New Remnant: Odyssey

by Ben10Extreme

Ruby Rose dreams of becoming the Demon Queen, in a more benevolent nature than one would expect from such a title. She begins her odyssey in a revitalized World of Remnant, alongside her beloved Jaune Arc and friends, as she gradually amasses the influence and power to realize her dream. Ruby's goal soon picks up speed when they encounter a ferocious Dragon...Cinder Fall.

13. What We Need To Say

The Red Riding Hood Guild continues to have a terrible day, now night.

Mara doesn't care at all, and Lilith's still having the time of her life.

These two just have no respect for other people's livelihoods...or their lives.

How rude of them, truly.

---

The clouds above became darker over the night.

Vale's central city was still under an inner and outer attack amongst the swarm of ghouls and Grimm, vampires and succubus all around. People were trying their best to either retreat or resist, but the creatures' enhanced powers has been allowing them to to overrun anyone and anything in their way for the most part. Cars were overturned, buildings were smashed through, streets were ruptured. Desperately trying to survive the onslaught, many have tried to fight back or flee, to safety with mixed results on either intention.

It was a truly dark day for Vale, one that it hasn't had in a very long time. And throughout it all, nearly everyone attributed to this disaster to the actions of the revived Demon Empress, Salem. Little known to anyone but those closest to her, this was actually not her doing. But no one would believe her innocence, especially if she herself tries to claim so. Her past villainy has made certain of it, and what's been broadcast across the world would most certainly further destroy any claims of such, or even speaking of her in a benevolent manner. Lilith's ploy was ruthlessly effective, both through lies and deception, and manipulating/emphasizing certain truths. It resulted in a mixture of everyone believing in the heights of her malevolence that might not have been as extreme as shown, and utterly destroying nearly chances of a believable benevolent portrayal of her name. Especially since there was a rallying call to the other Grimm Devils, other malevolent monsters, and everyone who uses one or the other for their own gain.

All of this chaos and terror, to be spread and celebrated, under Salem's name. How could Ruby ever accept such an outcome? She couldn't. Not her dear Grandmother. That wasn't the person she was anymore, and the extremes or Lilith's portrayal of her with her face and voice weren't like her in the past, either.

But that wouldn't matter in the world's eyes. The actions that they witnessed would speak far louder. And these actions have made their mark. There was no coming back from this. Salem's name and presence has been fully reintroduced into the world, and in the worst possible way. Her name would be reviled and cursed, slandered and besmirched. Everywhere Ruby went from then on, she would likely hear someone, even a random passerby, speak ill of her grandmother due to her less than pleasant history, and even more regarding this mass disaster that she didn't even cause. And Lilith is laughing at her, knowing how it distraught it'll make Ruby because of her connection with Salem. There was no way she'd be able to stand her beloved grandmother being insulted in such a manner. This was a mind of aspect she was helpless to combat the usual way.

Lilith had completely won in this regard. Ruby was aware of that. And she wasn't happy about it in the slightest, a fact she was sure to let the Grimm Devil be aware of as she ruthlessly chased her and Oscar through the streets of Vale.

Though she herself was unable to move on her own at the moment, hence why Oscar had to carry her and run. An endeavor that wasn't easy, because her reach was growing ever more with the amount of blood emerging from several spaces around them, attempting to converge on them. Spirals of blood flying about and attempting to crash down on the two of them in a bid to capture them both and kill them, which Oscar had to hurriedly dodge in his own.

A rather difficult feat for him, given how he nearly stumbled over several times in the process of dodging. He wasn't nearly as nimble or agile as Ruby was, but he had to try and keep ahead of the threat chasing after them, because she was in no condition to do so on her own. The only thing she could do to stall Lilith's advance was using her might to defend against her onslaught. After the initial strike, she had no means of energy to put forth an offensive, which was dangerous for them both.

He had no intentions on letting her down or letting her go, however. So, he was just going to have to grit his teeth and deal with it. He swore that he would support her and that's exactly what he was going to do, regardless of how much difficulty he's faced with.

That being said, it wasn't quite easy to live up to with how much his body felt like it was going to collapse from how far he was pushing himself at the moment. Yet he had to, he needed to. There was no other choice. Slowing down for even a fraction of a blink was all it would take for them to be overwhelmed and killed. That was the kind of danger they were dealing with at the moment, and neither of them had the strength to actually fight it, only flee from it. And of course, the far faster and more agile one, Ruby, was the one who was too beat up and tried to use these things, relying on Oscar to get them to safety. This was not only an ever-worsening situation, but it was also one stacked against their favor right from the word jump. And their only way of turning it around was to manage a desperate escape.

"Come now, little morsels! Don't be shy! All I wanna do is eat you up! I feel FANTASTIC now that I'm back at my best! Don't you feel happy for me? The least you can do is be my congratulatory snacks!"

He heard the being's sickeningly playful, demonic echoing laughter along with her taunt. Even looking behind him right now, he had absolutely no desire to slow down at all, no matter how horribly his body might ache for it. Because the alternative was letting whatever was chasing them to claim them, and Oscar honestly couldn't completely comprehend what he was looking at for the several seconds he allowed himself to.

Hence why the desperate escape had a massive emphasis on desperate.

Swarms of serpent and owl Grimm were screeching and hissing at the duo, alongside a near endless mass of red glowing eyes hauntingly locked onto the both of them. Each and every one of them were screeching and hissing, both having a haunting echo to them that sounded throughout the area. But that wasn't the worst part. What Oscar and especially Ruby could subtly hear, was the echoing dying sounds of every victim Lilith has ever eaten over the years, which was harrowing to think about since Lilith is a Grimm that's thousands of years old. From horrified agonized screams to defiant curses, to desperate pleas for mercy...even the crying sounds of children begging for their parents could be heard mixed in with the others. The massive and constantly shifting shadowy mass that in its overall size, is only vaguely shaped like an utterly horrific fusion of screeching owls and hissing serpents, the sounds of both ringing through the soul. Multiple owl wings that ALSO had eyes on them, to the eyes shifting in and out of it while locked onto their current prey. Every single aspect of...whatever Oscar was looking at right now...it was ALL Lilith.

We can't fight that. Not when Ruby barely conscious!

"I can taste your fear, little morsel! It has a gorgeous, herbal, spiky yet sweet sense to it! It only makes me wanna eat you even more! It'll go along real nice with your spilled blood!" Oscar was not at all pleased by this, and given that she's Grimm, she likely wasn't exaggerating too much about her being able to taste what negative emotions he felt.

"...Channel the fear...Oscar. Keep...moving." Ruby urged, and she honestly didn't have to ask twice. Her eyes were brimming with streams of light, but she wasn't going to be able to keep it up for too long. Her eyes flashed briefly as one of the shadowy serpents attempted to lunge at them with its fangs bared, only to disintegrate instantly due to the glowing silver barrier forming around the duo. She winced as the barrier just as quickly faded away from her faltering. "Keep...moving. Focus on...moving!"

Oscar hesitated just for several seconds, before he narrowed his eyes and obeyed. Just at the moment, a massive wave of blood soon formed a pair of serpent jaws, that attempted to crash down on the duo. He channeled his magic throughout his body, and several glyphs manifests in front of him and began speeding him up every four seconds. The blood serpents ended up crashing down onto the concrete, the force of the shockwave nearly knocking several buildings over. Rising up from the puddles of blood are screeching owls, the screeches themselves echoing throughout the area and were loud and powerful enough to shatter glass.

Oscar grunted at the harsh sound; his ears were not a fan of it at all.

"EIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"

Ruby's even more sensitive wolf ears had it worse, as she covered them and closed her eyes with a pained and agitated, high pitched whine, too unfocused by the sound to channel her light. She whimpered and growled and whined as she desperately pawed at her ears, anything to diminish the utterly unholy and ear rending sound.

"My ears! Sweet strawberry calamities, my ears!"

"Awww, did that hurt, wittle pup? What's that? You didn't hear it properly even with your impressive ears, and I should turn it up even louder?" Lilith taunted sweetly from the black mass.

"Shut UP, dammit!" Ruby howled in no small amount of pain and fury at her current predicament, her hands still over her ears. "I can't fucking focus! This is agony on my poor sensitive ears! MAKE THIS SHITTY SCREECHING STOP!"

"Is that a yesssssssss I hear?"

"I swear I'm gonna cut that smug hissy screechy bitch in half, so help me, I fucking SWEAR IT!"

Oscar winced with no small amount of shock as Ruby's agitation began reaching into higher levels, enough that more of her vulgarity was beginning to rise to the surface, making her sound a lot like her sister. This day has been growing worse and worse for her by the moment, and it was not going to get any better unless they did something about this.

"Ruby, I might have an idea!"

"ANYTHING TO MAKE THIS STOP!" Ruby howled/growled in intense pain, baring her fangs in an agonized snarl.

Oscar nodded hurriedly as several clock glyphs soon formed behind him, flowing green as their hands began turning. His eyes then glowed briefly for several moments, as did the clocks themselves, before each of the clock glyphs soon detonated one after another. The force of the blasts sent the screeching howls into disarray, before they slowed to a complete stop. A well-timed burst of Aura channeled through the Long Memory pulsed towards the frozen blood owls, which soon were destroyed from the ensuing shockwave. Oscar breathed for a moment before resuming his retreat, with Ruby still wincing as she cautiously took her hands off of her ears.

"...It stopped. Thanks, Oscar. Thank goodness for that." Ruby sighed tiredly while still trying to refocus, her eyes glowing briefly. Though given her current state, her broken antler/horn wasn't able to stay manifested for much longer, further indicating her current vulnerability. "I still can't...channel enough light...I'm too spent already...!" She grimaced as her eyes briefly flickered from bright silver to dull gray, then back again. "If this keeps up..."

"Save whatever strength you have left, Ruby! We can't have you falling unconscious! I'll think of something!" Easier said than done, but Oscar was prepared to make it work anyway. He didn't know how far he could push this, but it was becoming quickly clear that a long-term chase with Lilith was going to end with their demise, if they don't find a way to delay her. She'll be able to find them no matter what due to her senses, but that was fine. All he needed was a diversion, and several minutes. Fortunately, he could do well with both. And it began with a simple tap of his Scroll during the confusion, which quietly began flashing several times.

Now he just needed to run out the clock.

"Above!' Ruby shot her eyes upwards as a barrier of light surrounded the two of them again, preventing a massive wave of blood from crashing right onto them. Oscar managed to pick up their speed enough to get away from the onslaught, but he still felt himself getting more fatigued by the moment, slightly faster than Ruby herself, even. But he knew he couldn't afford to falter, he had to hold out for just a little bit. Though Lilith refused to make that easy, as wave after wave of roaring blood beasts manifested from her magic and did their best to chase the duo down with furious roars. Ruby breathed throughout the chase, with her eyes flashing and putting the shield up around them every time they managed to get too close to them, bouncing them back.

Oscar kept speeding themselves up by for seconds with each clock glyph he placed in front of him, though he doubted that this would keep them ahead of Lilith for very long. Index, multiple splotches of blood could be seen manifesting ahead of them, and then they quickly and ruthlessly turn into a sea of spikes that try to impale them both and run them through. Oscar was able to avoid being outright impaled by any of the spikes, by channeling his clock glyphs and using them to react a bit quicker to approaching attacks. But despite this, he still ended up being cut up across his sides, his cheeks, and his shoulders. One of the beasts eventually splashed out from a puddle of blood from a nearby corpse and attempted to bite at him. He harshly gasped as it ended up biting through a slight chunk of his left side in the process.

"Oscar?!" Ruby uttered worriedly, unable to keep her light shield up consistently in her current state, only adding more to what Oscar was dealing with at the moment. All of the moving parts of this escape would influence how he got the both of them out of this alive.

"This...is nothing...!" Oscar shook his head while increasing his stride again, the taunting hisses or Lilith sounding throughout the area. They weren't in the clear just yet, so long as they could hear and sense her. And until then, he would just have to hold out somehow and make things turn in their favor.

