A/N: Here it is. I finally took the plunge into fic writing and this little thing is my first attempt at it! It's not perfect (far from it) and all feedback is greatly appreciated as I dive deeper into this new uncharted territory :D

Read on and enjoy!

RWBY is a product created and owned by Rooster Teeth. I do not own any content affiliated with RWBY

(text in bold are Ruby's messages)

Chaos. That is what surrounded Ruby as she dashed from one shadowy Grimm to the next, cutting them down with reckless abandon using her beloved scythe. Weiss accompanied her providing much needed support, elegantly gliding with her glyphs close to her leader, her stony expression betraying only the slightest hint of panic. The pair of huntresses had just received a call from their grief stricken friend Jaune begging them to save his teammate Pyrrha, so that is what they were trying to do. The girls tore a path towards their goal, Beacon Tower, their home for the past few months and where they were learning how to become huntresses, now besieged by a horde of Grimm.

A deafening screech from above forced the huntresses to stop and cover their ears. Ruby looked up at the source of the infernal noise to catch sight of the massive Wyvern Grimm that had been hovering around Beacon Tower for the past couple of hours. The beast inexplicably pulled back and Ruby sighed in relief. 'Maybe we can clear up this mess with that thing gone', she hoped, but alas, her wishful thinking was cut short as the flying Grimm wheeled around and charged straight at the tower with yet another screech, taking out the entire clock tower, raining debris and heavy metal cogs all over the courtyard. "Ruby, watch out!" Weiss shouted at the young redhead. Without looking, Ruby used her semblance to dash away to safety next to her partner as parts of the tower they were rushing to rained around them. As the ground shuddered, Ruby turned to her white haired companion, "We've gotta hurry!" she shouted. Weiss looked up at the crumbling tower and summoned a line of glyphs up its side, "You can do this" she reassured her partner, prompting the redhead to dash up to the first glyph with her semblance and sprint up towards her goal, but try as she might the tower only seemed to be getting taller and taller, the top getting farther away with every step. Her panic rising, Ruby used her semblance to boost up the remainder of the way and when she finally reached her goal, she wished she was still at the bottom. Pyrrha was kneeling in front of Cinder, a black glass arrow pierced through her chest, her breathing short and gasping while Cinder smiled down at the amazon and caressed her head. Ruby could not hear what she told her since her ears started ringing, her vision blurred and it felt as if a thousand hammers were smashing through her skull as she screamed with all her might.

She screamed as she shot up straight, sweat dripping off her brow. Ruby took deep, panting breaths and took in the location she was in. 'Right. I'm in my bedroom, it was just a dream. Again…' she thought to herself, it's been a week since what they're now calling the Fall of Beacon and she's had to relive that nightmare every night since then. She looked at the empty bed to her right, the gentle rays of the morning Autumn sun adding to the yellow of the vacant bed sheets her sister Yang used to occupy before everything went to shit. Nowadays the blonde bruiser, craving solitude, opted to stay alone in the guest bedroom while she recovered from her dismemberment.

Ruby slumped back on her pillows, wiping the sweat off her brow as though she actually ran up that damn tower again, and considering how she felt at the moment, she might as well have. Her muscles were all stiff and she still felt a residual pounding at the back of her skull apparently caused by whatever she did with her eyes. Basically, she was in too much pain to do anything unattended. She looked around the empty room, accompanied only by the gentle ticking of her bedside clock, wishing that things could go back to how they were, before Penny's senseless execution and before Pyrrha's cruel death.

Her musings were interrupted by a gentle knocking on her door which opened just enough for a mop of pale blonde hair to show itself, "Ruby? Is everything ok?" her dad, Taiyang, called from behind the door, his brow furrowed with worry. "I'm fine, I just had that dream again" she replied. He hummed, unconvinced, "Well, just say the word and I'll have some breakfast made for you." The young huntress considered his offer for a moment before replying, her silver eyes glancing at her father's concerned blue ones, "Yes please, just some toast and orange would be great." she smiled. Tai smiled back at her, "Coming right up, you stay put and I'll bring the tray to you" he said and he went back down to the kitchen to prepare the food.

Ruby stared at the ceiling in silence for a moment longer, watching the motes of dust lazily floating in the rays of light. She absently grabbed her scroll from the bedside table to her left and started looking through her notifications. After deleting about a dozen notifications from various games ('I really need to clean up my apps.' she thought, with no intention of deleting anything) she came across a message from Jaune sent to her about half an hour ago.

