The makeshift storage room that formed the back of the shop, the name of which Ren still hadn't managed to remember by this point, was quite cramped when it was full. Ren sat with his back to a wall of boxes precariously stacked on top of each other, his knees pulled up to fit his legs around the various junk that littered the floor, the hanging light so close to his head that he feared he'd smack it head-on if he dared move too quickly.

It was hardly his preferred environment for drinking tea, but when you're trying to get some down time with your girlfriend on her second break, you had to take what you could get. Though, looking over the tightly packed space and varied hazards flooding the floor, he couldn't wrap his head around how the wheelchair bound Nora managed to get around so seamlessly.

Nora was settled beside him, head leaning against his shoulder as she peered down at the piping hot, mold-green liquid Ren had handed her. She looked at the tea like one would look at an animal corpse being dissected in front of them. "She hasn't said anything to you?"

The question was the first time their conversation in the past minute had sparked his attention. Not that he wasn't listening to her, but the speed in which she talked and the varied range of topics she covered in under a minute made it easy for it all to blur together in his mind. He didn't mind too much, he just liked hearing her talk, even if he couldn't understand any of it. "Sorry?"

She pouted, the strike to her pride obvious as he exposed his lacking attention span. "Ruby. She's been walking around like she just got back from a funeral ever since she started work today."

Ren shifted his position, turning himself on his side, forcing Nora's head to take refuge on his chest. "No, no, I haven't heard anything." A frown persisted from the shame welling up in his stomach. Something was wrong with Ruby and he didn't realize? Well, on second thought, it was his own fault really. "I haven't really been… Talking to any of them recently. Needed some space to work on some stuff." He felt uncomfortable as his dry, itchy lips puckered. "I would have thought they'd have tried calling me about it, though."

"Aw, but you seemed like such good friends! Are you guys fighting or something?" Her eyes gazed up at him, alight with concern.

"Kind of. Yeah. Though not with Ruby." He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it." Looking away, Ren wondered if Jaune had told Ruby about Cardin. The shock and fear from that incident still had his heart pinned down and bound, strangling him with the pressure so much he had to flee Jaune's presence just to breathe; it probably hit someone like Ruby even harder. At that thought, he nodded to himself, gaze returning to Nora. "I should talk to her, shouldn't I?"

"She'd probably appreciate it." An idle finger travelled up his chest, reaching up to his chin and pulling him down. "It's weird, no matter how much I see her rave about you guys or hang out with her, she always comes off like a kid lost in a mall; like she's alone and afraid of everything around her." She shook her head. "Just doesn't fit such a wonderful girl."

It was technically a dreary subject, but the last comment made Ren smile. "You're absolutely right."

"Doesn't fit you either, by the way." While his eyes widened, her eyes narrowed, lifting her head up to press a kiss on his chin. "And if you're not gonna talk to your best friend about it, you're gonna have to talk to me about it."

He fell back into his default deadpan stare. "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have too." She shrugged, breaking through his stoic façade with that damn cheeky smirk and her sing-song voice. "But you'll regreeeeet it."

He groaned, so easily shattered by her. He was really was losing his touch. "It's complicated."

"Then break it down into small parts."

Where the hell would he even start? It's not like he could just come out and tell her he watched his best friend, the gentlest guy in the world, crack open an innocent cop's head open like it was nothing. He couldn't tell her the whole story, he'd sound so crazy and pathetic, and it'd be exposing the others without their permission anyway. But without that context, how could he ever hope to make her understand what he was talking about?

How could he make anyone understand without being there? Without seeing it for themselves? It wasn't simply the terrible deed that broke Ren that day. When he saw Cardin drop to the floor, the shattering of bone marrow echoing in his head for the duration of the after shocks and the putrid copper smell of fresh blood and death assaulting his nose, it was horrifying. But in that moment, he was horrorfied for Jaune, not by Jaune.

Back then, while still registering that it really did happen, that the corpse in front of him wasn't a nightmare, Ren was still able to rationalize it to himself. Jaune was a sweetheart, Jaune was his best friend, Jaune was practically his brother; Jaune wasn't a killer. Ren always doubted Jaune would even be able to kill in self-defence, the guy was a soft, warm heart wrapped in layers of painstakingly developed muscle mass and armour. So, Ren's mind just naturally jumped to making excuses for Jaune, building a foundation so the moment Torchwick and Mercury were out of sight, Ren could hug him tightly and tell him that it wasn't his fault. Jaune had no choice, Jaune was breaking under stress, Jaune was probably mercy killing Cardin because the others would have probably ended up executing him anyway when the torture revealed nothing.

Jaune wasn't a killer. Jaune hated blood. Jaune needed his help. All he concerned himself with was Jaune, not even a second spared for the poor man that died in front of him. At least, not until he looked at Jaune's face, not until it all because real. That was when the fear hit him. He'd been scared for Jaune, he'd been scared of Jaune's lesser decisions getting the boy into trouble, he'd been scared of Jaune's quickly increasing skill and power, but he'd never been scared of Jaune as a person.

In that moment, he saw Jaune's face just a few seconds shy of the kill. He saw the moment the realization dawned on Jaune, the moment before Jaune excused himself and ran off looking for somewhere to hide himself away. When it was all said and done, with blood dripping down his lips, the air hot with simmering emotion and before the body even went cold; Jaune had looked satisfied. In some way, the act relieved Jaune, took the edge off a pressure that had been building for god knows how long.