He leapt over the next puddle, and Ruby expanded her shield again when it launched dozens of bloody spikes towards them, leading to them dissipating on contact. Both of their eyes widened as yet another portal manifested from both their right and left sides, and Oscar quickly threw Ruby upwards and ducked under the resulting spirals slamming into each other. Ruby, meanwhile, saw that several screeching owls and serpents attempted to launch themselves at her while she's midair. She expanded her barrier several feet and bounced them away from her while they disintegrated. She landed back in Oscar's arms right when he managed to get back to his feet.

Things took a slight turn for the worse as a rather large and menacing Grimm soon rose out from the blood pool in front of them, and an even larger screeching Owl Grimm flapped their wings at the duo, which nearly knocked them off of their feet due to the resulting gust it managed to kick up. They barely managed to avoid getting blown away by the powerful gust, as kept her light shield around herself and Oscar in order to deflect the attacks coming from behind. Both of them grimaced at the sight of the owl Grimm soaring towards them. Oscar acted quickly as he conjured a brief bolt of time magic and had it hit the Grimm's head, which slowed its movements down for four seconds. Oscar took the brief tome to quickly carry Ruby away before the large Grimm crashed harshly into the ground, causing the ground around them to quake slightly and knock several cars away.

Unfortunately, the shockwave of the impact managed to knock them both off balance, and Oscar ended up crashing against the ground, with Ruby falling away from him as they both tumbled across the ground before coming to a pained stop. Ruby grimaced as she slowly pushed herself off the ground, her eyes only halfway opened but fully glaring as Lilith slowly slithered around a corner, multiple eyes from owls and serpents glaring at the two downed warriors with a sinister glint.

"Oh noes, it looks like you fell down!"

"Ngh..." Ruby growled as her glowing silver eyes soon shimmered down and became dull grey, her antler/horn vanishing. She's completely exhausted her power, and Lilith wasn't likely to give her time to recover any of it on a significant scale.

"The poor wolf is injured and exhausted, helpless and vulnerable. All tuckered out and ready to eat. What a fortunate turn of events for me!" Lilith's echoing voice sounded out all around the duo, with Oscar grimacing as he tried to regain his bearings, only to collapse again when he tried to stand. "You've managed to get me on a nice little chase, but I've corned you both, now. It was fun while it lasted! I'd say I'd miss you...buuut we both know that'll only be true to what you'll both taste like!"

Oscar's Scroll beeped once more, this time flashing rapidly, which could only mean one thing. He turned towards Lilith as her shadowy mass was about to come down on the both of them. "Sorry...but I don't think you'll be eating either of us right now..."

Before Lilith could brush him off over his supposed bravado, a green trailing light soon flashed by the creature, quickly enough to confuse her for several seconds. Though it proved to be enough, for her eyes widened across her body as her prey had been suddenly snatched away from her in a matter of moments. She immediately turned towards the source of the theft, as she could see the culprit flying away from Lilith as fast as they could, with Oscar and Ruby in tow. The sheer audacity of the swiftness of the theft had stunned Lilith enough that she needed to shift around a bit and refocus.

"I received the distress signal! I trusted the others with their own battles and came here as soon as I could!" Penny exclaimed with a dutiful shout as Oscar and Ruby were being carried away in green forcefield bubbles around the both of them. "We'll be escaping shortly!"

"She won't let us go...that easily..." Ruby uttered to them both, and she was correct to think so.

"It's one thing when a morsel actually manages to get away from me. But someone else stealing them away right as I was about to partake? You've definitely pissed me off!" Lilith ended up roaring towards them, with the effects of such beginning to slightly distort the area around them. Glowing blood began to fill the skies around them beginning to creep over everything within sight akin to a descending cage, and all three of them immediately noted what she was doing.

"She's trying to trap us in her Devil Domain...!"

"She will be quite unsuccessful."

Penny turned around mid-flight and held her hands together in front of her. Oscar nodded immediately as he placed a hand around her wrist and channeled some of his magic with her. Glowing clocks appeared around Penny's palms, and right before the Devil Domain closes around them, she fired a green beam enhanced through her Magitek and Oscar's Clock Magic, and the entire domain ended up shattering akin to glass, the shards themselves dissipating into nothing as they fell and scattered. Penny didn't slow her flight at all, and in fact increased her pace once the great obstacle was out of their way.

Lilith watched them depart in rather apt disbelief, enough for her wings around her body to droop downwards.

"...Well, damn." Lilith bitterly muttered, as she shifted back into her more compact form for the moment. Though despite her surprise and disappointment, she simply hissed pleasantly and made way to reunite with her contractor. "I guess I'll just have to wait for them to come back to us. I do hope my dear contractor is having fun right now."

Lilith knew they would. She sensed Mara's rather drastic increase in power and recognized she had reacquired her slave.

Yeah, they'll definitely be back for her.

And Lilith wouldn't let them escape again.

---

Jaune cursed his current inability to focus.

He grimaced as he slashed through the serpent Grimm that attempted to lash at and devour him. He turned on a heel and slashed through the head of another. Wincing as yet another lashed its tail at his ankle, tearing through his armor slightly. Though it grazed his skin slightly, he managed to recover it quickly enough to bounce back quickly. In a physical sense, at least. In fact, he could say that aside from physically, he was in very bad shape at the moment. It was getting harder and harder for him to focus, which was going to have an effect on his ability to channel his Aura properly. But given all that's happened thus far, he couldn't completely help it.

Ruby and Cinder. Both of them have just up and been taken away by incredibly formidable enemies, with one of them having thoroughly shattered the latter's spirit and left the former grievously injured. Not to mention Oscar was also in danger too. He at least had faith that Oscar could hold his own and keep Ruby alive, because she sure wasn't safe at the moment. He trusted his fellow guildmate with her, truly he did. But he just couldn't help but be extremely worried about them, both of them. In their own ways and for their own reason, both of them were in serious danger, and he can't help either of them.

It was infuriating how helpless he was feeling. And he cursed it, because it was wrecking his ability to focus. Proving as such when another serpent tail slammed against him, and he was barely able to block it with his shield. He was nearly knocked off his feet because of how forceful it was. He couldn't focus on that right now, or else he was going to falter and fall here. And he couldn't afford to let that happen to him. He needed to save them. Ruby and Cinder alike. He thought strongly of this as Crocea Mors cleaved clean through the heads of two serpents, with a flying Aura Slash cleaving through the necks in the process.

Multiple Owl Grimm soon rose up from the blackened pools, and each of them screeched loudly. This was powerful enough to actually blast him off of his feet and slamming him through multiple trees and utterly uprooting some of them in the process. He crashed into the ground as one of them screeched from above directly down towards him. He was barely able to keep himself together via blocking with his shield, as it felt like his ears were about to rupture.

"Get...off...my...back...already!"

The owls did not let up on their assault, until one of them had a javelin rammed right through their heads, another one's skull was crushed in a single well-placed palm, and another was smashed with a lightning infused blow. Jaune took a breath as the agonizing sounds eventually ceased, as he laid on his back and attempted to catch his breath. He breathed heavily, shaking his head.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she was keeping vigilant to more Grimm attempting to surround them.

"Did something happen? I don't sense Ruby, Cinder, or Oscar!" Nora worriedly exclaimed as lightning continued surging from her empty eye socket.

"Ren...they were...taken away. " Jaune grunted as he tried to help himself to his feet, only to nearly collapse. Ren was immediately by his side, slinging an arm over his shoulder. Ren could sense how unbalanced Jaune's Aura seemed to be due to what's recently happened, and it affected how he channeled his Aura. "Ruby...and Cinder. They're both...I couldn't..."

"We know. Penny had suddenly flown out when she received a signal from Oscar. She's on her way to help him and Ruby. Then we'll all convene to help Cinder." Ren reassured while keeping steady to help Jaune stand. "Don't worry. We're not going to lose either of them."

Back at the mansion, Blake, Yang, and Weiss were still in battle with Bianca, Levina, and Neo. The others have exited the complex a while ago, with Penny suddenly leaving once she was aware that Ruby and Oscar were in serious peril. And Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren left on their own to assist Jaune, who was also caught out on his own. This left the three ladies on their own with the last remaining significant enemies in their way. They would only cause further trouble if they were allowed to leave here unhindered, so they would have to be defeated right here and now. This promise surged strongly through the trio as they clashed with the three vampires once more.

Blake was clashing against Neo with their blades locked against each other, sparks grinding. Shadows coated Gambol Shroud and pushed against Neo's blade, and eventually numerous cat paws expanded off of it and scratched at Neo, forcing her to disengage. Neo's eyes glinted as several illusionary clones of her manifested around her and each tried to stab at Blake from multiple angles. Blake's eyes sharpened while she parried and deflected each of the blade strikes heading her away, then stuck them all away with well-placed kicks to the heads, chest, and legs. Then one of the claws pawed at Neo and ended up slamming her back against the ground, forcing her to roll along the ground and pull herself back to her feet. Blake soon stood up as she held Gambol Shroud across her chest.

"Even now, you're still going to obey the one who shackled you? Even when she can't do so anymore?" Blake asked. Neo responded as she manifested even more clones of herself, and the largest one managed to turn into a replica of her mother, who appeared to be prepared to launch multiple orbs of exploding blood towards her. Blake sighed softly, as fur grew along her arms, her ears and tail grew fuzzier, and ethereal cats began appearing around her person. She was welling with bestial energy. "Very well. If you can't shatter this illusion on your own, I'll do you a favor, and cut it to pieces."

Black dashed towards Neo, with the latter's multiple clones attempting to stab her through with their parasols, as well as multiple sharp blades of blood. Blake easily dodged most of them rather smoothly, moving and weaving around each of them like the living shadow she could become. She parried multiple blades heading towards her with multiple parries of Gambol Shroud, shadows slicing through the clones and shattering them like glass. One of them attempted to stab her through from above, which phased through her due to being a shadow moving about, and she claws through it in a single swipe. She increases her fast pace as she dodges multiple swipes from the clones, looking towards the large replica of Carmel that was sending multiple blood bombs her way.

She swerved around the resulting explosions that went off near her, effortlessly getting back on her feet when she stumbled only briefly. And once she managed to finally close the distance, one of her shadowy paws slammed into the real Neo and sent her crashing into the wall, while a shadowy aura channels across Gambol Shroud. She slashed diagonally, slicing clean through the Carmel replica before either of them could retaliate. As for the rest of the clones, multiple feline claws formed around her and slashed them across, slicing through the remaining Neo clones and causing them all to shatter into pieces.

Blake sighed softly as she turns towards the pinned and shocked Neo, her tail waving about behind her. "Now then. Will you now pick the wiser option for yourself, and surrender?" She requested, with her eyes retaining a beastly glint to them.

Back over with Yang and Weiss, they were fighting with Levina and Bianca as a fair, with flames going against lightning, as well as ice against ice.

Yang dodged her head to the side as Levina had tried to jab her, with her catching the arm with her own and slamming her elbow into hers. Levina yelped in surprise and backed up in slight pain, only for Yang to double down and punched her in the side in a vicious bodycheck, which was soon followed by a fiery explosion that sent her crashing into the wall beside her, gasping out in shock. She soon bit her lip and grinned before launching herself back at Yang in a continuous stream of black and red lightning, slamming right into her and sending her reeling with multiple electric shocks to her. Yang groaned as a bright light was soon sent upwards, while she continued grappling with Levina.

"Come on, Yang! Surely you can put more of yourself into this?!" Levina cackled as a blast of lightning sent Yang crashing through multiple columns before slamming hard into a wall. "You don't have what it takes to judge how we see things if ya can't beat me!"

Things weren't quite as heated over with Weiss and Bianca, who were both fighting at rather decreasing temperatures for themselves. Shards of black and red ice rapidly came into existence and attempted to run Weiss through multiple times, and yet Weiss was able to nimbly avoid them all via using her glyphs to skate around each of them, and then using Myrtenaster to slice or pierce clean through many that couldn't be easily avoided. Multiple spikes ice balls manifested around Weiss, then quickly expanded in even more attempts to pierce her through, multiples of them managing to graze her.

