Chapter 47 – do i even Know you

The process had already finished when they got down there, or it was finishing up. Either way, by the time K had rushed over to the machine, Ozpin was already helping an unsteady Ruby out.

"Ruby!" shouted Blake. She wasn't entirely sure why she did – there was no one else there but them and the headmaster.

"G-Guys?" Ruby looked up. "It's you! What's going on? Is the school still under attack?"

"It is," said Adam, guardedly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm…it really hurt, but it's all over now."

Blake took a step closer to her, but Adam held out an arm and blocked her. The three Faunus were probably a good twenty feet away from Ruby and Ozpin. The former was smiling through her pained tears and rubbing own arms as though she were frighteningly cold, while the latter was leaning on his cane. Based on what looked like a trigger and hilt on the end which the headmaster held, Adam had a strong feeling that the instrument was not merely a crutch.

"This area is not accessible to students, nor should its existence even be known to them," Ozpin stated coolly, his fingers strumming along the hilt of the cane. "Furthermore, I seem to recall destroying the elevator's controls before sending it back it to ensure that no one would interrupt us."

"How did you even plan on getting back out, if you did?" said Ilia.

Ruby perked up and pointed to herself. "You guys, I can fly! It tingles all over, but I can –"

Ozpin coughed into his fist. "Miss Rose."

"What?"

"Perhaps I should do the talking, as you seem particularly susceptible to their misdirection. Your teammates have managed to track us to this otherwise secure location. Would I be correct in assuming you were not the one to tell them, seen as you were only informed of it minutes ago?"

"I didn't tell them, sir. Yeah, that is a good point." Ruby scratched her head. "How'dja know I was here, you guys?"

"We saw you take Ruby in and followed her," said Adam.

"Hmmm." Ozpin's eyes narrowed, and his grip on his cane tightened. "Miss Rose, you recall how I informed you that dark forces seek the burden you now bear? It would seem that all along, these dark forces have been closer than either of us ever dared to believe."

"Adam and Blake and Ilia? Working for the bad guys? They would never! We're a team. I would have known if they were lying."

"Would you?" asked Ozpin, looking at Ruby as though she were a child. Well, she was a child, but he looked at her as though she weren't also a huntress. Something about his general dismissiveness rubbed Adam the wrong way, and he had to bite down to prevent himself from baring his teeth. They weren't enemies, but even the smallest sign of malice could lead Ozpin to believe otherwise. When they'd come down here to take the maiden powers, Adam had been hoping that it would be more along the lines of sneaking off with them, not fighting his theoretical ally over them.

At Ozpin's words, Ruby looked back at her team, and her eyes focused on Ilia.

"Y-You didn't tell me you were a Faunus."

"Ruby," intoned Ilia chidingly, stepping forward. "Does it really bother you that I'm a Faunus? I didn't think you of all people would be like that."

Ruby held out a hand, and a threatening gust of wind stopped Ilia in her tracks. A brief flash of light shot out of the corners of Ruby's silver eyes, then died down.

"I'm not, and you know that's not why it bothers me. It's not the Faunus thing, it's the trust thing. Don't twist my words. I'm not just some little kiddie for you to manipulate. I see things. I know everyone thinks I'm a dummy, but I see things."

"You're right. I am a Faunus." Ilia stepped back. "I did lie, and I'm sorry."

"Things don't add up with you three. I ignored it because I trusted you all, but now I'm not so sure. How many lies did you tell me? Ilia knew something about Mercury, and she was a Faunus, and she lied about spying on Weiss a bunch of times. And in Mountain Glenn, we suddenly got to go home because Adam just happened to find and kill Roman Torchwick but forgot to mention it for a bit? And the crocodile Faunus who'd been after us just by sheer dumg chance shows up in the most remote abandoned corner of Vale, smack dab in the same spot as the mission we signed up for? I don't believe it."

"Ruby–"

"And you, Blake! I though we…we…did you lie to me, too? Did you let me believe everyone else's lies? I sometimes wonder if I mean as much to you as you mean to me."

"You do, Ruby!" Blake hastily reassured her. "You mean everything to me!"

Unfortunately, it seemed like her desperation not to lose Ruby was misconstrued as disingenuousness, and Ruby's eyes began to flare with fire. Adam had to lean forward to prevent himself from being blown away by the small but steadily increasing air current Ruby created.

"Step back! Stay away from me!"

