Ruby limped through the snow, scythe supporting her like a crutch. Behind her, Penny dragged her heavy legs through the mounds of cold fluff, her usually-green lights ebbing a dandelion yellow to indicate her power was low.

Dense, towering evergreens loomed over them, blocking every egress save for the thin, snowed-over footpath on which the two trudged. Pine needles littered the ground, the only contrast from the sea of unbroken white.

Snow captured every sound, creating an intense silence that pressed on Ruby's sensitive ears. No birds sang, no animals dared make a sound, even the overcast sky seemed opposed to disturbing the palpable stillness of the forest as it cast the world in not-dark, not-bright light. The dead silence was nearlyimpenetrable.

Crunch. Ruby's heavy boots smashed the snow underfoot. Clshnk. Metal pieces slid and clacked against each other as the scythe followed, digging into the snow with every other step.

Vvvvvvrr. Penny's metal form whirred, low-power mode running louder than standard. Khshh. Hot air rushed out vents behind her neck and legs with every step, exhaust cutting through the snow.

The two stomped through the wintry landscape, the only sources of sound in the forest. For the most part.

Chk.

For the briefest moment, Ruby felt frustration.

Her body disintegrated, collapsing into a flurry of rose petals. Time slowed. The world around her stopped. The rush took her, like it always did. She moved by instinct, her speed taking her to the treeline, towards the noise.

She found the ambushers with ease, hidden under three mounds of snow in a suspiciously straight line. She lined herself up, and allowed her body to reconvene as momentum carried her, her scythe throwing up snow as it tore through the ground like a plow.

She could scarcely remember a time when she worried about killing, a time before death wore her like a second skin. Before Alsius, before Atlas, before Beacon went up in flames, before Weiss…

Ruby stared into the forest, cleft bodies painting the snow red behind her. The white plane stretched on forever, broken only by green needles and black trunks. The snow around her feet slowly turned red.

The bond inside her ached and howled like a yawning, empty cave. She felt hollow. The snow taunted her, the white expanse reminding her of what she didn't have. Not anymore. She wanted to cry, to scream, to throw herself at the ground and flail like a child, but she didn't. She couldn't. She was so tired, and so empty. It wasn't worth the effort. Her silver eye just stared fruitlessly into the forest.

A pair of arms snaked around her waist and pulled her against a warm, humanoid chassis. She shook her head, forcing the fog away. She had Penny, now. Companionship, even if she was just an android, was all Ruby needed. Another person to be there for. It was all she needed.

Wasn't it?

"Ruby?" Penny asked, warm 'breath' brushing over Ruby's cheek.

She stared into the forest, anchored to her spot. She should move, but she didn't. Red saturated the snow beneath her feet.

"Ruby?" The breath became hot, burning against the left side of her face. She squirmed, hoping that would distance her from the heat, but to no avail.

"Ruby!" She could barely hear the scream past the burning in her face.

"Ruby!" An intense, sharp soreness pierced her left eye, like someone was pressing a hot iron to her cheek while chiseling her skull out from the inside at the same time. A voice pounded against her head. "Please be okay, please be okay…"

Someone shook her, jostling her awake. She groaned, and her eye slowly wrenched open.

Weiss loomed over her, taking up most of her vision as she said… something. Ruby couldn't really hear her. Well, she could hear her, but the words were absolutely not parsing in her brain. Ruby tried reaching up, hoping to touch her face, but a shooting pain lit up her entire left arm, starting at the shoulder. A long, pitchy whine came out of her mouth, her throat too raw and frayed to offer anything else.

Weiss exhaled a sigh of relief. "You're alive."

Ruby grit her teeth and moaned, trying to push the intense pain aside so she could focus. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't. She thought back to Bartramb, back to the infusion, trying to convince herself that she'd been through worse. She'd been through everything, she'd survived it all. Shecould do it. Shehad been through worse. She was used to pain.

She repeated the phrases in her mind like a mantra, forcing herself to bear the unbearable burning, stabbing feeling in her face and shoulder.

She reached a hand up for support, but someone other than Weiss gripped it, then she felt another, massive hand lift up on her back for support as she rose to her feet. She turned her head as little as possible, just enough to put her helper in view of her right eye.

Yatsuhashi towered over her, seemingly unharmed, and gave a nod that seemed equal parts sympathy and appreciation.

Yatsu held her up while Ruby reconciled with the pain in her face, the nauseating churning in her stomach, and the intense throbbing in her skull. After a long minute she felt confident enough to wave the hulking man away. Her gaze turned towards the school.

