AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry this chapter is running a bit late; this thing called 'work' got in the way (along with writing the Drill Sergeant Rhialla chapter over in the Snowbird stories). Originally, this was going to be just a chapter with Ruby and Yang, but then I realized we haven't seen Nora since ORW V, and Ren except in just a few chapters of ORW VI. So let's get caught up with Renora first.

This was one of those chapters where I really had no idea what to write, but luckily the characters took over and wrote it for me. This is a talky chapter, and a strangely huggable one.

RAF Woodbridge

Suffolk, United Kingdom

19 April 2002

"Oh yeah," Nora Valkyrie breathed. "That's the stuff."

Velvet Scarlatina giggled. "Do you two need to be alone?"

"Yeah, maybe." Nora walked forward, deeper into the large hangar, and ran her fingers over the nose of the A-10. "You know, I wasn't sure about this, but seeing it again…" She nodded. "I think maybe I want to stay after all." She looked over at Velvet, and with a sly smile on her face, and gave the gun barrels a kiss, then licked them. Velvet turned red but giggled some more, and Nora joined in. "I licked it, so it's mine."

"I don't think I even want to touch that one. You remind me of Coco." Velvet motioned at the ladder. "Aren't you going to get in?"

"I'll get there." Nora went around the A-10, falling into the old habit of preflight. She wasn't flying today, but it was good to get back in the swing of things. "How's she doing, by the way?"

"Doing well. The Iraqi Air Force is planning on buying the F-15, and she's going to be lead pilot on the transition. Might give her a squadron." Velvet sighed. "I suppose that's the end of Coffee Flight, but all good things must come to an end."

Nora came out from under the straight wing of the Warthog—no one, Nora reflected, ever called it the Thunderbolt II. "Well, don't feel bad. Juniper Flight's gone for good, now. Pyrrha's leading Ace Flight, Jaune flew west almost a year ago now, and Ren and me…" She shrugged. "I don't know what's going to happen to us."

Velvet came over and gave Nora a hug. "It'll all work out." She gave Nora a gentle shove towards the nose of the aircraft. "Now get up in there, cobber. I'll be back in a bit." The rabbit Faunus headed out of the hangar.

"Yeah, yeah." Nora went over to the extended, built-in ladder and climbed up into the cockpit. She dropped into the seat and settled into it, then looked over the instrument panel. The A-10 was still very analog in an air force of glass cockpits—analog instruments in the F-15 and F-16, let alone the F-22 and F-35, were there in case the computer went out and took out the HUD and the multifunction displays. Before everything had gone to hell in Poland, Nora had a chance to sit in Elm Ederne's F-35; it even had touch screens. The A-10 was a throwback to the 1950s, but it was supposed to be like that. No radar, no gimmicks, no flashiness, just a HUD and HOTAS for the stick and throttle. Nora loved it. She closed her eyes and put her hands out, and found she could still identify every switch and gauge by touch. "Yeah," she said aloud. "This is where I belong."

Nora leaned back in the seat. It was a bit warm in the hangar, so she rolled the sleeves of her flight suit up. It was a new flight suit; her last one had been cut to ribbons when she had ejected through the canopy of Magnhild over Poland. Nora herself had been cut to ribbons. The plastic surgeon had done wonders on her, but there was still the faint etching of scars on her arms. Her legs were worse: no amount of plastic surgery could hide the ugly scars there. At least she was done with that: after five operations, not counting the one done by the Schnee surgeons that had saved her life, Nora was done with knives and anaesthesia. She wanted to get back in the air, back to what she did best: fly airplanes and blow things up.

That had taken some months to come to terms with. Nora had asked herself if that was all she was good for, if Nora Valkyrie had no other purpose than to destroy things with the GAU-8 and be Lie Ren's lover and future wife. It took nearly dying for Nora to realize she needed a bit more than that. She needed to find out who Nora Valkyrie was. And sitting in innumerable hospital rooms, then doing rehab, and then doing help with refugee resettlement while she waited for the USAF to clear her medically—Nora now knew who she was, or at least thought so. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath of the hangar smells—steel, aviation fuel, oil, lubricants, the faint tang of cordite. It felt like home.

"Good to see you up there."

