Yang's mind was racing as she ran through the forest. She had to figure out what was happening, save as many people as she could, and clear her name. None of those objectives, however, came before finding out what had become of Ruby. She skidded to a halt, that thought sticking in her mind.

Ruby.

She looked around her, hoping to see someone. Perhaps Professor Ozpin followed her into the forest. Maybe Blake or Weiss had caught up to her. Maybe Junko was earlier than expected. Maybe it was Ruby. She reached over her shoulder and flicked some of her hair idly, trying to think of who else might find her.

Ms. Goodwitch might hear her out. No, no, that wasn't right. She had seen Yang with that head. Weiss and Junko had seen it too, but Junko was willing to help her. Maybe the others would help her too. It might not be them anyway, she figured. It could be Jaune or Pyrrha, maybe even Nora or Ren... no... it couldn't be Ren...

Maybe she had seen wrong. She was panicking, or something like it, at the time. Maybe she assumed it was Ren, but it was actually someone else. Those weapons down in the tunnel meant nothing. They could have been faked, or stolen, or just been some other weapons that looked similar. Heck, that probably wasn't even Cardin and Sky.

That was it, she decided. All those murders had happened before the school year even began. There was no one she knew floating in some underwater cave beneath the school. The rest of the school had found Ruby and they were all back there waiting for her. They'd all solved the mystery without her and were back in the school.

But if they were in the school... then who was out here with her? She didn't think she was alone. No... she knew she wasn't alone. There was someone else out here. They were watching her, following her when she walked. Why were they following her? Did they know her? Maybe it was that guy from the club. Junior.

Or Grimm.

She suddenly felt like something was creeping up on her, getting closer, and if she turned it would move with her to stay out of sight. Something, or someone, was stalking her. She started to hope it was a person, not a Grimm. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to fight a Grimm right now.

She imagined that she would turn around and see a familiar figure walk out of the shadows, a red cloak flowing behind her. She would smile and say something comforting. "You never even thought that it could have been me who killed all those people."

That was wrong. That wasn't comforting. Ruby would never say something like that. Would she?

Or maybe she would.

Yang ducked down, turning slowly and scanning the area. Something was wrong. Everywhere she looked, she thought she saw someone else. A girl in a white dress, smiling proudly and waving her sword around. "I caught you, and when I kill you for what you've done I'll be hailed as the greatest huntress of them all."

That wasn't Weiss. It couldn't be. Weiss would never... Yang decided that Weiss might.

She quickly scrambled over to a nearby tree, hoping it would give her cover from most of the people surrounding her. She peered around the tree, but saw nothing. She looked the other direction and found herself facing a dark-haired girl wearing a bow on her head. "You betrayed me. You betrayed all of us. You... fiend."

...

She had to find Junko.

She had to run away from these thoughts and she had to find Junko and she had to explain everything and find out what was happening. She had to get some solid proof of her innocence before Blake killed her. Because Blake would. Sure she would. Why wouldn't she. Yang would...

Yang would kill Blake.

For Ruby, of course. She would do it for Ruby. She would kill her own partner for her little sister, because Blake deserved it after what she had done. Blake deserved to die for killing those people, and for trying to kill Yang. And especially for what she'd done to Ruby...

Another thought crept into her mind, one that she hated more than anything else. It was Blake and Ruby. They were in on it together, killing people. As Blake's partner, and as Ruby's sister, it was Yang's responsibility to put an end to this.

Weiss wouldn't want to let her, so she might have to beat some sense into the heiress for her own good. She wouldn't feel as bad about it if Weiss was in on it too. Of course! That was it! Weiss was the one who planned the whole thing. She had to be.

"Don't be so surprised. This is what we've always done. The students who don't meet our standards are gotten rid of. The world has no use for less than perfect hunters and huntresses."

She ignored what was obviously not Professor Ozpin, but thought about what it had said. That would make sense. If Ozpin thought Ruby and the others were really good, he'd have them prove it by making them kill weaker students. Of course Glynda would be in on it, but she somehow doubted all of the other teachers would know about it. Another thought crossed her mind. What if that was the whole purpose to getting partners. If you wanted to graduate, you had to kill your partner.