"You know nothing about our sibling bonds. It's not something a Schnee could understand, let alone anyone else." Bianca stoically remarked as a black ball of ice launches towards Weiss, as the latter manifested a Glyph that barely managed to shield her from the resulting, frozen explosion that nearly froze over everything in the area. Weiss was sent hurtling into a corner in a blast of icy mist. "You ice is far too easily shattered. Give yourself into my frozen embrace and become a beautiful sculpture."

Both sisters blinked as they realized it was suddenly getting brighter and brighter outside, which sent them both into a brief sense of alarm. It couldn't have been daybreak already, for the night has not even come close to ending. Both of them looked upwards to see the source of the light, their eyes widening in surprise.

It was a glowing golden fireball, which felt like the shining warmth of the sun.

"I don't remember sayin' that we were done." They heard Yang muttering, her golden mane glowing brightly and igniting with golden flames, which immediately clued them in on who the culprit behind this phenomenon was.

"Thinking too lowly of us will cost you." Weiss also managed to prop herself up, the ice around her shining even brighter and managing a softer and gentler, yet more refined icy sheen. It brought the sisters great confusion, that Weiss's ice was able to stay shaped as it is even with the heat being generate from Yang's sun. Unless the latter's control was truly that well developed that it didn't get in Weiss's way at all?

Neither of them thought of Yang to be the polishing type, but well-tuned control over one's own Magic and Aura were essential to pulling something like that off.

Yang's Aura glowed brightly, before she rushed towards Levina. The latter smirked as she vanished in a flash of black and red lightning, soon appearing instantly behind Yang. But before she even had a chance, the latter threw her elbow back into her ribs, which was accompanied with a blast of fire at the end. Levina coughed from the blow and fell back slightly, trying to catch her breath.

"I trained like this a few times with Ruby, the times she tried to rely solely on her being overall as fast as I'm strong. And she's pretty damn fast." Yang turned towards Levina as she pounded her fists together. "That's not going to help you anymore, because you aren't nearly as good on capitalizing on that speed as she is. No matter how fast you are, you won't be able to blitz me. I'll know exactly where you'll appear!"

A flash of gold flames spread across her hair, as she closed the distance and jabbed Levina right in the cheek, an explosive blow making her reel back a few feet. She quickly regained her bearings but was forced to jump back as Yang punched the ground, a pillar of flames rising up where she was previously standing over. She snarled as she flashed in a bolt of lightning. Yang took a breath and sighed clenching and unclenching her fists as her sun shined down on her, vitalizing her. Her eyes flashed red as Levina appeared by her side in an attempt to claw through it. She twists her body just enough to avoid the claws, turning into said twist so she could land an explosive punch into the vampire's back, making her cough coarsely once again and sending her flying across the room.

Levina initially failed to see how Yang was pulling this off, until her focus turned towards the flaming mini sun above her. She blasts lightning towards it and was flabbergasted when it was repelled by the glowing fiery orb.

Then she figured it out.

So long as that conjured magic sun was shining down on Yang, it would continue to vitalize her Aura with solar energy, until her Magic exhausted itself. Which meant while her magic steadily depleted, her Aura gradually grew more powerful and reinforced with the vitality enhancing properties of her conjured sun. Which allowed her to expand her Aura to anywhere the sunshine touches, and thus sense wherever Levina will appear...and the sun's shine covers a very large area.

Yang thinks as such as her empowered fist struck true with Levina's as the latter attempts to push back, only to find the heat of the punch to be too much, forcing her to retreat backwards.

Everywhere the light of this sun touches, is my ring!

Over on the other side, Bianca gathered multiple pillars of black and r ed ice around herself, her dress flowing as she focused her glare on Weiss, who was standing on one of her Glyphs as she held Myrtenaster close to her. The ice gleaming around her body was calmly shining more than it was before. Bianca narrowed her eyes at this, as she looked around herself in order to see that the ice, and even flakes of snow, were also shimmering around them, despite the fact that a magic manifested sun was hovering above them. She never would have guessed that the two of them could coordinate their abilities as such to where they didn't get in each other's way. They seemed like they bickered too much for that to be feasible, and yet the proof was right in front of her.

"Do you still intend on resisting?" Bianca hummed.

"You're a denizen from Atlas like me, and yet you're helping your mother cause devastation in another land." Weiss uttered as the ice gradually attached itself to her. "I can't allow you lot to just fly around doing why you wish. I'll have to put my foot down and stop this myself!"

"Preposterous."

Black and red shards of ice manifested all around Weiss and rained down on her in a vicious hailstorm. Though during the onslaught, Bianca was left surprised and jumped back, as a singular swipe from a blade destroyed most of the ice around her, and nearly all of the ice that was attacking Weiss, which she proved to have steadily defended herself against with her own barrier of ice, which seemed to be different than the others. Then, behind the barrier, stood Weiss, with a shimmering white-blue armor, in the form of a flowing gown, as her rapier Myrtenaster glowed brightly from the shine of her Aura, snowy feathery wings sprouted from her back, and a shimmering snow-like halo hovered over her head.

Bianca could see that the nurturing and purifying nature of Weiss's ice and snow was able to resist the dark and sinister glow of her own.

"Your sheer destructive power, or my fine control." Weiss held Myrtenaster in front of herself. "Let's see who wins the day, shall we?"

Weiss motioned forth, and she lunged with her sword in hand. Bianca immediately uses her wing to parry the sharpened blade and conjured multiple sharpened blades of red ice towards Weiss. Weiss's snow wings flapped, and a snowy gust nullified the blood ice blades and sent them flying away harmlessly. Soon after, she flipped upwards, simultaneously doing a kick right up Bianca's chin, startling her enough for her to slide backwards and run her jaw. Blades of black and red ice shot towards Weiss, with the latter's snow wings moving in front of her for protection, and managed to defend against the sharpened ice, even blasting some of it back.

Bianca moved away from the reflected projectiles and wondered briefly, before realizing. The snow surrounding Weiss had her Aura being channeled into it, so they end up being reinforced, thus taking more effort to disperse as well as doing even more damage. It proved more troublesome when Weiss closed the distance and clashed blades with her through her ice channeled Myrtenaster, and Aura channeled through her snow wings in order to sharpen and lash at Bianca as if they were swords of their own. Several grazes managed to get through with little trouble, before she summoned an ice pillar in between them to separate them. Weiss and Bianca landed in separate sides, with the former holding her sword true, and the latter narrowing her eyes.

"Surely you can dance with me more, can't you?"

It proceeded in this way for the most part. Yang's blows have been empowered with solar energy. As such, whenever she managed to get a strike on Levina and it caused her to fly across the room, the heat she made manages to melt through some of the demonic ice around them. And multiple shield glyphs from Weiss was able to deflect and reflect several strikes of lightning from Levina, harmlessly sending them flying in different directions than from their targets.

Yang even took the time to bounce off several of the Glyphs to give herself a boost in momentum, which wasted no time in turning her into a fiery cannonball. Unfortunate for Bianca, who had all of the barriers she tried to conjure before her melted and shattered through as Yang was launched towards her and struck her right in her side, slamming her across the ground. In turn, one of the other Gylphs managed to be successful in freezing Levina in place via managing to catch her feet against the wall. She immediately followed up with a slash of ice that flew towards her and exploded in a burst of ice and snow.

Both sisters were on their last legs as they attempted to build their defense with an ice wall surging with lightning.

"You've two have got a lot to learn about the value of sibling bonds! Neither of you meet even the basic needs to be a nurturing and caring older sister!" Yang exclaimed while her fist burns hotter and brighter. She recalled, for a brief moment, how she tended to take her turn reading all sorts of stories to Ruby most cheerfully as the two of them were growing up.

"Never mind being a role model sister to draw strength and inspiration from!" Weiss agreed wholeheartedly, as shining ice glowing across Myrtenaster. The days of training with her older sister Winter Schnee, who was both strict yet caring, also passed through Weiss's mind, along with the quiet times of having tea together during their breaks.

And now they thought about how poorly these two have treated Cinder. Not just how oblivious they tended to be to how much they hurt her, but with how it's been purposefully indoctrinated in them by their controlling mother.

There was no way they could accept a paltry sibling bind like that.

The wall couldn't hold up to their combined assault, as the flaming fist alongside the piecing ice destroyed the wall in front of the duo and blasted them with an intense combination of heat and cold energies. They both ended up tumbling across the ground in both fire burns and freezing burns, from how powerful and intense they both were. Yang and Weiss emerged from the wall, the former's fist steaming, the latter breathing an icy mist.

Levina and Bianca both grimaced as they laid against the wall, attempted to help each other stand.

"Shit...fun as that was...think we lost the fight, sis..."

"I think we did as well, Levina..."

"Lost? on the contrary, you've both performed admirably." The twins briefly jumped at the voice, before recognizing the Seer Grimm speaking to them. "I managed to retrieve Cinder...which means our objectives were successful. You were successful in assisting me. I'm proud of you both."

"You..."

"Are...?"

Both siblings sounded confused and unsure, yet also, strangely at peace.

Yang narrowed her eyes. That was Mara speaking from the Seer. And she sounded...so supportive and understanding. So sweet, so warm...

She suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Indeed. Now, girls. I will need you to assist your mother, one last time..."

Weiss was able to notice immediately. Coordinating with Blake, the two of them surrounded themselves and Yang with barriers of ice and shadows, reinforcing then further with Aura while they all braced for what was to come.

The complex was suddenly consumed in a massive explosion, devasting shards of ice and blasts of lightning shooting out all over the place, nearly landing ways away from ground zero. The complex soon came down in complete and utter disarray, falling to the ground after nothing remained to keep it intact or even afloat. Sparkles of electricity and steams of icy mist flowed throughout the collapsed space briefly parting the dark clouds above them before they came to a close again.

Once the smoke cleared, Weiss's ice barrier came down first, then Blake's shadowy veil. Yang's eyes widened as she stepped out of the circle, taking in what had just happened, and what had nearly happened. Which she confirmed once she managed to see ground zero of the massive blast.

Bianca and Levina were lying in a crater of ice, which occasionally sparked with lightning. Their bodies were battered and bloodied from the blast, almost unrecognizable from several minutes ago. They have been nearly completely drained, almost as of what remained of their magic was used in order to power the blast to its maximum possible output.

Given Blake could still subtly hear their heartbeats, the blast didn't kill them. But they wouldn't be getting back up after that. Still, it did little to comfort the girls once they again, revisited what had just happened.

"...She...she detonated her own daughters...just to try and eliminate us...?!" Weiss couldn't believe it even while she was saying it, but the evidence was right before her, and it happened before her eyes.

"And after all the loyalty they showed to her, twisted as it may be." Blake stoically declared as she smoothly went back to normal her form relaxing. "Given their resigned faces before the blast, they might have known what she had decided. They couldn't defeat us in battle, so maybe we could be destroyed in an explosion we couldn't immediately run from."

Yang couldn't respond immediately, just looking towards the downed sister duo. Then she slowly clenched her fist as she quickly recalled, briefly before discarding them in such a distant manner, how Mara Marzikeen calmly, kindly, praised her daughters on a job well done, which briefly lowered their guard, before they proceeded to involuntarily explode in an attempt at destroying her enemies right then and there. They seemed to have realized what was about to happen, and far, far too accepting of it.

"There's no fucking way she just threw her own daughters away like that...!"

"Yang, they've voluntarily assisted in some of her atrocities. They aren't worthy of sympathy." Weiss sternly turned towards Yang.

"I know. You don't gotta tell me that." Yang still stared towards the sisters. "...But I can't overlook this, even if they're enemies. I can't see what happened, to fully realize that a mother just tried to kill her own flesh and blood to get at us, without even flinching...just to shrug my shoulders and say that's what they get. I can't do it, Weiss. I can't pretend like that shit doesn't bother me."

Weiss sighed as she shook her head. "You're Ruby's sister alright."

Speaking of Ruby...

"Everyone. This is Ruby. If you're still able to move, let's all get back at the Red Riding Hall, together. We gotta talk about our next move."

Yang pulled out her Scroll, hearing her sisters voice. "Ruby! I'm glad you're okay. How ya feeling?"

"Angry."

