The New Rose

by TheDemonHiei

Ruby is tired of being neglected, criticized, and being called a brat by her team. After an incident with them and Team JNPR, she decides to do something about it. With a new outfit, new weapon add on, and a new combat style Ruby sets to become the huntress she always wanted to be. Question is, will her team be happy with that?

34. Chapter 34 - Friends and Demons

Chapter 34: Friends and Demons

"Die"

Those cold words rang through Ruby's head on repeat as she looked down upon the quivering mess that was Cardin Winchester, held down by her heel digging into his chest. She drowned out his pleas for mercy, she ignored the gasps of terror the crowd was giving off from her actions, she even ignored her own soul screaming at her to end this brutality.

"No." She whispered.

The words echoing in her head kept pushing her spirit. She despised this boy; he mocked her for her losses and now he needed to know how much despair one could feel. Ruby gave a menacing stare to Cardin, one screaming death to the frightened teen as she raised her scythe. He had quickly passed out from the shock, his pupils blank white, but she didn't notice as was focusing on something other than his face, his left arm.

Positioning her Scythe above her head as she gripped it tightly, Ruby took note of the straight red line of blood she had previously cut on his good hand, the other still trembling from the hole her blade put in it. She felt sick to her stomach as it reminded her of her own scars. But with that discomfort came only further rage, she just had to make him pay and know her pain even more now.

"Die Bastard!"

No longer able to think of anything else, Ruby gave into the dark suggestion that whispered in her ear and aimed her scythe straight for Cardin's head. Yang's eyes widened as she realized what she was about to do. She couldn't let Ruby go down that path, even if Cardin seemed like he deserved it at times.

"Weiss! Gravity Glyph now!" Yang hollered frantically to the heiress who was so startled she almost dropped her saber in fright before complying, inserting the dust crystal and waiving it in the air.

Yang jumped on Blake's clasped hands as they supported her jump onto the midair black glyph as it propelled Yang towards her cousin, who had just swung her Scythe, ready to strike the final blow. She was so focused on the act she failed to even hear her own cousin's cry and presence heading towards her in the arena.

"RUBY STOP PLEASE!" Yang cried as the force of a freight train rammed into Ruby's back, making her drop her scythe as her cousin put her in a full nelson to her shock.

This was nothing compared to Glynda Goodwitch's shock as she saw the scythe's curved blade landed right next to his head, inches away in fact. Her hand trembled as it gripped riding crop, still at her waist. She was about to pull it out sooner to stop Miss Rose as she had just won, but that glare, that sheer bloodlust she sensed that was just like Raven Branwen's….it froze her with fear.

"Ugh…Oh! The winner is….R-Ruby Rose of Team RWBY. Miss Rose and Xiao Long, please exit the arena!" Glynda nervously yelled as she ran up to check on Cardin and the rest of his fallen team.

She quickly called a medic for their wounds, noting out loud to one medic they were severe. Ruby's mind echoed each wound in detail on repeat in her head, ranging from fractured shoulder blades, severe lacerations, and internal bleeding!

"D-Did I…really do all this?" Ruby thought fearfully as she eyed the unconscious and severely wounded team CRDL before her. She completely ignored her cousin's calm grip on her shoulders and her soft attempts to coax her, but she did hear something horrible instead of even her own heads echoes.

"MURDERER!" A man in the crowd cried, making Ruby jolt as she darted her head towards the stand as some in the crowd roared in unison following the man's angry rant.

"GET OFF THE STAGE!" Another man cried with rage.

More people began to roar at Ruby as she clasped her head, breathing frantically with each insult and roar she heard. Yang did her best to coax her to walk with her, but Ruby just stood there firmly like a statue.

"C-Come on baby girl. Don't let them get to you. You didn't break the rules, just some bones they'll be fine." Yang nervously tried to assure her.

Glynda was about to open her mouth to admonish Ruby in response to hearing this, believing otherwise. While CRDL would indeed recover with their aura, Ruby did act with excessive force. She had more than half a mind to lecture her for hours and even disqualify her for this. But what stopped Glynda as she froze in her tracks before, she did so? A cry from a woman in the crowd that she saw shook Ruby to the core, making the scarred girl cry heavily in an instant.

"YOU'RE NO HUNTRESS!" The woman screamed followed by like-minded jeers from the crowd.

This was the last straw for Ruby, the eyes of contempt on her, the smell of blood and gunpowder in the air she created, and those words, she just couldn't stand it any longer. Yang felt her cousin's body vanish from her fingertips, nearly causing her to lose her balance, as Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose petals and bolted down the halls out of the arena.

"Ruby wait!" Yang yelled as she ran to follow her. Up in the stands, Blake and Weiss stood eyeing the screen. It said,

Round 1 WINNER:

TEAM RWBY

But the heiress and catgirl knew otherwise. Only Ruby had won and worse, she had brutalized an entire team and ruined her reputation, as jeers growing louder in protest to the sign were proof of that. This realization unleashed a vicious wave of guilt upon them. If only they had shown up on time, Ruby wouldn't have been forced to fight them in their stead and wouldn't have lost her mind in anger over their insults. As they saw team CRDL being lifted out by stretchers, one even in tears, they couldn't help but feel a mix of anger and pity in them.

"They were creeps for mocking Ruby's arms but…" Blake said as she rubbed her bow, obviously understanding Ruby's sentiment before Weiss cut her off, already knowing what she was going to say.

"But still…she wasn't ready. We should have seen the signs, made her rest longer, made sure she was healed up there instead of just on her arms." Weiss sadly said as she pointed to her temple.

Blake nodded in agreement, Ruby was clearly still traumatized by her injury, it honestly sickened Blake, she didn't realize it sooner after that Ursa incident in the woods.

"I can't believe we did this again. She needed us and we failed again!" Blake bitterly thought. Ruby shouldn't have been fighting and yet once more they ignored a problem their friend was having, it was right under their noses, and they didn't even sniff it out. She couldn't help but feel remorse for CRDL, wishing she and her team paid such a price in their stead for neglecting Ruby's pain once again. This however, opened up a new more frightening question for the huntress in training.

"Weiss…how are we gonna help Ruby now?" Blake said softly. Weiss could only frown and eye the bitter crowd before her in response, seeing it as the biggest roadblock to the answer they both sought.

"I-I don't know. Her mind's probably in shambles like her reputation right now. I just don't know what we can do Blake." Weiss sadly stated as she hung her head shamefully, wishing with all her might she could have a better answer as she saw her friend tear up a bit in response.

Scars Run Deep

Yang was lucky she managed to catch up to Ruby. She didn't get far even with her semblance before collapsing in the hallways to Yang's worry. This worry skyrocketed as she placed a calm hand on her cousin's shoulder, only to see her shiver and gasp a bit. Yang knew that sign and nervously placed a hand on Ruby's forehead, recoiling as she felt sweat and heat on it.

"Shit! She's burning up!" Yang cried.

She realized Ruby was sick back in the arena, that altercation bringing chills to her spine, but she didn't think her sister was physically sick too. Realizing Ruby needed a doctor, she gingerly picked up her little cousin and examined her surroundings, looking for the way to the nurse's office. Her eyes quickly caught a glimpse of directions on the wall.

"Nurses office….2 turns to the right at the end of the hall got it!" Yang said as she bolted in that direction, determined to save her cousin.

"For once." Yang couldn't help but think bitterly.

As she felt Ruby's hot breath blast her neck as she quickly carried her to the infirmary, Yang couldn't help but feel guilty. Those short rapid breaths Ruby gave off tormented the young girl she could tell as she squirmed a bit in her arms.

"Maybe I'm jostling her a little too much?" Yang thought, she couldn't help but slow down their run once hearing her cousin gag a bit and utter something.

It made Yang fear her sister was going to be sick, and in her arms. But any fear of such a disgusting scenario was gone the moment Yang finally locked eyes with Ruby. She nearly dropped her cousin in shock as she saw how bloodshot Ruby's eyes were, filled with tears and intense dread as well. It was a very bad sign.

"*Huff* Mo….*Huff*…*Mo*" Ruby weakly gasped.

Her stuttering and hyperventilating only worsened Yang's fears as she bolted down the halls, admonishing herself for even stopping. Any student or faculty in the way quickly felt the force of a freight train smash them against the walls as Yang plowed straight through, her only words being "OUT OF MY WAY!" without remorse.

Ruby meanwhile, was filled with nothing but emotion as the blood she saw ooze down Cardin's arm was painted before her eyes. She wanted the sight to leave her but couldn't find the strength to even close her eyes to do so. Despite the numbness in her own arms, Ruby felt like her whole body was on fire as her heart sank from the guilt of her rampage. This pain was even worse than what she felt on the day her warms were destroyed.

"Monster….why…*gag* why am I a monster?" Ruby whispered through her retching as Yang set her down on an infirmary bed, her eyes widening in terror at the question.

"Ruby no! You're no monster I promise! You just…just made a mistake is all, but those boys are fine. You'll be fine too." Yang said as calmly as she could despite her shock. She tenderly rubbed Ruby's shoulder, as she tried to alleviate her stress. She even tried to sing her a lullaby she sang when Ruby cried herself to sleep at night, begging their mom Summer to come home.

"Hush little Ruby don't you cry. Big sis Yang makes the bad Grimm go fly." Yang sang softly as she smiled seeing her sister slowly jerk her head to meet her face, hopeful the lullaby was working to sooth her.

Ruby's skin paled instead though, as she drowned out any comforting words her cousin threw her way. All she could focus on were Yang's eyes. Despite the color really being lilac, Ruby's vision reddened as she trembled in fright seeing someone else's red eyes in their stead.

"Same…they're the same as hers!" Ruby fearfully thought as the image of Raven flashed before her and replaced her cousin's face. Yang suddenly felt the wind knocked out of her as Ruby's hard fist smashed her chest, sending her flying towards the wall.

"GAH! Ruby what the hell was-" Yang screamed as she rubbed her aching chest, only to be cut off by a scream from her cousin.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Ruby screamed as she hazardly plopped off her bed, her feet snagging the covers as she fearfully retreated into a corner. Whatever rage Yang felt for this assault instantly faded as her maternal instincts kicked into overdrive. Catching her breath as she painfully rose from the ground, Yang gingerly stepped towards her shaking cousin with her hand reached out.

"Ruby…it's okay. No one's gonna hurt you baby girl. Big sis Yang's gonna make sure of it." Yang said confidently as she formed a fist she shook, hoping it would bring some ease to Ruby.

But that fist, along with each footstep made Ruby's heart sank. Her body was paralyzed with fear as she sat frozen in the corner, biting her lip as she shook her head in denial, not fooled by the words coming from whom she thought was her aunt, her tormentor.

"Liar. Liar. You're a liar." Ruby fearfully said. Yang winced as she heard these horrible words, pausing her advance as she lost her surge of confidence. She never once saw Ruby so scared, even worse so scared of her.

"I'm not lying! Ruby, you're safe here." Yang tried to assure her, but in place of a concerned hand shot out, all Ruby could see was Raven's hand pointing at her, the sound of that lightning bolt as it was lunged at her broke Ruby down.

"LIAR! MONSTER! DON'T KILL ME PLEASE!" Ruby screamed as she flailed her arms and finally shut her eyes in desperation, hopeful not to see the lightning again.

Despite not hitting anything once Yang recoiled and stepped back, Ruby didn't care. She could feel nothing but pain and fear right now as she convulsed on the ground, reduced to a sobbing mess as she assumed a fetal position, crying into her knees to Yang's horror.

"R-Ruby? What's wrong with you?" Yang sadly asked as she rubbed her sisters back.

"Her scars are burning Miss Xiao Long." A woman's voice rang through the room, catching Yang's attention as she looked to the door to see Sindel and Litchi walk in with glum faces on their faces.

They glanced down to gaze upon a somber sight on the floor. The once powerful and confident huntress detective, one with unparallel sharpshooting skills and eyesight they'd bet their lives on was reduced to a sobbing mess after that frightening display of power she unleashed on those boys. They couldn't help but feel their stomach's knot with guilt at the sight, knowing what was truly ailing poor Ruby.

"A-Agent Diamond? Agent Ling? W-What are you two doing-" Yang asked confused before her eyes widened in shock as the sight of their Atlas uniforms, their arms held behind their backs professionally, and worst of all…those handcuffs at their waists. It made a horrible realization dawn on her that made her blood boil. She instantly grabbed her cousin, ignoring her fidgeting and muffled screams of terror, and hugged her tightly to her chest.

