AUTHOR'S NOTES: After the horror of the last chapter, this is a bit better. Chalk one up for the good guys this time.

More notes to follow. I'm on vacation, so my updates may not be as regular for awhile, but I'll do my best to at least post once a week, if not more.

Near Kosice, Kosice Self-Governing Region

15 September 2001

The MC-130H Combat Talon flew at 35,000 feet, sending out a commercial transponder signal. While commercial traffic only occasionally transited the area—and none had since Salem invaded Poland—it did happen, as GRIMM were not supposed to be able to go above 20,000 feet. Two F-117 Nighthawks trailed the Combat Talon, nearly invisible to radar. Delta Force was taking an extreme risk, flying into a SAM zone: the MC-130 had sophisticated jamming, but it was not maneuverable. Should any of the Jabberwockies fire a missile, the only thing the Combat Talon could do was immediately switch on their ECM, try a hard SAM break, and start praying. The two F-117s would immediately engage any SAM radars with laser-guided bombs to give the MC-130 a better chance, but it was still not much of one. Trailing further back was Pyrrha in her F-22: should the Jabberwockies scramble fighters, she would dash in to defend the MC-130, which in turn would probably mean the sky would be filled with SAMs. It was better than nothing.

Sitting in the cockpits of their borrowed aircraft at Silac was Yang, Weiss, Blake and Marrow. The F-14 was too shot up to fly safely, so Blake had taken Bob's A-4, while a F-16 had been hastily borrowed and flown to Silac for Marrow, by a ferry pilot who was none too pleased to be left out of the mission—but Lieutenant Jessica Cruz was told in no uncertain terms that she was outranked by everyone present. Marrow had been promoted exactly two weeks before she was. The E-3 AWACS was orbiting over Prague, its electronic eye scanning well into Slovakia, while a battalion of the 82nd Airborne waited in their C-17s at Ostrava for the go code; so did a single AC-130H Spectre, its engines already turning at the end of the runway. For something organized in less than three hours, Operation Vorpal Blade was moving forward.

Yet there was no response from the Jabberwockies. The SAM radars tracked the MC-130, but the crews were not sure if they were looking at a commercial airliner, knowing that if they shot one down, the response from NATO could be devastating. Air pirates could get away with a lot, but only the best led and best organized ones could prey on commercial traffic, and the Jabberwockies were neither. They notified the Diviza, only to be told that Neo had given orders not to be disturbed. So paralyzed by indecision, the SAM crews kept their radars in scanning mode, ready to fire but wondering if they should. A single air search radar watched the western approaches. None detected the 30 humans and Faunus who jumped from the MC-130 as it flew sedately, undisturbed, over Kosice.

Otome Higurashi was aboard the Combat Talon, but her broken arm had not healed from the Warsaw operation, so all she could do was watch in frustration as her team jumped into the dark, cold night. Soap had returned to the SAS, so Kazu Iida—Shogun—would be field commander. Jumping behind him was Valentina Romanyszyn—Wraith—and their sniper team; Yasmin Madrani—Huma—would lead the assault team; Julian Chase—Chaser—would secure the perimeter. Their orders were to recover Ruby Rose, Boguslawa "Little" Wojownik, and Charles Cheshire, but the team, as much as they liked Ruby and felt they owed her a bit for Warsaw, were more intent on their secondary objective: kill Neo Politan. The woman who had murdered Trix would pay.

The drop was made on target in a park two blocks from the Diviza; no one saw the black parachutes, not on a moonless night, not when the guards around the Diviza were looking outwards, not upwards. Once the parachutes were secured, Wraith's team climbed atop nearby houses and buildings, setting into position. Chaser's team quietly took up their blocking positions behind low walls, unstrapped Javelins from their backs, and waited.

There were two outlying guard positions. Of the four guards, two were asleep, one was playing on a Gameboy, and the fourth was actually alert. None of them detected Huma's group crawling towards them. None of them felt anything more than cold steel at their throats for a split second before they were killed. Huma turned and flashed a red light at Shogun, whose command post was behind a parked car a block down. He raised the radio receiver to his mouth. "Homeplate, Shogun. Bases loaded."

