Hello again, sorry for to those who were expecting this chapter earlier, I got caught in and didn't really have the time to do so, but here it is at last! Chapter seventeen! Hope you enjoy!

The sun filtered down to the forest, illuminating the team below Forever Fall's fiery leaves. The light filtered past a huntress with ebony hair that brushed her ears, streamed past a pair of huntress that offered a whole new meaning to the word monochrome, and flowed past a golden-blonde huntress, who leaned against a tree and watched the rest of her team with conflicted eyes. The tinted light came to a rest under the boughs of a towering tree, it's leaves partly hiding two figures from view.

"Do you think they can see us?"

"Nah."

"You sure?"

"Snowball, please. They have no idea we're here. Totally camouflaged."

"HEY! CREEPY PERVERTS!"

"I was wrong."

"OH, YOU THINK?!"

Just as the huntress with ebony hair stalked up to the tree, the two figures leapt down from the branches. The huntress stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes widened at the sight of the two people in front of her.

"YOU?!"

"Me!" The tall one flourished with a smile and wide arms, he looked over to his companion.

"And, to a lesser extent, him."

The huntress just stared at the pair in slight confusion which caused the shorter of the two to sigh.

"I am sorry for my partner, he's insane. My name, if you have forgotten, is Skyler Snow, my idiosyncratic friend here is Crimson Shard."

"Hi." Crimson gave a lazy two-fingered wave. His twilight eyes fixed on the huntress's black irises, a faint smile turning his lips slightly upwards before he turned his attention to the rest of the forest, Skyler's focus remained on the huntress in front of him.

"I do believe you are the leader of Team EBWY, yes?"

The huntress nodded, still confused by the entire exchange.

"Um, yes. The name is Ebon Winters."

Crimson's faint smile turned into a grin and Skyler brightened up, his clear eyes lingering on Ebon's.

"Fantastic." Skyler clapped his hands together and smiled charmfully.

"Excuse me for being blunt, but may I speak with Miss Yang Xiao Long?" His smile a sliver of white teeth and innocence. "Please?"

Ebon arched her eyebrows as she stared critically at well-dressed huntsman-in-training, narrowing her eyes, Ebon shook her head.

"No."

Skyler's smile didn't change as he tilted his head to the side. "No? Well, that is unfortunate."

Ebon shook her head again. "That's not what I meant, you, by yourself, can't talk with Yang. She won't open up and there is a high chance of getting punched if you try."

Ebon looked back over her shoulder for a fleeting moment. "But if we all go, we might just get her to talk about…well, Ruby Rose."

Crimson's wandering eyes suddenly locked on to Ebon and Skyler leaned in a little closer, his smile still in place.

"Well, it's a relief that you know what we want. Otherwise, threatening your friend might have been awkward."

Yang didn't turn her head as Ebon stalked past her, towards where the supposed peeping toms were hidden.

Probably just Cardin or some of his sycophants.

Yang turned her focus back onto the thoughts that had been plowing through her mind ever since that night with Qrow had been branded onto her memories.

What happened to Ruby, Yang?

The stinging slap that followed her attempted denial, the pain that flashed across her cheek worming its way into Yang's mind.

What. Happened. To. Ruby?"

The truth had flowed from her like a tormenting river and once she was done, the crushing feelings of guilt, remorse, regret, and self-loathing made Yang fell like she was being buried alive.

I can't live like this any longer…I need to tell the truth and take whatever comes, good or bad.

She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. I have to do this, no matter wha-

"HI!"

Lilac eyes snapped open and Yang was looking into the grinning face of Crimson Shard. Despite everything that she had decided, Yang took a step backwards, away from the vibrant and eccentric assassin-in-disguise. Over his shoulder, Yang could see Ebon watching her with careful eyes and Skyler Snow standing off to the side, who greeted Yang with a wave.

"Good morning or afternoon, technically." The well-dressed member of Team RSNC checked his watch before shrugging.

"Whichever, the time of day does not matter much at the moment." Skyler returned his gaze to Yang.

"Given the current expression on your face, I assume you know why we are here?"

Yang stared for a moment before nodding. "Ruby Rose. You're here about Ruby Rose."

"Right! Well-done!" Skyler smiled, then leaned in a grabbed Yang's forearm in an unbreakable grip.

"Let's go chat."

"So, what is the meaning of this again? And why are they here?"

Weiss Schnee looked in slight disdain at the two members of Team RSNC who were lounging on the outskirts of the group, watching Team EBWY as they gathered in a circle. Ebon just shook her head.

"Crimson and Skyler are the reason we're having a team meeting in the middle of a field trip, as for what the meeting is about…" Ebon turned to the person besides her. "Yang, I think, can fill us in on that."

As the attention focused on her, Yang felt a squeeze like iron in her chest before it faded away like a shadow. Here it goes.

