Ruby Rose wondered to herself if she hated Jaune Arc.

Better candidates existed for the emotion. She had certainly had worse enemies, true examples of irredeemable evil that had done nothing but harm her and the people she loved. People who had unwillingly forced her to the realisation that she would kill them if presented the opportunity. One of those people was currently hunched up against a rock not too far from her, a single arm pulling her legs to her chest. Their little group had been walking for a long time before stopping here. Long time in the vaguest possible sense, as there was absolutely no way to mark the passage of time under the constant gloom of the grey, cloudy sky above. Measuring distance had also become a difficult endeavour; what she was sure must have once been a menagerie of green forrests, rocky mountains, and the occasional bit of worked agricultural land was now nothing more than one long, flat grey desert. Like how the still waters of a lake perfectly reflected the blue sky, their world was light grey on dark grey, with the occasional silhouette on the horizon. Not today, though. Today they were presented with a river blocking the direction that would hopefully lead them back towards Haven. Ruby sidled up to the fallen maiden resting against the rock, taking a seat atop it and looking down at her.

"So ya think we can fly over it?" Ruby's eyebrow shot up in amused curiosity, not so much at the answer because she knew the answer. No, the purpose of the question was simply to see Cinder's reaction. The fall maiden's sights slowly moved to the wide stretch of inky, black ichor that flowed lazily past them. It was not the first time they had encountered one of these unnatural bits of geography. First time experiences were a rare commodity for them. They always appeared impossibly straight and long, like lines on a piece of grid paper stretching along an axis towards infinity. The water, if it could be called that, was self-propelled, as any possible incline that could assist in its flow was nonexistent in the wasteland they called home. Cinder hesitates to speak, keeping her eyes transfixed on the dark liquid: "Uh, Cinder? Anything to say?" A small, feral grin accompanies Ruby's question, and an annoyed scowl from Cinder is its response. Eventually a strained whisper chokes itself forth from the maiden,

"No... if we try it will wake up... grab us... we might fall in..." Every word takes a great deal of effort to escape her damaged throat, and the slow, painful swallow that follows such exertion is enough to make Cinder's one unscarred eye scrunch up at its edges. Ruby hums in fake contemplation and real satisfaction, the ritual that so often plays out between them once again reaching its conclusion. She could push a little further if she wanted to; she certainly did when it came to Jaune, and it wasn't like the half-woman in front of her wouldn't indulge her. Sadly, today Cinder wasn't feeling generous, once again moving her gaze back to the ground, a familiar sign that she was done engaging in their little game. Spoilsport. Penny's last little 'malfunction' must have really gotten to her; Ruby supposes her own response didn't help either. Her silver eyes rarely played a part in their lives anymore; it was hard to focus on the preservation of life when the only people alive didn't need preserving. The glow was simply automatic to Cinder's fall powers, the two ancient magics tied together by her physiology, but the reminder always put a damper on Cinder's mood. Ruby wouldn't get anything more out of her like this, leering over the edge of the rock at her for a few more moments before sighing and leaving.

As she stepped towards the bank of the river, she once again pondered the same question: did she hate Cinder? Did she hate her more than Jaune? Cinder may have been the first real person that Ruby had ever hated, or maybe hatred was the wrong word. What Ruby knew without a doubt was that Cinder was her first real encounter with evil. True evil. Not misguided intentions, not petty selfishness, or a need for survival at the cost of others. No, Cinder did bad things for awful reasons with terrible outcomes. Or at least she did in the past. None of them could do anything with outcomes as important as good or evil anymore, not until they found what they were looking for. Ruby hated the things Cinder did and the people she took away from her, but did she hate the woman herself? No, hating evil is like hating a natural disaster. Like hating gravity. Evil was a rule written somewhere in the blueprints of reality; one could only accept its presence and do everything to stop its consequences. She spares one last glance at the maiden before moving on. How could she hate a creature that was now so small and broken? Pity was the only thing that felt correct.