"Shogun, Homeplate." Otome's voice, on the now well-to-the-south Combat Talon, was muted. "Play ball." At Ostrava, the listening AC-130 crew ran the engines up to full speed and took off. At Silac, the three remaining members of Ruby Flight, Marrow, and Alyx began taxiing to the runway.

Shogun switched back to his team frequency. "Wraith, send it."

There were four guards in the two sandbagged positions around the entrance of the Diviza. They were alert. It did them no good. The only sound Wraith's suppressed sniper rifles made was a low thump and the sound of the action cycling back and forth. All four guards died within a second of each other. Huma's team made a fast dash forward across the street, staying out of sight of the parked T-55. There were two more guards behind the sandbags, but they too fell dead as Wraith switched to targets of opportunity. Huma and her team were to the front door in twenty seconds. It was unlocked, and then they were in the building. Shogun led his team forward to the T-55, planting charges silently on the tank.

In the basement, Ruby and Little still lay on the floor; Neo and Cheshire were gone. Unknown to the Delta team, the two were already at the airfield; they had left only five minutes before Delta had jumped. Little's blood had started to congeal.

Ruby stared unseeing at the ceiling, occasionally blinking, her breathing labored and slow; the blinking was an involuntary muscle response to her eyes drying out, as her mind was convinced that she was deceased.

In that mind, Ruby stared down at her inert form. "So I'm dead."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far."

She whirled around to see Summer Rose smiling at her. "Mommy?" Ruby exclaimed, dashed forward, and embraced her mother. "Oh God, Mom..." She inhaled the scent of strawberries, one of her firm memories of Summer: her mother habitually used strawberry-scented shampoo. The arms around her were strong. Ruby stepped back a bit. Summer wore an olive-drab flight suit, an American flag and F-16 Viper Driver patch on one shoulder, her personal flaming rose sigil on the other, below the Fighter Weapons School patch. She had an embossed name patch, with command wings and the single word ROSE beneath them. It was exactly what Ruby hazily remembered the day her mother had kissed her good night and never returned. "Mom, I'm sorry."

Summer kissed her forehead. "I didn't expect you here just yet."

"I wasn't expecting to be here. Are you really Mom? Am I really dead?"

Summer shrugged, glancing over Ruby's shoulder at the bodies. "Well, you're not really dead. And I might not be your mother, just your brain projecting an image of what you think Summer looks like in the afterlife, and what she might say."

Ruby slumped. "That's...disappointing."

"You want to be dead?" Summer asked.

"I don't know. Am I gonna die?"

"The only thing that could happen to you here is what you want to happen," Summer replied enigmatically. "The choices of what you become and where you end up are yours to make." She smiled. "You don't know what you want, do you?"

The world around them disappeared, the bodies fading, and it got brighter. Suddenly Ruby and Summer were standing on a flightline. They were the only ones on it, but the line was filled with fighters. Summer leaned on the propeller of a Sopwith Camel; down the line were everything from the Camel to a F-16, with anything and everything in between. Ruby turned; across from the Camel was a blood-red Fokker Dr.I triplane. "Oh wow...the Red Baron's aircraft." She checked the markings. "Latin Crosses. It's accurate."

Summer laughed. "I wouldn't expect anything less from your brain, Ruby."

"So what is this?"

Summer motioned down the flightline. "The aircraft of the aces." She patted the propeller of the Camel. "Billy Bishop's Sopwith. George Preddy's P-51. Pappy Boyington's Corsair. Erich Hartmann's Bf 109. Yevgeny Pepelayev's MiG-15. Ozpin's F-8. My F-16. They're all here, Ruby."

Ruby chuckled. "Fighter pilot heaven."

Summer thumbed behind her. "That's actually the Officers' Club over there. But you don't get to go there. Not yet."