"YOU'RE NOT ARRESTING MY LITTLE RUBY!" Yang roared in defiance, startling the two special agents.

"Whoa! Easy their miss Xiao Long!" Litchi yelled defensively as she held her hands out defensively.

"We were just here to-" She tried to finish before Yang's eyes reddened in anger, not buying a word she was saying.

"Those boys mocked her arms; they mocked a crippled girl! They got what they deserved!" Yang yelled in protest as she cradled Ruby's head.

"We know Miss Xiao Long. That's why we don't plan to do anything to her." Sindel said quickly, knowing she had to cool Yang down after seeing her explosive temper aimed at Seth weeks ago. One wrong gesture and that temper would be unleashed again, and the last thing they wanted to do was pummel Ruby's family after all she had been through.

"What do you want then?" Yang groaned, not dropping her guard for a moment as she gently laid her sisters head on the ground and stood guard in front of her. Adults were known for lying and going back on their promises to teens and kids to get what they wanted. These two needed to earn her trust if she was to give up her defense.

"Well…while the council saw Detective Roses display and wanted her arrested-" Litchi began to say, pausing as Yang gritted her teeth in anger at the thought, Sindel came to her aide as she spoke up quickly in her and Ruby's defense.

"But we can't really. We've been suspended from our positions for a couple of weeks you see." Sindel said quickly to Yang's surprise, her red eyes returning to their original color as she raised an eyebrow confused.

"What did you do?" Yang asked curiously, these two seemed like responsible adults not party animals like her and the girls. They being Atlesians like Weiss, whom she knew first hand was rigid and stuck up like the stereotype, made this all the more confusing.

"We told them what you told them, how Ruby was hurting after those boys mocked her. Pluuuuuuuus, we might have told them to stick it." Sindel said as she averted her gaze and whistled a bit sheepishly. Yang just gave them a teasing smirk in response, honestly impressed to hear this.

"Wow. Didn't know you two had it in you." Yang said amused.

"Neither did I really." Sindel said as she rubbed the back of her head nervously.

She hated admitting to such immature behavior to Yang after the scolding she gave the teenager for beating up Seth during a temper tantrum. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but smile eerily, a bit proud as well for standing by her detective before wheezing from the feverish girl startled her and everyone else. Quickly they ran up to her as she clasped her head, obviously suffering a massive ache that worsened her torment.

"Poor baby. I heard what happened to her while Sin and I were in the hospital, but I didn't think it was really this bad." Litchi said with sadness as she eyed her detective's misery.

"Neither did I, and that's why this is my fault. As her superior I should have convinced Ozpin to mandate counseling for her. Maybe then we could have prevented this incident." Sindel said with immense guilt in her tone.

"I get she was pissed those boys mocked her arms, but why is she freaking out so much? She even called me a monster." Yang fearfully asked, remembering their comment about scars burning.

She eyed her sister's arm, catching a glimpse of the burn marks and cut scars on them. Sindel and Litchi noticed that and sighed sadly in response, hating to have to explain this as they couldn't help but feel responsible for this whole mess.

"You probably remind her of the "monster" that did that damage to her arms." Litchi said softly. Yang's eyes widened in shock as she realized what those words meant.

"Mom? She sees me as Raven?" Yang asked bewildered. Sindel and Litchi nodded in response.

"You do resemble her believe me. Perhaps her fever's making her hallucinate and see you as her…maybe she even saw those boys as her too." Sindel theorized.

Yang felt her stomach knot with this news. She never met her mom and was really starting to regret that more as she felt a burning desire to smash her face like she did to Seth, only worse for what she put her cousin through. She snapped out of those vengeful thoughts when Sindel snapped her fingers in front of her to catch her attention.

"Tell me, has she fought at all since she was discharged or was this the first battle she's had?" Sindel asked curiously as Litchi softly grabbed Ruby, ignoring her squirming as she laid the weakened girl back on her bed. Seeing this put Yang at ease a bit as she took a heavy breath, trying to think clearly and remember.

"Well….I wasn't there, but my partner said while she was out Grimm hunting she froze in battle and was attacked by an Ursa." Yang said making Sindel's eyes widen in fear.

"Was she hurt?" Sindel asked terrified.

"No. She actually ripped it in half with her bare hands, but Blake told me what was really scary…was her eyes." Yang said sheepishly.

"Let me guess, they were cold, bloodthirsty like evil itself?" Sindel asked sternly. Yang gulped and slowly nodded in response nervously.

"You won't like hearing this but, those were the same eyes we saw on Raven that day, the day the raid failed." Sindel said.

"What's that got to do with what's wrong with her?" Yang asked a bit impatiently, she was tired of talking around the heart of the problem, something Sindel could tell.

"Ruby's been having flashes of her tormentor, and her behavior has become much more violent and erratic. Knowing this, we may have to talk to Ozpin and ask him to give her time off from her school and duties to heal." Sindel sighed sadly.

She hated the thought of losing her detective, especially because Ruby's skills would be needed to find those criminals that escaped. Unfortunately, she couldn't see any other way out of this debacle. Ruby needed therapy and lots of it, which was for sure. Yang, however, didn't see just that.

"You want her to leave Beacon, leave all of us?" Yang asked incredulously.

She already spent so much time alone while Ruby was either away on missions with these agents or recovering. She couldn't bear the thought of attending classes or this tournament while her sister was shipped off to Patch of Vale, even for healing without her.

"Miss Xiao Long I get your upset by what's happened and don't want her to go, but it's either this or Ozpin may decide to kick her out of school all together." Litchi sternly whispered, careful to make sure Ruby was still asleep and wouldn't hear her say something so sensitive. Yang felt all her strength zap at such a declaration.

"Expelled? My little Ruby?" Yang thought fearfully. Such a scenario shook her to the core. Being a huntress was all Ruby ever dreamed about, ever since she and Yang lost Summer, now she was in danger of losing it as well.

"She…She can't lose it. She needs to be a huntress. Please! Don't make her quit." Yang pleaded, tears stinging her eyes. Sindel just put a firm hand on her shoulder and smiled as best as she could to try and alleviate to

"We won't I promise, Ruby is an invaluable part of our unit, and we want her back to normal as soon as possible. Just think of this as a…er work vacation from school again like her first time to Atlas." Sindel said in a motherly tone.

"That's right, in order for Ruby to go back to being the Ruby we know and love, she needs this. Good things will surely come of it. She'll get counseling and her mind will heal. Hell, maybe she'll make some friends in group therapy like she did in Atlas when she met our other agents?" Litchi happily theorized.

"Agents?" Yang thought

The mention of the other Agents soon made Yang's eyes brighten as an idea exploded in her head like dynamite. She bolted off the ground and clasped Sindel's shoulders to her shock.

"Watch Ruby! I gotta go get her friends, I got a killer idea!" Yang yelled as she ran out the nurse's office, almost knocking the nurse down to her shock as the Xiao Long ran off down the hall to the agents and nurses confusion.

"Why do I have the feeling something crazy and destructive is going to happen?" Litchi asked annoyed.

"It's Xiao Long. What else would you expect?" Sindel said with a deadpanned expression.

Ozpin's Office

Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood eyed the video footage on the headmasters scroll showcasing Ruby's fight against CRDL. All of them winced as they saw the blood she drew callously on Cardin's arm and heard his screams of pain.

They never expected such bloodlust and brutality from the sweet little 15-year-old girl that once squirmed in that police station almost a year ago. She seemed so innocent and full of life, now she was like a true reaper, out to destroy all of it with disdain. Ozpin especially was unnerved as he eyed the venomous gaze Ruby was giving to Cardin in the video.

"When I first met you, those silver eyes were radiant with purity and love. What happened Miss Rose?" Ozpin thought sadly.

He was honestly unsure what he should do about her new behavior. Normally expulsion or suspension was warranted, yet Ruby did technically follow the rules of the battle as Cardin was noted by Glynda earlier to have Aura before passing out. Still, such a strike from her heavy scythe would certainly have maimed the boy at least.

Thankfully Miss Xiao Long intervened before Ruby could do something dreadful. He didn't want to punish Ruby so severely and that would work in her favor, but before he could ponder what to do now a sudden voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I think that's enough sir. Please?" Glynda said as she nervously urged Ozpin to shut off the video on his scroll, startling him a bit.

"Oh! Sorry Glynda I just…" Ozpin sheepishly said as turned off his scroll, almost dropping it as his hands were sweating from nervousness, something Ironwood could easily see.

"It's fine I get it. Detective Rose certainly give off a frightening aura much like her aunt." Ironwood said darkly.

"Ugh! Please don't mention her in my presence again. I get irritated just thinking of that traitor." Glynda said annoyed.

"Yes Glynda, but the fact remains my agents Diamond and Fay Ling reported from the doctor Detective Rose's onslaught was caused by flashes of that woman's face." Ironwood explained, trying his best to appeal for Ruby's case.

He could tell by Glynda's stern glare she wanted the girl severely punished, and he'd hate to lose a promising detective like her. Glynda frowned bitterly as she realized this instantly.

"She's not just a "detective" she's a student here. And the fact also remains she almost killed one. I am not saying kick her out, but she does need to be punished or take time off for therapy." Glynda said sternly. Ironwood sighed quietly a bit, feeling relieved for Ruby's future a bit more.

"Yes I agree. Some time off to heal would be good. We were fools to allow her back into this life and the tournament before having her evaluated. What do you think we should do though Oz?" Ironwood asked the headmaster who sipped his coffee, obviously deep in thought.

"Well, she will get counseling that I'll see to it. But she still will need a lot of help to handle the scrutiny of this debacle." Ozpin said concerned.

"Indeed. It wasn't just the council demanding her arrest; many people in Vale are as well. We even got calls from the parents of Team CRDL's demanding her expulsion at least. I doubt after graduation she'd ever rebuild her reputation fully or even get contracts." Glynda said sadly. Though she was still angry with Ruby she couldn't help feeling bad for the girl, knowing the physical and mental torment she had endured and would likely endure in the future from this mess.

"I agree Glynda. Though Miss Rose is more of a private person and could work out of the spotlight. Perhaps some time away from here to heal would benefit her. Speaking of which James, I think this would make a perfect time for "that'" Ozpin said sternly. James and Glynda's eyes widened as they realized what he was implying.

"Your seriously considering asking Miss Rose to take Amber's place now of all times?!" Glynda said furiously.

"I admit that's what I wanted to protect Miss Rose in case Raven attacked us, but what brought this on Oz? I can't help but wonder if now's not a good time for this." Ironwood said concerned.

"I admit this isn't a good time. It would never be a good time to ask her to take another's life for power but staying out of the spotlight in Atlas under James watch as a maiden, getting a new sense of responsibility may give her the drive needed to get past her trauma and be safe." Ozpin theorized.

"And add new trauma by making her a murderer?" Glynda coldly said.

"Glynda, I know it's not a great idea but Amber is dying as we speak. And with Cinder Fall on the loose again with half her power this may be the safest way to keep that power out of Salem's hands." Ironwood said.

"We should simply have Pyrrah Nichalos take the power then, why give it to a mentally damaged child?" Glynda countered.

"Ruby needs the power more right now. Salem and her forces are coming here soon. Miss Rose, a girl with silver eyes, will certainly a target for the witch. Not to mention her aunt wants to finish the job." Ironwood sternly said, her tone was starting to get on his nerves. Glynda's nerves, in fact, were severely high-strung at that point.

"Salem my ass! You just want another weapon for Atlas." Glynda bitterly yelled.

"Ruby is not a weapon; she is my loyal and skilled detective who wants to protect everyone! Vale, Atlas, it's all really about Remnant first you short sighted-" Ironwood said before he and Glynda were startled by Ozpin slamming his coffee mug on the table.

"ENOUGH!" Ozpin roared, fixing them both a bitter glare, silencing them.

It was rare for Ozpin to lose his temper, but when he did they knew it could be worse than the fiery tantrums of Tai or his daughter. His cold ruthless tones could make your skin chill and heart stop in fear.

"Let's wait till Miss Rose's fever breaks after some rest to ask her then. It's really her choice in the grand scheme of things. Now leave me, my office isn't a battle arena like the one we saw demolished today." Ozpin sternly said as the two sheepishly nodded and slowly walked out.

