They left out the window under cover of night, both twins in bird form; Ruby dispersed into rose petals and flew across Mistral on her own. She easily evaded a handful of guards by spreading herself thin. No camera outside could spot her.

She entered Haven through the outdoor gym, sliding past the shutters. It was so incredibly simple, what with no one seriously expecting a break-in at a school training hunters. Few people were this insane and even less had the abilities to do it undetected. Ruby just hoped there was no one in the main lobby.

Haven was not fully deserted even at night, though. She fluttered past a small number of students and a professor still about. Then she quickly took her distance from an amorous couple halfway into a closet, but that was the most exciting her infiltration became. Ruby arrived at her destination without issue, the lobby deserted.

With no one nearby, she quickly pulled on the statue's scale as Raven indicated earlier. It took some force, but then the hidden lever gave. The entire platform Ruby stood on began to slide downward, revealing itself as an oversized elevator.

"How did she know that?" Ruby whispered to herself, then decided to ask about it later. Not like her aunt could answer when she was not even in the room.

A second plate shifted in place once the elevator began to descend, hiding the secret path; Ruby sighed in relief at that. Nobody could find the conspicuous hole, so she was not on a clock after all. Then she quickly shot a message to Qrow, who arrived with Raven just a few seconds later. These portals were incredibly useful.

"So," she started to pass the time of their descend, "how did you learn about the scales?"

Her aunt shrugged minutely. "Leonardo is a coward. Offer him something beneficial to no risk and he will grab it."

"And what did you offer him?" Qrow chimed in curiously. His sister threw him a look in response.

"Not to reveal some of his shadier dealings. Nothing awful, but enough to lose him his post as headmaster."

"How bad are we talking? Drugs?"

"No, he invests greatly in the White Fang. And quietly benefits from some of their more... unorthodox targets."

"Ah. Yeah, that'd do it."

Ruby listened with some worry. She did not get the impression the kindly headmaster she met would do such a thing. But as she learned of late, people had a great many facets to them.

"Is it good or bad that he can be strongarmed like that?" she ended up asking.

Neither twin had a proper response to that. Raven was the one to speak as their elevator left its shaft: "Good for us, in this case."

Ruby accepted her reasoning and stepped off the platform, now that it finally arrived. The hewn stone made way for a bridge of natural rock; a pair of lamps spent a few metres of light, but everything beyond lay in darkness. They were still inside of the mountain. Moreover, a pebble kicked off the side produced no audible noise on the way down; it went far, so Ruby made certain to stay away from the edge. She could ignore gravity with her Semblance, but the possibility of a fall still unnerved her.

She then used her Scroll's flashlight to light ahead, but there was no great path to follow. No challenge or labyrinth. The stone bridge led right toward a wall and at its end sat a pedestal. A single stone arch was attached to it, the only other piece shaped by human hands. The mere sight of it made the Charm she carried pulsate softly while Grimm murmured reassurances into her mind.

The trio walked slowly, almost reverently. Even Raven was in awe, or perhaps too scared to rush ahead.

"How did they get this down here?" Ruby wondered idly, voice echoing in the empty cavern. "And who built it?"

Qrow snorted at that.

"Oz, obviously."

He took a sip from his flask and motioned for the stone arch. "The part where a secret doesn't work if too many people know it aside, this thing just screams Ozpin. It's exactly his style. He probably used some sort of magic to build it."

"He may have reformed the mountain to suit his needs," Raven added thoughtfully. Her gaze flicked around the area, yet the dim light made finding what she sought a chore. "I doubt he was just lucky to find such a natural formation in the exact spot he needed."

"Sounds about right," her brother agreed.

Their conversation was cut off then as they arrived at the arch. It rose above all three of them, somehow projecting an intimidating aura.

Ruby hesitated for a moment before reaching out. Golden light ran from her chest to her fingertips once she touched the solid plate of stone within the arch. It drove the darkness away and cast long shadows over their faces, illuminating the entire area. Ruby felt warm where it passed, only for that warmth to seep into the door; it clicked and crunched, gleamed in a slow rhythm, but did not open.

They stood before the bright contraption as intricate symbols slowly began to spread over the central plate. Light trickled along the revealed lines. Ruby waited expectantly, but nothing else happened. Her aunt and uncle exchanged glances.

"Is it, uh, supposed to do that?" Qrow finally asked. Ruby could only shrug.

Just then Grimm's voice whispered to her again: "My sister's light is similar yet different. It needs time to assimilate the vault."

Ruby's brow twitched in annoyance. "Thanks for telling us now," she groused back, receiving just an amused chuckle. Qrow groaned when she relayed his words.

Meanwhile, Raven stared hard at the vault; she was deep in thought, but never got a chance to finish whatever musings she followed.