Ozpin nodded. "Miss Rose, they–"

Ruby held out a hand in front of him as well, pushing the old man back.

"You too! All of you, just stay back, until I know who I can trust!"

Ozpin appeared shocked at not automatically being counted among that group.

Ruby turned her head.

"Ilia."

"Yes?" Ilia said instantly.

"How'd you know Mercury was cheating? And no more lies! Or I'll – I'll – just, no more lies!"

"I won't lie, Ruby. Never again, never to you. Mercury's screams were fake. I know this because I'm good at falsifying injuries as well, and I saw him using some of the same tricks as me. He was just a poorer actor, and I saw through it."

"Who are you? W-What are you?"

"We…didn't exactly come to Beacon for education," said Ilia.

Ozpin's cane slammed into the ground. "Salem sent y–"

"BACK! I! SAID! BACK!"

Ozpin retreated.

The air around Ruby was now swirling into a small twister, catching the thick layers of dust that had built up on the floor and swirling it around. Her tears were sizzling instantly from the maiden flames, and her breathing had increased to panting. It seemed as though her tense emotional state, combined with the sudden strenuous use of powers she'd only just gotten, wasn't doing her health any favors.

"Ilia." The air from behind Ilia swirled around, then pushed her forward, closer to Ruby. "or any of you, really. Why did you come to Beacon, really? Tell me, plainly and without any riddles."

"We came to find something. Something that had been stolen from us."

"What?"

Ilia pointed to the aura transfer device. "That."


"You three are after the maiden powers," said Ozpin. "They work for the enemy, Miss Rose. You mentioned Mountain Glenn – they'd laid a trap for you!"

"Mountain Glenn, where I killed Tock and Neo and Hazel!" shouted Ilia. "If I work for this enemy of yours, why would I kill people on their side?"

"Illusions!" said Ozpin. "Bart's report mentioned a huntress with an illusion semblance, who could have easily faked her own death."

"Ruby," said Ilia. "You said it yourself – you're not stupid. You're smart enough to figure out the truth."

Ruby paused for a second, then looked down, piecing together the puzzle in her mind. Ilia patiently waited for her to come to her own conclusion. She could throw tons of evidence to support her own innocence against whatever Ozpin believed, but Ruby held all the power in this situation. Unless she decided it on her own, the truth was meaningless.

"I cut up Neo's body," said Ruby at last. "Her illusions would break like glass when you touched them. She was dead."

"There you have it. I killed them. I'm not allied with them in any way."

"That is not proof of your good intentions, Miss Amitola. All it verifies is that you are not allied with that particular branch of our enemies' forces."

"You." Ruby pointed to Ozpin through her tornado. "Shut up."

He opened his mouth to protest, but then wisely shut it.

"You." Ruby pointed to Ilia. "Keep talking."

"We came to recover the aura transfer device, not the woman within. Ruby, it belonged to our people before Ozpin stole it from us."

"Your…people?"

"Atlas," Ozpin breathed. "You're from Atlas. Ironwood sent you three to look when the machine went missing."

"Got it," said Ilia. "And we can prove it. The general told us that you faked a White Fang raid using hunters dressed in uniforms indistinguishable from White Fang soldiers. Classic false flag operation – we did the same thing for years."

"That's…true…"

Ruby lowered her hands, and the winds began to slow down. Ilia sighed a breath in deep relief.

"We're all on the same side here," said Blake, stepping forward now that Hurricane Ruby had subsided. "The side that wants to keep the kingdoms standing. And out there, right now, is the other side. The Grimm…and, I would assume, whatever 'enemy' of yours has masterminded this attack. It's far too well coordinated for this to have been anything other than planned by someone intelligent. Beowolves and Ursai don't congregated around the kingdoms in those types of numbers and all strike at once."

Adam nodded. "Atlas is Vale's ally. We came here to recover stolen property, but the three of us intend to honor the treaty between our two nations. We'll gladly defend this school against the Grimm if you just give us the chance."

"Ozpin, you want the maidens hidden, right?" said Ilia. "Far away from whoever could use their powers with ill intent? If Ruby comes with us, we can protect her, keep her out of harm's way. Don't make the same mistake you made with Amber, who travelled alone and paid the price."

Ruby looked unsure. "I…I…I don't know if this is…H-Headmaster, you told me that with these powers came great responsibility. Is this the right thing to do?"