As Ruby approached the bank of the river, her eyes were drawn to the orange-haired girl kneeling in front of it. Penny was occupying herself by dipping her hand into the oily substance, doing her best to cup as much of it as she could before bringing it back up to inspect it. The substance clung to her peach skin, fizzling and hissing while it slowly ate through the material. Ruby could see the small movements of false life in the puddle in Penny's hand, automatic attempts at Grimm forming in response to the presence of true life. As little 'true life' as Penny could be considered to have. Inevitably, the hostile liquid ate through the soft material of her synthetic skin, dripping back down to rejoin the river. Penny stared at the remains of her hand, steely, skeletal fingers flexing and curling until an intense white glow completely enveloped them. Restoring the damaged limb like nothing had ever happened. The sight of the regeneration was nothing new or noteworthy to Ruby, but the mechanical girl's complete and total lack of reaction to it irked her. Even after all this time. Ruby coughed to let her presence be known before kneeling down next to Penny, asking with as calm a tone as her mood would allow,

"Penny, you already know what it does. Doesn't doing that hurt?" Concern practically dripped from every syllable Ruby spoke, and yet she didn't know how much of it was fake. It had to be fake; how could she still let herself care this much when the answer was so obvious? Why does she keep expecting a change there so soon after what happened on the hill? Penny always got worse after the 'incidents." Whatever spark was still inside her would retreat after lashing out like that, and the long process of coaxing it back out again would repeat like clockwork.

"Hurt? Oh. Yes, I see. Yeouch!" Penny grabs her wrist, shaking the recently degloved limb like she had just received a paper cut. The whole act is so stilted and sudden that it forces a small giggle from Ruby. Almost as suddenly as the excited motion began, it ends, a passive smile once again resting under dull, empty emerald eyes. "I will certainly avoid doing that again." Ruby knew that she wouldn't; they had all long ago learned that while teaching her new behaviours was relatively easy, getting her to forget ones she had already learned was difficult to the point of impossible. Ruby shook her head with a sigh. At least she wouldn't risk starting the party early. The Grimm river would only respond to the presence of a significant amount of aura, not the paltry sum Penny contained, and they were lucky to have just the perfect battery standing still as a statue nearby. She goes to stand while patting the android on the shoulder, completely missing the trace of green light that briefly flashes across Penny's face as she does so,

"Alright, Penny, just sit tight. I gotta go talk to Jaune real qu-"

"Friend Ruby. Why are we going to Haven?" It felt like getting hit in the gut with a blast of lightning dust. Processing the words spoken almost knocked Ruby over if not for her hand on the other girl's shoulder. She had been so good at not calling her that recently, almost long enough to forget the possibility of it re-emerging. She couldn't even remember how those words had sounded originally, but she knew how they came out now was just... just wrong. Ruby swallows, shakily answering,

"We told ya before, Penny. The rains have been moving this way. The rains go where people are, and Haven is the most likely spot they would choose." An clear objective always calmed Ruby nerves and focused her. Explaining why what needed to be done used to have the same effect, but now she felt so silly trying to sound genuine about this plan.

"Yes. I understand. However, you have stated multiple times that my attempts to inspect villages for signs of life are pointless."

"I never said they were pointless..."

"You used sarcasm. You stated that repetitive inspections of villages and ruins were-" Her arms whirl slightly, raising up and curling two fingers on each hand while quoting, "A weird way to go about it." Her arms dropped as quickly as they were raised, "-while employing sarcasm." Ruby's eyes lowered to the edges of her ratty skirt. Idly ripping a piece of the frayed material off as she responded,

"Penny, there's no point checking every little hovel we come across. If there were really people there, we would see signs from a distance. Smoke and lights, maybe even patrols. Besides, we've been to almost all the places you've looked before." Ruby didn't really believe what she was saying; her assessment was true enough, but her reasoning for not inspecting them was simply because she couldn't be bothered to look through rubble and bones anymore. It was bad enough when they needed to scrounge up clothing, and any other need had long since disappeared with their immortality. Ruby knew what the next point would be before Penny could even say it; it was all any of them thought about when not distracted,

"Okay. Then why are we going to Haven? We've been there before. Multiple times." There it was; the same uncomfortable thought that permeated their little coalition permanently. The same question was asked when they travelled to the flooded remains of Mantle. When they had followed the rain all the way back to Shade. The same conversation they had last time they were in Beacon and would once again have when they travelled back there after Haven. Always, always, she would give the same answer. The same hopeful tale she told them and herself,

"Penny, people need to move around to survive. The rain makes sure of that. If we want to find the maidens, we need to keep moving. Shelter is becoming harder and harder to come by, which means the best places to check are the most built-up areas. The kingdoms. Academies. Military outposts." She leaves 'not piles of rubble and rotten straw' unsaid; she knew Penny didn't mean to test her like this. Whatever small part of Penny that was alive needed to hear it to once again have belief that there was a plan. A path to move forward on. She just hated having to be the one to reiterate it. Every. Damn. Time. The more they all made her think about it, the less she believed it herself, and the more sad and funny she found the whole notion. She felt more and more each time like she was reading someone else's script, and every rehearsal just made her recognise each and every flaw more intimately. "You and I don't have maiden powers. Jaune hasn't suddenly started hearing Ozpin's voice in his head. That means somewhere out there, a group or multiple groups must still be alive." She feels her own voice grow smaller, "Just not in the villages..."