Yang's eyes flashed blood red. "Well, what a coincidence. I'm feeling pretty pissed off myself. Let's fill each other in on the 'why' of that little equation, yeah?"

---

The mood in the Red Riding Hall wasn't a depressive one. No. Despite how stressful things have been for everyone, how oppressive the situation has been on their minds and how much it has pushed some of them to a potential breaking point, nobody had it in them to feel down about the entire disastrous incident, which technically hasn't ended yet. Much to everyone's gravest misfortunes.

It was made worse due to the distressing fact that Cinder's been captured by the enemy. Worse still, that she also willingly given herself away in order to keep the others safe from Mara and Lilith's wrath. As Ruby predicted and attempted to warn her away from, Mara had no intentions on letting any of them live after so thoroughly defying her, and attempted to have Lilith kill Ruby and Oscar the second she took Cinder with her. Not only that, but back at her own establishment no less, she had detonated her own daughters, nearly destroying everything within it in a callous attempt at wiping out her enemies at the near cost of their lives.

Needless to say, THAT particular detail had Ruby and Yang extremely upset. That was no way for a mother to treat her daughters, especially with how loyal they were to her and how much they sincerely loved Cinder, even though their ways of expressing it have been twisted and warped.

Still, Ruby approved of the decision of not simply letting the two of them, as well as Neo, die, and they were all currently resting in the infirmary...whilst under very thorough and durable restraints, on top of being locked in energy cages formed by Penny, to keep them from wreaking havoc once they woke up. Obviously, they were not going to just let them into their base without taking many precautions to ensure that they behaved themselves and everything remains intact, and no one gets attacked by prisoners who very well might take the chance to do harm upon their enemies in their own home. Ruby also approved of these measures.

She was compassionate, not insane.

Aside from that, everyone was preparing for the next battle in their own ways. And there would be another battle. After one of their own had just been taken away and they were left to deal with the aftermath that resorted to underhanded methods of trying to kill them all.

Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora were glaring as they were getting their gear ready with Ren's help. Yang was already, and still greatly incensed, by what she had witnessed back at the mansion, and currently wanted nothing more than to burn Mara to ashes, her eyes haven't returned to lavender ever since her return. Pyrrha echoed the sentiment, practicing swings with her javelin with a steeled and focused glare. Nora in particular was currently placing an eye patch over her currently empty and somewhat ruined eye socket. The current loss of her peripheral vision was nowhere near as frustrating to her as the fact that one of her friends was stolen away. She hadn't said a word ever since everyone decided to get ready, but the glare in her one remaining eye was quietly and fittingly thunderous.

Blake, Weiss, Penny and Oscar were over in the briefing room, attempting to go over exactly what might need to be done in order to confront Mara and Lilith. Mara has drunken some of Cinder's blood and attained the powers and strength of a dragon herself. With Lilith was back at her full power, a direct fight with her when Ruby wasn't in condition for it would have proven lethal, hence the focus on escape. Oscar and Ruby were barely able to escape thanks to Penny for rescuing them from Lilith's clutches. Ruby was their best chance against her, so they needed her to be in her best condition.

Speaking of Ruby...

Having her upper almost completely bandaged up-the blast mark she had on her chest was likely going to scar-and her cloak hanging from her shoulders, Ruby was making her way over to the very top of the guild, outside on its balcony. She followed the scent of the one in the most amount of distress aside from herself, given how their enemies have made a majority of the conflict deeply personal. If they were to make this work she needed everyone to be in top form and prepared to give their all. And while she had full faith that they would, she couldn't just ignore the possible cracks that might burst at the worst possible time. She needed to take care of this while she could.

She could see him looking outwards, towards the direction where they both knew Cinder was in. He was rather silent at the moment, almost unmoving. She didn't blame him for it at all, as her wolf instincts supported her thoughts.

Mate is distraught, directionless, defeated. Go to him, be with him. Be comforting. Cuddle him. Let him confide in us.

"Hey."

Jaune turned towards Ruby, who moved closer to him. He stood up straight as they both pulled each other into hugs, with Jaune's being slightly tighter. Like he was afraid that if he didn't hold her tight, she'd disappear again, and he'd be unable to do a thing about it. Of course, Ruby wouldn't allow for such a thing to happen, but that wasn't what Jaune needed to hear, nor was it something she needed to say.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Ruby. I didn't...I was so..."

"I'm alright, Jaune. I'm here." Ruby gently reassured him as they briefly pulled away from one another. She could see the distress in his eyes, never mind sense it is emanating from his Aura. She held him by the hand as they both sat down together. "Thanks to Oscar and Penny, I managed to get out of that jam in one piece."

Jaune grimaced. "That still shouldn't have needed to happen. I was supposed to...but then Cinder...and then you. I...!"

"Shhh." Ruby shushed him for a moment as she pulled his head downwards, into the softness of her bosom. Normally it would be a bit embarrassing for her to hug him like this, but right now he was too distraught for it. Though it did manage to succeed him giving him some time to compose himself. Ruby hugged him to her chest and comfortingly pets the top of his head, closing her eyes. She left just enough space for him to breathe comfortably. "This is not your fault. I know you don't believe that right this moment, but I promise you that it's not. I messed up a little, so some of what happened is on me too."

"Still..."

"No. No stills. We can't focus on what went wrong to the point where we don't make moves to fix them." Ruby quietly told him, sensing the depths of his uncertainty. "We're going to get her back, Jaune. It's not even a promise, it's a fact. It just hasn't happened yet."

"Will I even be able to do that, though? I was almost completely helpless when the both of you just vanished in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. Especially you." Jaune uttered while lightly holding Ruby's shoulders. "At any point, had a single thing gone wrong, and I wasn't there to help you..."

"Jaune. It's not wrong to think about how things could have been done differently, but you can't outright beat yourself up over what-ifs. It's never good for any of us." Ruby patiently but sternly told him.

"I know. I know. I just can't...I can't help it." Jaune sighed as he pulled himself from her chest. "Cinder felt like she had to surrender herself in order to grasp at a desperate chance to save us. She was so scared, that she'd rather subject herself back to enslavement rather than watch us die." Jaune lowered his head. "I think...we failed to be seen as reliable enough...for her to not resort for that. We couldn't ensure her safety...none of us could."

"Then we should probably get to fixing that ASAP, huh?"

Jaune began looking away. He wished he had half of Ruby's confidence right now, because his own had been shot to pieces. "Should I even bother...?"

"Hey. Hey. Look at me." Ruby gently placed her hands on the sides of his head and turned him back towards her, eyes softly gazing into his as her hands returned to holding his. "You can get through this. You can overcome this. I know you can. Because I've seen you do it many times before. Now you just have to do it again. This time for her sake rather than just mine." Jaune seemed to be slightly confused by what she meant, which didn't deter her smile. "Jaune. You're feeling this immense weight, this sense of failure, regarding this whole mess for a reason."

"What reason is that...?"

"Nope! It doesn't count if I have spell it out for you." Ruby teased, lightly poking his nose with a finger. "You already know the answer. Your heart definitely knows the answer. You're just so shocked that your mind hasn't caught up to it yet." Ruby's eyes lowered as her voice grew softer, warmer. "Dig deep. Think back to the two of us. I think you'll recognize what these feelings are."

Jaune had no idea what Ruby was going on about...but he decided to trust her. So, he took a breath to compose himself further, as the two of them thought back.

---

Jaune was nineteen years old at the time.

Trekking across a deep and vast forest, all he could do was pretty trees onwards in the middle of the night, as the moon was currently hidden behind the clouds. It was supposed to be a rather simple outing, for the most part. It was something that he thought he'd be more than capable of handling. Though, as he slowly and surely found out, it wouldn't be nearly that easy, given the time of night and the silent lonesome atmosphere he was placed under.

"I probably should have picked a better time to take something like this on..." Jaune groaned and lightly palmed his face. "What am I saying. This is a pretty fitting time to do something like this...now if only I knew where to even look in a place like this..."

Being a knight in training, he was given several tasks to complete in order to prove his worth. Most of which of course, included the slaying of dangerous monsters that threatened the lives of the weak and helpless. It was all too common an occurrence for them to happen across citizens who couldn't fight back. And he's been recently handed the task of dealing with a potential one that has been seen appearing and disappearing for a while, now. He had no idea what he would find, but with the promise of further progression should be succeed, it stood to reason that he wouldn't be going away empty handed if he could help it. Even if the only gain was the experience building.

Although a little bit of lien wouldn't hurt. Not strictly necessary, but it would be a very nice and helpful bonus.

He was approaching the area in question, and he narrowed his eyes as he had his hand on the hilt of his trusted blade, Crocea Mors. "Okay. More or less, I think this is the area..." There wasn't much he could do to completely confirm it, but the tracks he could slightly make out under the cover of the knight was a better clue than none at all. He'd just have to take it.

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to wait very long for some sort of confirmation. Because right up ahead, having just landed in a clearing after a long leap...

It was a wolf. A GIANT one, at that.

The exceptionally large canine was nearly all black in terms of fur color but had some bit of red highlights across what appeared to be extra fur around its head. Though even stranger, was that it seemed to have a rather large crimson cloak around its body, with a red hood currently over its head. It's large and fuzzy tail waved a bit with the wind, along with the cloak fluttering due to the wind. Underneath the crimson hood, Jaune could see two silver eyes shimmering from underneath it's shadow. The whistle of the wind accompanied the creature's appearance and added a certain kind of tenseness that rendered Jaune too shocked to move. It looked so fearsome, yet so majestic and powerful. This was a mighty creature, that wasn't a question in the slightest.

Then he was shocked as he watched it bat back an old woman with the back of its paw, sending her crashing into the ground. It did the same as it turned around and swiped its tail around, smacking other humans across the ground, some even against the trees. It then turned again as it howled, the shockwave from it blasting even more of them back and making them crash against the ground.

Such a powerful beast it was. And a dangerous one.

"Am I really going to have to fight that? Ah geez..." Jaune sighed, before he gripped his sword and held up his shield. "Well, sitting here isn't going to do anything. I gotta help those guys. Should be weakened enough that I can finish it off. Here goes nothing!" He moved forth-

And stopped again.

"Okay...this should be a good spot." The large creature suddenly spoke, as it lowered its head. Jaune paused as what it appeared to be a much smaller wolf and her cubs hopping onto the ground, the little ones sticking close to their mother. The mother wolf looked towards the giant wolf and briefly nuzzled her head against it, with it returning the nuzzle. "Aww, you're welcome. Get out of here quickly, before you get caught in the crossfire!" The giant wolf waved its paw as the mother wolf and her cubs soon departed, the latter yipping every now and then.

"...What?" Jaune blinked, utterly lost.

The wolf's ears twitched, and then it growled as it turned towards something. Jaune's eyes widened as he realized that the wolf's been injured all over, with blade slashes bleeding all over it. And he saw the first old woman come up, with hatred in her eyes, and viciously slash the creature at the leg with an axe, causing it to stumble.

"Die, beast! You'll not rampage through these woods no more!" She roared, before yelping as the wolf effortlessly smashed her away with its paw, though it did wince and stagger slightly with panted breathing. It then turned on a dime and slammed thorough multiple men with a spiraling tackle, sending them all flying about and crashing into the ground. It growled as it tried to keep standing, even though it was clearly slowing down. It warily looked at its enemies, snarling warningly.

Jaune was beginning to notice that it only got increasingly aggressive when the attackers pursued it. It never attacked them first.

"Kill the beast! Kill it!" More of them came about, with some of the women surrounding the wolf attempted to lash at it with a spiked whip reading at its side. She was sent screeching when she was slashed with another swipe of the beast's claws.

Jaune watched the clash with a sense of awe, as well as confusion. This giant wolf was extremely strong and powerful. It was a strange scene for him to say the least, but also a worrying one. For the wolf was slowing down, panting and snarling as its numerous bloodied wounds were beginning to catch up to it. It wouldn't last much longer at this rate. It managed to utterly decimate a majority of them effortlessly despite its injuries and exhaustion, but it might prove unable to do so towards the rest because of these things.

