Note: Hi all. Sorry I've been gone for so long. Nothing bad happened or anything just had some personal things going on in my life that affected my mood for writing. But now I'm back, and I'm back with a vengeance. That's because you are getting back-to-back chapter releases! This is PART 1 of a TWO-PART chapter release I'm dropping simultaneously, so if you are reading from here, excellent! I know last time I left on a pretty nasty cliffhanger, so let's not wait any longer. Enjoy.

Penny once called Ruby a friend.

It was a strange word. They weren't friends, not by a long shot. In nearly every one of their encounters, Penny had openly attacked them or threatened to attack them, or ruined their plans. On a general note, anyone who unquestionably served Ironwood was no friend to her. Yet, Penny seemed so casual when saying it, as if it was already decided upon. Perhaps she was just seeing into the future, looking for the best-case scenario. An ignorant scenario, obviously. They would never, ever be friends, even in the best of times. Ruby's circle of trust was small. The stakes were too high. But Ruby did wonder, just to what extent could they get close. Penny, on the surface, was a nice girl. She was forthcoming and brave, and she was always happy about something, even if the situation didn't call for it. Penny followed them on their mission because she wanted to get to know them better, among other reasons. There had to have been something there worthwhile, some part of her that wasn't just the Living Weapon.

Could they have been friends? Admittedly, Ruby never gave it a chance. She thought once she would never be friends with Weiss, and look how that turned out. She loved Weiss. Hell, look at Blake. Blake tried to kill her, and she still cared about her. Maybe it was wrong to put limitations on who she looked out for. Penny was forthcoming. Brave. Happy. Those were good traits in a young woman. She was sometimes ignorant, and prideful, and impulsive, but they could be smoothed over. A part of Ruby's brain, a foolish part that had never fully matured from her early school days, believed that she should find the best in everyone. Maybe, if she worked hard enough, yeah, someday, they could have been friends.

Ruby's hand clasped tightly over her mouth. Hot tears dripped over her knuckles. It was impossible to scream.

The body of Penny lay motionless, and silently, though Ruby didn't believe in higher powers, she prayed that something would will it to move once more. She needed to see some flicker of life within her, or at least she needed some force to rip her out of this nightmare and back into her bed, plunged into a calming reality. But of course, nothing came for her. There was nothing she could do but see the undeniable in front of her. The stream of black fluid continued leaking out from the remains of Penny's face. Her uniform, once so pristine and sharp, was in tatters. That smile, both cocky and infectious, would never shine again.

It was the first time she had seen someone die in front of her since…

"Fuck. Fuck."

Yang seethed next to her, unable or unwilling to see the damage. She already knew how screwed they were, but the absolute terror of their situation became very, very real at that moment. She dug her fingers into her hair and pressed herself against the wall, both to make herself seem small and to stop herself from doing anything sudden that she would regret. There was no more room for games.

Miltia's laughter was chaotic, a wheezing cackle that she couldn't keep control of. She stumbled backward, the assault rifle swinging loosely from her fingers, threatening to fire once more. Dull shadows danced across her face from the lone, dangling lightbulb. Melanie stared at her sister with wide eyes, not filled with horror, but frustration.

"Miltia, what the hell?" she cried out. "Why did you do that?"

"Ha! She never even saw it coming!" Miltia explained, pointing at Penny's corpse. "She wasn't expecting that, huh?"

Melanie growled, throwing her arms down by her side. "And what are we supposed to do with her now, dumbass? We can't play with her if she's dead!"

Miltia's tongue flopped out of her mouth like a dog's. "But… but sis… wasn't that funny? She was like, 'blah blah blah', and then I went, wham! Ha ha—"

The twin's laughter was silenced when Melanie struck her hard in the face. Miltia's knees buckled and she fell, rubbing her wounded cheek as her elder sister lectured her.

"This is why I don't let you play with anyone! You have no impulse control! You're such a child."

Miltia spit something out of her mouth, then snapped back to her feet to face off against her sister. "Oh, please! At least I got to have some fun! I bet you would have just hogged her all to yourself."

"Would not!"

"Would too!"

"This is why Mama never puts you in charge of anything!"

Yang felt her fury bubbling over. Her schoolmate was dead, her body wasn't even cold, and these heartless monsters had already moved on to bickering with each other. Nothing mattered to them, not the least the endless blood that was on their hands. It took every ounce of restraint to stop herself from lunging at them. The only thing keeping her at bay was her desire to protect Ruby from this nightmare, and the awful knowledge she couldn't do that if she was dead.