Their silent vigil was disrupted by a heavy impact. All three whirled around and beheld a Grimm stalking off the elevator platform. And what a Grimm it was, canine but far more massive than any Beowulf Ruby ever saw. The beast's muzzle twitched as it sized them up. Pitch black fur stood out even in the dark while the lanterns and Lumina's light drew menacing shadows onto the ground.

Something about it raised Ruby's hackles; it felt unnatural, but she could not quite put her finger on why. That was, until she realised faint trails of silver rolling off its body; shards of familiar shapes fell like snowflakes on every step.

Essence clung to the beast.

"What is this?" Raven asked, just as stumped as them.

"Better question," Qrow countered while they drew their weapons. "How did it get here? It came from above!"

His question was answered moments later; a second figure leapt down the elevator shaft, almost exactly where the Hound had landed. He was familiar to all of them and their hearts sunk; Leonardo Lionheart, still impeccably dressed if suddenly wary.

"Now this is unexpected," he opened awkwardly as they stared at each other. Glancing between them, the Hound, and the tunnel, the headmaster made a face. "And not particularly good. Let me just..." He swiftly turned around and made to push the statue's scale back up.

A bullet crashed into the ornament, destroying it before he could.

Qrow never lowered Harbinger, the gun barrel still steaming in the cold air. His teeth were bared as he stared at his fellow Huntsman.

"Leo," he asked with forced calm. His anger still shone through. "What, by the Brothers, are you doing?"

Ruby was still reeling from the fact the kindly headmaster was leading this thing around. She had no idea how anyone could go about explaining this away. She liked Headmaster Lionheart.

The man himself seemed to rack his brain for a decent answer to give, but obviously found none.

"What does it look like?" Raven's voice cut through the silence. She let out a mirthless huff and motioned for the Hound as it prowled toward them. "He submitted to Salem."

Ruby took a wary step back from the beast; it seemed to home in on her, yet did not lunge or charge like most others would. It seemed almost intelligent in how it sized her up.

She only glanced away when Lionheart answered at last: "Why, I could ask you the same, Qrow. Associating with a known criminal, your sister at that? People will question your intentions."

"Do you have any idea how little I care what people think of me?" Qrow shot back. He motioned for the approaching monster with his sword. "You're associating with Salem, and why is that thing here?"

"Well, you see-" He snapped off a shot that caught Qrow in the shoulder just as the Hound lunged for Ruby.

She dispersed before it reached and focussed her attention on the thing coming for her. Fluttering around its swipes with contemptuous ease, Ruby reformed and dispersed again to test it; reactions, defenses, she attentively learned them all.

She reformed behind the Hound after a frantic minute. It snarled and swung around with its massive paw, but Ruby leaned out of the way and it missed by an inch. Crescent Rose struck the beasts side in retaliation, but its hide was too thick for the massive scythe to penetrate. Ruby dispersed again to avoid the counter, reappearing on the Hound's back; it reared up and threw her off in moments.

The Grimm's head turned this way and that, trying to trace her disembodied form by scent; Ruby reappeared twenty metres above it to abuse gravity next. She swung Crescent Rose overhead and rammed her tip into the Hound's skull. Her sheer momentum drove the weapon in a few centimetres before stopping, but the Hound simply growled and swiped at her scythe. The attack dented her before Ruby could pull her back out.

Horror and indignation stabbed through her focus; nobody hurt her baby!

Ruby grit her teeth and got back to it with renewed vigour. The dance continued to a backdrop of human on faunus violence, but she had no time to see how her family was doing.

A wisp of silver light washed over the Grimm but did not kill it. Something blocked her power. So Ruby went back to the tried and true, reappearing at various angles and leaving cuts and bruises on her opponent with every pass. The Grimm slowed bit by bit, but was never actually crippled.

Her aura went down to three fourths by the time she decided to commit to another big attack: Ruby reappeared right in front of the Hound and blew it a raspberry. She then dispersed just as it swung and consolidated standing on its paw; Crescent Rose's barrel pointed straight at the beast's face. The Hound tried to launch her, too slow to register the threat; a gunshot boomed and the high-impact round cracked its faceplate. Its recoil blew Ruby back, evading retaliation.

The Hound growled in what seemed like anger; half the white boneplate on its head was broken off.

Then, to her shock, the monster spoke.

"Find. Destroy. Rose."

Its voice was an inhuman drawl, but she knew she did not imagine it. The mere fact this thing could speak kept Ruby still and staring.

Just then Qrow and Raven came down on it like the fist of a goddess. Harbinger's scythe form and a thin blade of fire Dust each sliced off a hindleg, making the beast buckle. Their synchronous assault was repeated with its front legs.

Ruby appeared in front of its snarling muzzle just as it hit the ground. She pushed the barrel right into its maw and pulled the trigger.

Another boom sounded and the monster dropped dead.