"Because I don't deserve it." Summer turned and began walking down the line, Ruby hurrying to catch up. "Mom, stop. Please." Her mother did so, pausing in front of a Supermarine Spitfire. "I tried so hard, Mom, and I..." Ruby felt the tears coming, and couldn't stop them. "I may have just done more harm than good. I don't understand...who I need to be...because who I am right now..." She sighed. "Well, she's just not cutting it."

"Did any of these pilots 'cut it'?" She pointed at the Dr. I. "Richthofen was airsick during training." She pointed at the P-38 Lightning parked next to the Mustang. "Richard Bong was nearly court-martialed for looping the loop around the Golden Gate Bridge." She patted the cowling of the Spitfire. "Douglas Bader lost both of his legs in a landing accident and was told he'd never walk again, let alone fly." She started walking again. "What makes you think you're not cutting it?"

"Everything I did was wrong."

"Was it? You were not in a good position, Ruby."

"I disobeyed orders."

Summer gave another shrug as they passed the F-86 and a MiG-15. "What if those orders were wrong?"

"Mom..." Ruby stopped. "Mom, Ironwood said the military runs on trust. He trusted me to execute his orders, and I trusted him to give lawful orders. He broke that trust...but so did I. And I ruined everyone's career! There's going to be a Congressional investigation, Mom. They're going to break us in front of the whole world. They're going to use me as a scapegoat for everything Ironwood did...and maybe I deserve it." She sighed and leaned against the MiG's red nose. "Mom, I mean...yeah, Ironwood gave some stupid orders, but so did I. Arashikaze told us not to activate JINN. We did. Twice. Salem was probably tracking us because of that, which means I'm responsible for the attack on Algiers. Maybe even for Adam going after Blake and Yang. Then I lied to Ironwood about JINN using it. Blake and Yang lied to him about Robyn and the Commando Solo. They did that, but I was in command, and I should've stopped them...disciplined them, something." She thunked her head against the nose. "And then, when Ironwood ordered us out, we disobeyed him completely. We mutinied."

Summer had listened patiently, leaning on the F-86. "Ironwood gave an unlawful order."

"Was it, Mom? All he did was order us out. We thought if we disobeyed, we'd save Poland. We didn't, did we? Yep, we did a great job on that!" Ruby laughed bitterly. "All we did was get a bunch of people killed. Like Penny. If we had left, Penny would still be alive."

"I think that's a bit unfair, Ruby." Summer pushed off the F-86 and started walking again; Ruby followed her. "Your evacuation plan has saved thousands of lives. Ironwood was prepared to abandon them. You didn't. Had you obeyed his order to go to Lakenheath, he would have never put that plan into operation. Thousands might be dead from radiation."

"But I don't know that, Mom!" Ruby protested. "If I hadn't lied to him about JINN, or if I had told him that Blake and Yang had lied to him about Robyn, then none of this would have happened."

Summer nodded. "Yes, that's true—about the lies, though I think Salem would have invaded Poland regardless, and Ironwood would have made the same choices on evacuation. Maybe he would've used his nuclear weapon rather than Salem using hers. But was Oscar turning on JINN your fault? Or Blake and Yang's lies?"

"I'm in command, Mom. It doesn't matter if it was my fault or not."

Summer reached out and put her arm around Ruby. "You've learned that lesson quite well from Oz." Ruby noticed they walked past the F-8 bearing Ozpin's personal marking on the tail, next to the setting sun emblem on the rudder. They finally stopped in front of the F-16. It was Summer's aircraft, but Ruby had convinced Major Oum to paint hers in the same fashion: the red trim, the flaming rose on the tail. Sundered Rose was painted on the intake. "But I think we need to address the 800-pound elephant in the room, Ruby."

"What's that, Mom?"

Summer didn't answer, running her hand along the pitot boom on the F-16. "Who did this belong to?"

"Duh, Mom." Ruby folded her arms across her breasts. "It's yours."