Ozpin soon stood up from his desk and walked towards the window, eyeing the Vytal festival with his arms folded behind his back, thinking about what James said. Despite it being a sunny and festive day, he knew the joyous mood would not last forever for the carnival at his school. He could sense it; a dark cloud would soon hover over his school like it did for poor Ruby Rose.

He couldn't help but think James had a point, Ruby would certainly be a target considering not just her skills and interference in the witches plans before, but also those eyes. Ruby herself didn't even realize this about herself, but she came from a line of legendary warriors like her mother whose silver eyes decimated the Grimm in ancient times.

If he was being honest, he thought Ruby was more skilled than her mother at this age. Considering she didn't even know of her powers yet and was quite efficient without them, she would only grow once she learned. Salem, the witch queen of all Grimm, no doubt saw her as a threat to her plans. He knew just what those plans were in fact.

Salem was coming and she would stop at nothing to get her hands on the maiden, the relic, and worse torment Ozpin by destroying his school and the students he prided himself on, especially Ruby.

"Please Miss Rose, all my children, be strong. When the day comes, we must be ready." Ozpin thought bitterly.

The next day….

Yang had gathered in the school's cafeteria her team, minus Ruby of course, as well as Team JNPR, Sun, and Ruby's unit from Atlas. The mood was tense as Ruby's Atlas team eyed the other teams, minus Sun, with disdain.

These were the teens who brought so much distress to their friend by badmouthing and neglecting her, they couldn't help but feel Ruby's old friends were at least partly responsible for her breakdown earlier. Those teens weren't so dense as to not sense that anger, Nora in fact clenching her hammer's hilt, daring them to give her a reason to break some legs.

"OKAY! Let's just get this meeting started shall we!?" Yang yelled, feeling the pressure of the environment.

"What do you want now Xiao Long?" Sin asked annoyed.

"Yeah, beating up Seth not enough? Gotta have seconds with us?" Mira asked with venom in her tone. Yang sheepishly rubbed her arm out of guilt. She wasn't proud of that moment, much like she wasn't proud it was the second time she hurt Ruby's feelings.

"No. I-I…shouldn't have ever done that. I'm sorry. That's not why I called you all here though." Yang sadly said.

"Then what? Stop wasting our time so we can go check on Ruby already." Seth angrily said.

Despite being irritated by his tone, Yang took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew he was truly just worried more about Ruby than angry with her, which was surprising considering he still had the scar Ember Cecelia left on his right cheek from her beat down.

"That's what I need your help with guys. Look I know we screwed up before with Ruby, but I really think all of us together can come up with a way to help her." Yang said firmly.

"Oh so "big sister" Yang can't do this by herself? That's funny seeing as though you pretty much accused us of being incompetent and it being our fault what happened to our friend. Thought you knew better than everybody when it came to Ruby?" Akali asked sarcastically.

"Hey!" Weiss shouted, angry at her rude accusation.

"Zip it princess! This isn't like back at our prep school, you can't tell us what to do." Mira bitterly yelled back and Weiss glared at her.

"That's it! Let me smash these jerks legs!" Nora yelled as she grabbed her hammer, the end charging up with static from her semblance.

"No Nora wait!" Ren yelled, trying in vain to stop her as she shrugged him off.

"PLEASE WAIT!" Yang's shout drowned their voices out, freezing all of them in place. She sighed with relief in response, glad no one was killing each other, especially Nora as Ren subtly grabbed her hammer out of her hands.

"Look, you guys from Atlas don't like us, that's fair." Yang said.

"Why me? I didn't do anything!" Sun pointed out before Blake elbowed him.

"Except run your big mouth, now zip it and let her finish Monkey Boy." Blake hushed him as he slouched.

"Yes…Kitty." He whispered making her blush.

"Ahem! Okay as I was saying. We may not like each other much, but we all love Ruby right?" Yang asked with everyone nodding. How could the answer ever be no?

"Well I need an idea for how we can help her recover from her breakdown." Yang asked humbly.

The others' eyes lowered as they frowned. It was the question of the year, especially for the Atlas intelligence unit. While they were scarred a bit from their failure to defeat Raven's tribe, despite all the praise Ironwood, their teachers, and their superiors have given them over the months for their efforts, they knew their scars were mere scraps compared to Ruby's. Her screams as Raven electrocuted her plagued their dreams ever since. They could only imagine the torment going inside Ruby's mind.

"I don't know." Jago sadly admitted his uncertainty and Sin nodded.

"I still feel horrible about my loss to those creeps in Atlas even though I got out without too many scraps. I always thought Ruby could tough out any problems she went through." Sin bitterly said.

He knew how badly a defeat tormented the strong, and Ruby was about as strong as they came in his opinion. He couldn't even begin the fathom the pressure she was under.

"Yeah, she prides herself on her strength and skill. She never needed help in battle before. How can we even help her?" Akali added.

WBY knew how they felt. Despite it being awkward with her being 2 years younger, Ruby was honestly someone they admired in combat, her Grimm killing skills and natural leadership was endearing, she almost never needed or asked for help. How do you help someone who seems so strong all the time was the question going through everyone's mind, all except Nora and her team as she grinned madly at them, something not unnoticed by Yang.

"What's up Nora? Got something for us?" Yang asked with the others drawing their gaze upon her interested.

"Guess now is good as time as ever. Sooooooo, it wasn't a good time before seeing as how…you know-" Nora said sheepishly fidgeting, her arms behind her back.

"Ruby being hospitalized." Ren said sadly to finish for her. Everyone lowered their heads in sadness at the reminder.

"So before that, Nora had an idea to help us and Ruby's team make up with her for hurting her feelings." Jaune finished, hoping to bring the mood up a bit.

"And that would be?" Blake asked, her cat ears perking up, showing Pyrrah she was curious which alleviated her own stress and worry.

"Nora said we should all get together and hold an intervention." Pyrrah replied to the surprise of the others.

"You sure that's a good idea? Ruby's not exactly the type to like having all eyes on her. That's why we usually had very small dates in quite places." Seth said.

Yang grit her teeth a bit and squeezed her arms annoyed at that thought, but kept quite as she agreed with him. Ruby was a very private person, hence why she was so shy as a kid and Yang had to babysit her a lot.

"I know I wanted your help coming up with something guys but…oh god I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with lover boy here. Ruby's not exactly outgoing except when killing Grimm. Can't we just take her out on a hunt for stress relief?" Yang suggested. Weiss and Blake winced at the notion, remembering what happened last week.

"Yang, that's not a good idea either." Blake said sadly making her partner eye her sadly, almost feeling betrayed.

"She's right Yang. Ruby froze up and nearly got mauled during a trauma flash. She needs to be away from battles for a while." Weiss said.

"But they'll ship her back home for counseling if we don't do something!" Yang countered.

"And she feels awful because of her loss and our bitchiness. Which is why we need to make her feel loved and appreciated so she can open up to us as a substitute. Ozpin would let her stay if we can get her to open up right?" Nora said hopeful.

"She's already shut herself off in her room after that last battle. How does trapping her in a circle, telling her how scared we are for her gonna make her feel loved?" Yang asked skeptical.

"Well, I call it OPERATION FRIENDTERVENTION!" Nora cheered as a sign lit up with the words above her head (animated effect).

The others, aside from the curious looking Atlas unit, sighed and smacked their heads at her showoff.

"Nora, get on with it please." Ren said impatiently and she blushed as she coughed into her hand.

"Right well, you see in this plan I brilliantly came up with, we would get Ruby together with us, throw her a little party with all her favorite foods, games, and music and tell her what we love about her to make her more comfortable." Nora explained. The others eyes shot up as they heard this.

"That could work! This all started because Raven hurt her in that raid." Mira said impressed.

"Yeah Ruby might stop getting flashes if she feels better about herself and forget about her loss." Sun added making Nora grin madly, proud of herself.

"Glad you guys like it, we were gonna get Ruby's team to help us with preparations seeing as how her cousin and best friends would know her favorite snacks and games. How about it girls?" Nora asked.

WBY pondered the idea themselves. It did seem like a nice plan, Ruby would be able to relax a bit and do things she wanted to do at her own pace like she normally liked. If they could get her to calm down here it would prove to the faculty, she didn't need to leave Beacon for therapy.

"Okay, I think that's a good start. Maybe I can even call in my butler Klein. He was a war medic before being hired by my family and had taken courses in Psychology. He was a great mediator for me and my sister when we fought, I'm sure if father lends him to me for a while he can be the alternative Ozpin needs to keep her with us." Weiss added.

"Good thinking princess." Mira said teasingly making Weiss pout a bit in annoyance, before an irresistible grin forced itself onto her lip and she broke out laughing with her old schoolmate.

"So we're all in agreement then?" Yang asked and everyone nodded, all except Seth she noticed.

"You got a better idea Dreyer?" She bitterly asked while folding her arms, drawing the gazes of others upon the Mistral huntsman. He slowly began walking back towards the exit after feeling the pressure of their looks; his heart pounding anxiously at the sight.

"What's up Seth? Don't you wanna help your girl?" Shauna asked him with a little anger in her tone; she was a bit perplexed by his strange behavior.

"I ugh….might need some time to think about what to say to her. If I even can say anything to her." He nervously said as he soon walked out the door.

"Seth?" Mira called out to him in confusion. The others exchanged confused glances, unsure what that was about. Yang just sighed annoyed as she hated what she was about to do, even if she felt it necessary.

"I got this, just go over ideas for the friendtervention. Seth and I will catch up with you later." Yang ordered as she ran off to find the boy. She quickly caught sight of him at the end of the hall, slouching up against a wall looking depressed.

"HEY DREYER!" Yang called out to him. He simply stole a glance at her before clicking his teeth and averting his sight with disdain to her anger. She sped up to him and grabbed his collar bringing their faces within inches of each other.

"What do you want Xiao Long? To hit me again?" Seth asked annoyed. His attitude was flaring up her anger as well as her eyes reddened.

"What I wanted was for you to get back with my sister to make her happy! I don't what I was thinking wanting that! Her being with a spineless shit like you!" Yang growled at him.

He looked at her perplexed at the statement. She wanted him back with Ruby? After nearly killing him for dating her before? He soon narrowed his gaze as he felt her grip tightened, he hated being touched by anyone but Ruby just as much as he was tired of bad jokes. He slowly grasped her fist firmly.

"Oh, I'm a spineless shit huh? Even though I'm a member of a pristine tactical unit and I took down a lieutenant of a dangerous bandit tribe? Led by your mother of all people? Sure blondie, now take your hands off me." He calmly but sternly said as he pried her off him.

"Pff! Glad to see you got a backbone after all. Why not show that when Ruby's involved?" She sarcastically asked.

"SHUT IT! You have no idea how I feel about Ruby!" Seth roared but Yang wasn't flinching.

"I know you love her and she loves you! I could see it in her eyes despite how much it pissed me off. What I don't know is why you can't tell her that!" Yang yelled annoyed.

"BECAUSE I TRIED ALREADY!" Seth hollered.

Yang lowered her gaze a bit calmly and fixed him a concerned look, her eyes returning to Lilac despite still feeling a bit angry. Seth sighed as he took a second to calm down as well before continuing.

"I tried, in the hospital 3 weeks ago. I told Ruby how she meant the world to me, how I'd do anything for her, I bled my heart out and you know what she said?" He asked and Yang slowly nodded.

"She broke up with me to "save me", ME! Because I was weak and couldn't stop Raven. She couldn't stop Raven from hurting all of us and it tormented her. After all she went through, all she lost, she still thought of others first. That's the problem with this plan of Nora's, Ruby only thinks of others. The one time she didn't it was about our relationship." Seth revealed sadly and Yang was startled by this revelation.

"What do you mean?" Yang whispered in shock. Seth groaned in response, realizing he let slip something personal.

"Another in my long list of failures with Ruby huh?" He couldn't help but think.

"Yeah, she said she wanted to still be with me, but didn't think it was safe. She felt like a failure, with her arms dead and all, a liability. She felt the closer she gets with someone like that, the more danger your psycho mom or the job itself presents will come for them. She told me about Summer too, how the mission did just that.

She'd rather die alone than embrace us or that risk, so I know…your plan will fail. She won't listen to us, she won't be near us, and she won't even get help despite knowing she needs it. She'll never get better because she doesn't want to Yang." Seth bitterly said as he walked off.

