Patriot-M89: And FINALLY! Right where we left off. Nothing much changed in this chapter, instead it'll be more of a extension.


Chapter 10:

Battle of the Minds


Inside Ru's mind


Pyrrha's vivid green eyes snapped open, and then proceeded to look around the area she was in. From what she could see, she was at Beacon, but this Beacon was like the one in Ruby's and her future. The Academy was in ruins, with the tower gone, crumbled to the ground. It saddened the Champion of Sanctum to see this, as this was the state of the mind of her now catatonic honorary little sister. However, she knew she had no time to wallow in sorrow as she began her mission to look for said young woman.

She began by searching the amphitheater hall... the place where they were all introduced to Beacon by Ozpin...and the first place where she caught a glimpse of the boy who would become her lover. She smiled fondly at the memory. Back then, they were all still just young teenagers in school, with raging hormones just wanting to break free to the surface. That was dashed months later, when Cinder ruined everything.

Deciding to move on, she then headed to the ruined dorm building, and checked the dorm rooms where both Team RWBY and her own Team stayed during their time here. She looked in Team RWBY's dorm, seeing the... improvised, bunk beds now being just a pile of rubbish on the floor, with Ruby's own bunk's ropes snapped, and the bed itself crumpled on Weiss', while a Yang and Blake's own bunk collapsed, and the books scattered all around the floor. Seeing she wasn't here, Pyrrha left the Dorm room and the building itself.

"Where are you Ruby?" she said to herself worriedly, "We want you back with us. ...Please, don't be afraid anymore...,"

She was beginning to fear that she wouldn't find her...till she began to hear it...that sound. The sound of a piano playing, and the tune it was playing was familiar, and it wasn't long till she recognized that song.

Listening to the tune, she pinpointed where it was coming from, and her eyes widened in realization and hope.

'The Ballroom Hall!' she thought with elation, and immediately began to bolt toward the direction of said building, 'Hang on Ruby! I'm coming! Just keep playing that song!'

It didn't take her long to find the said building, and to her surprise, unlike what happened to the hall in her timeline, the hall was still in it's former glory. Deciding to leave the question alone for now, she began trekking toward the building.

However...

"You cannot save her..." a familiar, cruel, female voice said, causing her to stop, "...she has already accepted her fate,"

Pyrrha's scowl could scare a Leviathan. She already knew the owner of that voice anywhere. The same person who killed Ru in the other timeline, and who she loathed with a passion.

"I WILL save her!" she growled out, determination coloring her tone, "She's already suffered enough grief because of you! She deserves to be free and happy with all of us!"

She then began to hear dark chuckling, before wisps of mist began to form small tornado columns, nine in total.

"She will NEVER be free, Invincible Girl!" the voice, that she recognized as Cinder's said, as said woman appeared before her, though her appearance matched Salem's with the inclusion of bone pale skin, red/black grimm eyes, and the gray veins around said optical organs, the phantom of Cinder spoke again, sinister smirk on her face, "She will be forever trapped here, living with the pain...,"

Then the small twisters began to show the identities of Ruby's past. All of them with the same appearance as Cinder, their features more Grimm like.

First, herself...

"...of guilt..."

...Yang...

"...sorrow..."

...Weiss...

"...bitterness..."

...Blake...

"...regret..."

...Jaune...

"...failure..."

...Nora...

"...loneliness..."

... Ren...

"...misery...,"

...and finally, of a younger Ruby.

"...and loss"

The Phantom Cinder then continued to speak as the smirk on her face further enraged the Argus native.

"You cannot help her...," she said arrogantly, "...Even now she continues to fade. One little light, alone in the darkness."

Pyrrha glared defiantly at the mental phantoms before her, her hand clenched into a fist, as her Maiden powers began to manifest in her hand.

"She is NOT alone...," she growled, as the light took form and disappeared from her hand, revealing Jaune's modified Crocea Mors from the alternate timeline. The Phantoms brought out their own weapons as they prepared to fight her to prevent her from getting to her sister by spirit. "...and you should've STAYED dead!"