Smoke, heat, the smell of burning, and an odd metallic tang in the air. Beacon Academy had exploded, but she'd taken Weiss and a dozen others out of the library, saving their lives at the cost of her eye. Not a terrible trade, in her opinion.

"What…?" Ruby's throat throbbed and burned, robbing her of the rest of her question.

Weiss nodded, understanding anyways. "I don't know." She answered as anxiety took over her fading relief. "Someone's attacking the school. It's bad. They're slaughtering people at the front, some monster with huge horns and a woman with a bow killed Goodwitch." Weiss took a deep, shuddering breath, the enormity of her own words rocking her.

"Kill— Nngh!" Ruby tried to exclaim, then clutched her throat as it erupted in pain. Who could kill Goodwitch? She was the most powerful Huntress at Beacon! "Who?" She managed, her voice barely a whisper.

Weiss looked around and bit her lip. "We don't know." Then, with more conviction, she pulled out her Scroll. "Look, it doesn't matter who did it, we need to go." She held the screen up to Ruby's face, showing her a message:

'Winter:

OMW ETA 1840

Go to the Emerald Forest, try to clear out a safe space to land. Take others with you, as many as you can WITHOUT putting yourself in danger.

Stay safe.

Sent 4:59PM'

Ruby had barely absorbed the information when Weiss stuffed the Scroll back into her pocket, but she nodded anyway.

"Okay, good," Weiss turned to go, "We need to get moving if we're going to find a safe place."

Ruby's eyebrows shot to her forehead, but Yatsuhashi spoke up before she could. "No," it was the first time Ruby had heard him speak, and his voice was shockingly normal, if quiet, "I need my team."

At the word team, Ruby jumped like she'd been shocked. She pulled her own Scroll out in a flash.

6 missed calls.

Ruby nearly dropped the device as she fumbled to call the number back.

"Ruby!" It was Blake, her voice haggard and breathless. "Are you okay?"

Ruby tried to speak, but her words got hung up in her shredded throat. After a few moments of trying and wincing, she managed to get out a "Yeah."

Blake sighed, the sound barely audible past the constant noise on her end. "Thank Dust. I've got Yang. She's hurt bad, but I'm pretty sure she's stable."

Ruby's chest tightened. Weiss was arguing with Yatsuhashi, but Ruby couldn't muster the focus to force herself to speak and listen to another conversation. "Where?"

"We're almost in the main hall, coming out of the gym." Ruby felt a weight of despair drop into her gut. Across the school, then. "Where are you?"

Ruby looked around. They were still on the west side, but Weiss had gotten some good distance from the library with her group. She must've had Yatsu carry her. "Outside library," she tried to gulp, but it felt like swallowing a glob of cement, "with Weiss and Yatsuha…" her voice broke airily and faded.

Blake didn't respond for a while, but Ruby heard her make a straining groan before getting back to the phone. "Okay. I need help."

Ruby nodded, then remembered she was on the phone. "Right. Coming."

She turned to Weiss, who was still arguing with Yatsuhashi. "-go back in there! Are you insane?"

Yatsuhashi, to his credit, seemed unmoved. "No. If it is dangerous, they will need my help."

Weiss turned to Ruby for support, her hands gesturing incredulously towards the towering man.

Ruby shook her head. "Help Yang," she winced as her vocal chords strained and ached against her words, "and Blake."

Weiss' disbelief shifted towards her partner. "You're barely walking! Going in there is suicide!"

Ruby frowned, but her throat hurt too much to muster another response. Instead, she pulled her Scroll back out and dialed a number.

Dirt flew moments later as her locker struck the ground.

Weiss' lips flapped, the situation apparently incomprehensible. She couldn't even formulate a sentence. Even Yatsu gave Ruby a doubtful look.

Ruby pulled open the door and tried to not make her pain too obvious as she retrieved Crescent Rose. It snapped onto her waist, hanging from the magnetic clip with a familiar weight.

Weiss was clearly going to object, but she could see the glint in Ruby's eye. The girl began pulling bandages off her shoulder and arm, confident her Aura would have healed them by now. Weiss watched as the cloth she'd stripped from her own clothes fell off the wounds, revealing more than a dozen fresh, red lines of scar tissue.

When her hands reached her face, however, Weiss rushed forward and stopped her by grabbing her hand. "No!"

Ruby gave her a look. "What?" She croaked.

Weiss' lips pulled tight as she tried to drum up a reason. "You could get an infection!"

Ruby raised an eyebrow, then winced as her face lit up with pain. She tried not to show too much— she really didn't want Weiss to worry and hold her back— but she couldn't stop herself from hissing.

