The wind smacked her face. It smelled like powder and blood, whipping against her like a maelstrom.

It gently brushed against her, making her hair sway gently. Ash and ember flooded her nose.

The air was still. It smelled like the forest.

The feeling of snow— the crunch under her boot.

Parts scattered in the white expanse like pieces cast to the hapless breeze.

The smell of blood, of cold, heart beating behind her eyes. A scythe. A sword. The yawning abyss in her chest. The groaning bond. Hot smoke in her lungs. Weiss would hate to see this.

The cabin door creaked as it swung— pale warmth crossing the threshold— heat on her lips— in her arms— a black arm— a cacophony— pale petals— the blood on her hands— the smell of sulfur—

Her eyes throbbed.

"Uh, Ruby?" Face-down in the snow. Fury against the great quern, forever bashing on that wall.

Voiceless words, a silent hand on her shoulder. Words on her fingers.

"Ruby?" An embroidered cloak. A gentle hum. Falling, falling.

Half of a scythe. An awful kiss. The milky white, inky black gaze. Glass— the shard in her eye, her face torn. A grip on the bond. Her mother's face. Her searing skin. Shattered silver— white and blue sparks dancing. The ichor in her mouth. A gaping void. Lips on her scars. Just a cut. An omen.

Her heart beat inside her eyes. Her eye. Her eyes. Her eye. Her eyes.

A pale hand cupped her cheek, irises like rings of ice. Panicked— falling away, reaching out. Gone, the bond's empty howl. "Ruby?"

She sucked in a sharp breath, her palms flying up over her pulsing eyes. They were sore— both of them. She heaved fast, shallow breaths. Chains tightened over her chest. The images flashed in her mind. Blake, face-down in the snow, Yang crying over her partner. Weiss hovering over her, one hand flesh, the other not.

"Ruby!" Weiss? Where was she? Blindly grasping, her hands found nothing but an empty bed. The bond groaned. She was crying. It was her birthday.

Someone pulled her hand from her eye. "Ruby, look at me." It was Weiss. Her voice. It had been so long. Her eyes throbbed. "Ruby!"

A palm sharply struck her cheek, making her lone eye fly open.

Weiss flinched back, concern etched across her face and the bond as she stared. Her pale hand slowly returned to her cheek, gently brushing over the stinging red skin. "S-sorry, Ruby. Are you okay?"

"I—" Ruby croaked, her surroundings making themselves aware. They'd just made it outside the school. She looked around, heart still pounding against her chest as she made a conscious effort to breathe normally. The wind whipped against her, a plain of verdant grass separating them from the Emerald Forest. Ruby spoke on instinct. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." But she wasn't fine, she wasn't fine. She could see the feelings, taste the sounds, smell the colors— just behind the darkness of her useless, throbbing eye. The images were imprinted there, their memory almost-fleeting like waking up from a dream, only she couldn't forget. She could feel her brain grinding, trying to shift gears as she forced herself to focus on the moment— she didn't have time to freak out, none of them did. She had to move.

Her other hand left her covered eye as she matched gazes with her partner again. Weiss did not believe her, and she made no effort to hide that from her expression. She firmly gripped Ruby's shoulder, eyes hard as ice. "Don't lie to me."

Ruby shrugged and looked away, suddenly sheepish under partner's interrogating gaze. "S-sorry, it's just a lot— there's a lot… happening. It's…" she took a deep breath and shook her head, making a big show of slapping some stability into herself, "I'm fine! Just had a little panic, is all. Got overwhelmed, y'know?"

They all stared, intense doubt clear on their faces.

"Seriously! I. Am. Fine. I mean, we all zone out sometimes. It happens!" Ruby asserted, complete with a plastic laugh as she squirmed away from her partner's hand and picked her staff up. She walked on quickly, ignoring the looks from her teammates. "C'mon, we gotta keep going!"

Before they could hound her with questions, she pulled out her Scroll and called her uncle. When he didn't answer, she called Jaune.

"'Sup?" He answered after a moment.

Ruby continued walking forwards, her teammates exchanging looks and frowns before following. "We made it out," she forced her voice to be steady, to give the impression that whatever happened wasn't seared into her like a brand on her brain, "we're moving to the forest now, it shouldn't take too long."