"It's not about who it did belong to, but who it could belong to." Silver eyes met silver eyes. "Can you feel the woman who might hold it? The weight of who she is, or was. She could be you." Summer waved around the flightline. "You could put any one of them on, and leave Ruby Rose behind."

Ruby shook her head. "Mom...it's all so...so damn heavy. It's the only thing I can feel anymore...and it never, ever goes away."

"What's that?"

"The feeling of not being enough."

"Oh." Summer walked to her. "And how would you measure enough?" She put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Ruby...who are you?"

Clearing the Diviza took less than ten minutes. It was done silently, methodically, clearing each floor. Few of the people were armed. Most surrendered immediately; those that didn't were killed. Huma led the team into the basement. "One guard dead," she reported, passing the jail cell. "Not ours. Sweeping forward into main prison area." Another guard picked that moment to walk out of the bathroom, holding an AK-47. One of Huma's men killed him with a burst from his MP5. "One guard dead; ours. Continuing forward." They came to the main cell, and Huma glanced in. "Target in sight." She tried the door, and was surprised to find it open. She used hand signals, and one of her team crabwalked to the other side of the door, while the others lined up behind her. "Breaching."

Normally, they would toss in a flashbang, but there was too much chance of hurting Ruby or Little. Huma eased open the door, then went in high while the other man went in low. "Room clear. Move in." She immediately went over to Ruby's nude body, checking vitals. One look in Ruby's wide, dilated eyes told her what was wrong. She waved in her medic and stepped back. "Kerasine. Pretty heavy dose." She looked across to Little, who was being checked. "She's dead, Pyro."

Pyro put two fingers on Little's throat, then bent forward. "She's alive, Huma. Breathing's low, pulse is thready, but...she's alive."

"Brain dead, then. Poor kid." She pointed to Ruby for the medic, who had stopped. "Her first." The medic nodded and pulled off their pack, getting out an IV kit. Huma watched for a moment, then touched her earpiece.

Pyrrha flew in silence behind the MC-130, which began to turn around, back to the north. If the Jabberwockies were paying attention, they might notice the turn.

"Juniper, Haisla," the AWACS called.

"Haisla, go," Pyrrha responded crisply.

"Two bogeys, vicinity Kosice, course three-two-two, speed 450, angels five. Your bearing and range is zero-five-zero for 50. Looks like they just took off."

Two bogeys, Pyrrha thought. Combat air patrol? If so, they were late; it was after midnight. Alyx had said the Jabberwockies usually did not put one up, trusting in their ground defenses. Their course was also southeast, towards Romania. They were fifty miles off, but Pyrrha could close that distance in seconds. She hesitated. If it was the CAP, she could eliminate them quickly enough, but if it was someone else, or it was Ruby being taken elsewhere...

"Homeplate, Shogun. Relay from Huma. Current score: one run, two strikes, three errors." Pyrrha translated that, and her heart leapt. Target One was Ruby; Two was Little; Three was Cheshire. Shogun's call meant that Ruby was alive, Little was dead, and Cheshire was missing. "Recommend next inning."

"Shogun, roger. Juniper, are you listening?"

"Roger that, Homeplate. Your code is Pinkie, I say again, Pinkie." Pyrrha reached down and switched frequencies to Guard, then turned on her radar. A quick look showed the two contacts still heading southeast at increased speed. They would have to wait. "Attention, Jabberwockies. This is Pyrrha Nikos, leading a NATO strike force. You are advised to stand down your forces. Your leadership is dead. Any further resistance would be futile. Acknowledge by shutting down your radars. Any action will be met with overwhelming reaction." Her RWR gear lit up. It wasn't from the two bogeys; it was from a SAM radar that managed to get enough of a return to lock onto her F-22. They were at extreme range, so it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get a hit. "Very well, Jabberwockies. You were warned. Nighthawks, kill."

30 miles ahead of her, the F-117s had returned to Kosice unnoticed. One lased the Jabberwockies's air search radar. The other dropped a single GBU-27 laser guided bomb. Seconds later, the air search radar ceased to exist. The two then switched positions, with one lasing the target and the other dropping a bomb, this time on the SAM guidance radar that was tracking Pyrrha. It was also destroyed.