In an instant, Ren suddenly couldn't recognise this person, he couldn't comprehend Jaune, his Jaune, having such violent or, dare he say, bloodthirsty inclinations building up under the surface all this time. Suddenly, he recalled every moment he shared with his leader, every good memory now stained with this knowledge, with this question of what was going on behind those blue eyes even in the good times. Did it start when they were ripped from the simulation into this morbid reality? Was Jaune fighting the temptation beckoning him to brutality back in the simulation, while they fought together, while they ate together, while they laughed together?

Or, the possibility that stood out most in Ren's mind, was this what Jaune took into the simulation? In that moment, was it Larry that took over, the Larry who hadn't the strength to take out his building aggression on anyone who wasn't tied down, the Larry who ran over anyone who got in his way, the Larry who seemed to be looked down upon and belittled by everyone but the scum of the earth. None of the group had gotten even an inkling of their memory back, but perhaps their hearts remembered after all.

Was that what scares me most of all? Ren thought. It wasn't until Ren looked back over Jaune's words, the sentiment about knowing what they used to be, being faced with what they'd done in the past, that it clicked for him. Jaune left in that moment and was replaced by Larry, so of course, not only was Ren scared of the man struggling with his dark desires, but the thought buried under it all was… Could Kuriyuri take back his life from Ren? Would he only know in the aftermath of Kuriyuri attacking his friends?

All their efforts to change, after all they suffered in the simulation that forged their new identities as better people; they could be gone in an instant.

Ren realized he'd been silently staring into space, lost in his own mind, for a good couple of minutes. And Nora had waited patiently, not saying a word to interrupt his internal back-and-forth. It was only when his body suddenly shook, his eyes blinking erratically as he returned to his senses, that she spoke, slow and soft. "How about a trade then? I'll tell you the story behind my legs." The suggestion immediately knocked the air out of Ren's lungs, leaving him gazing back at Nora, dumbfounded and silent. "And in return, you tell me what's going on up in that big old head of yours. I'll show you how to be comfortable talking about these things!"

Once again, he couldn't help but grin in the face of her unapologetic energy despite the gloom surrounding it all. "Alright." He finally said, "It's a deal. Lay it on me."

"Well, first off…" She found herself wringing her hands together, her face straining an awkward smile. "I might have lied to you during our first date."

Ren's eyes narrowed with suspicion, a pondering 'hmmm' coming from his throat like a growl. "I knew it." His hand reached forward, hooking a lock of her hair with his index finger. "You're… Not a natural ginger."

When Ren broke out into a cheeky smile, Nora could only pout in response. "Hey, I'm being serious here!"

"Hey, you were the one who told me to keep things light." He leaned back, tapping a finger against his chin. "Unless that was the lie."

"My dad isn't away on business." She spat out, blunt and quick. It immediately halted Ren, stealing his voice, stiffening his joints and pulling down his face. "He…" She sighed, but managed to stay smiling when Ren took her hand in his. "He was mixed up with some people. And I think those people attracted the wrong kind of crowd." Her free hand rested on her lap, tapping the base of her knee as if to remind herself just where the broken bones split. "I didn't know what he was up too, just that he thought it was real important. Said we'd make some good money and he'd do some good for the world. Got the feeling it wasn't exactly something legal, or anything public."

She faltered for a moment, her voice softening until it was inaudible. Ren watched her gaze drift off, lingering on a memory that was probably still as fresh as the day it happened in her mind. He squeezed her hand, and that seem to keep her afloat. "One day, that wrong kind of crowd show up at our doorstep. It was back when that big media circus with Robyn Hill kicked off." Ren nodded, assuming she was talking about when Robyn was arrested, and Whitley was institutionalized. "Dad stuffs me in a closet. They ask my dad some questions about whatever he was working on. He… He doesn't give them the right answer and things get violent."

And she had to witness this all. Ren squeezed her hand again, just imagining the scene got his anger bubbling at the perpetrators. When he'd lost his father to the Grimm, he'd at least been allowed to run away, to tear his gaze away and only remember his father's final moments as that of a warrior facing down a monster. He didn't know if he'd have been able to live with being forced to watch those final moments.

"They didn't kill him, if that's what you're thinking." Nora continued, "They needed him alive to get what they wanted. But, well… They realized they didn't need to hurt him." Suddenly, Nora couldn't meet Ren's eye. Suddenly, she broke away from his hold, wrapped herself up in her own arms and gritted her teeth. "One of them spotted me, dragged me out of the closet. He… He said the they needed to make sure he and my father were on the same page."

No more really needed to be said at that moment, Ren just needed to follow her gaze down to the bruised legs locked into a cheap wheelchair, just needed to watch the pain written all over her face, hear the echoes of the man beating down on her legs in the back of his mind.

Nora broke out into sniffles. "Dad agreed to tell them whatever they wanted. Left with 'em, sent me into hiding with my uncle. Now I'm here."

"Bastards." Ren spat out without a second thought, full of venom and vigour. "Attacking someone's family like that. If I was ever face-to-face with them…" He slipped off his seat, dropping into a couch before Nora, ensuring that even looking down she could see him, see his eyes as he took her hands in his. "Thank you for telling me this, Nora. I… I know it couldn't have been easy to say."

