Upon the Mountain's Roots

Things were quiet in the wake of the faunus rally, but also incredibly tense. Every time Ruby went into the city she noticed it, people talking in hushed voiced about the 'Dust Massacre' as it had come to be called.

The faunus traveled in small, tightly knit, groups, eyeing the outside world warily, as if they expected to be attacked at any moment. The humans on the other hand, watched any passing faunus with harsh and judgmental eyes, as if the faunus were feral animals out of a cage. Both sides clearly wanted to blame the other for the massacre, and neither was willing to compromise.

Even Blake had been more quiet and taciturn than usual in the days after Ruby's birthday. The party had helped her recover mentally, but the stifling atmosphere of Vale was doing it's best to destroy that progress.

Ruby could still pull Blake out of her shell, with a little work, but otherwise the cat faunus was withdrawn, angry, and passive aggressive.

Ruby was starting to worry about her friend's attitude, so she decided to do something to distract her.

She brought her weapon kit to the book shop.

She received more than a few odd looks, walking down the streets of Vale with a large oil stained backpack slung over her shoulders. It was big enough that Ruby herself could have fit inside of it, and it looked as heavy as two of her.

But back to the matter at hand...

"Hi Blake!" *Crash!*

Blake's eyebrow twitched as the regarded the lumpy, smelly, backpack that Ruby had just dumped on the floor in front of her. Ruby flipped open the top and began rummaging around inside of the bag as she started to hum happily to herself.

"Ruby, what is that."

"Hm?" Ruby looked up. "Oh! It's my weapon stuff, see!" She pulled out a small a battered looking toolbox, which caused a pile of parts to spill out onto the floor. "There you are!" Ruby shouted, snatching something from the mess.

It looked like... half of a sword hilt, with an almost nonexistent guard and the casing mostly stripped away to reveal a complicated inside of gears, pistons, and wires.

Blake watched as Ruby pulled out her tools and began to tinker with the hilt, adding pieces seemingly at random before removing them, switching them out, or forcing them into place.

"I thought you'd start with the mace." Blake noted.

"Huh? Oh I finished that one already, it was boring. The mace didn't even turn into and actual shotgun! It just had an opening in the top to shoot from!" Ruby puffed out her cheeks as she remembered the outrage of it.

Blake laughed quietly at Ruby's indignation. "The nerve of some people." She said. Then the implications of Ruby's statment caught up to her. "Wait. You mean you already finished building a mechashift weapon? It's only been a week."

Ruby tilted her head sideways. "Well, yeah... it's been a whole week, of course I've finished it" She said. Blake then realized that she'd barely seen Ruby at all in the past seven days, but still.

"Did Cinder help you at all?"

"Nope!" Ruby shook her head. "The mace was just so easy that I didn't even ask."

This girl...

Blake sighed, setting her book down as she tried to get over the fact Ruby had build her first weapon in a week. She thought back to when the exuberant little girl had first started visiting the book shop, and bought a new book almost every other day.

"Ruby..." Blake said. "How many of the books you bought were about... making weapons?"

"All of them!" She chirped. Then Ruby turned her attention back to the hilt, sliding metal casing into place over the mechanisms in the hilt before pulling out a screw driver.

"This is actually kinda unstable..." She said with a small frown as she fastened hilt together. "It should be welded at least."

Blake almost laughed. "Obviously." She said. "Never mind that no sane person would ever trust a nine year old with a welding torch."

"Yeah..." Ruby said with a wistful look. "Cinder said she won't let me get one until I'm eleven..."

"That is... mildly disturbing." Blake said. "That aside, wouldn't welding the hilt together melt the inside material as well."

Ruby shook her head. "I'd weld the hilt shut first then put the mechanism in." She paused for a moment lost in thought. "But maybe..."

Blake flicked her on the forehead before she could get too caught up in whatever fantasy she was about to dive into. "So what are you working on now?"

Ruby grinned. Project stop Blake from Brooding was a thrilling success! "Something really cool!" She said. Reaching back into her bag she pulled out a small box containing a knife blade. "So the sword had a telesco-telescoop-tele..."

