Author's Notes

Minor things - since the emails on this website are messed up, you may not have gotten notified, but the previous chapter was posted late. Some people probably didn't see it and might want to go reread it.

Also, new story's up! It's a sequel to Living The Dream, so not really new, but be sure to check it out. Cardin centric, a bit shorter, titled You, Me, and the Tuna.

Chapter 16 – Ruby's Road Trip

Despite touching Ruby on her head and shoulders far too many times for Ruby to be comfortable with, Cinder was actually a decent traveling companion otherwise. It may have had something to do with the fact that her survival was tied to keeping Ruby alive (and her only chance at controlling maiden powers lay in having Ruby loyal to her), but she was actually quite decent. Of course, Ruby had to put in effort to not be so annoying, but compared to some of the snot-nosed losers at Signal who didn't care about anything other than their social media and who was dating who, it was much nicer. Of course, she still would have preferred Yang, but it was what it was.

They arrived in Temeria Settlement after two days on the road, meaning that they had up to three days in the village before they needed to turn back and get Cinder back to Beacon. Pumpkin's family didn't live in this village – Cinder had said it was only a crossroads of sorts that had a village built on top of it when someone realized weary travelers might appreciate the chance to stock up and rest the night in a bed. Right now, Ruby and Cinder's goal was to find out what direction she'd turned back in upon being recalled and hopefully where she might be planning to go after going to ground.

Ruby didn't know if tracking Am…oh, she really needed to stop thinking of the Fall maiden by her real name, or she was bound to trip up. Ruby didn't know if tracking Pumpkin down would be good or bad. On one hand, she really didn't want to kill Pumpkin, but on the other, she highly doubted that she and Cinder would be able to. Cinder was good, and Ruby was getting better, but neither were at the stage of taking on superhuntresses.

If she properly wielded the maiden powers of Fall, Salem would probably be impressed. It would essentially solidify her place within the inner circle, but at the cost of an innocent woman's life.

It's unlikely we'll actually find her, so this is all moot. Besides, supposing we do get a heading, Cinder will probably want to plan out an attack with Mercury and Emerald. She's defying Salem's orders, so Tyrian, Watts, and Hazel won't come, but all four of us might just be enough to…to…

Tossing in her bed at one of the town's three inns, she pressed her face deep into her pillow. There lay another problem. Ruby had killed Qrow by accident and Ozpin knowing that he would come back. When Salem had tested her resolve, she'd been lucky that the goal was to fail, but just the same, she hadn't had the nerve to kill Tyrian. Even in the village of Ovais, she'd frozen up when others were doing the killing.

Would Ruby be able to kill a good person in cold blood?

It wasn't something she'd ever thought herself capable of, and certainly not something she'd ever want to be able to do. Yet here she was, with the fate of the world slung over her shoulders. In the end, the choice would come down to her.

She would have to kill eventually. There was almost no way around that, given the company she kept. If Ruby wussed out at an important time and Salem got the Spring maiden, millions would die, and for what? So Ruby could keep her hands clean? She couldn't dare to be that selfish…

Sleep was going to be difficult tonight if she kept weighing these heavy thoughts and trying to make these monumental choices. Cinder had been kind enough to reserve them two separate beds, apparently somehow being socially aware enough that Ruby wasn't ready for that yet.

And that's going to be another problem. If I want to keep Cinder on my side, I might have to…nnnnnggghhhuh. Oh, I hope I don't have to. But…if I'm willing to kill, I should be willing to sleep with someone. After all, it's not like my body's my own anymore, not with a beetle crawling around inside my arm.

Tomorrow, she and Cinder were going to poke around town, looking for a lost relative or teammate or something – they would plan more later. Cinder knew what Pumpkin looked like, so she would take point.

But I know her name – her real name.

Pumpkin. And if I say Amber, I was lost staring into Cinder's beautifully amber-golden eyes and got distracted.

I can do this.

This wasn't a normal settlement. As the buildup of amenities at a common crossroad of multiple paths, it had multiple taverns. Anyone on Remnant knew that the bar of the village was the best place to find information, as it was frequented by every passerby and often connected to the inn, but with four in Temeria, there was no knowing which one Pumpkin chose to travel through.