"Uh, okay. We're just waiting here. Haven't heard anything yet. Some of the wounded are starting to come to, though."

Desperate to flee the worries nipping at her heels, she latched onto his words. "Awesome! Which ones?"

Ruby couldn't see her sister mouth 'oh, this bitch,' nor the knowing, frustrated look that the three shared. The girl was notorious for deflecting away from all of her own problems. The moment was so familiar that it was almost nostalgic, even allowing Yang to (momentarily) forget her raging desire to strangle the woman who stole a kiss from her innocent sister.

Ruby let Jaune's words pass over her absent ears as she walked on. Those things— the images, senses, feelings— they felt like she'd been there. She could smell that forest, the crisp, cold air, feel the snow crunching underfoot, even though she was sure she'd never been much of a wintertime hiker, and the forests of Patch were much more deciduous. And she knew Adam— she knew that was his name, she knew that was him even though he looked nothing like Blake had described. She'd seen him before— the night after Weiss took her out for ice cream, the nightmare. The one where he was in the school, where he nearly killed her.

And today… after the library, she saw… no, felt the tower… Ozpin… she could hear the grinding gears, the awful sound still echoing in her skull.

Jaune's words stopped suddenly, interrupted by her Scroll buzzing and chirping in her ear. Qrow. She muttered a quick apology to the boy and answered her uncle.

He was panting, and from the background noise she could surmise he was running. "Unc—"

"Where are you." Terse. Worried.

Ruby stopped and looked behind her, towards the exit they'd taken. "Uh… we took a fire exit on the west side, past the gym. We're walking to the Emerald Forest now, probably an hour or less away."

He sighed, his breath loudly brushing against the device's microphone. "Thank Dust."

Ruby began to worry. "Why?"

"You gotta run, kid. We destroyed that creep, but he just disappeared when we weren't looking!" Ruby vaguely heard another voice talking to Qrow. "Okay. Okay, shit. Fox is hurt bad, and Nora's not gonna be able to fight for the moment."

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but realization dropped like a weight down her throat. Adam was coming. Jaune was in the way, with all those wounded.

Ruby gasped and hung up on her uncle. Her hands flew across Scroll faster than ever before.

"Again?" Jaune answered, not bothered but genuinely curious.

"Don't fight him!" Ruby immediately shouted into the device. "You need to hide!"

"What?" Jaune's voice became panicked. "Who? Hide?"

Ruby twisted on her heel, pacing with frustration. "Just listen to me! Okay?" She yelled into the phone. "Just frickin' do it!"

"Okay, calm down," concern radiated through his calm voice, "I'll hide, just tell me what I'm hiding from."

Ruby's shoulders slumped. Finally, someone just did what she said. "There's a really dangerous guy after us. He killed Goodwitch, and he escaped your team and CFVY, so now he's back to chasing us, meaning—"

"He's coming my way," he surmised.

Ruby nodded furiously, not caring that he couldn't see her. "He's not someone you—"

"I get it, Ruby, I don't need any convincing. Cardin and I will move the wounded back into the gym, Weiss' ice really did a number there." Jaune started talking over his shoulder, muffled voice indistinguishable over the line. "Alright, I gotta go. Good luck, Rubes."

Ruby couldn't suppress her smile, she always liked that nickname. "You too."

Jaune hung up first. Ruby turned back to her team.

"Adam's after us again. Jaune should be safe, so we have to be quick." She checked her clock. "We don't have much time, anyways. Let's go!"

Ruby broke into a jog, her teammates following after another shared glance.

Surprisingly, the elevator to Ozpin's office actually worked, even during a fire. It's almost like he wanted to see her. Cinder couldn't blame him, she'd want to see her too.

The elevator halted with a smooth lurch, followed by a ding. The metal doors parted.

Loud bangs immediately greeted her, forcing her to press against the wall. Holes blossomed on the back wall, right where she'd been standing.

The shots stopped after a moment, the silence giving Cinder an opportunity to speak. "Is that any way to treat a guest?" She mocked sweetly. She tried peeking out, only for another round to rip through the metal near her face, forcing her to duck back again.

