RWBYr V4r - Rose on the Shore

by InvInFuture

A complete rewrite using RWBY V1-V3 as foundation to construct V4 from ground up without what show does. No God Brothers. "Four beacons of Civilization have fallen dark. Four Kingdoms, inching towards conflict. Four Myths that laid the foundation of the world. Four women, divided across the world, as they search for meaning to their wounds. An endless Cycle, a Tale, and a Lie."

4. Impostor

CHAPTER 4 - Impostor

---

January 7th, 797 E.A
Coast of Mistral, Kingdom of Mistral Territory

The waves ate away at the shore - a familiar view for the Old Captain. He observed the seagulls - companions of every seaman - circling him in the sky.

The passage of time had weathered The Old Captain. His life, ticking away, already had painted the seas the shade of gray.

The winds guiding him no longer held any direction. His crew changed with every voyage - some couldn't handle the pressure, while others would meet their ends at the bottom of the ocean - a steep but fair price for attempted betrayals. The Old Captain grew unable to see meaning in much of anything he did with his life. All his ideals, dreams, and aspirations - money replaced them all.

And yet, the sands of time had still left him with his wife - one constant remained as his beacon in the fog, no matter how long his journeys would take.

His gaze could still pierce the horizon ahead, revealing the port he'd call home.

Smuggling was a pragmatic occupation in a world recovering from the Great War. Whether it was weapon parts or spices - the necessity for finer rare goods would never wane. And whether times of turmoil or moments of peace - there would never be enough. There would always be that little gap for people like him to slip in and make some nice profit.

Twenty-five years have passed since he first stood at the helm of a ship. He only had been a smuggler for a decade, though. Before? Smuggling never even crossed his mind.

Back in the day, the old captain ran a proper trade business for fifteen years. But then the folks at Atlas came up with brilliant airship ideas, and most ports closed.

No hatred or jealousy had touched Old Captain's heart. He had long since accepted it was just the nature of doing business - those who couldn't adapt would be left behind.

He wasn't like the folks who would waste away their remaining years drowning in a bottle, all while loathing the end of an era - the fate of idiots and fools, not him.

First, he had attempted to enlist in one of the fancy expeditions through the Depths. Twenty ships gathered near the forsaken Isle of the Dark One - ready to leave The Shallows and venture into the foggy mists beyond it. Some took the step into the treacherous depths to find meaning, others wanted to reach the fabled Terra Incognita, while some just wanted to glimpse one of The Leviathans fabled to swim in those waters. The good, brave folks had gathered on that island to share a drink - as was the tradition when venturing into the Depths.

The scoundrels, in it for the money, would never take up a job like that. Back then, he was no scoundrel, no sir. He couldn't have been. He was a fair and upright Captain with a dream.

Or so he thought.

The Old Captain lasted a week - all it took was to glimpse things slithering beneath the surface of the waters there. His legs gave out, and before he realized it, his lunch had left his stomach.

He turned the boat around that day against the screams and rage of the scientists and the Huntsmen. It was such a shameful decision - a coward's path. But out of all the bastards that had ventured there in that expedition, his ship was the only one that made it back.

The ocean feasted that day.

Serves them right, the idealistic fools.

He found out he was a coward, but learning that had saved him.

He was going to build himself a comfortable life instead - a smuggler's life. So what if the money he'd obtain had blood stains on it - it'd wash.

The darker, shadier corners of business had never tempted his weary soul. He still had his code - the rules he promised his mother he'd never break - the laws brought to him from his father's unnamed grave.

While he and his mother were human, The Old Captain's father happened to have been a Faunus. His father left his wife to fight in the Great War, and he fought to the better end. The old bastard fell in The Battle of Midhart - one of the hundreds of Faunus perishing in that treacherous hellscape. His old man never saw the end of the war or the mockery of the following treaty.

Part of him hated the naive, idealistic idiot, but another part respected him with all his heart. The Old Captain knew - few people were willing to die for what they believed - to burn at the pyre lighting the way into tomorrow.

Trafficking or selling living, breathing beings was a step too far for him - if The Old Captain were to do that, he might as well have been dancing on his old man's grave.

The prim and proper way of life never sat well with his crewmates - it did not matter how many of them had met the same fate at the bottom of the ocean - a price to pay for rebellion. The allure of money and power would gnaw at them and eat them whole.

The Old Captain would gladly stain his hands with the blood of wannabe slavers if it meant even one innocent soul had escaped a terrible fate no being should be doomed to.

He was no hero, of course - sometimes the Old Captain would grease the wheels too - pay off a huntsman or a government official, frame some unlucky competitor for one too many deaths, or steal a good deal of money or goods after sinking one of the other smuggler ships.

Through the years, he had transported many things - goods, seeds, dust. He'd smuggle anything but people. Half the Anima trees in Vale grew from the saplings smuggled there from Mistral, and at least part of those found themselves there via his ship.

He would still transport people as passengers, yes, but never to sell. People had the right to escape their pasts - the boundless ocean moved, driven by the winds of freedom, indifferent to whatever dark things slithered below. What kind of a bastard would he be if he spat in the face of that?

People who had something to hide would traverse in the shadows. He had helped interesting and boring people - a few white fang members here, a corrupt politician or huntsman there. He even had transported a wealthy runaway bride once.

He wasn't used to transporting a crew of kids like the ones that had just left his modest abode hidden on this shore. Old Captain had always believed no kid deserved their childhood be torn away from them by the cruel fates ahead.

What would have driven young kids like these to willingly break their shells, leave the warmth of their homes behind to seek out smugglers, and move to another continent, stumbling in the dark?

The Old Captain was aware of what had happened in Vale. The tales of the Shadow on The Tower had spread far and wide through the Kingdom. He knew of the whispers at Port Iosal, of the glances local folks had started giving to the Faunus. In a few weeks after the Tower fell, neighbors had become strangers.

More and more, the words "The Third Crusade" would echo in the Kingdom - a sign of uncertainty - an oncoming storm, like a broken record. Awful begets awful, and the Kingdom of Vale had its fair share of atrocities in its past.

The kids were huntsmen, yes - likely had been there during the Fall, as rumors coursed of the chaos that had started in that Academy. Whatever journey they had embarked upon, the Old Captain wished them luck from the bottom of his heart.

He remembered the Girl in Red, troubled by her ghosts. He hoped The Girl would find some peace, at least. Even if Old Captain had no regrets, years later, he'd still get flashes of the things below The Depths. Being shackled by the past was no way to live, yes.

While a stranger, The Old Captain couldn't help but share one truth had followed him all his life - whether naïve or burdened with knowledge - having direction in life was the most important thing.

His mind had trailed back to Port Iosal. Old Captain could only hope that his wife was still safe there. Did the fact that his old man happened to be a Faunus influence his decision to marry one? The Old Captain did not know and didn't care. The love of his life was his beacon, and she deserved all the best.

Steps crunching through the ground interrupted his thoughts. Having sailed through the years on the treacherous whims of fate, The Old Captain had developed quite formidable reflexes - a consequence of his trade.

He stood up from the wine barrel he had been sitting on, willing his old bones to turn around and do their job. If the seas hadn't broken him, the evening chill wouldn't either.

Ah, yes, one of the kids was back. They had bolted, chasing after whatever dreams or nightmares they had come here for. Bound to have left something behind, they were.

"Hey, kid, you are back here, I see? Did you forget something in that rotting ship of mine? I can't guarantee it's still there, whatever it is. My crew are pesky thieves, yes." - The Captain greeted the familiar face with a smile.

Wait - the port ruins were dead-silent. How did he just now notice that?

Where were his crewmates? Those bastards would even snore like a thunderstorm, and yet the sea shore had been rendered dead within the span of a single wandering thought the Old Captain had let himself have till now.

Old Captain froze as his gaze wandered back to the familiar face as sweat dripped from his forehead. The piercing pain in his head screamed at him - something wasn't right.

His eyes grew wide as he instinctively took a step backward.

"Wait, what are you-"

Terror gripped his throat, preventing words from getting out, as the kid rushed at him, weapon in hand. All he could see was the flash of reflected light in the weapon's edge as the searing pain hit his chest, stealing his breath.

The Old Captain looked downward - why was his shirt stained red? As the red dot expanded, the liquid covering the blade poking out of his chest, clarity overcame him - this was no wine and certainly no paint.

Why?

His gaze fell upon the shore as his back hit the wooden pier. The earth dragged him into its embrace as it whispered the tales from his past. Moments, pieces in time coursed in the clouds.

Why?

The smell of the wheat in the fields where he grew up, his mother's last gasp, her hand clutching his. His wife's smile - he could only hope she was still safe.

If he could just reach out and touch her.

---

January 15th, 797 E.A
You do know all this is your fault, right? As Always

Ruby Rose braved the dark forest. No matter how far, no matter how fast, she could never escape the memory. She knew the smell of fear that lingered around her.

Ruby wondered how the owls, screeching far above in the trees, would see her - a lone figure, clad in red, soaring through the forest, a scythe in her hand. She wasn't Death, of course. But Ruby might as well have been Death. That's the thought she couldn't escape.

She focused her attention on the crunchy noise of dirt under her boot as her gaze fell upon the starless night above - darkness had permeated everything around her, robbing the area of any semblance of familiarity Ruby could find solace in - the pitch-black void of the unknown.

There were trees there, of course. Ruby could still see the shadows the branches cast approaching her lamp as the light warped and bent at their whims. The void could swallow her whole any moment now, and the fact she had left Nora and Ren a few steps behind in the darkness bothered her.

Still, she couldn't bear to turn around - that would have meant talking with them, and she wasn't ready to have that conversation. The words she could say and the thoughts - the cold had drowned it all out.