The echo ran through the cave for an uncomfortably long time, eventually replaced by blessed silence. Ruby wiped beads of sweat off her forehead, panting. Her aura went close to two thirds, which was more than any singular creature of Grimm cost her in a while.

The beast already began to dissolve when she graced her aunt and uncle with a smile. "Thanks. I guess I need to work on my strength next."

Qrow's strong hand ruffled her hair right after. "Don't take it too hard, kiddo. That thing wasn't as massive as some of what I've hunted, but it was just as dense."

"I still wonder what..." Raven began, only to trail off.

Ruby did not need to ask why, she saw it herself.

As the Hound's black flesh turned to smoke, a person was revealed within its body. The three of them stared in horrified wonder at the deathly pale and emaciated man. His eyes fluttered open, staring without seeing.

Qrow was with him even faster than Ruby. He gently caught the gaunt figure, talking softly: "Hey, it's okay. You're alright. What happened?"

He mouthed something, but no sounds came out. Trails of silver pearled off his body and Ruby understood that what she saw earlier was his Essence.

"He's dying," Raven judged. She knelt by Qrow's side and carefully grasped the stranger's face. He leaned into her touch, the rest of his body falling slack. Unseeing eyes tried to find her, rotating in their sockets. Looking into them however, Raven took a sharp breath.

"And his eyes are silver."

Ruby's chest constricted as horror took a hold of her.

She knew exactly what her aunt implied there. She did not want to believe it, but everything made too much sense to be a coincidence. Her breathing became laboured as she took a knee next to Raven, seeing for herself what she already knew.

Summer never returned but was not entirely dead. Just like this man, her body must be alive out there somewhere. Buried within another such beast.

Tears blurred her vision as reality collapsed around her. Ruby stood frozen, unable to truly comprehend the meaning of their find.

Then she forced the horror back from the forefront of her mind, all the way down into a little box. She could freak out or break down later; for now they still had a task to fulfill.

Before the lamp however, she reached out for the unknown man. Ever so carefully, Ruby pulled him over until his head rested on her lap. His life was fading quickly, but he was still concious.

"It's okay," she comforted him, fingers brushing over skin as dry as paper. The feeling was revulsive, but Ruby did not let it show in her voice. "Your suffering is over. Go on and rest."

His hands weakly closed around hers, lacking even the strength to squeeze. He had silver eyes like her; they might even be related in some way. Ruby would never know.

His grasp slackened as he breathed his last.

She stared at his emaciated face, somehow peaceful in death. A smattering of tears ran down her cheeks and dropped onto his. She could not bear move him for fear of breaking something.

"This is awful," she choked out. "How could you do something like this? To anyone?"

Ruby could not even conceive such a cruel act before it slapped her in the face.

Qrow had no words for her, he was equally appalled.

Raven, however, nodded slowly. "That is the kind of person we deal with," she told Ruby in a tone that may be tender. "Salem knows neither friends nor allies. All she sees people as is tools. If you do not give in to her demands, she will have you hunted. I imagine Leonardo let himself be coerced so as to not die."

"And you wouldn't have?" She could not help but ask. Knowing what Ruby knew, her aunt was prime material for this kind of thing.

To her surprise, Raven snorted. "I'm smart enough to know Salem will discard all her tools sooner or later. Not that it worked out for Leo."

Be it the surprise or what she actually said, it made Ruby realise that the older woman's kimono was speckled with blood. It stood out starkly in the light now bathing them. She scanned the area and quickly found the headmaster's headless body lying near the gleaming vault door.

"...oh. That's kind of sad."

Somehow, Ruby felt little at the sight. They were fighting and it happened that people died. She could not quite bring herself to care right now, but it was sad to see him go like this.

"You shouldn't have done it," Qrow told his sister. He did not seem angry or particularly upset, just tired. "He might have known something."

Raven scoffed at that. "As if. Salem doesn't share anything her tools don't need to know. Especially him when he could run back to Ozpin at any moment. For all the issues I have with the man, he is forgiving where Salem isn't."

Much like her brother, she lacked her usual fervour. The night was a shock for all of them.

"...you could come back, you know?"

It was a hesitant request Qrow made. Raven's gaze snapped to him in an instant, then away. Her carefully schooled expression broke to reveal the turmoil underneath, but she did not speak just yet. Ruby would have loved to let them talk it out, but she knew this could go bad really fast; if Raven's fear took over and made her say something nasty, this fragile bond the twins rebuilt may just snap. She had to do something drastic.

Shimmying away from the body she had cradled and putting him down with all due care, she then darted forward to embrace her aunt. Raven stiffened in her grasp, but Ruby did not care; she simply cuddled harder.

"I'd like to have you around some more, too, you know?"

"It's not that easy," Raven said, voice tight.

"Of course it isn't. But nothing easy is worth having."