After a tense silence, he spoke. "You're right. My apologies, that was my last bullet anyways."

Cinder slunk out of cover with a smirk, immediately earning another shot. This one actually did collide with her Aura, the force of it nearly making her stumble as the round was deflected.

"Okay, that really was my last one." Ozpin joked, though the look on his face was anything but jovial. She could see the ghost of a sneer, the way he clenched and unclenched his free hand, and the furious look behind his eyes. "I didn't think an agent of Salem would be that gullible."

Cinder frowned, stiletto heels clacking against the glass floor as she approached the headmaster. The room ticked around her, gears turning behind the glass.

Ozpin tossed the pistol away, the gun so heavy that it actually cracked the glass when it landed. He folded his hands tightly on top of his desk as he addressed her. "So, are you brave, or just stupid?"

Cinder stared him down. "I am Cinder Fall, right hand of Salem. I'm here to kill you, Ozma."

"Right hand?" The headmaster chortled, unimpressed. "Does she call you that or have you just decided?"

She scowled. Sparks arced across her fingertips, pulling Dust from her clothing.

Ozpin leaned back in his chair, clearly pleased with himself. He brought his mug to his lips. "She's not going to keep you."

The sparks on her fingers died, as if she'd been doused with water. She clenched her jaw. "You don't—"

"I've done this before, I'm sure you know." Ozpin said, his smile audible through his voice as he spoke into his cup. "You're not her first 'right hand'."

Cinder growled, hand sparking as it shot out and smacked the drink out of his hands. The mug hit the desk, spilling most of its contents across a spread of papers before it bounced, then shattered against the glass floor.

Ozpin frowned at the loss of his mug, but turned back to Cinder with a patronizing half-smirk. "Did that make you feel strong, knocking an old man's drink out of his hands?"

Cinder scoffed. "Don't pretend you're an 'old man', you smug prick."

Ozpin sighed and nodded. "That's fair, I suppose."

Cinder's teeth ground together. She was getting extremely fed up with this man, but she knew she couldn't just kill him. What he said about Salem, it struck a chord with her. Far as she knew, Ozma and her had been waging an eternal war for centuries, if not longer. Much as she hated to admit it, this man might know something that she didn't.

Ozpin's marsh-green eyes met hers, knowingly tempting her. He nodded to the chair across from him. Cinder's amber glare never left him as she begrudgingly took the offered seat.

The two let the tense silence build until it became too much for Cinder, who spoke with an impatient tone. "Well?"

Ozpin's eyebrow quirked. "Well, what?"

"How did you know?" Cinder growled.

Ozpin leaned back, his plush seat squeaking as he did. "Like I said, I've done this before."

Cinder rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, we all know that," she gestured vaguely around them, "but it's been more than a century since your last conflict. Things are different, now."

Ozpin grinned, knowing he had her hook, line, and sinker. "Last major conflict," he corrected, "she hasn't told you about the minor conflicts?"

Cinder sneered, forcing herself to remain lax in her chair. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing she was interested.

"Yes, well," Ozpin reflexively reached for his mug, only to be reminded that he had no mug, and no Goodwitch to get one for him. The ghost of a scowl briefly flashed across his features before he got a hold of himself. "While I cannot deny things are different, Salem's organizational structure has always been quite similar. That's the difference between us, really."

Cinder rolled her hand, impatiently urging him to continue.

"She tackles the problem head-on. Deceptively, intelligently, but undeniably through brute-force. That is why she has a cabal. She's always had a cabal." Ozpin spoke slowly, deliberately, and Cinder was almost certain he did it just to annoy her. "I, on the other hand, change. I have run a cabal, but it proved too rigid for me, too cutthroat. My allies betrayed me frequently, putting me in the habit of preemptively betraying them, and that does not a strong force make."

"And your point?" Cinder begged impatiently, eager to get back to murdering this white-haired annoyance.

"I have been a king, a consul, and even just a voice among the many." He mused, missing his drink. "She, on the other hand, always has a shadowy gathering of powerful individuals, along with a 'right hand' who commands them at the front."

Cinder listened, expression purposefully aloof.

"The methods are always the same, though the actions always differ." He stated, seemingly lost in thought.