"Heya, best friend, how are you doing today?" - Nora's voice echoed from somewhere, hidden by the dark void enveloping the tree outlines ahead.

Ruby squinted, trying to make out her figure in the pitch-black shroud, but to no avail. Eventually, her head appeared from behind the dimness of the night, and the rest of her outline followed soon after.

"That's weird. I Could swear I left you guys behind me."

"Chin up, smartypants, I am pretty fast." - Nora laughed as she strode towards her. - "Ready to talk yet? Because if not, I have this whole routine here that will blow your mind."

Nora emoting her words she felt were important - just another charming habit. Ruby hadn't noticed it before, but this journey enlightened her on many things she did not want to know. R

eady to talk. Great. The last thing Ruby needed was for Nora to remind her of her issues again. Why, oh why, couldn't she go away and leave her alone?

"Can you, please, leave me alone?"

"Do you really just want to get me to leave, Ruby?" - Nora pleaded, her eyes flooded with tears. - "And here I thought of us as the best friends that can face anything."

Great - now she had made her sad. Why did she always pick the wrong thing to say? Why couldn't she be like Yang and make people radiate towards her?

"Nora...Leave her be for now..." - A familiar voice said from beyond the dark.

"But, Pyrrha, I am trying to help her and she's being mean." - Nora responded.

Ruby exhaled in relief - saved just in the nick of time by someone to whom this "socializing" thing likely came naturally. She was glad to have a friend like that.

Wait, what.

Her blood ran cold - a redhead clad in golden armor lingered alongside Nora. Someone who couldn't be here. An illusion? A lingering guilt? A ghost? Ruby's mind raced through all the unlikely possibilities.

Pyrrha's eyes fell upon Ruby, meeting hers. She smiled, her radiance lighting up the night around them - greeting them like a long-lost friend - a tinge of melancholy straight out of a photograph.

"I am so sorry, Ruby. Nora means well. You know that." - The woman spoke, her voice echoing through the dark, ringing like bells announcing a funeral.

Ruby's head was about to split open - she wanted to dig her fingers into her brains, to remove something there as it gnawed at her. She longed to make the voices blaming her shut up.

"How? Why? You are, I mean, you are dead. Are you dead?" - Ruby stammered, her voice hoarse.

"Ruby?! You can't just tell someone they are dead! That's so rude!" - Weiss fumed. - "Apologize, right now!"

What.

"Weiss, how did you get here?"

"Oh, I just magically popped in right next to you because you wished upon a star." - Weiss rolled her eyes. - "We were walking you back to class, you goofball! What, are you having memory problems now? Did you empty my coffee reserves? Or did you hit your head again?"

"No, Weiss. All this feels so wrong. You left - I mean, I couldn't see it with my own eyes, being in a coma and all, but when I awoke, you were gone already."

"Excuse you? No, I didn't. You are the one who ran out in the middle of Professor Oobleck's lesson, and now here you are, calling Pyrrha dead to her face. Apologize, you dolt!"

Ruby's head spun. The familiar buildings, the emerald tower above - this was Beacon's courtyard she had trodden for so long.

Wasn't she in the forest? Where was she? What was she doing?

"Weiss, I think Ruby is talking about the arrow stuck right in Pyrrha's chest." - Norra tapped Ruby and Weiss on their shoulders. - "Who does that? That's, uh, pretty weird, right?"

"Guys, I don't feel so good." - Pyrrha swayed to the sides, grasping at her surroundings as she kept stumbling. Her face has tinted the shade of ghostly pale no living person could wear.

She fell to the ground on one knee, supporting herself with one arm. She shook, convulsing, as she struggled to pull the arrow out with her other arm. Ruby could see her gasping for air.

"It's as valid of a fashion choice as any, so don't judge." - Weiss remained unbothered, her gaze focused on Nora. - "I know at least three people who wore swords stuck in their chests, including my Grandpa."

"I knew you were a snob, but would have never thought you a fashion victim with no taste, Ice Queen." - Nora snapped back, rushing closer. - "If a fashion magazine told you, I'd bet you'd strap a cowbell to your neck."

"At least I don't look like a homeless person, unlike some people here. Would have thought you had decency to bathe once in a while, but alas, I expected too much from a country bumpkin."

"And what do you have against the homeless, your Highness?" - Electricity crackled around Nora. - "About time someone knocked you down from the clouds."

Before Ruby could say anything, she heard a loud thud - a sound a body makes when it hits the ground. Had she heard that before? She had no time to dwell on deja vu.

Pyrrha hitting the g

round, lifeless, was all it took for Ruby to snap out of her bewilderment, to chase away the fog that had clouded her mind and focus on what she thought mattered. Ruby clenched her teeth as she sprinted to Pyrrha's side. In front of her, Pyrrha gasped for air, trying to form words that never came, grasping at the dirt with one hand and at the sky above with the other.

Nora and Weiss still bickered, their forms now behind Ruby. The two friends now found themselves shouting angrily at each other, their interactions charged with physicality as they pushed each other, screaming something about fish.

"Guys, please. It is all wrong. We need to help her." - Ruby turned her head towards her friends as she held Pyrrha in her arms, doing her best to help her up.

Weiss turned her towards Ruby, fuming. She shoved Nora to the side, screaming something at her, steam rising from her mouth as she spoke. She then strode towards Ruby, gripping her weapon in her hand.

"Oh, shut up, Ruby. When have you ever successfully helped someone?" - Her gaze fell upon Ruby with the full force of a winter storm behind her eyes. - "I swear, you keep acting like a petulant child. Can't you see this is not about you?"

Ruby's heart ached, pierced by the words of her first true friend. Her eyes darted between Weiss, throwing daggers at her with her eyes and the gasps for air from Pyrrha in her embrace.

"What, what am I supposed to do with all of this?" - She quivered.

"Does it matter? You don't even really care anyway, do you?" - Weiss turned around, walking away. - "Run along and do your hero stuff, or whatever you do, while grown-ups handle the real world, will you?"

No, that was a lie - Ruby did care. She instinctively held Pyrrha even tighter. Something inside screamed at her to never let go - she had to protect Pyrrha at all costs.

Nora ran up to Ruby - her face strained with worry as she knelt. Nora's gaze met hers, her hand brushing at Ruby's shoulder, what Ruby assumed was her awkward attempt to comfort her.

"Poor Ruby, you got ash all over your cape now." - She turned her head towards Weiss in the distance. - "Now look what you did, Ice Queen! It is all your fault, you know that?"

Nora bolted back up. Brandishing her hammer, she sprinted forward, chasing after the heiress and, for some reason, giggling. For a brief second, a storm rolled over the hills, chasing after the heiress.

Every muscle in Ruby's body trembled - a chill dug at her straight to the bone. Ruby panted. Her neck ached as the sensation of being strangled came over her. She looked down at Pyrrha. Pyrrha?

There was nothing but a pile of ash there. Ruby's arms, all the way to the elbows, had been submerged in a dry sand-like substance, painting her clothes gray, muddying her cape as if she were dragged through a swamp.

No.

The walls of good old Beacon crept closer as they bent towards her. The ground, like quicksand, dragged her down, and the treasonous sky had been attempting to devour her - the world around closed in on her as if leaning across her shoulder to mock her.

Ruby did not want to think about this. Why should she bother herself with all the annoying things around her? She grumbled, turning around as she grasped the blanket tighter.

Oh, right - she remembered. Ruby had been sleeping in the middle of the forest, her team worn down by the onslaught of monsters from beyond this land. Why did she think she was back at Beacon? How silly. Beacon was gone - this was all she had now.

"Hey there, Little Red." - A familiar voice said somewhere beyond the confines of her blanket - another ghost, just as impossible as the last one that had visited her.

Ruby now was sure - this must have been another dream she had been trying to avoid with all her might. If she were to ignore it, it would end, and she would find piece in her empty void once again.

"You are not real." - Ruby said.

Her defensive blanket reflected the warmth of her breath right back at her face - the boundary between her ignorance and the void beyond.

"No, of course, I'm not real, dumbass. I am freaking dead!"

Against her instincts, her brain screaming at her to ignore it, Ruby snuck her head out from beyond the blanket, her eyes drifting towards the eerie figure within her sight.

A man stood in front, surrounded by the dark void looming around them. He played with the bowler hat in his hand. He observed it with fierce intensity before throwing it into the dark. He then did his best to scrub something off from his sleeve. The man she knew as Roman Torchwick audibly grumbled as his futile attempt to clean the blood off his coat failed, smearing it even further.

"Red, Red, Red. I am, honestly, upset. Your welcome is way too cold and lacking in passion. Please, do better. Just because you made me a Grimm food doesn't mean we can't catch up and talk, does it?"

The figure strolled closer. Roman's eyes wandered over the fireside for a brief moment. He knelt on one knee right next to her - his cane in one hand as he leaned closer.

"Oh, for crying out loud, you read fairytales, you brat. You, of all the idiots, should know better than this and realize that just because someone dies, are they gone if others remember them?"

"You aren't a ghost."

"You sure about that, Red? Because I am certainly haunting you right now." - His face warped into a smile. - "Or maybe you could call me your guilt. I could never tell which comes first. The proper order of things was always a mystery to me, you see? Oh well, tomayto tomahto , right?"

Yes. Either I am dreaming, or some Grimm had eaten my face while I slept, and I am now in hell. Why couldn't you pick a more friendly face to blame me, brain?

"What do you want?"