Nora's eyes flew open and she looked over. Standing at the base of the ladder was Lie Ren. She felt a ridiculous grin split her face and didn't even care. She started to get up, but he waved her down and went up the ladder himself, chinning her on the canopy rim. "Hello." He reached up and touched her nose. "Boop."

She snickered and returned the gesture. "Boop." It had always been their code for each other, to put into a word what they couldn't or wouldn't say otherwise. He took another step up, enough to kiss her. "It's good to see you." She looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "I'm…I'm sorry I haven't been around very much."

"It's all right," Ren reassured her. "Though I'm not so noble that I won't say I've missed you terribly."

"Yeah…me too." Though Ren had been there every time Nora had gone into the hospital for surgery, they had remained apart otherwise—Ren had given her space to find herself, to discover who Nora Valkyrie was away from Lie Ren. She knew it had torn him apart, but he had done as she asked. Ren had been testing new technologies in Italy, flying mainly Typhoons, as part of his new assignment from the Chinese Unified Air Force. Except for those visits, they had not seen much of each other in six months. They had not lived together or shared a bed either. Nora found herself wanting to taste those lips again, to feel his rough fingers on her naked skin again. Not yet, she commanded herself. She needed to tell him a few things first. "Is that ladder uncomfortable?" she finally asked.

"A bit."

"Let me climb down, then." He jumped back off the ladder, while Nora gingerly got up and climbed down more slowly. She hated her timidity. Before, she would practically jump out of the cockpit as soon as the crew chief saftied the seats, and be down in less than a second. Now her legs felt wobbly.

Ren, of course, noticed. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Nora told him. "Just getting used to it." She gazed up at the A-10. "There were a lot of times I was sure I'd never get into another one again."

"What changed your mind?" He led her out of the hangar. They walked out onto the tarmac; it was a beautiful English spring day, which meant that the sun was actually out. Nora saw Velvet standing next to the hangar and knew she'd been set up. Velvet waved, and Nora playfully gave her the finger. The rabbit Faunus stuck out her tongue. "Yes, we collaborated," Ren confirmed.

"I don't mind." Nora stuck her hands in her pockets. "As far as what changed my mind…you know, I don't miss blowing things up and turning things to mulch with that big ol' gun. But I really miss flying. I really miss being up there. The A-10 isn't fast and it's ugly as sin, but it feels good. And sitting in that cockpit back there…" Nora smiled, and Ren couldn't help but smile back. "It felt right."

"You could always go fly for the airlines," Ren pointed out.

"Yeah, but y'know…working with the refugees. Getting them settled. I mean, they're living in camps, just like me and you used to, but…it's better. Ghira Belladonna and the White Fang—boy, that sounds weird!—are really doing a nice job. The camps are clean, well-policed, people have jobs to do…"

"Wish we'd had him in some of the hellholes we grew up in," Ren said.

"God, yes. Could've used him in that resettlement camp in Harbin. The one where you…" Nora's voice trailed off. "Well, you know." Ren gave a short, sharp nod. It wasn't a sore point between them, but it was an unpleasant memory. Someone had tried to rape Nora, and Ren had killed him, strangling the other boy to death. They were twelve; the older boy had been sixteen. "Anyways…I was helping out up there, and there were people there who had gotten wounded by GRIMM. Like me, but worse. The kids, especially. When I'd tell them I was a fighter pilot and a Huntress…their eyes would just get big. They thought I was an avenging angel or something. Some of the kids would even brag that they knew a real live fighter jockette. And the respect some of those Polish folks gave me…" Nora smiled. "And that's when I thought that maybe…I kinda am an avenging angel. My name is Valkyrie, after all. How many times did I roll in and put warheads on foreheads, or let the GRIMM have it with the thirty mil? How many people did I save doing that?

"So that's when I thought…maybe being Nora and blowing stuff up is a good thing, Ren. Maybe I'm doing what we always said we'd do when we were in those camps: protecting those who needed to be protected. So maybe, just maybe, that's who Nora is. I'm more than that—I realize that now—but I don't belong down here, Ren." She pointed at the sky. "I belong up there, kicking ass and taking names."

Ren said nothing for a long moment. "I've never understood that." She looked at him in alarm. "I understand the kicking ass, but why take names? Are their names important?" Nora burst into laughter, and Ren gave her a big grin—something that many people would've thought the taciturn man to be incapable of. "But joking aside, Nora…I am very glad to hear that."