She stared into his eyes, her lips twitching, a thought bubbling to the surface only to be pushed back down. She sighed. "Yeah, I guess I didn't make it look as easy as I was hoping to, huh?"

"You made it look like a piece of cake." He pressed his lips softly against his knuckles. "I'm gonna have a hard time measuring up."

"You don't have to."

"We made a deal." Ren smiled up at her as her fingers uncoiled to cup his cheek. "Besides, I just made you relive possibly the worst day of your life. Least I could do is distract you with my lesser problems."

"Describing them as 'lesser problems' is already a bad start, Ren."

All Ren could do was absentmindedly nod as he rested his chin on her knee, his mind already miles away as the difficulty of explaining his position reared it's head once more. He couldn't tell her the truth, he couldn't tell her the context, but he still needed to give her a picture.

He spoke, hesitant and slow. "I told your uncle that I had a lot of trouble with my memory before… Well, for a while now." His face scrunched up, pulling himself together in some vain hope would hold his mind together as well. "I have a hard time remembering who I used to be sometimes. So, when I hear about how I used to act, or things that I've done, it's a little hard to accept." He felt her thumb brush over the space just below his eye, flicking his nose to tell him she was still listening while her eyes suddenly turned away from his. "What would you do if you were told you did things… Terrible things, but you didn't have the slightest memory of doing them? How do you even react to that?"

"Assuming the person telling me wasn't a liar?" Nora mused, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "I have no idea… Probably deny it still."

Her fingers pressed harder into his face, making him squeeze his eyes shut as he spluttered out a couple of sharp breathes before continuing. "The man who did those things, I can't see him as me, even if by all rights he is." In the darkness of his mind's eye, the man appeared to him. Same face, the same clothes, the same hair, the same voice, but the eyes were a different shade; the soul wasn't the same anymore. "And I thought I was fine with that. That, that… That I could just be a different person, a better person, and leave that man behind."

"But recently, my friend and I…" He held his tongue with a stubborn hiss, tightening his lips until he was sure nothing would be let loose. "We had an argument. He had a similar problem, you see, but he thought that my way of looking at it was, for the lack of a better word, cowardly." There was still that flicker of anger licking at Ren's heart, but he still couldn't tell if it was anger towards Jaune for the sentiment, or anger at himself as he started to see reason in that sentiment. "He wouldn't let the man he used to be go, he sought to understand that man's actions, return to the people that man had harmed. I… I thought he was making excuses, trying to avoid admitting that he was stuck in the past that was no longer his, trying to avoid responsibility."

"And what were you doing?" Nora tugged at his chin, urge him closer until his head was lying flat across her lap, gazing skyward. "'Cus, no offense, but it does sound like you're closer to 'avoiding responsibility' than your friend."

Ren couldn't deny that her words made his heart ache, even while comfortably nurtured on her lap with her fingers massaging his scalp, her voice and eyes without a hint of judgement, he felt the instinctual need to defend himself. "Is it avoiding it just to not let it consume you?"

"No…" Now with a full view of her face, watching her head awkwardly jerk away whenever her gaze lowered too far, Ren was certain she was going out of her way not to look at him. "But isn't saying 'It wasn't me, that was another guy' a way of shifting the blame a little?"

"Is there no changing then?" He couldn't stop himself, moving his hands up and grasping the side of her head, gently locking her in place, staring down at him. Conflict was alive in her eyes, making his stomach sink in response. "Am I just wasting my time before I fall back into being… What I was before?" It took all his restraint to avoid physically tightening his grip as he emotionally hung on to her for dear life. He didn't know if he could handle Nora telling him it was over, it was pointless, that Ren was a temporary diversion that would fade away in good time, that Kuriyuri would forever be his prison.

"Of course not." Her voice was distant, but precise, her eyes now having no choice but to bore into his and question her own honesty. She sighed. "A lot of people change throughout their life, but that doesn't stop them from having done what they've done, right?" Something was pulling at her thoughts, keeping her from fully expressing herself, but for the life of him Ren had no idea what it was. Was she simply not as confident in talking about this as she had thought? Was she struggling to word her thoughts as diplomatically as possible? "You can't atone for something you're thinking you didn't do."

"It's great that you want to be a better person, but that guy's always gonna be in your head, being the worst back seat driver of all time. Way I see it, you won't be able to touch him or acknowledge him because you're denying he's even there." One hand travelled up to his forehead "Only once you've accepted that he's here," another dropped down over his chest, poking his heart. "can you kick him out of here."

Her eyes closed tightly. Seconds passed in a struggling silence, Ren pleading with his eyes for her to say something and finish her thought. His mind was unsteady, unable to take a lull in the emotional conversation, now even denied the calmness of her eyes. Everything told him to reach out again, to plead with her to open her eyes or tell him something, to tell her how cold the silence was, but his heart held him back. He would give her all the time she needed, no matter how long, no matter how much it hurt and no matter how little he understood.

Her answer came, but not with words nor with a look; it was an action. Before Ren could even register that she was moving, his head was pulled into a higher embrace and his lips were overtaken by her own. Suddenly, nothing around them mattered, nothing inside them mattered, Ren's thoughts and theories and worries just melted away into incomprehensible babbling as he melted into her arms. The only things he could recognise anymore was the adorable manner in which her eyelids struggled to remain close as she kissed him, like a child trying to eat the vegetable they hate, as well as the sensation of hot fire leaving her lips and melting the ice in his blood.