As she uttered her answer, Ruby realized she couldn't move a muscle - her body frozen still. It was as if she were merely a stranger trapped inside a shell

The apparition tapped her forehead with his cane, twisting his head as it observed her. She had no fear for the petty criminal, but somehow, she couldn't shake the terror that had enveloped her brain.

"Many things, Red. To drink the finest wine I can get my hands on. To eat the tastiest meat I can buy with the money I tore from a dead man's grasp on the street. To be alive, Red." - His gaze turned distant, muddy. - "But we don't always get what we want, right? I am not going to monologue too long because I think we both had enough of that, and it did not end well the last time, don't you agree?"

Apparition placed his hand upon her throat as he leaned in even closer. As his breath hit her face, the stench of rotten wheat and the dry wind of arid deserts overcame her.

"You will talk instead, Red. Even though I tire of you yapping on about your heroism all day long, this time, I can't pass up the opportunity for amusement, you see. So here goes: Why did you do it?"

Ruby, inside, screamed at her body to move. Her eyes darted past the figure, but her friends were nowhere to be found - They had already moved on from there.

The only things here were a dark void, a fireside, a rose, and a ghost.

She couldn't run from this, even though she ran for all her life. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, a thought stained her with fear - she could only speak here.

"Do what?"

"Oh, you know what, Reaper, don't play dumb with me now. You seem shaken. Good, I came up with all kinds of nicknames for you now, with me being just your imagination and all that jazz."

His hand gripped her throat tighter - slow, methodic movements of a killer. She could no longer tell what the expression on the visitor's face was. As she gasped for air, she heard the wings flap above them.

She could see a beast at the age of her vision, the shape of a Griffon, descended up ahead as if avoiding the fire. It observed them both, twisting its head to sides, its form twitching in the dark.

Roman Torchwick, still leaning towards her, his hand gripping her throat, turned his head towards the sound, his face lighting up into a smile. He burst out into cackling, his hand gripping her throat.

"Oh, look, Red. A mutual friend had graced us with its presence. Well, that brings back memories, huh? Good memories for you, I reckon, but bad ones for me. Man, that thing can chew!"

The Griffon linger even closer, measuring its chances, twisting its head to the sides, and sniffing the air. It grew in size with each step - graceful like a lion. Or a bad drawing of a lion that poked at her brain, forcing it to scream at how wrong it looks.

"I think I'll call him Fluffy. What do you think, Red? I have always wanted a pet. I believe it will love its nickname. Well, what do you say, sweetie? Am I good with names or what?"

Ruby struggled to pick the right words - the clarity of the dream logic within this nightmare had settled in. She did not want a second of this. She had to run - how could she run?

"Oh, don't give me that, Red. You know what the girl meant to me. You absolutely did, or you wouldn't have sent her flying. You knew what you were doing, what would happen."

"I…"

"I…I…I - Wah, wah, wah. Stop with the whimpering." - Roman leaned in closer as he mocked her, exaggeratedly mimicking every word. - "Who cares? You did what you had to survive. No one plays fair if they can get away with it. Just stop and come out with it, will you? We don't have all day here."

The Griffon growled at them, but for Ruby, the sound elicited the image of drowning. Even laying her eyes upon the monstrosity had made her head hurt. It wasn't supposed to be here - or anywhere.

Roman's gaze shifted to his other arm, still holding the cane. He hesitated. Then he let out a furious growl and threw it into the dark, the Griffon leaping towards it.

"That ought to distract Fluffy for a while. I still want to talk with you lots, Red." - He turned his empty gaze towards her again. - "So, Why did you do it, Red? You could have stuck with the rest as you dedicated your heroism toward saving the civilians and mounting a defense."

"All I wanted was to save that ship. I am not like you, Roman. I don't revel in this, nor participate in the sick games or dance in the suffering like you did every minute of your miserable life."

"Of course, you participated in this, Red. You played your own games - you were a hero! Did you want to be the Hero, Red? The prim and proper Huntress soaring through the sky to stop the bad guy! Well, that's what it takes, Red - all heroes eventually stain themselves in blood."

The Man smiled, his grin vast as the ocean, blood running through his forehead as it dyed his face red as if fate had conspired against her - to make a point.

"But part of you expected to find someone there, huh? Maybe Cinder, maybe Emerald? Maybe a rematch with Mercury or even the good old pal Roman. For the first time in your life, you rushed ahead, brimming with fury, with anger. After all, you haven't felt that way in a long time. And now you wanted something you could actually fight, and just slashing at the Grimm wasn't enough anymore - You had to make us pay. So you bolted forward driven by that negativity, by that anger."

"I never wanted that - I didn't want that. No matter how many times you twist the facts, Roman, I am not that kind of person. I was there to save everyone."

"Lies, lies, lies, and you know it. Did you think the Grimm randomly went out of their way to attack specifically you on that ship? You know what they find the most delicious, right? You know why they didn't even care about me or the girl before you did what you did to provoke me."

The dead couldn't lie. Ruby never wanted to think about why, that night, every Grimm in her path would target her rather than go after the city, no doubt filled with despair.

Grimm don't have intelligence - they weren't going out of their way to stop her. They prioritized her because of what was inside- a closer, vivid source of despair than the city below them. Did the Serpentines do the same here in the forest?

Roman, having thrown away his cane, gripped her throat with both of his hands now. The fireside light grew dimmer and dimmer as she gasped for air. She couldn't do anything as her eyes darted around.

Behind them, Ruby noticed the Griffon had already returned. It had lost interest in Roman's cane and now steadily crept toward them, its steps majestic and pronounced. Roman's newfound fury was tastier than its interest in a pointless trinket.

The man strangling her had shed pieces of what defined him to delay the inevitable, but he couldn't save himself. She knew it would never be enough, even if he had abandoned his anger. Because he wasn't there - just a ghost in her head.

The beast opened its maw as it moved. Its head was now as big as the sky -Death Itself was about to swallow them whole, but the man in front of her did not seem to care anymore.

"Do you ever wonder, kid, what it felt like? To be swallowed whole by that monster? To be slowly ground down to dust by a gaping maw of despair? Do you even feel guilty about what you did to me, you despicable brat?"

No, I don't feel guilty about it. I realized this long before I had left my home to go on this journey. I don't feel anything for what happened to you. I don't regret what happened to that girl.

Pyrrha's gasp, Beacon in flames, Penny's quartered body - they all greet me every morning. Every night, I try to save them, to do something differently. But you? As much as that terrifies me, I don't regret what happened to you - because you deserved it.

Serves you right - You got what you deserved!

The man smiled - An unnatural grin so vast it had cut his head in two halves, splitting him open. A hallucination, a fallen apart remnant, a caricature - that's all this ghost was.

"Oh, did I? Well, isn't that interesting, Red? The me that died would have never expected those words to escape your pretty little mouth. The me that haunts you knows better, Reaper."

She hasn't said anything, so why?

"Seems we no longer live in different realities anymore, Red. And with ideals like that, don't ever delude yourself into thinking you can keep your hands clean. Welcome to the real world."

The man's face melted, flesh peeling off, his grip on her neck weakening as his arms rotted away, crumbling to dust - a pitiful and quick end to a farse.

As the force on her neck subsided, Ruby gasped for air, coughing - the form of this despicable ghost withered away, piece by piece - he did not matter - anything he had said would never matter, whether here or in the real world.

He did not even resemble a human being anymore - just a pile of rotten boiling goo that lost its shape yet still clung to crumbling bones. Time ate away at it until there was nothing left.

Yet the wide, unsettling grin lingered in the air all the same. A smile, surrounded by the dark forest - a lingering mark on her soul from beyond the void filled with dread.

"Enjoy the lake, Red. I hear water's warm this time of the year, but you might want to avoid what's at the bottom. Don't worry. One day, you too will get what you deserve…"

The gaping maw of the Griffon monstrosity descended upon her. Her head pulsated, ready to split open.

She could feel the light piercing her eyelids. The crunching sound of her bones, the torn apart flesh. It wasn't real - none of this was, but she couldn't shake it off even after she had opened her eyes.

The cold morning air greeted her - she inhaled as deeply as she could as if to push the pain in her chest away. Cold morning air crept into her room from outside, mixing with the smell of antique wood.

As she opened her eyes, her gaze darted all over the room as if trying to reassure herself of where she was - to leave the terrifying empty forest and the figure of her guilt behind.

Four rusty metal beds. A half-opened wooden wardrobe dyed the corner of the otherwise russet brown room with its shades of scarlet red - an out-of-place enigma, her Uncle would have called it.

A second floor of a shoddy tavern - an abode nestled within the heart of Kulhara, providing comfort for travelers, whether they were huntsmen traveling to faraway towns, explorers venturing up north, or mere guards of the logistics convoys running between the cities. The food was terrible, the bed creaked, threatening to break and the room smelled of mold and dirt, but a roof above one's head was good enough all the same.

Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest - the beat of the drums counted the relentless passage of time, threatening her to stop any time. She pulled on her hair to accept the pain hadn't escaped her, leaving her in the dark corners of her mind - the last thing she had wanted was to grow numb to everything.

A ray of morning sun intruded upon the murky brown palette of the room through the single window frame on the wall opposite her bed.

The light fell upon her backpack near the wardrobe, Crescent Rose resting by the side -Ruby could tell her beloved weapon had seen better days - cracks had begun to show on the metal polish, and the red paint had been scrapped in places, revealing the ugly metallic dark behind - how fitting.

When did she find herself swinging it more often than taking care of it? When had her movements become so reliant on fury, so lacking of grace and flow a scythe required?

In the backpack, neatly wrapped in cloth, was a blade - a memento of her fallen friend. Why had she taken it with her on this journey? Part of her likely could never part with it. It was all she had left of Penny.