"If I had said I was quitting and going airlines," Nora said, "or just quitting and joining the White Fang—well, okay, I mean the Red Cross or something, since I'm not a Faunus—would you still say that?"

Ren stopped, forcing her to do the same. He took her hands in his. "Yes."

"And if I asked you to follow me, go airlines or quit flying?"

"I would be an airline pilot," Ren told her. "But not quit flying. Not even for you."

Nora stood on tiptoe and kissed him. "Good. Because if you had said you were, I'd call you a damn liar, Lie Ren." She grinned at her little pun. "So that's who Nora Valkyrie is. A pilot, an avenging angel, a protector of the innocent, someone who helps feed little babies and plays airplane with the kids and tells Chinese fairy tales about Sun Wukong—the monkey god, not Mr. Abs. That's me." She kissed him again. "And I'm also Lie Ren's soon-to-be wife." She wiped her eyes. "Because, Renny…I missed you too. I missed waking up next to you. I missed you being there. I missed…you."

"I did as you asked," Ren said quietly. "I stayed away, except for the hospital visits—I refused to let you face those alone." She nodded in thanks. "But I wanted to let you learn that about yourself, Nora. Who you were besides my lover." He paused. "Though that's not bad."

"Not bad at all." She hugged him, and didn't care if the entire 81st Fighter Wing saw her do it. There were mechanics working on parked A-10s, pilots walking out for familiarization flights, even a pair of A-10s taxiing out—and Nora didn't care. Neither did Ren. "So now that we've both got our heads on straight—"

"As much as fighter pilots ever can," Ren put in.

"Look at you!" Nora laughed. "When did my Ren get a sense of humor?"

"Somewhere between Poznan and Menagerie, I suppose."

"Anyways, now that we've got our heads on straight…" Nora wore a mischevious expression. "You want to roll in the hay and make a baby?" Her English accent was atrocious.

"I would—I've got us a very nice hotel reserved in London-but I hope you're not literal about making a baby," Ren replied. "Not yet. Not while Salem is still alive."

"No, not yet." Nora led him towards the gate. "But someday."

Signal Air Force Base

Near Goldsboro, North Carolina, United States of Canada

19 April 2002

Ruby Rose followed the ground crew's light wands to the parking spot on the transient aircraft ramp and shut down the engine of the F-16. She returned his salute and opened the canopy, then started unstrapping as the ladder was placed against the canopy rim. Feels weird to be back here. She had left from Signal after the court-martial, but had flown in the jumpseat of a KC-135 tanker to Hill; the new Crescent Rose had been assigned to her once she had gotten to her new base. The last time she had landed at Signal had been the C-141 that had brought her and Ruby Flight home from Europe, to stand trial.

"Coco, I'll tell you, they'll let anyone into this place."

Ruby looked to her left and she let out a yell of pure joy—right into the ground crewman's face, as he had climbed up the ladder to safety the seat and help her unstrap. "Sorry, sorry!" Ruby said, then once she was disconnected from the aircraft—and the enlisted man had wisely gotten out of her way—dropped down the ladder and ran over, throwing herself into her sister's arms, helmet and all. "Yang! Yang! Yang!" Ruby called out happily. "I didn't know if you'd be here!"

"Well, where the hell else would I be, Rubes?" Yang was dressed in casual clothes: a short-sleeved shirt and tight blue jeans that didn't do much to hide her body; there was a thunk as another enlisted man, staring at Yang, walked into the F-16's nose. She also wore aviator sunglasses, which of course no self-respecting fighter pilot would be without on a spring Carolina day. Or any other day. "You remember Coco, right?"

"Hell, how could I forget?" Coco put her hand out, but Ruby hugged her instead. Coco was, at least, dressed in a flight suit. "Good to see you. I never did get a chance to thank you for saving the evac flight after we got shot down."

Coco waved it off. "The pleasure was all ours, trust me. Though it would've been better if we could've picked you up as well. Better than putting you through all that shit with Neo Politan."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Ruby was smiling for what felt like the first time in years. "Hey, let me get my stuff out of the travel pod. I'll meet you at the VOQ."