Cinder and Ruby were going to divide up the taverns amongst themselves, but then Ruby remembered that she was Ruby and told Cinder, so they decided to go together.

I'll keep an eye on her six. The alternative is awkwardly trying to start up conversations with strangers and hoping no one calls me out on being in a bar when I'm below the legal drinking age.

Cinder was currently chatting up a table with a trio of elderly women, the kind who probably saw everyone who entered and exited the bar. It was unlikely that they remembered everyone who passed through here, but the old and decrepit who probably had too much time on their hands and spent it watching the people come through were a good place to start.

Ruby was mostly just staying back at a chair near the westernmost wall (the one with the fewest windows) and watching their exits. Since she had fewer people skills than her companion, Cinder had taken today to be a training exercise for her. In her mind, she was tasked with thinking up everything that could go wrong and planning for it.

Grimm attacks are always a thing, except we work for the Grimm. They'll recognize us, but that doesn't mean it won't be dangerous to be in the middle of one. Police know my face, but it's unlikely they'll be this far out from the main kingdom. The real risk is if someone recognizes me and calls up a nearby huntsman.

It would be far too conspicuous to watch every single person at all times, so Ruby instead kept her eyes on the doors and the bar. She'd seen an old video about bootleggers that had trapdoors hidden beneath where the taps were, so she assumed in her head that there would be one, just in case. If she was wrong, it was no problem. On the odd chance that there was one, and a hunter jumped out of it, she would be ready.

Except this is just practice for me. We're not expecting anyone here to be hostile.

Cinder rose from her seat, thanked the ladies (Ruby couldn't hear, but the gesture was obvious) and made her way back over to Ruby.

"Any luck?"

"None whatsoever. None of them recall having seen her, and they claim to be the most vigilant watchpeople in the area."

Ruby looked over at the three gossips, catching them whispering to one another as they glanced her way. Yeah, that sounded about right.

"On to the next bar, then?"

Cinder nodded. "But first…report to me what you saw in time I was preoccupied."

"Five people left the tavern, only three of whom appeared to be locals. Two people came in, both locals. I didn't see anyone with a weapon, though one of the people who left had a foldable bow at his waist."

"The bow?"

"Wooden, with a notch cut out at the center that allowed it to minimize when folded. It looked homemade – carved, I would guess, but no guarantees."

"What else?"

"The barkeeper was watching every guest that came in, but he paid particular attention to you in particular. Not me as much, though."

Cinder looked down at her chest and sighed. "I think it's not because he's wary of me, Ruby. Alas…the drawbacks of being above average. What else?"

"Uh…there was a guy with a dog. A hunting hound."

Cinder followed Ruby's eyes to the man, whose dog lay curled at the base of his table in rest. "I see. What else?"

Ruby scanned the tavern once again but didn't see anything else. The people coming in had been her main concern, and she couldn't really recall anything else that was noteworthy enough to distract her from them aside from what she'd already mentioned.

"I give up. What did I miss?"

Cinder started walking for the door, and Ruby followed after her.

"Something," she said, her back turned to Ruby. "If you wish to survive in an unforgiving world that is out to get you, you must always assume there's something you missed. Forget this, and you are guaranteed to perish."

Ruby shivered. "And then you're guaranteed to perish…"

Ruby couldn't see Cinder's reaction, but she imagined it was a scowl. As much as she would protect Ruby to the bitter end, Cinder probably despised her when no one was looking. In her head, there were probably a litany of insulting nicknames for the girl who'd usurped her not by skill or training but by preferred eye color.

"…let's not think about that, Little Rose. I've no desire to live in the world if you aren't present."

Since Cinder's couldn't see Ruby either, that gave her the opportunity to cringe. They'd known one another for less than a month. It probably sounded to Cinder like something a lover was supposed to say, but only when it had been earned through trials of love and time. A married couple of many years might have soul bond going so deep that losing one would cost the other their will to go on, but not the pair of huntresses, neither older than twenty. Cinder didn't know Ruby's favorite color, her favorite garden vegetable, her favorite type of spider – they'd spent the majority of their time training, not dating. Actually, aside from empty declarations of love, they hadn't even really dated properly.

