Author's note: We'll skip the second fight, and go straight to the post-getting-your-asses-kicked strategy meeting. Also, Taiyang has an idea that might just work.


In the late afternoon, Ruby came back from another attempt at defeating the Carcolh, this time followed by her team, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Russel, Sirena, and Glynda. All of them were low on aura, and exhausted, despite having a proper plan this time around, and from everyone's expressions, the mission had obviously been another failure.

"What was that?" Ren asked in disbelief, "How do we defeat that thing?" While everyone went to get something to eat lunch and recover their strength, Ruby stayed behind to think for a moment. She had an idea, but shook her head to dispel the idea, and followed the others. However, Taiyang had seen her reaction, and contemplated whether he should say something, so he made up his mind and followed her.

"Ruby, we need to talk," Taiyang said and sat down next to her, drawing everyone's attention, and everyone stopped eating for a moment to listen to what he had to say.

"Sure, what is it?" Ruby asked, and Taiyang took a deep breath.

"I think… we need the new Ruby," Taiyang answered.

"The… new Ruby?" Nora asked.

"Dad, look, that wasn't really me," Ruby answered, "I was stressed, and when my friends saw what I acted like, they were really worried about me. Even Blake felt like she had lost someone, she just didn't want to say anything."

"Wait, really?" Weiss asked and looked at Blake.

"Well, with what I've been through, it felt wrong," Blake answered, "You know, telling someone how they should act."

"But still, I feel like that could be our chance," Taiyang said, drawing everyone's attention again, "When you woke up, you went straight into training, even though you weren't fully ready yet. When you showed Zwei and me your silver eyes, you brought home an Alpha Beowolf, intimidating it to act as a pet, just because you could. You sent countless packs of wolves to kill Grimm in your spare time, some as far away as Blackport, and you negotiated a deal with bandits led by a rogue huntsman, all to avoid people getting hurt."

"I mean, yeah, that's true," Ruby said, "But like I said, that was all because of stress. But also, the furthest I sent them was Vacuo."

"Wait, don't you need to focus on the target to send them?" Jaune asked, surprising everyone with how well he knew a semblance he never used himself.

"Yes, I do," Ruby answered, "If I want, I can track Grimm almost all across the globe, but… you saw how I act in that state. Right now, my limit is almost to the nearest town, Whitecliff."

"I say you should put it to a vote," Oscar said, "I mean, Ruby's opinion on this is obviously more important, but everyone suffers if this Grimm isn't stopped."

"Alright, fine," Ruby said, sighed and said, "Everyone, close your eyes, then raise your left hand if you think the new me should come back."

"Got it," Yang said, and everyone but Ruby closed their eyes, then raised their left hand.

"Well, I guess that settles it," Ruby said, "Take your hands down and open your eyes. I'll get to it after lunch." The group continued eating in silence, and afterwards, while the others were cleaning the dishes, Ruby remained seated. She closed her eyes and reached inside herself, looking for whatever side of her had taken over after she came back from Soraklia. It felt like she was tugging on something, when all of a sudden, the maelstrom of light she had restrained earlier was unleashed once more.

"Did it work?" Cardin asked when Ruby opened her eyes, and anyone nearby stopped to look at Ruby.

"It did, yes," Ruby answered, "Blake, come here for a moment."

"Sure, what is it?" Blake asked and walked over to her.

"Whitecliff needs some help," Ruby answered, "Here are the targets. Switch to Spectral Healing and use Deathzone on the goo in your ears, set the damage to a normal bullet, fifty meter radius, duration as long as you can. Then use Homing to make the shards stick into the Grimm shadows, and make a couple clones." While Ruby talked, Blake already followed the orders. Using Mentor, Ruby taught Blake where the Grimm were, sending a shiver down her friend's spine. Blake vanished shortly after, falling into a table's shadow.

"What do I do?" Yang asked.

"You go and kill Grimm," Ruby answered, "Get a good idea of what Daybreaker does, and try to evolve it a bit. There are soldiers near that food truck we used to visit, so help them out a bit."

"Got it," Yang said and hurried off.

"And me?" Jaune asked.

"You and Ren go to the factory," Ruby answered, "Use any tracking ability you know to try and get as much information about that thing as possible."

"On it," Jaune said, and he and Ren left the train station, and Khione sent a frozen shell after each boy to keep them safe.

"Any way I can help?" Cardin asked.

