Pov Weiss

It had been a little over a week since I'd been shot and only a few hours since I'd been cleared to leave the hospital. A week of Aura enhancers had repaired almost all of the damage to my shoulder only leaving sore muscles and the occasional bit of pain. This, however, was nothing that some time in physical therapy wouldn't fix. I felt a pang of fear as I stepped into the elevator heading up towards Ozpin's office with my two teammates on either side. The last time I'd stepped out of this elevator I'd almost died.

As the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open I took a deep breath and stepped into Ozpin's office with a practiced walk of authority learned from being president of the SDC. Sitting in his usual spot overlooking vale was Headmaster Ozpin with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Hello, Headmaster we're here for our meeting."

"Ah yes Ms. Schnee, Blake, Yang it's good to see all of you after the little… incident. Please take a seat." Yang snarled at Ozpin's comment but I placed a hand on her wrist making her relax as the three enough took a seat in front of Ozpin's desk. "Before we get started I do wish to apologize for what happened, after hearing about Ironwoods assassination attempt I should have increased security."

Ozpin's comment caused me to quickly sit up in my seat in utter confusion. General Ironwood was supposed to be inside one of Atlas's most secure bunkers, there could have been no way he was attacked while there. "Ozpin what do you mean, what happened?"

"Oh, I'm surprised you were not informed. A few days ago an assassin made their way into Ironwoods bunker and attacked him and destroyed half the base. Ironwood is currently under treatment and is going to be fitted with a new prosthetics. The attack happened less than a day before your own."

"Headmaster who could have done this. That was Atlas's most secure base?" Ozpin sighed and took a sip from his mug of coffee before placing it down in front of him. "Weiss this is a question you already have an answer for, for now, we hope there are no more attacks. Now, what is it you came to talk to me so urgently about?"

Yang stayed quiet as Blake pulled out a folder and placed a few photos on the table for Ozpin to look at. "Headmaster when Weiss was attacked I chased after her attacker while Yang stayed with Weiss. Some things happened during the chase that I didn't take notice of until after the fact, but it helped to possibly identify who they were."

Ozpin picked up each picture and looked at the photos with an intense gaze. Finally, when he was done he placed the photos down and looked at all three of us with a steel grey eyes. "Now if these pictures are of who you believe it is I hope you have more proof, but seeing that Yang is also here then I'm guessing you do."

I nodded as Blake pulled out a small clear plastic bag and laid it on the desk. "As I said after the chase I noticed a few things, the first being a weapon she pulled out, it was a tanto blade almost identical to the one she used though it was broken. The second thing was her semblance. The attacker used a speed semblance to escape from me during the end of the fight, I know speed semblances are not uncommon but no one except her leaves these behind."

Ozpin picked up the bag and quickly dropped it down onto the desk after seeing what was inside. "I will tell you three this, the death of Ruby Rose was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made and I have made many mistakes. If you believe she is alive and is an assassin for the Queen then my mistake has only gotten worse. If you follow this you will have to bring things to light that should stay in the dark. Are you prepared to do this?"

Yang surprised all three of us when she stood up and slammed her hands onto the desk. "If there's any chance in all of Remnant that my baby sister is alive I WILL FOLLOW IT NO MATTER THE PATH. I should have died that day not her because of my mistake, so With or WITHOUT your help I will find her." Ozpin stood up from his desk and walked over to the window and looked out over Beacon. "I will help you but I must ask, have you told your Uncle or your Father about this?"

"Yang stayed quiet for a second before she spoke. "Qrow and Winter are on the way here now but my father doesn't know. I can't put him through this, it would kill him. Until we know the truth I want him to stay in the dark." Ozpin turned from the window and faced the three of us. An explosion shook the building and a large crack formed across the window. "I believe we may not need to look as far as we thought."