Eventually, she pulled away, releasing him from his trance and letting him fall back into her lap. "You need to make peace with your past, not ignore it. And I think you need to make up with your buddy as well." This time, her eyes were wide open, and the struggle seemed to have faded from her iris', her lips now stretched into an enamoured grin. "I like you, Ren, so I think you're gonna be just fine." She paused, and then she shrugged off the dreary weight of their conversation like it was nothing. "Or I'm just crazy."

"I mean…" Ren's quiet voice could barely cobble together any words, his lips puckering, reaching out for hers in the aftershock of the kiss. "Both could be true." And for that he got a smack on the nose. Yeah, he probably deserved that.

A buzzing sound loudly announced itself from Nora's pocket, making her mutter a curse or two under her breath. "Looks like my break's up."

A groan came from both of them, Ren already finding Nora's lap to be the most comfortable pillow he'd ever rest his head upon. None the less, he had to kick up his feet, yanking his torso forward to jump back into a stance. Already, his feet grumbled at the renewed pressure of standing. "When does Ruby's shift end?"

Looking back, he saw Nora sporting quite the childish pout and narrowed eyes, crossing her arms as she spoke. "Don't you mean when MY shift ends?"

"I still need to talk to her, remember?" Ren couldn't help but chuckle, patting Nora on the shoulder.

Nora waved him off, grabbing his hand and nuzzling it against her cheek, just to draw their meeting out a few more seconds. "Sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow? She's working a pretty late sh-"

Ren's hand slipped from her grip, allowing him to grab hold of her shirt and, with more confidence than he ever thought he possessed, yank her forward for another kiss. This one lasted only a second, but it was enough to leave Nora spiralling with stars in her eyes as he pulled back. "Then I'm having a pretty late talk. Better buy some strawberries, she loves those." Finally, he managed to disconnect himself from her, slowly heading towards the back door, holding his arm up over his head as a reverse wave. "Thanks for everything, Nora. I'll think about what you said."

"So, you see, there's actually so much that I can do. Some stuff that she can't, even. How can I be useless then, huh? Huh?" Ruby would consider this progress, putting her thoughts and feelings out in the open instead of bottling them up. That's what people kept telling her she should stop doing. Well, tonight there was no stopping this emotional train fuelled by anger and an extra dose of caffeine.

Others would admire the spirit but find the method a bit… Lacking.

In front of Ruby, across the checkout counter, a stunned, and partly fearful, customer longingly stared at the package Ruby was so carelessly gripping between her fingers. All they had said was that they could get the dust out of the machine themselves. That was all it took for a five minute late night stop for some extra dust to escalated into a 20 minute tirade that was about five minutes away from the customer considering it a hostage situation. "I've given you all my money, Miss, can I please go?"

"And that's another thing, everyone keeps looking for every excuse to 'go'. Go where? I don't know. Sometimes it feels like everyone just wants to leave me out of the loop, as if I can't handle it or some-"

A wrinkled hand yanked the package out of her hand, the glare of it's owner easily being felt burning a hole inside the back of her head, before sliding it promptly over to the customer. "Have a nice day, Sir." Suffice to say, the customer needed no further convincing before taking off out the front door with speed that made Ruby insanely jealous. Of course, that jealousy was quickly replaced by nervous energy when Ruby turned to face the glare of Nora's Uncle head on. "Do I really have to tell you to not unload your personal issues on our customers? They're not your therapist."

"Pft, whaaaat?" Ruby flicked her wrist back, awkwardly slapping her hand against her cheek in her attempt at a dismissive gesture. "I was just being sociable. Chatting with the customer. Asking about their day." His face was unmoving while her body only shrunk until she felt the pressing need to hold her arms out in front of her like a shield. "It'll never happen again, Sir…"

The man groaned, squeezing the bridge of his nose for some semblance of relief; all while probably telling himself for the eighteenth time that she's not the worst employee he has and she does a damn better job than the part-timers. "It's getting about closing time anyway, why don't you start locking up?"

She fell into a rigid stance, smacking her forehead with the back of her hand in an awkward salute. "Roger that, Sir. On it, Sir!" Ruby watched him sigh at her antics before pushing off the counter to return to the back room. She liked to think he was sighing because he was just realizing how much he missed her calling him 'Gramps'.

The moment Gramps was out of sight, Ruby let loose a sigh, slowly trotting over to the front door and flipping the sign around to 'Sorry, we're closed'. "You can't even get customer service right, huh?" She imagined a mocking version of Blake saying, an overly unimpressed gaze sweeping over the pitiful sight of Ruby-but-not-Ruby Rose, the retail assistant. "You're really running out of things to suck at. Is there anything you can do?"

"Hey, it's not my fault." Ruby arrived at the lien register, popping open the bottom compartment as she barked back at nobody. "How am I supposed to get anything done with you nagging at me all night? Why can't you be more like imaginary Weiss?" In her mind, Weiss would be sitting across the counter, pushing over a supportive cup of coffee overflowing with an unhealthy amount of sugar. She wasn't there to cause drama or anything, Weiss just wanted to help. Now, Ruby knew that coffee wasn't real, but she appreciated the effort at least.

