A/N: Sorry this is late againnnn aahhhHh my mom visited this weekend and last weekend and she bought me sushi - it was SO good. Anchovie pizza was... less good. But at least now we've tried it... x.o

Anyway thanks so much for hangin' in there!

HUGS

D

Ruby sat cross-legged, her hands braced on her ankles as she tried to connect the one-on-one rounds of the tournament to the destruction of the school... of all of Vale. All she could think of, though, was of how tired Pyrrha looked in the lamplight. Her patchwork armor looked a lot like her old gear, but it had been damaged and repaired with what looked like scrap. Pieces had dirt and even the beginnings of rust on them. Ruby had never seen Pyrrha's gear in anything less than top shape. Even her crimson hair had lost its usual shine.

She refocused when Pyrrha mentioned her friend.

"Penny?" Ruby brightened up as memories of the couple of days she and her friend had spent together flitted past her mind's eye. True, their exploring had mostly been spent searching for Blake the first time. That was back when they'd just found out she had kitty ears and everyone was stressed out. The second time, they'd mostly run away from those Atlas guys. The memory of the heavy /crunch/ of metal and plastic when Penny stopped that van with her bare hands (technically, her silicone polymer coated super awesome robot hands) never failed to lift Ruby's spirits- she regretted not getting a recording to use as a notification sound for her scroll.

Not that she would have heard it much recently. Her scroll had been out of power for weeks. She didn't even carry it on her anymore- probably it was with the junk in her bag. She railroaded her thoughts back to why Pyrrha was bringing Penny up in a talk in the middle of the ruins of Amity Colosseum. Beyond the tent walls, the wind moaned, distant and cold across the rim of the high circular walls. Ruby swallowed, her heart sinking, "I know Penny. She's from Atlas and she's really nice and-" and also a robot, which was unspeakably cool, and still a secret. She changed tack, "... and is she...?"

Her gut twisted as she searched Pyrrha's green eyes, anticipating the answer to her question even though she hadn't quite gotten the question out.

Though Pyrrha's gaze remained fixed on Ruby, her mind's eye had traveled elsewhere, looking into a time and place she wished she could forget. She'd never seen so much red. Scarlet. Scarlet everywhere. Everywhere.

"We don't know where she is," Ren quietly answered Ruby's unspoken question. "But..." his eyes flicked to Sage, overflowing with empathy, "That might be for the best."

Ruby watched, uncomprehending as Sage leaned forward, his fists clenched. The dark numerals on his neck moved as his throat worked.

"She just..." Nora bit her lip, teal eyes searching the map, her teammates, her grip on Magnhild, helpless for an explanation, "... went crazy."

"Penny went crazy...?" Scooting closer to the map, Ruby struggled to find the words that would get the rest of the rest of the story. The way the others avoided her gaze told her she didn't want the rest, though. Part of her instinctively wanted her team to be close by, and she glanced to make sure they were still there- Yang resting with Robin in her arms, Blake on a crate next to her. Weiss was scowling at the dirt floor, trying to stay awake.

From the edge of Jaune's cot, Fox's expression sharpened towards the tent's entrance. Ruby turned at the sound of footsteps as several of the others moved to stand and grip their weapons.

The lamplight flickered as the tent flap drew back, admitting a lean man with angled features. The long shaft of a sword jutted its place at his back- the blade showed on his other side, the metal dull in the low light. His shirt and pants bore the evidence of long weeks of travel, as did the remains of the tattered red cape that clung to his shoulders.

Ruby's heart leaped, "Uncle Qrow?"

His red eyes were a deep crimson as he took in the arrangement of supplies, the map, the oil lamp for about two seconds before Ruby was on him, clinging to him around his middle. He spread his arms slightly, bemused by this sudden development. "Started the party without me, huh?"

In his left hand he held a familiar looking cane.

Outside, the wind slowly picked up, gaining speed until it was nearly howling, whipping the tent flaps into a frenzy. Small metal trinkets lying about the room began to float as Pyrrha stood, her shocked expression darkening into an anger so fierce her voice broke on a single word, "You."

Blake, standing with her hand resting on her undrawn weapon, glanced at Yang's dozing form, then looked between Ruby and Pyrrha, trying to gauge how to react to this strange shabby man. "Ruby... who is this?"

Ruby started back as Crescent Rose shifted under the influence of Pyrrha's semblance. Her uncle put a hand on her head, gently brushing her off of him and pushing the cane into her hands so he could face the others, "Might want to give me some space, kiddo."

"Huh?" She allowed herself to be pushed aside and stood with the cane, looking in confusion from Pyrrha's closed fists and livid expression to her teammates- Blake had asked her something, but she'd missed it, and Weiss was gripping her sword, looking like she'd just started awake in the middle of a firefight and was trying to decide who was on her side. The others sat poised, nerves on a razor's edge as Qrow approached the crate in the center of the tent.