"Ruby Rose." That seemed to Yang like an appropriate starter for the revelation that would follow and, based off the change in reaction, she was right.

Blake focused back on Yang with renewed focus and Weiss's eyebrows furrowed in a sharp V.

"What about her?" The heiress asked cautiously, remember the last time they met. Yang just breathed out and continued.

"I'm going to tell you the reason why she hates me."

"I wouldn't call it just a reason, it's more like a detailed list of things she hates about you." Crimson interjected. "But go on."

Collecting her focus, Yang forged on. "This won't be easy to hear, but you need to hear all of it."

Yang's lilac eyes flickered from Weiss's icy blue ones to Blake's amber irises to Ebon's deep black eyes, the faces of her teammates and partner staring back at her in apprehension. Yang took a calming breath and began, for the second time in years, the true past of Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. As the tale progressed, it turned into something dark and twisted, a tale of twisted revenge and dark confusion.

The expressions on the members of Team EBWY's faces changed from shock to anger to horror as Yang told them about the things that had been inflicted upon Ruby Rose in the past and how the Xiao Longs inflicted them.

"That was the last time I saw her, at least until now. But that night..." Yang's eyes glazed over as her memory of the night that Ruby Rose of Patch passed from this life, that night of betrayal and resurrection. "The last thing I saw was my father dragging her into an empty alley."

Yang felt pinpricks of pain in her eyes as she finished. "It was after that when it all came crashing down on me, my dad started drinking, a lot. After a while, he…he turned into a shell, a hollow. My uncle was beyond devastated, soon he just stayed as far away from us as he could get. And me…"

Yang just lifted her arms up and let them fall limp back at her sides. "I think I just turned into a shadow, a faint, scared shadow that is worse than any Creature of Grimm."

The truth finally out, Yang felt both the relief and the renewed, crushing self-loathing fill her chest. She looked up into the faces of her teammates, faces painted with shock, horror, and anger, but not disbelief. Yang shifted slightly to gaze at Crimson and Skyler who still hovered on the edge of Team EBWY, Skyler seemed satisfied and was watching the reactions of the team, but Crimson was gazing back at the blonde huntress with curious eyes. Yang blinked and turned back to her team.

"I…can't." Weiss shook her head slowly as the information that had just been revealed passed through her head. "I need…"

Weiss raised her head, her eyes filled with emotion. "I need time to think." The heiress then turned and disappeared into the thick trees of Forever Fall, Ebon and Blake soon followed.

Silence descended upon the remaining three people, Yang and Crimson staring in the direction where the other members of Team EBWY disappeared, while Skyler simply stepped forward and looked at the huntress in front of him.

"You did the right thing, the truth needed to be told." Skyler looked back into the forest for a moment before returning his focus to the huntress-in-training. He stared at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"Let's go, Crimson. We have no need to be here."

"Oh, you go ahead, I'll be wherever you're going shortly." Crimson said idly, stretching. "Won't be long."

Skyler watched him for a moment before shaking his head again. "Alright then, see you soon."

With that, Skyler Snow strolled out of sight, back to the clearing where Professor Goodwitch had ordered them to meet back up in. As soon as the bobbing fedora of Skyler disappeared amidst the foliage, Crimson crouched down on the ground besides Yang, gesturing for the blonde to join him which she did with a confused expression.

"What-" Yang tried to ask, but was cut off by the undercover assassin. His twilight eyes locking on to Yang's lilac.

"You did good, really. It takes a lot of courage to tell the truth like you did, mostly when said truth is filled with abuse of a child." Crimson turned away from Yang to stare into the forest and continued.

"Still, you now have a choice to make; you can either keep to yourself and your team or…" Crimson looked back Yang out of the corner of his eye. "You can go and see how forgiving your family is."

Yang gaped. See how forgiving your family is?! Is he insane?! Yang took back control of herself and shook her head.

"I don't think my uncle or my sister will be very forgiving of either me or my father."

Crimson snorted in amusement. "Oh, you're right about your dear o' dad! I don't think he'll ever redeem himself and I have a feeling he won't live long enough to even try." The huntsman-in-training leaned closer to Yang.

"But you still have a chance. A slim one, admittedly, but the fact that you are still alive proves that Ruby doesn't…want you dead, I guess." Crimson paused, looking thoughtful. He finally just shrugged.

"On second thought, you might want to let Ruby approach you. But in the case of your uncle, you just need to walk up and start to rebuild what little remains of your relationship."

Yang was still staring at Crimson in slight shock. Shock at the things he was saying to her. She narrowed her eyes at the person beside her.

"Why are you telling this? In fact, why are you still here? Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

Crimson shrugged again. "No, not really. As for why I'm telling you…well, it's mostly for the reason that I can."