"One final question." Ozpin set his cane down straight in front of him, placing both hands on its butt. "Glynda seems to have disappeared for the last hour or so, and I couldn't reach her by her scroll when this attack began. Did you three have anything to do with that?"

"We let her go –" said Ilia.

"That wasn't us –" said Adam, at the same time.

Shit.

Ruby's eyes narrow with danger and unchecked hate. "You're…You're still lying! All you do is lie to me and lie to me and keep lying to me. How am I ever supposed to trust you if you just keep –"

She threw her hands down in rage, and frosty blast of snow and hail shot out of her fingers. Ilia was struck across the side of her face and sent twirling backwards.

"Ilia! I didn't meant to – I'm so sorry! I didn't–"

"I'm okay," said Ilia, picking herself up. She wasn't really, but the tables had so gorgeously turned – they now needed Ruby's approval and were willing to say whatever she needed to hear to get it. "I'm fine. I've got aura. We should all just stay calm, okay? No need for fighting."

"Welllllll," Ruby began, acid in her voice, "it's kinda hard to stay calm when you all just–" She caught herself, stopping before accidentally waving her arms and unleashing her magic again. "…I feel like I barely even know you anymore."

Ruby clenched her jaw, and the ground began to rumble.

"Just calm down!" Blake said quickly, realizing that vault could easily become synonymous with tomb. "Please, Ruby, it's going to be okay! I promise!"

Ruby looked at the ceiling in time to catch some small bits of rubble and dust descend as a result of the tremor. Terror filled her tiny eyes.

"B-Blake…that wasn't me."


If the cry of the Grimm was so loud that they could hear it this deep underground, it had to be big. Like, record-holding skyscraper/lead airship/twenty-Goliath-stacked -on-top-of-one-another big.

Ozpin looked at the elevator. "We've wasted too much time down here. I need to get back up there."

Ruby nodded. "Let me–"

"No. You're too inexperienced with your powers to fight any Grimm right now."

"I thought that I was supposed to become a maiden to help people!"

"Helping people is not the same as throwing your life away using a weapon you cannot properly wield. Your time will come one day, Miss Rose. I promise you this. Today is not that day, though." He turned to K. "I'm sure you can handle dispatching these three, though. Don't trust a word they say."

Ruby nodded uncertainly, but Ozpin seemed too distracted to notice it. Slipping past K, he dashed towards the elevator. Then, unexpectedly, a hollow green bubble appeared around him, and he ascended into the air.

"He flies now?" asked Blake.

"He flies now," said Adam.

Turning back to Ruby, they found that she was holding out her shaking hands at the two of them. Then, the hand pointing to Adam switched to Ilia, then back, then to Ilia again.

"I bet you killed my Uncle Qrow too!" she accused. "H-He died, and Ilia was the only witness! You killed him like you killed the crocodile woman and Miss Goodwitch and you're gonna kill me!"

"Qrow's fine," said Ilia. "He's still alive. And it was Raven that attacked him, not me. He even admitted it."

"Stop lying! You lie! Everything was a lie! None of it was…I don't understand how…w-was it all just…was any of it ever…"

Blake knew that logic wasn't going to get through to a thoroughly terrified Ruby. And, honestly, she couldn't blame Ruby for how distrustful she was acting. With K's true nature revealed, everything seemed like it was up for grabs, and there was no doubt that Ruby was afraid that her entire time at Beacon was as fake as K's cover stories. After everything they'd put her through, it would be a miracle if she didn't despise them when this all ended a̶s̶s̶u̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶d̶i̶e̶d̶ f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶.̶

There was nothing they could do to reason with Ruby. Blake knew what she would have to do. And so, with her own hands trembling as much as her partners, she drew Gambol Shroud from behind her back.

Then, she dropped it to the ground.

For every step Blake took towards Ruby, the short girl rushed twice as many paces backwards.

"Don't come any closer!" Ruby begged, more afraid that threatening. "Or I'll…I'll fry ya!" Lightning crackled at her fingertips, arcing into the floor.

"I won't fight you, Ruby. No ma–"

Blake could tell that Ruby didn't mean what happened next. Months of experience around the excitable young lass in Goodwitch's combat class had made her rather adept at recognizing when she was aggressive and when she was flustered, and the electricity attack that made her flesh feel like it was being pushed through a colander was a result of the latter.

