A/N: I'm still alive, somehow. Midterms ended a few days ago and I'm basically tired, and lets not talk about the flu I had during those tests and dealing with sports. I realized that this wasn't updated for a long enough time, so I thought I'd spoil you lovely people with a big chapter full of feels.

By the way, any questions I leave out of this chapter will be answered. Everything will be answered. Trust me.

Enjoy! All feedback appreciated.

Chapter 8: Ruby

Any onlookers in the distance may have seen a bright light within the Forest of Forever Fall and believe there was some sort of fire. The real fire wasn't a physical one, but rather the emotions that were coming from a Huntress-in-Training stricken with fear and rage.

Ruby was completely unconscious as she lay, unaware of the carnage that Yang was dishing out on the hapless Beowolves. Blake and a still weakened Weiss remained at a distance. Neither were sure what to do or how to help, lest any one of them gets injured. They stood in silence, watching in agony, unsure of what to do.

"I…I'm getting Ruby."

Blake swung her head to a frail but determined-looking Weiss and gave her an incredulous look. The idea seemed preposterous. Weiss' aura still wasn't near where it should be for any kind of physical exertion and yet…

"So being stubborn is hard-wired, I see. You understand that you could get killed with where you're at physically, right? Regardless of your answer, I won't allow it." Blake moved in front of Weiss and placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder, meant to hold her back.

"Weiss, there's a higher chance that you'll die trying to save Ruby compared to Ruby's chances of dying here. Yang's still givin' em hell over there…wait, Yang!"

Blake turned around and looked on to find a powerful flame beginning to flicker out.

Yang had depleted her Aura in much the same way Weiss had, using a consistent, concentrated and powerful series of attacks. Yang had all the ammo she would ever need for Ember Celica, but she herself couldn't maintain that level of exertion for very long. Added to this was the fact that she was attacking the Beowolves head-on, contrasting to Weiss' method of keeping herself away from the Grimm. This meant that there was a chance that Yang may have had to absorb a hit or two while fighting, which would've made heavy dents in her Aura.

Blake wasted no time sprinting towards Yang as fast as she could, wrecking everything in her path to get to her. Yang was still swinging, but she needed to get pulled out of there.

For Weiss, time moved far too quickly for her to comprehend the scene she had put herself and her teammates in. One moment ago, she was falling to her death. Now, she was struggling to stand up as Ruby was still unconscious, Yang was losing her strength fighting what was seriously an army of Beowolves, and Blake rushing off in the distance to save Yang.

"It's my fault…" she muttered. Weiss had put them all in a huge mess and she knew it. She turned her head towards her fallen leader, still lying where she had landed, Crescent Rose visibly dug into the ground some distance away from her.

Slowly, she limped towards the red and black dot in the distance, using Myrtenaster as a crutch to hold herself up. Blake couldn't stop her now. Weiss didn't care that the pain was shooting through her body. She wasn't concerned that any sort of sudden movements or exertion could cripple her. She was dead focused on getting to her leader. Ruby had to be okay. She had to be.

Weiss muttered a silent prayer as she slowly limped towards Ruby, hoping that her teammates would all be okay. That was the best she could do at the moment, and she just hoped that maybe...

"Wh…where am I? What happened?"

Ruby found herself in a snowy clearing, all alone. To one side was a dense forest, and to the opposite side was a cliff. The only light in the darkness came from the shattered moon, hanging ominously in the sky. Ruby looked around, scanning her surroundings. It was far too quiet, save for a cold, whipping wind that stung on contact. Ruby pulled her cloak in as she tried to keep herself warm through the night.

"What is this? Where is…"

She froze. A ghostly apparition of a woman, arms outstretched, had seemingly appeared from the ground and had risen up above her. The exposed skin was pale white, since the rest of her body was covered by a white hooded cloak, which covered the eyes of the apparition. Ruby stared up in wonder at the silhouette before her. It looked….familiar.

Just then, the apparition flew all around Ruby and whipped the air around her, effectively picking Ruby up and flinging her in the air. Ruby was shocked and speechless. She had no clue how to react to everything that was happening. As she floated almost weightlessly in the air, the world around her came crashing down into a black hole of nothing.

Darkness…

Silence….

…

…

Ruby woke to another setting, this time at Beacon. She found that she was on the ground, face up, and motioned herself in a sitting position. Everything looked….normal here. Ruby looked around, frantically trying to find what was wrong.

"You are such a dunce! How could you trip over yourself? What are you, four?"

Ruby whipped her head around. There was Weiss, glaring at her like usual. Ruby beamed, which took Weiss aback.

"What are you smiling about? Seriously, how old are y-uf!"

Ruby was hugging Weiss as tightly as she could. Weiss tried to push her off, but Ruby wouldn't let go. Instead, Ruby cried softly as she nuzzled her head into Weiss' collar.

"Weiss, you're okay! I was so worried!" were the muffled words of the overjoyed leader of Team RWBY. At this point, Weiss just thought Ruby was crazy. "Wait, what? What are you talking about? Nothing happened to me! Now let me go this instant!" Ruby still refused.

Then Weiss disintegrated within Ruby's grasp. Ruby fell forward as she was clutching air. She started panicking once she realized that Weiss-no, everyone around her- had disappeared. Before she could call out for Weiss, Yang, Blake….anyone, the ground began to shake. Ruby was standing on a crumbling piece of the sidewalk outside of the main entrance. Ruby had no idea what was happening, and she never thought about using her Semblance or Aura. It was too sudden.