"Telescoping blade?" Blake supplied.

"Yeah! But it didn't have a good ranged weapon, so I just took the top part of the blade" She pointed. "And modified it a little." There was weighted fuller welded to the bottom, courtesy of Cinder probably. "And now I just do this..."

She snapped the blade into the hilt, creating a long dagger, almost a short sword for Ruby actually. "and voila!"

Blake raised an eyebrow as Ruby started wrapping the hilt in a strip of fabric. She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she tried to get the weave right.

"There, done." She held her sword over her head and struck a pose. Blake scooted backwards.

"So what does it do?" She asked. If she hadn't seen Ruby finish assembling the hilt right in front of her, Blake would pin the dagger as 'vanilla' weapon. Still as a creation of the devil known only as Ruby Rose, that dagger was probably anything but normal.

"Oh, right!" Ruby said. "Well you just press this button on the hilt and-" The blade shot out of the hilt so fast it whistled. Blake and Ruby both jerked backwards as it flew straight up and lodged itself four inches into the ceiling.

"then it does that... yeah." Ruby finished. She glanced from the hilt in her hands to the blade. "Now I just need to get it down."

"That's impressive." Blake said. "But you're throwing away your primary weapon if you do that."

"Oh yeah! That's what I forgot to do!" Ruby said, a lightbulb going off over her head. She ran back over to her backpack and pulled out a several spools of wire. "I even put in the reel but forgot to get the string... hehe."

Blake sighed, that was so typical Ruby.

"So how far should I make it go?"

"I don't know actually."

"Hmm." Ruby scratched her chin. "Twenty feet? Yeah let's go with that! That's what I read in the book after all." She selected one small spool of wire and put the rest back. "Tukson! Do you have a ladder?" She called.

A moment later Tukson walked over. "Why on earth do you want a ladder...?" Blake smirked at him and pointed to the ceiling. Tukson blinked. "I see." He sighed and rolled his shoulders. "Forget the ladder, let me give you a boost kid."

"M'kay!" Ruby said. She hopped into his arms and giggled as he hoisted her up to the ceiling. Reaching up she managed to tie wire around the eye hole in the bottom of the blade. "I got it!"

Tukson put her back down, looking between the grinning little girl and the knife blade still stuck in his ceiling. "Why is that still up there?"

"Just give me a second." Ruby said, returing to the knife hilt. She quickly took it apart and inserted the wire before putting it back together. "You might wanna stand back guys!". She grinned and clicked the button.

With a hiss the wire began to spool in as all twenty feet of it was pulled into the hilt. When the line grew taught it quivered for a moment before yanking the blade right out of the ceiling and snapping it back into the hilt. "Success!"

She held her newly completed ballistics knife over her head and started doing a little dance. Then Tukson reached over and plucked it out of her hands.

"No more weapon testing in my book shop." He said with a small grin.

"Awww."

"So what are you going to call it?"

"Huh?"

Blake sighed, but it did nothing to hide her smile. "What are you going to call it?" She repeated. "All hunters in training name their hand crafted weapons. It's a way of showing respect to something that's more than a tool, but rather an extension of self."

Ruby nodded in understanding. "Okay..." She turned to Tukson. "Can I have it back please?" She asked. "I promise I won't shoot it anymore!"

Tukson gave a short laugh. "Somehow I don't believe that." He said, handing the dagger back to Ruby. She grinned at him.

Sitting down, Ruby balanced the weapon on her palms and looked at it. "So what's your name, little guy?"

She examined her new dagger slowly, taking in every aspect of it: the black leather of the grip, the way the blade tapered to a point, how the steel was blackened from where Cinder attached the counterweight.

It was not a bright or an eye catching weapon. On the other hand, it was quiet, understated, and all the more deadly because of it. It was a weapon made by Ruby Rose, but was almost the exact opposite of her in every way she could think of.

And yet despite the differences in personality, the dagger felt comfortable in her hands, natural, like it was a part of her.

Ruby smiled. "Somber Thorn." She whispered, looking up. "It's name is Somber Thorn."

