Welcome to chapter 9! Believe it or not, this chapter was difficult to write. I realize I'm a terrible man for doing this stuff to the characters. But I'll persevere. Hopefully it's all more emotional rather than sadistic to the readers; I'm not killing them off because it's fun to, if that's what you're wondering.

Moving along…

"Yang! Lemme go! Lemme goooo!"

Ren woke to the sounds of a girl pleading earnestly. It almost made him want to pounce at the attackers but as his eyes snapped open those hostile thoughts began to feel increasingly foolish.

"Please lemme go, Nora!" Ruby begged, while her sister hoisted her up by the armpits while Nora held her by the ankles, lifting her body off the ground. "Don't partake in this madness!"

"Aww, but this is too fun!" Nora grinned toothily. If not for the bandages and bruises on her body and face, she would have looked dazzling as usual. Not that she looked any less beautiful now.

"Answer honestly, lil' sis!" Yang ordered, messing up Ruby's hair. "Where did you learn the word 'ass'?"

"I-I didn't!" Ruby lied. If her tone was not proof enough, her expression was a dead giveaway. "I have no idea what that means!"

"I see Ruby's inability to lie hasn't changed," Pyrrha said lightly from the kitchen corner.

"Ruby," Yang said ominously. "Do you want to know what happens if I don't get my answers?"

Ren had no idea Ruby Rose could ever gulp in fear like that.

"Y-Yang…" she said shakily. "Y-you wouldn't… We're not back home right now! Everyone's here! Y-you wouldn't!"

"Oh, I would," Yang replied. "But first, an appetizer. Nora! Proceed!"

"Aye aye!" Nora replied, removing Ruby's shoes and tickling her feet.

"They've been at it all morning," Jaune said as Ruby struggled in vain, laughing while begging them to stop. "You feel any better?"

Ren nodded, accepting the cup of water from his leader.

"I can't believe you slept through all that," Jaune said, watching as Yang called for reinforcements. "You must have stayed up all night looking after Nora, right?"

"She's laughing," Ren said, wearing one of his rare smiles.

"Yeah, she is," Jaune agreed, smiling contentedly. "It makes all that waiting worthwhile doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does," Ren replied. He jumped when he heard Jaune gasp. "W-what's wrong, Jaune?"

"You're smiling," the blonde said, his eyes wide with shock. Judging from expression alone, he might have been looking at an extraterrestrial. Or a Grimm wearing Glynda Goodwitch's clothes. "And we're actually having a conversation that's not one-sided."

The rest of the room seemed to have picked up on the atmosphere, and was now collectively staring at a very perplexed Ren.

"Who are you and what have to done to the real Le-Ren?" Jaune asked menacingly, biting his tongue from talking too fast.

"Quick, I need a camera!" Nora exclaimed, letting of Ruby's legs. "Bring me a camera at once!"

"I'll freeze him while you look," Weiss offered, pulling out Myrtenaster. "At least that expression will be preserved."

"Jaune!" Yang called out. "Grab him!"

Ren wondered why he did not smile more before. When he looked at Nora's beaming expression, along with the radiant smiles on everyone's faces, he could not help but want to join in. For some reason, it felt really liberating to express himself that way.

For the first time since forever, Lie Ren laughed. To him, it was also the last time he remembered laughing at all.

The silence was heavy and painful, enveloping the space with its overbearing presence. Occasionally, the meek crackling of vermillion flames would keep it at bay, burning helplessly against the sinking despair it carried.

No one said a word. No one could even utter a sound. All they could do was stare, transfixed, at the simple objects in front of them. The objects, common as they were, were also dreadful in their eloquence, painting unimaginable images in the children's minds.

Team RWBY had ransacked several different camps and storage facilities in search of Team JNPR's weapons. It was no easy task, but they managed to pull it off swiftly enough within a matter of days, which had been a cause for celebration. The reason why everyone was instead seated around the small table with pale faces and haunted expressions was the presence of two photographs.

Team RWBY's contacts, who had been loitering around Beacon, managed to take those pictures and passed them to the girls with a declaration that they were finally done; after seeing the new bodies, they were no longer willing to risk their lives like this anymore. Truthfully, none of the eight children felt like fighting any further either after seeing those photos.

They were slightly blurry, having been taken from a distance, but they managed to capture the bodies of Cardin Winchester and Velvet Scarlatina respectively. Hung from the tower as their clothes were horribly ripped and stained with blood, their bodies bore the countless marks of violence and pain. Even though the photos were unclear, the gruesome details were nonetheless horrible to behold, even without considering the possibility that the wounds were inflicted before death. As much as everyone wanted to tear their eyes away from them, they were frozen in place without an ounce of strength to even do something so simple. Even though they were trained to fight monsters, their own swelling emotions prevented them from even ripping apart two normal photos.