Her head pounded to the rhythm of her heartbeat - there was no escape from the constant reminder of her beating heart, of her soul. No power in this Land could shut it up, mocking her.

It wasn't the first nightmare that had plagued her lately, but they usually would be far more disjointed and vague - white noise of landscapes and horrors beyond her understanding.

She knew the meaning of this one, even if she did not want to.

The truth behind the nightmare came to her fast before she could realize it had been a dream. No matter how much she'd avoided that truth, it was now a part of her.

Again and again, like a broken record, looping endlessly all around her.

The vividness of the repeated deaths of the people dear to her surprised her each time. Every movement, expression, every word etched themselves into her brain, waiting for the night to creep out.

All to tell her she was a failure - not worthy of calling herself a huntress, let alone a hero. She was a nobody- just a fool, a simple idiot who did not deserve the great fate she had attempted to achieve. But she couldn't be just an idiot. She couldn't force herself to step off the pedestal she had struggled to get on - darkness lay below, waiting for her, grinning as the ghost did.

Sometimes, she'd dream of Penny, in parts, crawling around her, screaming as the pieces desperately tried to fit together - to be whole again. Sometimes, Pyrrha would stain Ruby's cape with ash and blood, her gaze piercing with accusation. Often, both would visit her the same night or even her mom in a pool of red.

Was this the first time that criminal paid a visit to her? Or has she forgotten the vermin already? He had always bugged her every step of the way. Everyone had a choice - she would often think - the vermin could have stepped away any time he wanted - or so she had tried to convince herself.

Ruby moved her hand in front of her face - to be sure she could - to confirm she was awake and back in reality. And, in part, to distract herself from the spiraling thoughts that had invaded her.

He was one of three people who died right in front of her that night. And yet, unlike Pyrrha and Penny, she could barely remember his face now - just another goon in the sea of evil.

Heroes weren't allowed to measure the value of life - Ruby would repeat to others. Yet it became abundantly clear to Ruby she couldn't care about what had happened to him.

Were she to find herself back in that moment on that ship, she would likely not change a single thing - not a single one. Well, maybe she'd search for a way to avoid the battleship hitting the ground, destroying the reason she had made to get up there, but otherwise - not a damn thing...

The dream screamed at her, telling her Ruby wanted to be able to lament the fates of every single lost soul, no matter how much their weight would crush her. But she couldn't. Some deaths haunted her, but that one didn't.

It was easy to justify what had happened in terms of survival - in the ways she wouldn't have wanted to because they felt so alien to the core of her being. She found it effortless to frame it in the same kind of cold logic that would have rung far too close to that parting speech back then.

She touched her cheek, pinching it.

Ruby Rose found herself entertaining a thought of how different, how much better everything would have been had Cinder joined Roman in his fate that day. If that petty criminal deserved it, then the cruel mastermind behind the death of thousands deserved far, far worse. Was there anything she wouldn't be ready to give up just for that chance, for that wish to come true?

That thought, as spontaneous and as fleeting as it was, made her want to scream in terror.

She would have nodded her head every time Yang's temper had gotten her sister in trouble, yet now Ruby had found herself face to face with what lay inside her.

The anger, brimming behind the surface, took hold back then, during the Fall, growing with every fallen comrade, every single extinguished beacon of hope. And it refused to perish ever since.

Tears drenched her eyes, clouding the room in a fog -Ruby Rose had awoken from a terrifying dream - diving right into the clarity found within the nightmare of her life.

---

January 15th, 797 E.A
Town of Kulhara, Domain of Nemea, Kingdom of Mistral Territory

This place still oozed familiarity for Nora. Since she left Kulhara, it had not changed at all. She could still instinctively find all the important places - a rusted water tower that sometimes would leak, a stone warehouse she had once stolen a box of flour from, back then when she had still not realized it takes a little bit more effort to bake pancakes.

If Nora were to hop onto one of the roofs of any of the wooden houses here, she would likely be able to see the entirety of Kulhara in a single glance.

Boring crossroads outpost - boring stones, boring streets, boring, boring, boring - she didn't care about any of these. She cared about people, but the place itself drove her angry.

Boring streets? This garbage dump didn't even have what could be called streets. Or running water or any indulgent joy - the happiness she had grown accustomed to in Vale.

To quite a few people who knew her, Nora would have elicited this perfect image of a farm girl, but in reality, Nora couldn't stand anything even remotely tied to such life.

She had seen her fair share of forests. She had experienced her fair share of damp, wet ground and maddening hunger in the wilderness - no way she would ever return to something like this.

She always found it hard to escape the memories of the storm. The grass beneath her bare feet as she wandered the forest, stumbling and falling over and over again. Of how her head hurt from the terror and the despair as the sounds in the dark crept around her.

She had done her best to avoid thinking - Nora had molded herself to seek joy in all the things life had to offer - to revel in the chaos and the impulsive whims that governed her mind.

She would dance in the catharsis destruction brought - she would lose herself in the momentary indulgence of food, drinks, and fun - never again would she return to that forest, to the feeling of emptiness and despair.

Every time her emotions had spiraled in that direction, Nora would push them away - she would counter-balance it all back, shrouding herself with the status quo she was comfortable with.

Despite the shifting emotions inside, she would fight monsters, attempting to live her life to the fullest all the same - the drab colors of anguish did not fit Nora Valkyrie - all work and no play would make Nora a very dull girl.

Life for her was bright, filled with adventure and joy. It had no place for regrets or boundaries or all the other dumb things she couldn't bother to care about.

To others around her, those shifts in her emotions might have seemed whimsical, if not outright unsettling, but to her, that was the only way she could handle moving forward.

Not a single complex thought, not one moment of reflection or contemplation. Just fun - living in the moment, trying to balance the scales - to outweigh the despair of those memories. Being back here still forced the past back into the surface.

She had tried to be "Nora" over and over in these past days, and every time, she would fall back into the same destructive patterns - she had pestered Ruby and danced on the battlefield, but she couldn't escape the creeping fear inside.

The fact the seasons barely changed around the Great Lake only made the air all the more familiar to her - sure, the trees would make all kinds of weird sounds in the cold, and she could see her breath at night, but the echoes of what was froze the landscape in perpetual same hues. Trees without leaves and trees with leaves. Patches of dirt and patches of frozen grass dyed in silver.

The closer one veer to the Great Lake, the more green they'd observe, till, past a certain point, swamps filled with rotten trees and mud would greet them.

Any second, the wind would blow, its cold embrace brushing at her face - Nora would reel from the tree branches tearing into her skin. Then, she'd hear the villagers' voices - they'd turn into desperate screams as a helpful farmer had carried Nora and Ren out of Arcadia.

She shivered as the sound of thunder tore through the air - Nora still couldn't stand the melodies of the storm. She had found it ironic because of her Semblance. If Nora was lightning, yet the sound of thunder made her tremble, was Nora prostrating in front of herself? If she thought of thunder as the bringer of ill omens, does that mean she thought of herself that way, too?

What was she so afraid of? Even after all these years, she still hadn't told Ren the truth. Why couldn't she? Why couldn't she confide in the only person who understood Nora and supported her through all the hardships and tragedies the two had shared?

He deserved to know her theory of what happened and to contemplate her involvement in what destroyed his life. What kind of a friend was she to keep silent for years?

Oh, she was spiraling again. It was why she always tried to avoid negative thoughts - once she started, Nora would never be able to stop. She would keep going and going until somewhat reasonable doubts would envelop everything around her in paranoia and fear and guilt and self-deprecating ideas.

Like a storm - and Nora hated storms - the pesky little things covering the sun and laughing in her face about what had happened to her - she quickened her steps as she attempted to locate Ren. She had made up her mind -them being back here was a sign - she needed to tell him everything.

What better way to do that than in the most Nora way she could think of - by dragging him from whatever he was doing in the middle of the day and dumping it all on him in a rant she had already composed in her head?

She was nothing like Ruby. She wouldn't let it all simmer inside and eat her whole. Of course, she had done that for years already, but Nora did her best to ignore this little bit of hypocrisy in her.

Kulhara, even though Nora knew the town had crucial importance in the vast logistic network of this Kingdom, wasn't even that big. Sure, it was bigger than that awful dirt hole with rude idiots Ruby had saved, but it was no Vale.

About a hundred people had lived inside well-protected wooden walls - the town positioned at the crossroads between three giants. To the east laid Argus, and to the west, the road to Haven and Youdu. And to the south - the path they were to take the moment the next logistics convoy had to return there from Kulhara - the road to Nemea, one of Hearts of Mistral.

Nora had never been to Nemea, but she had been to Argus before - when Arcadia fell to that monstrosity that crept upon them, one of Ren's relatives from Kulhara had transported them there - to ship them off to Vale. "For safety!" as he put it.

Nora hated that grumpy fool back then, but with time, she understood it was the right decision as Vale, her living being there, had brought her some peace of mind.

Just past the water tower, next to the warehouse, stood the two-story wooden building housing the town council. The Elder's house was right next to it. Nora often wondered if, once the current Elder had passed away or quit, the new one would move into the same house. It would be pretty gross to live in a house dead people once were in - especially had they died inside!

Nora shook her head, trying to chase away random intrusive thoughts. She couldn't allow herself to get distracted - not again. Often, in her life, she'd trail off midway to somewhere - to this day, she couldn't understand why.

A voice rang ahead, tone fluctuating as it argued with someone else who had sounded somewhat on the edge. Nora couldn't tell whether the people speaking were nervous or arguing with each other.

"I am thankful for your help. I know I wasn't the foster son you'd have expected me to be, sir." - Ren's voice echoed ahead. - "It wasn't easy to come back here."