She pulled out a small leather sheath from her bag, frowning for a second at how dirty it was before putting Somber Thorn away.

She sighed and stretched her arms over her head. "So! What should I build next!" She asked

Blake smiled wanely. "Maybe you should take a break Ruby." She said, wrinkling her nose. "When was the last time you had a bath?"

"Umm..."

Tukson laughed. "I wondered what that smell was." He said with a grin. "I thought it was the bag, but now that you mention it..."

Ruby pouted. "Meanies!"

"Ruby, you're my best friend." Blake said. "But that doesn't mean I like being around you when you smell like a car engine."

"Hmph-!"

The door of the shop pinged once. Tukson glanced over his shoulder. "Be back in a sec kids." He said. "Don't put any more holes in my ceiling."

"What's that about holes, Tukson?" A voice called back. A moment later Arthur, the lion faunus, walked into sight. He smiled softly at Blake and Ruby. "Ah I see I came in time. And what's this, weapons?" He patted Ruby's head. "You are a girl with many talents."

Ruby looked up at him with wide eyes, before glancing off to the side. Blake and Tukson were equally shocked.

"I'm sorry for showing up out of the blue." Arthur conceded. "I wished to find Ms. Rose here, and I remembered hearing that she spends a good deal of time at your store." He said to Tukson.

Ruby glanced back up at him in surprise. "You were... looking for me?"

Arthur nodded. "The world is changing." He said suddenly. "As is the White Fang. In part, child, you are to thank that some of these changes has been positive."

Ruby blinked. "Me-?"

"Yes." He said. "Here, see one of the changes you have brought about." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small necklace which he handed to Ruby. It was a simple thong of black leather from which hung an unadorned white fang.

"You view the world with innocent eyes, Ruby Rose." He said. "And for reaching out to one of ours for no reason but compassion and justice, we will do the same for you. That necklace is a symbol of your standing with the White Fang, marking you as friend and ally to we who fight for equality. As you came to our aid, so too will we come to yours."

Ruby gaped at the necklace. Her eyes watered slightly as she remembered the Rally. "I..." she rubbed her eyes and sniffled. "I-I don't deserve something l-like this." She said. "I-"

"Hush child." Arthur said. "You deserve this and much more." He stood, dusting off his cloak and the suit underneath. "I do apologize for drawing you back to painful memories, only to vanish, but I have many matters to attend to today. This one was simply the most important."

With one last mirthful smile at Ruby's gobsmacked expression, he vanished behind the bookshelves. The door pinged once more a second later, before closing with a soft thud.

Ruby looked over at Blake and Tukson, holding up the necklace in askance. She looked like a lost lamb that had just been taken back to the pasture by a wolf. Blake took pity on her young friend and moved to her side.

She took the necklace from Ruby's limp fingers, fastening it around her neck. "There you go." Blake said. "It suits you."

Ruby smiled. "Thanks Blake."

"Hm." Tukson nodded to himself. "Well I have to take inventory, so I'll leave you two for now." He started to walk away before pausing and turning back and fixing Ruby with a look. "Remember, no more weapon testing in my store."

Ruby giggled. "Okay Tukson!"

"I mean it."

Ruby and Blake shared a smile. Then Ruby sighed and leaned back against the bookshelves.

"What's the matter Ruby?" Blake asked.

Ruby shrugged helplessly. "It's just... all of these really important people keep... doing stuff like this." She said, gesturing to the necklace. "I don't know why... I didn't do anything worth THIS."

Blake laughed lightly as she sat by Ruby's side. "I'm not sure what's more ridiculous." She said. "That you saved me from two armed mercenaries by yourself, or that you don't think it's a big deal."

"It's not though! You're my friend!"

Blake shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like looking at the world through your eyes." She said, flicking Ruby on the forehead. "Then I realize that doing so would probably drive me crazy."

"Blaaaake!"

"You attract these people's attention because you do impossible things." Blake continued. "You unlocked your Semblance and your Aura on your own as a child, for one. I'm sure you don't think that's a big deal either."

Ruby looked down at the ground. "I had to..."

Blake glanced over in surprise. "Hm?"

