Welcome to chapter 17!

To clarify something mentioned by a reviewer, Weiss was supposed to die, yes, and I did change the story a little and brought her back instead. However, it's not because the readers said things about her death; it's because I wanted to lengthen the story and expand on the setting and characters. There will still be deaths of main characters from this point onwards, so be prepared.

Thanks for asking, and I hope I managed to clear your doubts. And now, let's move on:

A shrill, reverberating cry pierced the air, carrying with it the lucid echoes of despair. A voice could be heard, but it was dismembered and distant, making it unrecognizable yet familiar at the same time.

Jaune shivered. He had been caught off guard by that scream, sure, but it was not the unexpected sound that frightened him; it was the fact that he thought he recognized that voice.

"Ruby…?" he muttered under his breath, turning towards the direction said girl had walked off in earlier.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha's voice came from somewhere behind him. "Did you hear that?"

"Y-yeah," Jaune replied, somewhat shaken. "I'll go check it out. Just in case, you go call Blake and Yang."

"Understood," Pyrrha nodded. "Be careful, Jaune."

But said blonde was already tearing through the trees in search of the source of the scream.

It hurt. It hurt so terribly she thought her chest might explode.

What's going on?

Nothing would come into focus anymore, even though her vision was still clear. The more she looked at the masses of red fluttering through the air, dripping from her fingertips and crawling along the ground, the more her palpitations skyrocketed.

A sharp, ringing voice flooded the space around her, as though trying to crush the helpless girl trapped within it. She could not tell who was screaming, and she could not understand why, but it felt so familiar it was frightening.

It sounded like her own voice.

Was she the one screaming? Was she the one hollering, with a roar that tore viciously at her throat? Was she the one so utterly terrified that the screaming just would not stop?

Her mind bursting with unanswered questions and swimming in guilt, she did not pay attention to her body as it rose. She did not register the fact that she had closed her mouth, ending the screams. She did not catch the words of an unknown man, who had apparently wandered into this space uninvited.

She had not realized until it was too late that she had attacked him.

Once more, Crescent Rose slid out of her blood-stained hands and onto the ground. Ruby Rose, too, fell to her knees again, staring at her trembling hands in transfixed horror.

A short distance away, Jaune groaned. Fresh blood was leaking from the deep cut on his cheek, and gushed from the huge one across his chest. He opened his mouth to say something – anything – to calm her down, but his body refused to obey.

"Ru…by…" he managed, reaching out towards her.

Ruby flinched, backing away from his hand as though it was a loaded gun. She fumbled with her words, spouting incoherent words alongside a stunned apology.

"Jaune…" she gasped. "Oh my god… Jaune… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha's exclamation drowned out said blonde's words as she dropped her weapons, ran over to him and lifted him gently. "What happened? What's- Ruby? What happened to you? Were you attacked?"

It's my fault.

"I'm sorry…" Ruby whimpered, her lips shaking terribly. She wanted to run, she wanted to back away, but her limbs were so devoid of strength it was surprising that her arms could even support her body. "I'm sorry…"

"Pyrrha…" Jaune wheezed. "I'm fine. Go help Ruby…"

As he said those words, he closed his eyes. Pyrrha panicked for a split second, but a moment later Jaune's body began giving off a faint white glow. It seemed weak and it did not get any brighter, but as it enveloped his body the wounds he had sustained began to heal.

"I'm fine," he repeated, slowly getting to his feet. "Ruby's in shock. Let's get her back in the Lighthouse."

"What about the attacker?" Pyrrha asked. "Where'd the attacker go?"

"I'll explain later," Jaune snapped. "Hurry, before someone comes."

Right on cue, Yang and Blake arrived on the scene. Yang froze at the sheer amount of blood in front of her, but Blake only paused for a moment before sprinting to where Ruby was.

"Ruby," she said firmly, though her voice was shaky; she had no evidence to support it, but if Ruby was really the one who caused the bloodbath around her, then she had to bring her back to her senses before she lost it for good. "Ruby. Look at me. It's Blake. It's your teammate, Blake Belladonna. No one's going to hurt you anymore."

Ruby, whose eyes were still wide with fear, nodded stiffly. Her body was utterly frozen, so she could do nothing except let Blake's strong grip bring sensation back to her numbed skin.

"It's my fault…" Ruby muttered shakily. "I killed them… I attacked Jaune… It's all my fault…"

"It's not your fault, Ruby," Blake affirmed her. "You were just scared. They had it coming. They-" she paused, clearly reluctant to continue that thought, but she had to alleviate Ruby's fears. She had to tell her that her actions were justified, no matter how much of a lie it would be. "They were Faunus. They had it coming. They could have been with the White Fang, so you got scared. There's nothing wrong with what you did."