As Yang saw him leave she felt a mix of emotions surge within her. Anger that her cousin wanted to be with this loser who couldn't try find the courage to fight for her, sympathy for the boy she saw having to deal with the same anger and sadness she once endured when Ruby pushed her away.

She saw how he cried and caressed her hand that day at the hospital, it was clear they shared a loving bond. She remembered the time Ruby came back to the dorms crying after Blake and Weiss took her to a club and explained how she was heartbroken about what she did. But most of all sadness at what he said.

As much as she wished otherwise, she knew it was likely to be true that Ruby would push them away again and enter solitude to wallow in her misery. Her cousin always had a firm moral compass, but today it broke. She let loose her wrath upon those boys just like Yang did to Seth once, and it bit both of them in the ass.

She got a kick in the ass from Ruby to realize her errors and now she knew she had to try to appeal to Seth who, despite hating otherwise, she saw as was a chance to improve the odds of helping Ruby recover.

"CAN'T YOU JUST TRY AGAIN!?" Yang yelled, hopeful he could hear her. Seth paused before he left the building, having heard her echoes.

"What's the point?" Seth bitterly thought as walked out. Yang groaned in irritation at his departure before storming off to return to the cafeteria and plan for Ruby's party.

"Forget it! Waste of my fucking time I could be using helping Ruby." Yang grumbled.

Over the next few days, to say things in Beacon were tense was an understatement. Word quickly got around about Ruby's meltdown towards Team CRDL, their leader's seat being unoccupied not having gone unnoticed. Rumors of whether or not Ruby actually followed through on her attempt on Cardin's life or if he quit school spread like wildfire.

Like a wildfire, massive damage was being done, but not to a community. Ruby would be the sole victim of the burning and hateful gazes and whispers thrown her way in class. Unlike before, where she would just ignore them, she found the looks at the back of her head were burning her scalp as she whimpered softly and clasped the sides of her head.

"Alone. Just leave me alone!" Shepleaded in her mind, begging the voices and Raven's image she saw each time she closed her eyes to do so.

Ruby was so down in spirits right now she couldn't even find the will to shrug off Yang's hand like she normally did when she tried to comfort her with her team, who eyed her sadly. This was one of many breakdowns she'd been having in classes lately.

From dropping her Scythe and barfing in Goodwitch's combat class to screaming in pain her arms were on fire despite her usual numbness, it was becoming extremely difficult for WBY to plead her case to Ozpin and the teachers to let her stay here in Beacon, not that the other students opposed the idea of her leaving.

"Man, that jerk should just get kicked out already." One boy whispered.

"Yeah, some detective she turned out to be. It should have been one of us instead." A girl replied.

Yang's hair sizzled as she heard this and clasped her desk, nearly crushing the wood as she struggled to resist running up to that girl and smash her teeth in. Thankfully for both girls she would not have too as Doctor Oobleck spoke up, drawing the student's attention.

"THAT'S ENOUGH CHIT-CHAT!" He yelled.

This startled the students, never once having heard him talk in any tone that didn't involve rambling, yet the doctor was taking Goodwitch's advice on being stern to heart.

"If you brats can take the time to gossip you can take the time to listen to my lectures or get the hell out!" He sternly yelled.

He wasn't a blind fool despite his glasses, he could see Miss Rose's agony and the looks of jealousy and contempt from the majority of his class; he had to put his foot down to get them off that poor girls back. Speaking of which, he quickly walked up to her and put his hand supportably on hers.

"Miss Rose, if you're not feeling good today you can go back to your dorms to rest." He said soothingly.

Ruby shook her head, not even bothering to answer him verbally to his sadness. This saddened the doctor greatly. He had been a huntsman for years and seen many of his kind fall to depression from the stresses or trauma of this line of work. It broke his heart even more whenever such a burden was placed on one of his students.

"Ruby, even the strongest, bravest huntresses need time to recuperate from missions. Yours I heard was riddled with pain and hardship very few could hope to understand." He said the last part sternly to sitting above them with a stink-eye.

Their sheepish aversions to his glance proved to him their guilt, which he would deal with later once he hopefully convinced Ruby to rest. Luckily, he would have some help from the girls who ironically meddled with his work before.

"He's right Ruby. We'll get your homework, so you don't fall behind. Let Weiss or Yang take you back to bed." Blake said with a forced smile.

Ruby slowly lifted her head to meet her and Weiss's gazes and nodded. She didn't agree because she wanted to, she simply wanted to keep her eyes locked on them, desperate to avoid glancing at the eyes of hateful students around her, one in particular making her sweat nervously.

"Want me to take you there Rubes?" Yang asked nicely, her tone mixed with fear and hope. Ruby shuddered a bit as she shook her head in denial. She slowly got up from her seat after.

"N-No thanks. I lost my arms not my legs Ra-COUSIN!" Ruby gasped as she startled herself and Yang but her slip of the tongue before running off back to her dorm, leaving a cluster of rose petals behind.

Yang sighed in defeat and bitterness as she did so. She heard it clear as a bell, Ruby was still having flashes of her birth mother. A name that once installed nothing but curiosity and insecurity in Yang now brought an intense flame of anger, almost burning her seat to ashes if not her worry for Ruby overshadowing her rage.

"We have got to do this by tonight, I don't think she can handle the wait anymore girls." Yang huffed to her teammates who nodded.

"Should be easy now that I have taken the time to get this "BFF" folder ready." Weiss said as she took out of her backpack a rather large and stuffed binder filled with note pages to her teammates surprise.

"Folder? More like encyclopedia Ice princess." Blake teased making Weiss blush a bit and pout.

"Hey! We needed notes to practice what we were going to tell Ruby tonight right?" Weiss asked, her tone a bit loud to Oobleck's annoyance as he shouted in return.

"EYE'S FORWARD!" He hollered drawing the students' gaze back to the chalkboard for his lesson to his satisfaction as he smirked.

"Glynda my dear, you're a genius." He thought to himself.

As Ruby walked down the halls of Beacon, weakly trying to make it to her dorm room, she felt her legs lose their strength. She still felt the power of those glares on her even though she was alone. First losing feeling in her arms, and now her legs were giving out. This feeling made her sick to her stomach as she clenched it, plopping her body on the wall for some support.

"What should I do? How do I fix this?" She whispered to herself.

She couldn't imagine anyone wanting to be around her right now in her pathetic state, especially after what she did. True she didn't want to kill anyone at first, but in one brief moment, she gave into her darkside and nearly did so. It was inexcusable. This frightening reality honestly made her ponder how she could ever hope to be a huntress now with her reputation, and her confidence, in shamble.

"Ruby Rose, please report to the principal's office." Goodwitch's voice came over the intercom.

"Oh great. Is Ozpin kicking me out now?" She moaned as she weakly made for his office. Little did she know, Ruby was about to receive much more dreadful news, one that would only shatter her resolve further.

Why we love you!

It was 8 pm, still relatively early time at night to party after classes. Yet Ruby could not find any strength in her to even leave her room, let alone her bed as she curled up in Weiss's blankets, having lost the will to even climb the ladder to her own bed. She eyed the half-hazard bunk she had created at the start of the year with a somber glare, remembering a bit fondly how bubbly that brat version of herself acted so hyper and important to try and appease her team.

"Listen up! Team RWBY and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission, BANZAI!" She had cheered with a fist pump a year ago followed by Blake and Yang and soon, albeit reluctantly, a tired and groggy Weiss who gave her a stink-eye for disturbing her sleep.

"Banzai." Ruby chuckled weakly as she shook her fist a bit, those words reminding her of a somewhat better time.

It was back when she was blissfully ignorant and happy, believing she could be a great huntress who could climb any wall as long as she believed. Yet now she felt like she had to jump over an entire mountain. She felt trapped as whenever she closed her eyes, she would imagine either Cardin screaming for mercy at her hands or Raven Branwen's red eyes glaring menacingly at her. Worse, whenever she kept her tired eyes open, she couldn't resist the urge to glance at her scarred arms and examine the burns and surgical cut courtesy of her aunt's work.

"If I die, will I just wind up back here for my hell?" Ruby couldn't help but think.

She was hungry and thirsty but couldn't move her legs, just like that girl she saw in a glass chamber. That was another source of her agony right now. Earlier today Ozpin and General Ironwood had her secretly meet them down in a hidden room in the headmaster's office. What she saw inside shook her to her core, a marred girl lying comatose in a glass dome on life support.

"Who is this?" Ruby had asked confused by this revelation.

"This is Amber, she is a girl with tremendous mystical power….or at least she was." Ironwood had clarified.

"Was?" Ruby said, noticing the past tense and it wasn't a pleasant tone for sure.

"Yes Miss Rose, let me ask you something important. Do you believe in fairy tales?" Ozpin had asked her, and she contemplated the answer. She did believe some, but the more realistic ones of tales of legendary huntsman rather than the talking animal ones, she was growing up after all.

"Some" She replied honestly.

"Good. Well, this girl here you could say is a part of one." Ozpin said, he and Ironwood soon revealed to her the tale of the four maidens, each representing a season of the year, Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall. The latter season was this girl, Amber. She and the other 3 girls were blessed with magical abilities, such as controlling the elements without aura and dust, flying, and many other unique traits.

Apparently Cinder, the criminal Ruby arrested months ago, had assaulted Amber and stolen half of her maiden abilities, an act Ironwood bitterly specified was done before in the past. Having such power made one a source of envy and greed, a bull-eye basically.

"What does this have to do with me?" Ruby finally asked. Ozpin and Ironwood gave solemn, yet stern faces in response to her inquiry, it was clear they were reluctant to a degree to bring her here, but what's done has been done.

"Miss Rose, we feel you might be the perfect candidate to replace Amber. We want you to be the next Fall Maiden." Ironwood said. Ruby's eyes widened in shock as she heard this news.

"W-Why me? Aren't there stronger second or third year students who'd fit the bill? Besides I just…." Ruby asked nervously, guilt for her outburst still haunted her. She honestly didn't feel worthy of such power and Ozpin could tell at a glance, having felt such deprecation himself many times.

"2 reasons really. One, despite your…fall from grace to put it lightly, we still feel you have the skills needed to handle the power better than most. Miss Nikos was our first choice until you defeated her with ease earlier this year. A new responsibility in protecting life with such power we felt might help you recover mentally to a degree." Ozpin said honestly.

He really didn't want to send Ruby away for counseling, though felt it might be needed and it would help her hide her powers from Cinder and Salem if she wasn't at his school, another big bullseye.

"And the other reason?" Ruby asked and they sighed.

"We believe you are at risk even without the powers. Cinder Fall always screamed vengeance against you and Detective Dreyer for locking her up. With your new powers we felt it would be the best chance for your survival if she came for you." Ironwood said solemnly and she narrowed her gaze.

"And Raven too, right?" She asked bitterly and he nodded.

"But Miss Rose, before you even consider this, I need you to know one more risk of such power. One to your mental health that makes me urge you to consider counseling in Vale." Ozpin said, catching her attention. What he said next made her lose all strength in her legs and end the conversation there, having needed to be carried back to her dorm by Goodwitch afterwards.

"I have to kill Amber?" Ruby thought.

Apparently, unlike Cinder's unknown method of doing so, to take a maiden's power you had to be the last one in their mind before death, that usually meant killing them. How could they expect her to become a murderer? Was her attack on Cardin making that thought easier? The mere idea sickened her.

"How can I be a huntress who saves lives if I take one for power? Won't I just be the same as that criminal Cinder?!" Ruby winced at the thought. All this torment was draining her completely, barely being able to process the loud scream coming from her angry cousin as she bolted into the room.

"Alright Rubes, time to go!" Yang yelled.

Ruby just jerked her head slowly to meet her gaze. Yang cringed a bit seeing the bags under her eyes, it was clear she still struggled to sleep since the first round, not that she could blame her cousin. Still, Ruby's response made her cringe more as it shook her to the core.

"Is Ozpin finally kicking me out?" Ruby asked in a deadpan tone.

Yang was shocked by the lack of fear in her question; it was like she was almost begging for it. Soon anger replaced the shock as she eyed her cousin's pathetic state and grabbed her by the hood.

"NOT IF WE HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!" Yang roared as she dangled Ruby and dragged her in a hurry out the dorm, Ruby just being dead weight as she didn't bother to put up a resistance.