"I unlocked my semblance cause I had to." She said softly. "There were people chasing me, and I had to move really really fast... I was going to be caught, and they were going to hurt me... I just couldn't run any faster, but then I COULD." Ruby shivered once. "I thought it was a miracle, and I cried."

"Ruby?"

"Because why did I get a miracle then. Why didn't I get it before, back when- when..." Ruby hiccuped once, pressing her hands into her eyes. "when..."

Blake sighed once, pulling Ruby into a hug. "It's okay Ruby." She said. She patted Ruby's hair as the younger girl started to sob lightly.

After a while Ruby quieted, leaning into Blake's shoulder. "C'mon." Blake said. "We should get you home."

Ruby nodded once, stumbling to her feet before she packed all of her tools up in a bag and slung it over her shoulders. "Ooff." Ruby shrugged. "It felt lighter this morning..."

"I'm surprised you can carry that at all."

Ruby smiled a little. "I'm a big girl."

The two left the shop and started down the street. "You are." Blake said. "but you shouldn't have to be."

"Well..." Ruby looked up at the sky "Someone has to be, right?"

Blake shrugged and stayed close to Ruby. Ruby's presence diffused most of the hostile glares she usually received while walking the streets. At times it was so bad that Blake had contemplated wearing a bow to cover her ears, before her pride killed that idea.

"So do you want to stay over for a bit?" Ruby asked as they reached her building.

Blake shrugged, holding the door open for Ruby. "Sure. There was something I wanted to talk to you about, actually?"

"Really?" Ruby asked as they boarded the elevator. "What?"

"It's about Aura." Blake said.

"Oh?" Ruby asked.

Blake nodded once. "It's just... at the rally, I was helpless." She grimaced once. She remembered the screaming, the shouting, the ebb and flow of the crowd. It was like being caught in a storm on the sea, tossed about like a piece of driftwood.

She barely avoided being trampled by the mob, never mind the mercenaries that found her afterwards. Blake was strong and in good shape for her age, even for a faunus, but the ability to use Aura just put people on a different order of magnitude.

Ruby shook her head, right away she saw where Blake was going. "So was I Blake..." She said.

Blake sighed. "I know it's just." She shrugged. "I'm tired of being weak. Aren't you."

Ruby nodded sadly. "So we should help each other become stronger." Blake said.

"Well..." Ruby remembered the Rally too. Of not being able to do anything but run and run and RUN. She didn't want to feel that again either.

"Okay." She said, with a determined nod. "We'll go to the training room." After Ruby dumped her backpack in her room, took a quick shower and pulled out Somber Thorn, they moved over to the training room.

"So... What did you want to start with...?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"I have some training in martial arts." She said. She'd learned a lot in the self defense classes that the White Fang held. Adam had picked up on her enthusiasm and aptitude and under him she'd started even more advanced classes. While she didn't have the strength or the size yet to be a threat, she had a good deal of technique. "I'll help you with that."

"And what should I do?"

"I was hoping, that you could help me unlock my Aura." Blake said, glancing away.

Ruby blinked. "Really? Oh that's easy! Be right back." She dashed out of the room. Blake absentmindedly brushed a stray rose petal out of her hair.

"Easy?"

A second later Ruby came back with a big book. She slammed in on the floor and began flipping through the pages. "Let me see..." She started nibbling on a strand of her hair, before Blake reached out and pulled it from her mouth. Ruby, being Ruby, didn't even notice.

"Aha! Here it is!" Ruby pushed the book towards Blake. "I can unlock your aura using mine."

Blake took the tome. She sparred a brief glance towards the picture of two glowing figures holding hands before reading the text. "...a brief, personal, chant... as you push a portion of your aura into the other, to release theirs." She said. "Seems simple enough."

Ruby took the book back. "See! I told you it was easy."

Blake nodded, a small but eager smile forming on her face. "Shall we start?"

Ruby giggled. "Just a second. I need to double check." She started flipping through the pages and scanning short sections of text. "Aura is dangerous."

Blake moved her to her friend's side. "That's new." She noted.

"the... book?"

"No." Blake shook her head. "The double checking. You're usually much more reckless."