"Hmmm. Okay." It only occurred to Ruby now that Penny's expression was completely unmoved during the whole interrogation. Maybe to her, this wasn't some crisis of faith, just simple curiousity. Ruby flashed a smile before successfully standing and walking away from the orange-haired girl, grateful that the whole interaction was over. That word clawed at her mind again as she took a moment to slow her heartbeat, breathing deeply. Hate. She knew for a fact that she didn't hate this Penny. She had long since accepted that the entity before them was not the same as the original and had taken some comfort in that. If the Penny she knew was alive right now, right here next to them, the very thought of it sickens Ruby to her core. Penny was truly innocent. A pure, incorruptible good. Even though Ruby's memory was not as good as Jaune's, even as details of her life before slipped from her mind, that fact would never change. Penny was good, and being in this place, with them, would have torn that goodness to shreds.

This Penny, the last dying wish of a man who didn't even know how little left he had to give, was at the very least suited for this life. Penny's father couldn't have known what imbuing a sentient creature with the last trickles of his aura would truly result in. He just knew he wouldn't survive the procedure long enough to see it. He just wanted his daughter to live again, in whatever form that took. Ruby was the one who had to live with the consequences; the unnerving uncanniness, the mockery of a friend she had grieved for. A walking, talking parody of someone she had held so dear. No, she didn't hate this Penny, but maybe she could spare a little hatred for the man who made her.

And a lot for the man who took the original away.

Jaune was standing back from the bank of the river, his head turned towards the horizon. He probably wouldn't even hear her approach, too caught up in his own memories to acknowledge the reality around him. What else was new? She took a brief moment to study him as he was distracted, the armoured figure still towering a good head and a half above her. His shoulders slumped back and relaxed in a way they never were once their conversations began. Face hidden behind a helmet he refused to ever take off. Not since she started telling him stories. She can't help the crooked grin that slips onto her face; maybe the others would be distracted enough that they could peacefully have their moment. She didn't know why she felt the need to hide the activity from the other members of the group; Penny wouldn't understand the meaning behind what was happening to begin with, and Cinder wouldn't stand up to her even if she felt the need to.

A sigh and a shake of the head, she knew deep down why it wouldn't be a good idea. As bad as they had all individually and collectively fallen, there was still a stability to their dynamic. As uncomfortable as Ruby found herself when dealing with Penny, Jaune could barely even bring himself to be in her presence. The reason was obvious: the downside of better memory. In that same vein, Cinder would shy away from both herself and Penny; the threat of burning silver light or a random attack did not foster relations. Even if she would agree to her little ritual of making her speak every once in a while. Cinder surprisingly gravitated towards Jaune, probably because in his often prolonged fugue states he would barely acknowledge her presence. Safety from danger while being ignored. Cinder needed them; her weakened, degrimmified state meant she was almost incapable of travelling. They would often be forced to carry the damaged woman when her stamina had all but vanished. She wasn't even capable of generating Aura anymore, not that any of them truly needed it. Plus they had a plan, one that Cinder, in quiet contempt, had agreed to. That plan was why they needed Cinder; they could never extract the Fall Maiden's power from her. They needed all four if they even wanted a chance of escaping this, and that meant they were stuck with her. If Ruby played her little game with Jaune, if Cinder saw Jaune so utterly belittled in front of her, she would realise that even he couldn't serve as some sort of sanctuary for her. Cinder would most definitely leave. She was still a maiden, still capable of burning through any restraints they made and fleeing to the sky. Even if she could only summon the power briefly, it would be more than enough to put distance between them.

Ruby frowned, accepting that no fun would be had today.

"Jaune." Her voice was enough to snap him out of whatever daydream he was having, the tension returning to his whole body as he stood a little straighter. Welcome back to reality, Brave Knight.

"Yeah, Ruby?" His tone was so very cautious, his voice even managing to crack a little as he spoke her name. He hadn't even turned to look at her; he was an expert at pretending things he didn't like didn't exist. Her frown deepened at the thought, he'd barely even spoken since the hill while she was stuck trying to keep them moving in the right direction despite Penny's constant interruptions.