Imaginary Yang was knelt down in front of the counter, cackling to herself as she looked through the different items perched inside the lower display case. You'd think she was taunting a caged animal at the zoo with how she incessantly tapped on the glass, expecting something to change or jump out at her. Imaginary Qrow wasn't there because, obviously, this wasn't her uncle's scene and he'd dragged her imaginary dad along, but Ruby was sure they were having fun.

She knew it wasn't healthy to keep seeing them around her. She should forget them, stuff them in the same trunk as Annual Gift Man and the Cavity King. People would call her, a supposedly 27-year-old woman according to her ID, crazy for keeping her non-existent friends and family with her like this. But honestly, seeing them here, even without their voices, it was the only thing keeping her sane. As far as she was concerned, she spent so many years with these people, however fictional, she couldn't cast them aside, she needed them here. She needed to keep whatever remained of Ruby Rose together.

"It not like Audrey has anyone to replace them with." Blake's uncharacteristically tone smarmy whined in her ear like screeching metal, causing Ruby to slam the till shut, hoping the sudden crash would alleviate the noise. She didn't need to be reminded of that truth right now. Audrey had no one, as far as both Blake and Ruby's research had shown, Audrey might as well have spawned out of a hole in the ground. There was no Yang Xaio-Long, there was no Tai, no Raven, no Summer. Audrey had no property in her name, no overdue payments, no emails, no contacts; the only proof she existed was that ID and terrible wallet. No one cared enough about Audrey, nothing left enough impact, to record anything about her.

Audrey Averge was simply nobody, and Ruby didn't care about her either.

In a blink of an eye, time had passed, and Ruby was nursing a broom loosely between her hands. Sweeping, she pondered bitterly, she could at least handle that. That meant she wasn't completely useless, right? It wasn't like she chose this body; she wasn't happy that she had no aura, no connections, nothing to use that could help their current mission. She tried to help in other ways, keep everyone's spirits up and their minds focused, just like Blake and Jaune said she was good at. She tried to leave her shoulder free for anyone to lean on, she tried to be patient, understanding Ruby.

It wasn't enough, was it? Was it ever enough? It didn't matter how hard she tried to tell herself she was worthy of being a leader, nor how much her friends would tell her that her only mistakes were human ones, that they still trusted her; the moment she asked for some consideration, for an ear, then it became clear what they really thought of her.

There was no sound to distract her, nothing other than the light scratches of the broom batting away stray particles of dust to fill the night. Ruby Rose wasn't a good leader, she was a good fighter, she was the one everyone could leave their baggage on, she was the one with the special eyes that myths were made from. Was that it? Audrey didn't have any of that, nothing to hide how little value there was left? Of course, Blake wouldn't consider keeping her in the loop. There was no weight to Ruby's word, she was a leader in name-only, a figurehead with no actual respect to their title.

She shook her head, throwing the broom to the floor; she couldn't think like that. "Blake's words stung, I'm not gonna lie, but I'll only be proving them right if I crumble now." Her body instinctively leaned against the wall for support. "I just don't get it, is it really so hard to just talk to the rest of us before you go making big, risk decisions? Is it really such a big deal to trust us now?" She felt her fingers curl into a fist, punching the wall full force and only managing to get a quiet 'tap' sound out of it, no closer to any emotional catharsis.

They'd come into this reality to learn everything they knew was a lie, that their identities were fake, and their lives were worthless. Trust was practically non-existent at this point, Ruby couldn't afford to lose it from the only friends, the only things she 100% knew were real, she had left. It was all slipping through her fingers and Ruby had no idea how to hang on, she just wanted to help, she just wanted to keep her friends close, she just wanted to make everyone happy, but this stupid, pathetic identity wouldn't let her.

Ruby Rose was a hero, she had to believe that. Audrey Averg could be a hero, she had to believe that too.

She banged on the wall again, teeth grinding into her lower lip. She was sick and tired of putting on the brave face, but even when alone with no prying eyes to judge her, she was still pulling the mask over tight.

She just wanted her life back.

The late-night air caused a cold chill to run up her spine, just as the bell on the front door rang, announcing the march of a dozen or so pairs of heavy footsteps. She heard the screech of Nora's wheels pulling up by the counter. "I don't know if you guys read the sign, but we're clos-"

And then she heard his voice, along with something mechanical clicking into place.

"You're mistaken, little miss. Your closing time is midnight and, would you look at that? It's only 11:57!" Roman Torchwick spoke through the butt-end of his cigar, a dark-suited goon to his right bringing up a match to light it for him as his hands were busy aiming barrel of his can at Nora's head. "We won't take long. See, me and the boys are just overflowing with coupons here, and they are about to expire. You know how it is, don't you just hate having loose change?"

Behind her, Nora's uncle emerged from the back room, eyes wide as he took in the scene before him. Before he could do anything, one of the goons raised a weapon in his direction, causing the man to jump up with his arms spread far. "W-We don't want any trouble, Sir."

"Oh, it'll be no trouble at all." Torchwick's body leaned forward, his eyes lighting up in bemusement as he got a clear view of why Nora was 'sitting down'. The cane twirled in his palm as he easily slid over the countertop and landed beside her, the movement ending with the end of his cane resting on one of her arm rests. "Is this one yours, I wonder? Or am I looking at a charity case right now? I'm sure she gets you some nice pity tips."

Nora's eyes glowered up at the grinning man, wishing to high heaven that looks could kill. "J-Just take what you want and go!" She spluttered out, eyes darting back towards her fearful uncle.