Jaune wondered what he should do here. What was the right thing to do? It was on a rampage, but it also got a wolf family out of the crossfire of this battle. It gave him the impression that the beast itself didn't start this fight, and it only dragged out to the point of it getting so badly hurt was to get its fellow wolves to safety. It sounded so gentle and kind when speaking to them, too. Sincere and warm.

And then back to fighting, it was savage and ruthless, but was weakening fast.

He couldn't just keep watching and standing by. With the current information, he would either have to side with his fellow humans mercilessly attacking the bestial wolf, or side with the wolf that briefly showed that it wasn't a beast attacking humans for no reason. If anything, it was defending itself. Would he attack it or defend it, which spelled a drastic reaction from his fellow knights back at base. He would probably be rewarded handsomely for killing it, a vastly quick way to spread his name and become acknowledged by his knight peers. All he had to do was ignore that it defended a much weaker wolf mother and her cubs at the expense of its own chances of escaping the battle alive.

...

Jaune gripped the hilt of Crocea Mors and made a decision.

The giant wolf was breathing heavily, with blood running down it's forehead, snarling as the humans approached to attack her once more. Only to be surprised, as a shining slash cleaved through the ground and splits them up.

Everyone turned and were baffled as Jaune stood in front of the wolf with his shield up.

"That's enough." Jaune sternly declared, his sword on hand.

"What are you doing?! Why are you defending the beast?!" The old woman from before screamed while holding her axe. She seemed to be the ringleader, and the most willing to kill the creature in front of her. "It was attacking us!"

"Did you attack it first?" Jaune asked warningly, narrowed his eyes.

"What difference does it make?!"

"A world of difference, depending on who you ask. And thanks to your response, I'm guessing yes. It seems to be defending itself more than actively attacking you all." Jaune clutched into Crocea Mors. They didn't seem to acknowledge the beast protecting family of wolves at all. That told him all he needed to know. "I think you all should leave, right now."

"Why should we?!"

"Are you in any position to force the issue?"

Jaune stared as the people grimaced and backed down in frustration having been injured during the fight while he was almost completely fresh. They wouldn't get past him if he felt like standing his ground. As such, they swore at him, and reluctantly walked away from the field. Jaune waited for all of them to be out of sight, before he sighed in relief. He didn't want to make his current image worse than it already might be, given he chose to protect a beast over a group of humans.

Even so, he couldn't just watch and let them kill it. Especially when he had an increasingly good feeling it wasn't the instigator of the fight.

Still startled from such a close call, he turned towards the giant wolf, but then his eyes widened as he realized that said giant wolf was no longer behind him.

Standing in its place, was a young woman with fluffy wolf ears and a fluffy wolf tail, clad in a red cloak. And she had various bloodied injuries all over her body, many of them matching up with the injuries the giant wolf he saw take. She looked like she around seventeen years old. And her silver eyes, they shined like mirrors. They were tired, exhausted...but beautiful.

The giant wolf was a werewolf.

"H-Hi...thanks for...the help...I didn't rest...as well as I probably should have...outta strength..." She tried to speak, only to stumble forward and fall. Jaune was quick to catch her, and only now did he get a feel of how hurt she was. Had it not been for this, as well as protecting the wolf family, she probably wouldn't have even needed the assistance from him.

"Woah, you're seriously hurt!" Jaune exclaimed worriedly, attempting to help her stand. Staying out here too long would prove too dangerous, especially when they're out in the open. "Hey, where were you going?!"

"...Grandma's...house..." She quietly utters as her eyes shimmered towards him, trustingly. "A little far away...but still a straight path...up...ahead..."

"Grandma's house? Hey, hold on! Please don't pass ou-annnnnd she passed out...shit."

Jaune tried not to panic as the werewolf fell unconscious in his arms. He had no time to ponder about anything else but her wellbeing, so without further hesitation, he scooped the girl up in a princess carry and made off in the direction she pointed as quickly as possible. He tried to search for any signs of a house or something of the sort, until he eventually spotted something that looked like a cottage of sorts. It was good enough for him, as he rushed towards the cottage and knocked on the door hurriedly.

"HEY! Is anybody home?! Someone needs help!"

The door flew open, and Jaune completely froze up at the sight of a statuesque, pale skinned woman with white hair and a black snugly robe. Jaune felt an immense wave of pressure bear down on him as piercing red eyes calmly gazed at him, but he sensed there was a small hint of concern behind them, too. Whether it would dissipate or turn into fury set to be unleashed upon him hinted upon several factors he had no control over.

"...Goodness, Ruby." She sighed and shook her head, before she gently took the girl from his arms and walked into the cottage. "Inside. Now."

He didn't dare disobey.

Jaune didn't know how long he was sitting about, but he knew it had been hours at the least. He had no idea who this woman was, but from numerous stories he's heard here or there, he might have just come across the Witch of the Woods. Which only compounded his confusion because every tale he heard regarding that witch depicted her as evil. Yet from what he saw so far, this woman was just living quietly on her own, and apparently the werewolf was her granddaughter, and her name was Ruby? He was so lost about everything right now, and he wondered if he'd ever be able to comprehend what was going on.

He definitely clocked the total amount of time at two hours, two hours as he somewhat dozed off and tried not to pry around too much at the risk of angering the apparent matriarch of the cottage. Eventually, the elder came out and woke him up with a shake of his shoulders, causing him to startle upwards and look towards her. She pushed some of her hair away from her face and nodded.

"My granddaughter is awake. She wishes to speak with you."

"She wants to talk to me?"

"I do believe I said that already."

"...R-Right."

Jaune quickly got up and made his way towards the room the girl was sleeping in. Seeing the door slightly ajar, he pushed it open...and almost immediately regretted it.

The girl known as Ruby decided to change into her pajamas after having woken up. Thus, with her cloak currently set to the side, she was in the middle of pulling off her shirt and was reaching for another, when Jaune had pushed the door open in the middle of it. Meaning she was currently only left in her strawberry patterned underwear, and with her wolf ears and tail curiously twitching at the sight of Jaune. What he noticed first regarding this was that she was quite muscular despite what her frame initially would be suspected of, with the slight bulk of her arms and legs, along with a clear hint of abs within her middle. She was quite a way smaller than he was height wise, but there was certainly power within her body, which to his growing dismay he was noticing was curvier than he thought when she's like this without her cloak. She blinked owlishly as Jaune stood in slight horror at the predicament he caught himself in. Ruby tilted her head, and she soon smiled.

"Oh, you're the one who gave me a hand back there! My name's-"

Jaune immediately slammed the door and stood to the side to catch his breath.

"Hey! I didn't get to finish my greeting!"

As Jaune tried to recollect himself, the grandmother stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. "My child, you must learn to be more tactful. You've invited a boy into your room."

"Yeah, so?"

"The poor young man was shocked silent by your beauty. Please get yourself situated, Rosebud, or else he won't be able to focus on the conversation."

"Okay, okay..."

Jaune just held his face in his hands and tried to force his blush away, even though he knew he was failing because the warmth was definitely still there. What was this day becoming? He honestly had no idea, and that was wrecking with his ability to focus. Eventually the grandmother eventually came back out, and Jaune was slightly miffed by the fact that it looked like she's trying to keep herself from laughing. "She's decent. Try to be patient with her, she's much like her mother in this regard. Care to try again?"

Jaune grumbled something under his breath, before he sighed, collected himself once more...and tried not to think about the roundness and perkiness of her butt. It was almost the thing that stuck out most to him when she was incompletely dressed, and it was trying to its way back to the forefront.

'These are not knightly thoughts', he quietly told himself to regain his focus.

He walked into the room again, with Ruby sitting cross legged on her bed, now fully clothed, as she turned towards him with a wave. "Hi there! Name's Ruby Rose!"

"Oh, uh, hey. Jaune Arc."

Both of them paused while turning to figure out how to proceed.

"I, um, see you met Grammy Salem." Ruby sheepishly scratched the back of her neck. "She's pretty nice, isn't she?"

"Y-Yeah. She also looked pretty worried about you." He was also slightly curious and worried as to why she looked so much like a Grimm but pushed it down. It wasn't any of his business, at least not right now. He didn't want to instigate anything that didn't need to be. "Is...is she the Wicked Witch of the Woods? The one that a lot of people tend to tell horror stories about?"

Ruby tilted her head. "Well, she's definitely the witch of these woods, but I wouldn't know about wickedness. She mostly prefers to just stay out here where it's quiet. No one's been brave enough to come all the way out here just to seek her out." She shook her head, wolf ears twitching. "Anyway, I gotta thank you for helping me back there. I was too injured to try and fight them all those people off, because I wanted to save that wolf family..."

Jaune shook his head. "It's no trouble. I nearly made the same mistake myself. I nearly attacked you under a false assumption. That would have been bad, and I feel like your grandma wouldn't have appreciated that."

"Nope. Not at all."

"Heh. Figures."

"But you still ended up helping me. That was really nice of you. So thanks again."

Ruby and Jaune both smiled at each other, the heaviness in the air having dissipated a bit. Now that Jaune was sure that Ruby was alright, he could relax a bit easier. He figured that with that concern over and done with, he could take his leave whenever he wanted. Though, as he looked into Ruby's shiny silver eyes, which he was surprised to see were completely natural, he wouldn't have minded looking into them for a little while longer. As well as talking with her for a little bit longer.

Though of course, if he was going to stay for a little while, he'd at least make himself productive. And for this, Salem allowed him to try his hand in the kitchen. Ruby was idly sitting to the side while shifting back and forth, until Jaune came forth with a bowl of curry for her. Salem had granted her some freshly baked cookies, though sternly suggested she eat the curry first before so much as touching the cookies.

Fortunately, she didn't have much to worry about, because as soon as Ruby took her first bite of curry, she first jumped in her seat in sheer surprise of how great it tastes, before she pulled back up and ravenously eats the rest of it.

"This curry is absolutely amazing!"

"I stand surprised, you have some adept culinary prowess." Salem hummed, and Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah. When you grow up with seven sisters, you kind of learn to cover as much cooking avenues as you can. It means I can cover as many bases as I need to. Kinda glad I managed it here." He says while Ruby was happily eating the rest of her curry with a wagging tail. The curry was a balanced mix of meat and veggies, which allowed tastes that were earthy, warning, and extra sweet to an extent. The parts that were sweet were definitely able to reach out to her, and by the time she was finished, she had completely cleaned her dish, and had already begun her assault on the strawberry cookies.

"Impressive, nonetheless. My granddaughter is usually the most enthusiastic about food made by myself or her mother. But it appears you've managed to make it to the third place on that list."

"Is that right? I'm flattered."

Ruby was in the midst of eating through her cookies, when she caught bits of what Jaune was talking about. "You have seven sisters?! I can barely endure one! How do you stay sane?!"

"Unyielding patience. And food bribes. Sometimes just regular bribes, too." Jaune shook his head. "You gotta be ahead of the curve. And since I'm not the oldest, and the only brother, I definitely stand out a bit. Show weakness for even a second and they'll steam over you without mercy...maybe that's my real secret. I was never sane at all..." Jaune looked out into nothing, as if he was frozen up by the 'trauma' of being the only brother out of nearly all sisters. "...Anyway, learned that making them food will settle a lot of things, especially as a peacemaking method. Usually, people are too hungry to try and see arguments through peacefully."

"Oh, I could imagine that. I think a lot more people would get along if they could just eat together and talk about things that give them good vibes." Ruby hummed while licking cookie crumbs from her hands, which shifted back and forth into paws, further reminding Jaune that she was indeed a werewolf, aside from the fluffy wolf ears atop her head and fluffy wolf tail wagging. "But not everyone is hungry for food. Which is sad, because I really like food, and I think a lot of other people like food, too. It would be simple for everyone to get along through eating together."

"That definitely sounds a lot simpler than how most people settle things, that's for sure." Jaune sighed, scratching his head. "Anyway, uh, sorry about earlier, Ruby. Pretty clumsy of me."

The matriarch in the room clasped her hands. "So, Jaune Arc. How will you pay recompense for drinking in my granddaughter's image while she was under-clothed? You didn't even knock." Salem softly teased, which nearly made Jaune spit out his drink.

"Grammy, leave him alone. It was an accident." Ruby pouted, in which her grandmother chuckled.