He stood up, Yang followed and they stood there, looking at each other. Yang with her eyebrows furrowed and Crimson tilting his head to the side as his eyes searched the blonde huntress's face.

"Listen, I don't care what you do, but if you do decide to try and rebuild what you had a hand in destroying; the least I could do is tell you that you have a chance in actually doing that."

He turned away from Yang and started to walk away, but before he also disappeared amid the tress of Forever Fall, Yang heard him shout over his shoulder.

"Don't screw it up!"

"NEO!"

She was mad at me for running off alone into the middle of the woods, and here I am running around, alone, in the middle of the woods looking for her!

Ruby peered around under the red foliage of the forest, searching for even the barest sign of the three colors of Neapolitan, but all there was to see was red leaves and brown tree-trunks, not the barest hint of the parasol-wielding assassin.

"THIS ISN'T GOING TO END WELL IF YOU KEEP HIDING!" Ruby threatened at the top of her lungs, one can only take some much confused wandering in the woods before they start to threaten people. Ruby went deeper into the forest, her sliver eyes flickering through the trees, trying to find the girl who had stormed off over an hour ago.

"NEOPOLITAN! WHERE THE-oh." Ruby stared at the legs that dangled from a branch high in a tree, the high-heeled boots swung gently with the wind that caused a cascade of rustling to reach Ruby's ears.

Her cloak fluttering behind her, Ruby walked up to the tree and looked up; near the top, balancing on a branch like some elegant bird of paradise, was Neo. Ruby stayed at the base of the tree for a moment, staring up at her partner, but Neo continued to just glare off into the distance.

Ruby sighed silently and started to clamber up the smooth bark of the tree trunk, climbing closer to Neo. Ruby hosted herself up on the same branch as the petite girl who didn't even turn to look at her.

Ruby made her way along the twisting branch and balanced besides Neo, keeping her sliver eyes on her.

"I can understand why you got upset." Ruby offered. "But I really can take care of myself."

Neo huffed, but turned to face Ruby, her face cross and eyebrows furrowed. She looked at Ruby with masked eyes.

"That's not the point."

Ruby titled her head in confusion. "Soooo…why were you angry?"

Neo gazed at Ruby for a several long moments before sighing, she held up her arms in a shrug and shook her head.

"I don't know."

The two just sat there on the branch of a tree and gazed out on the wide expense of Forever Fall. Silence descended upon them, a quietness that felt comfortable and peaceful as shadows flicked around them. Finally, Ruby broke the silence.

"Sorry for getting angry at you…and then threatening you."

Ruby was pleased to see a smile flash its way across Neo's mouth, the tricolored girl glanced over at the red-clad girl and wrapped an arm around her shoulders in aside-hug, Ruby leaning slightly against the smaller form of Neo and smiled.

"You're you, Ruby, what else can I expect?"

"You expect me to threaten you?" Ruby felt her own smile rise on her face.

Neo turned her head to look at Ruby fully and just cocked it to the side, an answering smile already in place. She bonked her own head gently against Ruby's.

"I expect you to be, threatening, impulsive, and rude to anyone you want."

"HEY!" Despite the shout, Ruby was beaming. "That's like everyone on our team, except just with different levels of insanity."

Neo rolled her eyes and stretched, her arm leaving Ruby's shoulders. She hopped up, balance never failing for a second, on the uneven surface of the tree branch. Looking down with a smile, Neo offered a hand to the still-seated Ruby.

"We should go, Crimson and Skyler are probably doing something stupid."

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

"I told you that they were doing something stupid!"

Both Neo and Ruby glared at the two male members of Team RSNC through narrowed eyes, the field trip over and back in their dorm room, Crimson had just recounted what the partners did after Neo and Ruby left them alone. Ruby crossed her arms and deepened her glare.

"So, you're telling me you found Team EBWY and forced Xiao Long to tell the true story of happened to me?" Ruby demanded. "Is that what you are telling me?!"

"Actually, I think Yang Xiao Long was already going to tell them, we just helped her along." Crimson shrugged. "But basically, yeah, that's what we did."

"Is this going to be a problem?" Skyler asked, his eyes fluttering from his team leader to his team leader's homicidal partner, worried that he had crossed a line. Crimson figured that if there were any lines, he had probably crossed them all long ago.

Ruby gritted her teeth and pinched the bridge of her nose while Neo just nodded vigorously in answer to Skyler's question.

"YES! Yes, there is going to be a problem!"

Skyler winced. "Sorry." Then he paused and winced again. "But it needed to happen."

Ruby threw up her arms in exasperation. "Well, maybe, but that's not the point!"

Crimson raised his hand. "So, what is the point?"

Ruby took a deep breath. "Team EBWY now knows the actual story about what happened to me, is that right?"