Yang looked confused. "The VOQ? Aren't you going to Dad's?"

"Well, yeah," Ruby said, now equally confused, "but I was going to stay a few days down here. I figured we could get together after you got done for the day."

Yang stared at Ruby as if her little sister had grown horns, and then reached into a pocket and pulled out a crumpled, USAF official use form. She pulled her sunglasses down to the bridge of her nose. "Hmm…let's see here…ah, here it is. 'Captain Yang Xiao Long'—that's me—'is hereby granted ten days of leave to do with as she sees fit. Signed, Major Monyreak Oum, Deputy of Operations, 4th Fighter Wing.'" Yang put the order form back in her pocket. "You're not the only one who had leave saved up, Ruby. So I figured, why not take a few days, drive up to Daddy's place, and hang out with my wonderful, sweet, flat-chested sister." She thumbed at Coco. "I tried to convince Coco to come hang with us too, but she's got this stupid thing called 'duty' and 'orders.'"

The Iraqi woman sighed elaborately and hung her head. "I thought about desertion, but alas, I must stay here and continue to fly F-15s. Oh, woe is me."

Ruby's silver eyes seemed to light up. "Hot damn, Yang! That's great!" She dashed under the F-16 and opened up the travel pod, then pulled out a duffel bag. "Let me go get changed and outprocessed, and we'll hit the road!" She slung the bag over her shoulder and headed for the operations building, practically skipping the whole way. Then she suddenly pirouetted in place. "Oh, sorry you couldn't come with us, Coco!"

"That's all right," Coco called out. Ruby waved and continued on her previous course.

"That's the happiest I've seen her in a long time," Yang observed. "I'm glad to see it."

"Does she know about you and Blake?" Coco asked.

"Yeah. Me and Rubes don't keep secrets." Yang snickered. "Well, except that little shit over there losing her virginity to Oscar Pine and not telling me for almost two months."

Coco snorted. "And she looks so innocent, too." And so tired, Coco added to herself. The smile had been open and genuine, the happiness there—but so had the bags beneath Ruby's eyes, the clear signs of exhaustion. Ruby Rose needed a month off, if not more. "Well, I suppose I should be going. Enjoy your days off, Yang." She paused. "By the way, you didn't tell me that damned game is so addicting."

"Yeah. There's a new one coming out later this year called Vice City. Supposed to be really something." Yang shook hands with Coco. "I'd hug you, but I've already got everyone staring at us. Anyhow—barakallahu feek." She smiled. "Did I say that right?"

"Close enough," Coco replied. "And may Allah bless you as well, Yang."

As usual with military bureaucracy, the paperwork temporarily assigning Ruby to Signal AFB while on leave took much longer than they thought it would. Finally, it was done, and with Ruby's helmet in its bag, her flight suit in the duffel, and her other equipment in the changing room, she was back in civilian clothes herself—a white T-shirt with red trim and pants, though nowhere near as tight as Yang's. It was still enough to turn some heads as the two sisters walked to the parking lot. "Rented a car?" Ruby let out a low whistle. "And a Ford Mustang, too."

"Nothing less for my sis." Yang raised her right hand. "And I already solemnly swore to Dad that I would not speed on the way home, neither getting a speeding ticket nor wrecking the thing."

"Better not." Ruby tossed her bag in the trunk and got in. Yang—quite carefully—pulled the Mustang out of the parking lot, and they left the base. They drove in silence for thirty minutes until they reached Interstate 40. It would be almost four hours before they were home. Much to Ruby's surprise, Yang actually did keep it under the speed limit, though the temptation to open up the big car was certainly there. "Heh, road trip," Ruby commented. "We need to stop at a Waffle House. They don't have those in Salt Lake City." Then she remembered the last road trip they had been on—through irradiated Poland, with Jinxy Peddler. Ruby wondered what had happened to the raccoon Faunus who had gotten them to the Czech border—and then tried to sell them to Salem. She supposed that Salem's men had shot Jinxy, and surprised herself by hoping that somehow, he had survived.

"Yeah, feels good to be hanging out." Yang opened the sun roof a bit, letting the wind blow her blond hair around. "What've you been doing out there at Hill? I know you heard about Phoenix."

