Author's Notes

I know most people won't care, but I posted the last chapter of You, Me, and the Tuna on Saturday. Just wanted to mention it since the site was down, notifications are off, and it's an abnormal posting date.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!


Chapter 39 – Ruby's Damage

Everything was in tatters except for Ruby herself.

Salem was able to shrug of being bisected, but taking that much damage to her body had side effects. Regenerating both legs as well as her hoo-haa was going to be keeping her busy for a while, and she couldn't really move without someone coming to her aid. Her ability to command the Grimm was also severely limited during the healing process.

That meant that there was no one to repair Evernight, which was surprisingly still standing, but just barely. Ruby may have only take down a small area, but the effect of the collapse was cascading as the shockwaves of the implosion spread through the castle. The destroyed floors' rubble landed on the floors below them, and that much weight caused those floors to fall, and so on all the way down to bedrock. Plus, the materials from which the castle was built weren't really up to spec or inspected all that well, and the neighboring rooms lost some of their structural integrity due to the sudden motion. Some candles had been knocked over, and a fire had destroyed much of their food stores.

Tyrian himself was in a critical condition. Hazel might not have hit him all that much but pulling off his tail had sent him into a state of shock. The severing of what was akin to a limb as well as immense blood loss had left him in a weak state, and Watts was saying it would probably be a week or two before he was even standing, let alone fit to go out into the field.

Oh, yeah, and there was Watts, too. He wasn't in tatters, having fled the fight early on. He might be later on, though, when Salem her ahold of him.

In short, it was an utter disaster, and it would take multiple months before they could put behind them all of the damage from Ruby's fight with Hazel.

Salem was thrilled.

"Hazel the betrayer lies dead, young Rose, and by your hand. How could I be anything but pleased?" Salem had said, elated, when approached by Ruby.

Ruby had awkwardly kicked at her heels. "W-Well, because I destroyed your…castle?"

"Ruby, please don't kick at my heels. Furthermore, while the partial loss of our fortress of Evernight is a setback, the damage Hazel could have incurred had he escaped and been left to run about unchecked would be far more catastrophic. With his awareness of our numbers and strategies, he could have given our enemies a grand advantage over us. A traitor is worth much more than a castle that I can have my Grimm rebuild when I am at my fullest."

Salem was currently residing atop a temporary throne, her old one having been destroyed during the cave-in. Ruby wasn't sure how to behave around the typically larger-than-life queen in her vulnerable state, so she mostly just tried to keep her eyes downcast and avoid staring at Salem's regenerating body.

"To that end, we have another loose end we must clean up. The escaped huntsman that Hazel released must be brought to justice. Take Tyrian with you and hunt him down."

Ruby nodded. "Yes, your gr…oh. Um. Tyrian is…"

Salem stared at her blankly for a moment, then her eyes widened in comprehension. "Of course. Take Dr. Watts with you and hunt him down. The doctor can provide you with any and all information that we know on your target."

Dr. Watts…Ruby had next to no experience with him, and if his departure during the battle with Hazel was anything to go off of, she wouldn't be expecting much help.

"I could do this on my own, your grace," Ruby offered. "Watts is treating Tyrian. Would he not be more useful here with you?"

Salem shook her head. "Tyrian's aura will heal him with or without the good doctor to supervise it. Watts may work on devising blueprints for replacement tail for what was lost while on assignment with you and implement it upon his return."

Ruby had meant to say that she herself didn't want (or appreciate being assigned) a chaperone, but Salem wasn't one to tolerate backtalk, and Ruby dared not question her will twice on the same topic. Bowing, she backed off and backed away.


"So, this is our first adventure together," Ruby said, reclining her chair in the airship next to Watts. "Besides Ruby's eleven. Our first solo adventure together, then."

"Quite," Watts replied curtly. Carefully.