Ruby puffed out her cheeks. "Am not!"

"Says the girl who brought a vial of red dust to Tukson's shop."

"Cinder said I needed more practice!"

Blake raised an eyebrow. "In the book store."

Ruby huffed and shut the book. "Well if you're going to be like that maybe I don't want to help you after all."

Blake smirked. Ruby's will crumbled.

Blake was her friend after all. And Ruby would do almost anything for her friends. She puffed out her cheeks again, glaring at Blake for a moment.

"Fine!" She said. "But only because I want to be the only one inside of you!" Silence.

.

.

.

"Ruby." Blake began, trying to keep a straight face. "What did you just say?"

"I want to be inside of you."

Blake cradled her face in her palms. "No." She said. "Just no."

"Blake?" Ruby asked.

"I think the worst part is that you don't even understand what you just said."

"Understand what?" Ruby asked. "What don't I get."

"No."

"Blaaaake!"

"You're too young, ask Cinder." Blake said.

"Hmph!" Ruby puffed out her cheeks. "Whatever." She reached out and snagged Blake's hand, clamping it between her palms. "Meanie."

"Ruby wha-"

Blake cut off when Ruby began glowing red. "Let my soul be your shield, let your heart be my friend." She said. Slowly the red aura began creeping up Blake's arms. She could feel it pushing against her, like an energetic puppy begging to be played with. She felt something inside of her move in response. "So that when we are far apart, this may protect you instead."

Blake's world exploded.

As Ruby released her hand Blake staggered backwards, eyes widening slightly at the sudden feeling of rightness.

As her own shadowy aura shrouded her, Blake let out a sigh of relief. She felt so free. It was like an immense burden she hadn't noticed had been lifted from her shoulders. Blake felt light as feathers, light as air, light as-

*Thump*

Blake's eyes snapped back to her friend. "Ruby?"

Ruby's body, now lying on the floor in a disjointed heap, trembled once before drawing still.

"Ruby!" Blake rushed to her friend's side, pulling Ruby's head onto her lap. "Ruby what's wrong?" Ruby's eyelids fluttered, but otherwise she gave no indication that she heard. If she was breathing it was to fast and shallow for even Blake to detect.

Hand trembling, Blake reached and placed two fingers on the side of Ruby's neck. In a moment she found Ruby's pulse. It was weak, erratic, and slow. Blake cursed under her breath.

Seized by a sudden inspiration she reached into the pocket of Ruby's shorts, scrambling for the younger girl's scroll. Blake pulled up the contact list quickly, here eyes darting back and forth between Ruby and the scroll.

There it was. Blake selected Ruby's only contact and pressed call.

"Please pick up." She whispered as it started to ring. "Please."

Cinder was almost at her meeting when her scroll started to buzz. With a quizzical frown she pulled it out of the cleverly hidden pocket of her dress. Ruby's face was on the screen.

Ruby had never called Cinder on her scroll before.

She pressed accept and did her best to stay calm. "Ruby? What do you-"

"Come back quick-!" That was... Blake's voice? "Ruby's needs help."

Cinder froze, golden eyes narrowing to thin slits. Lowering her phone for an instant she grabbed her VP. "Run the meeting, I have to leave."

The man looked at her in shock. "Ms. Cinder what are you talking about?" But she was already down the hall, heading back towards the parking garage as fast as decorum would allow.

"Tell me what happened. Now." She said.

"I- we-" Blake paused for a moment, finding her thoughts. "Ruby unlocked my aura."

Cinder practically growled. Tossing decorum by the wayside she started to run. "Foolish children!" Entering the parking garage she singled to her chauffeur to start the car. "She had best be alive when I get there." She said quietly into the scroll. "Or you won't be by the time that I leave."

Cinder ended the call and turned to the driver.

"The penthouse." She commanded. "Now."

Ruby's pulse was only growing weaker. Her breaths were only becoming more shallow.

By this time Blake had, through the haze of her panic and fear, managed to put together what was wrong. Ruby had spent too much of her own aura unlocking Blake's. Her body was slowly dying for want of a soul, and with Blake's enhanced senses she could see it happening second by second.