Two people stood in front of the warehouse - a taller, younger one in all-green - her friend. And an older person she had recognized as the Elder who had helped them escape.

"I am just happy to see you again, kid. You haven't even called or written a single letter in all those years. Thought you had keeled over in Vale, son."

"I am sorry about that. We just didn't have time."

Ren fiddled around, hands in pockets. The elder smiled, his hand on Ren's shoulder. Should she even interrupt their reunion? Did Nora belong there, between them? She had thought about reunions like that often, always falling short of an answer.

"Yes, you did, Ren. But do not worry, I understand. You two didn't manage to leave this place under the best circumstances. Life had never dealt you two a fair hand."

"I heard they abandoned Arcadia. Part of me still can't believe that it's gone. Magnificent columns, the houses, the stone arc by the lake - are they truly gone?"

"Yes, well - The Kingom has fallen on hard times." - The village elder fell silent as if contemplating something. - "Ren. You are going to Nemea, are you? If so, then please visit her. I think you might find what you learn, pretty, how to say, enlightening."

As Nora closed in, the two turned towards her - this kind of attention she had never wanted, even if she had always thrived in the eye of the storm.

"Hi, Ren, what's up? I see the old idiot's still kicking?"

"And the girl still hasn't learned manners all these years, I see. Nice to see you, wild one. Well, I must go now - the town hall's about to start."

The old Elder turned away from them as he hurried back into the Town Council Building, his right hand holding onto his back. Nora couldn't help but wonder if he would still overwork himself, punching above his weight.

"What did you two fun-haters talk about? Not about me, right? It would be pretty embarrassing if I had come in the middle of a conversation about myself, right? Who would ever gossip about good ol' Nora?"

"Just catching up. You know how it is with people here - life is short and all-memories."

Nora decided not to push further - In their time together, she had learned that if Ren shared his thoughts, he would do it on his terms, not her pestering.

Her eyes darted around, searching for a place to have a conversation - of course, this boring place was still just all mud and dust - not even a bench or anything like that. Well, country dirt would have to do.

The two sat down on the stairs by the warehouse. Nora had almost instantly realized it was a mistake as the winter stung at her - what a bad idea.

No snow didn't mean there was no cold - the surroundings would still absorb the winter winds and all that stuff, and the temperature would change all the time - Nora never bothered to care how any of it worked.

All she knew about the Great Lake was that it was the place where seasons didn't quite make sense. No snow would fall, rain would reign all year round, and the weather itself would be unpredictable. The only way you could tell the winter would be by the prominent cracking sounds the trees made in the morning.

"Hey, Nora. Remember this?" - Ren picked up a pebble and threw it, the rock bouncing off the ground ahead. - "We used to do this, to see who could throw it further as kids."

"You, smartypants, used this little distraction back then to break the ice when your father found me in the forest, right?"

"Because you didn't say a word for a whole day after they brought you back - I had to do something."

"Always the responsible one, huh? Well, I always won either way!"

"You know…I asked around." - Ren surprised her by changing the topic as he stared at the pebble after it had stopped. - "Nobody has seen it all these years."

"Ren."

"I am just saying. My dad…he might have succeeded."

"Ren. Please."

Cold shivers ran through her from even recalling that abomination - the horse, the thunder, the way its hollow form would creep up inside her dreams every night. People might have found her vain, but she had her reasons to ignore everything around her.

"I'm sorry. But it's been years, Nora."

"It's okay. It is just that..." - Nora leaned forward, her chin on her knees as she cluthed her knees to her chest, trying to comfort herself. - "I think unless I were to see it die with my own eyes, we both know that I wouldn't believe that thing is gone."

"Nora. The Wanderer might have urban myths woven around it, but it is just another Grimm. And we are Huntsmen now. Everything is different."

She bolted up, crossing her arms. Who cared if she got sidetracked again? She couldn't listen to this. She wouldn't. She had to leave it all behind, or she couldn't do anything.

"Huntsmen trainees, Ren - we haven't even finished Beacon! Our field training is, what, two or three missions accompanied by a professor? We don't even have a license." - Nora's gaze turned away from Ren as she cleaned the dirt from her outfit. - "Just don't be too optimistic about it. Please, we both know the faster we leave for Nemea, the better."

"Everything is going to be fine, Nora."

Nora shivered as she the flash of light danced through the clouds, thunder crackling again as if it had accused her of being a coward and keeping her secrets, even now.

"I think I'll go back to the tavern - I don't want to part with Magnhild for too long. And the rain is coming."

She bolted - through her shoulder, she could see Ren sitting there, his eyes following her.

Yet again, she couldn't voice her fears, and the guilt about what had happened back then still ate away at her.

---

Looming at the tavern entrance, the more Ruby stared at the lively town, the more Kulhara reminded her of an idyllic landscape village straight out of fairytales she loved so much.

The homely small buildings housing families defiantly braving the wilds. The magnificent town hall reminded the world that there was a sense of order in all the chaos around them.

Like an illustration in a book, the hues painted the town as a welcoming enclave of civilization surrounded by the dark forest that circled it, defended by brave men and women willing to risk their lives to bring safety to the people just living their lives.

After the encounter at the shore and the screaming villagers, seeing friendly faces should have given Ruby a moment's respite from her nightmares, but her heart now decided otherwise.

Gazing at these sights, part of her could still remember the day she had arrived at the City of Vale or the day Team RWBY officially formed. She yearned for something that would reignite the spark that made her feel like she could fight the world if she had to.

Townsfolk engaged in a tense conversation by the gates as they awaited the returning huntsman parties. Children chased each other, their laughter piercing her eardrums. A young woman stood by the central stone tower flirting with some country boy - too over-dressed for a small outpost town.

People who needed protection, cities that mustn't suffer the fates she had witnessed at Beacon and . Sights calling back to Patch or Vale surrounded her, and by all means, Kulhara's dusty streets and wooden houses should have made her feel like she was back home again. She longed for the bygone days when she had the fire, burning inside as if nothing had changed.

But she felt nothing here - the homely signs surrounding her were as distant as her hopes and dreams now - a far-away utopia she couldn't reach anymore, no matter how hard she had tried.

But whenever she blinked, even if for a moment, the surroundings would shift to the fire and destruction enveloping Vale - screams ringing in her ears, the smell of burning flesh, the ash in her lungs.

She clenched her fists - Ruby longed for escape, to run away, but she woke and slept with that name in her mind, at the tip of her tongue, like a scream - Cinder.

Could she forget what had haunted her dreams? As much as she had attempted to delude herself into a moment of peace, there was nothing here for her anymore - she had to search for a path that could lead her back to who she was.

Ruby missed home - she missed feeling at home. But, with everything that happened, uncertainty ate away at her - could she ever recapture that warmth?

If she couldn't find peace in who she was till now, what would that sense of familiarity bring her, if anything? She couldn't find it at Patch when she woke up after the Fall, and it seemed she couldn't find it here either.

What was home for the girl - dreams filled with regret and destruction? For the girl who found herself calling anger her only friend? Last month, she had found herself fluctuating between not caring at all and brimming with fury - one moment, she'd sit in the corner, detached from everything, and the next - she'd be screaming at villagers, mad at them for panicking.

She did not want to think about it - she did not want to talk about it. Was there a point to her being there if the choice was between feeling something she was ashamed of and nothing at all?

Even now, after that nightmare, Ruby had spent the last hour circling the village repeatedly - trying to calm down. Observing the daily life at Kulhara was a necessary step for her - a necessary step to remind herself that there was more to life than what she lost - to try to burn the sights of peaceful lives she had to protect into her memory so that she wouldn't lose sight of that- to remind herself of the days when legends and fairytales had lit the fire in her heart.

Now, after all this time, that fire had long since grown cold, replaced as the flame and cinders of the ruined city took hold of her.

She slid her fingers through her cloak - it had been her companion for years. She took it up as a permanent part of her attire ever since she had seen the photo of Summer Rose in Dad's room - all clad in white. Red had haunted her dreams as a lingering echo of death, but she would tame it, make it something she could wield to make the world right.

She hadn't taken good care of her cloak recently. She could see holes in it, and parts lay in tatters. Just like Crimson Rose, her appearance had fallen into disrepair, likely because of the shifts in her fighting style.

Desperation and anger drove her now with every swing. She already had to replace her skirt with more practical pants after an ugly fight they had to go through when reaching Port Iosal when they had started their journey. Jaune had helped transform what remained of her skirt into a somewhat stylish decorative element around her waist, intertwining with her belt.

Who knew Jaune could sew? Of course, most design ideas had come from Ren and Nora, but still. Either way, thanks to the team effort, part of it had lived on, at least.

The damage Crescent Rose and her outfit had suffered through the month was just another reminder that Ruby couldn't spend the rest of her life within the fires of Beacon or, eventually, there might be nothing left of who she was when everything had crumbled apart.

And today, as she wandered through the town, reeling from the memories, she came to an understanding - Ruby had to escape before that emptiness had swallowed her whole - before that empty void was all she knew.

How would she do that? How would she go back to the beginning? Could she do that without sacrificing everything she wanted to be in the first place? She did not want to be just some idiot with a shattered dream obsessing over what could have been.

All Ruby knew was - the first step lay in Nemea. The answer Qrow had let slip waited there. As did the family of one of the friends Ruby had failed - even if it would hurt, she had to face that. Then, everything else could follow as long as she was strong enough to walk her path again.

Why had she been fussing over this? Did that dream scare her this much? Was this even a problem, considering it was a decision she had already made when she left Patch?

There was only one way to regain what she had lost - a way to atone for failing those people and herself - and she would go to the ends of this land to reach it.