"You worried about Salem?" Ruby asked. "I don't think you need to be. I mean, she might be a bit upset at you for not fighting Hazel and all, but she's in such good spirits that I don't think she'll even remember you if you don't bring it up. After all, we'll be gone for however long it takes to find and catch this guy, so there isn't –"

"No."

"What?"

"We haven't been given orders to capture him."

Ruby held back a frown at that. Salem wanted her to kill him? That was…going to be difficult. Well, not difficult to do, what with Ruby being a maiden and all, but difficult to convincingly fake.

"Same difference," Ruby said with a shrug. "We'll be gone for just as long either way."

Watts turned to look at Ruby with a piercing gaze. Recalling the lecherous way he'd stared at Emerald and Neo, she was tempted to recoil into her hood a bit, but that sounded a bit too much like showing weakness.

"Does it not…bother you?" he asked.

Ruby blinked. "What did you say?"

Watts turned his attention back to piloting the airship. "Forgive my impertinence."

"What? What's wrong? Wait, I wasn't trying to sound all threaten-y just now, I was actually unsure of what you said. Something bothering me?"

The prim and proper Atlesian took a moment to assess Rose (likely making sure that her honest words didn't carry some deeper, hidden meaning) and then sighed.

"Hazel. You ended the life of our colleague but days ago, and now here you are, ready to go on your next mission. And to find out that he was a double agent all along…how are you so unaffected, girl?"

Well, for one thing, Ruby herself was a double agent, so she supposed that that plot twist wasn't particularly surprising. Salem certainly did have a lot of holes in her tent that let the rats slip in.

But then Lionheart is her agent, and she has Cinder's complete team inside of Beacon, so I guess both sides have a decent handful of spies in the enemy camp.

As for killing Hazel, she might've been bothered by it (he was probably a good guy or something if his life's goal was stopping Salem), but she'd known him exclusively as the grumpy agent of Salem. Her mind had yet to catch up to the notion that he wasn't a villain, and now that he was dead, she was rather hoping that it wouldn't ever need to.

Of course, none of those reasons could be explained to Watts, so she just shrugged. "Guess I'm built different."

"So it would seem."

"Also, I only worked with him for a few days total. I think Tyrian and I have spent more time together."

Watts nodded, accepting that more readily. "I suppose my time in Rainart's presence was longer than yours, and thus you would not be as moved by the revelation of his true loyalties."

"So, the mission…" Ruby twiddled her thumbs. "…hey, do you fight?"

"I beg your pardon?" Watts looked at her, indignant. "I'll have you know, I'm an expert strategist, the finest tactician to have ever graced the globe with his –"

"Yeah, but like…can you fight? In a fight?"

Watts frowned and looked away. "My aura isn't still locked."

"Imma take that as a no. I guess that means I'll be doing the fighting when we fight Mr. Huntsman."

Score one for the good guys. I can just chase him away out of Watts' line of sight and claim that he fell off a cliff or into a volcano or something and the body was unrecoverable.

"My assignment is to ensure the completion of our mission to the fullest standards of her grace, and to provide you with all necessary implements to track our quarry. While you may be superior at a physical chase, I can locate Pickerel digitally in an instant. His stolen airship was one of ours, tracked to his home kingdom of Mistral before it ran out of fuel and crash landed. There have been fourteen reported social media posts by Mistrilian natives about huntsman visiting their villages. Using decoding software to –"

"Wait, who's Pickerel?"

Watts stared at her for a second, and that was all it took for Ruby to use context clues to figure it out.

"Never mind. Go on." She pursed her lips. "Sorry."

His eyes narrowed. "As I was saying, I used…ugh. The finer aspects of my work would be lost on you. I have determined his most recent location with near certainty, and our trajectory will take us there." He turned back to the controls of the airship. "And our target's name is Fell Pickerel. Please try to display some professionalism, Miss Rose."


Watts wasn't very talkative for the rest of the flight, so Ruby caught up on some sleep in the passenger's seat. They arrived after a few hours of flying.