"In other news..." Salem hummed while sipping a warm cup of tea she made for herself. "Now that some misunderstandings have been cleared up...what will you do now?"

Jaune took several breaths as he tried to compose himself again. "This task was kind of a bust, since the ferocious wolf I was after turned out to be the girl I was supposed to save. They're one in the same. Though she was still in danger, so I helped her out anyway."

"Appreciated!" Ruby raised her hand.

"I guess I'll be heading back. I'll probably be chewed out for not completing a task that didn't have the full story down, anyway. They're not gonna go easy on me for my 'failure', if not kick me out of knight training entirely..."

Ruby and Salem looked at each other, a twinkle in their eyes, before the former looked towards Jaune. "Well, if there's nothing lined up for you because of this, how about you partner up with me?" Jaune blinked at this, and Ruby nodded. "Yeah, why not? It would be pretty nice to have a buddy with me on my training journey! I recently turned seventeen, so I'll be going out a little to see the world like my older sister did at my age!"

"It would do you well to have someone who can protect you. Who better than a knight?" Salem hummed while rubbing her chin. "You've already gotten formal training out of the way, Jaune. You don't need them anymore. If they're so casual about cutting you off, then you're better off without them. Besides, they'll only weigh you down."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I've witnessed it more times than you'll feel comfortable knowing. I ask you to trust me in saying it's better that you're separating from them now than later." Jaune didn't know if he simply imagined that, but Salem appeared so ancient during the several seconds she laid out her opinion on knights, before that sudden age just as quickly vanished from her eyes. With his growing wonder and unease at her presence, he briefly questioned just how old she was. But asking such a question aloud before he got to know her would have been rude, and he didn't fathom a positive response to it if he did ask it.

"Maybe you could gain more experience with me!" Ruby smiled while leaning forward. "It'll be a neat journey for us both to build up on our potential! Whaddya think?"

"But, why me? I've seen you fight; you look like you can take care of yourself already."

"Even the strongest of us needs someone to have their back sometimes. And I think that person for me can be you."

"Are you longing for a sense of purpose, Jaune Arc? Then why not stand by my granddaughters' side? You can become an elite knight, without their influence. Your potential exceeds their ability to help you realize it. And my dear granddaughter can help you realize it, should you serve at her side." Salem tilted her head and smiled serenely. "Are you interested in being the Knight to Ruby's Lady?"

Jaune wondered, turning towards Ruby, who smiled and held out her hand towards him, with a sheer sense of faith and belief in him shining in her silver eyes. A look and expression that he rarely received throughout many of his training days. He found himself taken in by the expression. And after a moment of consideration, he reached out and held it in a shake.

"I'll try not to slow you down by being left in the dust."

"Nah, don't say things like that. Don't even worry about it. Because I'd never leave you behind."

It meant more to the two of them than they would initially realize.

Their partnership had begun after a chance encounter, and their adventures together grew as their friend groups combined. And through time, it was quite clear that these two were the ones heading it all.

Half a year passes since then, with their dedication being further nurtured.

"And a one!"

"And a two!"

"And a one two!"

"Three FOUR!"

Ruby and Jaune shouted as they both struck true, a whole being punched right through a layer of rocky debris, with Jaune slicing up most of it before it could even hit the ground.

"Woohoo! The way is cleared!" Ruby beamed with a jump and a cheer, before she turned towards the train that was stopped by the quake. "It's okay to go on now!"

"Yeah, it's all good!" Jaune waved as well, with the train proceeding to race past them with a bit of a sound off horn. As it sped away, he sighed tiredly while rolling his arm. "Well, that's one thing taken care of that we don't gotta worry about. Runaway trains."

"I probably could have stopped it."

"I know you would have. You're only somewhat not as physically strong as Yang. And that still counts as monstrously strong."

"Pfft, nah. Yang's just super awesome like that!" Ruby smiled at the thought of her sister. She then noticed a bit of a bench nearby, and goes over to sit down.

"Good call, Ruby. I need a moment. Whew." Jaune sighed as he too sits down next to Ruby, both of them looking out towards the valley in front of them, with the luminescence of the moon serving as their greatest light source. "Busy day..."

"You tired?"

"Immensely." Jaune groaned, feeling a bit winded. He noticed a bit of a shifting, then he turned to Ruby again, who briefly held him by the sides of his head. "Eh? Ru-"

Ruby gently hugged him to her bosom.

Now that Jaune's had several moments to process what just happened, his eyes widened immensely.

"H-Heh?!"

"Shhh. Just rest your head here for a little bit, kay?" Ruby soothingly suggested to him, lightly caressing the top of his hair. It was really rough for that to happen since it came so suddenly, but eventually he was able to somewhat relax a bit.

"...Kay."

Ruby kept him in place, her breasts cushioning him. Not quite as large as Yang's, but her sister was simply in a class of her own. Regardless, Ruby's bosom offered a comfort that could only be realized because of the closeness they've begun feeling over the past several months.

"Jaune. I'm glad I can keep counting on you. I hope you know that." Ruby gently told him whilst hugging him. "You're working hard and doing a lotta stuff that helps us all out. You even make some really great food. You make the best yummies."

"Pfft, yummies." Jaune chuckled with a shake of his head. "I'm just doing everything I can to help."

"And that's SUPER appreciated. But...I'd like to demonstrate that a bit more. I'd like to improve my ability to do even more helpful things, so it doesn't always have to fall to you." Ruby sincerely hummed as she lightly rested her chin atop his head. "Just to help you back like you help me, ya know?"

Jaune shook his head, then immediately stopped with a blush as he remembered Ruby was already cuddling him to her chest, his movements shifting them about a bit when he unconsciously nuzzled deeper into them. Thank goodness that Ruby was so chill. "W-Well, in that case, I'm glad you're thinking about me. You don't have to worry, though. I'm your right-hand man. It falls to me to be your greatest support when we're out adventuring."

"That is what you promised to be for me, isn't it?"

"Knight in Shining Armor, to a Demon Queen. Take that premise and realize how crazy it sounds." Jaune chuckled briefly.

After a moment, Ruby briefly pulled away, with Jaune somewhat missing the softness of her chest. Though Ruby made up for it, as she lightly tapped her lap with a smile. Shrugging, he briefly laid his head on her lap, staring up at her. As much as he could anyway, with her breasts slightly obscuring. It's likely she noticed this, slightly looking over so their eyes could meet.

"It does sound a bit crazy. But that's what I wanna do." Ruby noted confidently as she lightly caressed his hair some more. "And I know I can count on you to support me however you can. In return, you can count on me to help you out in whatever you need, too."

"Yeah..." Jaune sighed while looking a bit outwards towards the sky. "Hey, Ruby. I've heard about your dream dozens of times. Though I don't really think I asked you what it means to you personally. What do you gain from it?"

"Hmm..." Ruby briefly placed a finger on her lip. "...I was thinking about it. And I think I've come up with a few answers."

"How so?"

"To me...being the Demon Queen means bringing forth the kindness and gentleness within darkness that nobody else can see. I'd like to be the one to help them see that darkness in of itself is not inherently evil. It can be good, and it can be used for good." Ruby thought. "And, uh, a Queen needs a Kingdom to rule over. So...once I'm strong and capable enough to handle it...I'm going to make the Evernight domain, the Land of Darkness, my Kingdom. Maybe it can be my main base of operations. Then my family and friends, and people who feel like they don't have a place to belong can take shelter there under it's dark shade, and truly thrive."

Jaune had a pretty good space in where she was getting this from. She likely knew that as robust and thriving as their world was, it was also a world that would never truly accept Salem, should they ever remember the truth about her involvement in its history. This was likely weighing on Ruby ever since she made this decision, as she wanted to give her grandmother a place to belong and be happy, should such an event come to pass. It was a challenge she was determined to succeed in, for her grandmother's sake.

"Alright, Ruby. You seem pretty resolved in this decision. I think I've got a bit more clarity on it now." Jaune raised his head from the comfort of her lap, turning towards her. "Then you can count on me to keep being your right-hand man. I'll work my hardest to protect you and your dream, so you can focus on building your Kingdom."

Ruby smiled as she turned towards him as well. "Hey, you could even be a captain of my Royal Guard!"

"I get to be a CAPTAIN?!" Jaune pointed to himself in shock.

"It only makes sense for my right hand to be in such a powerful role. You're my Golden Guardian, after all. So, why not make you a leader of my Guard?"

"That's definitely gonna be an honor. You're really thinking about this all through, huh?"

"Not completely. It's a big picture, but the smaller pictures matter too. That's why I need everyone, including you, to help me do this. I know what I wanna do, but I can't reach it without all of you." Ruby nodded. "Jaune, you'll help me reach this, won't you?"

"Yeah, I will." Jaune nodded, taking a moment to take her by the hand while kneeling, then lightly kisses the back of it. "That's an Arc promise. An Arc never go back on their word."

Ruby blushed subtly, though she kept her smile. While he knelt, she briefly leans and kisses him on the forehead, briefly surprising him.

"And I'll make sure you never have to. Roses are known for their blooming resilience." Ruby beamed as she clasped her hands behind her back. "So, I'll keep on blooming like a rose and inspire you and everyone else to do their very best!"

The gentle breeze soon blew by, causing Ruby's hair to briefly wave along with it. Seeing how long her hair was now, alongside her cheery expression and radiant smile, her form surrounded by both the breeze and a flurry of scattering rose petals. There was no denying that Ruby was growing into a kind and confident, strong and powerful, beautiful young lady.

He chuckled, lightly running his forehead. "You're gonna tire me out one of these days, Ruby."

"Tired?" Ruby blinked, as she innocently pushed her breasts upwards form underneath, somewhat pushing them together. "Do you need a minute to rest your head again?"

"Noooooo no no! That's okay!" Jaune waved his hand with a hurried hush, turning away with a blush. He really didn't need to be reminded that she was perky in more than just her general mood. Forget tired, he was going to be flat out exhausted with her antics at this rate.

"Anyway, we should get home." Ruby hummed while looking over the path. "It's not a long way away, but it's still gonna take some time."

"Gonna be quite the walk...alrighty then!" Jaune rolled his shoulders and stepped in front of Ruby, before lowering to one knee. "Hop on."

"Eh? Jaune, you know I can turn into a wolf and get us there quicker than this." Ruby blinked.

"A Queen shouldn't have not expert herself unnecessarily. Trust in your Knight."

The young woman tilted her head a bit, before she smiled and shrugged. With a bit of a step and a lift, she managed to get onto Jaune's back and then on his shoulders, before he stands up fully.

Strangely, he felt a calm sort of bliss. Ruby's thighs gently squished against the sides of his face as she tenderly held onto him, doing what she could to not strain him too much. She had a gentle hold on him, specifically around her thighs, as they might be a tiny bit curvier than usual.

He tried not to let this distract him. Indeed, a true test of his resolve.

She placed her hands atop his head and briefly tapped his head twice. "Well? Whaddya waiting for? Back to base, Hero Knight! Onwards!"

"You got it! HOOOOAAAAAHHH!" Jaune let out an energized shout as he took off in a sprint with Ruby in tow, hanging onto her tightly. Ruby in the meantime, laughed with one fist on her hip and her other hand pointing forwards.

"KYAHAHAHAHAHA! Look out, world! You're not ready for the combined might of The Demon Queen and her Golden Guardian! Together we can show you what we can do!" Ruby was determined to keep on going, in order to realize her own desires.

And after another half year, it was Ruby's eighteenth birthday.

Which means it's been a full year since she and Jaune met and went on a joined journey together. This was something they both wanted to cherish for different yet also similar reasons. As such, the gathering was rather expansive, and plenty of their friends came out to help her celebrate it. Ruby herself was a bit fashionably late, but she said her grandmother was helping her get ready and to look presentable. It was a little out there, but Jaune didn't mind waiting. He has kept things somewhat simple, wearing a formal suit and tie that had his emblem branded on the back, as well as over his chest.

It gave him plenty of time to make sure all the food tables were properly set up, considering he played a big part in preparing most of them. He had a pretty strong feeling that Ruby would appreciate that a good chunk of them have been prepared by him.