Her gaze wandered to Jaune - he had somehow gotten himself on top of the town hall's rooftop, and his gaze turned toward the warehouse ahead. Her ridiculous friend had developed a habit of being aware of his surroundings at all times, and she did not blame him. She did miss their talks, the awkward jokes, and the ridiculous references she never really understood - all the ranting about the merchandise and collecting cereal prizes. He might come off a bit weird sometimes - but he was also her friend. And those were growing short in supply with her every mistake.

At times like that, she was glad her semblance could provide a shortcut - some way to access difficult-to-reach places. It had helped her avoid contact and social interaction back at Patch Village - and provided her with a way to run away when things got too heated. Once she had become a huntress, it would help her with landing strategies. Ironically - nobody had been out of her reach except for the people she had wanted to save.

A single flash of petals and she would be on top of that building, disregarding distance and height, and with her friend none the wiser.

All the semblances would intertwine with the person's very being - for example, Yang had crafted her tendency to get in trouble into fuel to push through dangerous situations she would find herself in. The nature of her petal semblance never surprised Ruby - she rushed forward, chasing her goal.

Through the years of use, she had already gotten accustomed to how it felt to see the world around her slow down to a crawl before she would lose the sense of her limbs and then her body, as an indescribable force propelled her forward, like a bullet.

Through the last few months, she had found herself using it more frequently than before - relying on the ability to close distances whenever the opportunity would present itself. Did it come from her longing to escape all the emotions and despair that had caught up to her? She could think of no answer to that question.

"Hey there, Jaune." - Ruby tapped him on the shoulder.

What followed was more like an exaggerated yelp than a greeting as her friend jumped up, almost slipping down the roof side, as he struggled to find his footing. The Jaune that would never land quite right, the same awkward screw-up was still there in the person he had become.

"Geez, Ruby, are you trying to get me killed?" - Jaune huffed for air as he dragged himself back up. - "I hadn't even noticed you there."

"If you had noticed, there wouldn't be a point in doing this, would there? So, what are you doing up here, Jaune? It is, uh, a pretty awkward spot to be at."

"Oh, you know, just getting some fresh air without all the townspeople darting their eyes at me suspiciously." - He pointed at the two figures on the ground ahead. - "And also observing an issue neither of us can fix."

"Is that Nora and Ren?"

"What, you haven't noticed them being all awkward these last few days? Even back at the ship, something has been bugging those two, Ruby."

She did not know what to answer. She did realize something was wrong, but she also hadn't been paying attention to them. She could tell something was bothering them, but she had done her best to ignore it all - Ruby had done her best to avoid Nora altogether - so she didn't have to talk with her. Nora would always know how to get under her skin - like a radar, she'd detect any semblance of turmoil, and before Ruby had known, her friend would be jumping around in front of her, trying to cheer her up.

Has she been taking those two for granted?

"I haven't been that good with the whole "being perceptive" thing lately if you hadn't noticed." - Ruby strained herself to smile. - " I shouldn't even be that surprised, considering how my team fell apart."

"It hasn't fallen apart, Ruby. After Beacon, we all just got torn apart, I guess. To say the team had fallen apart would mean that you did it yourselves. But you all didn't just decide to stop."

"Sure feels like it at times."

"Ruby, you…haven't seen what it was like right after Beacon fell." - Jaune turned his gaze away from her. - "The chaos, the uncertainty, the fear. Remnant had fallen apart overnight."

Ruby's eyes trailed towards what Jaune had been looking at - the same the two figures below - one of them, Nora, was storming off towards, probably in the direction of the tavern they had stayed at.

Her gaze drifted ahead, beyond the tavern and onto the walls separating the town from the dark forest circling it. Jaune had picked a great spot to gain perspective - all that had separated these peaceful people from death and destruction were those shoddy walls and the people keeping watch on them.

Kulhara's gate slowly opened to welcome huntsmen returning after something Ruby could only guess - likely a Grimm clearing mission - huntsmen bravely venturing forth to protect the lives of everyone here. If the roads were threads stretching out beyond the big towns, then these outpost towns like Kulhara were the knots that had tied everything together.

Huntsmen risked their lives every day. To ensure peace, to prevent places like this from going the way the City of Vale had gone. After the Fall, while nobody truly understood what had happened, most cities likely found building up their defenses - whether against the mindless evil of the Grikmm or an intentional one from their neighboring countries. The world needed heroes to answer the call and stop at nothing to prevent everything from heading toward another Great War.

And yet all she could think of right now was Cinder, standing atop that tower - every person she'd save, every town Ruby would defend, every Grimm slain - it was just part of the debt she would pay for being one who had left fires at The Fall of Beacon still alive.

Nothing could begin, and nothing could end till she repaid that debt.

She struggled to catch her breath - the wind's embrace stung even more this high up. When a stronger gust would hit her face, she found herself gasping for air, as if she was drowning.

There was no winter here, but that didn't mean the winds couldn't carry the chill with them from beyond the Great Lake, from the plains in the north - no snow would fall on these forests, but the trees still lay barren all around Kulhara, with just patches of green and yellow in between - the parts of the forest with Anima trees as those would never shed their leaves all year. The big one planted at Patch would blend the green and red leaves with the white snow covering it.

The Anima Tree was a resilient type of oak that symbolized the persistence of life within Remnant. There was even an entire religion on it or something, using the cross-shaped symbol to represent the Anima tree. Ruby would sometimes wear them when visiting her mom's grave.

"Sounds like I have missed absolute chaos, then. Not like me to sleep through this stuff."

"Yeah. The students from Vacuo, Mistral, Atlas, the tourists who had come to the Vytal Festival from all over the world - nobody, absolutely nobody, handled what happened well." - Jaune continued. - "You could see it in their faces. The tragedy swept everyone away, I guess. You guys were no different."

"I feel like I should have been there - to help them. Maybe we'd all still be together then."

"Nobody blames you for not being able to, Ruby."

"Well, they should."

"It wasn't your fault, Ruby. It was nobody's fault. It's a miracle you are even alive with what happened at Beacon and who you faced."

"Wouldn't say nobody's…" Ruby's hands shook. - "There was one person definitely at fault."

"People like that woman eventually reap what they sowed, Ruby."- Jaune waved his hands as if dismissing the thoughts about that schemer. -"You mustn't let yourself get consumed by the malice of others. How are you holding up?"

"Better now. I think having a goal helps. It's still hard just…"

"Just what?"

"Just being here, that's what. Just being here, existing, feels like the hardest thing in the world sometimes." - Ruby raised her eyes into the clouds. - "But it will get better, I know that. Once we get Cinder, it will have to get better. No matter how long it takes us."

"That's not why we are here, Ruby."

Ruby turned her gaze back towards her friend's face. Did she say something wrong?

"Well, not now, Jaune, but after we pay respects to Pyrrha's family and leave Nemea. There's bound to be some clue, any clue. Either in Haven or Argus - she's been there. She came from there!"

"Ruby." - Jaune's tone shifted. - "No."

"Jaune, she is out there, somewhere. She is ruining lives and hurting people."

Jaune's reactions puzzled her - he would open his mouth and then close it again as if searching for the right words. If there was anyone who'd get what she was going through, it should have been the other person whom Pyrrha's fate had hurt as much as it did Ruby. And yet.

"Do you think Pyrrha would have wanted this - for you to waste your entire life chasing ghosts to the ends of this land?"- He finally said. - "Is that what you think of her?"

"I don't know, Jaune. She's too dead to tell us that, isn't she?" - She could feel regret wash over her right after the words escaped her mouth. - "But, please, tell me what you think she would say if you can somehow talk to the dead, Jaune."

Jaune sprang to his feet. He almost slipped down the roof once again but seemed to have managed to find his balance by grasping at the weather vane decorating the rooftop of the town hall, separating it from the rest.

He looked down at his feet for a few seconds, then he turned his gaze toward her -Ruby could feel him staring right into her eyes.

"I would say Weiss has rubbed off on you, but I wouldn't think even she would aim this low."- Jaune turned away. -"We are not your enemies, Ruby. We are your friends. Don't forget that, please."

Her heart sank. Jaune, shaken, struggled to get back down via one of those emergency ladders every bigger house would have. Ruby wished she could take back what she had said.

"I didn't mean."

"No, you did. You really, really did."

Ruby frantically searched for something she could say - to fix this - some way to take back the words her anger had let out into the world. But all she could feel was her blood boiling.

"Hey guys!" - A voice from below interrupted her.

Ruby's eyes darted towards the source of the familiar, somewhat irritating voice - a young man stood on the steps of the town hall building below as he struggled to fix his unnaturally blue hair, smiling wide.

A burst of petals had brought Ruby back down again in mere seconds, leaving her friend behind.

"Neptune?" - She said. Was this real? What were the chances of just randomly running into someone like this?

"Yup."

"What are you doing here?" - Jaune said, having finally managed to climb down.

"I wish I could say I am here to check up on my favorite group of brooding huntsmen, but this is a coincidence." - Neptune searched his pockets before proudly extending a piece of paper right in front of their faces. - "A temporary Huntsman License issued by the Council of Argus, right here. Just doing what I can where I can."

"That's. Nice." - Jaune turned his head towards Ruby. - "You think Vale was issuing those? We could have used something like that."

Ruby did not answer. The nightmare, her thoughts, the confrontation with Jaune, and now the familiar face in front - all the experiences today swirled around in her head. She knew Neptune hailed from Mistral. But she never had bothered to know him better either. Possibly meeting him here had never even crossed her mind before now.

Is that going to be the running theme of my life now? "Sort of" knowing a bunch of people, but not really?