POV SILVER

With how much planning was required for this mission and in such little time Cinder and I had left Salem's castle and moved to one of our few remaining safe houses in Vale. Since Cinder was on this job with me Kita and Ari were forced to come with us. Currently, they were being watched by Emerald back at the safehouse. The only time my daughters were safe while in the Castle was when either Cinder or I were present. I couldn't imagine what would happen if somebody like Tyrian got their hands on them. Outside of her domain, I had enough faith in Emerald that she could protect them.

The last four days Cinder had laid low while I stuck to the shadows and monitored all of JNR's movement. The orange and black haired team members Nora and Ren seemed to spend almost every moment of their time together while their blonde leader Jaune was only with them a few random times a day. The only time they seemed to meet together was around noon for lunch. The problem with this was that they were near a hotspot filled with dozens of Hunters and Huntresses at all times.

Thankfully we had luck on our side and Team JNR would always walk back towards their residence together. The path that they chose to use broke off from the main walkway and took them on a smaller path with a scarce population most of the time. Cinder and I had chosen this as our ambush point and were both currently waiting for the trio to arrive.

Cinder sat down below hiding in the shadows ready to step out when team JNR arrived. My job was to drop from the roof and block their rear escape path. Even as experienced as they were they couldn't hope to protect themselves in such a tight location.

Doing my usual scouting, I looked through my scope keeping low so as not to be seen. A few people came and went passing by us but none where the targets. Finally, the sound and sight of an enthusiastic orange haired woman caught my attention. Following her were the two other targets. "Cinder their coming this way be ready."

"Got it, when I step out, make your move!" I pulled back from my spot and crept over to the edge of the building switching my rifle to shotgun mode ready to act in at a moments notice. The trio walked into the alley and continued to talk completely oblivious to what was going to happen. Just as they reached halfway into the alley Cinder stepped out of the shadows using her powers causing flames to ignite all around her.

Jaune drew his sword and shield in an instant quickly followed by his teammates as Cinder took a few steps towards him. "Hello, Jaune it's so good to see you. The last time I did...well that was when I killed your pathetic little love!" Jaune growled but was smart enough to hold his ground while his two teammates slowly backed up. Making my move I jumped over the edge of the roof and landed with a thud in the alley.

Ren quickly spun around holding his smg's up at me, I responded by holding up my own rifle laying it level with his chest. "So what made you decide to come out of hiding after all these years?" Jaune voice was little more than a snarl at Cinder as she stopped just a few paces from Jaune. "Oh Silly boy I haven't been hiding I've been practicing!"

With a single swing of her arm Cinder cast, a wall of fire down the alley burning everything in its path. I turned away from the flames holding my arm up as the wave of heat from the fire rolled over from me. When the fired died out I turned back and took a step back in surprise, Jaune was standing before Cinder with a yellow translucent wall surrounding his team. Jaune let the wall collapse and lunged forward at Cinder as she summoned a pair of glass daggers shouting. "I've been practicing too!"

I lunged backward just in time as a large hammer came smashing down where I had been followed by a barrage of bullets. Ren and Nora had left their leader and decided to team up on me. A smile spread across my face as I pulled the trigger on my gun and fired my own barrage of buckshot towards the duo.

Ren jumped out of the way in time but Nora was too slow and tried to spin her hammer to deflect the pellets but ended up missing more than half of them. The pellets smacked into Nora knocked her back while simultaneously taking out a chunk of her aura. I fired another round as Ren came running at me slicing two curved blades that extended from his guns at my neck. Spinning my rifle in my hand I blocked the attack and smashed the butt of it into his gut.

I pointed my rifle at Ren and prepared to fire but was launched backwards as a grenade blew up at my feet sending my rifle flying from my hand. I skidded to a halt with smoke blowing off my trench coat. I stood up and drew Nox Atra from its sheath letting the blade glow red. Nora ran over to Ren and quickly helped the man up as they both got ready for the next round. By now the fight had escalated and the three of us were currently fighting on the main street. This was going to make it a little harder but not impossible.