After a few minutes of being dragged on cold tiles and rough carpet across the Beacon hallways, Ruby soon winced as she was forced to enter a very bright room before Yang plopped her on her feet. As she slowly opened her eyes, blinking a bit to adjust her eyes to the light, she soon realized she was in the cafeteria, only she wasn't alone.

"Hello Ruby!" all her friends said in unison with forced smiles. Ruby's eyes widened as she noticed the whole gang, Blake, Weiss, Penny, Sun, Team JNPR, and her Atlas unit sitting in chairs within a circle.

"Wha-What are you all doing here? Why am I-" Ruby began to ask before eyeing the chairs in particular. She was enclosed in a circle, it all made sense to her what this was.

"An intervention? Really guys that's-" Ruby weakly stuttered as she began slowly backing away before backing into Yang's chest and meeting her stern glance.

"Not necessary? Too bad Cuz, we thought otherwise now sit." Yang sternly said.

"B-But I-" Ruby protested a bit before wincing at her Cousin's tone.

"Sit" Yang coldly said, her tone showing Ruby it was not up for discussion. Ruby just sighed in defeat and reluctantly did as she was told, sitting in a small blue chair Penny brought over for her.

Despite noticing the large amounts of junk food and her favorite video games and movies laid on a table by a plug-in television, Ruby was too put off by the dreadful mood around her to want to partake. The somber glares on her were suffocating, being the only deterrent to scream and run away like her heart begged to right now. Seeing the rough time Ruby was going through, Nora decided to break the ice and relieve some tension.

"Okay! First of all, this isn't an intervention." Nora proclaimed catching Ruby by surprise.

"It isn't?" Ruby asked as she raised an eyebrow confused.

"Nope! Ruby Rose, welcome to your first FRIENDTERVENTION!" Nora cheered as she yanked a cord and unveiled a banner with the word itself plastered on it to the group's annoyance as they groaned.

"Really Nora? A banner?" Jaune whispered but whined as she elbowed his arm hard, rubbing it tenderly while pouting.

"Gotta go big like our feelings for Ruby if we want this to work right?" Nora asked with a big grin.

"Friend…tervention? Feelings? Well, I am feeling nothing but confused now. What the hell is going on here?!" Ruby yelled in panic, almost hyperventilating as the confusion was swelling up too much.

"Sorry, you're right Ruby. We'll explain. So, Nora had this idea a few weeks back to try and make up with you for our…screw up." Ren said awkwardly, his shame growing as Mira glared at him disdainfully.

"You mean, when you all talked shit about her behind her back and she found out." Mira said bitterly.

"Yes! Yes! We know, which is why after all the pain we've seen you go through this lately Ruby, Nora felt it would be a good thing to throw you a little party of sorts and tell you the things we love about you instead of hate." Weiss added, trying not to bring the mood down again with another argument.

Ruby sat there in silence, unsure how to handle this revelation. The others took this as que to begin. It was argued a while earlier, but Jaune convinced them Team JNPR would start first considering it was Nora's idea.

"Ruby, I love how honest and helpful you can be, even with those who've slighted you. Jaune and I never had the courage you have. If we did, we'd have been together so much sooner. That's one regret, meeting you has never been one I can proudly say." Pyrrah began.

Jaune clasped her hand, reciprocating that feeling immensely. This action reminded him of how he met Ruby, and what he knew and what he should say to her next.

"Yeah, when I met that scared, hurt girl on day 1 of Beacon, I knew I met someone just like me, a goofball afraid of the unknown. But unlike me, you had the skill and bravery to handle it on your own. Whenever I see you fight or stick up for others, I get jealous.

I know what I said before, but I really mean it when I can't take my eyes off you when seeing you act so passionate about something, its radiating like when Pyrrah fights." Jaune said fervently. Ruby couldn't help but smile a bit, touched to hear such kind words.

"Thanks vomit boy." Ruby said. Jaune just chuckled at the joke.

"No prob crater face." Jaune said softly, a wave of relief coming over him; making him believe they were getting somewhere. Ren and Nora nodded to each other, feeling now was a good time for their turn.

"Ruby, even though I was all "up in your face" when we first met and a while after, I always treasured how you weren't put off by that and stood by me and Ren. Lots of people brush me off when I first meet them; it made me realize how painful being lonely can be, like how you were.

Being here with you right now listening to everyone tell you what they love about you made me realize how awesome you are, it makes me want to explode!" Nora yelled with a tearful smile. Ruby just returned the smile with a smooth smile and nod, clearly happy to hear this.

"If I had to think about what I like about you, it would be how fast you can grow and exceed other's expectations of you. That Nevermore you killed at initiation, my jaw honestly dropped when I saw you slice its head off. I don't get Nora excited, but it was exhilarating watching you go at it!" Ren cheered.

Ruby blushed a bit hearing this, really wanting to hug her "baby" Crescent Rose at the thought of that. She decided she would hug someone here after as a compromise, but first she wanted to hear the rest.

Over the next half hour, Ruby's friends all began praising her and telling her how much they loved her.

Sun said he was grateful to her for always protecting Blake and giving her a second chance.

Her friends in Atlas unit took turns telling her how much they treasured her. Jago loved her creativity, such as with her weapons or semblance. Speaking of weapons, Akali said she had never met a Scythe master before and praised her skills as one of the many things she found endearing about Ruby.

Sin loved her enthusiasm, Bakugo loved her aggression in battle against Grimm, and Mira loved her maturity, how she can work professionally as well make any party they attend a blast no matter what problems she had at home. Shauna's words, however, hit her the most of them.

"Ruby, what I treasure about you is how I can feel safe around you. You're such a badass on the job and I know any Grimm or crook is toast with you and that Scythe around. I honestly don't think I can fight crime at all without my partner around…well maybe the bosses would make me, but it could never be as fun without you Ruby." Shauna said. At this point, Penny couldn't wait for her turn anymore, tacking Ruby before wrapping her up in a tight-almost Yang bear hug as she did so.

"You're the best friend anyone could ever have. You always saw me for who I was inside beyond…you know." Penny started saying as she loosened the hug to Ruby's joy. She frowned a bit, knowing she didn't want to tell the others she was robotic yet and, glancing at Blake a bit, knew how hard that could be.

"Like I told you, you got a heart and soul. And I'd say pretty damn big ones at that." Ruby said as she tapped Penny's chest playfully, nearly reducing the android to tears.

"I just really admire and adore you Ruby Rose. I hope you know that." Penny said softly.

Ruby clasped her hand over her mouth and nodded, crying tears of joy hearing this. Her heart nearly stopped as Blake and Weiss stood up, placing their hands on her knees as they knelt. She already forgave them, but to hear any more words of kindness from them she knew wouldn't be empty was almost too much to bear.

"Ruby, despite how much of an…"ice bitch" I had been to you, I was always grateful you stood by me here at Beacon. You gave me tips in class on killing Grimm, even if I didn't listen out of stupid pride. You always save me when I got in over my head.

Plus, you also even helped me keep my saber up to date even when we were fighting. Honestly, your professionalism, your skills, and your spirit are what I admire most about you. I said once you could become a great leader and I would be the best partner to help you do it. We'll….you beat me again Ruby Rose." Weiss said as she tapped Ruby's nose playfully to her confusion.

"Beat you at what?" She asked curious.

"You became the best leader ever, and the best partner ever before me. I just felt you should know." Weiss said warmly.

Ruby gasped hearing the normally prideful heiress say that. Mira herself couldn't help but smile hearing this, surprised but overjoyed the spoiled brat had finally grown up.

"She's right Ruby. You are the best leader ever because you accept us beyond our faults and inspire others to see past others as well. When I first came to Beacon, I was too scared to show people my cat ears; about my problems with my identity. It's really still hard now, just like I know it's hard for you to talk about what's bothering you." Blake said sadly.

Ruby winced hearing that, clasping her shoulders as she did so. She was a bit surprised when Blake took her bow off and grasped Ruby's hand and brought it to her now exposed cat ears.

"But then I got to know you Ruby, even after you learned what I was, about my past you still accepted me. You always accepted me even when I once betrayed you. To me Ruby, what I treasure about you the most is how pure you really are. There isn't a spiteful bigoted bone in your body, it's pure and bright no matter how much you changed." Blake said warmly as she let Ruby rub her cat ears, honestly struggling to resist the urge to purr as she did so, her pride being the only deterrent.

Yang, despite wanting to join in, still hung back near the doors. It wasn't due to just wanting to keep Ruby from running away, as she feared she would. It was also due to the fact she knew she hadn't earned Ruby's forgiveness yet. She honestly wished, despite herself, Seth had joined them to this party so she could publicly apologize to him to try and court Ruby's favor.

"Yet the dude couldn't grow a pair huh?" Yang thought bitterly.

Meanwhile, Weiss saw Ruby was beginning to relax from these talks, so she decided now was the best time to ask her.

"So Ruby, I have a proposition for you." Weiss asked cautiously, catching Ruby off-guard.

"What would that be?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"I'm not going to sugar-coat it, Ozpin's been pressured by people to make you leave Beacon, even for counseling. We know you want to stay and become a pro huntress, and we'll be damned if we let that be destroyed because of 1 mistake." Weiss said firmly and the others nodded.

"So, my proposal to the headmaster was that I bring my butler, Klein, here to counsel you during the semester. He was also my counselor as well when I was having a hard time dealing with the mental stress of training. He's also an old war veteran so he's the best equipped to help you." Weiss said proudly, Klein was like a real father to her as opposed to her biological one. If there was anyone she'd trust with her partner's health it was him.

"Ozpin already agreed to Weiss's proposal, though he insisted nothing be done without your consent Ruby. It's your fate, your life to decide just like you taught us our fates are ours to grasp." Blake said with a smile.

Ruby was being overwhelmed by all this, not just the proposal, which honestly scared her, but by all the praise in fact. She felt she didn't really deserve to trouble Weiss by having her butler come to her own aide. She wasn't conceited or demanding, but Ruby was a private person.

Ruby was not used to all this attention or asking for things, even if it warmed her heart how positive it could be. In fact, being so positive or the thought of bleeding her heart out to a stranger at Weiss's expense was starting to make her heartbeat too quickly, she gasped a bit for air as she clenched her chest and cried a bit to the others'concern.

"Rubes?! Are you okay? Do you need the nurse again?" Yang asked as she ran up to Ruby, who quickly adjusted her breathing, desperate to calm down and put them at ease.

"I *huff* I'm fine Yang. Now, I….I just need a bit to think about this first okay?" Ruby said as she got up from her chair, brushing off Yang's hand on her shoulder gently.

"What's there to think about, you could stay and get help at the same time?" Sun asked curiously.

"I'm….not really sure I want to stay." Ruby confessed to the other's shock.

"You, want to quit?" Shauna asked in fright.

The mere mention of "quit" was the last straw for Ruby. As happy as she had felt, she didn't feel she deserved their love and concern or the job she dreamed of before. Then there was Amber, that poor girl her professors were expecting her to kill for power to save others. It was suffocating in all honesty these expectations for her, even ones she placed on herself.

She then glanced down at her arms, two ligaments that had quit on her before. She had spent all her life fighting with them to grasp her dream, fought all her stress and anxiety from her family problems since going to Atlas to be professional, yet now she felt she couldn't be the huntress she wanted to be. She had brutalized some boys with these arms, ruined her reputation, and worse! She thought as tears swelled up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I never should have made you all worry so much. I just don't really know what I should do after all this crap that's happened I….I just need air!" Ruby yelled tearfully as she petal burst out the doors, Yang's cries deafened to her ears as she flew away. She just had to get away from the eyes on her.

Meanwhile…

3 Guards patrolled the battle arena of Beacon, shining flashlights in the dim area to make sure no intruders or suspicious packages were around. One guard couldn't help but be irritated after hearing a yawn from another.

"Quit slacking or we don't get paid!" He yelled.

"Hey! We'd be done sooner if those brats from the other schools were on patrol like we hired them too!" Another guard yelled.

"Typical teenagers. All partying and competitions and no work ethic." A tiger faunus lady groaned and the two men nodded in agreement.

"Damn right! Actually, glad then 1 stinking teen got smashed into the wall behind you." A guard said with a satisfied smirk as he pointed to the indent of Sky Larc from his match lodged in the wall, before doing a fake wince imagining the pain.

