A/N: Chapter 64 of REKT. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or teams of RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. What I do own are the characters and teams of my OCs: REKT, GTSY, KACE and DAZE. I also claim Ingrid, Teo, Reina's parents and aunt as well.

Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.


Chapter 64: Still Reminiscing

On the road...

Ren had an inkling in the back of his mind when the other three lumbered back to camp the other night, something in his conscious telling him his hunch was correct. Although Ruby and Jaune held their brave faces and converse like good old friends, the silent ninja of JNPR could tell everything was far from sugar and rainbows. Deep down, the leaders of both teams were still grieving and that feeling may never go away anytime soon.

Nora plodded along a head of the three, a small skip in her step in an attempt to cheer them all up. Her bubbly demeanor did take a sharp plunge after both the Fall of Beacon and hearing Jaune's selfish words. She did confide to Ren what Jaune had said, to which he replied, "Give it time, Nora. Jaune had so much emotion and energy welling up inside since we left Beacon. He just needed to let it out. We all have that within us, the urge to let loose and say what is on our mind regardless of who we hurt. Unfortunately, not many of us have those convenient outlets."

"You know what I think? I think we all need a long god damn vacation and go to the beach!" The ginger-haired huntress suddenly stated, getting three pairs of confused expressions. She did, after all, spouted her thoughts out of the blue with no context to go off of. "C'mon guys! When was the last time we just...ran around and yelled our heads off just for fun? Honestly! Look at us parade about like mindless bodies!"

"Nora, we're on a very important mission. We're here to assist Ruby in getting to Haven, so think of this journey as some sort of vacation via a scenic route." Ren told her and she blew a raspberry in response.

"Honestly, if I wanted to relax on a scenic route I would have taken the train. Speaking of which, how come we aren't doing just that?" Nora stomps her foot and puffs her cheeks. "I am actually concerned about this, we could potentially be riding on a locomotion!"

"To build up our endurance and keeping our bodies in top shape?" Jaune offers, but he shrinks back when she glares. He had first-hand experience of Nora's wrath and he rather not experience it again. "Besides, it's not everyday we get to travel like this...in the wilderness. Into the perilous unknown..."

"Whoopie. It's not like we live this kind of lifestyle as huntsmen and huntresses..."

"Not to mention the fresh air...and being one with Nature..."

"Now you're just throwing things, just admit that walking this long is hurting our feet."

"She has a point, my feet are starting to cramp a bit." Jaune sighs as he looks at Ruby and Ren, not at all ashamed of letting what he truly felt show. The latter looked a little disappointed that his leader's endurance wasn't high, the former merely kept a poker face. "There should be a resting area not too far from here if I remember correctly."

"How much further?" asks Nora, crossing her arms over her chest. "Seriously, all these trees are starting to look alike."

"Ummm...let's see here..." Unfolding a map, the blond tracked their progress with a forefinger on the paper. "About 25 more miles if we continue along this path. Then the next town is 45 miles from there."

"Well...we've come this far out, any signs of civilization long behind us. Would be quite a huge shame to turn back just for the sake of luxury transport." The ginger-haired huntress muses, kicking a pebble down the line. "That's okay...we'll make it. We only have 25 more miles."

"Nora...if the reason for your behavior is because of me then I'm sorry. I know that what I said the other night didn't sit well with you...a-and I want you to know that I'll always be here for you." Jaune says apologetically, feeling like the reason for his teammate's foul mood was all because of him. "You can lean on me when you need to."

"Jaune, I'm not mad about that anymore...we've gone past this." She comes to a halt and turns to look at him, a small smile on her face. "Actually, perhaps I haven't forgot as much as I would have liked to fool myself. I should be grateful we are walking this journey, there are things we should take the time to reflect on and voice out. You have your suffering moments, Ruby's has hers...heck, Ren and I have ours too. As a team, we need to work harder on expressing our feelings to one another and not beat around the bush."

"What about the Grimm?" Ruby asks softly from where she stood near Ren, focusing her attention on the ginger-haired huntress. "Our negative emotions will no doubt attract them to our location."

"We've never let that stop us before, we're trained to be professional huntsmen and huntresses. Now we have to depend on our own skills for survival, putting to the test all the training we've been through." Ren says with calming confidence, resting a hand on her shoulder. Out of all the people Ruby has interacted with, Ren doesn't waste his words; when he does say things, he makes every single one count. "Although, you do have a point. The optimal scenario would be for us to arrive at our destination without running into or encountering a minimal amount of enemies. That's why when we explain our thoughts to one another and strengthen our bonds, we'll continue to move. We won't be staying idle in one place for long for the Grimm to pick us off."

"Don't forget, we got each other for support. It's been far too long to be holding these kind of emotions, lets just let them flow." Nora offers, pulling the other three along with a whimsical tone in her voice. "I think one of the most important things to remember is what do you want out of this life and live it the way you want to. Never lose sight of the end goal!"

That's right...up to now, my sole purpose of applying to Beacon was to become a huntress. Just like my mother and not because Yang was already a student there. Ruby thought to herself, trudging along and getting lost in her thoughts. I want to help people, and decided to make a career over it. The idea of huntsmen and huntresses was so much more than being a police officer...and now, I can see why. While both jobs are equally respectable and helping out others, being a huntresses brings much more risk once Grimm are involved.

"Ruby?" She looks up at the sound of her name, seeing the others gazing at her in wonder. Jaune was the one who got her attention, a quizzical expression on his face. "What are you thinking about?"

