"Excuse me. Uh, Ruby? Why are we doing this again?" Blake shouted up the stairway.

Ruby was already near the top. She'd been singing and humming songs for the last ten stories, not even stopping once to notice Blake had been struggling since the sixty story mark. This girl just seemed to never run out of energy.

Maybe she's a robot… Blake thought between breaths. No human just walks up about a bagillion flights of stairs without getting tired.

It didn't help that Blake was sure that at any moment some knight would come by, recognize her, and she'd be shot on sight.

"Vale's wall is standing tall,

standing tall,

standing tall.

Vale's wall is standing tall,

the Grimm can't enter."

Ruby's voice rang out through the stairway, echoing off the walls. She had a nice singing voice and all, but Blake always thought Vale nursery rhymes were a bit on the dark side. Maybe it was her Atlas heritage talking.

"If the wall should crack and shake,

crack and shake,

crack and shake.

If the wall should crack and shake,

the Grimm will gather."

Ruby must have reached the top, because the echo of her steps had stopped.

"And if the wall should ever fall,

ever fall,

ever fall.

If the wall should ever fall,

you'll hear the Grimm's laughter."

Blake finally made it to the top, feeling the open air slam into her at full force. She found Ruby bouncing on the balls of her feet waiting.

Ruby walked over to the edge of. Overlooking rolling hills and many abandoned farms. And while some patches of snow remained, most of the hills were starting to show green with the arriving spring.

"If the Grimm should ever win,

ever win,

ever win.

If the Grimm should ever win,

man will shatter."

Blake looked over to Ruby. "What a nice…song. Is it local to Vale?"

Ruby continued to look over the pastures. She seemed to be looking at something specific. Blake followed her line of sight, finding Ruby's gaze running towards the mountainous tundra.

Blake opened her mouth to question, but was cut off by Ruby almost immediately.

"Yes. It's an old rhyme my mother would sing to me. The moral I guess is to stand together. Our strength together is the wall, and if we hate and not trust each other than that strength will crack and fall."

Blake closed her eyes. She can still remember reading in her old classes about the last great human war. She can still hear the cries of joy from herself and her sisters when the boys returned from the Faunus war. The announcement of the treaty. Beginning a new life in Atlas. Living their lives discriminated. The screams and cries from her siblings when those human bastards set their home on fire. The funerals. Years alone on the street. The rise of the White Fang.

"Yes." Blake was struggling to keep her growl under control. "Humanity sure has been sticking together lately."

All went silent. Both girls now just stared out onto the landscape.

Blake was sure Ruby would pick up on something. Ask hard questions Blake couldn't answer. Not without endangering her.

Actually, considering that mob…can this girl be in anymore danger? And what in the world was that about anyway?

"So why'd you help me?" Ruby finally broke the silence.

Blake glanced over at Ruby, a look of surprise covering her face, before turning back to the landscape. She didn't expect that. She expected 'what's your name?' or 'where are you heading?', or 'why did you sound like you needed to be hit with a newspaper?'.

"I uh, just did. You looked like you needed help. So I tried to help." Blake gave a faint laugh. "Not that you needed it."

Blake turned her head again to notice Ruby was now leaning back on the wall's railing. She looked almost like she was studying Blake. But with that still so innocent smile, it gave Blake chills. Call it instinct, but Blake was sure Ruby knew more then she was letting on.

Doesn't help this girl could easily kill me… She thought.

Ruby stared for a few more moments. Blake decided to change topics sense it was starting to go from creepy to just plain weird.

"So do you know why those guys were after you? I mean, those aren't usually numbers for muggers."

Ruby shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe I made someone mad. Or probably my sister made someone mad."

"Who's your sister?" Blake continued.

"Her name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long."

Good. This girl seems very easy to distract. Blake thought. All she needed was to keep her talking, and she'd figure out if Ruby really is just some innocent little girl.

"So your full name is Ruby Xiao Long?"

Ruby shook her head. "No. My full name is Ruby Rose. Yang had her name changed years ago."

An overwhelming scent of sadness flooded into Blake's nose. It was radiating off of Ruby, and her glowing silver eyes had seemed to darken. Actually it seemed her whole being became darker. Her eyes and head slumped to the ground.

Ruby went on, "For years it's been just the two of us. But she changed her name so long ago, I can barely even remember her real name. Most of the time people think we're step sisters. Or that one of us is adopted." Ruby looked back up to Blake. "She's just, had some issues. Some long and old family issues. I mean, she seems like someone that just goes out and parties. Or that she just hurts people because she just loves fighting more than anything else. But it's not true. It's just…"

Blake made the connection. "She's running away. Hiding from something."

Ruby nodded. "Yes. Guess she never took mom's advice about how running never solved your problems."