"The moral is that you must always feel a healthy dose of fear, Ruby," Cinder explained once they'd stepped out the door of the tavern. The next one was just further down the main path, already in view. "At any point in time, our true natures could be discovered, and our lives jeopardized. You must be expecting that knife in your back any time you're amongst enemies or those who could become enemies."

This is some good stuff, considering who I really am. I really oughta write it down.

"Do you have your aura raised at all times?" Ruby asked.

"Not when I'm among those I trust will not harm me," Cinder answered. "For instance, I have no reason to raise it when in the presence of the queen, for it would offer no true defense. Between her extensive arsenal of magic and the…the power she holds over my own body, she would slay me whether I stood against her or not. With just you or Emerald around, I can also lower it, for I find it incomprehensible that either of you would betray me. Emerald is obedient out of loyalty for my patronage, and you –"

"Out of love!" Ruby said with a smile.

"Not quite," Cinder shot back. "I would say it's more a matter of what is stood to gain."

That surprised Ruby. With all the pretending that the two of them did, the last thing she had expected was an answer that was less wholesome and more self-serving.

"How do you mean?" Ruby asked. "I-I do love you, Cinder.

"I know. But above that, you have far more to gain from my tutelage than from my demise. There is no way turning on me would help you – Salem has already chosen you as her host for the maiden powers, and you can fear no betrayal from me. I could only aid you, never hinder you."

That was…rather honest. Ruby held back her frown, worried that she wouldn't be able to switch to a smile quick enough if Cinder turned around to face her.

Oh, I get it. She's trying to voice aloud the reasons I don't need to stab her in the back. The whole fake-girlfriends is good and all, but she probably wants more assurances than that that I won't tattle to the Grimm Queen over some minor infraction.

And yet…Cinder's case for keeping her around was entirely true. Salem had made it so that Ruby had absolutely nothing to fear from Cinder. Sure, the means of that companionship was a proverbial sword hanging over Cinder's neck at all times, but at the end of the day, Ruby knew exactly where Cinder stood.

"On the other hand, I would never let it lower around any human or Faunus I don't know," Cinder continued, wrapping back to their point about aura. "Around Watts, for he might forget his loyalty to the queen in a moment of lost temper. Around Roman or Neo, certainly – I don't trust either of them."

"What about the other two?" Ruby asked. "Tyrian and that big guy?"

She couldn't remember his name – it had been nearly two weeks since she'd even thought of the tall man, and he'd been recuperating from being bitten by the hound for most of the time Ruby had spent at Evernight.

"Tyrian is loyal to Salem, who has expressed a need for me. However, I would rather not test him."

Ruby nodded in agreement. One of the things she did recall was how he'd protected Ruby from Salem by merely threatening Cinder with his presence on the night of her first dinner in the Grimmlands. She hadn't sparred against him, but she instinctively knew he was too tough to tussle with.

"I also keep my aura up around Hazel," Cinder said. "If he feels himself justified in any action, he is liable to proceed regardless of how logical or illogical it is. I once suffered two broken ribs and a punctured lung because he deemed my methods of completing our shared mission 'too much.'"

Cinder raised finger quote for the last part.

"All I did was take one of the prisoners and…ugh, we have eight more – eight! – and he acted like their death was the end of Remnant."

Yep. Good advice here. Raise your aura against anyone who might ever be an enemy – so for me, I'll never ever drop it for the rest of my mission. No, for the rest of my life.

Ruby nodded. "So you kept your aura up around him after that?"

"No," Cinder answered.

"But you said –"

"I have always kept my aura up around Hazel Rainart. Always. He inflicted those injuries upon me in spite of any defense I could offer with a single blow. Ah. We're here."

They'd arrived at the next closest tavern, but Cinder held out an arm to halt Ruby before she went in.

"I think it would be best if you came with me to investigate."

"I'm right here," Ruby said.

"No, with me to talk to the patrons of the bar."

Ruby felt a sudden spike of the old society anxiety. "M-M-Me? Talk to strangers?"

"I'll lead, but you ought to observe for at least one of the taverns. You're going to need to complete your own objectives eventually, and talking to new people might be a required skill."

"B-B-But the missions…this mission –"

They were already on an unsanctioned hunt for Fall maiden powers. Risking the whole thing on Ruby's ability to chat – not, to improvise and to lie – sounded like the fastest way to get a beetle-shaped hole from one armpit to the other.