Well, Blake thought, if Ruby didn't have enough aura, Blake had no choice except to give some back.

Slowly, she reached out and clasped Ruby's hand close her to chest. She closed her eyes and breathed out, gathering her newly awakened aura around her. It was unwieldy and hard to pin down, mischievous like a cat.

But Blake's need was greater, and she took hold of her aura and pushed it into Ruby. Black water poured out of her hands and into her friend, slowly, Ruby's breath became stronger, color returned to her cheeks.

As she pushed her aura into Ruby, Blake could feel that this would normally be impossible. Even inside of her friends body, Blake's aura still belonged to her. Forcing Ruby's body to accept it would be like feeding her poison.

But Blake's aura had just been awakened, it was still mostly formless. It had yet to take on the full essence of Blake's own soul. And more to the point, her aura had just been unlocked by Ruby's own, and still carried the lingering taste of the younger girl's being.

And so it was enough. It was enough to let Blake save Ruby from their own foolishness.

She could feel that, if she stopped focusing for a moment, all of her aura would return to her, so she just didn't stop. She kept pushing more and more aura into Ruby, to keep her alive for long enough for Cinder to make it back.

Slowly, Blake's vision began to waver. Her breath grew uneven and ragged and her entire body started to tremble. She could feel her life slipping out of her fingers.

Her field of view constricted, growing dim at the edges before fading to black entirely. She lost her peripheral vision first. Then the light slowly dwindled away moment by moment, until all she could see was Ruby's sleeping face.

So this is what dying feels like.

With one last smile to her closest friend, Blake let her eyes drift shut.

"Blake!"

It was like she had been sinking into a pool of warm water, and someone had poured a bucket of ice down her back.

She felt another hand grab her own, even as her eyes snapped back open in surprise. "Ru-by?"

She was greeted with the sight of Ruby, glowing red, as she pushed her own aura, or rather Blake's but with feel of Ruby's, back into her friend.

"Ruby what are you doing?!" Blake shouted even as she felt breath return to her lungs. Ruby was breathing heavily, but Blake had enough presence of mind to keep the insane cycle of aura transference going.

"I'm stopping you from killing yourself!" Ruby shouted back.

"That's-" Blake shook her head. "That's what I'm supposed to be doing! Ruby stop!"

"No!" Ruby cried, tears were streaming down her cheeks. How had Blake not noticed that before. "You're not allowed to leave me! You're not! Never ever!"

"I-" But whatever Blake was going to say was cut off as the world began to tilt.

Both girls gasped, holding onto each other tighter as their senses began to blur. The aura, now belonging to neither one, nor both, of them continued to swirl. It made a maelstrom of black and red, wreathing Ruby and Blake in a panorama of light and color and dragging their souls along for the ride.

Both were lost in the storm. Identities blurred together and apart, and for an instant something else formed.

"She" was confused by the sudden change of events.

Was "she" Blake, looking into a pair of yellow eyes, or was she Ruby looking into silver ones? Was she the human, or the faunus, the savior or the victim, the older or the younger?

All of that identity was all lost in the swirl of aura and soul. They were not one, "she" was two.

And then the link was shattered as a hand came down and struck Blake's body away. The moment their hand's lost contact, Blake's aura snapped back to her body. Blake and Ruby's souls were ripped away from each other, rebounding like a whip.

Both girls cried out in shock and pain. Blake began trembling on the ground while Ruby shuddered once and lay still.

Blake couldn't see it, but a moment later the feeling of intense warmth filled the room. It was as if someone had lit a bonfire a short distance away from her, and the heat washed away her trembling.

Her eyesight returned in time to catch a glimpse of Cinder holding Ruby, a palm pressed to her chest, as a soft white glow pulsed around them.

Cinder glanced over her shoulder, catching Blake's eyes with an inscrutable stare, before turning back to her charge.

Blake's pulse settled, and she relaxed into the padded floor assured in the knowledge that Ruby was in good hands. Letting out a sigh of relief, Blake let herself fall asleep.