"Yes, there is," Ruby answered, "Send a Messenger Bird to Penny and have her tell Whitley to summon a Seer. She'll understand." Cardin walked away a bit to send the message.

"Anything I can do?" Qrow asked.

"Yes, good that you ask," Ruby answered and said, "I need you to fuse with Sirena. I have a hunch it'll be useful."

"I guess I know what I'll do too, then," Sirena said, "Alright."

"Yes, but that's not all of it," Ruby said, "I also need you to use Countdown to know when Whitley will summon the Seer. When he does, fuse with Qrow, and have your fusion summon one as well, contact Whitley's, and let the people in Atlas copy your fusion's semblance. Afterwards, split up again and go to Atlas, then fuse with Clover and let me know so I can summon a Seer here."

"Alright then," Sirena said, "Qrow, come with me, please." She walked away, and Qrow followed her.

"What next?" Glynda asked.

"Now, we wait," Ruby answered, "The next phase of the plan relies on Sirena being in Atlas, but in the meantime, we can relax a bit." After a few minutes, Blake returned by creating a clone in the train station and switching places with it. Jaune and Ren also returned, as did Yang, and lastly Qrow.

"You look beat," Yang said when she saw Qrow walk in.

"He fused with Sirena," Weiss explained.

"Really?" Yang asked and said, "I would've loved to see that."

"No, you wouldn't," Qrow said, "Our fusion was a mess, but their Grimm Banner semblance is useful, so that worked out."

"Grimm Banner?" Yang asked.

"I can make these things," Qrow answered, "They weaken nearby Grimm, making their attacks deal less damage and reducing their defense."

"Alright, it's time," Ruby said and summoned a Seer, then had it contact the one Sirena's fusion with Clover had summoned. Ruby and her friends gathered around it, and a female-leaning androgynous figure appeared.

"I am Carbuncle, nice to meet you," Carbuncle said. They had silver eyes and short, brown hair, with the right side of their head shaven, and most of their hair combed over to the left side.

"Hello," Ruby said and asked, "And, what does your semblance do?"

"Straight to the point, I like it," Carbuncle said and answered, "My Grimm Ward lets me manifest these gem-like objects that make nearby allies take less damage from Grimm, and deal more to them."

"Got it," Ruby said, "Have Qrow copy it, then split up, I need to talk to Sirena."

"On it," Carbuncle said, and the Seer raised one tendril to be in front of Qrow's face, then emitted turquoise light, burning the structure of the fusion's soul into Qrow's. Carbuncle then made their Seer disappear, and shortly after, Sirena contacted Ruby from her own Seer.

"You know, I feel kind of winded," Sirena said and asked, "So, what else do you need?" Ruby closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on the maelstrom of creation inside her, narrowing down on one of its infinite arms at a time until she found what she was looking for.

"I need you to go and find some people for me," Ruby answered, "Specifically the ones known as Hive and Spark. I'll tell Isi to meet up with them at the entrance to the ice cave, and then use her Dust Creation semblance to make some new dust from their semblances. I'll need at least five crystals of each, and a magazine of wasp bullets for Blake." She held her head and groaned a bit.

"Ruby, are you ok?" Yang asked, worried for her sister once more.

"Yes, I'm fine," Ruby answered, "It was just a bit… much."

"Well, I don't know how you know those names, but I'll see what I can do," Sirena said, "I can't guarantee anything, though."

"If they refuse to cooperate, ask Argent to help," Ruby said, "And if he refuses, I'll talk to him." Ruby made the Seer disappear again and let out an exhausted sigh.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Yang asked.

"How did you know those names, anyway?" Weiss asked.

"It's tied to how I sense Grimm," Ruby answered and explained, "In reality, I can't sense Grimm directly. However, I can sense everything else. But that is too much, so my brain focuses only on the blank spots."

"And you didn't do that here?" Weiss asked.

"Exactly," Ruby answered, "Using techniques I learned when learning alchemy, I searched the entirety of creation for what I needed, but of course, that was a lot of information to take in and process all at once. So, I got a bit overwhelmed."

"Who are those people, anyway?" Blake asked.

"Hive and Spark are assassins," Ruby answered, "They use the names of their semblances as pseudonyms, though. Isi, meanwhile, can make dust out of natural resources. I'm hoping she can also make it from pure aura, or in this case, aura that is expressed as a semblance. Tiamat's Shadow Stitching semblance hits the affected enemy with the bullet in regular intervals, and as we just saw last time we fought the Carcolh, this also counts for its dust payload. So, if Blake used bullets that release spectral hornets on impact, we would have a much higher chance of success than before."