But once she got out of here—god, once she got that collar off, those cunts would suffer like no one else.

"Ugh! Screw this!" Melanie groaned and stamped her foot. "You are going to take her upstairs and strip her for parts."

Miltia pouted. "But I—"

"I'm in charge!" Melanie stated. "You made this mess, so you clean it up! I don't give a shit. I am going to call Mama and try to explain to her that we are holding the most famous Huntress team in the world hostage."

Miltia grumbled something under her breath that her sister could not hear, but whatever protestations she had weren't strong enough to stop her from following orders. With a reluctant huff, she shoved her rifle into Melanie's arms and approached the task of maneuvering the disfigured body out of the basement. She awkwardly huddled over Penny's body, took one long look at the fluid oozing from its face, and turned up her nose. "Gross." Keeping her eyes peeled away from the body, she hoisted it up by the arms, struggling as the metal frame was far heavier than she anticipated. Using her Aura to support her, she managed to throw Penny over her shoulder, and slowly, lagging, marched up the stairs with her corpse in tow, ready to dissect her latest kill. Ruby nearly lost control of the rest of herself when she saw Penny dragged around, and only held onto the last of her sanity by accident; when Penny's body was turned toward her, some part of Ruby's mind forced her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to look at her face.

There was a brief flash of bright light when Miltia carried Penny away; the dim halls of the apartment complex seemed heavenly compared to their damp prison. The reprieve was a brief one. Within moments, the door was shut, and they were alone. Melanie casually lifted the rifle with one hand, only gesturing to her captors with it.

"Ugh, sisters are the worst, aren't they?" she said with a roll of her eyes. "Aren't you two like sisters or cousins or something?"

Melanie didn't get an answer. Ruby was frozen, breathing heavily into her palm as she shuddered through her tears. Whatever horrors surged through her thoughts were beyond the sadistic twin. However, what caught Melanie's attention and piqued her interest was Yang, as it only just became obvious how desperately she wanted to attack her.

"Oh, Blondie? Wanna say something?"

Yang's fingers dug into her scalp. Her teeth scraped together.

"Yeah, you wanna do something don't you?" Melanie's eyes widened and she licked her bottom lip. She took a light step forward, gaze running up and down Yang's figure. "Want to throw a punch? Come on. It's okay. I'll let you get one free hit in. It'll feel really good." Melanie walked straight up to Yang, close enough to breathe down the back of her neck. She jutted the barrel of her gun forward and poked Yang in the back. Yang recoiled at the touch, and Melanie's interest only deepened. There was a subtle switch in her behavior as if the limits of her depravity were no longer being repressed. She was drawing from that deeper part of herself, the part that for all of her attestations to the contrary, was just as vile and immature as her sister. The part of herself that could stain a white dress red with another's blood.

And Yang just sat there, trying to hold herself together.

"Do it."

Poke.

"Hit me."

Poke.

"Or what if I do this?" Melanie reached down and ran her fingers through Yang's hair, and the dragon held back her roar. Don't fight back. No matter what. Don't provoke her.

"L-Leave her alone…"

Yang's heart skipped a beat. Of course, Ruby was watching her being toyed with. She didn't deserve to see her like that…

"Ooh, you want to join?" Melanie laughed. Ruby tried to summon her courage, but all that came out were weak, hot tears. Melanie spun on her bladed heel and skipped back to the center of the room. "Oh, I have a better idea. Why don't you try to grab this?"

There was a distinct spark of joy in Melanie's voice as she threw her rifle at her feet, letting it splash in the tainted puddle. Melanie curled her finger, beckoning Ruby toward her as the child's silver eyes trained themselves on the weapon.

"What… what are you—"

"Go on. Take it," Melanie insisted. "I know you want to. Grab it. Kill me. Escape."

Ruby stared at the weapon in silence. Melanie's smile widened.

"You don't want to kill me? My sister just killed your friend. She blew her brains out all over this room with that gun. Return the favor."

Melanie held her arms out by her side. She was exposed. Vulnerable.

For just a second.

She was giving Ruby everything she wanted, and enjoying every goddamn second of it.

Ruby couldn't look away from the gun. That gun. It wouldn't work, obviously. She couldn't grab the gun before Melanie without her Semblance. Without Aura, she wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. And it was so clear from the grin on the twin's face that the instant Ruby made a move she was going to do something terrible. But at that moment, the part of Ruby's brain that would tell her these things stopped working. So did the parts that monitored her inhibitions, and her sorrow, and even her guilt. The only part left of her saw one of the women responsible for the death of her schoolmate taunting her, and that part told her, without question, to grab that fucking gun.