"Eh whatever its clear here. Lets just get and go grab some beer already, I need to kill this headache searching this giant ass arena gave me." The tiger faunus yelled and others agreed.

Little did they know, as they were leaving someone, or rather 2, were about to prove the woman wrong. Mercury and Neo slowly entered the area, the latter having made them invisible with her semblance, and the pink and black-haired woman pressed a text on her scroll to Roman, letting him know things were clear.

*biz* Glad to hear my little ice cream cone! Sending them in now! (Wink emoji)

Neo blushed and would groan if she wasn't mute from the sheer embarrassment from that text and emeralds smirk. Soon a portal appeared behind them, Raven Branwen appearing soon after with half a dozen White Fang goons carrying small packages they soon began placing underneath the benches.

"Special delivery Branwen?" Emerald teased. Raven just narrowed her gaze menacingly as she sheaved her blade just an inch, daring her to repeat it.

"I could deliver your head back to your girlfriend if you want, or maybe just your eye on a stick, a little makeshift engagement ring for you how about that?" Raven coldly joked.

She knew it wasn't really funny, Qrow always saying he'd kiss Ozpin before ever hearing her laugh or tell good jokes but was nonetheless thrilled seeing Emerald quiver a bit at the threat and walk through the portal tail between her legs…or it seemed that way.

*CLANG*

Raven instantly blocked a mace on a chain thrown at her with her blade. She glanced at the owner who quickly returned it smirking at her with glowing eyes..

"Nice try Emerald." Raven said sarcastically.

"Girls gotta try." Emerald said with a shrug as her eyes ceased glowing red, Raven knowing it meant the end for her enemies' semblance.

She put her sword back in her scabbard, actually a bit impressed Emerald would try a sneak attack. What she didn't like were the men gawking at her and Emerald, even seeing a disgusting look on one of them almost begging her to castrate him. Turns out Emerald felt the same way.

"Okay back to work or no dead humans this week." Emerald said to the white fang men who grumbled about taking orders from a human before putting the timers back underneath the benches.

"Yang, hopefully you make it to the finals. I'd hate for you to die in the bleachers without getting to put up a fight daughter." Raven thought as she eyed the men working.

Life or Sacrifice?

"Can't you just try again?"

Yang's words once more hung around Seth all night like a pesky mosquito as it did every night since their argument. It only further exasperated him as to why he was outside Ruby's dorm watching the mess taking place in the cafeteria. Yang had literally dragged her cousin their and forced her into an intervention. Surprise, surprise, it didn't end well as he could tell despite not hearing what was said. All he saw was Ruby flying off in tears and rose petals with her semblance.

"I told you guys. You could try again for the 50th time to get through to her and you'd fail like I did." Seth grumbled to himself as he saw their defeated looks, not being able to escape the bitter thought it was futile.

"Just go after her you idiot." His conscious pestered him, making him slap his forehead in annoyance.

It's not that he didn't want to try to mend things with Ruby, he just knew she didn't want to. He had tried calling her dozens of times before the match, yet she never replied. He knew how stubborn Ruby could be and that she was adamant about her solitude, despite knowing it was just killing her.

"DAMN IT RUBY! I get why you're doing this, but I wish you would stop!" Seth yelled in frustration to himself, only he really wasn't by himself as he felt someone sneak up on him.

"Stop what?" Ruby asked curiously as Seth jumped from being startled.

"Oh, geez Ruby! You trying to shock my heart to sleep?" He asked as he struggled to catch his breath, which stopped as she replied.

"Arms have been there, so you'd be joining the club." Ruby replied in a deadpanned tone to his sadness.

"R-Ruby I…I didn't mean-" He tried to say but she waved him off, laying her back against the wall.

"Save it, I don't care anymore." She groaned.

Seth felt a surge of guilt, realizing he treaded on burnt territory that hadn't recovered from the fire yet. He had to think of something now to alleviate this tangled up mess he made.

"So, fun party your friends pulled?" Seth asked sheepishly with a big goofy grin. Ruby couldn't help but smirk a bit seeing that. Seth, despite breaking up with him, was always such a good charmer to her even now.

"At first, became a read drag after." Ruby said.

"Want to talk about it?" Seth asked concerned.

Ruby sighed as she took a moment to ponder that thought. She glanced up at her dorm, certain her team would return there tonight or look around campus expecting her. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone anymore tonight, let alone her ex, but felt his place would be the least crowded by far.

"Sure, can we go to your hotel room?" She asked to his shock, blushing a bit as he got a wild assumption in his head to her realization as she blushed as red as a tomato.

"JUST TO TALK!" She yelled frantically as she waived her hands, desperate to clear up the misunderstanding. She sighed with relief as he nodded, understanding what she meant now.

"Don't worry I trust you. You move fast but your delicate, I always liked that." Ruby said with a small smirk but didn't lose her blush.

After that embarrassing debacle, they took a bullhead to Vale. Ruby and Seth checked into his hotel room that was rented out by Beacon for students participating in the Vytal Festival. Ruby asked Seth to use his bathroom, needing to clean off her sweat from all her running and stress, to which he agreed.

However, it wasn't until he heard the shower head running did he realize what she really meant and sat down exasperated on the bed. To say the next few minutes being awkward as hell for Seth was in understatement. He was honestly unsure what to expect at this point, before glancing down a bit.

"No! No! No! Get your head outta the fucking gutter!" He cursed in his head as he punched his crotch for such implications, before his face purpled as a result.

"Oooh! That…mistake…big time!" He stuttered through painful breaths as he laid back on the bed wincing.

Ruby soon came out of the bathroom without her clothes on, just wearing one of the hotel room's bathrobes afterwards as she felt the room being warm enough with the AC to not need them. She planned to sleep on the couch but didn't feel covers would be necessary. She was starting to wonder if she would need a first aid kit as she saw Seth groaning on the bed and quickly moved to check on him.

"Need a doctor?" She asked concerned but he waived her off.

"Nope! Just…stubbed my toe." He lied, too embarrassed to admit his vulgar thought and action that followed to calm down.

"Okay then, I'll just go plop on the couch then and relax a bit before bed." She said suspiciously, sure he was hiding something.

Seth couldn't help but rise from the bed confused hearing her declaration. She was fine sleeping in his bed before, granted they dated but nothing happened besides kissing. Didn't she say she trusted him not to do anything? As Seth opened his mouth to try and pester her from the thought, he was stunned into silence as she was just wearing a bathrobe instead of clothes.

"Um, need me to lend you clothes? Like pajamas?" he asked quickly, hoping she'd say yes because he wasn't sure how much more he could take. She turned around a bit offended, her look saying it all, but it wasn't about her looks, as Seth thought for a moment.

"What? I need help? Is that what you're thinking? Well join my friend's club then." Ruby pouted annoyed as she crossed her arms and sat on the bed to Seth's concern.

"Help with what Ruby? What did they say to you?" He asked curious.

Over the next 5 minutes Ruby explained the "friendtervention" and how her friends wanted Weiss to call in a therapist just for her. If Seth was honest, it sounded like a great way to keep her in Beacon and help her recover mentally. He was still unnerved watching her brutal victory last week and felt she really needed it.

"Are you considering taking her up on that offer?" Seth asked.

"Why should I?" Ruby asked to his surprise, making his eyes widened.

"Don't you want to stay at Beacon? Won't that help you do that?" He asked.

"I just don't know yet Seth!" She yelled, catching him off-guard.

"I, I really messed up back at the tournament. I almost killed a guy in cold blood. Sure, he was a bully and a creep, but still!" Ruby yelled as she once more saw Cardin's bloody arm before her, this time oozing on her hands that she quickly wiped on her shirt, desperate to get off despite not really being there.

"Hey, hey, listen Ruby. I heard what he said to you. None of us, especially me, blames you for pummeling that jerk and his team. He deserved it for mocking your arms." Seth tried to assure her, but her bitter glare showed she was having none of it.

"It's these arms, it's what SHE did to me is the problem too. I can't stop seeing her face, on my cousin, on that jerk's face, even in my dreams. The second I close my eyes to sleep is the start of a war, one I always lose Seth!" Ruby cried as she sobbed into her hands. Seth patted her back tenderly to try and comfort her, but saw it was failing.

"Let us help you then. We can make the nightmares go away, or at least not appear as much. We can protect you." Seth said smoothly.

But the mere mention of "protect" set Ruby off. She tackled him, knocking the wind out of him as she clasped his throat with one hand, giving him a very disgruntled look that terrified him as his eyes widened in horror.

"Ga! Ru…by?" he choked. He couldn't pry her off as she held down his arm with her free one. Her grip was intense, like just a mere exertion of her strength and she could snap something.

"Protect me? Protect me!? How can you protect me from her if you can't even protect yourself!?" She roared. As her words sunk in, all Seth could do was give a sad look to her, and then she quickly let go in horror of what she had just done.

"Oh god sorry! I-I didn't mean-" She cried but he cut her off.

"Save it." He coldly said as he rubbed his throat while lying down. She just stood above him, glancing at the red mark on his neck and hand now shamefully.

"I lost control again. That's why I don't belong there anymore." She said with her tone filled with shame. This infuriated Seth who grabbed with his good hand her the front of her robe, bringing her to his face level.

"You don't get to decide that anymore. We do. We're your friends, your loved ones. You broke up with me even though you loved me because you were scared. You didn't want to be in mourning, right? I wasn't worth that risk? Well who the hell are you to say that? To throw your dream job away because your scared!?" He asked angrily. These questions made Ruby's blood boil, thinking he still didn't understand.

"If it's my dream its mine to throw away for those I care about!" She yelled.

"Who gave you that crazy idea!?" Seth roared back, making her freeze in place as she got another flash, but not of Raven to her shock.

For Ruby, she didn't need to answer. The image of her mother was all the answer she needed for her to know. She gave her life for the job, protecting Remnant and her family from Grimm, yet she didn't protect them from the pain.

"She's not coming back kiddos."

Their hearts were broken when Qrow told the bitter news. Ruby knew that's why her Uncle Tai never wanted her to be a huntress. Ruby even guessed this was partly why she was considered quitting Beacon. It wasn't a source of shame for her after that match; it was a constant reminder of her mother's life as a huntress and the risks that came with it.

She had become too afraid after the loss of her arms and scared her family she would put them through that pain again if she sacrificed her life for duty like mom did. She then locked with Seth, her somber ones easing his bitter and angry ones towards her as she thought of something.

"Pummeling a guy for dating me, getting drunk and fighting Winter Schnee in Beacon's courtyard, blowing up half of Ozpin's office for letting me to Atlas by myself, and now me wanting to quit Beacon. Huh, guess crazy runs in my family." Ruby chuckled and Seth replied in kind, happy to hear her laugh a bit for the first time tonight.

"Speaking of quitting let me ask you something." She asked.

"Shoot." He replied.

"Did you leave your patrol tonight for me?" She asked while raising an eyebrow, almost sure of the answer already.

"Y-Yeah. I'd do anything for you Ruby." He said nervously.

As she met his gaze, hers lowered a bit in disappointment before she felt a wave of stress and frustration take over. She just needed to get this out of her system and saw only one option.

"Screw it then." She said as she pressed her hot lips to his, tongues wrapping around each other after Seth's initial shock subsided.

Ruby quickly reached for the lamp on the nightstand as they continued to make out, making sure it was turned off as she got more turned on and took off Seth's blazer. That night, for the first time in weeks the nightmares left Ruby. She could finally close her eyes and not see her tormentor amidst the darkness.

The next morning

As the sun rose and shined on Seth's face, he groaned as he lifted his head off his soft pillow. He glanced down to notice he wasn't wearing anything, quickly covering himself with the sheets before noticing no one was beside him on the bed.

"Ruby?" He asked as he looked around.

The bathroom was empty, so she wasn't there. He then finally noticed a note by his nightstand. His arm trembled as he slowly reached for it, as if already aware of the painful details of the message he was about to read. Reluctantly, he plastered his face to the paper to read.

Seth,

Please forgive me for leaving you, especially after that fun night. I really just needed stress relief and, that made me realize you deserve better than an immature girl like me. I also realized all this time I had just used you as an outlet for my insecurities and stress from home and the job and that was wrong.