It hurt, and Ruby screamed in terror from her own unintentional attack as now loosed power and magic poured out of her hands, but Blake shook it off and picked herself up off the ground. Ilia moved to aid her, but the cat Faunus held her off with a hand. This was Blake's responsibility. Of the three Faunus in K, Blake could boast a greater culpability for Ruby's worsening breakdown than either of her partners.

She was the one who'd chosen to bring Ruby onto Team Rabies back during initiation, she was the one who disregarded her leadership at the dock, and she was the one who entered into a romantic relationship under false pretenses and started so many little white lies to Ruby in hopes of sparing herself the pain of watching Ruby's unease.

She was the one who'd let their romance go further and further because it made her feel good to have a cute little Ruby Rose at her side, because she enjoyed the warmth and comfort the wholesome young huntress brought her, because Ruby never asked for anything in return and Blake had taken that as a sign that she didn't need to give anything.

She was the one who cast aside Ruby at the first bump in the road when she found out her age, and she was the one who had the audacity to pretend to 'talk it out' by offering a hasty apology and dictating the terms of her and Ruby's chastity, knowing full well that Ruby was so emotionally fragile that she would agree to whatever promises Blake insisted she make.

She was the one who'd seen the signs of deep-seated issues in her partner and ignored addressing them in the name of not rocking the mission-shaped boat, but in reality because it was much easier to be content with her own comfort than it was to invest in the same herculean amount of effort her partner was putting into their relationship.

Based on how they treated one another, Ruby had cared for Blake a lot more than Blake cared for Ruby.

But no more. Ruby was confused and hurting and lashing out with powers she couldn't control, and only Blake could be the one to help her through it before Ruby lost herself to the Fall maiden.

And if Ruby killed her, intentionally or otherwise…

…if it ended up costing Blake her life at the hands of the girl she'd used for her own emotional gratification so casually…

Blake would have called it a fair trade.

Ruby's hands were now shooting out uncontrollable jets of fire, and she was aiming them at the ground to avoid burning Blake to a crisp or catching her own clothes on fire. Heavy, confused tears were pouring out of Ruby's eyes as she begged and pleaded with her body to obey her desire for it all to stop. She was no long looking at Blake; Dust, caught up as she was on her exponentially rising magical flux, Ruby was no longer even aware Blake was there.

The reaper nearly jumped out of her own skin when Blake's combat heels clacked as she approached. Blake held up her hands to show Ruby she was unarmed and took a step closer, slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you, Ruby – not anymore. I don't think I would be able to bring myself to fight you, even if I so desired. Ruby, I love you with all my heart, even if I've been horrible at showing it. Yes, I did lie to you about who I am, and that was a mistake that I can never apologize enough for, but please, I beg of you – remember who you know we are together."

Blake inched forward once more, and Ruby backed up in fear. Each step Ruby took in retreat caused the Blake's heart to fragment, and also caused the floor to crack. Chunky bits of rock floated up around her heels and began to orbit in circular tracks, as though altogether ignorant of the force of gravity.

"I'm still the same girl who learned how to drill sap with you in Forever Fall, where we both got our outfits so sticky that I had to run them through the wash five times just to get the last bits of sap off. You and I drained seven and a half trees, and you got so full that you told me you were going to skip dinner…until you remembered they were serving pork chops at the cafeteria and had three of them."

Blake took another step forward towards her overloaded girlfriend. Ruby continued to retreat behind her, but with her renewed focus entirely on Blake, the fire from her palms had ceased.

"I'm still the same girl who stayed up all night on our prom talking with you about our favorite types of Grimm, who listened to you describe why Beowolves and Manticores might actually be the same species and it's all a conspiracy by the big Dust industry to trick us. That was the night, Ruby, the night I realized I wanted to be around you more than anything."

Blake took another step, and this time, Ruby let her.

"I'm still the same girl who practiced the 'cat-apult of love' and the 'blazing cat-astrophe' and the 'whole cat and caboodle' combo moves with you for hours on end to perfect each one, because we made them together, as partners, and they were ours and belonged to you and to me and to us and to no one else. All of that was real, Ruby. It couldn't be a lie. I promise."

Blake walked up to Ruby, taking the younger girl's shaking hands into her own. They were burning hot to the touch and actively sparking , but Blake ignored the pain. Letting go of them would have hurt more.

"I'm still that person. All of those memories we shared still exist."

Blake inhaled deeply.

"Now let me tell you the rest."