Nora, meanwhile, took her cue from Pyrrha and bristled at the stranger, Magnhild heavy in her grip, "I don't know who you are, mister, but if she doesn't like you, I don't like you either."

Qrow held up his empty hands. They were rough, with dirt grained in so they looked like they might never be clean. He met Pyrrha's gaze, "A lot of people are looking for you. You might not like it, but I'm on your side. Say the word and I'll clear out, but I'm here to try to tell you what you need to know."

Lightning flashed overhead, heavy thunder shaking the ground as Pyrrha stepped forward so she was toe-to-toe with Qrow. Eyes normally bright emerald had darkened to something far closer to hazel as Pyrrha searched Qrow's weary face. His perpetual five-o'clock shadow, the worry lines creasing his brow, his eyes. Those exhausted red eyes. Just like the Grimm. Just like...

The unbound metal scraps floating in the air began to swirl, and without a word, Pyrrha stepped right past Qrow and out of the tent, dragging him behind her with an invisible iron grip on the weapon attached to his back.

Ruby backed up almost into Weiss to avoid the floating screws and bits of scrap, not to mention Pyrrha and her uncle.

Qrow's fatigue and surprise at being hauled backwards by his weapon gave way to a roguish grin. He flashed a wink at his conscious niece as he vanished through the tent flap, leaving the batch of students to figure out whether to disarm or continue to stand ready.

"Who /was/ that?" Weiss held a hand to her ear to keep her earrings from brushing her face in the wake of Pyrrha's magnetism.

Ruby exchanged a glance with the others and went to the tent flap to see what was happening.

Outside in the worsening storm, Qrow's humor superseded his self preservation instincts. Lightning flashed again, and he commented over his shoulder to Pyrrha, "Can't say this is the first time I've been dragged out of a public space by a beautiful woman."

The magnetism pulling at Qrow's weapon increased tenfold, dragging him up into the air, where Pyrrha continued to push him along, letting him hang a few paces in front of her. She spared him a brief glance, looking for all the world as though she was seriously considering flinging him over the arena's walls, but she resolutely set her eyes forward, marching towards the nearest arena wall and its darkened entrance to the maintenance halls.

Qrow grimaced as his sword belt dug into him- it would have been easier to unhook his weapon, but hey. If it made the kid feel better, he might as well ride this out.

Meanwhile, Ruby bolted out of the light of the tent, breaking into a run to catch up with the two.

"Ruby!" Weiss hissed, chasing her partner out into the darkness and bitter wind.

The younger girl ignored her, though and gritted her teeth to try and put on some speed. Her steps faltered briefly as her semblance refused to activate. A sweat slicked her forehead despite the cold and she clutched at a dull pain in her chest- it was like her aura hadn't recovered yet. She could still jog, though, so she pressed on.

"Pyrrha!" she yelled over the wind as it whipped her cape sideways.

A few paces from the towering wall, Pyrrha turned, flashing a scowl fiercer than the storm swirling overhead... one that dissipated almost instantly upon recognizing Ruby. The fire left her eyes, and with it went her grip on Qrow, though, Pyrrha paid him little mind as he dropped unceremoniously to the ground, all of her focus on the girl in red running through the storm towards her.

Ruby stopped a few yards short of her friend, bending at the waist to catch her breath as she squinted against the wind in the dark. How had it gotten so stormy so quickly? And how was the wind blowing so hard in the arena, where they should have been sheltered from it? The cold reached all the way down her throat to her lungs as she pulled in air. Finally, she flung out an arm, "What... what's going on? How did...?"

Weiss crashed into her from behind. Ruby's elbows hit the dirt hard, and she struggled to get free of her partner and her tangled up cloak.

Qrow just righted himself, sitting on the ground, legs akimbo and hand cautiously near the hilt of his sword. Pyrrha wasn't watching him- of course she wasn't. But he watched her, and he wiped his mouth with his free hand to get some of the dirt off of it, "You should tell her."

Thunder rolled through the clouds overhead. "I am never," Pyrrha turned sharply to face Qrow, a wild arc of lightning illuminating brown eyes that seemed to burn at their edges, "listening to you ever again." Magnetism poured from her entire body in a black wave, pushing Qrow along the ground and into the dark maintenance hallway, where she followed.

Ruby felt Crescent Rose and the buckles on her gear draw forward, wanting to follow too. Pyrrha was so strong. Had she always been this strong? And her eyes... Ruby exchanged a glance with Weiss, or tried to in the thick darkness. Myrtenaster took on a low glow, casting a dim icy glow in a small circle around them.

"Well," the heiress spat and raked strands of white out of her face, "we've come this far."