Everything happened in a flash. Ruby was now on her own piece of sidewalk, as they all aimlessly floated around, Beacon now just a crumbling mess. Ruby called for Weiss and reached out towards Beacon's crumbling infrastructure, trying to get back to what she knew. The more she reached out however, the farther and farther she got from Beacon. The last thing Ruby saw was the sky as the pieces of sidewalk began falling. She screamed as she fell, arms outstretched, with Beacon, her team, and her whole life disappearing from her view.

Then the darkness and silence resumed.

…

Ruby opened her eyes to the first scene she was at; the same snowy clearing, with the apparition waiting for her. It was just looking at her, with the same facial expression as the first time. Since her eyes weren't visible, it was hard to tell what it was thinking. Ruby still looked at it, trying to find something about it that she recognized.

"Who are you?"

It looked at her, sullen expression and silent. Then it took off the hood it wore, and Ruby could see it. She saw what she was looking for. Even from a distance, she could tell.

The eyes were silver and looked just like hers. Ruby just stood in shock.

"M...Mom? Is that…is that you?"

The ghost of Summer Rose said nothing. It just looked at Ruby, scanning her, trying to find something. Ruby just walked closer to it, drawn in by her emotions. To Ruby, this was her best chance at meeting her mother. She kept coming closer, smile and tears covering her face.

"I missed you Mom. It's not really the same without you. But I'm glad you're here."

Ruby had walked up to the point where she was standing face-to-face with the ghost of her mother. Their eyes met and looked at each other with mutual intrigue.

"Mom, I'm training to be a Huntress now, so I can help people. Kinda like what you always did. It's like you and Dad told me. I'm doing the right thing…right?"

Summer's ghost kept the same expression, but it bowed its head down and shut its eyes. Ruby tried to hold her mother, but she refused to be held, backing away before Ruby could grasp her. A ghostly tear slipped down Summer's cheek. She looked up at Ruby, who was wearing a look of utter dismay, and smiled briefly before returning her face to what it was before.

"Ruby, if you want to help others, start with them." Summer spoke, and behind her appeared another ghostly figure. It looked like Weiss, head bowed and hand behind her back. Silhouettes of Blake and Yang in the same pose followed soon after.

"But Mom, that's my team. Wait, have you all met?" she asked, a feigned smile residing in her face. Ruby didn't want to think about this, so she tried to divert the conversation. "Yang, look. Mom's back. Isn't that great?" Ruby asked quietly. Nobody responded. "Weiss, Blake, this is my mom. She's a Huntress too." Again, no answer from anyone. "Guys...?" The three silhouettes of her partners disappeared.

Ruby panicked. "Wait…what? Where…where did they go? Guys? GUYS?!" Ruby frantically called out, after being so close to some normalcy twice, and twice it was yanked away from her, and she didn't know why she deserved this. Her anger built. "Mom, why did you do that? They're my teammates, my friends! Don't take them away from me!" Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose in rifle mode and pointed it at her mother, hands trembling with tears streaming down her face.

"Give them back! Give them back to me!"

Summer didn't flinch at the rifle being pointed at her. Instead, she approached Ruby slowly, walking straight into the sights of Crescent Rose. Ruby was staring dead on at her target and her shaking finger was on the trigger, but she couldn't pull it. By the time Summer came up to her, Ruby sunk to the ground, weak from her exertion, anger, and trauma. Summer looked at her daughter, trembling with fear and sadness. Ruby convulsed under the realization that she had held a weapon up to her mother with an intent to shoot, to hurt. Even if she wasn't a completely physical entity, that action went against everything she stood up for. Everything she had learned from her family, from the stories Yang would read, from her…

…from her mother.

Ruby let out an anguished cry in her position, burying her head in her lap and crying, screaming, begging for it to stop. The horrible trauma she had just gone through, she wanted it all to stop. Summer heard the cries of her daughter and knelt down beside her.

"Ruby, listen to me. What you saw was a reminder of how fragile our world can be, and also how scary it is to be alone in this uncertainty. The ones you love the most are the ones you really need to protect, first and foremost. They will be there for you and protect you when you may need it yourself, and you will need it at some point. Nobody is invincible."

She reached out and grabbed the shoulder of a still-sobbing Ruby.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you all those times before. I never meant to leave you in this world all by yourself. But if you protect what's important, you will live a long and happy life. Please take this to heart, as I realized it too late."

Ruby stopped sobbing and looked up at her mother, eyes reddened and tear marks coating her cheeks. She breathed heavily for a minute, pondering the words she was given, and then gave her mother and understanding nod.

Summer smiled and embraced Ruby. Ruby made no attempt to hug summer back, for she had no idea how to, and Summer understood this.

"I'm very proud of you. I wish I could see what you will become, but now my job here is over. You must go back, Ruby. Go back, Ruby. Go back…"

And Ruby was sucked into a whirlwind of darkness. A dull voice pierced the silence.

"Ruby….Ruby….Ruby" It got louder and louder.

Ruby though to herself 'That voice…it sounds like…'

Weiss was frantically shaking Ruby, crying and screaming her name over and over again. She held Ruby close to her chest. Ruby couldn't be dead, there was just no way…

"Mmngh…Weiss? Is…is that you?" Ruby weakly chirped.

Weiss' crying ceased. Her eyes opened and looked down to reveal a faintly smiling Ruby, eyes open enough to see her bright silver irises.

Weiss beamed and squeezed Ruby close to her chest in complete ecstasy. "I…I was so scared…Please don't do this ever again, okay? I can't lose you!" She cried as she held Ruby, cried from happiness.

She was okay, and that was all Weiss wanted.