Pyrrha waited until she saw the radar stop guiding on her, and reopened the channel. "Jabberwockies, this is once more Pyrrha Nikos on Guard. Stand down and surrender. You will be treated fairly. Any further resistance will be met with overwhelming force. If you do not surrender, you will be destroyed. You know who I am and what I am capable of when it comes to pirates. Our forces have already occupied the Diviza. We will demonstrate this presently." She switched back to Homeplate's frequency. "Homeplate, Pyrrha. Ninth inning."

There was a pause. "Pyrrha, Homeplate. Grand slam." Shogun had blown up the T-55.

She returned to Guard frequency. As she opened her mouth to repeat her threat, a new voice came up, one she didn't recognize. "Pyrrha Nikos, Jabberwocky Kosice Control. We accept your terms. We surrender."

"Roger that, Jabberwocky Kosice. We are watching. Out." Pyrrha checked her radar again; the two contacts were over Romania, well out of interception range now. She dismissed it as unimportant, while knowing it was probably very important. "Homeplate, Pyrrha. Game over."

The rest was anticlimactic. The 82nd Airborne's C-17s, escorted by the aircraft from Silac, landed at the airport, the paratroopers disembarking rapidly to seize it. The Jabberwockies, unable to reach anyone in charge, having lost their command post and two radars seemingly out of nowhere, surrendered. All the same, the AC-130 orbited over Kosice, its steady droning a reminder that Pyrrha's words were not idle ones. Yang, Weiss, Blake and Marrow landed after the MC-130, while Pyrrha orbited awhile, making sure nothing else intervened, alone with her thoughts and the night sky.

There was a hospital in town, and Delta's medic had taken Ruby and Little there. Shogun brought the rest of Ruby Flight there in a commandeered jeep. Yang didn't wait for the jeep to come to a complete halt before she jumped out and ran into the building.

"Where's my sister?" Yang demanded of the nurse at the front door. The woman stared back at her; Yang still wore her flight suit and G-suit. "Where's my sister, dammit?" The nurse still looked perplexed.

Before Yang could commit bodily harm, Chaser came out of the emergency room. "Oh, hey, Suds."

It took Yang a second to remember who Chaser was. "Chaser! This idiot doesn't understand me." Then she realized what she had said. "Oh...right. She doesn't speak English." Now Yang felt like the idiot.

Chaser grinned. "Follow me, Suds. She's in here."

Yang gave a sort of nod and bow to the nurse in apology as Blake and Weiss walked in; she waved them over and followed Chaser into the ER. "She's over there. I think she's going to be okay." His grin faded. "We found a mouse Faunus with her—Little? Is that her name?"

"Her nickname, yeah," Yang confirmed. "She's our friend."

"I figured as much," Chaser said somberly. "I'm sorry, but she's dead."

"Fuck," Yang said. "Fuck."

Weiss' hands went to her mouth. "What happened?" Blake asked.

"Someone shot her in the head. We don't know who." He turned just before they reached the partition that set aside where Ruby and Little were. "You sure you want to go in there? Captain Rose is going to make it, but it's still not a pretty sight."

"She's my sister," Yang said, and thumbed back towards Blake and Weiss. "And they might as well be her sisters too."

Chaser nodded. He knew what that was like. "Good enough." He took one look at their flight suits, which were grimy with sweat and smelled of jet fuel. "But don't touch anything." Then he pulled aside the partition.

Ruby lay on one bed, a smocked doctor, two nurses, and Delta's medic surrounding her. She was still naked, as the medical team secured her IV, placed a catheter, and examined her body for wounds; her face was covered with an oxygen mask. Yang tried to run forward, only to be intercepted by one of the nurses. "Ruby?" she shouted. "Ruby!"

The medic glanced up. "She's her sister," he said to the doctor, who gave a short nod and motioned Yang forward.