Crimson and Skyler nodded, and Ruby took another breath. "Ok, so now that means, if they believe it, that they will now NEVER STOP BOTHERING ME WITH PITY AND QUESTIONS!" Ruby abandoned all forms of calm and proceeded to burst out her team's eardrums.

"Noted." Crimson rubbed his ear. "I take also given the fact that our true purpose here is less then desirous, not to mention extremely illegal, more attention is not something we want."

"Correct!" Ruby started to feel some of her annoyance drain away. "So, what is your plan?"

"Give Crimson more time alone in public?" Skyler suggested, his worry obviously subsiding. "The mere threat of that should scare off any unwanted visitors."

"Thank you so much, but the idea does have merit." Crimson's face took on a thoughtful expression. "I could use an explosive."

In response, Neo shouldered her parasol. "No."

Crimson studied her for a moment. "Come on, it could be fun."

"No explosives, Crimson."

"Fine. But if that is the case, then I'm out of ideas." He looked to Skyler who shook his head.

"I have nothing. Neo?"

Neo held her hands out in front of her. "Don't ask me, I do not do plans."

Ruby sighed in defeat. "Does that mean we are just going to wing it?"

Skyler, Crimson, and Neo nodded which caused Ruby to face-palm.

"Yes, I do believe that is the plan." Skyler took off his gray fedora and did a little flourish. "Sorry for bringing this upon us, upon you, specifically."

Ruby waved the gentlemen's apology away. "It's fine, Skyler, you are right when you said it needed to happen and it was probably going to happen eventually, now is as good as ever." She sighed, thinking off what the future could now bring. "Here we go."

"Fun! Could we get something to eat now? I am starving!"

"Way to ruin the moment, Zombie Boy."

Yang set in her dorm room, waiting for the trial of judgement that she knew would be coming in the form of her three teammates. Teammates that she hadn't seen since getting back from Forever Fall.

The silence of the dorm room made the air heavy, silence that was only broken by the snatch of muffled conversation and the occasional quick footsteps in the hall, but the broken noise was not enough to distract Yang Xiao Long from the demons inside her head. Demons shrieking and clawing at her mind, singing a discord of hatred and ire towards their host, demons that named Yang as a dark betrayer, sick sycophant, and pitiful being. That was the thing that Yang Xiao Long hated the most about them, her demons.

They always spoke the truth, making them impossible to deny and impossible to forget.

Maybe I should-

The door creaking open snapped Yang out of her haze and Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Ebon Winters filed into the dorm. The air grew to near unbreathable.

The team stared at each other for an uncounted time, the silence now dominating everything, in fact, it seemed to Yang that the very world itself was holding its breath and waiting.

Waiting as Ebon strode across the dorm towards Yang, waiting as Ebon looked up into Yang's eyes, and waited as Ebon drove her fist into Yang's face.

The resulting crack of broken bone shattered the silence and brought the world back to its usually level of noise. Yang's head snapped back and her hands automatically rose up to hover protectively around her bleeding, broken nose.

The three other members of Team EBWY watched, waiting for the moment that Yang's semblance would explode into inferno, but it never came; they just saw Yang's face scrunch in pain as her nose continued to resemble a red waterfall. The bleeding warrior touched her nose gingerly.

"I deserve that."

Ebon nodded. "Yes, you do."

Yang lowered her hands and stared at her friend. "I deserve a lot more than that."

It was Weiss who answered this time. "Agreed."

There was a pause as Yang looked from impassive face to impassive face. "So, what now?"

The three others shared a glance before turning back to Yang, Ebon stepped back from Yang and spoke.

"We…talked about it, and decided that-"

"We're going to give you a chance." Blake spoke for the first time, her eyes fixed on her blonde partner. Yang looked back, her eyes fixing on Blake's.

"Why? Why are you giving me a chance?"

Blake looked at the floor briefly before answering. "Because I believe you can make things right and that everyone deserves a second chance." Blake paused and a shadow passed over her features and Weiss took the lull to put in the stark truth.

"Though, in your case, it might take some work."

Yang nodded, despite feeling inside that nothing she could do would make what she had done, and let happen, right. Weiss looked at her and continued.

"We all agreed to give you a chance, but you have to act on it. You have to try to make things right." Icy blue eyes seemed to pierce Yang. "Regardless of if you believe you can or not."

Yang felt something brush her side and was surprised to find Ebon sitting down beside her. The black-eyed girl hand clasped onto Yang's calloused fingers and the leader looked her teammate in the eye.

"I believe you can, try and make things right, I mean. But Yang…" Ebon's eyes hardened, her coal eyes seeming to burn with some inner flame.

"Don't screw up."

There we go! I hoped you wonderful people have enjoyed this chapter and the story in general. In case some of you are wondering if what just transpired is my plan for Yang, it is not! Something much worse is on the way, so calm down!

Anyways, thank you for thinking my story is good and I'll see you in the next chapter!