"...I was just remembering the time when I first came into contact with Headmaster Ozpin. It was right after I was in pursuit of Roman Torchwick as he fled from a Dust shop." She replies, retelling them of her story before getting admitted into Beacon. "At the time, I was browsing the music section with music in my ears. Next thing I knew I was hot on his trail, eager to nab my first criminal. Then I encountered Professor Goodwitch – well it was more of she appeared to defend me from an attack – and the attack came from the woman we now know as Cinder Fall."


Not far away...

Qrow continues to keep his due diligence by focusing his sights on the kids, lending his help in decimating the Grimm as he chugs along. He didn't mind cleaning up the trash, albeit he would leave one or two for another day of hunting. He listened in on their conversation and couldn't help but think back to his experiences as a delinquent student.

"Craaaaaaw..."

"Oh, you've come back again. I shouldn't be surprised, you always were the nosiest sibling out of the two of us." The male frowns as he watches the familiar raven land on the branch above him, eying him as he took a quick rest. The avian shook the ruffled feathers and began to groom with its beak. "Keep this up and it'll turn into a routine."

"Squawk!"

"Give me a break, I just massacred a small squad of Ursai so they can rest easy. I think I totally deserve to slack off once in awhile. I told you before, those kids shouldn't be fighting this war, but fate has been extremely cruel."

"Caw!" The bird fluttered down and landed on his shoulder.

"I do not slack off all the time. I'm also not a post for you to stand on, we've already been through this." He attempted to shoo the avian away, but it just pecked at his fingers like they were little sausages. "Ow! Damn it...don't you have other things to attend to instead of antagonizing me?"

"Craw!" Hopping off his shoulder dramatically, the bird inched closer to the huntsman and pecked at something hidden within his clothes. "Squawk!"

"Hmmm...so you noticed it too. Nothing seems to get pass your eyes, huh." Qrow sat up and rummaged around one of his pockets. Pulling out the object, he gazed at the embellished handle with a familiar pattern. There were small gold-colored gears at the bottom, while a large knuckle guard extends to the bottom of the handle. When extended it looks much like a walking stick.

"Caw?" The avian tilted its head head to the side before ruffling its feathers

"Yeah...I wonder as well." Qrow muses, twirling the cane in his hand. He found it in the underground of the tower, hidden among the rubble. He didn't find any bodies and assumed that what happened just reduced the corpses to dust, leaving nothing remaining. "I don't believe for a second that he's truly gone, and I'm sure he'll come back when he is able."

"Craaaaw."

"Well I don't know what he'll come back as, definitely not a blade of grass. But if you wanna tell me all about it, I'm all ears." The male eyed the animal with a very critical eye. The avian puffed out its chest indignantly, crowing underneath its breath. "Knowing you...you won't just dish out information without something in return."

"Squawk."

"In fact...it's always me who asks." Qrow leered at his companion. "So, what is it that you know?"

"Caw!" Flapping its wings, the raven took to the air and left. The man merely sighs and reaches for his flask from within his coat. Unscrewing the top, he took a swig of the liquid in one giant gulp.

"Hmmmmmggggh... figures you'd just run away without telling me anything useful."


By the campfire...

Ruby sat close to the fire like she normally does, her eyes focused on the glittering embers. The warmth she felt against her skin brought only a little bit of comfort. Nora and Ren were taking the opportunity to doze off in their sleeping bags, Jaune standing not too far away taking first watch of the night. The rag-tag group made it to the rest point, but continued trekking until they couldn't move any further or when the sun set beyond the horizon. They didn't want to venture out too far when it was nightfall.

The wavering embers danced around a bit more, jumping a bit like it had been tickled when the huntress poked at it with a stick. She couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. The fire reminded her so much of Yang, her sister that dishes out warmth in spades, and corny puns just for laughs. However, Ruby was then reminded of the tournament and everything came crashing down. Penny's death, Pyrrha's death, the ruined school, Yang's dismemberment, and even not knowing the full power of her silver eyes.

Silver eyes, the only other aspect she didn't want to touch besides knowing what happened to her mother Summer. Ruby knew she should ask more, get Qrow to explain in detail what exactly it was about the eyes that made her special. Clasping her hands together, she noticed just how shaky they were. She was afraid. She only wanted to be a normal huntress, but to know that she had been blessed with something she never asked for, that put some kind of doubt within her mind.

Why do I have these eyes? Why? What purpose do they serve? She pulled her knees close to her chest, hoping to bring some kind of comfort for herself. The more she thought about it, the more confused and worried she became. She buried her face within her arms, and sighed with frustration. At this point in time, there's just...too many things going around in my head. Everything was such a blur, and I don't recall much every since the tower. But what I do know is that Cinder is at Haven...and I need to do whatever I can to catch up to her. I can't forgive her for what she did, I never will.

She didn't know how long she held her position, but there was a shaking of the shoulder and she peeks out to see a concerned Jaune looking at her. She had been locked in her thoughts for so long she didn't even hear him approach her. "S-Sorry, what is it?"

"It's your turn to take watch." He kept his voice calm and gentle, retracting his hand from her shoulder. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"Just...lost in my thoughts, nothing more. Thank you for your concern, Jaune. Have a good sleep, I'll do the rest." She rose steadily and patted her skirt free of any dust and dirt. Grabbing Crescent Rose from where it laid by her sleeping bag, she stumbles away to find some high ground and proceeded to keep an eye out for any wandering Grimm.