Cinder waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "And what does this have to do with me?"

Ozpin shook his head, then looked at her as if he'd forgotten she was there. He blinked a few times before continuing. "Well, every single 'right hand' has, without fail, been killed by Salem."

Cinder felt the words grip her throat, even though it was exactly what she'd expected him to say. "I will be different," she asserted, "I won't disappoint her."

The headmaster turned his chair around, continuing to speak as if he hadn't heard her. "Frankly, if she didn't provoke me with such boisterous plays, I wouldn't even have to fight back. I've always known that the only way to really defeat her would be to let her own circle turn on her, all at once, but she always killed them or made me move on her before that could happen."

"I…" Cinder started, her voice cracking, "I would never betray Salem. I am devoted to her cause. I owe her everything."

Ozpin turned back around, his gaze stern as he leaned forward, against the support of his cane. His green eyes stared deeply into her, as if he had known her since the day she was born. She felt like a child being given a talk from their parents, explaining why hitting her friends was wrong, or why she needed to go to school and do her homework, or why she needed to go back to college, that she'd never make enough money doing inking drunks in the city. "You don't owe her anything."

Ozpin stared at her with that knowing gaze, the smug ghost of a smile on his lips. Her fists tightened in her lap, nails digging painfully into her palms as sparks flew from her hands. He had no right to remind her of them. He had no right to say those things. He was just toying with her, playing at her insecurities so he could get what he wanted!

Cinder rose suddenly, obsidian scimitars forming in each hand as she lunged for the headmaster. His cane came up in a flash, intercepting the blades. The two clashed. Their gazes met.

They knew how it would end.

From inside the Emerald Forest, it was impossible to tell that everything was burning. The canopy was much too thick to see the blanket of smoke in the sky, and the horizon was crowded with thick trunks and dense foliage. Only a few birds chirped, filling the air with sparse, distant notes. No fauna made itself known as the group traveled through the underbrush. It was as if the forest itself knew what was happening, and held its breath as it awaited the result.

Leaves and sticks cracked underfoot, only highlighting the silence around them. Every member of team RWBY twitched at the slightest sound. Adam was behind them, somewhere.

Ruby's hand nervously patted her pocket, hoping Jaune or Qrow would somehow call, even though she had no signal in the middle of the forest. They moved in silence for a long time before Ruby checked her clock again. 6:14. Winter would arrive soon. Looking around, she held a hand out to the rest of her team. "Okay, this will work."

They watched her, waiting for her word. She smiled. She was glad to have her team, especially in times like these. After all, she couldn't chop down trees with a metal stick.

They went to work, directed by their small (relative to Blake and Yang, at least) leader. Yang had called her locker before they entered the forest, so making a clearing was easy. Each punch cracked trunks, sending a splintered spray of wooden chips flying, with Blake and Ruby moving the logs to the wide pit Weiss had formed with Earth Dust. Before long, they had cleared an impressively sized spot of once-dense foliage. The hard work left them all haggard and panting. They each plopped to the ground, gathering around the wood-filled pit in a tight group, save for Weiss and Yang, of course, who were pointedly looking away from each other from opposite ends.

It was familiar. They'd slept rough on a fair few missions, and each one gave Ruby a new, pleasant memory. If the circumstances weren't so grim, she'd probably be smiling. As it was, though, she wasn't smiling. Rather, her lips were pursed in intense focus. She leaned against Weiss' shoulder, staring into the roaring bonfire the heiress had lit from their wood pit. Bright orange tendrils licked the sky, smoke and embers following each crack and pop, warmth radiating through the cool, crisp night. So familiar.

She looked up at her sister as she leaned against the blonde. An acrid, almost-stale smell floated by them, a different smoke from the small campfire they'd been keeping alive. Yang and Ruby turned towards their Faunus friend, who pulled the small, smoking white stick from her mouth with a thick puff. The intense smell made Ruby's eyes throb.

Yang pointed at her partner, then sniffed loudly to get her attention. "What's that?" She signed, eyebrow curving curiously.