Suddenly, Torchwick's foot was perched on her wheel, lightly pushing the whole chair back onto the main floor. He pursed his lips, making a sound like popping gum. "Such an attitude problem." One of the goons stepped forward to catch Nora, wheeling her out to the rest while Nora could only let the panic creep in over her eyes. "You'd think waving guns in a girl's face would be a surefire sign that I don't take requests, but the cripple whose greatest enemy is a slightly elevated incline, thinks she can make demands of me." Shaking his head, Torchwick rounded on Gramps, grasping the man hardily by the shoulder with a disappointed sigh. "Just what have you been teaching this girl? Really, at this point, me shooting her is gonna be entirely your fault."

Watching this unfold before her eyes, Ruby was frozen in place. There was no missing detail on Torchwick, he was as accurate to her memory as he could be; from the proper attire, the grace in which he moved, the light, chiding tone that betrayed a sinister nature smothered in gentlemanly allure, he hadn't changed a bit. It was slightly chilling to look at him, the last time she'd seen the man he was meeting his end in a Grimm's digestive system, seeing him now felt like witnessing a ghost appear before you. The pure white colour scheme didn't help.

It was Nora's gasp of pain, restrained but still audible as she was pushed back and forth between the taunting group thugs, that brought Ruby's focus back into the moment. What kind of jerks pick on a girl in a wheelchair? They're already at your mercy, this is just sadistic! Ruby felt her nails dig into her palm, threatening to pierce her skin and expose blood just from the bubbling anger alone. It struck her how familiar the scene was, Torchwick and his gaggle of cronies holding a late-night robbery, owner at gunpoint and her in the corner. Only this time, there was no Crescent Rose to send Torchwick running.

She had to do something, but what? Her eyes searched around the room, Torchwick watching the old man unload the cash register, his goons treating Nora like a toy and- Ah, that was it. Ruby only then realized that there was no attention drawn to her, in fact, she might as well have been invisible as nobody had so much as glanced at her since entering. Did they not know she was here? Or did they just not care? Either way, it was the only opening she had. The door was completely clear, she could sneak over there, slip out and call for help.

A muffled scream was cut off by an orchestra of metal clanging, ripping through Ruby's ears and yanking her gaze back to the crime. Nora lay twitching on the ground, her wheelchair turned over with a wheel lying comfortably inside the now shattered display case below the counter. One of the thugs shrugged with a crooked smile, muttering 'oops' as a child would after knocking a vase over.

"You bastard-"

Gramps couldn't manage to so much as lunge forward before the cane embedded itself in his stomach backed by the force of Torchwick's forearm. "Now, now…" Torchwick chided, not even allowing the old man to sink to his knees or clutch his stomach, just leaning in and covering Gramps' lips with his gloved hand. "We've been nothing if not polite. There's no need to start saying things you'll regret, old timer."

No, she couldn't leave them here with these… These… Creatures. Not a second longer. Ruby had to do something more than run away. With a surge of energy, Ruby used her enemy's ignorance of her to give herself room to scramble for something, anything she could use against them. She wasn't too foolish, she was well aware that Audrey didn't have a body thick or skilful enough to drop kick a goon out a window like she did in the simulation, but nothing limited Ruby from making noise or lobbing something hard enough to leave a bruise. The least she could do was be one hell of a distraction.

Dropping down, Ruby scooped up the discarded broom just as the goons fanned out to start draining the dust deposits. By the time she was back on her feet, Nora was struggling to pull herself back into her wheelchair while Torchwick played the cruel spectator, slapping his hand on the counter and howling at the 'show'. All Ruby wanted in that moment was to make that cruel smile disappear. She adjusted the grip on the broom, thinking back to watching Pyrrha launch her javelin into a Grimm's face, pictured the preparation pose in her mind and mimicked it so. This pose, resting her weight on the heel of her good leg as she raised her makeshift spear high above her shoulder, didn't strain her bad leg too much. With such a short throwing distance, all she had to do was lead strongly with her torso and the butt of the room would make a clean shot and, hopefully, give Torchwick a splint right in the middle of his dumb, snide face.

I can still be a hero, even if my body fails me, I can still save people. In my own way. She breathed in deep, like sucking in the last gust of air she'd ever be taking again, and just held it there for a minute. She had to brace for retaliation, ready herself to bolt as fast as her wounded leg would allow, she had to make sure Nora and her uncle had time to get away; all for after she took the shot. Her breath unloaded, pushing her into a lunge, her arm shooting forward and finally, at the apex of her throw, let the broom loose from her grip.

"Leave them alone!" The next few seconds, watching the wooden javelin shoot through the air, played out in slow motion, stretched out so Ruby could hear every loud, panicked beat of her weak little heart.

And then, she heard her heart burst when the broom nosedived into the floor, tumbling forward until it lost all momentum and greeted Torchwick's foot with a light bump.

"How long have you been there, ey?" Torchwick's eyes found hers, his face tightened together in a mocking flinch as the second-hand embarrassment swept the room, accompanied by his mocking laugher. Their gaze broke contact so he could look down at the harmless broom resting on his toe. "Oh that… That was just sad. Was that supposed to hit me?" He covered up his mouth, as if he had any sort of decency to pretend, he wasn't enjoying all this, before hopping off the counter, Nora now forgotten. "You know, I've robbed a lot of stores, but you guys… God, you're starting to make me feel like the bad guy here."