She then pressed the switch that transformed the sides of the sheath into blades, and turning the broadsword into a great sword, then began hacking through them, the phantoms being little more than voices and shadows that Ruby could not combat on her own. Pyrrha had been hurt, but she was not broken. It only drove her forward with her mission to save the girl who risked her own life to save hers... and she gave it without a second thought.

She dealt with them easily, as she either decapitated, eviscerated, or any other thing that involved being killed with a blade. For the final phantom still standing, which was ironically Cinder, she gave a slash across her right eye, along with her hand, before decapitating her. She then breathed a sigh of relief, before she began to walk to the hall.

However she then heard a roar above and looked up as she spotted the same Grimm Dragon she faced ten years ago. It landed in front of her as it snarled at her daring the Tournament winner to continue forward. Pyrrha only glared at the phantom in front of her.

"You've got to be kidding me," she groaned.

She didn't have time for this. Pyrrha decided to just rush into the building, and once she got inside while avoiding the biting jaws and bashing wings and tail of the Wyvern she managed to get inside before she slammed the doors shut. Hearing no more sounds from outside, she sighed in relief, but then she heard the voice that was currently singing, and turned to the dais where the piano was stationed.

"Two, four, one, ten. Two, four, one, ten..."

And there she was, in all her broken glory. Her red hooded cloak was slightly torn at the edges, and the hood currently off her head, as she continued playing the piano.

"Am I transmitting? Is anyone listening? Contact~..."

Pyrrha began to walk toward her, as the haunting song continued.

By the time she was done singing, Pyrrha was directly behind her. She then reached her hand out to touch her shoulder as she uttered her name.

"...Ruby?"

The result was instantaneous as Ruby jumped straight up, and deployed her mental Crescent Rose. She screamed as she swiped down at the Spartan who quickly dodged out of the way.

While most people could keep their crazy on a leash, Ruby unfortunately was not one of them.

Which Pyrrha was quickly learning, but she knew with the state that Ruby's mind was now in, she was sloppy.

"Wait Ruby, stop! It's me!" she shouted, but the Rose Reaper wasn't having any of it, as she shook her head vigorously. Her eyes were bloodshot, and shadow bags underneath

"No! You're not real!" the Rose shouted, as she swiped her scythe rifle at the Champion who immediately jumped away. As she took a look at Ruby's face, Pyrrha could see how pale, tired, and scared she looked. Her thoughts were interrupted as Ruby charged at her, screaming like a feral animal, as she swung her Crescent Rose at Pyrrha who swiftly dodged the attacks, but didn't attack in return, due to not wanting to hurt her anymore than she already is. The swings continued, though in Ruby's current state of mind they were sloppy compared to the skill and grace the Spartan saw her when she used the weapon. However, that only made her slightly more dangerous as she nearly tried to decapitate the Champion twice.

"Ruby! You need to calm down! I came to help you!" she called out desperately, "Please! Listen to me!"

"YOU'RE. NOT. REAL!" she screamed out, as she swung Crescent Rose again, but Pyrrha actually caught the weapon, much to Ruby's shock.

Pyrrha then disarmed her, and tossed the scythe aside. Now unarmed and defenseless, Ruby stumbled and fell back onto the floor, and tried scurrying backwards trying to get away from the redhead girl she firmly believed was just another hallucination, created by the demons of her past. "N-No! Stay away from me! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

But Pyrrha wasn't going to be having any of it, as she immediately rushed forward and pulled the Reaper into an embrace, causing her fellow redhead to start thrashing, and screaming even more.

"No! NO! NOOOO!" she shouted as she tried to move her arms to get herself free, but couldn't. "Let me go! LET ME GO!"

"Ruby! STOP! You did it, Ruby!" Pyrrha shouted out, her hold on Ruby strong, "We're ok! We're alive! All of us! You accomplished your goal Ruby!"

It then became quiet as Ruby suddenly stopped struggling, listening for the first time. "...W-What?"

"You did it, you really did it." the Spartan said soothingly, "You warned us in time. You don't need to keep fighting alone anymore,"

Pyrrha then pulled away in order to look into Ru's eyes, as her own emerald eyes shed tears.