Blake raised the little stick, to which Yang nodded. "One of the soldiers gave it to me. It's a, uh," she looked down at the smoking off-white cylinder, frowning as she struggled to pull from memory, "cigarette? I think that's what he called it. It's apparently supposed to help with stress. Or appetite. Or it's just something to do." The Faunus shrugged. "They weren't really clear on what it was."

Ruby piped up, voice feeling strange and disconnected. "It stinks."

Blake shrugged. "So does cheese."

Ruby opened her mouth, but let her retort die in her throat. She didn't really care.

Blake, apparently in a talkative mood, spoke up before the silence could hang. "It's made of the same stuff that was in Port's pipe, this one just burns in a paper wrap. It's an Atlas thing."

Yang took a moment, then held a hand out to her partner, fingers wiggling.

Blake looked at the offered limb, then back to her partner. "You sure? It's kind of harsh."

Yang waved her concern off, taking the tiny burning stick when Blake offered. She placed the cigarette in her mouth, but barely inhaled before she started hacking intensely, gripping the front of her throat with a broken whine. It fell out of her lips as she coughed, flying straight for the campfire.

Ruby reacted instinctively, arm shooting out and pinching the cigarette between her fingers. She almost handed it to Blake, but found herself staring down at the thing, a small war raging in her head. Help with stress? She would do anything to relieve her stress. Help with appetite? She hated eating, the packaged meals taste like smoked sawdust and felt like a huge waste of time. Something to do? She really needed that. Anything to do that wasn't a mission, and didn't involve risking her life or hurting people.

A snow-white voice popped into her mind, a familiar voice of reason. It stinks. Well, so does cheese, and she really likes cheese. Was she even old enough for this? She was seventeen! Was she old enough to be doing what they were making her do now? What was a little thing like this?

She stuck it in her mouth before she could waste more time arguing with herself.

Heat pooled in her throat as she inhaled, pushing into her lungs. It stung her chest, the irritating sensation making her reflexively hack up smoke, but she managed to keep hold of the cigarette as she was wracked with smoky coughs.

"R-Ruby!" She heard Blake call, unheeded.

She'd been right, it was harsh, but the feeling rushing into Ruby's brain gave her pause. It was weird, almost making her a little woozy, but her head felt pleasantly light.

"Hey, you probably shouldn't—" Blake started getting up, reaching for Ruby while the leader's sister battled with her coughing fit.

Ruby tried pulling it again, slower this time. The irritating heat flooded her chest again, but this time she only let out a stuttering puff as she pushed the smoke out in a thick, fragrant cloud, making the light feeling in her head even more intense. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling. "Woah," she mumbled as she pulled the stick from her lips. The feeling rolled through her. Her eyes throbbed.

Blake snatched the cigarette from her hand. Ruby' head snapped to the Faunus, eyes opening to glare at her.

There was nothing there, just an empty patch of grass. The arm over her shoulders shook her. "Ruby? Are you okay?"

She turned her head towards the voice. Cerulean eyes greeted her, Weiss' face up close.

Ruby blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the vivid experience. Her throat itched. Weiss' eyes locked her down, concern weighing on their connection. "Y-yeah, just zoned out." She said after a gulp, her voice weak and unconvincing.

Weiss frowned, but didn't press her partner. She turned back to the fire.

"Where did Yang and Blake go?" Ruby asked after a moment.

Weiss shrugged. "Blake dragged her off to scout around, make sure Adam isn't close."

Ruby checked her Scroll. 6:47 PM. Winter should be here already, but the trip from Atlas was surely unpredictable. The leader shrugged, snuggling closer to her partner. The evening was growing cold.

Weiss stiffened, but relaxed before long, arm tightening around Ruby's shoulders and bringing her closer. A thick lump sat between their Auras. Weiss swallowed. "I'm sorry."

Ruby looked up at her partner. "Huh?"

"I… I shouldn't have kissed you." Weiss looked away, arm lifting as her face rapidly reddened.

Ruby grabbed her hand, pulling her partner's arm back around her shoulders. "You're right," she admitted, "not without asking me, at least."

Weiss stiffened. "I'm really sorry."

Ruby tightened the arm around her, even going so far as to wrap her own arm around the heiress' waist, ignoring the sharp twinge from her shoulder. "I forgive you."