Ruby's ragged breathing slowly calmed down, and the young girl finally relaxed a little as she listened to Blake's words. Blake almost heaved a sigh of relief, but then she felt Ruby tense up again.

"Ru-" she began.

Ruby wrung herself from Blake's grip, scurrying away from her teammate with tears in her eyes. Before she knew it, Crescent Rose was back in her hands, its gleaming red blade screaming for more blood.

Her mind was a maelstrom of unclear thoughts and panicked screams, all crumpled into a small space without an exit. Nothing was coming into focus, and whatever composure she had mustered was dissipating as each agonizing second crawled by. Right now, the immediate thoughts demanding her attention were:

She's a Faunus.

She's with the White Fang.

And as her fingers tightened around the Grim Reaper's weapon, seemingly taking shape from the blood of its victims, those thoughts converged into one:

She's the enemy.

Driven by guilt and fear, Ruby blindly obeyed that thought like it was an absolute command.

When Blake registered Ruby's scream, the crimson girl was already in front of her, eyes pulsating with madness and despair. She managed to duck just in time, but the blade still managed to cut off a few strands of hair, scattering them into the air.

Blake backed away from Ruby with a somersault, but her leader was faster; with a shower of rose petals, Ruby instantly caught up to Blake, bringing Crescent Rose to the Faunus's waist. Unable to evade in time, Blake braced herself for impact – impact that would cleave her body cleanly in two.

But it never came. Before it could make contact, Ruby's weapon flew away from Blake as though repelled by an unseen force. However, it did not manage to strike the weapon out of her hands, and only succeeded in pushing her back a little.

"Yang!" Pyrrha called out, her hand outstretched. She had managed to save Blake with her Semblance, but she was not going to make it if she were to draw her weapon now.

Yang, who had her weapons ready, leapt into the fray. Firing her gauntlets at the ground, she dived into the resulting cloud of debris and grabbed Blake.

"Leave her to me," she said, her usual cheeriness nowhere to be heard. Then, turning towards the direction of her frenzied sister, she raised her voice. "Ruby! You are so ground, young lady!"

She may have intended to make a joke, or she may have panicked and just said something random, but her voice was filled with unease. No one blamed her; she was facing her own sister in combat. The objective was of course to merely disarm Ruby and prevent her from killing anyone else, and Yang – Ruby's most frequent training partner – would be the best person for that job. However, it did not change the fact that she would have to fight her little sister – her family – for real.

With a frustrated cry, Yang's hair glowed gold as though burning, and her lilac eyes flared red. Charging out of the debris, she slammed her fist at Crescent Rose, intending to knock it-

Ruby reacted swiftly, disappearing from her line of sight and causing Yang's fists to hit nothing but rose petals. She got behind her easily, but once again her attack was pushed away by Pyrrha's Semblance.

Taking advantage of the opening, Yang leapt towards Ruby. She raised her fist again, but this time she could not swing it; unlike before, she inadvertently glanced at Ruby's face this time, and the very sight of her sister, lost and scared like the little girl she was, made her pause. Instead, she grabbed on to Crescent Rose's handle, not wrestling it away or allowing Ruby to yank it away from her.

"Drop it, Ruby," she said firmly, but it ended up sounding more like pleading. "Please. Just drop it."

The gentle voice seemed to have struck a chord in Ruby's heart, and the face in front of her seemed to clear her mind. She just stood there, speechless and confused, staring at Yang for a few moments.

"… Yang…?" she whispered, as though uncertain if she was an illusion or the real thing. A faint glimmer of hope sparked in her eyes, flickering weakly in the sea of despair. "I-is it… really you…?"

"The one and only," Yang replied, putting on a warm smile as her hair and eyes returned to normal. "It's all over now, Ruby. There's no need to be afraid anymore."

Ruby's lips quivered, and her shaky hands released her weapon. Yang let it fall to the ground with a dull thud, and immediately pulled Ruby into a tight hug.

Nothing was said, and Ruby just stood there, stunned. She did not reply to Yang's gesture, but her whole body was shaking like a leaf in the chilly autumn wind.

"I'm here for you," Yang whispered, stroking Ruby's hair. "It's okay now."

Before Yang could say anything else, Ruby's wails flooded the air. Like a broken dam, endless streams blazed their trails down from her silver eyes as the girl bawled her heart out, screaming and hollering till her throat burned.

Even then, Ruby Rose did not stop crying.

Sorry it took so long, but now that I'm back this story'll keep going. Of course, if you have any questions, please don't hold back!

Happy new year, dear readers, and see you next chapter!