Yang started running, weaving around trees as silently as she could, listening carefully for any sound that might indicated Blake was on her tail. She ran around an old tree and ducked behind it, hoping it would throw her stalking off for a moment.

She sat down, panting hard. She needed to rest and straighten everything out in her mind. It briefly occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, everything really was alright. Everyone was fine and alive and safe, waiting for her to come back because it was getting close to breakfast time.

She looked around her, seeing more shapes moving in the shadows. She dismissed them as just her imagination running wild. There were no people walking out of the darkness, their weapons ready to strike. There were no red eyes glowering at her from the black veil of the night. She was alone. There wasn't a single real person anywhere.

She looked up and almost jumped out of her skin. She did jumped away from the tree, landing on her back. She waited for them to say something, to threaten her or reveal that they were behind everything. Something that would tell her it was another illusion or mirage or whatever they were. But it said nothing, and it didn't disappear.

She just hung there on the tree, blood dripping down her legs and soaking her clothes. She was pinned to the tree by a gold-colored spear that went through her chest and into the hard wood. Yang knew the spear, but she couldn't remember the silly name that Pyrrha had given it. She knew the girl pinned to the tree as well. The green-haired girl from Junko's team.

"Ah, gee... did you kill her too, Yang?"

Yang spun around to see Junko standing with her arms crossed. The girl's stance showed her to be displeased, but not angry. Her face, however, just seemed bored. Yang stepped away from the tree and the dead girl, but kept her distance from Junko.

The other blond's switched to a grin. "Kidding! I know it wasn't you! You haven't killed anyone at all!" Her smile took on a wicked look. "But I bet you're about to, right?"

Something clicked in Yang's mind. "You did all this."

Junko rolled her eyes. "Not all of it. I like to think I did my share."

Yang almost growled at her. "Did you kill Ruby?"

"Ruby?" Junko looked honestly surprised. "Why would anyone kill Ruby?" She stuck her tongue out and practically screamed at Yang. "Of course I did! I killed her first! And now everyone else is dead too!" She threw her head back, laughing madly.

A beam of light pierced through the trees, telling Yang that sunrise had finally come. Her hands clenched into fists, her finger nails digging into the palms of her hands. The air around her ignited with the flames of her enraged aura. She shouted at Junko, louder than she had ever shouted before. It drowned out her laughing, causing her to stop her tirade and take in what she was now facing.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Junko shrugged. "No shit. Told ya."

Yang rushed forward and slammed her fist into Junko's face as hard as she could, sending the girl flying into a tree. She stopped for a moment, thinking she had already killed Junko, only to hear her enemy starting to laugh again. She ran up to Junko and wrapped her arms around the girl's throat, slamming her into the tree over and over until the tree began to show signs of breaking, then throwing her to the ground.

Junko laughed, coughed up some blood, then laughed some more. "You're doing it, Yang! You're killing me!" Her excited tone suddenly gave way to a more condescending one. "It's gonna take a bit more to kill me, don't ya think! That was just fucking pitiful!"

"SHUT UP!" Yang let her aura run wild, scorching Junko, the forest around them, and even herself. She forced Junko down and raised her fist to strike, but first leaned in close to deliver one final message. "You killed everyone else, so no one can come and save you. Now it's just you and me. Soon it will just be me."

Junko just grinned up at her, blood spilling down her face. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to why we did this?"

Yang blinked, tears appearing in her eyes. "...Why?"

"Because..." She seemed like she was barely containing her laughter as she said it. "Because I want to see you despair." She burst into laughter, spraying blood at Yang's face. "And I can see it! This is perfect! The world will blame you for it all too! That should make you despair even more, right? AH HA HA HA HA!"

Yang brought her fist down, silencing Junko and cracking her skull. Her eyes went wide and a small whimper escaped her lips. Yang aimed lower, hitting her in the chest repeatedly until the girl was gasping for breath, then hitting her in the face again.