Several tense seconds passed, but then Raven awkwardly pet her head. Ruby took that as her sign to let go; she was met with a thoughtful expression that she took as victory. Crisis averted.

Then she realised she now had half-dried blood on herself, too. Ruby squeaked and fumbled for something to clean herself with. "Eww! How can you stand that?!"

"Experience," Raven deadpanned. Qrow chuckled in the background before helping with the cleanup. Not that it actually worked that well, Ruby's clothes needed a wash. Maybe she even had to throw them away!

Halfway through their efforts, some sort of current ran through the area. An even brighter light that threw long shadows. The trio immediately turned back to the vault; they found the stone plate set between the arch completely covered in gleaming lines and runes. It began to disintegrate before their eyes, revealing an endless desert behind. Natural light shone through, as did the gleam of a bright blue lamp. It hovered atop a lone pedestal on the other side.

Ruby made an awed noise and took a step, but Qrow's hand on her shoulder stopped her. He threw her a wink.

"Hey. Lemme do at least something here, yeah?"

She could not help but grin at that and motioned for him to go.

The women watched Qrow pass right through the opening, pick up the lamp, and walk out. The vault remained open, though it was now empty. He returned to them with a thoughtful look while Raven took over cleaning Ruby's clothes as best as she could.

"I gotta admit, I expected a little more," Qrow commented once he stood in front of them again. "But sure, fine."

So saying, he handed Ruby the lamp, who took it reverently before even considering what to do with it. After a moment of thought, the relic was hooked into her belt. It sat warm against her hip and thigh even through skirt and tights.

Nothing else happened. Mission complete.

Ruby took a deep breath and glanced back to the dead. She still felt sad about Lionheart's death, but he did fight for Salem. The unknown man trapped in the Hound was who truly tugged on her heartstrings. Maybe he had family somewhere?

"I want to bury him," she said. The thought came suddenly, but it was the least this poor person deserved.

The twins looked first to her, then each other. Ruby was still focussed on the body and missed their silent conversation.

Qrow and Raven wordlessly began to work; he kicked Lionheart's body and the shells they used over the ledge, she scanned the elevator for bloodstains before wiping them away with Water Dust. Then Raven pulled what was left of the scale back into place, portalling back to Ruby's side as the elevator rose; everything would return to normal.

Qrow then nudged Ruby to help him and they gingerly picked up the cooling body. He was far too light, even she knew that. Raven opened another portal for them, which they entered without hesitation.

The three landed in a large camp. A guard of sort had snapped to attention, but gaped upon seeing who all came through. He looked between them.

"Uh, did something happen? Why's-"

"Later," Raven cut him off. "We need to take care of something first. Fetch me three shovels."

He did it without question.

What followed was, perhaps, the most solemn hours of Ruby's life.

No one remained untouched by death on Remnant, one way or another. Yet the only deaths she was ever present for were her own in the Nightmare. Ruby still had some distance to the concept; the day of the dragon was such a rush that she never really saw anything, and her mother left no body. It was her father and uncle who erected the gravestone, too.

That night it was her and the twins digging. No one spoke. Only a small lamp and the Relic illuminated their work, shovel by shovel of dirt being removed from the gaping hole in the ground. At some point Qrow vanished, only to return with an old blanket to wrap the body in. Ruby was drenched in sweat, not helped by the humid mistralian night.

Once they made it two metres down, Qrow called a stop. His voice was oddly soft, not quite gentle but simply quiet. Ruby did not let him pick up the body, though. She did it herself before gently lowering the man into the earth.

A morose sadness welled in her gut as she looked down onto him; the dusty cotton was barely visible under what light they had. Life suddenly felt small, so easily extinguished.

They slowly filled up the grave again. It came easier now, her body working fine even though Ruby was emotionally exhausted. Once it was done, Raven patted down the small mound with her shovel. Qrow placed a crude marker on top; a piece of wood, quickly and sloppily carved into the twin dragons' spine. Three curved horns, the center of which was twice as thick as the outer ones. A symbol of the Brothers

The three stood in silence for a minute, paying respect to a man they never knew. Ruby hesitated at the marker's sight, but then she took her own knife and carved symbols into each outer spine; a crowned circle with two wings for one, a flame within a flame within a flame for the other. She did not know the Brothers, but she knew Lumina and Grimm.

Once she was done, Ruby stood once more and leaned against Qrow. She was used to physical work, but this was a different sort of grueling. Her uncle put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. Raven stood next to them, still distant even now. Ruby noticed despite her exhaustion and reached out to take her hand. Her aunt twitched, unseen in the darkness but barely felt.

She did not pull away.

"...this is all we could do," Raven finally said. "Let's get going."

Nobody objected. Raven led them back to her tribe's camp and to her own tent. Ruby fell asleep as soon as she reached the futon laid out for her.