All eyes were on her now, but for once, Ruby felt at home, felt back in the fray of a good fight. When the adrenaline was pumping, it did a wonderful job of overwhelming her stage fright. "I'm not afraid of you." She stated with a blunt edge, staring back at the man undeterred. "You're just a two-bit crook who spends too much time looking in the mirror."

The stress of the situation was relieved, even if only slightly, by watching Torchwick's grin twitch, a slight flinch as he was hit by her disrespect. "Would it kill you people to show a bit of class? You can't just go chucking cleaning equipment at people." He hooked the broom on his foot, a swift kick sending it up into his hand in one smooth movement, allowing him to rest it gently against the counter. "All you're doing is making a mess, which is just perverting the point of the broom in the first place." He glanced over at Gramps, who had managed to pull Nora and her wheelchair back over to him. "Whatever you're paying her, it's too much."

Keep your attention on me, blockhead! Ruby, without thought or hesitation, swept over the stack of products littering the shelves around her, looking for anything else to throw. A Penny-shaped action figure broke into pieces mid-flight, her disconnected hair bouncing against Torchwick's leg. A box of spare memory sticks showered it's insides across the floor long before it reached it's target. The heavier sack, that judging from how it's contents sifted back-and-forth was carrying something sand-like, dropped to the floor with an unimpressive plop the moment it left Ruby's hand.

"I feel like a better man would stop this. I mean, you're wrecking the store more than we ever planned too, and this is getting slightly uncomfortable." Nobody stopped her, nobody cared; she wasn't a threat, she was an amusing distraction. Torchwick couldn't keep his eyes off her except to trade incredulous 'is this really happening?' looks with his fellow creeps. "But I kind of want to see how this all plays out. You going to throw in your shoes next?"

Ruby spat out "M-Maybe I will!" her rising frustration, and quickly depleting stamina, causing her voice to fluctuate.

Torchwick started to speak again, only for his voice to drop and his eyes to squint at her, now suddenly taking to looking her over with a critical eye in a way that immediately made Ruby nauseous. "Hang on. Have we done this bit before?" He spun on the spot, taking a gander around the store. "Because I'm suddenly getting a sense of Deja-vu, you know?"

"I wouldn't know." Ruby paused, hesitant to speak now that he was distracted by himself, leaving her room to ponder. She knew why it was a familiar scene for her, why would he recognise it? Had Audrey encountered Torchwick after all? Was there a reason why he was such a prominent feature of Ruby's story in the beginning? She shook her head, it wasn't the time to think, it was time to keep him focused on her. "You're not exactly memorable."

Again, Torchwick's grin fell for a second, allowing her to glimpse a snarling, prideful frown, before returning to his usual demeanour. "You're making this a lot less fun, Miss Nobody." She could hear the leather of his gloves squeaking as his grip on his cane tightened, tapping it against the ground like an outlet for his growing irritation. "And when things stop being fun, they tend to get real nasty."

She glanced down at her hand, finding a miniature Atlas airship toy she'd unconsciously picked up in her scramble for ammo. It was small, light and curved into a point at the end, which she was sure made it more aerodynamic or something; if she couldn't nail Torchwick with this, she was out of options.

"Look, you're obviously going through something." Torchwick gave a dismissive wave, taking a step closer. "And none of us want to do this dance all night. Honest, I prefer a clean getaway, so much classier." There was a certain grit to his voice diluting his usual smoothness, an anger trying to betray his mask and let itself be heard. "So, why don't you just sit this one out, we'll have our fun, take our stuff and I don't lose track of my manners." He crouched just a bit away from her, his eyes burning a cold rage as he took in the pathetic little nothing who was talking way above her paygrade. "Just look the other way. It doesn't cost you anything."

Look the other way.

Something about that phrase, from the sentiment itself to how easily he expected it from her, made her blood boil. Disgust surged through her like never before, all her inner voices converging as one feral sentiment of 'Screw this creep!', with only enough control over herself to think how fortunate it was that Torchwick made himself an easy target by getting closer. "I will never look the other way." She growled, launching the toy airship with one precise and swift thrust of her arm.

She didn't have to wait long to hear it hit its mark. However, she couldn't hear the hit, not over Torchwick's howl of pain as the fine point of the airship pierced straight through his eye.

Honestly, it was exhilarating. Ruby wasn't one to enjoy inflicting pain on others, but she couldn't deny the catharsis of not just ripping that smirk off his face, but leaving enough impact that he'll never forget her face until the day he died. That sensation only swelled when she noticed that Nora and her uncle were completely absent from the room, safely out of the danger zone as far as she knew.

I… I did it! They're safe. I helped! Her grin solidified itself, showing off a full set of smug, pearly whites as she saw the goons look on in horror and shock. I'm not useless! Her mind cried, the delight intoxicating. Ruby Rose's still got it, and she's still got plenty left to give. Her body felt the fire burning again, an old rusty engine kickstarted back to it's prime, her heart pumping adrenaline faster than her old semblance could clear a room.

Her body was practically shaking under the ferocity of this newfound energy, not even the ache in her bad leg could dent it. All she could do to contain it was to push her fist into her left palm, tensing her body into a familiar position as she picked the broom back up off the floor and hoisted it across her shoulders. She was weak, she was debatably inept and she had no idea what she was doing, but she was ready. This was the moment she took her life back. Someway, somehow, she would prove she could still be a hero, even without all her flashy moves and special abilities.