Yang stared down at Ruby's body. She seemed smaller, somehow, her skin paler than usual, covered in dirt and bruises, dried blood crusted on her nose and lips. The worst part was that she continued to look upwards, staring into space, the occasional blink the only indication that Ruby Rose still lived. Yang fought back a sob. "What..."

The doctor lowered his mask. "Someone dosed her with kerasine." His English was good, tinged with a Czech accent. "I've seen it before...too many times, actually." He pointed to the IV. "We've got antidote going, but she has gotten a large dose. It will take some time for her to recover."

"How long?" Blake asked.

The doctor shrugged. "She could come out of it in a few minutes. Or a few hours or days. It's hard to tell. It really depends on Captain Rose—that is her name and rank?—it depends on her. Some people get stuck in the kerasine fugue state for quite some time...and to be honest, miss, short or even long-term amnesia is not unknown in these cases. I do not want to frighten you, but people are not always dosed with kerasine to keep them docile or torture them, which seems to be the case here. Some get addicted to the euphoric state, and some simply prefer whatever dreamland kerasine puts them in to reality." He gave them a small, hopeful smile. "Those cases are rare, however."

Yang remembered their argument the previous morning. "Oh God," she whispered.

Weiss hugged Yang. "We've done everything we can, Yang. Now it's up to Ruby."

"But what if she isn't Ruby anymore when she comes back out?" Yang cried. "What if she doesn't remember us—what if she doesn't remember me?" Yang finally could not hold back her tears. Blake grabbed her and led her away, letting her once more cry on her shoulder. The doctor nodded to his team, and they gently covered Ruby with a blanket. Weiss noticed Ruby's eyelids flutter, grow heavy, and close. She hoped that was a good sign.

She turned and saw that Little lay in the next bed, her skin waxy, her eyes closed. She saw the matted, thick, congealed blood just behind and below the mouse Faunus' left eye. She was covered in a sheet that ended just above her small breasts; someone had cut off Little's flight suit. "Did you know her?" The doctor came up behind Weiss.

"She's a friend." Weiss stared down at Little's slack face. "A good friend."

"Young girl. She must be somewhat courageous to be out here with you."

"Too courageous for her own good." Weiss, despite Chaser's advice, reached out and touched Little's shoulder. Her skin was still warm, and Weiss noticed that Little was still breathing, if shallowly. "Just a moment, doctor. She's alive."

The doctor shook his head sadly. "Her body is. She was shot in the head, apparently at close range. We see a lot of that in here as well." He smiled at Weiss. "Captain Schnee? Of the Schnees?"

"I'm the youngest daughter," Weiss confirmed.

"Ah. Well, despite your family's reputation, the apple does seem to have fallen far from the tree, yes? You and the Americans have liberated us from the Jabberwockies, Captain. Perhaps this girl will be the last gunshot victim I have to watch die for some time." He looked down at Little and shook his head again. "So damned young."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Weiss half-pleaded.

"I'm afraid not, Captain Schnee. We are just waiting for the body to shut down. That can take hours." He put a bony hand on Weiss' shoulder. "You should stay here. I believe that the soul knows it is not alone, and it makes the passing easier, somehow. I have certainly stood many a vigil in this room."

"Have you done a thorough examination?"

"I don't need to, Captain Schnee. I know when I see a fatal head wound. This poor girl was shot through both temples."

"I'm afraid I have to insist, Doctor." He looked over at her, and did a double-take, because he was staring down the barrel of a Walther PPK. Weiss reached up and slowly, deliberately pulled the slide back and forth to confirm that the pistol was loaded, with a round in the chamber. The doctor had been threatened before by the Jabberwockies, but he had not been afraid; the pirates knew he was the most experienced doctor in Kosice and could not be replaced. One look into Weiss' cold blue eyes and he knew that was no longer the case. "Please."

"I...I suppose I could do a more thorough examination," the doctor stammered.

"I would greatly appreciate it, Doctor," Weiss said, but the pistol did not waver.