Please don't blame yourself for our breakup, it's not you it's me. If we even had a chance to be together, first I'm the one who needs to work on herself. I'm going to see Weiss's therapist; I'm going to settle things with my demons even if it might kill me. Maybe then I'll seek you out if you don't mind a little crazy chick like me.

Love,

Ruby Rose.

Seth crumbled up the note as his tears wet it. He was beyond frustrated at those words and his loss.

"Idiot! Not me but you? Don't you know that makes a breakup suck worse?!" Seth yelled in tears as he plopped his head on the bed in sorrow.

Over the next couple of weeks some bit of normalcy resumed. Ruby had agreed to Weiss's proposal to her joy, allowing them the leverage to convince Ozpin to let her stay at Beacon, though he insisted she stay out of missions and festival fights until Klein declared her fit for them, which was fine for Ruby, she needed a break and some space. Speaking of which, Yang soon found her cousin was slowly opening back up to her. By Ruby's own admission of course.

"I still hate you just…a little less after all that." Ruby admitted.

Keeping her from killing Cardin, probably the biggest mistake of her life, and dragging her to that nice party were pluses, but she'd still need to do more to earn her forgiveness for betraying her, that and she wanted to avoid giving away to her overprotective cousin the loss of her virginity, she would surely kill her and Seth for such an act if not burn the dorm down at least in a fit.

She honestly didn't know what hurt worse, the aches in her waist or her chest when Yang just crushed her in a joyful bear hug like Ruby expected, not helping her case at all. What did help were those therapy sessions. She wouldn't say anything at first, being too uncomfortable, but Klein was patient, giving her time to ease up before bleeding her heart out about her issues before even thinking of making suggestions.

He let her go at it at her own pace, which Ruby appreciated. She kept the amber issue secret, knowing Ozpin and Ironwood would be furious though, despite the pressure it was putting on her to talk it out. She did subtly talk about it with Klein, without going into classified details, and he helped her come to a conclusion. She went straight to Ironwood and Ozpin and affirmed her decision NOT to take the powers.

"Sir, If I am to be a huntress like my mother before me, I have to protect the lives of the innocent, not take them. Even if Cinder gets Amber's powers, I promise I'll do everything I can to catch or kill her and make sure she doesn't take an innocent soul with them. You have my word sirs!" She confidently said.

Ozpin and Ironwood seemed a bit disappointed at first, but that was due to the dangers she was now under, and Amber's powers as well, though they eventually conceded to her resolve. Ironwood in particular praised her judgment for its morality, promising Sindel, Litchi and he would come to her aide to do so any day.

Speaking of Ironwood, his Atlas unit kept visiting her and, on Klein's suggestion, they all went to clubs in vale with her team and friends, Yang included this time. Honestly, it was good to visit the source of her stress from earlier this year, having overcome her neglect and rebuilt her old relationships with new ones as well. This made her take Klein's consideration about her relationship with Seth to heart.

"You shouldn't push away the people you love Ruby. Nothing good will come of it." Klein had told her.

But every time she got that thought in her head, Raven still appeared as well as that lightning bolt. Klein had told her she'd be scarred for life, but not to let that destroy her or her bonds. But every time she watched Seth's matches, hoping to see how strong he was to strengthen her resolve to make up with him, it was his lightning powers that deterred her.

Her fear of lightning now was hampering her recovery, getting flashes each day she watched a match of Seth's, it honestly sickened her when she cheered for Nora in the semi-finals to beat him with her hammer.

Boy was that a fight. Pyrrah had a hard time against his partner Hyde, a boy with yellow and black hair and red eyes much like Yang, whose semblance let him create a small black void he could pull weapons out of or disappear into much like Raven. Luckily, she managed to win via ring out with her polarity semblance once he came at her with a sword, but Seth had used the opening to paralyze her via the metal in her shield acting as a conduit for his lightning, knocking her out in similar fashion to Ruby's loss to Raven.

It made her spine chill a bit as she saw this, having been the reason she bought rubber gloves and spent 2 days in the workshop adding a rubber hilt to her weapon to avoid such a traumatic injury again after she got out of the hospital. What was more frightening was Seth's bitter glare he had despite his victory over Pyrrah. She knew he was still upset with her over the breakup, maybe leaving a note wasn't the best idea after all.

Nora also didn't have a good idea when she locked her hammer enhanced with lightning on Seth's twin blades, having inadvertently boosted the boy's reflexes allowing him to backflip and propel her easily out of the ring and win automatically to her annoyance.

"DAMNIT! SO FREAKING CLOSE!" Nora griped.

Despite his victory, Seth was not in high spirits. Team RWBY noticed he just bowed to Nora and Pyrrah before departing without a word. Ruby's teammates eyed her as she fidgeted in her seat in response. They knew what she was thinking, and it tugged at their heartstrings, not sure she was ready.

"You sure you want to go through with this Ruby?" Weiss asked her nervously.

"*Sigh* No, but it's something I need to go through if I want to get this monkey off my back." Ruby bitterly said.

"Hey, you want to date Seth not my Sun." Blake sternly said but Ruby could tell by her poorly hidden grin she was joking.

She chuckled before sighing as she saw Seth leave with Hyde. Their victory meant tomorrow she would be forced to face him for the finals of the tournament. It took some convincing, but she managed to talk Ozpin and Klein into granting her permission to fight him in the finals if her Ex got to that point, saying it would be a good stress relief duking it out with him. Yet she would be more stressed later by something other than Seth.

"You're letting me fight too!" Yang hollered in their dorm that night.

Ruby groaned as she rubbed her aching head remembering that nasty conversation. When Yang learned of her plan for a "therapeutic fight" she insisted on joining. She wasn't sure if it was a desire to protect Ruby or more in the line of getting second helpings of pummeling Seth. She tried to deny that wish, still not comfortable being around Yang despite her therapy, but Yang was having none of it.

"Either you let me fight or you're not fighting period!" Yang said as she put her foot down.

It was irritating that Yang had to make this more complicated than it needed to be, but what irritated Ruby more was that Blake and Weiss actually agreed with Yang over Ruby. She guessed they were still wary after her first match. The guilt of that mistake was the only reason Ruby didn't protest further.

The next day, the arena erupted into a chorus yet not one of cheers to team RWBY's dismay. The moment the audience caught sight of Ruby and Yang enter the ring, Blake and Weiss choosing to watch from the bleachers near the entrance, all he broke loose.

"WHAT'S SHE DOING HERE!?" one man yelled.

"WHY ISN'T SHE IN JAIL? SHE'S A KILLER!" A woman yelled. That comment really unnerved Ruby as she awkwardly rubbed her left shoulder before adjusting her sunglasses.

"GET HER OUTTA HERE!" Another man in the audience yelled, soon joined by other like-minded rage fueled people. They were all soon silenced as Glynda Goodwitch raised her riding crop and unleashed a large wave of purple aura on the audience, freezing them in place.

"QUITE EVERYONE! THE FINAL MATCH IS TO BEGIN NOW!" Glynda hollered through her microphone. Her aggressive tone showed her annoyance with the hackling; she wasn't going to be taking any shit thrown tonight.

"*Cough* Now then, we have a double battle finale here tonight ladies and gentlemen. We have from Beacon Academy Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long facing off against Seth Dreyar and Hyde Kido. Let me make this clear everyone, any excessive use of force will not only result in disqualification, but I will see too it expulsion as well. CLEAR!?" Glynda yelled, glaring at Ruby in particular which unnerved her, only getting a silent nod while the others yelled "yes".

Glynda knew Ruby was already under pressure but was not going to have a repeat of last time. She reluctantly allowed this match at Ozpin's insistence, but she would be keeping her weapon at the ready in case Ruby had another flash. As much as she didn't want to lose this student to her own mind again, she had to put the welfare of the other students first before hers and wouldn't hesitate to follow through with that threat.

As both teams took their places at the end of the ring, Glynda activated her touchpad, showcasing their ID's and Aura levels on a screen on a jumbotron. Many cheered for Seth's team to win and kick Ruby out at the same time to the participants annoyance. But Seth showed an even more annoyed glare as he eyed his ex looking sadly at him. Feeling the tension, Glynda decided to push on to the official match before something ugly happened.

"If your Aura levels hit below 30% or you ring out you lose. Any instance of brutality or death will also result in a loss. We begin on the count of 3 understood?" Glynda asked the students and they nodded, baring their weapons.

Ruby getting her scythe ready in twin gun modes as Yang flexed her gauntlets and Seth and Hyde getting their blue and red blades out. Glynda nodded to Ozpin and Oobleck in the stands, signaling them to start.

"ALRIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, JOIN ME IN THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!"

"3…..2…1… BEGIN!" Ooblock and the crowd roared.

As the buzzer rang, Ruby began by unleashing a volley of bullets from her twin guns while Yang did the same with her grenades launched by Ember Cecilia. Seth and Hyde easily parried the bullets from Crescent Rose, but Hyde used his semblance to absorb the grenades, knowing their explosive might, until the girls had to recharge.

In that interlude, Hyde used his semblance to throw back at them the grenades his dark void absorbed with Seth adding balls of blue lightning at them for added danger. Ruby gulped as she saw the lightning in particular, frozen in place a moment before hearing Klein's advice echo in her head.

"You're faster and smarter than dumb lightning. It can't hit you if you don't let it sweetie." He had said to her. Ruby bit her lip as she trained herself to do, using the pain to snap herself out of her shock and petal burst with Yang into the sky to avoid the blasts.

"N-Nice one Rubes!" Yang yelled, though was a bit queasy at the motion, not used to being grabbed and broken down by Ruby's semblance.

Ruby decided to use their momentum to change her guns back to her scythe and load a flame dust bullet. She then locked her cousin's stomach with her blade before using the recoil of a shot to twirl her in a ring of fire she shot at Seth and Hyde.

"CANNONBALL!" Ruby roared as she turned her cousin into a living fireball that crashed into the boys, zapping their aura's down to 70% as the screen showed, to Blake and Weiss's joy.

"Go get em' partner!" Blake cheered as she fist pumped the air.

"Teach them why Team RWBY can do you anything you two!" Weiss hollered in excitement.

"My….*gag* pleasure Weissy." Yang groaned as she wobbled around, very dizzy from the attack as well, her aura reading at 80%, but Ruby wasn't worried despite Hyde and Seth gritting their teeth, preparing to strike Yang in anger she planned on this. Not only does Yang's semblance burn power her up the more damage she takes, but the boys had disregarded her.

As they slashed at her aura with both blades, knocking her down to 55% aura, Ruby had the time to switch to sniper form and blast at both boys in the head, their aura absorbing it but still hurting like hell they groaned, dropping them to 65% aura while she was still at 100%...but not for long.

"Heads up babe!" Seth roared as he threw a grenade at her, forcing her to petal burst midair and dodge but as she landed, she saw no sigh of either boys to her shock, all she saw was Yang wheezing as she clutched her knees. Her skin got goosebumps as she felt a gust of wind behind her, instinctively knowing that feeling from Raven's semblance.

She turned around in fright, seeing Seth emerge from Hyde's dark void with his arms crossed as he unleashed a blue lightning cross slash to her chest, knocking her aura down to 60% as she was sent flying and crashed into Yang painfully. She clenched her chest, still feeling the sting of that slash and the electricity from it, her body soon freezing as she felt numbness take over.

"OH! Miss Rose appears to have been paralyzed by Mr. Dreyar's semblance!" Ooblock commented.

"Indeed Bart. Can Miss Xiao Long provide cover fire as her teammate recovers her senses though?" Ozpin asked.

Many in the stands booed that remark before declaring they wanted to see the duo fall already. This irritated Yang as she put Ruby down on the ground and used the rage and damage she had taken to make her hair flair up, activating her semblance.

"How dare you hurt my cuz?" Yang coldly asked Seth with rage yet he scoffed, infuriating her more.

"Now she gets how it hurts to get your heart broken, literally." Seth groaned as he disappeared back into Hyde's void, narrowly avoiding a fist of fire from Yang.

"FIGHT ME COWARD!" Yang roared. She quickly jumped back towards Ruby's spot, making sure to avoid leaving her unguarded.

Suddenly a portal emerged right above her and the hilt of Hyde's sword, with a bit of Seths lightning added, smacked her in the face to her annoyance. She swung her hand at the sword only to once more meet air. This persisted a couple of minutes, each strike draining her aura till she had only 40% left. Ruby eyed the screen, knowing they wouldn't last longer at this rate.