So, she lunged… and immediately, Yang reached out and held her back, hugging her closely by her waist.

Ruby struggled. She screamed. She cried. But even without Aura, Yang was stronger than her, and she kept Ruby safe against her younger sister's wishes.

"No, Ruby," Yang pleaded. "Don't… just don't…"

Melanie just laughed at the struggling sisters, watching Ruby desperately paw the air in front of her, aiming for the gun that was just too far from her reach. The tease was satisfactory, and Melanie calmly picked up the rifle and slung it over her shoulder.

"Aww, too bad. Guess you didn't care about your friend that much. Shame." Melanie skipped up the creaking stairs, waving to her captors as she abandoned them in the darkness. "Later, losers!"

There was another brief ray of light as the door opened. Melanie stepped into its radiance, and for one final time, Ruby tried to break free from her sister's hold. She tried turning on her Semblance, scratching, sprinting—but Yang held her firm, unwilling to let go. It took most of Yang's strength to restrain her, but her efforts were fruitful. Melanie slammed the metal door hard, and finally, after enduring so much, they were safe from the twin's tormented whims… at least for the moment.

Yang relaxed her grip, and that was all it took for Ruby to collapse. She fell onto her hands and knees, the sobs overtaking her.

"Oh my god… oh my god…"

Yang hurried to her sister's side, but Ruby refused to look at her. Every one of her pathetic mistakes came to haunt her, and when Yang touched her, she recoiled and shrunk inward, incapable of forming a coherent thought.

"Ruby, please—"

"This is my fault," Ruby gasped, her tears flowing freely. "This is all my fault."

"No, Ruby, no," Yang insisted. "This isn't your fault. It's no one's fault."

"I brought h-h-her here. I could have s-stopped her. I could have…"

"Ruby!" Yang forcefully grabbed onto Ruby's shoulders and tried shaking sense into her. She wanted to be comforting, assuring, everything a big sister could be, but she had just watched her classmate killed in front of her, another body onto the pile that she herself created. She didn't have time for comfort. She was in pure survival mode. "Ruby, you need to focus. We have to stay strong if we are going to get out of this."

"But I—"

"But nothing!" Yang shouted. The muscles in her neck tensed. Was the collar working its horrors already? "Penny is… look, we are alive, okay? We can still get out of this. But blaming yourself isn't going to help us right now, so I need you to toughen up and get your head together. Can you do that?"

Ruby did not stop shuddering. She didn't remember the last time she felt this… this helpless. That brave young woman that stared down a Grimm and challenged the Headmaster of Atlas Academy was shrunken, and in its place was the same worthless creature that sat idly by as her friends fought to the death, that recoiled at the slightest sight of blood and gave up her dreams at the slightest provocation. And yes, despite everything Yang said, this was her fault. Yang may have encouraged their visit to Neo, and Penny might have rushed into danger, but at its root, her obsession with her mother led them into hell. She let herself become distracted, which led directly to their capture. There was no escaping that. Now, she was once more surrounded by death, left to watch those she cared about taken away from her.

Those she cared about…

And that, to some degree, sparked something in her. Penny's smile still haunted her mind, but something else seeped in, clawing out her guilt and replacing it with fear.

She told Weiss where they were. She flat-out said the address. If Weiss brought Winter and Blake with her, they could be formidable. But knowing Weiss's protective instinct, she wouldn't wait for her teammates to get their weapons. She would rush in blind, determined to rescue Ruby at all costs. She would come alone, and alone, Ruby didn't like her chances.

Weiss was going to die because of her.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Yang," Ruby choked out. "I'm sorry I—"

"Ruby. Please," Yang said quietly. Only then did Ruby notice just how much Yang was struggling to hold back tears of her own.

"Never listens to me… never fucking listens to me."

The back of the taxi cab was hardly a place to ready oneself for battle, but Weiss made due. She had stripped off her heels and tied back her hair. She removed all of her jewelry and shoved it into her purse, leaving nothing loose of dangling behind. She even, much to her chagrin, ripped a large tear into her dress so that she could properly move her legs without falling over. And all the while, she bitterly mumbled and grumbled and cursed to herself about how much she fucking hated the love of her life.