I charged forward towards Nora knowing she was the slower of the two and sidestepped her hammer slicing Nox across her side. I quickly rolled away as her hammer came slamming down before thrusting my sword forward catching her in the back. Nora screamed as her aura level fell, even more, just another hit or two and it would be gone. Green flashed from the corner of my eye and I brought my blade up catching Ren weapon locking us together.

Ren pushed down on my blade keeping us locked together giving Nora a chance to land a clean blow on me. I smiled and reached down with my free hand and pulled a white bladed dagger from my belt and stabbed it towards the unexpecting man. Ren saw my move and released our lock but not quickly enough, the blade cut through Ren's side leaving a shallow cut a few inches long. "How did you….I still have aura."

I spun the blade in my hand displaying the dagger completely to him. This was a very rare and illegal dagger made from steel infused with white dust. White dust had a special property making it bypass aura. During the Great War thousands of weapons were created using it and in the end, all of the world's white dust was used up. After the war was ended and the World Council was formed all aura piercing weapons were confiscated and made illegal. Only a few remained out of the Council's reach and one just happened to have been owned by a man I killed.

Placing the blade back on my belt I held my sword up and motioned for the duo to attack. This time the duo chose to move together attacking as one, Ren speed towards my right while Nora charged right at me swing her hammer across her body. Figuring out Ren planned to hit me in a blind spot I flipped over the hammer and sent a kick to the berserkers face pushing myself towards the ninja.

As I landed I dropped to my knees and slid just a few centimeters under the daggers. Just as the blades cleared my head I spun smacking the blade of Nox Atra into the back of Ren's knee forcing him to the ground. Nora ran towards me going for an overhead swing leaving her chest open. I sent a quick kick into Nora's chest and hit Ren with the flat of Nox Atra's blade.

This was the final attack on the duo. With the damage, Nora had already taken and Ren's defense being low both their aura hit zero. I took a step back not ready to end the fight just yet, Ren and Nora stood up feeling the toll of the fight on their body as they tried to catch their breath. I slid Nox back into its sheath and pulled my broken blade from inside my coat.

Both of their eyes light up as I ran towards Ren flipping my tanto into a backhanded grip. Ren stopped the blade but I used my free hand to punch him in the side then followed it up by slide the razor sharp blade across Ren's left wrist severing the tendons and blood vessels in his arm. Ren screamed dropping both his weapons and used his only working hand to try and stop the flow of blood.

The loud sound of a grenade exploding behind me made me spin around as Nora's hammer came flying towards me. Having enough of her I held out my left arm and caught the hammer's head with my robotic arm. Nora looked at me in shock as she let go of the hammer in fear. I threw the oversized toy away and thrust the tanto into her gut, Nora tried to stop the blade by catching my arm only letting the blade sink in about half an inch. I pulled the back and kneed Nora in the gut before sliding the blade into her left shoulder joint severing the muscle and tendons.

Nora pushed me away causing me to leave the blade in her shoulder as Ren let out a scream and rushed me with his dagger. I grabbed his arm and flipped him over hard onto his back and pulled a knife from my coat and went to thrust it into his heart. Just as I thrust downwards a shot was fired blowing the knife from my hand. I looked up and instantly my head began swimming running towards me was the black, white, and yellow trio from just a week before.

POV BLAKE

After leaving Ozpin's office Yang Weiss and I ran off towards the sound off battle, thanks to my enhanced hearing from being a Faunus I could hear the distinct sound of five people fighting. As we drew nearer to the fight I began picking up the smell of blood and just as we rounded a corner I came to a halt filled with fear.

Kneeling on the ground was Nora covered in blood with a knife sticking out of her shoulder. Ren was laying on the ground next to her equally covered in blood with a redhaired assassin standing above him. I quickly pulled Gambol shroud from its sheath and pulled the slide of the pistol back chambering a round. The assassin pulled a knife from her coat and thrust down at Ren with it, aiming as quickly as I could I fired around at her hoping to stop the blade. The sound of metal hitting metal filled my ears as the bullet's aim stayed true and knocked the knife from the shooters hand making her look up in surprise.