"Man, Seth's really pissed with me huh?" Ruby sadly thought.

She knew it was her fault for being so immature and dumping him out of grief, but now her cousin was paying the price. Anymore damage and they'd be done for, and Ruby wouldn't get to move on from her pain with Seth.

Ruby's frustration with this problem would soon help her fight her numbness as she groaned, grasping her scythe on the floor as she balanced herself up a bit with the hilt. She looked around and muttered numbers to herself, having actually timed the areas, the opening and closing of the void, waiting for the perfect-

"NOW!" Ruby roared as the void opened 30 degrees to right of Yang as she predicted, extending her scythe into it before anything could come out, snatching Seth and Hyde on the blade as she yanked them out.

Seth grabbed the blade, cutting his hands as he tried to send a shock down the weapon but found the hilt be made of Rubber as were Ruby's gloves, so she wasn't shocked as Yang used the chance to deliver a nasty punch to their jaws, sending them flying back. Unfortunately, she herself got zapped and paralyzed by this, leaving her wide open.

"Fuck! Gah my jaw damnit!" Hyde groaned in pain. While Hyde was too busy rolling in pain, Seth just rubbed his jaw and charged in anger. He always wanted to pay Yang back for her beatdown in the hospital she gave him, even putting his swords away as he charged up his fists, only for them to meet Ruby's open palms as she clenched them, stopping him in his tracks.

"Not today honey!" Ruby roared as she struggled to keep him locked in place while Yang in place.

She was paralyzed, but her aura wasn't draining. Rather it was absorbing the energy to power her up, but Ruby knew she needed time to unleash the final blow, and Ruby was going to buy her that time.

"Why?" Seth whispered, catching her attention. She didn't need to ask him what he meant; she could see it on his tearful angry face.

"I know you can read, so don't make me repeat myself. We both know you deserve someone better, not an immature loser like me." Ruby groaned.

"AND I SAID YOU DON'T DECIDE THAT FOR ME!" Seth roared as his body was encased in lightning, his rage consuming him as he tackled her, shocking her body. Luckily her gloves and braces were absorbing most of the shock, but her aura was fading fast, already at 39%.

"I wanted YOU Ruby! I didn't want to be abandoned, to be casted off because you wanted to Martyr yourself. I could have helped you!" Seth yelled. Yang's eye twitched as she heard this, the boy she hated true feelings for her cousin.

"And I said I'd rather die than lose you! To lose ANY of you guys! I refuse to have the people I care about get hurt because of me!" Ruby hollered back.

Ruby felt her cousin's heat flare up and knew it was almost time, she just had to keep Seth distracted and knew the truth was the best way to do it.

"You think I'm too weak and need protecting!?" Seth yelled. That made the truth much easier to let out now for Ruby who eyed him annoyed.

"I don't! I'm the weak one! If you stay with me, you'll just end up mourning me like I did with my mom!" Ruby cried.

Yang winced as she heard this. It reminded her of Summer, how the woman once said she'd give eye or hand for them no matter what. When they lost her, it stung worse than any Lancer. Her cousin was willing to do the same? That's why she broke up with someone who made her happy?

"Bullshit!" Yang screamed in her head, not able to move her paralyzed lips as her cousin wrestled with Seth. She never wanted Ruby to throw her life away, the anger at such a notion fueled her charge.

Ruby, Seth, and Hyde got up slowly as they felt her burning hot aura fill the arena, making them and the audience erupt into a sweat storm as they felt the intensity. Seth knew he couldn't let this last and punched Ruby's shin, making her wince and instinctively let go, allowing Seth to push her off and zap Yang again, making her shriek in pain and cease her fiery glow.

"No! Yang's lost her charge!" Weiss cried out in panic. Blake nodded in agreement; this was indeed a bad situation.

"If Yang gets hit again with her aura so low, it will all over what do we…..oh man I got an idea but Ruby's going to kill me for this!" Blake groaned.

"And what would that be?" Weiss asked curiosly before shaking her head.

"No wait, just do it! We can't lose after coming this far!" Weiss urged her.

"*sigh* Alright then, just be sure to duck and cover after." Blake said cautiously and Weiss nervously nodded, stepping back a bit in fear. Blake took a big inhale, readying herself for the most embarrassing declaration of her life.

"HEY YANG! RUBY ONCE TOLD ME SHE'S BANGING SETH!" Blake cried out.

The whole audience paused in silence at the announcement. Ruby, Seth, Weiss, and Yang eyes widened in shock at this news. Ruby and Seth's faces turned red as a tomato at the declaration.

"Wha…wha…WHAAAAAT! You actually just said that! I was kidding Blake why!? Oh man I really hope this attack from Yang kills me." Ruby thought, too horrified to utter a single word.

"Why would she tell her teammate that!? No! The whole world!? Oh God this is embarrassing!" Seth thought, too shocked to speak.

Soon Yang's face reddened as well, but not in embarrassment. Heat rose from her aura, as if melting the electricity away as she grit her teeth and eyed Seth murderously.

"Oh shit." Seth groaned in fear, knowing what that look meant.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Yang roared furiously, erupting her aura into a pillar of fire that illuminated the arena. Seth cradled Ruby as he saw this, knowing she was out for blood now.

"You. Deflowered. MY LITTLE ROSE!?" Yang thought as she clenched her fist, sending her fiery aura into it as she eyed the ground. Ruby held onto Seth tightly, bracing herself for a lot of burning and stinging.

"EAT THIS, BLAST BURN!" Yang roared as she slammed her fist into the ground, releasing a massive eruption of fire and Seth's electricity that shot up into the air, consuming everyone but her.

She didn't think about Ruby or the innocent Hyde or even her teammates, all she wanted was to incinerate this guy who dared touch her little cousin. The attack was so massive it even destroyed a barrier set up to avoid semblances and gunshots from hitting the audience, but thankfully only destroyed it rather than any onlooker.

When the smoke cleared, only Yang was standing, her cousin and Seth were both lying limp on each other covered in ash as well as Hyde who coughed up smoke before falling on his back. Glynda steadily arose as she was knocked on her back from the impact of the blast, nervously eyeing her surroundings. She saw no major injuries, the student's remaining aura having shielded them from the blow. She checked her pad to see how much was left, but found it on the fritz, getting nothing but static.

"Must have been the heat." Glynda thought. She quickly picked up her microphone, the only thing still working in the area as she tapped it, making her voice echo in the arena, full of people covered in soot and wobbly from the impact.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! While I cannot determine aura due to technical difficulties, due to the fact Miss Xiao Long is the only one still standing, I declare her team, Team RWBY, to be the winners of this years Vytal Festival!" Glynda yelled as a chorus of cheers erupted in the stands. Blake and Weiss, also dizzy and covered in ash held each other as they cried tears of joy hearing this, ignoring the cheers that it was Yang who won not Ruby, they were just so happy they succeeded. Yang just felt the weight of her victory, and the battle itself, wash over her as she gave a peace sign in the air before falling on her back in exhaustion.

"Burn baby! Geeeeez!" She yelled as she passed out.

Ruby and Seth quickly came too from the thud they heard nearby, soon meeting each other's eyes.

"So." Ruby said nervously.

"So?" Seth asked, still concerned about one thing she knew.

"My team won. Where do we go from here?" She asked honestly. She finally felt all the weight in her leave as she said those words.

"Yeah, you won. Still think your too weak?" Seth bitterly asked her. Soon stress returned along with guilt as Ruby eyed him solemnly.

"No. And I'll prove it by beating the shit out of Blake for that sex comment." Ruby said in a deadpanned tone. Seth blushed furiously as he heard this, sending a death glare to a sheepish Blake who shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey, I had to free Yang somehow right?" Blake said a bit embarrassed. Seth just rolled his eyes at this.

"How interesting, I always thought it was curiosity that killed the cat…" Ruby said coldly as she put crescent rose in her scythe form with a deadly glare on her face.

"N-now Ruby just calm down…" Blake said scared.

"I haven't been calmer in my life, any last words Kitty?" Ruby asked with fury on her face and Blake looked terrified and tried to escape Ruby's wrath.

"Weiss got coffee on the boots you bought!" Blake yelped out and Weiss gasped before squealing as Ruby's death glare was on her now.

"Blake you traitor!" Weiss said angrily and scared at the same time.

"Huh…so two teammates are in need of punishment? Good thing I have two solutions…" Ruby said with a maniacal grin as she put her weapon into dual pistol mode, causing the girls to hug each other in fear.

"Alright, alright just calm down. You can shave the cat and torment the princess later, more importantly what do we do about…us?" Seth asked and Ruby reluctantly sheathed her weapon.

"Don't think you two are off the hook?" Ruby said angrily with a finger point as her two teammates nodded in fear.

"I'm still not sure I'm ready Seth." Ruby sighed sadly.

"Ready for what?" Seth sternly asked.

"Ready for this, for US! I'm just not sure I really deserv-" She started saying before Seth's lips cut her off as they pressed against hers. The ash be damned, they still tasted good. She found herself melting into his embrace.

"I believe you deserved that at least." Seth said warmly. Ruby just smiled and blushed as he said this.

"Now can I ask you something since we got past the whole "weak" crap?" Seth asked her.

"What is it?" She asked a bit nervously. She couldn't tell if he was mad or just trying to be romantic, maybe a bit of both.

"Ready to give us a shot again?" Seth asked. Ruby fidgeted a bit, wondering if she should give into her desires like before at the hotel or if she should focus on her career and herself more. But as she glared into his eyes, saw his smooth smile, Ruby's heart melted. She knew what her answer should be, and she needed to say it, anything else be damned.

"Seth…I-" Ruby began to say before

BOOM!

A wave of humongous explosions and screams of terror blasted the area, consuming several areas in the audience stands in balls of fire. Even those with aura were not spared as they were incinerated in the surprise attack.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING!?" Oobleck roared on the intercom's before they got destroyed in another explosion. But Ozpin knew what was happening despite his own shock.

"She's come at last." Ozpin whispered as he saw a huge flock of Gryphon's and Nevermores off the distance in the skies above. Salem's forces have made their move tonight. He quickly grabbed his scroll and paged Glynda.

"Glynda! You must hurry and get the contestants to the infirmary safely while Bart and I handle the Grimm with whatever hunstmen we can muster!" Ozpin towards on the scroll.

"Yes sir! It will be done at once!" Glynda said, but Ozpin could hear the nervousness in her tone.

Not that he could blame her. Even he was severely rattled by this attack. It ripped his heart to pieces to see the smoldering remains of so many people, students included, amongst the ruined stands having their names screamed by the burnt survivors, some of whom were snatched up by the talons of Nevermores attracted to their cry's. It made him close his eyes solemnly as he knew he had no choice but to enact his failsafe before cutting off the feed.

"Glynda! Before I forget, make sure to take Miss Rose down to the chambers." Ozpin ordered to her shock.

"S-Sir what are you thinking!? She's in no condition to-" She began protesting before Ozpin cut her off.

"Which is why she needs the power! It's her only chance of survival since her aura is down. Now do it Glynda….Glynda?" He hollered into the scroll before the line went dead to his confusion.

He soon looked out the window to see the source of the feed cut. His blood froze as he saw Glynda lying unconscious, Raven Branwen's foot above her head as Cinder Fall and her team emerged behind her from a portal she generated.

"GLYNDA!" Ozpin and Ooblock yelled in horror.

Ruby and Seth were likewise terrified at the sight of their teacher's attacker and her allies smirking at them. Slowly Raven approached the couple, each step she took making their hearts stop as they gasped in terror.

"No. Not again! I cannot fail her again!" Seth thought, but his body couldn't move. His aura was too drained, he was helpless to save Ruby once more.

"Shit no! Not now! I don't have any power left!" Ruby yelled in terror in her thoughts as her Aunt took out her sword and held it to her chin.

"Hello Petal. Nice night to die right?" Raven coldly asked her with a devious smile.

Author Notes

Who! Long chapter. But this was too much fun to stop writing, believe me. We are nearing the finale as there are only 3 chapters of this awesome story of TheDemonHei and Phantomblaster1 have worked on folks. The battle for Beacon has begun. Will Ruby die at her aunts hands? Will she instead get the maiden powers? Or will all this end the same horrific way it did in canon? Find out next time in chapter 35: Fight for Your Life!