'Hey Ruby, you up?'

Ruby smiled. Yang had told her to give him some space to mourn the loss of Pyrrha, so she was happy that he reached out to her first. She started texting him back, vaguely hearing her father cluttering about in the kitchen below.

'Yeah, just woke up. What's up?'

'Nothing, just wanted to check up on you'
'After everything that happened I wanted to make sure you're ok'

'Honestly, I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about'
'I just want to say that I'm so so sorry about Pyrrha'

'I'm ok, you don't have to apologize'

'If only I was a little bit faster I could have saved her'

'Ruby, it's not your fault'

'IT IS'
'I was too slow'
'I shouldn't have been dicking around with the Grimm and just rushed up that damn tower.'
'But I didn't and now she's dead'

'Ruby just shut up for a moment and listen'
'It's not your fault'
'It's nobody's fault but that bitch Cinder'
'And her asshole cronies'
'As soon as you recover we gotta have a real talk about this, but right now I just want to check up on you and Yang, make sure you guys are alright.'

Ruby put down her scroll and held back the tears that were threatening to spill. She would be lying if she said that guilt wasn't eating her up inside. Jaune, as usual, was simply being too nice to her. The silver eyed huntress absolutely could have been faster up that tower, should have been faster. She was supposed to be saving people, not letting them die for some evil whore's plans.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. Thinking about Cinder made Ruby's blood boil, made her think dark thoughts of revenge and creative ways she wants the smug monster to die. 'If this keeps up I might have to start drinking like Uncle Qrow' Ruby thought. She quickly snapped out of it and wiped her eyes at the sound of her dad's approach. He helped himself in with another gentle knock on her door, "Breakfast in bed for a miss Rose?" He smiled playfully at her, holding a tray laden with a simple meal of toast with strawberry jam and fresh squeezed orange juice. Despite her depressive mood, The young girl's eyes lit up at the light breakfast before her, the subtle smell of toast and strawberries permeating the room. "How are you feeling, my little flower?" he asked her gently. Ruby took a sip from her glass of juice, "I dunno. My head still hurts and I kinda don't want to move. Same as yesterday really." she shrugged. Tai nodded thoughtfully and turned to leave the room, "I'll leave you to it then. Don't spend too much time on your scroll, that's why your head still hurts" Ruby rolled her eyes, exasperated, "Daaad, you know that's not true!" She heard him chuckling as he exited the room, "Just holler if you need anything. I'll be downstairs". He closed the door as he left, leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts again.

Her scroll beeped and Ruby almost dropped her juice in a panic. 'Shit, forgot about Jaune. I left him on read!' she thought with a giggle. She grabbed her scroll with her right hand and a piece of toast with her left, and opened the messenger app while taking a bite of crispy, strawberry goodness.

'Rubes?'
'Hello?'
'Did the local CT go down again?'

'Don't worry I'm still here. CT's still up and running'
'Also, my dad was bringing me breakfast'

'Must be nice, having room service :('
'I'm lucky if I get leftovers with Nora at the table'

'Right, Ren and Nora are staying over at Jaune's.' Ruby recalled. She wondered about the logistics of such a thing, Jaune's family was already pretty large so adding another two young adults (one of whom eats as much as five on a good day) must be a nightmare for the Arc household. Then again, it's not like the couple have anywhere else to go, poor things.

'Oh yeah, how are the lovebirds? Nora hasn't trashed the place yet?'

'She's actually very well behaved'
'I know it's hard to believe but she's mellowed down since... you know...'
'And then there's Ren, stoic as always'
'Sometimes it's hard trying to guess what's going through his mind. But at least he's getting along with my family'

'That's good to hear. You have got to introduce me to your family someday'

'As long as you promise not to embarrass me'

'I don't think you need my help to do that :D'

'Did I ever tell you how much I despise you?'

'Once or twice xoxo'

'Well, I'm telling you again :('
'Brb, gotta help with some chores. Don't fall off your bed!'