"Please Ruby...," she begged, "Come back home with me. Everyone's waiting for you,"

The Rose didn't say anything at first, before she raised her shaking hand, which the champion softly grabbed and held it gently.

"P... P-Pyrrha?" she managed to squeak out, "I-Is it...Is it really you?"

"Yes, it's me. You did it. You saved us. You saved me." the elder redhead said, smiling as she placed her other hand on Ruby's face, caressing it gently, "Please, I want my little sister back. Come back with me."

Ruby was tempted to think this was a just a horrible trick. But, on the other hand, her demons were never this gentle. They would never try to comfort her. They all wanted to emotionally hurt her, remind her of her failures, and make her relive her past pains over and over and over till the day she will die. They never spoke with the gentle care like Pyrrha was doing. Not until now.

This...this was real.

Tears began running from Ruby's silver eyes. Which were once filled with sadness, but were now filled with overwhelming joy, hope, and realization as she began to feel the comforting aura from Pyrrha comfort her.

"P...Pyrrha..." she said once more. And after receiving a confirming nod, the Reaper couldn't help it as she threw herself into her arms, wrapping her own arms around her shoulders. "PYRRHA!"

Pyrrha desperately returned the affection as she grabbed onto the younger woman as Ruby began crying hysterically into her shoulder, all the while the elder woman was gently rubbing circles on her back to comfort her.

"Y...Y-You're back...you're really...I-I...I...WAAAAHHHH!" she wailed as Pyrrha was shedding relieved but joyful tears of her own, as the two held each other. Both of them are not willing to let each other go.

"Shh...it's okay. It's okay," she said, "You're okay now,"

The two stayed that way as Ruby continued to pour all the emotions she had out.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...," she managed to get out between her sobs. Pyrrha wasn't sure if that apology was meant for attacking her, or failing to save her in the original timeline, she didn't know. Nor did she care to want to know, since for right now, all the woman needed right now was closure on her traumatic past.

"There's nothing to forgive Ruby," the champion said, "You warned me in time, and I'm alive and well, because of that. And I'm with Jaune, just like you advised,"

Ruby's hold tightened slightly, as she carefully snuggled into the older redhead's hug, making Pyrrha giggle happily on the inside.

After saying that, and with little effort, she picked herself up from the floor, with Ruby being cradled in her arms. Said Rose Reaper was too emotionally tired to walk on her own, and just accepted it.

"Let's get you home." she finally said, a soft smile on her face, while Ruby only nodded into her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, fearing that if she opened them, Pyrrha would not be there. And thus the Champion began walking to the exit, her honorary sister in her arms, just as the mental world around them began to silently break apart, and a bright soon flooded the area.


Ruby's silver eyes regained their focus as she caught sight of Team JNPR, with Pyrrha smiling expression dominating her sight before she backed off. Revealing Jaune as he entered her line of sight.

"Hey, Ruby." The Blonde Arc said, showing his goofy grin that she fondly remembered on his face, "Welcome back."

Ruby blinked a few times before she finally looked at Jaune closely.

He was taller. Looked stronger. And older. Much older. Like in...she mentally shook her head of that memory. Not wanting to remember her time in that world.

She then noticed that she wasn't hacking her lungs out, like she was commonly use. Meaning the Grimm Parasite was now gone, at least. However right now, her focus was on her first friend on her first day at Beacon.

"J-Jaune?" she asked, and the said blonde Arc nodded, "...Why do you look so old?"

She saw him gawk at that, and then she heard a laughter she was all too familiar with and looked and saw Nora along with Ren. The latter had changed much, including the obvious goatee beard and mustache, but the former had slightly longer hair, as she held her sides while laughing, while the knight glared at her.

"It's not funny Nora!" he shouted as the girl began to calm down.

"It is to me," the Valkyrie said, as she looked at the younger girl, "Hey Rube-Rube!"

"N...Nora?" Ruby said, and then looked toward the Stoic Ninja, "R-Ren?"