"I'm not asking you to actually interrogate anyone," Cinder explained. "Just watch me. I often found it challenging to converse with high class patrons when I worked at the…when I was young, but experience and observation got me over it."

Ruby nodded. That would be much better. She did suppose her people skills could use some work, especially after she'd nearly frozen up on the White Fang mission.

No. It wasn't White Fang, it was just innocent Faunus. I can't let Salem and Cinder play mind games with me.

Faunus.

Not White Fang.

Faunus.

NOT WHITE FANG.

Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.

Ruby bit her lip and followed Cinder through the swinging push doors.

The inside of this pub was far fancier than the previous one. While the other had gone for a more rustic, country feel by covering every square inch in cute old fashioned street signs, singing bass fish heads, and photos of locals, this one seemed more like a restaurant one might've seen in the kingdoms. The chairs were metal seats in place of wooden stools, and they actually had waitresses come around and take orders at tables.

There was still a bar, though, so Cinder took them there. Ruby followed along at the heels of her mentor, taking care not to fondle her weapon this time. She was stressed to the peak after the pep talk, and that may have been Cinder's will and advice, but it wouldn't do for her to go and behead some villager whenever a rooster loudly crowed in the background or a tree fell in the woods.

There were about ten people at the bar, but Ruby recognized one of them from behind as a huntress. She couldn't see the woman's face, but the sword at her waist clearly differentiated her from the normal folks in the crowd. Cinder recognized it too, which is why she made her way to the other side of the pub. Being around the huntress meant not only the chance of being recognized and arrested but also wasting time, since those who hunted Grimm tended not to stick around in villages long enough to have any intel on who others who passed through.

Ruby made sure to keep her face turned away from the huntress as she and her mentor sat down.

"Greetings. A drink for me and my companion, please," she said to the barkeeper.

"Coming right up."

Ruby glanced at the exits, but then turned her face downwards. As much as she might need to flee, the risk of being seen by the huntress was probably greater.

"Excuse me," Cinder said to the patron next to them, a farmer by the looks of him. "My friend and I are looking for the third member of our party. We were supposed to meet in this town, but we weren't…"

Ruby glanced once more at the huntress, making sure she didn't see them. Something was wrong, here…Ruby couldn't tell why this particular woman drew her attention so much, but she was barely able to keep her eyes off of her.

I know her from somewhere…but I don't! I've never seen her before! That dark black hair is –

The huntress, staring down into her own drink, turned to the side and began to speak to the man standing next to her. Ruby hadn't seen him before, being so hyper-focused on the armed threat, but the second she did, she made sure to turn away.

It was her father.

Shit! He's here! He'll recognize me if he sees me.

Ruby bunched up her hood as best she could to cover her face and hair. If Dad saw her and confronted her, Cinder would…

After Qrow, she might expect Ruby to…

Cinder was continuing to talk to the farmer, who was recounting anyone by Cinder description he could recall who'd passed through in the past week or two, but Ruby wasn't listening. Cinder elbowed her once or twice, clearly annoyed that Ruby was ignoring the lesson on how to socialize, but Ruby couldn't care.

The woman who was with Dad looked so much like Yang it hurt. Her hair was black, though, and her eyes perpetually red instead of Yang's semblance-induced rarity. Ruby didn't know much about the woman who had abandoned her sister, having only heard of her and seen a photograph once when she was a toddler, but she could say with certainty that this was Raven Branwen.

What is Dad doing with her?

She was Qrow's sister, and he'd died recently. Maybe they were…catching up?

But how did he even find her? I thought she ran off and left her team!

…except Uncle Qrow worked for Ozpin.

Ruby paused.

Raven had just run off, leaving no explanation of where she was going or why to her Team – Team Stark, that was, who apparently had members neck-deep in conspiracy theory-level work for Ozpin. If Qrow was one of the good guys…maybe Raven had been in on it as well?

She just uncharacteristically ran off one day – that sounds a lot like me. No explanation why, no advanced notice, not arguments or anything…what if Ozpin gave her an undercover assignment and she's been on it ever since?