Ruby was hyperventilating now, choking on her own tears, and as much as Blake wanted to fall back into old habits and tell Ruby whatever she felt she needed to hear, the time for what Blake wanted was over. Ruby deserved the truth. Ruby deserved everything.

"My name is Blake Belladonna. I was born to the leaders of the island of Menagerie, where I grew up. My parents were killed by the White Fang, so I joined Atlas to bring them down. General James Ironwood became my mentor, and he paired me up with two other recruits who were willing to help. We became a trio, and we were able to find justice for my parents. Not revenge, but justice."

"I used to pretend to be a human," cut in Ilia, after a moment of silence to confirm Ruby wasn't going to react to Blake's confession. "I got to go to a fancy school in Atlas and frolic and play. But then Jacques Schnee's carelessness got my parents killed in a cave-in while I was living it up with the 'other' humans. I didn't want any other little Faunus girl to ever have to suffer like I had, so I joined with Atlas when I was told that I could help take him down."

Adam shrugged. "James Ironwood saved me from a dark place, and he stopped me from becoming a darker person. That's all I've got."

"I…I…I…"

Blake looked at Ruby pleadingly. "We're still you friends, Ruby. Team Rabies. We may have been more than that, but it doesn't change the fact that the time we spent together has a special place in my, in all our hearts. You don't need to be afraid that it was all a lie or a trick, and we're going to run away and leave you all alone. You won't ever be alone, Ruby. Please, all we want right now is to help you. W-Will you let us help you?"

Tears had reddened Ruby's silver eyes, and she didn't answer for at least thirty seconds, taking the time to instead get her sobbing under control. When she finally did respond, it was little more than a hushed whisper.

"…okay."

Blake nodded, still holding Ruby's searing hands. Closing her eyes, she placed her forehead to Ruby's.

"Just breathe, Ruby. Don't think about the powers, don't think about the Grimm, don't think about me – just focus on you. Deep breaths, in and out. In, out."

Blake could practically feel Adam and Ilia watching with bated breath, both fearful for Ruby's mental state and of Ruby's rage, but there would be time for everything else later. Right now, all that mattered was doing what she was supposed to have done from the start – taking care of her girlfriend.

Slowly, degree by degree, the temperature of Ruby's hands began to drop. The ambient noise of the vault gradually returned as Ruby's sparking fingertips and gasping wound down, and Blake's hair fell back down to the sides of her head as the chaotic winds slowed.

"Buh-Buh-Blake…"

"There, there. I've got you, Ruby. I've got you."

Blake was going to pull her in for a hug when something wrapped around her neck, lifted her into the air, and slammed her into the ground.

A voice spoke from somewhere behind her…from above and behind her. "Touching, children. Absolutely touching."

"BLAKE! NO!"

Ruby's eyes blazed with maiden fires, and she shot a burst of high speed winds into the air above her at the attacker.

Cinder Fall, floating in the air as fire shot out of her heels, hovered above them all, apparently unphased by Ruby's gale. Her sleeve and glove were off, exposing the fleshy charred appendage that had replaced her arm. The Grimm portion seemed to mesh into her human shoulder, but the cut was imperfect, and an appalling amalgamation of human shoulder bones and Grimm teeth jutted out every which way. The arm itself, if it could even be called that, seemed to be nothing more than a thin layer of rawboned Grimm tissue covering Cinder's own natural skeleton, the hole between her arm bones still unfilled and now completely visible. Her fingers were thin and gaunt, and the nails stretched out nearly three inches.

Blake could barely tear her eyes away from the arm, and not just because it was so physically sickening in a body horror sense. No, the main reason Cinder's arm in particular was so attention grabbing was because it had shot out, wrapped its hand over Ruby's mouth, and started to glow. Pulses of abnormal light ran from the hand to the shoulder.

Ruby's eyelids closed over her silver pupils as she fell unconscious, and her body slumped limply in Cinder's grasp. The tempest died down, and Ruby's eyes stopped glowing.


Author's Notes

Wanna know something crazy? Something weird?

For the original ending of this fic, K was going to have to kill Ruby. That was how it ended.

FUCKING WHAAAAAAAT?

When I outlined it, that was the plan the entire way through. When I started writing, the endgame was that the final battle was between Ruby and K and they to make a choice to kill or spare her. However, as the characters came to life, I realized that the direction it was going was not that way. The ending stopped making sense with how the characters made their choices, and keeping it started feeling like an obligation. Thus, the literal last change to my storyboard was to give our little Ruby a live her life and a have some friends.