After a moment of repressing the pain, she managed to speak. "Aura closed it. No infection." She let her throat rest for a second, then added, "I wanna see."

Weiss tried to think of a rebuttal, but her partner was right. Her Aura had healed the other cuts, at the very least she wouldn't be bleeding anymore, and it's not like those 'bandages' had been sterile in the first place. She dropped Ruby's wrist.

Ruby grabbed the edge of a strip and pulled, wincing as dried blood stuck to her face and pulled her sore tissue. With her other hand, she retrieved her Scroll once more and navigated to the camera by memory.

After a few painstaking moments and a lot of hissing, wincing, and groaning, the bandages were gone. She held the front-facing camera to her face.

A horrible, jagged red line split the top left corner of her upper lip, wrenched up toward her cheekbone in a thick and marred arc, and ended at her… eye. Or, what was left of it.

The eye itself was ruined, that much she could clearly tell. Nothing came from her left side, meaning the nerve was probably severed in addition to the flesh, and eyes were one of the things much too complicated for an Aura to truly repair. The flesh was sealed, sure, but the result was gnarly and unfinished. The organ itself looked deflated in its socket, a pinkish-white tear of milky tissue covered more than half of what was once a silver iris, and a bright red layer of blood was suspended over much of her sclera.

She stared for a long moment before running a finger over the thick and gnarled lip-to-eye scar, wincing as the sensitive skin burned and tingled at her touch. The scar was thick, and would probably mar her face forever, but… it was nice. Another reminder, proof that she'd actually saved lives. Proof that she was a Huntress. Mom would be proud.

A few small chuffs of air passed her lips, a ghost of a chuckle that hurt her throat less than the real thing would. Weiss was clearly trying not to cringe as she saw what was a frankly revolting wound, but Ruby could feel her guilt hanging on their bond.

She forced a smirk on her lips, hoping to alleviate her partner's worries. "Cool eyepatch."

Weiss' train of concerned thoughts halted, the image of Ruby with a 'cool eyepatch' interrupting them. Did that dolt really…?

Ruby started shuffling back towards the school, Crescent Rose tucked close in its rifle form. Yatsu followed, hooked greatsword in hand. They strode like idiots into the rubble, leaving the heiress behind.

Weiss growled, shouts of protest bubbling up in her throat. Were they insane, or just stupid? The school was on fire, and the people inside were on a murderous rampage! The same people who had killed Glynda Goodwitch! Did they think she was just as dumb? That she would just follow them to their deaths? She was Weiss Schnee!

The words died in her throat, a sigh pushing past her lips instead. She shuffled after her partner, head hanging low as she considered what life choices she'd made to get here.


Blake was completely breathless. Carrying Yang, even piggyback, was exhausting. The woman was composed of pure, dense muscle mass, and a whole lot of it, making her weigh an absolute ton. Worse still, plumes of smoke occasionally puffed and washed over her, robbing her of what little air she could actually get.

She crouched, then gently lifted the brawler off of her back and down to the ground. With the weight finally aside, she collapsed to her hands and knees, panting and groaning as her muscles protested. She tried to control her breathing, but she was so desperate for air that she was nearly hyperventilating, that hot, metallic air flooding and evacuating her lungs at an anxiety-inducing speed.

"Sweet fucking Dust, Yang, you are heavy." She said between panting breaths, her hand coming up to wipe the layer of sweat from her forehead. The break would have to be short, she knew, every second she spent in here was a risk.

The body beside her groaned, the noise familiar enough to make Blake perk up.

"Yang!" Forgetting her exhaustion, she rushed to her partner's side.

Yang let out a long-suffering groan in a high, cracking pitch, her hands slowly coming up to cup her throat. Lavender eyes slowly opened, focusing on Blake.

She lunged forward, both arms pulling Yang to her chest. She nestled her face in the brawler's thick mane and inhaled deeply, the familiar scent slowing her anxious mind. "Oh thank Dust, everything's going to be okay." She muttered to herself.

Yang's arms slowly encircled her waist. They stayed like that for a while, ignoring the stinging, stifling air in favor of comforting one another.

After a few long moments, Yang scooted back to get a good look at her partner's face. Blake's normally amber eyes were dull from exhaustion and stress, dark bags forming under them. Her lips were pulled into a smile, but Yang could still see the worry set in her brow. Knowing what she was best at, Yang concocted a smooth, punny little flirt that would be just the thing to illicit a delightful laugh. Just the thing to ease the mood.

Yang opened her mouth. Blake's ears perked up, and she smiled, excited for whatever stupid pun Yang would make her heart flutter (and eyes roll) with.