"Yeah. They got the shit knocked out of them." Ruby watched North Carolina go by out the window. It was so peaceful. The road was starting to fill up as they headed west to Raleigh, and Ruby wondered what the other people in the other cars were doing. It was an early Friday afternoon, in a pleasant spring day that was warm, but not hot or humid. They passed signs for restaurants, gas stations, tourist traps, hotels. It was so pleasant. Salt Lake City and Ogden had much of the same thing, but Ruby knew that most major buildings had bunkers for GRIMM attack. There were hidden SAM sites around Salt Lake International Airport and around Temple Square. Every male could be called up for emergency service within hours, and the Utah legislature had mandated that every household be issued an assault rifle, in case the GRIMM launched a ground assault. Ruby wasn't sure what assault rifles would do to armored Sabyrs or Centinels, but maybe it was to reinforce the mindset that Utah was on the edge of a war zone, and the Nevada and Idaho Dead Zones were two hour's drive away—except that the roads were closed west of the city. What had been Interstate 80 between Salt Lake City and Reno was now a decaying, baked track through barren, depopulated desert, punctuated by dessicated ghost towns. North of what remained of the interstate were a series of blast craters, where the USAF had tried to create a radioactive barrier to stop the GRIMM in President Nixon's time. Here, it was as if there was no Salem and no GRIMM. Ruby felt oddly angry at the other motorists, wanting to tell them that there was a woman underneath Mount Yamantau in Russia that wanted every one of them dead.

"Ruby?"

"Huh?" Ruby turned around and saw Yang staring at her through her sunglasses. "Oh, sorry—zoned out there for a second."

"Yeah, I noticed. Anyway, I said that I heard they didn't get hardly any warning. The E-3 didn't even detect the GRIMM. I guess they got a radio report from the Colorado River Barrier." Yang shook her head. "Millions of dollars in AWACS and radar, and we're still using guys on the ground with a radio and binocs."

"Might not have been just them," Ruby said. "Colonel Boyajian—he's my new CO—he told me before I left that someone from California radioed in the attack and even picked off a few GRIMM over the Barrier. That's not for public consumption, by the way."

"Raven." Yang sniffed an ironic laugh. Raven Branwen might be Yang's biological mother, but despite reaching a ceasefire in their relationship, there was still little love lost between them. "Well, at least we know she made it back to California. I half expected ol' Arashikaze to have killed Raven and dumped her in the woods." Ruby thought about telling Yang that Raven was trying to make amends, trying to make up for all the pain and hurt she had given, but clearly Yang wasn't in the mood to hear that—and Ruby wasn't in the mood to say it. "Still, how the hell did the GRIMM get past the E-3?"

"I don't know. And to be honest, Yang, I kinda don't want to talk shop, okay? At least not GRIMM or Salem or the rest of that bullshit. I've been ordered to relax, so I think I'm going to give that a try." Ruby shrugged. "I mean, nothing else has been working."

"Roger that. Believe me, it's been kinda nice not having to go up and fly combat." Yang smiled. "Hey, heard from Weiss a few weeks back. They said it's been quiet as Easter morning over there in Europe. Maybe we hurt—" Yang stopped herself. "Whoops, sorry. That's Salem again."

"Yeah, she's called me once or twice." Ruby paused. "You heard Pietro died."

"Yep. Poor old guy. Maria called me too." Yang sighed. "I liked the hell out of that old man. He was a good dude."

Ruby decided it was time to say it. "You hear from Blake?"

"Not in awhile." Yang kept her eyes on the road. "Not worried about it, though. They just can't do much on carriers—too easy to track. She sent me a Christmas card." She winked at Ruby. "And speaking of carriers, Oscar writing you?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep. I get letters about once a month. Sent me this beautiful card from Cape Town. I guess there's some advantages to being in the Navy. The Reagan's supposed to get in port in a week or two, so I might pop down to Mayport and say hi, if he can break loose from standing watch or whatever they do in the Navy when they're in port."

"Heh heh." Yang reached over and shook Ruby's shoulder. "My little sis better stock up on oysters and condoms, because that sailor has been on a long cruise. You're going to be walking bowlegged for a week, Rubes."

"Ha! More like he'd better stock up. It's been a long damn six months for me too, Yang." The sisters grinned in shared mirth, a memory of better days.