Said Last son of Kuroyuri gave a smile a gentle nod of the head

"Hey Ruby, it's good to see you back with us," the second male member of Team JNPR said.

All of them were older. Like... her eyes widened as she figured it out.

'Don't tell me they actually...,' she thought to herself.

"...They sent you back into the past, didn't they." she didn't say it as a question as Team JNPR noticed.

"Yeeeeeeah...they did. We didn't have much of a choice, really." Jaune said, scratching behind his head, "We did everything we could, but...it all went to hell. But hey, at least Teams RWBY and JNPR survived! ...Well...sadly... But Yang and the others are going to be happy to see you up and about! With you finally now fully awake, we're whole again!"

Ruby didn't exactly feel happy at that. I mean two trips through time to make a complete RWBY and JNPR. How depressing was that?

She was expressing this as well, which all of Team JNPR caught. But before they could ask what was wrong, the door opened, and all of WBY entered, and when she saw them, Ruby's eyes widened.

"Weiss...Blake...Yang?" she said, a little above a whisper.

She barely had time to say anything else before a familiar yellow blur rushed over, and Yang desperately grabbed and tightly hugged her, tears of relief and happiness falling from her lilac eyes, "You're okay! You're really okay!"

"ACK! Yang..." Ruby gasped, as her face began to turn blue, "...let go of me...c-can't breathe!"

"No way in Hell!." the blonde woman said, happy tears continuing to leak from her lilac eyes as she held her sister tighter, "You need a hug. In fact you need a thousand hugs!"

"Yang let her go or you're going to kill her! She's already turning blue!" Blake said, and Yang pouted as she reluctantly let her younger sister go, and allowed Ruby to take in a long breath.

"Where..." Ruby coughed. "Where's my counterpart?"

"She's with her team." Weiss said, before a sad expression came upon her face, along with the others, "The one that was with us...in the timeline you created, she didn't make it. Started the job of finally killing Salem. We finished the job."

Ruby only blinked as the depressed look only became worse as she looked at her hands.

"So, did they help you in coming back for me?" she asked and the two teams all had concerned looks on their faces at the lack of happiness on her face.

"Y-Yeah, they did," the brawler said. "We just couldn't live with the thought of you not being there with us Little Sis."

Ruby then gave a depressed sigh.

"So, I just turned it from one depressed woman to seven equally fucked over people," she said gloomily, "Yippee for me."

That comment got shocked reactions from all of her friends, while one had a very...different reaction

FWACK!

A hand slapped Ruby hard across the face, the slightly younger woman's head flinched at the stinging contact, before placing her hand on the spot where a red handprint was. She looked up and saw that the perpetrator was none other than her partner herself. The snow themed former heiress of the SDC looked at her with a disapproving glare while her arm was outstretched.

"W-What-" she stammered before she was cut off.

"You saved us!" Weiss shouted, "That means something! It may have been just seven, but right here and now, eight can make a big damn difference! We can finally win this bullshit centuries long shadow war once and for all!"

The Reaper looked at her, shocked. "But...But I..."

"But nothing!" the heiress snapped and grabbed the Rose gently by the sides of the head, "I know you suffered a lot, Ruby! You lost all of us, and you had no one to get you through the pain! But now, it's time for you to stop doing things by yourself, and let us help you out!"

Ruby looked like she wanted to argue but the tightening grip stopped her otherwise.

"And don't you DARE spout some 'I didn't ask you to come back for me' spiel or something so pathetic!" she warned, "We WANTED to come back and save you, whether you liked it or not! You're the light in our lives Ruby, and it may take a long time for you to fully heal, we, especially me, are gonna make sure that you recover so one day you will start to give those doltish smiles of yours again!"

The young woman's silver eyes widened, before they shimmered with tears, and then Ruby lost it and hugged Weiss, who didn't resist like she would have the day they met. They were soon joined by everyone else, as Ruby began to cry again, unleashing all the pain and sadness she endured for all those years. Yang placed a comforting hand on her younger sister's head as she consoled her.