Ruby was never good with the whole friendship thing - for the longest time, her best friend was Crescent Rose. The kids at Patch would make fun of her (or worse) because she dreamed of heroism and obsession with fairytales.

Even at Beacon, beyond Weiss and the rest of her team, she only vaguely knew the others - JNPR included.

Well, she did make another friend - Penny. And then she failed her, too.

Now, she had found herself regretting never having grown to know all these people that surrounded her back then, within her dream of being a hero.

She never really got to talk with Blake about how Blake saw the world around her. How did she feel about having to face the White Fang? Did she know any of the people she had to fight? Did Weiss's words to her still hurt, or had the two already patched things up without her realizing? Ruby had no idea what lives a Faunus would lead in Vale. Ruby never bothered to find out.

She never really got to talk to Weiss about her family and what drove her to be the control freak perfectionist she attempted to be. Just a few months ago, she was surprised to learn Weiss, of all people, had a sister. She should have known that there's more what Weiss grapples with than just her callous whims.

She never got to talk with her sister - to find out what Yang wanted out of her life, whether she was happy having to defend her hero-freak of a sister. Was Yang still interested in pursuing whatshername Raven, or had she given up? Even when condemnation and gossip had struck Yang after her fight with Mercury in the Vytal Tournament, Ruby had no idea what to say to her.

The final confrontation between her and Yang still lingered in her mind. Did her sister hate her? Was everything she had screamed at Ruby the truth, or were those cries of someone hurt lashing out, just like she had done to Jaune just now?

She never bothered to get to know Ren, Nora, or Jaune. Or Pyrrha, for that matter.

What did she even know about Pyrrha beyond that she wanted to be huntress and that, for Ruby, she had seemed like the perfect incarnation of everything Ruby had striven herself to be? It dawned upon her that part of this journey was likely always about wanting to learn more about her.

She couldn't pay enough attention to acknowledge the tension in the team, whether the one she was responsible for back then or the shattered pieces she had been traveling with now.

Even at this moment, she had misjudged why Jaune came with her on this journey, and the only thing she knew about Jaune was what Ruby had ended up using to hurt him.

And then, eventually, people she barely bothered to know would die right in front of her, and she never could.

The fact that someone back at Beacon somehow had this brilliant idea to make her a team leader now seemed more like a joke. Did Ozpin pick the one with Silver Eyes for the position? Was it some twisted favoritism? What did she do to deserve the position beyond just continuously failing people?

In the time she had been team RWBY leader, she got lost in the middle of the underground city, had to be saved, failed to stop multiple villains again and again, ignored most of her teams' issues, got her sister hurt, and then her team fell apart, without her even being there when they needed her the most.

Now, she had jumped into a pointless journey using honoring a girl she never bothered to know as an excuse. And she did not even realize the tribulations people around her went through - so obsessed with rushing ahead, so afraid of what's behind her, that she had failed to notice when she had stopped paying attention to anything in between.

Even here, in this specific moment, Ruby had found her mind drifting towards Cinder's role in shattering her world. She was sure a part of her felt justified in saying those things to Jaune.

Why am I the one who is still standing? What did I do to deserve that? Why am I the one to survive? Why not Pyrrha? Why not Penny? Why am I the one capable of chasing after my dreams and not the countless that fell with Beacon?

Thunder roared in the clouds once again. She could feel the sound reverberate through every inch of her being.

"Nice to meet you again, Neptune, but I think I'll go." - Ruby could barely get the words out. - "I still need to register us with the next convoy to Nemea before these guys scatter somewhere."

"Oh, you guys going to Nemea? Nice, me too. If you hurry, we can leave in a few days, and I can keep you guys company and add some style to the whole thing."

"Well, okay I'm going now." - Ruby said.

She wanted to run, but for once, she decided to walk.

She always would rush forward, chasing whatever goals lay ahead.

Sometimes, that meant ignoring everything in between, only to regret it later.

Was she so obsessed with fighting this larger, ambiguous world that she had missed sight of the smaller, more honest things in her life? Could she turn it all around?

Right now, all she had was that world - the real world, as the dead criminal had put it - those words echoing in her head.

Could she direct that drive into something beneficial, something good? To shift it towards helping people? She longed to find something that would let her gaze at her reflection in the mirror without all her failures staring back at her.

Ruby couldn't stop now - whether her reasons for going along on this journey were right or wrong did not matter. If she were to stop, Ruby Rose would likely find herself standing with nothing.

---

For Jaune Arc, this place had reminded him of home ever since he had laid his eyes on Kulhara. The farm fields would always feel like his mother's embrace - an escape from the metropolitan cities, the high-rise apartments - and the urban landscape.

As a child, Jaune grew up on a farm with his family. They didn't have much, and often, he had found himself ashamed of the life they'd lead, just surviving.

Jaune would dream of making it big and living in a luxurious penthouse surrounded by trophies, medals, and exotic souvenirs from faraway lands. He could imagine his neighbors and people on the street looking at him with the respect and admiration he would have earned through the years of being an accomplished Huntsman, a hero, a knight.

But the moment he had ended up in Vale, the steel maws of the city would threaten to eat him whole. Looking over his shoulder every day, afraid of imaginary threats in the shadows. And then, once he was at Beacon, he would live in constant fear of someone exposing his forgery.

Within mere days of living in the big city, he grew to fear his dream, to doubt the conviction he broke the law to follow.

Ruby Rose, the Girl in Red, was the first real hero he had met there. The memory of their first meeting remained vivid - lost in the unfamiliar environment and trying to find her way.

Every significant encounter they had after was life-defining - the day their teams first formed, and she bravely stepped into the spotlight of being a leader.

Unlike himself, for Ruby, being a Huntress came as naturally as breathing. The shell of an awkward, lost girl hugging her weapon hid a natural-born leader with charisma and conviction to back up that mantle. Without realizing it, she'd inspire people leading into battle - to protect what matters.

The only other person who reminded him of her was Pyrrha - a girl who carried the world on her shoulders. Whether it was her title as the Champion of Mistral or the role Professor Ozpin had pushed on her shoulders, Pyrrha bore a heavy fate. But she still was so radiant, so bright - like a beacon. Her smile would chase away every doubt, and her encouragement would make him feel like he could reach the sky if needed.

People like those two were one in a million, maybe even rarer - Twin lighthouses in an otherwise dark world.

Jaune was not like that. Through the last year, he had realized he did not even know himself - fake ideals, improvised heroism, fabricated bravado - that's all he had.

He thought himself the Knight, but his armor was as real as the forgery that led him into the Beacon Academy.

Yet these two had made him want to be better than he was. Stupidity and ego gave way to genuine hope to improve, to earn his position that he did not deserve before.

Why was the world so unfair to people like Ruby and Pyrrha? Life should have rolled out the red carpet for those two heroes, two leaders. Instead, it had prepared them for the road filled with shattered glass and burning cinders.

His eyes followed the shape of red disappearing beyond the buildings - life had tortured and weathered that girl, taking away everything that she was. He could barely recognize her, but at the same time, no matter how angry and callous her words got, he couldn't help but respect her.

Jaune knew - if he had gone through what she went through, he would have likely not found any strength to move forward. It did not matter that now her path seemed stained with regrets and maybe fueled by fires of something darker. She still moved forward.

"She doesn't seem to be handling it well. Not that any of us are." - Neptune said as he attempted to fix whatever imaginary flaws he saw in how his jacket fit him.

Jaune turned away from the now empty landscape. He looked at Neptune next to him. Jaune still couldn't believe what a wild coincidence it was to meet him here.

"I think she just needs time. It hit her hardest, but I think we all left something behind there, back at Beacon." - Jaune kicked a somewhat big pebble someone had just left on the ground in the middle of the road. - "So, what are you doing here, man? I saw you all after the Fall of Beacon together. Thought you'd all stick together."

Neptune's facial expression shifted. He turned around and began to walk, gesturing for Jaune to follow.

Jaune obliged. He had grown tired of being in the same place, and Kulhara was so cramped anyway.

"The team thing… let's just say that didn't work out."

"That's sad to hear, man. What happened?"

"Well, to start with, I don't even know where Sun had gone. He just disappeared, but if I were to guess, I'd say he was likely heading west to Vacuo. And the other two were worried about their homes too, so we agreed to split for now." - Neptune replied. - "As for what am I doing? Same thing as you losers - trying to figure out where I fit now."

Jaune skipped a step as he stood still, surprised.

"And you know you didn't strike me as the type to go on a soul-searching journey."

"What can I say? I am a man of many talents. Appearances can be deceiving." - Neptune shrugged. - " But, seriously, I have had a lot of time to think."

"Oh, I didn't know you did that either." - Jaune wrung his hands together. He did not mean to insult him - just an attempt at playful banter between friends. He hoped his awkward joke came off as a joke and not as an insult.

"Always the comedian, Jaune." - Neptune smiled. - "But, like I said, hidden talents! I'll let you know I am the top of my class back in the Academy, which means I'm a smart cookie."

The duo had reached the eastern gate, barricaded off with giant crates covered with a tarp - likely a temporary storage from the previous logistics convoy - waiting to be carried off into the warehouse.

Neptune got the brilliant idea to climb the crates and now stood on top, bathing in the spotlight. Jaune couldn't help but think of him as a show-off back at beacon, and nothing here had contradicted that. There was a certain charm to Neptune's eccentrics, though - something that compelled people to let their guard down.

"Okay, genius. So what did you think about on this soul-searching odyssey of yours?" - Jaune said. He had enough heights for one day and saw no logical reason to follow him up there.