"By the way, no pun intended for once, I almost fucked Coco," Yang said casually. Ruby laughed, then she realized her sister wasn't joking. "Yep. I chickened out, though. Turns out I'm not as gay as I thought. I guess I'm bi. Or I'm just madly in love with someone who happens to be a girl. We ended up just playing GTA 'til the sun came up." Yang's eyebrows came together. "That seems to happen to me a lot when I have sex, playing video games. First Tripod, now Coco."

"You…almost slept with Coco?" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yeah. I figured Coco's a lesbian, and I thought I kinda was or whatever, so I'd give banging another woman a shot. Turns out I'm shitty at it." Yang shrugged. "Kind of wounds the ol' pride that I'm bad at sex." Another shrug. "It was dumb, Rubes. Coco got pissed and she was right to. I was using her like she was a gay training manual or something." Yang passed a tractor trailer. "We worked it out, but she told me I needed to get my shit together and talk to Blake about it when the Reagan gets in. And I'm going to." She spotted a rest area and pulled into it. "Speaking of getting shit together, I wanted to talk to you about that, Ruby—and not while I'm driving a high-performance muscle car into heavy Raleigh traffic."

"What're you talking about?" Ruby wasn't sure if she should jump out of the car or not, as Yang pulled into a secluded part of the rest area, away from the other cars.

Yang put the Mustang in park and twisted around in her seat, taking off her sunglasses. "Y'know, Major Oum is another good dude. Such a good dude that he let me see a copy of your OER, which is illegal as hell, I'm pretty sure. But what the fuck, I've already got a letter of reprimand."

"How the hell did he get a copy of my OER?" Ruby demanded.

"He's buddies with your CO. And he likes you, and I'm your big sister, and he thought I should know. In fact, he suggested that we have this little talk. I was going to wait until we got up to Patch, but since we're on the subject of getting shit together, you need to get yours together."

Ruby stared daggers at her sister. "This is bullshit." She got out of the car and slammed the door. Yang got out as well, and the sisters faced each other over the hood of the Mustang. "What the actual fuck, Yang?"

"Goddammit, Rubes. Let's not have a repeat of Banska, okay?" Yang told her.

"Well, we don't have to worry about that," Ruby snarled. "Neo's dead and there's no F-5 around for me to steal and get my ass shot down in." She stabbed a finger at Yang. "But why do you have to go look at my damn OERs? I haven't even seen mine yet!"

"What to know what it says?" Yang shot back.

"That I'm a fuck-up?" Ruby shouted. "Because it fucking well shouldn't! I've busted my ass up there at Hill. I've been early to every brief and I've stayed late filling out flight plans. You can shave with the creases in my uniforms, Yang. I'm fucking good at my job. For all the fucking good it does me."

"Nah, Rubes. It doesn't say you're a fuck-up. Boyajian said you were one of the best officers he's had the privilege of commanding. Those words exactly. He recommended you get promoted back to Captain." Ruby barked an ironic laugh. "Yeah, I know—fat fucking chance. But that's not what scares me, Ruby." Ruby was about to say something sarcastic to Yang, but the pain in her sister's voice brought her up short. "What scares me is what else he wrote. He said you're a fine officer, the best pilot he's got, and you're tough on the trainees—but you show them what they do wrong, and it's going to keep them alive."

"That's scary?" Ruby wore a quizzical expression. She was really confused now.

"He said you're reckless," Yang told her. "He said you press your intercepts too close. You make the practice dogfights too real. You don't just get tough on the trainees, you ride them. You annihilate their asses sometimes. Sure, they learn, but they don't like you—"

"I'm not there to be liked," Ruby snapped.