Air pushed out of her throat, and nothing more than a pitiful, scratchy noise squeaked and pitched its way out of Yang's mouth. Yang winced and gripped her throat, the dull soreness turning sharply painful as the words pinched her larynx.

Blake's smile immediately faded as she leaned forward again. "Yang? What's wrong?"

"Nuhn—nnnaannngh!" Both hands cradled her throat as her eyes screwed shut. The air passing through her throat felt like razors, and every sound ripped out in uneven, inconsistent pitches.

Blake's eyebrows shot to her forehead. She leaned forwards, placing a hand on Yang's shoulder. "Yang?"

The brawler made an odd noise, her hands tightly gripping her throat as she kicked her legs. The pain was excruciating. She tried to speak, but her throat wouldn't cooperate. She strained to form words, sounds, anything, but it all came out wrong and twisted and completely, utterly incomprehensible.

She couldn't speak.

Her hair blazed to life, her fingers clenched into fists, her lavender irises snapped to eerie red. She couldn't speak. That bitch stabbed her in the fucking throat! An uneven, pitchy growl crawled out of her throat, the pathetic noise only making her angrier. Her fingers balled into fists. Heat radiated from her.

She couldn't fucking speak!

Yang pushed herself up, then immediately collapsed, her Aura suddenly extinguished.

Blake caught her before she could hit the ground, and watched the red in her eyes fade back to purple. Tears welled up, Yang bared her teeth as she bit them back.

"Hey, hey," Blake cupped her cheek and moved her head, forcing their eyes to lock. "It's going to be okay, but only if we go. Okay?"

Yang looked away and pressed her fists into her eyes, hard enough that colors burst behind her eyelids. An ugly sob squeaked out of her throat. She couldn't talk. She couldn't talk.

Blake pulled her fists away, forcing Yang to lock eyes with her. "Yang," Blake's voice was hard, determined. "We need to go. It's not safe for either of us here."

The Faunus got back to her feet, pulling Yang up with her. The brawler sniffled and wiped her nose on her arm.

Blake pulled her close, ignoring the snot on her partner's forearm as she whispered in her ear. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

Yang hugged her back and nodded, but Blake pulled away before they could get to comfortable.

"Now, let's go," Blake said as she turned, "Ruby's looking for us."


Ruby advanced slowly, then ducked behind a corner, Crescent Rose tucked close in rifle form. Ruby peeked around the corner.

Smoke floated in undulating plumes against the ceiling, covering the red emergency lights. It was much too dark to make anything out, but Ruby had a trick.

Her smirk turned into a scowl when she remembered her lack of a left eye, the damaged organ hidden behind a red strip from her cape. She had to change shoulders, placing the butt of her weapon against her non-dominant shoulder, all just to look through her scope.

She pressed a button on the scope's side, and her view cycled, illuminating everything in a bright green. She cycled it again, and the whole world turned white. Right, thermal was probably not a great idea when the whole school was an oven. She cycled it again, this time washing her vision in a faint, sapphire-blue hue, barely distinguishable from the normal scope.

She frowned, then flicked the scope a couple times before peering through it again. She didn't detect any Auras down the hall, but there were odd, floating yellow and orange specks. The scope had barely been used, but she knew it worked perfectly! What's with all the artifacting?

Weiss nudged her shoulder, making her jump. "Anything?"

Ruby shook her head, biting back the hiss of pain as her face flared up again. "I don't see anything." She replied, voice still hoarse.

Weiss poked her head around the corner, hand on Ruby's head to stabilize herself. "Yeah, of course you don't, it's full of smoke."

Ruby, slightly miffed at the heiress using her as a support, lightly slapped at the hand on her head, her voice deadpan. "My scope has an Aura detecting mode. It's one of the new features."

Weiss sighed and ducked back against the wall, her hopes of a moment's rest dashed when Yatsuhashi started marching down the hallway. They followed, Ruby hanging back to make sure nobody followed them.

The corridor was thick with stuffy, acrid smoke and heat, and only got stuffer and hotter as they cautiously kept pace with Yatsuhashi. Weiss groaned, every step making her even more uncomfortably sweaty.

Yatsu led their trio in the direction of the dorms, fortunately in the same direction they would take to rendezvous with Blake and Yang. They didn't speak as they moved through the miasma of heat and occasionally obstructive wall of smoke, senses tight as they perked at every noise, every pop and crackle, unsure of what was a distant crackling fire and what could be the din of combat.

Ruby peeked around the corner. This hallway was long and familiar, the doors on the left leading to lecture halls, meaning they weren't far from the dorms. The smoke became thick at the other end of the hall, making Ruby frown. Once again, she shouldered her rifle on the wrong side, and looked through the scope with the wrong eye.