It was…kind of weird, though. They typically wanted to keep everything low key on their jobs, and Watts landed the airship right outside of the village, clearly visible to the guards on the walls. It wasn't out of the question to fly an airship in public, but that was the kind of thing that left a memory in villagers' minds, and leaving a trail was the opposite of what they wished to do.

A guard was already coming out from behind the village walls to meet them when they exited the airship. This village, whose name was not yet known to Ruby, was a small one. It was probably only a few hundred feet each way in its dimensions, enclosed by a wooden wall that was just tall enough to keep out a Beowolf. The wall itself wasn't cut but made from erected timbers, still with bark. Ruby had counted about thirty buildings in total within the set out boundaries.

"Excellent, that shall do nicely." Watts tweaked his mustache as he looked out at the wall. "Now, it is your turn, Rose. I located the village, and you shall do the rest."

She nodded.

The guard, a rather chubby woman dressed in flimsy armor who was probably the same age as Miss Goodwitch, greeted them with a friendly smile and departed her post to meet them as they disembarked. She carried with her a long spear that screamed 'civilian guard,' and bore no other implements. There was no doubt in Ruby's mind that this woman was no huntress, even if she was armed.

"Welcome tah Hibernance," she said, making no attempt to disguise or water down her rustic accent. "Are you folks from the capital?"

Ruby nodded. "Yes, we are, as a matter of fact. We're here on behalf of Haven, looking for a huntsman. We believe he recently passed through your village. Um, d-doc, do we have a picture of –"

"No need," said the woman, smiling warmly. "It were Mr. Pickerel, weren't it? He was the only huntsman who came through these parts in recent memory. Left quite a stir, that'un."

Ruby sighed in relief. "Oh, that's gr–"

"Which way?" asked Watts.

The woman's smile faltered slightly at the brusque tone of the doctor, but it didn't fall off. She raised an arm in the direction of the forests their airship was parked closest to. "H–"

Watts drew his pistol and shot her through the eye.


"What? Why?! Why did you –"

"Quite a stir," he said calmly, shaking the smoking pistol a few times and placing it back in his belt. "He told them of Salem, no doubt."

"You don't know that!" Ruby screamed, tears forming in her eyes.

Dear Gods, this was Winter all over again. A-At least for this woman, it was quick. Painless, even.

"Her grace does not like to leave loose ends. The entire purpose of our mission is to snuff out any confusion regarding her existence with extreme prejudice." At the sound of angry yelling and metal clanking from within the village, he raised an eyebrow. "And speaking of the devil…"

"Great!" Ruby shouted. "Now the village saw us! The Pickerel guy is gonna know we're onto him." She folded her arms into her chest and glared at him. "Great job ruining the mission, Arthur."

Watts didn't say anything back. The noise from within the village was getting louder. Ruby followed his eyes to the main gates, which were opening.

"Wait…"

"Our queen cannot be discovered. Even a single human being who remembers Mr. Pickerel shall be a risk to everything we wish to achieve." He looked at her calmly. "It is most fortunate that the village is made almost entirely of wood. It shall do nicely for your task."

Qrow was shaking his head from the sidelines, but Ruby ignored him and look back at the village. There was now a small garrison of fighters building up at the front. At the front was a man in matching armor to the dead woman, his back to Ruby as he gave a pep talk or maybe shouted orders to his troops.

"You can't expect me to…"

Watts let out a breath. Ruby couldn't tell if he was trying to appear impatient or understanding. "This is how her grace operates. You dealt with Rainart. You must now deal with them."

Ruby looked at the people again. Watts was watching, so there was no way to get out of this without him reporting it to Salem. Still, she couldn't do it. She couldn't just sit around and watch an entire village die.

"You already did," squawked Qrow. "Its name was Ovais, and the only difference was that you didn't have to do it yourself. So tell me, Ruby Rose – what difference does it make to the villagers whether it's you or Tyrian who kills them?"

"It makes a difference to me," Ruby said.