"Fine. But he said that you fly that '16 like you're out of your mind. You stress the fuck out of the airframe. You push the envelope too damn hard. He said…" Yang had to stop, her voice heavy with emotion. "He said that it seems like you have a death wish. That's why he recommended you take some leave and get some actual rest." Yang sagged against the car. "Oh, God, Ruby…" She began crying. "It…it was all I could do…not to just fall the fuck apart in Major Oum's office…shit…"

Ruby stared at her sister. The tears fell and hit the hood of the Mustang, and Yang's who body shook as she tried to keep herself from collapsing. Finally, Ruby did what all good sisters do: she came around the car and hugged hers. Yang squeezed Ruby tight. "Oh God," she repeated. "Ruby…when Dad called to say you were coming home on leave, I damn near shit myself because I thought he was going to say you were dead. I didn't take leave to go with you to Dad's; I took leave to fly out to Hill." She looked up, her face streaked with tears. "I'm scared, Ruby! When I hear you're doing that stuff, and you don't have any friends, and you're…you're so reckless and you fly like you want to die…all…all I can think of is seeing you on that slab in Moravia, after Neo drugged you. I thought you were dead, Ruby." Yang sniffled. "You looked so damn small…and your face was all busted up…and the bruises, and you were just…staring…into space…like you…were…just gone." She started weeping uncontrollably again, and Ruby held her sister up, as if the two siblings had suddenly switched birth orders, and Ruby was the big sister.

Yang was able to get control of herself after awhile, and she wiped her face on her shirt. "Ruby…we know what happened to Mom now. We know she kept going after Raven told her to turn back. Mom had to have known, Ruby; she had to have known that if she kept going she was going to die. You can't do the same thing, Ruby. You can't…" Yang's face was wracked with emotion. "You can't leave me all alone like Mom did, okay?"

Ruby kissed Yang on the forehead, even if she had to nearly jump up to do it. "I won't, Yang. I promise. I won't." She smiled at her sister. "You want some soda? I think we could use it."

"Yeah."

Ruby squeezed Yang again and broke off the hug to go find a soda machine. She heard Yang's cellphone go off as she walked across the rest area to the little building that held restrooms and soda machines. She got two Cokes for the both of them, and was about to walk back when a man pushed off of a squad car and stopped her. He wore a North Carolina Highway Patrol uniform. He was three times Ruby's size; an older man probably about her father's age. "Miss," he rumbled, "is everything all right?"

"Huh?" Then Ruby realized he must have heard the sisters yelling at each other. Probably the entire rest stop had. "Oh, yeah. She's my sister. We just got into a fight, but it's okay now."

"Yeah, I saw you hug." His voice was a slow Southern drawl. He glanced over at Yang. "You don't look like sisters."

Great, Ruby thought, a nosy cop. "Same dad, different moms."

"Oh, I see." He stepped back. "I'm sorry, ma'am. Didn't mean to be bothersome. Just wanted to make sure everything was all right." He gave Ruby a once-over. "You military, ma'am? I thought I heard something about OERs."

Ruby almost told the policeman to mind his own business, but then decided she should be polite. Just got out of a courtroom not that long ago, I don't need to be back in one for telling a cop to buzz off. "Yes, sir. Air Force. I'm a pilot." She thumbed at Yang. "So's she."

"No kidding. I was Army in Desert Storm. Tanker. We were always mighty happy to call in air." He stuck out a hand, and Ruby shook it. "Thank you for your service, ma'am. Y'all take care of yourself, y'hear? God bless."

"Yeah, you too!" Ruby started walking back to the car. She oddly felt better now; the patrolman's words cheered her up. You're right, Yang, she thought to herself. I do fly recklessly, like I have a death wish. Because we're gonna die, Yang. We're gonna die sooner rather than later. But God help me, I'm going to take a fuckload of GRIMM with me when I do. She was sorry to have upset Yang, but her own mortality was something Ruby had made peace with at Hill. She hoped she would at least live long enough to see Salem dead and confirm Summer Rose's death, but what else was there for her now but to fly and fight? And if the USAF didn't allow her to fly and fight, she could at least teach others to do it and stay alive.

Yang was no longer crying, or sad looking. Instead, she wore an unbelievably huge grin. "Yeah, she's right here. Hold on a sec." She nodded to Ruby. "Put the Cokes down, sis. Here." She handed the phone across the car to her.

Ruby put the sodas down and took the phone. "Hello?"

"Ruby?"

"Oscar?" Ruby shouted.

AUTHOR'S ENDNOTES: As you can tell, parts of this chapter was inspired by the V9 animatic epilogue that just came out, and the JL/RWBY crossover. So we're still kind of hewing close to canon. Ruby is definitely still feeling the strain of what happened to her; this isn't going to be something she just shrugs off. Yang's not doing too much better. But they're sisters.

What's next? Well, it's time to hit the beach.