Yang and Weiss rushed past me pulling out their own weapons and charged at the assassin as she jumped up in surprise and pulled out her sword. I stood dumbfounded as Yang and Weiss took the assassin on but where being battered back unable to deal with the assassins speed.

Hearing a groan from Ren made me jump back to reality as I rushed into the fray of the fight blocking a sword strike giving Weiss time to jump back. "Weiss you're are medic, get Nora and Ren to some cover and treat them!" Weiss gave a quick nod and picked up Ren and helped Nora to her feet guiding her to cover.

The assassin didn't seem pleased and began to push towards the injured duo but was stopped as Yang landed a blow to her side sending her sprawling. "Blake is it her, I need to know!" I looked at the assassin trying my hardest to say she was Ruby but with her face covered by the mask, I couldn't be certain. "I don't know get her mask off and it should be easier!"

Yang gave a nod as we both ran forward and engaged the assassin. Yang kept to her kickboxing style weaving through sword strikes trying to find an opening but kept getting lured in and ended up taking a few hits. I tried to my best to give Yang an opening but she was just too damn fast it was nothing like the last time I fought her. Any hint of hesitance from before was replaced but there was a difference between the attacks she landed on Yang and the ones she landed on me. Yang's would be dead if not for her aura I, on the other hand, would have only taken flesh wounds.

Changing tactics I pulled out Gambol Shroud's sheath and began duel wielding the two blades with using my shadow clones to try and get the assassin hoping that she would give Yang or I an opening. Luck was on our side as Yang ducked below one of her strikes and landed a hard punch to her side giving me an opening to smash my hilt into the assassin's head.

The assassin growled in anger and took a hard swipe at Yang making a rookie mistake. Yang easily dodged the attack and jumped in grappling her arm pulling hard on it. The assassin screamed in pain and relinquished her hold on her sword dropping it. "Blake her mask grab it!" The assassin looked in fear as I reached out and pulled on the metal mask covering her face and removed it.

Yang's grip slackened as an older version of Ruby's face appeared from underneath the mask. Ruby took the chance and pulled free from Yang's grasp, Yang did nothing as tears rolled down her face. Yang dropped to the ground causing Ruby to hesitate. Then Yang spoke through her tears in little more than a whisper. "Ruby Why?"

POV SILVER

Fear flooded my mind in disbelief as stared at the black and yellow pair in front of me. Ever since the raven haired women had shown up my mind had ached just like it when I'd attacked the Schnee. As we fought the pain grew worse every time I tried to hit her as if something was fighting me from the inside no matter how hard I tried to kill her.

My fear hit its peak when I let my pain and anger cloud my judgment and swung hard at the blonde in anger. Seeing my mistake the blonde jumped up close to me and grabbed me by the wrist with a grip stronger than steel. I flared my aura try to break free but failed as the blonde pulled on my arm stretching the joints and ligaments to their limits.

The worst came as the blonde cried out to the raven-haired women to remove my mask. I tried as hard as I could to fight but it became useless as the Raven haired woman removed my mask. It was not the fear of being discovered that I was afraid of but the fear of what I was underneath. Even though I was healed my mask was protection against others eyes and without it, I felt vulnerable.

When the mask fell off the grip on my arm suddenly released and I pushed away from the duo. I turned around and faced the women pulling a throwing knife from my belt, it was the last weapon I had other than my fist with Nox Atra laying out of reach and my tanto still stuck in the orange haired woman's shoulder. I expected the blonde to rush me but instead, she dropped to her knees and cried.

Then the blonde said something that made my mind almost shatter from pain. "Ruby, Why?" I myself dropped to my knees screaming, I tried as hard as I could to suppress the pain and tried to shove my head as far into my lap as possible. Flashes of faces crossed my mind, those of people I'd never met but each had a familiar feeling. The final face was a woman almost identical to myself standing next to a short blonde hair man with a goatee and a small blonde haired girl hanging off his shoulder.

