Chapter 5

Crescent Rose felt great in her hands. It felt like it had been too long since she had held her baby in her hands. It had never looked better, a fresh paint job and all new materials did wonders for its appearance.

Ruby held down a button with her left hand, lower on the haft of the weapon. The metal under her thumb began to rotate. Symbols passed by, etched into the metal, informing her of what it would use. She released the button as the landed on a symbol of a raging fire. Crimson red Dust began to cover the blade of her scythe.

With a twirl, she slashed through the air and sent a wave of flame directly towards Pyrrha, who had so helpfully agreed to let Ruby test her new weapon on her. The wave slammed into Pyrrha's shield, it didn't manage to do much damage but the screen above told of how effective it had been. It would be more effective against multiple targets.

She held the button again and stopped it on a symbol of an icy explosion. The Dust covered the blade once more and she slashed at the ground creating a wall of ice. Pyrrha fired at it but the bullets just ricocheted off doing little more than chipping the surface.

Ruby had managed to replicate some of Weiss' Dust abilities. She just had to get good enough to use it during a proper fight.

Ruby transformed her scythe into its compact form and dashed around the ice wall. She let out a breath and held down the lower of two triggers. Crescent Rose barked as it unleashed a torrent of bullets on Pyrrha's position. Her shield managed to block most of them.

Ruby sped around Pyrrha while firing, forcing her to continuously adjust her shield. Whilst continuing the automatic fire Ruby pulled the upper trigger which unleashed a sniper round at Pyrrha, the impact of which threw her shield wide and allowed the last rounds in the magazine to hit her. Ruby pushed a button on the side of the compacted weapon and a magazine was ejected and she quickly replaced it.

Her new gun was similar to an assault rifle, designed to give her a better option for mid-ranged combat and suppressive fire. It did require two separate magazines for the different calibre of rounds but Ruby didn't worry. It would do its job. She had been learning a thing or two from Coco about using such a rapid-fire weapon. Of course, Coco's weapon put hers to shame.

With the weapon test a success Pyrrha and Ruby returned to the others. The tournament was going to be starting in a few days and JNPR needed to be ready to crush the competition.

"I did the best I could, but you didn't give me much in the way of options! I picked what I could from their wardrobes to add to yours. That back haired girl really didn't have much so I threw some of her ribbons throughout the outfit. Next time you want me to make you look good, just let me do my thing ok?"

Ruby nodded to Coco's words.

"Good. Now try it on, I want to see how good it looks!" Coco pushed her into the bathroom with the clothes in hand and shut the door.

Ruby sighed. She had put restrictions on what Coco could do. She didn't want a complete makeover, at least, not yet.

She pulled out the ribbons from the pile and wrapped them around her arms to form makeshift gloves. One of Blake's spare bows was tied to Ruby's belt and memories came flooding back to her. Blake reading. Her smirking at a joke she didn't want others to think she found funny. Her focus on the White Fang. The light fading from her eyes as her blood-soaked the grass.

Next came one of Weiss' spare jackets. White and frilly with red on the inside. It fit her well. Weiss in shock as Ruby sneezed and caused an explosion. Weiss berating her about homework. Her drive to train and better herself. Weiss laughing while covered in scraps of food from their fight in the cafeteria. Her eyes wide in fear as the ground collapsed.

Finally came Yang and one of her scarves. Ruby wrapped it around her neck, over the jacket and the pins holding her cape. Bedtime stories, Summer reading to them both and then Yang reading to her. Years of training. All their time at school. Introducing Yang to her first friends. Going out to Vale for a weekend. Yang protecting her from bullies. Yang standing alone against a wave of black and white death.

It was all too much. She began to tear up. No damn it! I can't cry now! Not over some damned clothes! Not now! Her vision became blurry, she started to clam up and she began to hyperventilate. She closed her eyes and imagined her weapon. It had always worked to calm her down before! She just had to think of her baby and how much she had worked on it!

But all it did was bring her back to the fight to escape! No! She raced through ideas. Zwei? No, that made her think of Yang! Same for her dad or Qrow! Fighting was out! Her comics mostly featured weapons or fighting!

It was the image of her friends in JNPR that helped. The kindness and care they showed her. It took time, she didn't know how long really, but the thought of them bought her back to the present. She cleaned her face of what tears had escaped and took in a deep breath.

There was a knock on the door and she hurried to straighten herself up before she left. CFVY stood waiting for her when she left. They didn't say anything about her freak out, so they either didn't know or were too kind to ask.

"Well, it'll work. It could be a lot worse. But I really recommend letting me do a complete outfit change later okay?" Coco said, pulling her sunglasses down to look her in the eye.

"Coco!" Velvet said and elbowed her. "You look great Ruby!"

"It sure does look fabulous." Fox said. The sarcasm was obvious considering he was blind.

Yatsuhashi shook his head before talking. "It does look good. It won't get in the way of combat and shows your desire to bring aspects of all of your team into yourself. It has achieved everything you desired from it." He then nodded.

"Thanks, you guys." Ruby took a long breath and smiled.

She was ready now. Those responsible for Mountain Glenn were going to pay, all she had to do was find them now.

"Hey! Ruby!" She turned to face the familiar voice. Sun Wukong ran up to her in the halls of Beacon.

"Sun? What's going on?" She asked with a raised brow.

"I need to apologise." At her confused look, she explained. "Ever since your mission, I've been avoiding you. I was hurting and mourning Blake but instead of coming to mourn with you I just left you to it. Blake would have my tail for it, so I'm apologising."

"Sun… it's alright. We all deal with it in our own way, right?"

"Sure, but I should have been there for you earlier. I'm here now, and my team and I will always be there to help you! It's the least I can do to help and make it up to you." He smiled. It was brittle and filled with sadness but still held his typical happiness.

"Thank you, Sun. Blake would be happy to see you doing this."

"Thanks, Ruby." he said softly. Her scroll beeped at that exact moment. "I'll leave you to it, okay? Catch you later!"

Ruby waved goodbye before pulling out her scroll. A message? She didn't recognize the number.

'If you seek the truth, come to this location:'

And following that was an address. A quick look showed a warehouse on the edge of the industrial district. Strange… who could this be?

The company that owned the warehouse was some moving company called 'Wickerman and Sons.' Could this be?...

She would have to investigate. At least it had waited until she had her weapon back. Tonight would work well enough.

She sent a message to Jaune, telling him she had a lead on some information and where, but that she needed to do this alone. She wouldn't lie to them, but she wanted to go alone. She wanted to feel useful again.

To get herself a victory.

She didn't see the bird that followed her away from Beacon.

A/N: A short chapter this time, but an important one. Weapon upgrades, outfit changes, Sun and a lead. It took a while to get the specifics on the weapon changes right and hopefully it makes sense. I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time.