A soft sound to her right broke Weiss out of her trance. Turning slowly, she saw her leader – that usually cheerful, hardworking dolt – on her knees, shaking violently. Even though it was only to be expected, the sight still clawed viciously at Weiss's chest.

"Ru-" Yang began, but Weiss beat her to it, wrapping her arms around the younger girl from behind her.

"Ruby," she said forcefully, even though her voice was shaky from her own fear. Her left arm hurt, but she did not care. "I want you to listen to me right now, okay?"

Ruby did not respond. Instead, she continued trembling, occasionally murmuring something sounding like 'it can't be'. Those words, filled with a shock and hurt that Weiss had only ever experienced twice before, unleashed a cold, suffocating grip on the heiress's heart.

"Don't think about it," she commanded, even though it sounded more like she was pleading.

"Why…?" Ruby whispered, tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. "Why…?"

Weiss knew that Ruby was different. She was not only two years younger, but she had been protected by Yang even after entering Beacon. Even after the White Fang attack, the rest of her team had tried their best to keep Ruby from seeing more than she needed to. While as a result, she was able to avoid reality all this time, it could not last forever.

It may have been mercy from the heavens that Ruby had yet to encounter a situation where she had to kill someone. It may have been relatively lucky that she had seen Cardin' and Velvet's bodies through a picture while safe in their hideout rather than see them murdered during the heat of battle. However, it did nothing to change the fact that they were dead. It did nothing to erase the reality that Ruby was forcibly thrust into.

"Please," Weiss begged. Even if it made her sound weak in front of the others, she did not care; right now, her priority was to calm Ruby down, not to maintain her stubborn pride. "Just listen to me right now."

"W-Weiss?" Ruby jumped. She had never heard Weiss talk like that before, and it made her sound like she was actually scared for once. The mere thought of it unnerved Ruby even more than the photos had.

"Don't think about it," Weiss repeated. "Focus on our mission. Do you remember what it is?"

"Yes…" Ruby replied timidly, obeying her teammate's words. "We have to… defeat the White Fang…"

"That's right," Weiss nodded. "Just focus solely on that objective. Can you do that?"

Silently, Ruby nodded. Weiss let her go with that, even though there was one thing the heiress was sure of: her leader's inability to lie was still the same as ever.

Weiss Schnee may not have been perfect – not yet – but she was seldom wrong. When it came to reading her simple-minded team leader like an open book, she was probably second to Yang.

"It's still on your mind, isn't it?" she asked softly, approaching the tunnel's one and only entrance/exit. The boulder blocking the entrance had yet to be moved, and a solitary figure stood right before it.

"I thought it'd be Yang who would come," Ruby said with a bitter smile on her face.

"I talked them into letting me come," Weiss replied.

"Am I that bad at lying, even without saying a word?" Ruby asked.

"Well, you're a dolt after all," Weiss shrugged. Then, dropping all pretense, she continued. "You're going to retrieve their bodies, aren't you?"

"What else can I do?" Ruby asked, trembling from the effort of holding back her tears. "I don't know what else to do…"

It was only natural. It was her first time losing someone she knew after all. However, even though Weiss accepted that fact, she could not simply let Ruby walk off into her own death like that.

"They can't be dead," Ruby murmured. "It must be a bad joke, or a mistake. It is, isn't it, Weiss?"

"Ruby…"

"You can tell me it's not true, right?" Ruby begged, her smile breaking apart as her tears began to surface along the edge of her eyes. "You're a better liar than I am, and I'm a dolt, so you can fool me easily, right?"

Weiss could not reply. Even if it was Ruby's personal request, how could she ever be expected to lie to a face like that?

"Velvet and Cardin… are dead, aren't they?" Ruby asked at last. Any trace of strength that had once resided in her silver eyes was now completely absent, instead replaced by the frightened glimmer of a terrified child's tears. "They're not coming back, are they?"

Weiss said nothing, instead opting for walking towards her leader in controlled strides. Ruby did nothing to stop her advance, listening to the echoes of Weiss's lady stilts as they met the ground sharply with every step. She tried searching for anything – be it reassurance or anger – reflected on Weiss's face, but the heiress's expression was a resolute blank.

