands idly shook as she tearfully stared at the image of her father her on her scroll.

"Why?" She shakily asked him. "She was a friend. My best friend. She trusted me."

Jacques loudly scoffed at his youngest daughter, "A childish, mutual and naive trust." He spat. "Had you actually done your research on the enemy; you would have done it without having been asked."

"I knew of the mother." Weiss told him. "But Ruby was the last of The Bloodline and knew nothing of her mother's Order."

Weiss had no original intention of following her father's orders—to kill her leader—but the fear of what would happen to her if she didn't overcame her and she did so with little care for her team. Her friends. Part of her wanted to admit to them what she had done, and receive her well deserved punishment, but the same selfish fear that made her kill her leader prevented her from confessing.

"The Bloodline required cleansing." Jacques simply said. A wicked smile spread across his face, "and you needed to be initiated into The Order. Two birds with one stone." He let out a dark chuckle that filled Weiss with an ungodly rage. But she dared not say anything. She knew what happened to defectors. Her name and the blood on her hands made her a likely target for the Assassins and she was not about to make enemies with The Templars on top of that. To be their common enemy would be a certain death.

Part of Weiss just wanted her father's enemy to find her and punish her for what she had done to her friend. Her leader. Another part of her wanted Yang to do it: To provide her with the death she so badly deserved. But she knew full well what would happen to Yang if she did. Where would that leave Blake? No leader. No partner and no team. Her friends would have all killed one another because of who their parents were.

[Shift]

Ruby was a very quick learner, Summer would give her daughter that much. Or perhaps it was a natural skill. The Mentor did not care which it was, but was immensely proud that their basic combat training had only taken a few weeks. Summer's maternal instincts refused to let Ruby do much more than the basics, given her very recent chest injury. As Ruby's leader, she knew the girl needed to be ready, but as her mother, she did not want to risk reopening the wound.

Despite having faked her death and allowing Ruby to think she was dead for fifteen years, Summer cared deeply about her daughter. More than she could ever care for any human being. It filled her with a motherly rage that the Templars would go after Ruby. Summer never wanted the Assassin life for her little girl, but the Templars had made an attempt on Ruby's life. Such evil offered no mercy. Not for the innocent and certainly not for children. They would massacre entire cities and wipe out entire races if it furthered their own goals.

As Summer watched Ruby practice the freerunning course, she chuckled to herself. Ruby was intent on setting the record within the Brotherhood.

"She reminds me of you when you were her age." A female voice told Summer. The woman didn't need to turn to know who it was.

"You're early, Sienna." She said, fighting the smallest smile. Sienna Khan was Summer's oldest friend and a fellow Mentor in the Brotherhood. Summer had trained with her from the day they could fight until she became STRQ's leader. It had been truly unfortunate that Sienna had never had the chance to meet Summer's daughter before they were both called to take up roles as Mentors within the Assassin Brotherhood. One in Menagerie, the other in Argus.

Ruby had been truly lucky that her mother had been in Vale on business when the Templars struck. Even more so that the Brotherhood had a fortress near Mountain Glenn. It was because of this that Ruby was still alive. Summer would never have recovered if her only daughter had died.

"I'm glad you were able to save her, Summer." Sienna said, "But you should have sent someone else to watch her. You shouldn't have risked Raven, Yang, or even Schnee finding out you're not dead."

"Raven?" Summer asked, turning. Raven never left her tribe. Why would she have been anywhere near Mountain Glenn?

"Adam tells me that she was on the train."

"Adam?" Summer scoffed. "You still trust that psychopath?"

"No." Sienna scowled, "especially not after The Breach."

"The Creed calls for Taurus to be excommunicated." Summer told her faunas friend.

"The boy has been trying to undermine the power of the Brotherhood for years now. His mind is clouded by the spiteful agenda of a terrorist."

"An eye for an eye makes the world blind." Summer recited. It was something her own mentor had told her time and time again. "I want equality for the faunas just as much as anyone, but Adam is certainly resetting all of the progress Belladonna made." Sienna simply nodded, cutting the conversation short as Ruby approached.

"Madre," the girl asked, "chi è questo?"

"Valean, dear." Summer told her daughter, turning back to Sienna, "I've been teaching her the native tongues of Remnant." She explained.

"She's certainly a fast learner." Sienna said

"You wouldn't believe how quickly she's progressing." Summer proudly said. Sienna chuckled.

"Who is our guest?" Ruby asked, now speaking a more common tongue.

"This is an old friend of mine," Summer explained. "Mentor of the Menagerie Branch of the Brotherhood: Sienna Khan." Ruby gave a slight bow to her superior, who gave her a polite nod in return.

"I have heard a lot about you, Giovane apprendista." Sienna said. "Your mother tells me that you're an incredibly fast learner."

"Thank you, Mentore," Ruby said, "it helps that Madre is such un buon insegnante [A good teacher]."

A/N: This seems like a weird chapter, but trust me, it'll make sense soon! I just needed to establish that Ruby is fluent in the "language of Vacuo" or, as we call it in the real world, Italian.