"Oh, you know, life and stuff. With everyone going their way, for once, I stopped, as I looked in the mirror and went - "Man, just where are you going" you know?"

Jaune couldn't help but laugh. Neptune, trying to be profound while standing on top of those crates, looked so out of place, like an actor on a grand stage.

"I get that. After Beacon fell, a lot of it felt like just aimlessly wandering, not knowing what to do, if you know what I mean." - Jaune said. - "What happened did a number on all of us."

"In moments like that, I'd ask Sun for his opinion, but obviously, I couldn't do that now with him waltzing off who knows where. So I am like standing and realizing that I don't really have a home to go back to and check upon, unlike the others."

"Wait, you don't?"

"No, man, there's nothing for me here or over there - whether in Vacuo, Mistral, or Vale. My childhood home is gone, and I don't even know my mother, all thanks to my Dad. I had no idea what I would do once I graduated and got the huntsman license. I guess all of this mess has forced me to re-evaluate things."

"So, you wanted to find your purpose - how does that lead to you ending up in this town - in the middle of nowhere?"

"See, even though I don't have a place to belong in, this Kingdom's still the home I grew up in, and it's falling apart. I have to help! Junior Detectives, remember?"

"The what now?"

"It's just something I and Sun came up with back at the Academy. I had a pretty hard time when my dad passed, and then here he was - a temporary transfer student from Vacuo just doing whatever he wants."

"Yeah, Sun's always struck me as the type to not play by the rules."

"Oh, he plays by the rules - just his own and anybody else's. I pity anyone who'd try to bend him to their will." - Neptune struggled to get back down before the villagers noticed him. - "I don't think I have ever seen anything that would even remotely phase Sun, to the point that sometimes I'd have thought him invincible."

"He certainly carried himself like he was."

"You see, Dad was this big-shot politician in Nemea, and then he died. In a single day, I went from the golden boy son of a noble to a pariah. My dad, you see, supposedly had screwed over a lot of people, so a lot of students found it easy to treat me like shit, make fun of my hair, and so on. But Sun? Sun was different."

Neptune took something from his pocket as he walked closer to Jaune - a badge.

"We came up with this gag where we started solving crime - in reality, we just did odd jobs and stuff - finding lost pets, returning lost wallets, apprehending some thieves. Sun said that the best way to handle my situation was to prove to those idiots that they shouldn't mess with us and that we could hold our own. That often made us look like fools, but I no longer felt like I didn't belong there. I no longer cared about their approval."

"And now you are separated."

"Yeah, I always figured Sun would run off one day. He always had this look to him, like there was something he'd longed to return to. Never asked him, though, and now it's too late. We'll meet again, I'm sure."

"So you decided to save the world or something?"

"Nothing that fancy, man. The prodigal son had returned home, trying to find something worth fighting for. The first thing I did back in Mistral was get the temporary huntsman license at Argus and jump at every chance to help. It was easy since the Kingdom was a mess, and they needed all the helping hands they could get. Been traveling from town to town for the last month now, guarding convoys, clearing out Grimm - all sorts of stuff."

"I don't know what to say - you just jumping from town to time, fighting monsters, is something I could never imagine you'd do, man."

Neptune let out a deep laugh.

"What can I say, man - people always thought me a wanderer. Hey, want to grab a bite? I'm starving, and the tavern everyone stays at has surprisingly good cooks for the countryside."

Could he?

Jaune knew his little talk with Ruby would eventually continue - his best friend was spiraling out of control, and he hated to see that.

Confrontations like this would bring back the memories of the despair and conflict he saw in Pyrrha's eyes during Vytal, especially the day when she used her semblance to throw him against the wall. He did not want another of his friends to succumb to despair.

Neptune was not the only one searching for his path.

Jaune had spent a lot of time alone these few weeks, just thinking about what he wanted to be, the path he wanted to follow. He knew how easy it was to fall into this toxic tunnel-vision mindset.

Heroes would shine as bright as beacons, lighting the path for others walking the same road one day. But that light would also be just as capable of turning into a searing flame, burning everything in its path.

Jaune Arc was no savior, yet he walked among heroes, following their light.

Before he knew it, he had long since given up on being some heroic knight. Gone were the toxic ambitions of fame and worship that had driven him to Beacon and shrouded his life and past in lies.

He wasn't Pyrrha. He wasn't Ruby.

He did not long to save the world or beat a big bad straight out of the storybook. He did not plan to go on some grand quest to slay the dragon or hunt down an evil wizard. Here stood a boy who just wanted his friends to live. He looked back at Neptune. Jaune needed a break. He needed to collect his thoughts, so this offer was a welcome one.

"Sure, man. Some food might help to clear my thoughts.." - Jaune nodded.

The two walked back to the tavern, reminiscing of the short time both had been at Beacon - of the food fights and the dances.

This town was so damn cramped, but Jaune's knightly armor had long since rusted away and the boy found joy in simpler things.

---

Far in the forests, a form had shifted as nightmares crawled out of the swamps and forests. From the hollow darkness where the eyes should be, Its gaze fell upon the watchtower ahead.

Wood. Dead Wood.

It moved.

The shadows crept. The grass, trees, and leaves rotted upon the apparition's slow advance. The forest gasped for air in Its presence. The evening glow gave way to the approaching embodiment of the night as the mist shrouding the horseman screamed at the reality around it to give way.

The apparition's steps strangled life itself, telling reality one simple truth - there was nothing there, nothing was there, The Nothing was here.

Death had a single purpose - a calling as deep as the ocean and as empty as the withered stars above. The cry of a child and the silence at the end of the universe. A single tortured wail on the battlefield filled with corpses. Dying man's regret as he closed his eyes for the last time.

Death crept forward, wandering through the forest - perception, legend, information.

The light from the watch tower shifted towards it. It did not flinch nor stop - how could light ever pierce that which wasn't there?

The figure in the watchtower moved in response, frantic - a shadow, a speck of dust, flickering within the light. That movement, those emotions, made the speck of dust all the more enticing.

Soon, the Watchtower bent as an invisible force enveloped it like a shadow.

The Wanderer had no persistent shape or size. One moment, Its ghastly horse could tower above the trees. The next? It had kissed the ground - Its form reflected upon the blade of grass. Distance, size, time - the concepts of reality couldn't bind that which wasn't there.

How could Death Itself have a form? How could It be manifested or reflected in anything but the minds of those specks of dust whose perception had given It meaning?

It longed to embrace the trees and pierce the sky as it did before.

Has It ever pierced the sky, or was it just a lingering impression from something older - Its Kin, older than time, older than names? Something that still held sway over It, no matter the passage of seasons.

Images inside were merely information - a reflection. A reflection of a reflection is a reflection - It couldn't give them meaning because It had no such concepts as passion or creativity or thought or emotion. It had merely been an impostor reflected by that information - a hollow shell. But It did have a longing.

And thus, It simply feasted upon the terror as the wooden watchtower rotted away.

The fragile speck, its light extinguished, screamed till its form disappeared in the darkness. If It could savor this moment, It would, but It wasn't whole. All things would die, and yet It still wasn't whole.

Thunder crackled in the clouds as reality itself trembled upon its cold embrace. Time had no meaning for Its form, but It longed for the Finality of it all, the inevitable last gasp.

For the days of yore when the one known as Su'en had greeted It's primordial kin.

Long had It been slumbering below the waters, waiting for Its time - wailing for the day when Its form was to be set free upon the Land Below. Now It embraced the life in front until it was no more.

More watchtowers awaited ahead - they all could see It now.

Even from all the way here, It knew - they trembled upon Its gaze now - a banquet laid out in front as their minds invited the embrace of The Wanderer above the sea of fog.

But that wasn't Its purpose even if it were the Instinct of Its kin.

Death needed no thought and certainly no desire - there was no emotion, no mind inside. But there was a need - a craving towards hate and despair and all the futility that eats at the conscious ones from within.

It lusted for the minds that could grasp its presence, could comprehend and imagine It being there - the awareness to make it real - the will that could make it whole.

It knew that this was something Its Kin had shared as one - through that desire, Its Kin will become whole once again as It crept upon The Land Below.

But the mists that formed The Wanderer held different purposes. Different urges had shaped Its being - since the dawn of time, It had been a stranger to Its Kin.

Same information, same need, but a different purpose instilled upon the sea of fog - as a construct of the conscious mind, the craving of Its kin was merely a form of indulgence. And it has been so long since It could indulge, so It relished the offerings laid out along the way to Its true purpose. Being observed was merely an indulgence, but even longing like that had its limits.

As the specks in the further Watchtowers observed the Wanderer, Its endless cold, like the void that light can't escape, gripped the hearts inside - It did not need to come close to embrace them now - they thought, and therefore, It was.

That indifference had reached them, taking the shape of thunder crackling in the sky, and the five remaining watchtowers were no more, as the forest lit ablaze.

Beyond the now burning forest, Its true purpose lay in the stone walls ahead.

Ten specks of dust confronted It beyond the walls, rushing at it, their weapons pointed - Ten specks of life held themselves a bargain at the crossroads - a fitting scene, a fitting role for what The Wanderer existed for.

It would meet them by matching their form and their size.

And it would crawl into their minds and whisper till the remains of their will leak red through their ears.

"Kulhara" - It could glimpse inside.

Names held no meaning to the Wanderer.

It merely responded the only way it could, but how can specks of dust perceive the majesty of infinite? The specks of dust trembled - they were crawling on the ground - one of them still pointed the weapon at It.

It did not mind - The Wanderer danced as It embraced the walls ahead, pressing onto the wood and stone.

Its purpose. Then, in a moment, the walls gave way to what lay ahead.

It advanced.