"Hmm?" Watts hummed. "What was that?"

"I…I don't think I can."

The mission…she'd jeopardized it for one man. Surely she could jeopardize it for an entire village.

"You rolled the dice when you freed him from Salem's clutches," Qrow pointed out. His sharp tone did nothing to quell Ruby's growing sense of nausea. "But here, there's no way you get lucky and talk your way out of it. Hazel taking the fall for what you did was a miracle, but miracles never happen twice."

Qrow flew over to her and landed in front of Watts, who was ranting about something or the other.

"Listen to me closely, pipsqueak. You know how Ozpin said that the relics and maidens could be used to end the world? He wouldn't joke about that sort of thing. Ruby, millions of people could actually die. This isn't some thought experiment – Salem is actively hunting these powers, and she's already got eyes on more than half of them. If you abandon your mission, there will be consequences. It sounds far away now, especially when you can see these villagers right in front of you, but it could really happen. Not hypothetically, not theoretically – if Salem puts these powers in the hands of someone like Cinder and tells her to let loose, a kingdom could fall…Dust, maybe multiple kingdoms. You saw what Lìxià did; you know what maidens are capable of. Sticking to absolute morals sounds great on paper, but if you end up killing or causing the deaths of more people than you save just so you can sleep at night, then you truly would be the villain Salem wants you to become. With Spring, Salem could get that relic that tells her how to find the maidens, how to find and use the other relics…look, Ruby, this isn't a game where you gamble on good luck or determination getting you through the bad spots. If you risk your cover here and fail, you don't get to shrug your shoulders and try again later. This is real, kiddo."

Ruby brushed the tears away from her eyes. She didn't want to burn down a village with its residents still inside of it, but people didn't always get what they wanted. Qrow's renewed presence in spite of the fact that Ruby had murdered him was proof enough of that.

"I'll…I'll leave you to it. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

He hopped a few times to pick up speed and flew back to the airship.

"…have to do it," said Watts, anger dripping into his voice. "I certainly can't! Rose, they're getting ready to advance upon us. Act now, or –"

"Okay, she whispered, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "Okay."

The villager battalion was now in a phalanx formation, but they lacked shields. They probably were used to skewering Grimm on those spears of theirs, not defending against huntresses, and certainly not against maidens.

Ruby held out a hand and gathered magical flames. Her arm glowed with bright golden light as the power built up. Sparks fell down from her fingertips, indicating it was almost ready to be discharged.

Watts, satisfied, pressed his arms behind his back and began to walk away from Ruby. "I'll plot our next course. Take all the time you need."

The villagers, upon seeing that she was a m̶u̶r̶d̶e̶r̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶i̶m̶a̶l̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ rogue huntress, had broken formation and fled back to within their walls, but that would only seal their fate. Their wooden shelter would be a coffin in moments' time.

Only the armored commander remained. Drawing his spear, he bravely charged towards Ruby. In any other situation, she would've been driven to tears by his unyielding courage. Today, her tears flowed for a different reason.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to herself.

Ruby buried her flaming eyes into her shoulder as the commander, the village, and any hope for her soul were burned away in the blazing jet of fire that came out of her hand.


Coming Soon – Ruby's Hunt


And now, some tips from Ruby:

Ruby's Tip #649 – Worried about bleach ruining a mixed load of white and colored laundry? Drink the bleach instead, and then you won't ever have to worry about anything again.

Ruby's Tip #707 – Suffering from a stuffy nose? See above.

Ruby's Tip #108 – Having a bad day and don't know what to do? I'll give you one guess. These problems, they really solve themselves, don't they?


Author's Notes

Plz don't drink bleach, kids.

I guess we know Qrow's (and my) stance on the trolley problem. Ruby doesn't get to be Geralt, here. This Ruby might also have something to say about canon Ruby's choices in Volumes 7-8.

As I said, Origin Story is starting to heat up. We're approaching points from which there can be no return.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!