Weiss relaxed, just a little.

"Was it your first?" Ruby asked after a quiet few seconds.

Weiss nodded, her embarrassment so thick even Ruby could feel it.

Ruby let out a couple short laughs. "It was really bad."

Weiss shrunk into herself and muttered another 'sorry', her face as red as her partner's cloak.

"It's okay, nobody gets anything perfect the first time!" Ruby said with a disarming chuckle, making the heiress relax slightly against her.

"W-was it yours?" Weiss muttered, barely audible over their huge, crackling fire. "First kiss, I mean?"

Ruby shook her head. "No."

"O-oh." The bond tangled.

"Is that okay?"

Weiss stiffened, then relaxed again, her arm wrapping around her partner on its own volition once more. If her kiss really had been so bad, at least it hadn't been Ruby's first. "I… I think so."

Ruby nodded. They stayed like that for another long moment. The air grew thick, so thick they could both feel it in their throats. Something welled within the Schnee— the need to make things right. She barely turned towards Ruby, just enough to see her out of the corner of her eye, though it did nothing to hide her obviously scarlet face.

"Can… uh, can I…" Weiss stammered.

Ruby nodded. When Weiss immediately whirled her whole body around, Ruby held her back with both hands on her shoulders. "Slowly, okay? My face still kinda hurts."

Weiss nodded vigorously, eyes wide as she slowly got closer to Ruby. Her heart slammed against her chest. It couldn't work. There was no way it was going to happen. Yang would show up and break her back over her knee, Winter would choose this precise moment to arrive, Qrow would burst from the treeline with CFVY and JNPR, Adam would charge in with Blake on her heels, there was no way the universe would let Weiss have this.

But when Ruby's eye closed and waiting lips formed a pout, Weiss realized something that made her chest tighten. This girl… Dust, she was beautiful. She looked so different from the craterface that she'd met barely more than a year ago. Her cheeks had finally started to thin a little, showing more of her surprisingly sharp jawline. Dark circles ringed her eyes, which Weiss realized she should be worried about, but she really couldn't help but find them oddly attractive. And the scar, still a bright pink, cleft from the upper left side of her lip and arcing all the way up her face before it disappeared behind a strip of red cloth. It was thick and gnarly, twisting halfway up her cheek as if the glass had simply decided to jam itself into the poor girl's eye socket. Damn the universe, she was doing this, even if it killed her.

Weiss pushed herself forward, a target in her sights. Her lips went wide of Ruby's, moving instead to that gnarled line on her cheek. She gently pressed her mouth against the pink flesh. It felt strange under her lips. Ruby gasped, but didn't pull away.

Weiss separated from her partner's cheek, admiring how intensely she blushed. Ruby's eye slowly opened, silver reflecting the light from the fire. She had kissed her scars. Again.

Ruby's hands twitched, and she realized she was still wearing the gloves. That wouldn't do. She ripped the leather free, carelessly tossing away before she gripped Weiss' face in both hands. The heiress squeaked as Ruby surged forwards, taking Weiss' lips herself.

The soft, scarred flesh of her partner's lips moved against her own, gently, slowly, and Weiss realized it must have happened. Yang must have come out of the forest and broken her neck, or Adam must've lopped her head from her shoulders, because she was in heaven. Her mouth tingled as the hot, soft lips pressed against her own, moving with delectable deliberation. The hands on her face were rough from hefting that oversized gardening tool, and each callous burned tingling paths as they brushed her cheeks and moved down her jaw. Weiss let out a long, whining groan.

Ruby chuckled against her lips— Dust, that was hot— before moving a hand to cup the back of Weiss' neck. Her other hand moved to support her lower back, but that would be no help. The moment that dolt parted her lips, all hope of balance disintegrated, along with Weiss' motor control. Her hand feebly gripped the front of Ruby's cloak for support, dragging the girl down with her as her back hit the dirt, forcing them to separate lest their teeth collide again. Weiss opened her eyes instinctually.

Ruby straddled her hips, panting, her face bright red and pupils so dilated that barely a shred of silver iris was visible. She was so close, radiating an intense heat onto the heiress below her. She took a shuddering breath.

"H-holy…" Ruby gulped, "shit."