"And what about the other guy?" Nora asked.

"His semblance creates electric traps," Ruby answered, "I'm going to use the resulting dust with Wolfpack, in order to do some damage to the Grimm in the area."

"And if it doesn't work?" Qrow asked.

"Then I'll look for another option," Ruby answered, "I have already used alchemy and Loremaster to understand the nature of semblances, so creating dust with those effects shouldn't be too far off."

"But why Argent?" Blake asked, "What does he have to do with it?"

"He's their boss," Ruby answered, "The Shadow King." Hearing that, and how comparatively casual Ruby was about it, everyone got a bit scared.

"Are you crazy?" Glynda asked, "Not only did you just accuse a fellow huntsman of being an assassin, but you also told us. What if it's true?"

"Then I'll make sure he won't hurt you," Ruby answered and held up her left hand, and used Freezing Touch to cool down the air above her hand until it formed a white mist, but stopped shortly after.

"But do you have any proof?" Glynda asked.

"Yes, I do," Ruby answered, "Ren should have their number on his scroll." She pulled out her own scroll and opened her contact list, showing Argent's number. When Ren pulled out his scroll to show the number he had noted down, everyone saw that they were the same.

"But wait, when did you find out?" Weiss asked.

"I started to have my suspicions in Argus," Ruby answered, "Those two assassins showed up too conveniently, right before Sirena did. And of course, what Blake told me about Argent."

"Wait, really?" Blake asked, "All the way back then?"

"Not quite," Ruby answered, "Like I said, I had my suspicions, but it could've been a coincidence as well. However, the semblances Jaune and Ren used against the Carcolh earlier today gave it away. When I looked for the semblances we needed, I took the time to find out where you got them from, and realized that those two were part of the same group. Then I just analyzed the group hierarchy, and voila."

"So wait, I was fighting against Argent's men?" Jaune asked, "And Sirena, too? Does she know?"

"Promise not to be upset," Ruby said and answered, "She set the whole thing up."

"She what?!" Jaune asked, raising his voice in anger, and the people nearest to him jumped in surprise.

"I saw it in her memories when we fused," Ruby explained, "She wanted to kill the Rakshasa, help you get stronger, and also fuse with you. But she knew it would be too difficult, so she needed to enlist the help of Argent's assassins. However, since she was worried you'd be too hesitant to work with assassins, she set the whole thing up, killing three birds with one stone. It was a rush job, but the bottom line is that you gained some new abilities, the Rakshasa is dead, and there are now several assassins who have a semblance that is the combination of you and Sirena, meaning they'll likely quit that line of work soon anyway."

"But, that plan was too risky," Blake said, "One of the assassins brought an incredibly dangerous Grimm into Mantle."

"A part of Mantle with several huntsmen in it," Ruby said, "Plus, there were no civilians around that time of the day, so it was perfectly safe."

"Why are you so calm about this?" Qrow asked.

"Because another Grimm is dead, and people aren't," Ruby answered. A red portal opened in the middle of the room, and Sirena walked out, holding a briefcase of dust crystals in one hand, and a magazine for Blake in the other. When she saw how everyone but Ruby looked at her, her mood dropped a bit.

"What happened?" Sirena asked.

"We know about the assassins," Jaune answered.

"Ruby, didn't I tell you not to reveal information about others?" Sirena asked.

"Sorry," Ruby said, "I just didn't think they'd react like that."

"How else were we supposed to react?" Ren asked, in his usual calm demeanor.

"Maybe with a 'good to know' or something," Ruby answered, "I mean, nobody got hurt, Grimm keep dying, and everyone wins in the end. Anyway, Sirena, that was pretty fast. I didn't even send Isi the message yet."

"Yes, I met a member of the swarm in Atlas," Sirena said, "After I explained everything, she teleported over right away."

"Can we please talk about this first?" Jaune asked, "Why did you think this was a good idea?"