"Heyyyy..."

Jaune turned, having heard her voice and prepared to greet her, only to pause in place.

Ruby's hair has grown a bit longer, slightly reaching her shoulders, and appeared silky smooth and reflecting off of the starry night. Her wolf ears twitched knowingly once she realized she got his attention. She wore a long and sleeveless black and red dress with rose patterns decorating all around her, with a black sash around her waist with a black rose on the side of it. Her hands were currently clasped, wearing black evening gloves that also had her emblems patterned around them. A slight surprise would be that along with her tights seen below the slight frills of her dress, she wore dark red heels. She briefly pushed a bit of her hair to the side with a small smile, which gave attention to how she even wore dark red lipstick, with a red rose placed nicely in her hair, some of which was tied in a nice bun. Her fluffy wolf tail-seeing the smoothness of the fur, even that had been nicely groomed-calmly yet happily wagged behind her once she saw Jaune up close.

"You look nice."

"Not nearly as much as you do." Jaune smiled, and Ruby snickered, her tail wagging faster. "Looks like your grandma really gave you a makeover."

"Yeah, I'm kind of hopeless at this stuff by myself, so grandma took her time with me." Ruby scratched her cheek awkwardly. "I'm pretty grateful. Though Grandma had to stonewall me into not simply wearing my boots or going barefoot. I'd actually prefer going barefoot if I had to choose between that and wearing hells."

"...You mean, heels?"

"I know what I said, Jaune. And yes, I like HIGH hells even less."

"You still learned to walk in them without falling flat on your face, though! That's progress!" Jaune snickered slightly.

"...I'll punch you." Ruby deadpanned.

"I remember when Yang sent that video of you just faceplanting over and over every time you tried to walk steadily in-OW!"Jaune winced as Ruby really did punch his arm, and while she obviously held back it still stung quite a bit. Moments like these where he couldn't help but push his luck a little, only to be swiftly reminded that Ruby was the sister of a similarly muscled beauty like Yang.

"Told you I'd do it." Ruby pouted at him, before she rolled her eyes and smiled as she went to tenderly hug the same arm she punched not too long after. "Showi me what yummies you made for me!"

Jaune chuckled as he mostly shrugged off the stinging in his arm, it'd dissipate easily enough. "Alright, you're the leading lady. Food tables are going down."

They moved through the area, especially around the food tables. Ruby's eyes sparkled immediately at the assortment of culinary choices, especially since Jaune was the one who made quite a few of them. She was especially fond of the more meat-based prospects of his culinary skills. Beef, crispy bacon, mixed, crispy-browned and soft, tender shallots and bites of slow-cooked carrots, enrobed in red wine sauce. She tore through her share-which was a very big portion-with nearly no effort at all. A testament of her ravenously wolf-like appetite.

Her sister often joked about the fact that Ruby's figure had grown fuller and bustier ever since Jaune began cooking for her, alongside the muscle she's gained during her physical training, and now people could better see the less than innocent resemblance between the two of them. Her dress was snugly hugging her figure alongside her ample bust, and he tried to dissuade himself from unknightly thoughts when he notices how nicely shaped her rear was with how her dress somewhat emphasized, adorably round and perky. Though what was even more noticeable to Jaune was the beaming smile on Ruby's face as she mingled about with the others, particularly her sister Yang, as well as her best friends Penny and Oscar. This was a day for her to have fun and enjoy herself, and he was glad he could play a part in that. That happy and spirited smile was what made all the work he put into whatever he did for and with her, worthwhile.

They soon met a bit in their own space, after Ruby cleaned herself of food on her face, as she and Jaune held each other's hands, basking in the reflected moonlight. Jaune could see the reflected light off not Ruby's shimmering silver eyes. They were so beautiful to look at, like glowing mirrors, he could gaze into them all night and consider it a night well spent.

"I'm really glad you came along, Jaune." Ruby smiled while her tail continued to wag pleasantly while they held hands.

"Like I was going to miss out on your birthday. After everything you've helped me with, it's the least I can do." Jaune scratched his head while Ruby gently holds tighter to him, looking up towards the moon above them, surrounded by numerous stars in an otherwise dark night sky. It was rather noticeable that Ruby's bright shining eyes slightly contrasted with the rest of her, which was rather dark and black with hints of red here and there. "I think I'm beginning to better understand some of the things you're trying to tell me. I did think at some point that light was always good, and dark wasn't, but you've kind of showed me it's not always that simple."

"Happy to help!" Ruby saluted cutely, before she clasped her hands with a smile. "You've come quite a way away, Jaune. I'm really happy for you."

"Hey, like I said, I probably wouldn't have taken that first step if it wasn't for you. So, I really have you to thank." Jaune nodded to Ruby.

Ruby nodded while lightly twirling with a curl of her hair. Her wolf ears twitched a few times, and she took breathes to steady herself. Jaune wondered if something was the matter, but she managed to speak up. "So, Jaune. We've known each other for about a year now. And, we've been through quite a bit, you and me. Got to know each other, understood each other a bit better, the like." Ruby lightly tapped her foot on the ground. "And as I thought I would, I really do like having you around. And I'd like to keep having you around, for a long while."

Jaune chuckled, lightly scratching his head. "Well, it's not like I'm going anywhere. I like being around you too, Ruby. Fighting and adventuring and all that. It's a pretty great experience overall. Ups and downs tend to happen, but we got through them alright."

"Yeah! You've become amazingly dependable. Which is why I want to ask you something very important. To me, at least." Jaune watched as Ruby took more practiced breaths, briefly calming her wagging tail, before focusing on the conversation again. "You already know what I aspire to be, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, with how much important a Queen tends to be and stuff, it would be pretty neat to have someone by her side. Someone very precious. I think you've an amazing knight and you're only going to get even more amazing from here." Ruby looks into Jaune's eyes resolutely, and they twinkled slightly. "This is an aspiring Queen asking you this...would you like to be my King?"

Jaune's eyes widened as he realized the implications of the request almost instantly. Ruby just continued smiling and waiting patiently as Jaune looked around trying to process this, scratching his head, before meeting Ruby's eyes again and pointing at himself, which made her giggle.

"Yes, you. Silly."

"Ruby...I..." Jaune pulled himself together a bit with a breath before continuing. "Now, I like being with you, and I feel great fighting alongside and helping you, too. But...me? Something like that, someone like that...do you really want it to be me? Is that really what you want?"

"Are you doubting the words of the birthday girl?" Ruby playfully pouted.

"N-No, of course not!" Jaune blushed and scratched his head more, now with both hands. He sighed as he pulled himself together once more. "I just...I'm hardly king material..."

"Not yet you're not. Just like I'm not queen material yet. There are things I need you for that I can't do on my own, and there are things you need me for that you can't do on your own. With this, we can keep elevating each other until we get to the versions of ourselves that we want to be." Ruby holds Jaune's hands within her own and smiles, the shine in her eyes becoming more prevalent. "Of course, I don't want to make you feel like you have to say yes. I'm not going to fall to pieces if you say no. It's just that on this path of mine, I'd really like to have you by my side, the way a King does for a Queen. The way they love and support each other. I think we can help each other get there."

"Elevating each other, huh...you really believe in me that much?" Jaune wondered as his arms gently slid around Ruby's waist and pulled her closer. He saw no doubt in her eyes when she looked at him, a sheer abundance of faith in his capabilities. That in of itself spelled a strength he currently lacked much of but wished to nurture going forward. Besides, the title 'Knight-King' sounded pretty cool to him. "Well then, if that's what the Queen wants. I'll just have to get stronger and better...in order to prove that your faith in me is well placed."

"Hehe. What a dutiful knight you are..."

Before either of them knew it, the distance between their faces closed, and they briefly caught each other in a warm kiss. Jaune's hold around her firmly yet gently became more secure, with Ruby's hands sliding over his shoulders to pull him closer as her tail began wagging happily behind her. The growing warmth between the two of them was nearly incomparable, as well as the comfort between them. Briefly, both of them pulled apart, only to come together for a second, slower and more soothing kiss. Ruby sliding her arms around his neck as her breasts gently pressed against his chest, with her foot even popping up in the air, her tail wags increasing.

They had been 'together' for a while now, but this may very well be their first time they voiced a true and sincere declaration of this nature to one another.

Eventually they did pull away for more room to breathe, both of them feeling content. Ruby blinked a little, then snickered at the sight she saw. Jaune continued smiling with her even though he also sighed in realization.

"Your lipstick smeared on me, didn't it?"

"Yup! I wasn't all that sure about putting on lipstick at first but seeing that makes it all worth it!"

"Gee, glad I could help."

Jaune put up with Ruby giggling at how he looked, but it sounded so warm and cheerful and pleasant, that he didn't mind it at all. She was having the time of her life during her birthday, and he was glad to have contributed to that. After she pulled herself out of her giggle fit as she gazed at Jaune again, Ruby's eyes lowered halfway, her tail waving softly behind her, her ears shifting.

"And you know...I feel like putting some more marks on you...several more...a LOT more."

A graceful yet wolfish smile graced her lips as she captured Jaune's with them again. Then she did so again, and again. It didn't take long for Jaune to give into the advances, as he scooped Ruby up in his arms and carried her away, all while she was eagerly kissing him all over. Despite their current position, he was definitely her prey at the moment, and the beast had caught him almost completely. It was too late to try and escape, she had him firmly in her grasp the way her arms slid around him and grasped tightly with her clawed hands. It didn't hurt, but she made it pretty clear that now they've committed to the current path, she wouldn't be letting go. He had been 'caught' by her now.

That was fine by him. This was a beautiful and benevolent beast he was more than happy to be caught by.

The night proceeded with Ruby most definitely 'marking' him, and she didn't settle for just simple lipstick marks, either. Admittedly he didn't try all that hard to get away from her, and likely wouldn't have succeeded even if he did. Jaune remembered groaning the next day when he realized that he was going to have to put up with Yang's own giddiness over what transpired, as she knew full well what happened.

"Alright Ruby, Jauney Boy! You've both unlocked the next tier! From here on out, with her own expressed permission, you can have as much access to the Ruboobies and Rubooty as you'd like! A great achievement! I know Jaune's definitely grown greatly fond for the latter!"

"...You can't prove that." Jaune weakly defended. Yang's smirk told him she wasn't convinced.

"Yang, you're the best sister I could ever hope to have...but please shut up." Ruby deadpanned and growled tiredly. Yang snickered as she hugged her sister and kissed her forehead with a playful yet sincere 'love ya too' in-between. Ruby soon sniffed several times, then looked at Jaune. "...Did you make us strawberry breakfast muffins?"

"And poured some warm strawberry milk. I know how you two love your strawberry flavored snacks and sweets."

"No way. Dude, how are you so epic at baking!?" Yang half-jokingly wondered.

"Hooraayyy...!" Ruby's sudden excitement and smile at her prepared breakfast was still tired, but sincere. The atmosphere was warm and toasty, which made for a serene and cheerful mood for an after-birthday morning breakfast period.

In an overall sense of enjoying her birthday, Ruby was happy and content, and Jaune considered that a very fulfilling achievement.

---

Jaune blinked as he came back into focus, and he could still see Ruby smiling at him. Their mutual reminiscing having brought something to their attention. Or in Ruby's case, refreshing something for her.

"You know. A lotta stories my grandma, my mom, and Yang read to me growing up, tend to have love win the day. And usually, it's romantic love that does it. I don't really think romantic love is the strongest there is. But it definitely has its own unique strengths the others don't have that draw a lot of people to it and gets their investment up in stories like that. Even so, I think that romantic love, friendship love, family love, and unconditional love should all be equally valued for their unique respective strengths, in order to live a truly fulfilling life. And I like stories that have all of those things." Ruby sighed softly. "Once upon a time, Grammy didn't have enough of any of those things to help her mature, and it played a part in why her life turned out so horribly. I don't want that to happen to Cinder, too. Not when we can do something about it."

Jaune nodded slowly. "Right. Cinder..."

"Jaune. I think the feelings you feel for Cinder aren't based on friendship anymore, are they?"