Fear filled Ruby as the implications sank in. Work with Ozpin might have cost her…her stepmom? Her mother-in-law? Her ex-mom? What was Raven, her father's ex-wife and her half-sister's biological mother, to her? Ruby knew not the term. Anyways, Raven's mission to Ozpin, if there were one, had required her to leave her newborn baby out of the blue, and she was still working, if the fact that she hadn't returned to Dad and Yang and Qrow was any indication.

It was no different for Ruby. Without Ozpin's approval, Ruby wouldn't ever be able to re-enter civilization. Until she had the powers of the Spring maiden, she was stuck where she was now.

And yet, in spite of the realization that she might be spending her entire adult life working undercover for Ozpin, something else was there.

Was it relief, perhaps? Yang's mother hadn't abandoned her…if Ruby's theory was true, which it really seemed to be.

Was it satisfaction? Even if it wouldn't give the lost years back, Ruby remembered that her sister had been anguished for years by the unanswerable question of why. Well, now Ruby had a pretty good idea why.

Was it camaraderie? Raven was in the same boat as Ruby. She wasn't alone in this. Her mother's teammate, her aunt via the virtue of being Ruby's uncle's brother, was with her.

Was it something worse? Ruby didn't know the word for being happy because other people weren't, but the truth of the matter was that she now knew that she wasn't the only one whose life was ruined by Ozpin's manipulations.

I need to go speak to them.

It was dangerous, but so was everything. Cinder was going nowhere with this farmer guy, and Ruby honestly didn't care if they failed miserably or got Amber's social security number out of it. Finding out if Raven might understand, finding someone who Ruby might be able to talk to?

Dad would certainly recognize her, but Roman's words reverberated in her head – weigh every risk. Well, this was riskier than anything, but the nature of a risk was that there was a reward at the end. Getting a lifeline? Worth the risk here, in Ruby's opinion.

The farmer was still talking to Cinder. "…through the Rough Mountains, but there's no guarantee."

"We'll take any –"

Ruby poked Cinder's shoulder.

"Yes, Little Rose?"

"Go outside."

"Hmm?"

"Cinder. Go outside."

Cinder looked down at Ruby the way one might look at a puppy, and Ruby decided that her 'girlfriend' had forgotten exactly how this worked.

Too much time has passed since Salem threatened her, and she's forgotten that it's me she's supposed to be afraid of after being my teacher for so long.

"Cinder," Ruby said sternly. "Go outside. Wait until I come out, and don't disturb me. Be prepared to assist me in combat or fleeing, but nonlethally."

The farmer opened his mouth to interject at that, but Ruby silenced him with a quick glare.

"Do as I say," she said to Cinder, putting force in her voice. "Don't make me bring up what we both know I can bring up."

Cinder stared at Ruby for a second, at first in surprise and then quite uncomfortably. After about a three second pause, she stood up and faced the door. The farmer also decided to take his leave about then, likely seeing the potential for this to turn sour quickly.

"I-I'll just go and –"

Cinder stopped talking when Ruby looked her dead in the eyes, making it clear how little she cared. Instead, she walked off.

Dad and ex-stepmom-in-law once removed still hadn't seen them, evidently not having learned the lesson of paranoia that Cinder had imparted upon Ruby. In Dad's defense, he was probably very engrossed in talking with his ex-wife, and Ruby had been covering her face with her hood and only glancing at him when she was sure he wasn't about to look back.

I need to do this. I know it's probably a mistake, but I need to know.

Ruby hopped off her chair and slowly walked across the room.

Coming Soon – Ruby's Extended Family

And now, a tip from Ruby:

Ruby's Tip #531 – Is your printer low on ink? Buy a pet octopus! He can change out the cartridges when you're busy.

Ruby's Note – And he'll do it eight times as fast!

Ruby's Note – Cinder just pointed out it would actually only be four times as fast, since you have two hands and the octopus has eight.

Author's Notes

Shit! Fuck!

Already?

Fuck!

In case it's not clear from the triple Pumpkin, Ruby's sanity is being poked. It's far from breaking, and she's actively reassuring herself of what she knows is real, but being gaslit by the Grimm goddess tends to have effects.

But hey, at least she's finally going to get some talking-it-out therapy from her mother-in-law or whatever Raven is, so maybe that will help. We don't have enough fanon Ruby-Raven interactions, and we only get a single one in canon, so Origin Story's going to have lots more. Obviously, since Ruby's goal is to get the thing.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!