Yellow and orange specks floated sparsely through the hallway. Two outlines, humanoid in shape, stood behind the thick curtain of smoke. Ruby squinted, her brow furrowed as she adjusted her scope to better focus on the two. One of the Auras was an oppressively bright, flaring orange, wrapped around what might be a feminine figure, while the other Aura was… odd. She stared through the scope. The Aura was spiky and frantic, lashing out at random angles with pitch black tendrils. It sheathed a hulking humanoid mass, crowned with what she assumed to be massive horns.

Ruby ducked back around the corner, heart suddenly hammering against her chest. That one, the dark one, it was… familiar. She'd seen it. She knew it. Ruby motioned for the others to duck against the wall with her, then flipped the switch to change the rifle to semi-auto. Much as she hated it with the overabundance of complicated parts needed to enable the gas-operation of such a hefty round, she needed it to reload unencumbered while shooting with her non-dominant hand.

"Ruby?" Weiss sidled close and spoke in hushed tones, trying her best to suppress her fear, but terror and anxiety were already skittering across their bond like mad, all from Ruby, who looked about ready to jump out of her skin.

"Two people," Ruby spoke soft and slow, trying to keep her voice from shaking, "end of the hallway."

Yatsu perked up, but tempered his excitement when he saw the despair in Ruby's face.

Ruby peeked around the corner again, searching for them with her Aura-scope.

Adam Taurus towered above her, massive sword high in the air— already a quarter into an overhead slash.

Ruby scrambled back, bringing her rifle up just in time to catch the blade. Black metal screeched against red as the two collided, the former sinking worryingly deep into the body of Crescent Rose. Ruby shrieked as her left arm flared against the force of the Faunus. The damaged appendage buckled, too freshly healed to hold him back.

The blade pressed closer, nearly digging into the flesh of her forehead.

A massive fist crashed into the towering Faunus' face and sent him reeling. The nodachi came up in random, warding slashes as he sought distance, letting Yatsuhashi jump back and help Ruby to her feet.

Weiss, Myrtenaster drawn, interposed herself between the Faunus and her group. His eyes lit up upon seeing her.

Adam surged forward, his quarry handing herself to him on a silver platter.

Weiss huffed, icy mist blowing out of her mist as the temperature suddenly dropped. Myrtenaster dipped, tip hitting the ground.

Adam's charge halted as ice shot out of the rapier, coating the floor under his hooves. He slipped, but slammed Rite into the floor before his legs could escape from under him. He steadied himself against the sword.

Weiss didn't give him time to recover, though. Myrtenaster arced above her, tip drawing icy blue lines into glyphs that hung in the air, then sprayed jagged shards of ice at the Faunus.

He grunted, but took the brunt of the attack in stride. Pulling Rite from the ground, he pushed himself forward, slowly crossing the ice to his target.

Weiss kept blasting him with ice, but every shard burst ineffectually against his Aura. Heat resurged in the hallway, gradually overpowering Weiss' ice sheet. Adam huffed and picked up speed. Weakened ice shattered and melted under his cloven hooves as he charged the heiress, sword at his side.

Adam lunged low, upper body turning to swing the absurdly long sword at a freakish speed. It crossed horizontally, reaching out even further than Weiss had expected. It clanged against her rapier's crossguard, sending the weapon flying out of her grip and making her hand throb.

He reached for her with a clawed hand, but Yatsuhashi pulled Weiss away by the collar. He brought his greatsword around with one hand as he tossed her away, the two hulking blades locking between them.

The swords ground against each other as Ruby took aim at Adam, her weapon still in rifle form.

Adam caught sight of her taking aim, so he shuffled, placing Yatsu between himself and Ruby. The girl growled in frustration, and had to quash the rising idea of using her scythe.

Weiss appeared at her side, Myrtenaster back in her hand. "What's the plan?" She asked, eyes firmly on the locked giants.

Ruby watched their stalemate as she formulated a plan. Yatsu pressed a hand against the flat of his blade, pressing down into Adam, who kept casting glances at Weiss. He didn't seem to even be fully into his duel, his focus kept bouncing around like he was looking for a way to get away from his equally giant opponent.

Ruby came to an uneasy realization. The glances at Weiss, the way he disarmed her and then tried to grab her when he could've just attacked, Weiss was a target, and it looked like he wanted her alive.

Ruby bit her lip. She really didn't like her plan, but it was all she could come up with.

Ruby gathered herself. Be brave, keep others safe, make mom proud. "Weiss, he's here for you. You need to go. Take Yatsu with you, Blake and Yang shouldn't be too much further down the hall. Use a summon to make an opening, I'll keep him busy long enough for you to get some distance."