"I needed that Grimm dead," Sirena answered, "But I also wanted to teach you about protecting others. This also gave me an excuse to speed up Jacques' rehabilitation a bit by making him think there were still people who despised him. Not to mention that Aegis' semblance is going to make some of the most dangerous assassins quit the job if they use it often enough. Argent had them set up their base of operations far away from civilians as well, so that there wouldn't be any people around when the Rakshasa showed up. Plus, the assassins didn't know this was all a setup. All Argent told them was that, if Jacques has bodyguards, to focus on them first, to retreat if things got rough, and to stick to the trio for that job, no matter what happens. But aside from that, they didn't hold back. They just retreated earlier than usual, supposedly to avoid Grimm."

"In any case, what did you learn about the Grimm?" Ruby asked, looking at Jaune, who just sighed in defeat.

"Its red glow is dangerous," Jaune answered, "It cuts everyone's aura in half and removes any negative effect. Also, for every person that hit it, it creates two minions from its slime."

"And each slime restores its health when it dies," Ruby said, "So, we need to hurt it too much for its minions to fully heal it. That way, even if it heals itself, we can slowly weaken it over time."

"But how do we do that?" Yang asked and said, "If we hurt it enough, it'll summon its minions, and then we'll be in trouble."

"Not if it doesn't know it's been hurt," Ruby said.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked.

"Opal," Ruby answered.

"No, not her," Taiyang said sternly, and Ruby gave him an equally stern look.

"Her semblance is our best bet against this thing," Ruby said.

"True, that would be a big help," Yang said, turned to Taiyang and asked, "So, why don't you want her to do this? Is Opal that difficult to deal with?"

"No, she's not," Taiyang answered, "At least, I don't think she is. However, her clothes are, well, see for yourselves."

"I'll show you," Ruby said and fused with Emerald and Sapphire's souls, revealing a rather revealingly-dressed fusion, much to her friends' surprise.

"Okay, I see what you mean," Yang said, "It's hard to believe Ruby's part of that."

"Well, I'm also Emerald and Sapphire," Opal explained, "The latter was a pirate in life, and therefore feels comfortable near the water, while the former is interested in a lot of things. So, beachwear it is."

"I see, that actually makes sense," Blake said, noticed Opal's tail and asked, "So, is Sapphire a faunus?"

"She is, yes," Opal answered. A fly got too close to her, and she instinctively swatted it with her tail, much to her embarrassment, which in turn caused Blake to let out a small chuckle.

"It's fine," Blake said, "Those instincts come with being a faunus, and if I've learned anything, they'll help you get stronger. All you need to do is accept them."

"That's good to hear," Opal said, "Now, with that out of the way, we should probably get started on our next strategy. Obviously I'll be the center piece, but the rest of you are also important. Especially Cardin."

"Me? Why?" Cardin asked.

"Because of your semblance," Opal answered, "If my semblance doesn't work, for one reason or another, and it summons too many minions, we need you to attack it. Underdog makes you deal more damage the more support an enemy has, and you dealt the most damage both times we fought it."

"Wait, really?" Cardin asked, more surprised than curious.

"Yes, really," Opal answered, "We'll also need Bartholomew and Peter. If anyone's aura breaks entirely, you two will jump in and attack it. If you want, Cardin can also let you copy his semblance, so you can deal even more damage, in addition to the effects of your semblances."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Bartholomew said.

"Me neither," Peter said.

"Alright then," Opel said, "Now, let's discuss our next strategy in more detail." She pulled out her scroll and made it project a holographic floor plan of the room, and got started assigning roles and positions, as well as priorities in which order objectives should be protected, if multiple things were in danger at the same time.


Author's note: The new Ruby is back, and this time she's here to stay.

Originally, Grimm Banner and Grimm Ward were supposed to be one semblance, just called Grimm Banner. It would have combined all effects; Grimm deal less damage and take more damage, and allies' offense and defense increases when fighting Grimm. Carbuncle would have been the fusion of Qrow, Clover and Sirena.

I originally got the idea from Terraria, where you get a banner for a specific monster type every time you kill 50 monsters of that type.

But as I was writing this, I decided to split it into two semblances, one debuffing Grimm, and one buffing allies.

Isi's semblance is really interesting, if you think about it: With enough aura, she can just suck up the surrounding air and make an air-dust crystal.

Spark's semblance is based on the skill Tesla from the webcomic Dungeons and Artifacts. Highly recommend.

Hive's semblance is based on the Bee Gun from Terraria, or its hardmode version, the Wasp Gun. If you so much as select either of those while wearing a full Specter Armor, your computer is going to start making really weird noises.