'THAT WAS ONE TIME'

'Yeah whatever, I'll be back soon :)'

Ruby giggled as if she was a blushing schoolgirl, and not a huntress trained to kill in a variety of creative ways. She already missed those times they spent chatting about random things back in Beacon and yearned for a return to those simpler times, before Torchwick, before the White Fang, and most of all, before the Vytal Tournament. She set her scroll aside and focused on her breakfast, her eyes wandering absently as she nibbled on her toast before settling on the still empty bed next to hers. She thought about what Jaune said, how Nora changed since that day and concluded that she shouldn't be surprised. 'I mean, look at Yang. She's always been cheerful with a joke ready in her sleeve. Now she's a broken shell of her former self that doesn't respond to anything and snaps at me for the audacity of wanting her to get better.' Her split second frustration at her older sister was immediately replaced by shame. Of course she's changed, she lost her fucking arm! That would cause anyone to change, and Yang most of all, she actually uses her arms as a weapon. Right on cue, her scroll dinged with a message from Jaune. She popped the last of her toast in her mouth and picked up the little rectangle to continue her conversation.

'Did you miss me?'

'Not even a little bit'

'I love you too'
'Jokes aside, I wanted to ask about Yang.'
'How is she holding up? Is she ok?'

Ruby sighed. A raven cawed outside her window as she went back to typing, trying her hardest to keep the tears in check.

'I'll be blunt. She's taking everything way worse than I thought she would'
'She barely speaks, and when she does it's to lash out or to talk shit about Blake for running'
'She doesn't want to do anything anymore except lay in bed and mope'
'She hardly even eats anymore, and you know she never skips meals.'
'Seeing her like this makes me both sad and really frustrated'
'I don't know what to do Jaune. I want her to get better but I don't know how.'

'There's nothing you can do'
'She has to figure this out on her own'
'All you have to do is be there for her'

And the floodgates opened. Before she knew it Ruby was sobbing softly, tears flowing down her cheeks. The thought that Yang would never return to her old self was too much for her, but she also knew that Jaune was right, she had to let her sister heal at her own pace, regardless of how long it took. At the end of the day, Ruby will be there for her.

'I just don't know what to do in the meantime'
'She doesn't even thank me when I help her get dressed or bring her food'

'She just lost an arm and her partner, you can't expect her to be fine overnight'
'And you and I both know it's not the arm she's mad about'

'Yeah. She was giving Blake "the look" for ages now'
'But that doesn't mean she should push me away!'

'Trust me when I say this, give her time'
'I have 7 sisters, I've been a therapist through more mood swings and breakups than I care to remember'
'She's strong. She'll bounce back eventually'

'I hope you're right'

'It's going to be fine, rushing will only make it worse'

She wiped away the last of her tears. Jaune might be a bumbling goof most of the time, but his grasp on emotions is solid. At least when it comes to other people, the man was still depressingly oblivious when it came to Pyrrha. Ruby sighed and winced a little when the pounding in her head intensified slightly. She felt tempted to call her dad to bring her some pain killers, but at the same time she didn't want to pester him with such a small thing since he's already doing so much for both of his daughters. Ruby made a mental note to grab a couple packs of pills the next time she went to the kitchen. A notification on her scroll grabbed her attention again.

'I just want to say how glad I am that you're ok, despite everything that's happened.'
'You were the first person to actually talk to me in Beacon and I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you too.'

That last message took Ruby a little by surprise, but she also knew the feeling was mutual so she replied in kind.

'Likewise. The socially awkward club would have been really quiet if I didn't meet you lol'

'Heh. Glad to have helped there :P'
'On that note, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave'
'I haven't trained at all since that day and Nora is insisting that "break time is over"'
'If I don't message you by tonight, she's probably killed me'
'If so, avenge me'

'Not sure how well I'd fare against her but I'll do my best lol'
'ttyl vomit boy :3'

'Cya around crater face ( ^_^)/'

Ruby smiled as she put down her scroll. Things might be hard right now, and the wounds left from a week ago definitely won't heal quickly, but they're still alive, and that means they can still fight to stop whatever evil Cinder is plotting. She recalled Qrow's hint that the enemy is from Haven so she already knew that as soon as she recovers, that's her next destination. And she will definitely ask Jaune to come with her, and Yang if she's better by then. Ruby looked out of the window, it was a beautiful day today. Her mind was made up. The entire reason she wanted to become a huntress in the first place was to prevent days like last week from happening, and she may have been powerless to stop Cinder now, but Ruby already knew that the next time she saw her, she will do everything in her power to protect those that couldn't protect themselves with all of her friends by her side.