Defiantly, she stood. "My name is Ruby Rose, and I'm not going down without a fight."

Sadly, reality hit her with as much force as the back of Torchwick's hand.

In the blink of an eye, she was sent reeling back. The slap didn't just hurt, it absolutely ripped out any stray thought of optimism she had been able to muster prior, so powerful to her that she was sure her head almost came clean off. Instead of a decapitation, she was knocked off her feet, sent plummeting into the ground. Only, she didn't reach the ground straight away, not on Torchwick's watch as his foot delivered a devastating blow into her stomach, bouncing her off the harsh concrete of the wall before finishing her painful journey downward.

"Your name is worthless to me." He only gave her enough time to register his voice as he figuratively and literally spat on her, then his foot collided with her again before she could note how her world had instantly dissolved into blurs edged out by red hot pain. "And the only fight here will be the struggle to not choke on your own blood you little bitch."

Who were you kidding?

Ruby would have loved to say she held strong, that it took until the beatings put her on deaths' door for her to break, that she challenged her tormentor to do his worse long before she even considered crying for mercy. But Ruby Rose was no longer apart of her fairy tale story, she was no longer a hero. She couldn't see where the blows were coming from, the pain practically blinding her eyes, all she knew was that tears stung her cheeks and her body was scrambling forward, trying to pull herself away from the man.

You're no hero.

She was allowed a scant few seconds of reprieve, of hope, before she felt Torchwick's hand descend upon her scalp, crushing her head between fingers that felt massive when she was at their mercy. She could hear herself screaming, feel her throat grow hoarse with her cries for a moment, just one moment of relief. But she was denied every time, Torchwick slamming her into the wall, one hand around her throat while to other bloodied itself on her ribcage. Every blow delivered another wave of pain pulsating throughout her body, making her skin tense just a little bit tighter, leaving her delirious mind fearful that every punch or kick threatened to make her skin burst open from the inside from the pressure alone.

Without your semblance to lean on, without your connections to hide behind, without your silver eyes to mark you as special, without those gifts that were determined by your birth; what are you?

Why would people care about you? Why would they trust you?

A dry cough spluttering out from her lungs was the only thing reminding her she was still awake, kept her aware enough to feel herself flinch when Torchwick bumped up against the bad leg. Her heart sank when she felt him pause, heard him hum a sadistic 'ooooh' and could already picture what exactly had caught his attention. "What this?" He rested his heel atop her leg, the sensitive, raw skin and misplaced bones lighting up as if on fire under his harsh touch. He whistled with joy, the gentleman persona completely dropped in favour of just revelling in the pain. "Have I, perhaps, found your-" In one swift, merciless motion, his foot rose high into the air and then slammed down on the defenceless leg, a deafening crack echoing throughout the store. "Soft spot!?"

You're not Ruby Rose.

You're not Audry Averg.

You're useless.

You're nothing.

"If you want to be Ruby Rose so badly..." Torchwick growled into her ear, full of spite and venom. "Why don't you go ahead and die like her too?"

At some point, pain became so commonplace in those few minutes of constant assault that her body simply shut down. As bones were broken, her nerves became numb. As the insults increased, her ears became deaf. As the sight of her own blood pooling around her became too much to bare, her eyes became blind. As her clothes ripped, as her skin was punctured, as her world crumbled, she couldn't bare being awake anymore.

Just let go.

Ruby felt so tired of it all, she just wanted to sleep. So, she let herself sink into a better place, one of dreams that never hurt her, where she could be more than a burden, where everything was so much easier. All she had to do was let it all go, do what the voice said.

She went to sleep. And she might have never woken up again if it wasn't for the gunshot that broke through the abyss.

As mentioned before, originally Ren wouldn't be distancing himself from Jaune because Cardin's death would play out differently. The difference would be that, instead of Jaune unintentionally killing Cardin in the heat of the moment, Ren and Jaune would be indirectly threatened by Torchwick into beating Cardin, which would eventually cause him to die. In that sense, Ren's conversation with Nora would have been more about 'How do I reconcile with doing something terrible even when I felt like I had no choice in the matter?'.

I think the changes here just overall work much better for the character and make for a more potentially interesting perspective of their memories possiably returning being a fearful prospect rather than being something to hope for. Plus, I thought it might feel a tad repetitive if I gave Jaune and Ren the same perspective on the same issue to struggle with instead of differing views.

Ruby's issues were kind of hard to balance, since I wanted to explore how much she misses being a hero, but without comming across as her just being a gloryhound or thrill seeker. She wants to save people, she wants to help her friends, it's just that she's attatched so much of her self worth to her ability to do so, fueled by the insecurity that the only reason people like/tolerate her is because of the special elements of her character that she doesn't control, that now she's paranoid that she's become worthless and is going to be abandoned any time now. When Blake tells her she has nothing to really offer the mission, all Ruby's hearing is that she has no value anymore, that Blake is running out of reasons to still be her friend outside of pity.

Full disclosure, Torchwick beating the piss out of Ruby in a bad end version of her first encounter with him was one of the earliest scenes I had in mind when I started this story. Feels weird to finally get to it.

Hope it made you feel as dirty reading it as I did writing it.