The doctor turned back to Little, prying open one eye. He then looked over to the other side of her head. "I'll be damned," he said.

"Doctor?" Weiss asked, but now she was ignored as the doctor called back his nurses. He barked orders in Czech. Weiss lowered the pistol. "What's going on?"

The doctor gave her an angry look. "Leave, Captain Schnee. We need to operate, and I can't do that with you pointing a gun at me." Weiss nodded and left.

Yang sat on a bench outside, her head in her hands, with Blake's arm still around her. Weiss sat down next to them and holstered her PPK. "What's that doing out?" Yang asked.

"Little's still alive. They're going to operate."

Blake smiled. "That's good news."

Weiss sighed. "I hope so, considering I pulled a gun on the doctor." She hung her head. "I think I need a vacation."

"Yang and I were thinking a nude beach on the French Riviera," Blake quipped. That got a smile even out of Yang, and Weiss began to laugh, because that did sound like a great idea at the moment.

"That's a weird question, Mom," Ruby said. "I'm me."

"Are you?" Summer ducked under the nose. "All right then. Who is Ruby Rose?"

Ruby let out a long breath. She was getting tired of this enigmatic questions. If this was heaven or hell, or some kind of dream, then Ruby thought that Summer would be a lot more straightforward. "Fine. I'm Ruby Rose, fighter pilot. Captain in the USAF—"

"That's what you do," Summer interrupted. "Not who you are."

"Maybe it is who I am," Ruby argued.

"And that's all? Nothing else? Just a fighter pilot?" Summer walked to the F-16's wing and caressed it, almost like she would a lover.

"I'm an officer," Ruby said. "Not a very good one, for reasons we've already talked about."

Summer laughed. "Really? We've established you've made mistakes, Ruby. But tell me—have you done everything wrong?"

"Well...it feels like it—"

"Ruby." Summer's voice held the inflection of a mother demanding the truth. Ruby's memories of Summer might be hazy, but she remembered that tone of voice, such as when she and Yang had stolen the stepladder to gorge themselves on cookies, getting to the jar on the counter. Ruby had tried to say it was all Yang's idea, but Summer had used that tone of voice, and Ruby burst into tears, confessing that it was actually hers.

She didn't cry this time. "Okay, well...I mean, I guess I did okay at Beacon..."

"You were promoted twice, at a very junior grade. You're 20 years old, Ruby, and practically commanding a squadron."

Ruby sniffed. "Yeah, but maybe Ozpin made a big mistake, Mom."

"Maybe. But I think if you were a mistake, so many people wouldn't follow you." Summer went over and gave the Sidewinder attached to the left wingtip rail a shake. "You've got a basketful of medals. Legion of Honor, from the French?" Summer smiled warmly. "I'm very proud of you, Ruby."

Ruby bit her lip, because now she did feel like crying. "Mom—"

Summer leaned against the missile. "But also very disappointed."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Yep. Knew that was coming."

"Only because you're disappointed in yourself," Summer replied. "Want to know why?" Ruby nodded. "Because you're holding yourself to an impossible standard. You're trying too hard to be me, Ruby. Not Ruby Rose. Summer Rose. You've created this—" Summer ran her hands down her sides. "—this image, a woman that never existed. Oh yes, I was a good mother, that is true. Yang and Tai think so; even Raven thought so. But I was never perfect, Ruby. I was never this 'supermom' that you built up in your mind.

"But you, my daughter? You want to be just like Summer Rose, your beloved mother. And that's a problem, because I was no saint. I was no perfect person. Maybe I wasn't even a good mother, if I flew away on a suicide mission to stop Salem by myself. I made mistakes, Ruby. Bad ones. Grevious ones." She glanced wistfully at the F-16. "Fatal ones." She returned her attention to Ruby. "And you are following in my footsteps, and that is a big mistake."

"I don't understand," Ruby said.