"Hey now," Yang said, a true happy smile on her face, "There's no need to cry anymore, Rubes. We're not gonna leave you alone again... we promised,"

"Yang's right, Ruby," Blake added as she rubbed the Rose Reaper's back, "We're here now, and we'll stay by your side...for all our days,"

Ruby didn't answer, as she just accepted all the comfort from the people she loved and missed the most. Whom she thought she would never see ever again.


Outside, a girl was watching the eight, as they all took turns in comforting the crying woman. She then reached into her pocket, pulling out a white scroll with a symbol of a red bloody Beowolf head and tapped a contact number.

"This is Fawn," the woman said, "I found the girl that Cinder's looking for,"

"Excellent. Where?"

"Beacon Academy." The girl reported, "Teacher's Dorm, near the-."

"Ahem!"

The sudden voice caused Fawn to turn and spotted the old woman who was always close by the girl, acting like a kind grandmother to the young woman.

"I'm sorry my dear, but I couldn't help but hear your conversation with whomever you were talking to on that scroll." Maria said, with a none too happy look on her face. "Not to mention you're suppose to be the nurse to Ruby and help her recover,"

Fawn glared at the retired Grimm Reaper.

"If you know what's good for you Granny, you buzz off!" she snarled, while Maria's mechanical eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid of you!"

The old lady's response to that was a smirk.

"Oh it's not me you should be worried about," she snipped before pointing behind Fawn, followed by a mechanical growling which caused the Deer Faunus to stiffen in fright, before turning around and meeting the angry robotic visage of Drei...


Fawn's screams of terror, and mechanical barking were all that Adam needed to hear, revealing his spy in Beacon was just caught.

"DAMMIT!" He shouted before throwing his scroll on the ground. "Well...good news, that girl you're looking for is in Beacon...bad news, my spy was just caught before she can give me her exact location,"

"Beacon? That means she managed to get to Ozpin." Emerald said in frustration, "Damn it, I thought that whatever caused that cough killed her!"

Adam Taurus shook his head. How could one girl be THAT dangerous?

"And what's so important about this girl, anyway?" the Bull Faunus said, "What did she do to get all three of you so spooked?"

The two glared at him.

"Oh, I don't know," Mercury said sarcastically, "Maybe it's because she TRIED TO KILL US without any problems!"

"Many people have tried to kill you." Adam scoffed at that.

"None of them got THAT FUCKING CLOSE!" Emerald countered, "She nearly killed us! If that cough hadn't stopped her, we'd be nothing but bloody stains on the ground!"

Adam hated humans, but Mercury and Emerald, and to a greater degree Roman Torchwick, who sympathized with the White fang, earned his respect at least. They were excellent fighters in their own right. Didn't mean he was buddies-buddies with them. They were just a means to an end.

So when someone nearly killed them and Cinder, who he hated...well, fuck, that was bad.

"So what do you plan to do with her,once you find her?" he asked, and he was answered by the woman herself, who looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. If the dark shadows under her eyes, or the slightly disheveled hair was any indication.

"Hopefully kill the damn bitch." Cinder grounded out, her amber eyes burning with vengeance in mind, "I need to stop seeing her in my nightmares. Her damn silver eyes glaring at me with murderous intent,"

Adam was SO looking forward to hearing her screaming, though. Her little nightmares were entertaining to say the least.

But those survivors from Mountain Glenn said they saw something similar: an older Blake Belladonna who clearly had no problems killing her allies.

"So what do you want me and my people to do?" he asked, and Cinder looked toward him.

"During the festival, your people are gonna provide a distraction while me and my cohorts sneak into the Academy, find her, and snatch her." Cinder laid out, "Hopefully the distraction you provide will keep them focused on you long enough for us to get in and out without being seen."

"And if you fail?" He asked, which resulted in Cinder glaring at him.

"We won't." She said with assured finality, "She WILL die by my own hand. No matter what medical treatment she's been given...she. Will. DIE."

"Very well." He said, while his eyes narrowed behind his mask, "I can hunt down a traitor while I'm at it."

Blake Belladonna was at Beacon, and she would pay for her desertion. He would kill her, and failing that, destroy all she loved.