Honestly, I'm glad it worked out this way. When I write, I tend to have a general idea of events for characters with certain set traits in mind, and then everything else just fills in based on the way the story is going. The major stuff won't change, especially when the narrative depends on it, but the way characters reach their endgame most certainly will. Ruby vs. K as the ending is the only exception, though I like the final ending I settled on is much better than some cheap fight that breaks up the team permanently for no reason. (For reference, the ending was changed in the very early chapters, around 10 or so).

That said, on this and other fics, you can occasionally see little breadcrumbs of some unfinished plot elements that never got added in but I liked too much to delete.

Wanna know something else that's somehow even crazier?

It wasn't until I wrote the backstory for Ruby being abandoned as a tot (Ch. 18) that I even had that in mind, despite it ending up being the driving force for her character by the end. Originally, she was just a normal knees Ruby who was kind of derpy and innocent but with the same backstory as canon. That means that everything after that (all her breakdowns, all her mistakes, the silent treatment, her going apeshit on Cardin, her shutting down and having the goose dream) was written essentially by the seat of my pants. (By the seat of my pants is actually how I write a lot of stuff)

Bear in mind, I did write the whole thing out in advance and then go back and apply MAJOR edits so everything was consistent and made sense. Still, I think the reason it worked out so well was because I didn't stick to a concrete ending when it felt like the story wasn't going that way. The Empty Seat and Living The Dream are the same – if I don't feel like it's what the characters would do, I have them do something else, regardless of my drafted outline (case in point, Mercury and Morrighan). Perhaps it makes things more haphazard, but I believe it keeps the characters more consistent in their reasoning.

That also brings us to another entirely INSANE dropped storyline that was going to be here: Ozpin.

Remember in Ch. 36 when Pyrrha was super mopey about Jaune leaving, and then Adam convinced her to go outside and have dinner, barging past Yang and forcing her to get something to eat? If so, you may recall this passage:

.

"Is this the first time she's been out since Jaune left?" Adam asked Yang, out of Nikos' earshot.

The brawler couldn't tear her eyes away from Pyrrha as she answered. "S-She needed space. I was so sure."

"Those who mourn need space, but never isolation."

"She's so…happy," said Sky. "Yang, you said it would be bad for her."

"It would!" Yang defended. "I mean, I thought it would…right? When Mom passed, Ruby–"

"What you people did to Ruby," Adam growled contemptuously, "was child abuse. She still bears unhealed mental scars from that time."

"I – that's not – that's a family matter. It's not one's fault; we just messed up, okay?" Yang herself said it with such little conviction that Adam doubted she even believed it herself. Silence descended upon the three of them.

.

Originally, it was supposed to go like this:

.

"What you people did to Ruby," Adam growled contemptuously, "was child abuse. She still bears unhealed mental scars from that time. If Ozpin hadn't intervened in her home life, would you ever have even noticed she was gone?"

"Ozpin?" asked Yang, blinking. "What did he do?"

.

Cue the dramatic reveal that Ozpin had lied to Blake and everyone and never actually told Ruby's family that things had gone wrong, and he had covered it all up. He would have appeared as a savior to Ruby, the sole person she could rely on, thus ensuring her loyalty and guaranteeing him a silver-eyed chess piece, and no one would have been any wiser. Yang would have truly believed that Ruby overcame her own trauma with no external intervention, and this was the first she heard of Ruby having any issues.

You wanna know the reason I bailed on this? Because Empty Seat Ozpin was being such a manipulative prick, and I didn't want to have two Ozpins being evil, lest I start becoming typecast as an 'Ozpin is evil' writer. Thus, the entire potential storyline of Ozpin and K playing a secret tug of war with Ruby was cut/toned down immensely. They still do it somewhat, but I had some possible ideas for it being much broader that never came to be.

(I also didn't think I could incorporate this storyline without it conflicting with the other more prevalent storylines that were emerging at the time, but that's a whole 'nother rat's nest.)

At this point, I don't feel like it's too much of a spoiler to say that Ozpin's not evil. There's not enough time for a dramatic twist in the last three chapters, and he's been a decent fellow so far, albeit slightly willing to bend the rules for his darling little rose (but, like, not in a molesty way).

Woohoo, author's notes the length of a small Empty Seat chapter, let's gooooooooooooooo!

Happy rats, and don't do crime!