Without warning, Weiss wrapped her arms around Ruby again, this time from the front. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, but she did and said nothing to deter Weiss or reject her warmth. However, she did not return the gesture either.

"I was scared," Weiss admitted, her voice soft in a whisper but loud and clear to Ruby's ears. "When I saw the photos, I was so scared I couldn't breathe. I didn't want it to be true either, but the more I looked at them hoping to see something else, the clearer it became that they were really dead."

Ruby lapsed into a stunned silence, listening to her usually cool and collected teammate speak. That captivating voice, which had sung countless exquisite songs for their sake, was now riddled with sorrow. It almost did not feel like Weiss's voice at all.

"Three days after the White Fang attack, I considered killing myself," Weiss admitted, drawing a gasp from Ruby. "Just listen," she added as Ruby stuttered trying to say something. "I tried reaching my family, but no one picked up. I was hesitant to check things out for myself, but the information found its way to me soon enough. Yang and Blake probably didn't tell you this, but my house was burned down and the SDC main building was blown up.

"They didn't find any survivors," Weiss continued, forcing down the bile that had been starting to rise up her throat. "I don't know if anyone managed to escape in time, but all the corpses were unidentifiable. The only ones left recognizable were the ones they captured and tortured to death, and amongst them was my sister."

Ruby stopped holding back her tears, letting their heat crawl down her cheeks and onto Weiss's clothes. All this time, without knowing about anything, she had gone on with her stupid optimism about finding their families and saving them. How much had she hurt Weiss by repeating those impossible hopes over and over again every day?

"I saw her body being displayed in the center of Vale," Weiss went on, her grief causing her voice to crack occasionally. "I don't know what they did to her, and I don't even want to imagine, but even after death they continued to violate her image… they continued to tarnish her beauty…

"I wanted to take my own life back then," Weiss confessed. "I didn't want to admit that she was gone, but when I finally accepted that fact, I didn't want to live anymore. My left hand was hurt, so I couldn't really point Myrtenaster at my own neck properly, so I thought maybe I could charge into an enemy stronghold and die that way. Then I remembered you guys."

Weiss tightened her hug, even though she could only use her right hand. Ruby, who was still in too much shock, let her arms hang limply at her sides.

"Blake and Yang talked me out of it when I told them," Weiss went on. "Yang was a little more… straightforward though; she said she'd kill me if I did that. To be honest, I had already given up dying by the time I told them. I figured if the deaths of everyone I knew were so painful to me, I couldn't let those around me who were still alive suffer like that. I didn't want you guys to experience the same pain. I'm a part of Team RWBY, and you're my friends; I don't want to have to put you through all that.

"You guys are all I have left," Weiss sobbed. "I don't care about fame or fortune; I just want to have people I care about with me. I lost my family, my friends at Beacon, and you guys are the only people I have left right now. So please, Ruby… Don't go anywhere. I've lost almost everyone; I don't want to lose you too."

Ruby froze. She was not the kind of person to only care about herself, and in order to live up to expectations she had made efforts to look out for her team. She could tell when they were troubled, and she had offered help whenever her abilities allowed her to, but what was this? How had she missed all this that Weiss had been forced to go through? How could she, as the leader, wallow in denial when her teammates were fighting against a reality far worse than her own? How could she have failed to notice her closest friend and partner suffering this much?

"I'm sorry…" she muttered, her hands slowly finding their way to Weiss's waist and back, giving her a firm squeeze. "I'm sorry, Weiss…"

She was not a good liar. She was not even remotely close to being able to lie competently. That was why, as she embraced her partner, Ruby Rose's words were honest. Her promise – her earnest wish – held no pretense or sarcasm, and was equal parts for Weiss, for Yang, for Blake as well as for herself:

"I won't go anywhere, so please don't leave me."

"What is this farce?!"

He spoke quickly – far too quickly for his enemies to pick up individual words. Not paying them the least bit of heed, he took a swig from the giant thermos in his arms. Given how the thermos substituted as a club and flamethrower at the same time, he could see why some of his past students came up with the joke that he drank raw fuel instead of coffee. Yet, even though he could solve such perplexing puzzles, he could not understand the situation.

"This is truly infuriating!" he spoke slower this time, reducing his pace to that of the rate a submachine gun fired its bullets. "Would you be suggesting that in order to battle one of the best Huntsmen that Beacon has to offer, you only send mere scouts who cannot hold their own against even this small of a resistance force?! I find it difficult to believe that you would underestimate us like this but if this is your true worth then – you!"