Then it hit me harder than any wound I'd received, it was almost like somebody was trying to peel the skin from my body with a dull knife while pouring salt on the wound. Then it was gone leaving me with a single name. "Yang?"

The blonde stopped weeping and crawled over to me and pulled me into an embrace. "Ruby it's really you isn't it. What happened? Why?

I lifted from my head from my lap and looked into the lilac eyes filled with such fear, happiness, sadness, and confusion. The pain started to fill my head again and I tried to pry myself from Yang's embrace using all my strength. Yang let me go and I quickly scrambled back away from her. "Ruby are you ok? Talk to me!"

"NO stop calling me that! STOP IT!" Yang tried to get closer to me but an explosion shook the ground and a Jaune flew out from the alleyway into the main walkway hitting the ground hard. Cinder followed him out a few steps behind. Both of the two had been fighting and neither seemed to have come out on top.

Jaune looked drained as he stood up using his sword to keep himself from falling back to the ground. Cinder had a few cuts on her body from where Jaune had torn her dress and a large bruise on her face either from his shield or a fist hitting her hard. Both Yang and Blake leveled their weapons at Cinder each chambering around. The only thing that either said was a snarl from Yang. "Cinder!"

Cinder did her usual routine and lit a flame in her hand and took a few elegant steps towards Yang. "Oh, my did I crash your little party. I didn't mean to but this one was acting a little too stubborn to die!" Cinder looked over to Jaune who was now standing up without the help of his sword thanks to his large pools of aura.

"Now how about we end this party before it gets out of hand?" Cinder gave me a wink and I lunged forward planting a quick kick into Blake's unprotected back. Cinder jumped at Yang throwing a ball of fire at her engulfing the blonde in the wicked flame. I quickly grabbed Blake by her hair and held my knife up to her throat as Cinder laughed. "You think you could go against us. I've been waiting years to remove you little pests."

Jaune lifted his shield ready to attack Cinder but she summoned a glass sword in her hand and swung it hard into his shield with enough force to knock him to the ground. Cinder knelt over Jaune placing the sharp tip of the sword onto his throat laughing at him. "Things still haven't changed, have they. You still want to be the hero. Let me tell you a little secret, heroes never win!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Cinder looked up as a yellow metal arm smashed into her face. Yang had stepped out of Cinder's blaze free of any harm. "How are you alive?" Cinder stepped back holding her in pain as Yang walked towards her cracking her knuckles. "It helps to have a semblance that makes you fireproof. Now let me show you a real FIRE!"

Yang jumped forward her eyes turning a bright crimson as her entire body literally erupted into flames. Cinder moved quickly summoning her glass sword and took the blonde head on. Blake fought against my hold on her trying to break free so she could join the fight. I pulled the blade from her throat and brought the hilt down onto her neck knocking her out.

I let Blake fall to the ground and scrambled towards No Atra where it laid on the ground. I quickly picked it up and turned towards Cinder and Yang. I held up my sword just in time and blocked a strike from Jaune. "Ruby stop this we're your friends!" I gave out a low growl and disappeared into a bundle of rose petals reforming behind Jaune. I slashed at his back but the man swung his shield back blocking my strike.

Jaune spun swinging his sword in an arc around his body quickly trying to bisect my body. I disappeared once again into a bundle of roses letting the blade pass through harmlessly before reforming and planting a fist into his face. Jaune stumbled back using holding the back of his hand up to his nose. "Ruby why are you doing this, helping the people we spent years fighting."

I attacked Jaune with a growl trading a series of blows. Jaune used his shield and sword to block my flurry of attacks but it wasn't enough. Slowly Jaune was being pushed back but he didn't seem to mind he was on the defense and as long as he could block my attacks he was good. Finally, once I'd pushed him far enough back I swung slower letting Jaune think I'd lost my stamina. Jaune fell for the move and knocked my sword down and stabbed at my chest with his sword. I quickly sidestepped and let him rush past me.