It took a moment, but Jaune's eyes widened at the realization. He hasn't considered it, really thought on it, until Ruby verbalized it for him. He had grown increasingly fond of Cinder, understanding of her, protective of her. At first, he thought he was just looking after another cherished friend of his...but now did he realized that his feelings of camaraderie regarding her had shifted into something different. And with further widening eyes, he also realized that his feelings for Cinder, while having grown in a more unique manner regarding their bond...were very similar to how he felt about Ruby. His feelings had grown strong for Cinder, while his feelings for Ruby hadn't diminished in the slightest. Far from it.

In their own unique ways, similar yet also contrasting, he's grown an equal, sincere type of tenderness for the both of them.

Ruby could see the realization flash in his eyes.

"My feelings for Cinder are...there's no way...but how can I...?" Jaune looked towards Ruby as he wondered what to do with this realization. To his surprise she had a warm and understanding, comforting smile across her face. After briefly kissing his cheek, she leaned further and whispered something in his ear. His eyes widened once more as she pulled back, and he stared at her, dumbstruck. "Ruby...are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Then, what do we do now...?"

Ruby quietly nods as well. "You have your own kind of strength, Jaune. Just like I have my own. We help uplift each other and get through the bad times by covering each other's backs. I love that about you, and I know you feel the same in reverse. I managed to make a bit of an opening, but ultimately, I couldn't reach Cinder on my own. She has her own kind of super cool strength too, but she doubts herself too much to truly bring it out to the surface. That's where you come in. It'll have to be you who breaks her out of that self-doubt. Show her the super reliable awesome guy that we both know you are, and she'll be able to stand again. I know you can do it, thanks to the numerous times you've fought alongside the both of us. That's the truth I believe in."

Hearing Ruby's unshakable faith in him managed to ring through Jaune for a moment. This feeling of helplessness, weakness, and uselessness that's currently plaguing him. By that moment, he would have to put it all to the side and get over them right now. Because not only Cinder, whom he now realized the depths of how much he grew to cherish her, is currently held captive by someone who's supposed to have her wellbeing be a priority, but they're also teamed with a creature that was mercilessly staining what little remained of the honor of Ruby's grandmother by using her face to commit and instigate even more atrocities. This was no time to wallow in self-pity. He had something he needed to do. Ruby had something she needed to do as well, and she wouldn't be able to do it if he didn't pull his weight. Yes, he'd also be reentering this fight for Ruby and furthering her efforts to defend her grandmother. She was the one who first allowed herself to entrust Ruby to him and believe in his abilities, so he would fight in defense of her name as well.

The last thing he wanted was to be a burden to Ruby. On his own path to greatness, he had sworn to dedicate himself to furthering Ruby's ambitions in order to repay her faith and belief in him. He wasn't about to start slacking now. Ruby couldn't help Cinder on her own, but she was able to pull Jaune out of his funk. Now it's about time he made that effort worthwhile by doing what he could to pull Cinder out of hers and therefore finish what Ruby started. But they'd have to save her, first.

With a renewed sense of determination, Jaune stands up after Ruby, and both of them clasped hands with a firm look of resolution. Ruby couldn't help but smile at him, nonetheless.

"Hey, Jaune. How do you think people would react to a super wacky and rare story about an aspiring Princess and Knight duo working together to slay a Devil and save a Dragon?"

It was Ruby's way of entrusting Cinder's rescue primarily to Jaune while she herself focused on the Grimm Devil Lilith, which he already readily accepted. Jaune turned towards the direction of Vale's central city, standing alongside Ruby, clenching his fist, while Ruby unsheathed her claws in her other paw. There was no room for failures. This was the last time they would be clashing with the Glass Unicorn, Mara, Lilith, all of them. There was something important they both needed to say to Cinder.

And for that reason, alongside all of the others, they would definitely save her.

"I honestly have no idea. Guess we're gonna go find out."

---

Beacon Tower.

Cinder was sitting idly in the dark, with a glowing set of chains clamped onto her wrists, her ankles, and around her neck. She despondently gazed at the ground, much of the fight in her having been extinguished. Her tail drooped around herself as it laid on the cold unfeeling ground, much like how she was feeling at the moment. She couldn't even bring herself to conjure a single flame, let alone resist the chains that currently bind her.

There wasn't much she could do like this. How could she?

Ruby was right, after all. Cinder knew, she knew. More than anyone, she knew that Mara was unlikely to keep her word, the spirit of it. Of course, Mara herself wouldn't kill her friends herself so long as she promised to surrender herself. But she said nothing about Lilith partaking in the task herself. Deep down, way deep down, Cinder was well aware that surrendering was not going to end in her favor. All she really succeeded in doing was giving up her freedom while also condemning her friends to Lilith's wrath. She couldn't help it, though. It was a moment of weakness caused by desperation and fear. Both of which have been preyed upon and exploited, which she now realized all too late.

There was nothing she could do about it now. She messed it up, like she knew she would eventually. She screwed up her new chance at life, like she secretly feared she would. But the way it happened was far worse than anything she could have imagined, and now she couldn't do anything to stop it. Even despite all of this, for all of her vast draconic power, she could never use it to do what she wanted to do when she actually needed it. This had actually resulted in one of the worst days of her life. And now, those very days which she thought she escaped from, she would be forced to submit herself to again.

The thought was crippling, but she couldn't even bring herself to cry. Hours after her giving herself up, she didn't have the energy to cry anymore. Normally her pride wouldn't abide for such a pitiful display, but she couldn't bring herself to care about that anymore. She had lost completely and utterly, with nothing to show for it but regrets and tears, both of which were worthless. She was also in no position to remedy these things, no matter how much she wanted to. Ruby had warned her against making this mistake, and then the choice was taken away from her anyway. She couldn't even sever her ties properly for her friend's sake before Mara completely ruined that as well. Couldn't she manage one major decision in her life without her horrid excuse for a stepmother staining it?

At this point, Cinder didn't believe she could anymore.

"Look at you. After all the resistance you've managed to put up until this point, now you can't do a thing. You really are adept at wasting my time." Mara muttered while pacing around Cinder, who barely paid her any heed. "We all knew it would end this way, and yet your delaying of it has been tiresome. You'll have to work off what retrieving you has cost me, affiliating with rabble." Mara shook her head. "I even had to request my daughters to detonate in order to eliminate the rest of the stragglers. You're going to have to make up the difference for their deaths by fighting twice as hard for me."

"...You even callously threw away your own birth daughters...yet somehow, I'm not even surprised." Cinder couldn't even bring herself to be shocked. That sounds far too much like what she would do. It's the lack of hesitation or regret that managed to promote a verbal response from her. She barely flinched when she committed the act, as if it were another progression of the motions regarding her operations.

"...Listen well, Cinder. No one ever has children because they would like a family." Mara began as she paced in front of her. "Children are seen as new chances for validation. They are shaped and molded so that they can accomplish the tasks that their 'parents' set out for them. To compensate for the failures of their pasts and grasp the opportunities for achieving successes old and new. My daughters have done well to pave the way for me, just like you shall. You have no choice but to become the person who pages the path for me to reclaim a superior placement in the world that I am owed."

"Why would you even...?!"

Mara soon kneeled in front of Cinder and gently stroked her face.

"Cinder dear, you must understand a few things." Mara tilted her head. "The only reason that man rescued you that night was to compensate for his own lack of self-worth."

"That's not true...!"

"He was a pitiful man who wanted some validation to his name, and he thought that robbing you of me would be what accomplishes that. A man who attacked far beyond his station, he had to pay the price for his arrogance, by dying at your claws. He was not someone who could mold you to your true potential, to put you to proper use. But I am, and I can." She soon stands up as a Seer Grimm manifested in front of Cinder, with Mara gesturing around it as its center began glowing. "If there's anything you've managed to convince me of, it's that your determination is valuable. I can't have you constantly turning it against me, however. So I'll go with an alternative method that will keep your overall strong will intact. I'll have to subject you to a conditioning session."

"What?!" Cinder uttered, before she found her head hurting.

'Mother is always right.

'Obey Mother, for she knows best.'

'Madame Mara Marikeen is your superior.'

'You exist to assist in her ambitions.'

"What are these thoughts...they're not mine! Yet they're mixing in with everything!" Cinder growled as she shook her head. "Did you do this to Bianca and Levina?!"

"I did. I made sure to condition them to prioritize me, ever since they were born. Similar to what Carmel had done for Trivia. Daughters shouldn't disobey their mothers, after all." Mara ended up ignoring the disbelieving stare Cinder shot towards her. "To my irritation, I was never able to do this with you, since immense pride, greed and ego are all hardwired traits of dragons, and your rebelliousness compounded these traits and made it completely ineffective to use on you. Even having you 'tragically' kill that thief in self-defense ultimately could not make you give up your free will. But after surrendering to me, your pride being shredded, your rebellious nature quelled, and your blood enhancing my powers, I believe my chances are a lot better this time around." Mara shook her head. "That's the double-edged sword of someone like you forming connections, Cinder. It's no longer about what you have to gain from them. Once you make the mistake of cherishing them, you become desperate not lose them. You're willing to give up anything to preserve their lives. All you've managed to do is create multiple weaknesses for yourself. But that's fine, because I'll fix you so that it'd be like you never had them."

"STOP!" Cinder roared as she shook against her chains in terrified anger. "Just stop it! Let me go! Leave me alone!"

"Fret not. This will be the last time you're burdened with the pain of thinking and feeling for yourself. From now on, you'll begin a new chapter of your life, as you redeem yourself under my service. You'll only ever need to think of me." The Seer wrapped its tentacles around Cinder and forced her to look into its glowing center. Cinder's struggles soon ceased as the light in her eyes begin to dull.

My thoughts...mother is...Madame Mara is... NO! NO, SHE'S NOT! She's a... superior...no... mother knows...be... ambitions...NO... MOTHER...!

Madame is...mother...

...knows...

...

"Just so you know, daughter. I forgive you." Mara gently caressed Cinder's cheek, as the latter has gone completely still, the remaining embers in her eyes having nearly gone out. "You've caused me quite a headache running from me over the past decade, and recently with your bolder rebelliousness and all your friends trying to get in my way, but I'm willing to be the bigger person, and move past all of that. We can start over, together. You'll be fully content with assisting me in culling my enemies and putting everyone and everything else under my heel. As my greatest offensive asset, you'll never experience the pain of feeling inadequate with yourself ever again. No more starving, no more concerns, no more weakness. You'll be as strong, as feared, and as powerful as you've always dreamed to be. All at the minor cost of committing your entire existence to me. That is what good daughters are meant to do for their beloved mothers. Surely you can sacrifice that much for your mother's sake, right?"

...I don't...want...

Cinder's thoughts grew hazier, as her own input over them began slipping further and further away...

---

I almost released this chapter on Mother's Day, but it wasn't quite ready yet. Would have made the last scene an even bigger kick to the teeth. Ah well, wasn't meant to be.

Lilith just casually passing the 'Piss off Ruby' challenge without an ounce of remorse in her body. Oscar just trying to survive. Jaune being quite frustrated as well. Yang uber pissed at what happened with Bianca and Levina. The gang gearing up for a clash. And of course, there's Cinder, who is just NOT having a good night.

Of course, all of the above has only reinvigorated Ruby to thoroughly make them pay.

Also, in the meantime this has the highlights of how Ruby and Jaune got together, which the former brings up to help the latter figure out his feelings for Cinder and why that contributed to his sense of failure. Ruby couldn't help Cinder completely but cracked the armor, now Jaune has to pick up where she left off as she focuses on Lilith. Also, how Ruby and Salem were the first ones to show any true faith in his potential. He had already proven it to the latter by getting her granddaughter out of a bad situation despite his initial judgements. So, while he's obviously not as close to her as Ruby is, Jaune won't just allow Salem's name to be worsened more than it already was, without trying to defend her. Knight's honor.

Their respective resolutions will drive them into another clash with Mara and Lilith, in order to save Cinder.

The Princess (by slight technicality) and Knight working together to storm the castle...and save the Dragon?

Huh.

That's usually not how stories with these elements commonly go, but what the heck! Let's see where this goes!