Clanging metal filled the hallway as Yatsu swung hard, pushing Adam back a fair few feet with the force of the blow.

"What!" Weiss shouted, shorn limb flapping incredulously. "Ruby, you are wounded! He will kill you!"

Ruby ignored the rising twinge in her shoulder as she hefted her rifle. "I'm fine, but if it's just us and we have to fight that guy…" Ruby tried to find a way to word her—

"I'll freak out when I see your scythe." Hurt hung across their bond, surprising Ruby with how vivid it felt, but Weiss continued with sigh and a look of grim acceptance. "Yeah. Just how are you going to beat this guy?"

Ruby looked over at the dueling pair. Yatsuhashi delivered an overhead swing, making Adam dodge back. Trap sprung, Yatsu stepped forward and pulled his sword up, twisting the hook on the back of the blade around the nodachi. He wrenched the greatsword back, tearing the Faunus' guard wide open. Ruby's eyes widened.

"I'll be fine!" Ruby rushed to say as she pointed at Adam's vulnerable state. "Now's your chance! Go!"

Weiss wanted desperately to oppose her partner's plan, but she was much too experienced to pass up a golden opportunity. Myrtenaster came up and across with practiced, precise motions, and Weiss sprinted forward as a bright white Boarbatusk pulled itself from the glyph she had set. It charged forward just ahead of her, menacing tusks aimed straight for Adam.

The boar Grimm hit Adam like a train, he blow sending him into the wall and making Rite fly out of his hands.

"Find our teams!" Ruby ordered, mainly to Yatsu, "I'll give you a headstart!"

Yatsu nodded, and wasted no time in following Weiss. Ruby unfurled her weapon, ignoring the cries of protest from her shoulder.

The two sprinted down the hallway. Weiss didn't let herself look back.


Yang coughed, and tried to speak again. Blake watched her eyes briefly flare red as nothing but squeaky, unintelligible noises escaped.

"It's okay," Blake assured her, "We'll figure it out once we're safe. Let's just focus on that."

Yang looked at her, frustration clear on her face. She clearly had a question, or a pertinent statement, but no way to say it. Her hands flapped in the air, then balled into fists as she stomped down the hallway.

Blake struggled to keep up with her, but didn't say anything else for fear of making it worse.

They continued marching down the smoky halls, their silence only slightly more uncomfortable by the unbearably hot atmosphere. Thankfully, they didn't have to walk alone for too long.

"Blake! Yang!" Weiss' familiar voice rang out through the hallway. Only a moment after her call, the heiress pushed through a thick curtain of smoke before them, coughing and waving the smoke out of her face.

"Weiss!" Blake called, both her and Yang surging forward to hug their teammate.

Weiss seemed surprised for a moment, then pushed the two away, a desperate look coming over her. "Wait, wait, you've got to come with me, Ruby needs our help. No time for explanations." Weiss turned on her heel, and took a big gulp of air before charging back through the smoky hallway.

Blake looked to her partner, who nodded without hesitation.


Adam shook himself out of his daze and pulled himself back up. The Schnee had gotten away. He would need to be fast to catch up with her. His arm whipped out, extending unnaturally to retrieve Rite. Then, without further deliberation, he took off after his quarry.

He barely made it two feet before something struck him across the back, making him fall forwards. He rolled out of his stumble, not bothering to face his would-be opponent as he continued running after the Schnee.

Not to be ignored, the red meatling appeared before him, apparating from a cloud of petals with an unwieldy gardening tool in hand. He tried to look past it, but the thing and its scythe were nearly blocking the whole hallway.

"Hey!" It shrieked, scythe twirling in its hands like he would find that impressive, "Stop trying to run away, what are you, scared? Of a little girl?" It taunted, annoying voice buzzing in his ear like a fly.

Adam growled, and finally looked the little fly in the eyes.

Eye, singular, one was wrapped in red cloth, while the other…

Adam felt his limbs lock up, and an iron weight dropped into his gut, unbidden. Voices shot into his mind, crying at him, tearing at him, a maddened cacophony rattling in his brain.

'Silver eyes!' A dozen voices cried, grating and clashing like carrion birds, 'Kill it!' Another dozen shrieked, 'Run! Escape!' A dozen more demanded.

Adam curled forwards, Rite clattering to the floor as he clutched his head, clawing at his scalp to make the screaming voices shut up! He smacked his head and raked at the skin, drawing thick, bloody lines through his hairless head as he groaned in pain.