Jaune recovered quicker than I hoped and spun around dropping into a defensive stance protecting his body with his shield keeping just his eyes above the top of his shield. I looked at my sword and took a risk option and drew my arm back. I whipped my arm forward and threw the blade towards Jaune and dove for the object lying on the ground a few feet away from me.

Once I felt the rifle's grip hit my hand I gripped it tightly and spun on my knee aiming at Jaune. Jaune looked over his shield after using it to block the sword and crouched lower trying to hide behind his shield. Chambering one of the few shotgun rounds I had left in my clip I pulled the trigger letting the buckshot launch into his shield.

Jaune moved his way towards me slowly like a one-man phalanx keeping his footing as each round smashed into his shield. I was counting every shot knowing I was going to run out very soon. Finally, I fired my final shot, Jaune took the round just as he had before and continued moving. I pulled the trigger one more time hearing the heart-stopping sound of an empty clip. "Click" Jaune stopped his movement as I hurriedly looked at him. Jaune stood up resting his shield at his side thinking I'd accepted defeat as I lowered my rifle to the ground.

Looking up I cocked a smile and clicked a button on the rifle making the barrel extend into sniper form. Jaune took a step back as I clicked another button, this time a hidden chamber loaded a single anti-material rifle round into the gun, it was my secret move that I'd never had to use before. I quickly leveled the rifle and pulled the trigger. Jaune barely raised his shield in time as the round smashed into him. The round tore through his shield like it was made of paper and smashed into his chest flooring him to the ground.

I stood up and looked to the unconscious figure and frowned somehow his enormous aura supply still had enough in it to stop the bullet from killing him but it had done a large amount of damage sending a spider web of cracks through his armor.

Turning around I picked up Nox Atra from the ground and slipped into its sheath and shifted my rifle into assault rifle mode loading one of my last two clips I had. I took off running towards Cinder and Yang's heated fight stepping through the craters the two had made.

Yang and Cinder were in the middle of the courtyard throwing chunks of concrete around with each attack they made. Yang's eyes glowed bright red as she blasted a chunk of concrete to dust with her gauntlet and fire off a round with a kick of her leg. Cinder threw a wave of fire at the round melting it under the intense heat.

I stopped about a dozen feet behind Yang and began fire rounds at her flaming body. Almost instantly the idea failed as her semblance melted the rounds before they could even touch her. I slip the rifle onto my back and pulled out Nox Altra and burst forward using my semblance. Cinder saw me coming behind Yang and launched a new wave of fire distracting her. Using momentum by spin I slashed Nox across Yang's side making her yell in surprise and spin around on instinct.

I ducked under Yang's punch and activated my semblance twirling around the blonde hitting her as quickly as I could. I knew what her semblance could do and right now all I was doing was powering it up even more. Her aura, on the other hand, could only take so many hits before it broke and her semblance was useless.

Feeling the drain of the use of my semblance I disengaged Yang and fell back next to Cinder who was worse off than I was. Yang was fighting fire with fire and both were walking away burned but Cinder had already taken on Jaune who was a tank just like Yang. The only way we both walked away was if we worked together and ended this quickly. "Cinder do you remember when Salem had us practice on that ancient Ursa Major." Cinder gave me a nod understanding what I was getting at.

Yang didn't waste time knowing we were coming up with a plan and launched herself forward with her gauntlets. Just like an Ursa Major Yang was stacked with muscle and had an incredible defense and offense. However they lacked speed and could be taken out with quick attacks to their weak spots. Yang was nowhere as slow as an Ursa but she also wasn't as fast Cinder and especially not me.