Blake smiled. "Well, moms tend to be smart like that. Maybe you and your mom should just sit down and talk with her."

The scent of more sadness, and even some anger, now lingered in the air. Blake wished she hadn't even opened her mouth.

"Yeah…" Ruby mumbled. "Our mom was smart. And brave, and kind, and loyal. She's the reason I want to be a huntress. My dream is the same as hers was. To help people and to make the world a better place."

Blake took a moment to let it all sink in. Though in her mind, memories of years pasted came to surface. "That's a very ambitious dream for anyone, let alone a child." The sound of screams. The smell of many dead. The feeling of her target's blood on her skin. The sick joy she got from it."Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

Ruby locked eyes with Blake. All those scents leaving as quickly as they came. Her color returned, along with a smile. "Well then we need to change that. It only takes one person to change everything, so, I'm going to be that person." Ruby turned to the East, where Blake could see the first rays of morning light showing. In moments, the sun rose up in a gorgeous and radiant sunrise.

"I'm going help change the world."

Blake didn't know what to say at first. This girl's passion. It reminded her of things she used to say when she was young. Almost two lifetimes ago she'd say things like that…

"But first," Ruby gave a slight embarrassed laugh. "I need to get accepted into a school."

Blake fell face first into the ground. When she recovered to her feet, she practically yelled. "You're not even in a combat school yet!? How can you be that skilled and not get accepted?!" Blake took a breath to calm herself. She's been really bad at controlling her emotions lately.

"Actually, how old are you anyway?"

Ruby put her hands on her hips and stood tall. "Only fourteen. I've been out of public school for almost two years. And I've been trying to get into a decent combat school for at least four."

"What?" Blake said flabbergasted.

"Yeah. I kinda breezed through school. Turns out, I'm a genius."

"Okay, but why hasn't an academy taken you in? I would've bet they'd love someone like you."

Ruby sighed, leaning back again. "Yeah well, even with all my self taught experience, awards for heroic acts, and blah blah blah. They don't think I'm worth the trouble. I've been told someone like me would be super expensive for an academy. Money's tight these days. It's why everyone in Vale is super excited for all that new Dust we discovered. Hopefully we can get the city moving again with it, and maybe at least Signal will take me."

And attract a lot more attention from the White Fang. Blake thought. Though she shook the thought away.

"Well if you ask me," Blake said. "You're an amazing fighter. And anyone that wouldn't except you is an idiot."

Ruby laughed. "Thanks. Though I bet you're not bad yourself Blake-" Ruby suddenly cut herself off. Now looking wide eyed at Blake.

"W-what…" Blake stuttered. Every fibber in her being was now screaming to flee. "What did you call me?"

Ruby gave a long sigh while she turning her head to the landscape. "Blake, I was just bragging that I'm a genius. You really think I couldn't play my own little psychological warfare?"

"What?" Blake couldn't believe this. There's no way this girl could've…

"I revealed some very personal things about myself. I studied your body language, hoping you'd slip up and reveal something about yourself. But I guess the cat's out of the bag."

Ruby stood up straight, pointing right at Blake. "I knew who you were the moment we shook hands on the street. My sister is a bounty hunter for the Vale police department. She got access to some surveillance from a hijacked train from earlier yesterday. She had a hunch you were in town.

"Once I figured that out , I had considered knocking you out and taking you to the police." Ruby laughed.

"What stopped you?" Blake choked out, slowly reaching for her sword.

Ruby smiled. "I needed to be sure."

Blake stopped. "Sure of what?"

"Remember my question? I asked why you saved me. If it was true you were some evil monster, then why try to save some random human girl?"

"What are you trying to say?"

Both girls stared each other down for the longest time. Then Ruby did something unexpected. She vanished into rose petals, then reappeared hugging Blake.

Blake hadn't been hugged in years, so she wasn't sure how to react.

Oookay. Not where I thought this was going.

Even before she could decide, Ruby broke off. "A monster wouldn't help me. I believe there's always two sides to a story. Sooo," Ruby turned around and began slowly walking towards the stairs. "how about you tell me your side of the story? No lies, no mind games. Just as friends?"

Ruby stopped, still waiting at the start of the stairs. She had her back turned to Blake.

This was her one chance. She could run. Or she could always try to get the jump on Ruby.

Yes. Just kill her. Kill her now, and be quick! Humans can't be trusted. They can't be reasoned with. They are monsters! They are the beasts! Some old part of herself hissed (sounding scarily like Adam). But….Blake strangely felt safe with this girl. Like maybe this was her shot at something new. Maybe this was the path towards a new life. An actual friend. A human friend at that.

"You coming?" Ruby called.

A moment of consideration later, Blake made her choice.

Later Blake would have only one regret of what she did. Only one.

And that was having to walk down all those damn stairs again with Ruby.