The voices clashed and screamed, refusing to meet his demands as he tried to make them obey him. He sobbed, black tears stinging against his eyes as they oozed past them. Bile surged in his gut, threatening to escape. The girl stood stock-still, silver eye bearing down on him.

Then, like a hand gripping the reins to his mind, he felt the voices grow tight, then finally go silent. His limbs unlocked, and his heart returned to its sluggish pace. A voice, soothing and matronly, washed over his mind. His queen had come again to save him.

'It is okay, Taurus. I have you.' Salem assured, her presence soothing him like a balm, 'The Schnee will be back. Focus on the silver-eyed girl. Kill her. For me.'

He rose again to his feet, head bowed as he drew back up to his full height, Rite left lying on the ground.

The girl before him did not seem very strong, certainly not strong enough to illicit that much of an internal response. In fact, she seemed quite shaken at how he had taken it. If humor hadn't fled him, he might have laughed at the pitiful mix of concern and terror on the girl's face.

To her credit, she didn't flinch when he charged her, claws ready to tear her to meaty ribbons. Instead, her scythe came sweeping from all sides, twirling around and above her as it slashed at odd, unpredictable angles. He danced backwards, dodging the unreasonably large head as it cut through the air.

He leaned back, overhead slash singing as it cut the air diagonally, just short of his face. The girl let the weapon hit the ground, seemingly a mistake, before she changed her grip and used the scythe to push herself off the ground with a pained cry. Heavy black boots came up as she tucked her legs close, then shot them out like they were spring-loaded, crashing both feet into Adam's upper chest and collar.

The blow knocked him back, but only by one step.

He ground his hooves against the floor and charged head-first, horns poised to gore the girl before she even hit the ground.

She twisted in the air, to no avail. His horns smashed into her Aura, making her yelp as she flew backwards. Adam chased her, hungry to satisfy his queen by gutting the flying meat-poppet with his own hands.

His claws shot forward, but shredded nothing. Petals flew between his fingers.

He turned, but that only made it worse as he couldn't stop the scythe's blade from hugging his lower back until it was too late.

The girl pulled the trigger.


Ruby pulled the trigger.

Crescent Rose's firing pin slammed forward, striking the chambered round and detonating the primer. The hefty bullet escaped its casing and traveled down the barrel, hot gas following just as quickly behind it. A hole in the barrel channeled some of the gas into a tube, which contained a mechanism that was supposed to interlock with the normally bolt-action receiver when the weapon was in semi-auto— and interlock it did! The receiver rocked back, pushed by the force of the gas, and allowing a new round to feed into the receiver.

The weapon reared back, recoil pushing the scythe blade into Adam's back with immense force.

A new round fed into the receiver. The bolt pushed the round forward, forced by an extremely heavy spring.

The round careened towards the barrel, unknowing or uncaring of the problem.

A small metal cylinder, barely longer than an inch, seemingly insignificant, if not for the fact that it was integral to the extraction of spent casings.

Such a cylinder was missing— left behind in Ruby's rush to retake her history exam. An exam which, considering recent developments, seemed pretty pointless.

The round smashed against the unextracted casing with extreme force.

The bullet, its tip infused with fire Dust, sparked as it rammed the unmoving piece of brass, forcing it to compress itself against its own casing as it jammed the receiver.

Adam wasted no time. He slashed upwards with his claws, catching the girl and raking his bladed fingers against her dwindling Aura, shattering it as she dropped to the ground. With his other hand, he tore Crescent Rose away from her, and slammed the weapon to the ground at his feet.

A loud bang erupted as the impact made the jammed round discharge, and Ruby felt a little piece of herself die inside.

Adam wouldn't give her any time to mourn her probably fucked weapon, though, as all the pain she had been repressing roared to life when Adam wrenched her up by her left arm.

No Aura, no Semblance to escape, she was helpless as Adam nearly dislocated the appendage in the process of dragging her up to his eye level. She bit back the cries of pain, but that was all she had the energy to do.

Adam stared down at her like one would a piece of roadkill— mostly disgust, but a shred of curiosity. His voice, a ragged and ugly thing, belied the latter. "My lady wants you dead," a clawed finger came up and pressed into her cheek, just under her right eye, drawing blood, "for this. A silver eye."

Ruby didn't say anything, but tried to muster as much hatred as she could in a look.

"I don't know what's so special about it, but you did hurt me." He pressed deeper into her cheek, making Ruby hiss. "So I will take your last one before you die. You will spend your last precious moments fumbling in the dark like an idiot."

Adam felt his limbs rebelling against him, his heart urging him to just finish the job, but he wanted this. He would kill her anyway, so why did it matter? He just wanted to watch her flop around like a blind fish before he gutted her, was that really so much to ask?