"Any ideas how we're going to get past this?" She gestured lazily to the river as she spoke, though he couldn't see with his back still to her. She was certain he knew what her plan was, but she was giving him a chance to come up with an alternative. Not that he ever did, not anymore. She couldn't push the thoughts back anymore to focus on the task at hand; her mind flooded while she watched his turning head scan the length of the river. Did she hate him? Did she hate anyone more than him? She recalls ever so briefly the feeling of warmth he once provided. A time when she didn't feel the urge to see him made uncomfortable and guilty. Brief flashes of statements stung at the edges of her mind: 'first friend', 'followed me', 'promised to meet me there'. Words and phrases that might have once held meaning for her long ago. Her eyes close as she tries to think about when the resentment had started: an intense moment in some yellow room, an argument by a lake, his arm around her waist while he dragged her away for their bodies so she wouldn't have to se-... The thought is like touching a hot iron; her whole sense of self recoils from it instantly. A deep pit in her mind so miasmic that even acknowledging its existence would disintergrate her. The reason she doesn't sit and dwell like he did. Why she never could. Every cell of her body is thankful when a voice drags her back to the present,

"Ruby?" She blinks her eyes open, the armoured man now facing her, any worry or concern for her completely lost behind the echo of his helmet. She coughs, not realising how dry her throat has become,

"Uh, yeah, you got something?"

"I really don't think we can cross it this time." Her eyes narrowed at that; she really hadn't been expecting any disagreement on this. It simultaneously shocked her that he cared enough to think about it and made her angry that he hadn't bothered to do so in such a long time.

"And why not?" She doesn't bother to hide her suspicious tone.

"Ruby, look at this thing." His tone is even and slightly muted behind the helmet, but even still, the tiredness manages to bleed through. He gestures his arms out wide to the river before them and says, "This river is at least three times wider than any we have seen before. Triggering these things is already a nightmare for a normal one." Despite her dim view of him, she knows his hesitation doesn't stem from fear. Not fear of death, at least, or even pain, really. No, she knew that what was really at stake here was the risk of the river reforming before they could break their way through, swallowing the whole group. Even through the foggy haze of her time here, she knew the consequences of such a mistake. They had made it plenty of times already.

"Maybe we can find a spot where it narrows?" His head is shaking before she can even finish.

"Have you ever seen one of these rivers that wasn't perfectly straight?" She sighs, shaking her head and conceding to his point: "We either have to wait for it to pass, pick another direction, or head back to Vale." Three terrible options were laid out before her, and of course she would be the one to decide. Even when he bothered to have an idea, he still didn't have the backbone to choose. Well, if the choice was hers anyway, she might as well make it.

"Or we cross it." She crosses her arms and tilts her head, perfectly aware of the incredulous look on his face, even if it's hidden.

"Didn't you hear me? Crossing a river this size-"

"It will be tough, yeah, but we don't have any other options. Finding this lead with the rains already took us forever. We don't know how long it will be until we get another. We can't turn our backs on this!" Her tone was becoming heated; rarely were they forced into decisions with real consequences anymore. It almost felt strange that something was worth arguing over. If the slight animation in his rising shoulders was anything to go by, he felt the same.

"If we get stuck in there, we don't know how long it'll be before we get out. Not to mention where we'll end up and how separated we'll be." He's taken a step towards her now, a subconscious attempt at intimidation, perhaps a holdover from when violence had any sort of meaning for them. She almost wants to laugh at it, but instead she spits back,

"We won't get stuck! Look, this one might be wider, but we've made crossings before with plenty of time to spare. Plus, if we use our sembelances," She was startled a bit when his hands shot up past his head in exasperation. His tone takes on a hint of aggression that she hadn't heard in quite a while.

"Our sembelances?! You can barely steer us when amped! Trying a ford with all four of us while amped; you'll be lucky if you don't crash us straight into a Cenitaur's mouth!" Ruby guffaws at his doubt, annoyed at how easily he criticises her movement despite his whole role being standing still. She goes to deliver another retort but is interrupted when the other members of their group approach.

"Hello. Is a fight occurring?" In the rush of the moment neither one of them noticed how loudly they were speaking, enough that even Penny had picked up on the negativity. She spies Cinder moving slowly in her periphery, circling them widely with a look of pure annoyance on her face. Like the very idea that she couldn't stride right into the middle of them despite any complaints to be incorrect. Penny settles at Ruby's side, with Cinder joining them on the opposite side at Jaune's flank. Ruby sighs and turns to Penny.

"We're not fighting; we just have to make a decision here. I think we should risk a crossing, Jaune thinks we shouldn't." A thought creeps into her mind; a part of her screams that it isn't a fair tactic to use, but it can't win out before the words leave her lips: "And I think we should put it to a vote." A loud creak of metal on metal rings out when his head shoots to look at her, leaning back slightly at her audacity. A thick piece of guilt lodges itself in her throat, but she swallows it painfully to continue: "They've done plenty of crossings before, they have a right to a say in this."