"Yes, you will get your revenge," said Cinder, "But remember, you're only distracting. Once you know we got the girl. Fall back as quickly as possible."

Adam nodded at that, as he grabbed Wilt and Blush.

"Consider it done,"


Weiss, Blake, and Yang all smiled as they watched Ruby sleep peacefully, smiling for the first time.

The Schnee Heiress was tempted to coo and kiss her awake, but she resisted it. She was carefully rubbing Ruby's hand so as not to wake her up.

"After Cinder's dealt with, once and for all, I'm taking her back to Patch." She said, knowing that's exactly what she'll do once the fiery bitch was taken out of the picture for good.

The other two members of Team RWBY nodded at that.

"Yeah, I think she'll like that," Blake said, "Even Ozpin planned to have a couple houses built for us near her home, one for JNPR and one for us. Probably one of the only few smartest things he's done for us."

Yang nodded, glad they were going to be able to go home.

"I think she'll like that after all the crap she's been through," she said, "Away from the constant fighting, away from the Grimm, the White Fang...all of it,"

"We still have to worry about Salem." Blake said worriedly, "As long as she lives cause of her immortality, we'll never know rest. We have to finish the fight somehow and find a solution that doesn't involve killing her, even if it's temporary."

"We'll deal with her when we have to." Weiss said, "Until then, Ruby needs to rest. She's earned it many times over,"

The other girls nodded just as Team JNPR entered the room, with Pyrrha smiling when looking at Ruby's peaceful expression as she slept.

"She looks so calm now!" she said, happy that she was now sleeping normally instead of just fading in and out of consciouness.

"Definitely better than the state she was in before." Jaune said, happy to see his first friend at Beacon was doing alright, as his hand gripped Pyrrha's, while the rings on their fingers shined .

"I think we should give her a good breakfast in the morning," Nora said happily, while trying to keep her voice down in order to let Ruby sleep, "Like say, her famous pancakes!"

Ren sighed at that, knowing that when it came to pancakes, NOTHING will stand in Nora's way when she wants them.

Both Pyrrha and Jaune chuckled at their teammate's energy before turning to their sister team.

"You guys should get some rest." Jaune said "We'll take over for you."

Weiss however didn't look like she wanted to comply. She was VERY reluctant to leave Ruby's side for even for a single minute

"We're fine." she stated firmly.

"Weiss, just because you don't want Ruby to disappear again doesn't mean you can stay awake forever," Ren reminded, understanding the heiress' concerns, "You need to sleep. We'll keep her safe,"

Weiss growled mentally at that. That wasn't happening. Not by a longshot.

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Yang who had a knowing smile on her face.

"Weiss, Ruby would've wanted you to get some rest, just as she's doing now," the blonde brawler said, and Weiss looked at the sleeping Reaper before sighing.

"Fine,"

The white haired woman left, followed by Blake and Yang, who rubbed her sister's head, and quietly told her to have a good night's sleep.

That left her with JNPR, as Pyrrha sat at her side, putting her hand through her hair. The result was Ruby making a cooing sound, like a cat being given a pat while it was asleep, as she leaned into the touch. Everyone of Team JNPR smiled at this, finding the act cute.

"You're going to be okay, Ruby," Pyrrha said softly, as she continued to stroke the Reaper's hair, "It's gonna be alright, now,"


Unknown to the people in Ruby's room, they were silently being watched.

Wearing a white hooded cloak that seemed to glow in the moonlight, she was out of sight of JNPR, but she could see them and Ruby. The eyes of the woman were the same silver as the girl's in the room, as she stared lovingly, but sadly, at her.

"Oh Ruby... my little rose," she said somberly, "I'm so sorry...that I didn't keep my promise."

She turned away, shedding tears before she jumped off the building, disappearing in a shower of white rose petals.

As she disappeared, a black red-eyed raven was sitting nearby on a nearby tower, before it cawed and flew off into the night.


Patriot-M89: And with this, we are now caught up back at where we left off. I hope this extended chapter was to your liking my dear readers. Don't forget to leave a review, fav, and follow! Later!