Ruby tried to punch the hulking Faunus with her one good arm, but his Aura easily deflected her blows, and she had to stop squirming lest she dislocate the arm herself. She had to watch, helpless as his talon inched closer to her last good eye.

Adam stopped suddenly, as if he'd been shocked. His head cranked upwards. He sniffed the air. He could've sworn happiness had fled him, but then how could his heart be surging, his face splitting with a wretched smile?

A gasp behind him. He could feel those amber orbs widening, he could taste the fear gripping her heart. His hand opened, letting the silver-eyed weakling clatter to the floor next to her fragile peashooter.

The Schnee brat ran in front of her little group, silver toothpick raised. "Get away from—"

"Blake." Adam rumbled, interrupting her.

Blake didn't seem to recognize him, and her hand moved to the weapon on her back. She didn't say anything.

Adam frowned. "It's me." He stepped their way, and all three of them perked up into combat stance.

Blake scowled, but her glare still carried no sign of recognition.

He sneered, his already harsh voice becoming more aggressive. "It's me!" He shouted, anger boiling over his normally deadened temperament. "Fucking me! The only person who's ever loved you!" Pain filled him, and his gut churned as his limbs strained against his sudden outburst. "I killed for you! So much! And you just forget?" His legs almost refused to carry him, but he marched forward nonetheless, forcing the limbs to comply.

All but Blake took a step back, keeping their distance. Blake, however, stood ram-rod straight and stiff as a board, eyes wide as dinner plates. He could see her chest rising and falling rapidly. Adam smiled. She did remember.

The blonde one surged forward abruptly, leaping to deliver a flying haymaker.

Adam moved faster, arm stretching out to grab Rite again and catch the uncovered fist against the flat of his sword. His Semblance activated, pulling the kinetic energy into the weapon.

Adam smirked, burning his Semblance as he slashed at the falling brawler.

Blake snapped out of her reverie and threw Gambol Shroud. The weapon wrapped around the blonde's waist, the bladed gun whipping around and slashing against Adam's Aura for good measure. She pulled the ribbon back, yanking the girl away from Adam's sword. The blade smashed against the floor, cracking the tiles and sending debris into the air.

The blonde landed in Blake's arms, and the two shared a look that made Adam's blood boil.

He charged at them, unrelenting, and if he hadn't been seeing red he would've noticed the glance the Schnee threw behind him.


Ruby gathered herself quickly, pushing her screaming arm to the back of her mind as she lifted her weapon again.

Crescent Rose was a pitiful sight. There was a huge, warped dent in the receiver where the discharged round had smacked it and ricocheted backwards, tearing through the top of the scope and coming within centimeters of ventilating Ruby's skull.

Shards of glass poured out of the front of her broken scope as she lifted the weapon, but she had no time to mourn the gun. Weiss' signal had been clear.

Myrtenaster's tip drew purple and black lines that warped the light around them, glyphs forming under Adam's hooves and in front of his chest. The glyphs inverted his momentum and lifted him off the ground, sending his huge body careening towards Ruby.

She sprinted forwards, petals flying off of her as she tapped into her Semblance and burned her barely-recovered Aura. She swung overhead, whole body twisting to catch the flying Faunus in her curved blade.

He cried out as the scythe tore his Aura apart, the intense momentum slamming him hard against the blades. Ruby cried out as she pulled forwards with all her might, pain screaming in her left arm.

Adam, hooked by the scythe that was now tearing into his unshielded back, arced overhead, crying out with rage as Ruby yanked him down, slamming his heavy body into the ground.

His nose crunched as his face smashed against the floor. Stars flashed in his eyes. Ribs cracked. Blood, darker than it should be and carrying black flecks like coffee grounds, spurted out of the gash across his back, blending into his black robes as they soaked into the thick cloth. He groaned as he pulled himself up, then slumped back to the floor.

Ruby got back to her feet, a smile on her face as she turned to her partner. "See, I told you I'd be fine!" Ruby chirped.

Weiss scowled, and Ruby found herself oddly relieved at her partner having only one arm, because she knew Weiss would slap her if she had a free hand.

"You—" Weiss growled, furious words crashing into each other before she managed, "You fucking dolt!"

Ruby shrunk into herself, "I—"

Weiss stomped up to her, cerulean eyes bright and angry as she nearly threw Myrtenaster into its frog, the fast and impressive move making Ruby's words hang in her throat.

Ruby screwed her eyes shut, preparing herself for the impending slap.

A growl, then a hand gripped the front of her cloak and yanked her forwards.

Warm lips crashed against hers.