"They haven't fallen in before, they don't know what it's like." Desperation seeps through with every one of his words, a difficult feat to achieve and one she had earned in spades. She knew he was right; only the two of them had had the displeasure of that particular experience. The consequences of being here and aware the longest. The unfairness, however, didn't come from their ignorance; it came when the answer she knew she'd get arrived,

"I vote that we attempt it." It's Penny's turn to receive his surprise, though Ruby doubts he has the same expression of ire hidden away that he did for herself. Neither of them needed any justification for her answer; the fact that the plan was Ruby's was more than enough of an explanation. That left one possible dissenter with whom the most devious part of the tactic would play out. Jaune turns his head to Cinder, shaking it slowly in a desperate plea. Cinder regards him with a raised eyebrow; even that brief moment of consideration is something Ruby never would have imagined when they first found her. Soon, though, one amber eye glances towards the river, and any possible expression of hesitation is replaced with pure determination. It would never even be a question; the choices were retreat or attack. For all the many scathing criticisms that Ruby could level at Cinder Fall, backing away from a test of wills was not one of them. Cinder raises a finger towards the river and gives a single, resolute nod.

The way Jaune's chest rises in a solitary, deep breath tells her that she's won. As much as he would like to, he couldn't babysit them forever. The breath comes out as an exasperated sigh, his tone equal parts defeated and accepting,

"Fine." He turns towards the river once again, marching down to its bank while the rest follow in tow. He kneels in front of it, a warm golden light enveloping his entire body as he begins to boost his own aura. Hand outstretched over the river, ready to plunge it in. Even at a distance, she can see the way the inky, black liquid begins to churn and vibrate. The beginnings of a bone-white claw pulling itself together among the wash. Ruby readies her stance, her own sembelance manifesting as a buzzing sensation over the whole surface of her skin. She feels the edges of her own Aura begin to lighten, fraying outward into rose petals. Fear and anticipation. Not emotions she often felt nowadays; she almost isn't prepared for the way the hairs on the back of her neck are raising up. She can see Cinder and Penny taking their own stances in preparation, ready to be swooped up.

As Jaune's fingers creep closer towards the now violently spitting water, she couldn't help but once again ponder the question. If she could remember well enough a time when she didn't hate him. If she wouldn't remember when her negative feelings about him began. Could it even be said that she hated him at all? Would true hatred even allow for this amount of doubt? Yet she can't reconcile the thought with the urges she feels with him; the need to remind him that he isn't a hero, that maybe he never was. The feeling of satisfaction she gets when her speeches and tales make him stir with guilt. The instinct to force him into siutations that, much to his chagrin, would make him act like a leader again. The way she hoped he would doubt himself when forced to make a decision again. The image of him acting coy and smug when it ended up working out. She wanted to see the sheepish smile he would give her when she told him she believed it would work out the whole time. She missed when his hand would rub the back of his neck as he thanked her. When he was there with her, really there, not ignoring it all in favour of nostalgia. Not slipping away to a place in his mind she could never follow, the place that deep pit lived in hers. Not leaving her alone in this hell.

She feels tears well up in the corners of her eyes and the sight of his glowing back growing hazy from the liquid. She hated that she wasn't enough to bring him back alone, that negativity was the only thing that lured him back to the surface. She hated that she had to twist herself and her ideals into satire just to see him again. She hated that she couldn't just let him cope with this situation in his own way. That she needed him. The thought that she still felt the need to need anyone, that she deserved any help made her feel sick. Even the idea that she had the right to judge any of them, to pick at them and their flaws in her mind, to pretend like she was the only thing holding them together. When it was her that brought them there, her solution that condemned them.

Her choice. Her action. Her fault.

The tears flow freely now, it had been so long since her cheeks had felt real water. Jaune's hand enters the Grimm river and in an instant its flow stops. The once lazy stream curves into increasingly energetic waves. Its ebbs and flows becoming pillars and pits, pockets of density forming into oily spectres. Sillouettes of monsters taking shape amongst the now empty trough. Creatures she had spent so long fighting, so sure in her vow to stop them. Through the tangle of limbs and teeth and bone white masks she sees the path to the other side. The sight is enough for her to push forward, to let go of her form and disappear into rose petals. Reality fades away and her mind clears. She spares a final thought before acceleration takes her.

She didn't know if she hated Jaune but she knew for certain there was one person she hated far more than him.