"Ruby..." Summer walked forward and put her hands on her daughter's arms, then took Ruby's hands into her own. "I didn't consult your father, or Qrow, or anyone before I went out. I flew to Alaska, then made a secret refueling stop at Kuroyuri, where you found my note; it was on your birthday. Then I disappeared. I was trying to stop Salem, to at least find her, because I didn't want you growing up in a world with her. But I didn't even trust your father, or your uncle, or anyone. I tried to do it all myself. I put an impossible burden on my shoulders, Ruby, and I failed. And now you're trying to do the same thing. It killed Ironwood, Ruby. It killed Ozpin. And it killed me."

Ruby closed her eyes. "Mom...there's no one else."

"When you're in command, command. Yes, I know the old saying," Summer agreed. "But you have subordinates. You have friends. They're there for you to talk to. In the end, yes, it must be your decision if you're in command. But you do not need to put this burden entirely on your shoulders. Now look at me."

"I'm tired, Mom." Suddenly Ruby felt exhausted.

"Ruby, look at me." She did, and Summer looked older now, no longer the young mother that Ruby remembered her as, but an older woman, as old as Willow Schnee or Rissa Arashikaze. There was gray in the red hair, and lines around the eyes. "Ruby, you are chasing a ghost. Whether my bones lay scattered somewhere in Siberia, or in an unmarked grave near Salem's lair, or even if I'm somehow still alive, like you and Yang fear, and dying by inches in Salem's dungeon, it doesn't matter. You are chasing a ghost. I am gone, Ruby. You must learn to be you." She poked Ruby in the chest. "You must learn to be Ruby Rose, with all of her strengths and weaknesses, faults and foibles, mistakes and triumphs. If you can be that person, and accept that, then neither Neo nor Congress can destroy you. Quit trying to be me. Be Ruby, and that will be enough."

Ruby touched her mother's face, and it became young again. "Mom...it can't be that easy."

"It isn't. You will be tested. This takes work. It's not something that's going to be resolved in one day or one year or maybe even in one lifetime. But if you accept it, accept yourself, then you can at least begin the journey forward." Summer smiled. "We do these things not because they are easy, Ruby, but because they are hard. But the Ruby Rose that emerges from this fire will be a better person for having touched the flame and been burned by it."

"I'll try, Mom. I'll do my best," Ruby told her.

"No one can ask for more, Ruby." Summer kissed her daughter on the forehead. "All right. Now it's time to wake up, kiddo. You've got a lot of people depending on you, but...you don't have to stand alone."

"Wake up?" Ruby asked. "So...I'm not dead?"

"Not at all." Summer grinned. She pointed to a door that had materialized behind Ruby. "Now go, Ruby. I love you. Just the way you are."

"I love you, Mom." Ruby turned to go. "I'm going to find you, Mom."

"That's all right, honey. Just remember what we talked about." Summer made shooing motions.

"I love you," Ruby repeated, and walked through the door.

AUTHOR'S ADDITIONAL NOTES: Well, that's a bit better. Ruby's waking up, and maybe Little will make it after all. But what about Neo and Cheshire? Well, stay tuned...

Regarding some of the aces that Summer references: William "Billy" Bishop was and remains Canada's top ace, shooting down 72 aircraft during World War I, often in a Sopwith Camel. Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, needs no introduction. Douglas Bader, the World War II ace with artificial legs, has been mentioned before in ORW as one of Yang's inspirations, while Richard Bong really did do loops around the Golden Gate Bridge, which almost ended his career before it began. Ruby also mentions Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, famous for being one of the highest scoring Marine aces of World War II in the F4U Corsair; Yevgeny Pepelayev may have been the top scoring ace in the Korean War, fighting with Soviet "volunteers" against UN forces. George Preddy was the top P-51 Mustang ace of the war; he did not survive it. Finally, given his tail markings, it appears Ozpin served with VF-111 (nowadays VFC-13), the famous "Sundowners."

The scene with Weiss and the doctor was inspired (and stolen directly from) the movie A Bridge Too Far, but it was based on a true incident. I thought that was too good an inspiration to waste.