Ruby knew she shouldn't be where she was. The memorial was at the exact place where Summer Rose had died. And if someone like her could meet her end in a place like this...well it was only a sign of how dangerous the surrounding area was.

And yet here she was, standing before the intricately carved stone marker. Already Ruby could feel malicious eyes spying on here from the shadows of the forest. She'd only been to the memorial once, a couple years ago, during a specific time of year where the grimm activity in the region was at it's lowest. And even then, her uncle Qrow and a couple other hunters had been keeping watch over the area so that Ruby, Yang, and their father could leave the flowers in peace.

This was not that time of year though, or anywhere close to it. Ruby had no idea how many grimm were hiding in the trees, waiting to ambush her, but she didn't really care. She was there because she couldn't bear to be away any longer, or so she thought. But now that she was actually there...she didn't feel any different. No relief, nothing. She wanted to blow the damn rock off the cliff, as if that would somehow undo everything that'd happened here. She wanted to fall to her knees and scream and cry to the heavens to bring back her mother, but there was no one to to hear her out in the middle of nowhere.

To think, of all the places that Summer Rose, of all people, could have chosen to lay down her life, it was in the middle of a fucking wasteland, permanently frozen over and covered with snow. It was in this remote location, on a mission like any other, that a legend wilted away. She hadn't saved the world, or rescued any one in a moment of life-or-death, she just let herself be cornered, and died. God only knew how many pieces of her still remained on the cliff-side. How many drops of blood remained frozen deep under the snow.

Unable to bear the sights or memories that surrounded the memorial, Ruby finally raised her hood, turned, and walked back into the forest.

Yang! Could it be...? That sweet, unmistakable, voice that rang in her ears... YANG! Yang, wake up!

...'Mom?'

Yang opened eyes, only to see the ceiling of her dorm room. Sighing, she turned her head towards Ruby's bunk.

Shit. Ruby was gone. Yang quickly looked around the room. Her pajamas were discarded on the floor, and Crescent Rose was gone. Damn it!

"Weiss! Blake! Wake up!"

"Wha..." Blake was woken easily enough.

"Ruby's gone!" Yang jumped off her bunk and landed on the floor, then began searching through Ruby's drawers to see what else she'd taken.

"She's probably just in the bathroom, go back to sleep..."

"No she took all her things! Her scythe, her battle outfit, all her ammo, everything! WAKE UP, WEISS!" Yang shook the pale heiress by her shoulders, and she grumbled and sat up.

Blake, now risen from her bed, asked "Do you have any idea where she might've gone?"

"No I don't! I mean, I do, but- It's not...she couldn't have!" Yang angrily paced about the dorm in a panic.

"Slow down," Weiss said, placing a firm hand on Yang's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Where do you think she's gone?"

"I think she...I think she went to Mom's memorial..."

"Are you sure?" Weiss and Blake already knew how far off the memorial was.

"I can't think of anything else."

"Well, we can't go out THERE by ourselves...what do we do?" Blake asked, straightening the fur on her ears.

"...Qrow." Yang finally muttered, then reached for her cellphone.

"You're CERTAIN that's where she went?"

"I can't think of any other place she would go, on tonight of all nights."

"I suppose that's true...but heading out to the frozen forest, at this time of year...it's not something you do lightly. I'd have to use my ship to get out there fast enough."

"I don't know what else to do!"

"Stay calm, Yang. I'll gather up some hunters to head out and search for her, and get someone to try and track her cellphone. Just stay there and I'll have her back by dawn, I promise."

"No, we're going with you!"

It was just like her dream. Ruby stood in a clearing in the forest, with more than a dozen beowulves surrounding her. No matter how many she killed, there was always more. But these weren't the weak grimm she'd slaughtered so many times in her sleep. These were all fully matured, plated Beowulves. And she was already running out of ammo.

Ruby took one last shot to distance herself from the crowd, but just as she did, one of the beasts clawed at her, snagging it's paw on her cape and sending her tumbling to the ground.

Laying flat on her back, she swung her scythe blade towards her feet so that they pressed against the back of the blades, then she pulled the trigger and...nothing. She was out of bullets.

The beowulf that stood above her immediately lunged for her, and she scrambled backwards, managing to use her semblance to get back just far enough to dodge it, but that was the last of her aura. She was still pinned to the ground.

This was it. She was going to die.

BANG!

Suddenly the Beowulf fell to the ground, limp, and with a chunk of it's head missing. Likewise, so did all the surrounding grimm in the next few seconds.

She looked up, and realized that she had been so distracted she hadn't even noticed that she was now in the shadow of a small drop ship.

A dark figure wielding a scythe similar to crescent rose dropped out of the ship, followed by two other figures.

As soon as he landed in front of her, even with his back turned Ruby recognized who the first figure was.

"Ruby, get back!" Qrow shouted before he and the two hunters opened fire on the beowulves, and Ruby quickly go to her feet and ran to the edge of the clearing.

A fourth figure jumped from the ship and ran towards her. It was Yang. She sprinted to Ruby and threw her arms around her.

"Yang, I-"

"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Yang was sobbing and screaming at the same time, and pounding her fist into Ruby's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Yang..." Ruby said, and started crying into Yang's shoulder.

Blake and Weiss jumped from the ship and joined Qrow and the two other hunters in clearing out the Beowulves that now poured from the forest.

Half an hour later, and they were all on the drop ship, leaving behind a field of carnage.

Qrow was standing over Ruby, who was seated on a bench with Yang beside her, staring at her lap.

"I trust I don't have to tell you how disappointed I am, do I, Ruby?"

"No."

"Do you think your mother would want you to waste your life like that?"

"No, she wouldn't."

Qrow sighed. "It's good that you understand, at least." He took a seat beside her and gave her a hug. "I'm just glad we could get there in time. You should know better than to run off to somewhere like that."

"I'm sorry, I just felt...awful...and now I just feel even worse..."

"I know, I know. I feel the same way every day that I think about your mother. I miss her too. We all do. Just keep moving forward, Ruby. That's all you can do."