Cinder and I moved quickly flanking to Yang's sides. Spinning Nox Atra I slashed at Yang making her block me while Cinder stabbed at her with a glass dagger. Yang stopped both attacks but I lifted my leg and planted a kick into Yang's side pushing her back. Cinder threw a punch but Yang sent her own kick into her gut causing Cinder to double over her Aura close to breaking. I dashed forward and cut Nox across Yang's back and followed it up planting a sidekick to her head.

Yang shrugged off the attack and activated her semblance once again and began delivering a new series of kicks and punches at me. Even with my semblance Yang was moving so fast that she was just missing by a hairs breath every time. The flames around Yang's body began to die out as her semblance grew weaker. I took my chance in between one of Yang's kicks and used all my body weight to slam into Yang.

The attack was useless and Yang grabbed me around the waist and threw me across the ground causing Nox to fly out of my hands. Yang turned her attention to Cinder who had just stood back up from Yang kick. "Give up Cinder I have you beat. If you do I won't kill you….Yet!" Cinder gave no response and activated her maiden powers using it as a last-ditch effort. Other than summoning fire Cinder had never gained full use of her maiden powers, it wasn't something you could learn overnight it required decades and Salem was not happy with that. Cinder practiced every day but she could only use her powers at full force for around a minute and after that, she was done.

Hovering above the air dozens of fireballs began spinning around her creating a shield as Yang let loose a flurry of kicks and punches fire dozens of shotgun rounds. Once she was done Cinder gave Yang a smirk and shards of glass summoned all around her combing with the fire turning them into globs of molten glass. Even if Yang was fireproof it was going to stop the deadly liquid.

With a single motion of her hand, the balls of superheated glass flew towards Yang making her duck and weave through the projectiles. Cinder let loose a laugh and began creating smaller balls of fire throwing them in waves making it impossible for Yang to dodge. Yang yelped as one of the balls hit her shoulder and burned right through her clothes and settled onto her skin cooling against her skin making the glass harden on her skin.

Time was ticking down for each woman as Cinder's aura was almost used up and more glass fell upon Yang's skin. Finally, the flames around Cinder flickered and died dropping her to the ground. Yang followed her as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. This was my chance to end things as I pulled myself from the ground my body aching in response.

When Yang had thrown me off her I'd hit the ground hard and my aura was just barely working anymore I needed to finish my mission and leave. I headed over towards Yang moving slowly thanks to my aching muscles. I looked over towards Cinder as she got back up to her feet holding her side in pain.

A flash of black made my eyes grow wide as Blake came out of nowhere her sword ready to pierce Cinder's spine. Somehow Blake had woken up and waited like an assassin for her chance to strike at Cinder. Using the last bit of aura I had I launched forward entering my own realm of time. I could see the blade coming closer and closer as I ran forward. With one final burst, I threw my left arm forward in the way of the sword taking the hit.

Time instantly returned to normal and my aura broke as Blake's sword stabbed straight through my prosthetic arm sending sparks flying all around. I kept moving forward and pushed Blake to the ground landing on top of her. Blake cried out as I pinned her to the ground I looked up to Cinder who looked at me with shocked eyes. Behind her, I saw a group of armed men being led by Weiss Schnee running across the courtyard. My mind went wild and I did the only thing I could think of. "Cinder you need to run!"

Cinder gave me a puzzled look and turned around looking at the incoming group. "Silver I can't leave you. What about…" I struggled to keep Blake on the ground and gave her a quick punch trying to stop her. "Salem would never forgive me if you didn't return. Plus who would look after Kita and Ari." Cinder gave a single teary eyed nod and turned on her heel running away from the incoming group.

"Ruby why would you let her get away. She did this!" I looked down at Blake pressing all my weight on her using my left arm and reached for the rifle strapped on my back. I leveled the rifle at the incoming group and began firing the last of my clip at them trying to slow them down as much as I could.

Blake jerked under my body and thrust her hips up throwing me off her body and quickly jumped on top of me. Her sword was still on my arm and she thrust it down into the ground pinning me. "Ruby just tell me why!" I looked Blake right in the eye and gave her the answer she never expected.

"Because She's family."