The next morning she woke up on the small cot in the back of Tukson's shop. There was a note on the pillow, written in Tukson's inelegant scrawl, that said there was a bottle of water and a tuna sandwich in the refrigerator, and that they were going to have a 'talk' once Tukson got back.

Also, Cinder had told him to convey that Blake was not welcome at the penthouse for the time being, and to not expect to see Ruby again any time soon.

Blake sighed and grabbed the food. It was nothing less than she deserved.

At least she managed to save Ruby's life, even if the energetic little girl had saved her own in return. That would have to be enough for now.

"You said you found something?"

Ozpin nodded. "You know that I am something of an unofficial liaison between the government and the white fang correct?"

Qrow nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"No doubt you've heard about the Dust Massacre, and it's far reaching consequences." Ozpin continued as he turned towards the large screen mounted on the wall of his office. He turned it on, revealing security footage from the massacre. It was a still frame catching the mercenary battalion from Atlas that had been protecting the gates of the dust factory.

"Now," Ozpin said "I have it from the head of the Schnee dust company himself that these men were ordered to avoid starting hostilities at all costs. And the Mr. Schnee is rightly furious at their actions, mostly due to the bad press. But all the same his orders raise an interesting question..."

"Get to the point, Oz."

"Very well." Ozpin started the recording. "If they were told explicitly not to attack, why did they fire first?" He paused it a few moments later, and indicated two figures on the screen. On rank and file mercenary saying something to his commanding officer as he pointed towards the crowd of faunus. "I saw this when I was investigating the incident, and immediately started searching for the focus of their interest." Ozpin said, pressing a button on his scroll.

The image switched to another security camera, this time overlooking the faunus. "And this is what I found." He highlighted a single figure.

Qrow stumbled backwards. "That's-!"

"Ruby Rose." Ozpin agreed. "Surrounded by White Fang protesters." She sat atop a man's shoulders, but his face was hidden by those around them. "I traced her presence back as far as I could, and by the looks of it she was with them the whole time." Ozpin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She could have been in the square where they were gathering. I could have been withing feet of her."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. This is more than enough for me to work with." Qrow said. "So she's with the White Fang?"

"Perhaps." Ozpin said. "Either way, I already tried the direct route. I mentioned the mercenaries' behavior to Arthur, musing that perhaps they'd seen a human in the crowd which provoked them to attack. He denied that outright."

"So they're protecting her."

"That seems to be the logical conclusion."

Qrow sighed and looked at the picture of his niece once more. "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Little Rose."

A/N: As always, a big thanks to: Lord Straw, Ever Charady, Mistic Shadow, NyrocX, P.T. Piranha, patrick the almighty observer, DeadRich18, Electric Eclectic, and jduncan1 for leaving reviews, along with everyone who followed and favorited! You guys make my day.

Sorry the chapter was a little late this time, but I think I might start falling behind with this next week. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out on time regardless.

Now for some story notes:

The story should begin to move faster now, I have plans for Emerald to enter the scene next chapter with Mercury sometime after that. Hopefully we'll reach Beacon before 50,000 words or something like that.

On that note, I have a quick question to ask you all.

Should Ruby go to Beacon as in the Cannon time line, or should she show up as part of Cinder's team during the Vytal festival? Also, should she go openly or in disguise? I have plans for each "path" (including the nuisance of team names).

I could have made a poll but I wanted more opinions than votes, so if you leave a review and could be bothered to tack on a little bit extra that would be great.

As for the event's of this chapter:

Somber Thorn is Ruby's first original weapon. Currently it has no extra space for dust, though that might change, and it will not be Ruby's primary weapon, though she might keep it out of fondness or upgrade it enough to be a usable sidearm.

And then there was the most important event, the "Aurablending". This is something I unabashedly made up, taking the bits we've learned about Aura over the course of the series. It will have lasting effects but, for those of you who know what I'm talking about, its NOT A SOUL BOND. Christ those things piss me off, especially in HP fanfiction.

Quasi rant aside, it will have a deep and lasting effect on Ruby and Blake's relationship along with the story itself, but no soulbond. Ever.

Don't forget to follow/favorite/review!