Blood splattered off Junko's face and onto the ground around them. Yang watched as Junko slowly faded closer to death. She was sure now that none of this was her fault. It wasn't Ruby's fault, or Weiss' fault, or Blake's. It wasn't anyone else's. The only ones to blame were Junko and her team. At least they were all dead. Junko had said so herself.

She grabbed a handful of strawberry blond hair and pulled Junko up. She wasn't about to let Junko die on her own. If she could get her most of the way there, she could get her all the way there. One last hit, and Junko spun several times before finally landing on the ground. It was over.

Now Yang was the only one left. She fell to her knees, watching Junko's body lying still. She shook her head. "This is your own fault." It was, after all. Junko was the one who made Yang kill her. Of course she regretted it. She would rather have everyone be good to each other. "Why couldn't we all just be friends."

There would be no answer. She knew that. There was no one left to answer. She screamed at the slowly rising sun. "Now there's only one of us left!"

It was true. She was the last one, out of everybody. She was truly alone.

"Yang?"

She had hoped these would go away once everything was settled, but it seemed that they were going to be persistent.

"Yang, are you alright?"

Where was this one going? Who even was it? Was it Blake? Weiss? Ruby? It didn't matter. She couldn't be fooled anymore. Everyone else was dead. She knew who was to blame, so there was nothing left to listen to from these visions... or whatever they were.

"Yang... listen. We found out what happened. It's time to head back to the school."

Why couldn't they just leave her alone. Everyone was dead. She had no more reason to live. There was no more protecting Ruby and there was no more avenging her either. It was all done.

"Yang, come on. It's time to go... We found Ruby."

This one was even trying to be cheerful. That was the worst part. It was nothing more than a hallucination, and it was trying to cheer her up when there was no more cheer to be had in the world. It wouldn't fool her, no matter how hard it tried...

There was a dark pounding sound at the back of her mind.

"Yang, I'm taking a step closer now."

Sure enough, it felt like something was getting closer. Every warning siren in her head was going off. It felt like a monster was behind her, inching closer and closer. It was ready to pounce.

"Yang, let's go."

She felt something touch her shoulder. She turned and shoved the beast away, grabbing at the nearest thing she could use as a weapon. She didn't look at the long object even as she pulled it off of the creature. Whatever it was, it felt good and balanced in her hand.

"Yang, what..."

Without a second thought, she rushed the monster and ran it through. The was a startled gasp from the beast. She pulled the weapon out and pushed it in again, gaining another sound of shock and pain. She drew the weapon out again, taking a long look at the long and narrow object stained in blood. She simply cast the dying beast aside.

A multitude of sounds reached her ears. It wasn't something coming for her this time. It was a great many somethings. She couldn't fight them all. She could try, but then she would risk being captured. She shook her head. It was time to end this. The Grimm would never capture her.

She held the weapon up, it's sharp tip pointed at her chest. They were getting closer, and she could see them in the distance. She looked up at the sun one last time. It was time to go.

Yang collapsed to the ground, the full length of Myrtenaster protruding from her back. Ozpin rushed to her side, his cane and mug long forgotten. After a few seconds, he realized it was too late to save her. He had someone else that needed attention. Yang had already gone.

A girl with darker hair ran to her and knelt down beside her, cradling Yang's head in her lap. A blond boy joined her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He couldn't say anything, so he just sat there with her. The girl just cried.

Ozpin picked up the girl that had been stabbed twice with the sword. "We need to get her back to the school. She won't last much longer without medical attention."

The girl stood up. "The rest of you go. I have something I need to finish."

Ozpin had already left, along with most of the rest of the search party. The boy nodded to her, finding words hard to come by. "Are... you sure you'll be alright alone?"

She just shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I have to stop the others."

The boy sighed and stood up, looking to the girl pinned to the tree. He found himself unsure of what he should do until the only other person present spoke to him. "Jaune. Leave it. It's no good. I could never use it again, knowing that it's taken Human life."

He nodded to his partner, still trying in vain to get over what had happened. He started running slowly, but eventually managed to match her speed as they ran back to the school, leaving the dark-haired girl to do what needed to be done.