Moving at a low enough speed to rival a fired bullet, Oobleck knocked the gun out of the soldier's hand before the trigger could be pulled in one swift swing.

"When your opponent is in the middle of a rant you should be stealthy with your approach!" Oobleck reprimanded. "If it's an opponent who has beaten you in a face-to-face battle, then all the more so! Why are you making so much noise in your attempt to shoot me?!"

"I see your instincts as a teacher have not left you."

Knocking the White Fang soldier unconscious with the least amount of pain possible, Oobleck turned to the incoming adversary with an unreadable expression behind his glasses. Not that it mattered, since said adversary also wore glasses to hide the look on his own face.

"I was right to have asked you to come and teach at Beacon," Ozpin said, offering a fraction of a smile.

"So I see the rumors were true," Oobleck stated flatly, glaring at the Collar on Ozpin's neck.

"I'm afraid they are," Ozpin agreed solemnly.

"I see," Oobleck went silent for a few minutes, before finally setting his weapon on the ground. "Well then, this is where we must part."

"Is there-" Ozpin began, but the futility of that question made him stop.

"I see you understand," Oobleck smiled. "You and I are not that different, after all."

Nothing more was spoken, but in their gaze alone, much was said with an uncanny eloquence. Whether it was Ozpin's unsaid pleas, or Oobleck's adamant refusal – everything was conveyed in a few short moments.

"I became a Huntsman because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be," Oobleck said. "I wish to save the people, and prevent the mistakes which have already claimed countless lives from occurring ever again. I wish to save the world, but I will never bow down to the enemy for an illusion of peace.

"I've always admired you," Oobleck admitted. "You've made more mistakes than anyone, but you've accomplished countless great things despite those failures. Your existence alone proves that it's possible to overcome any setback and still prevail in the end. That is why I will not refute your actions, even if I cannot agree with them; I am not intelligent enough to comprehend your thoughts or brave enough to endure everything you can after all."

Ozpin did not speak. He knew where this was headed, and he was well aware that Oobleck knew as well. If neither side was willing to compromise, then there was only one way out of this situation. For Ozpin, simply letting the insurgents go would spell an obvious end, and Oobleck naturally knew that as well. That was why he was not running; the man before him was giving Ozpin enough time to settle his own resolve to do what must be done.

"That's why," Oobleck went on. "While as a Huntsman and a defender of humanity, I cannot agree with your methods, I still think you are right, both as a comrade and as a friend. Conflicts and battles occur not because one side is wrong, but because both sides are right, do they not? So what you're doing is correct, my friend.

"What do you see when you look at this battlefield?" he asked, gesturing to the wasteland that the battle had created, littered with bodies of friends and foes alike. All the survivors – be they human or Faunus – had already fled the scene of mindless violence, leaving a desolate space of death. "I see the repeat of a terrible mistake: discrimination. We forced their hand in the past, and now this is our punishment. Our resentment led to uprisings, and by extension more conflicts in the name of humanity. How is that different from Faunus taking arms and demanding equal treatment from the humans? The way to break this never-ending cycle of violence lies not with more violence. You realize that, do you not?"

Ozpin nodded silently, his eyes staring resolutely at the ground. It was precisely because he realized and accepted it that he had chosen this path. Oobleck placed a firm hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up once more. Despite the air reeking of death and despair, filling the space with their rancid stench, the former History professor smiled.

"Alas, I am weak," he said. "Therefore, I cannot endure it with you. You're a great man, and I believe that you are capable of enduring it alone. I understand what you must do, but I still cannot go with you. However, even if I cannot abandon my sense of justice for you, I will stand by you through your decisions; I am willing to lay down my life for humanity, and I am willing to entrust my life and hope to you – the man I have absolute faith in."

His body jerked for just a split second, but he did not remove his hand or let that smile slide off his face. The pain was nothing compared to the suffering others had to endure, and less than nothing compared to the pain experienced by the man in front of him.

"I apologize for forcing you to bear all the harshness and suffering alone," he said, as the circle of dark crimson spread slowly across his chest. Ozpin had missed the heart, and probably not on purpose either; his hand had been shaking terribly as he thrust the knife forward. "You are in the right, so do not waver. Remain steadfast in your beliefs, and stay strong. Stay strong, Headmaster."

His vision began to fade, and a thin line of crimson seeped down from the edge of his mouth. He could not move all of a sudden, and he found it odd that he could no longer hear the rustling of grass even though he was standing on a large patch of it.

"Farewell, my Friend."

Listening to the ghostly echo of those words, Ozpin stood alone amidst the death and destruction.