"Don't talk to Neo, I said. I'll be fine, she says. When I see her, I swear to the Gods I'm tearing her fucking head off. I'm going to take her stupid, stupid, cute, and stupid little face and I'm going to fuck it up…"

The taxi driver wasn't listening. She didn't care if he was listening. She was barely focusing on her surroundings. Fuck, she could have been driven into the middle of the ocean for all she was paying attention to. The only thing she noticed was the unrelenting hatred flowing through her. She needed to punch something incredibly hard. Preferably Penny, because that dumb fucking ginger decided to actively endanger the life of the greatest woman she ever knew, and that was fucking bullshit. Or Yang. She could definitely hit Yang. She never got to hit Yang when she lost her mind. This fucking bullshit could clearly make up for that. And of course, if anyone ever hit Ruby, she would hit them, too. And break their spines. And cut off their legs. And feed them to dogs. And blast them into the sun. And burn down their houses. All of those things.

Because if a single fucking hair on Ruby's fucking head was damaged, she swore she would—

The cab suddenly screeched to a halt, and Weiss, unbuckled, slammed into the seat in front of her. She bounced off it, and rolled onto the floor, growling in frustration.

"Hey, what the fuck—"

"This is as far as I go," the cab driver said bluntly. Weiss, still annoyed, nevertheless quickly opened the door, grabbed her belongings, and scurried out into the winter air. What she saw, however, was not the street that Ruby had warned her about. Instead, she found herself standing at the edge of 6th Borough Cross, the boundary to Gotral and the edge of the Faunus town. Behind her, the lights and glamor of the City of Vale faded into sweet silence; in front of her, she saw a neighborhood that had gone untouched by a healing hand for many years. Weiss furrowed her brow and angrily banged on the driver's window.

"What gives?" she asked. "You're supposed to take me to Hennig Street."

"What part of 'This is as far as I go' did you not get?" the driver stated. "I don't drive into the animal pen, not at night anyway. Not looking to get my cab stolen."

"You want me to walk by myself? Are you crazy?" Weiss yelled at him. "This is an emergency."

"Lady, if I were you, I'd stop drawing attention to myself," said the driver. "The way you're dressed, you shouldn't even be entering this part of town at all. Anyway, that's fifteen Lien."

The driver held out his palm, and after letting out an exasperated gasp, Weiss stormed away, marching barefoot into Gotral on her own accord. The driver hollered behind her for his money, but she ignored him, and after a minute of him calling her every sexist slur he could think of, he finally gave up and went back into Vale. Weiss just walked with purpose, every step sending shudders of cold and pain up to her spine. As the streets became darker and quieter, she just pressed forward. If she had to march into battle all by herself in the middle of the most dangerous part of the city, then she guessed she would have to do that.

She stopped suddenly, examining her surroundings. Ruins. She stood amidst a town of ruins.

Well, maybe not quite. There were a few young Faunus walking down the street away from her, seemingly enjoying their time together. There was faint, soulful music coming from an old record player in an apartment not too far away. There was some decay, yes, but also paintings, bright and vibrant and proud, plastered to many of the brick walls that created the district around her. Weiss took in a deep breath, taking in the winter air. The things that driver said—it wasn't lost on her that just a few months ago, she would have been spitting the same crude, racist drivel. She would have condemned this part of the City and all within it to a cold and miserable life, assuredly self-deserved and guilt-free. Just remembering those ideas put a bitter taste on her tongue. Even if the driver was true about the town being dangerous, she wondered what Blake would say to her if she was standing there. Something like:

"Yeah, of course, people turn to crime when it's the only consistent way to make a living. Hard to be a good person when everyone abandons you."

Weiss shuddered. She really needed to apologize to Blake again. For a lot of things. Or maybe she was just wishing she remembered to bring a jacket.

The cold was hardly her biggest concern. Her toes curled as she felt them growing numb with each passing second. The metal sewn deep into her flesh grew rigid in the freezing air. Ruby was in trouble, and it was becoming more and more apparent that she wasn't going to be able to sprint across the whole borough. She needed a faster means of transport. Another taxi? No, she couldn't trust that. She needed something more… reliable.

Weiss smirked. The answer seemed very obvious. She walked into the middle of the street and looked around. No cars. No pedestrians. Nothing she would accidentally squish. She closed her eyes, squared her feet, rolled back her head, widened her diaphragm, and focused. She raised her arms out in front of her. Focus. Feel the power. Focus.

A tremendous flash of light. A crackling of thunder. And then, when she opened her eyes, she saw it before her: the great, golden toad was three stories tall, staring at her obediently with its beady, black eyes. She walked up to its maw and lightly petted it. Its skin was smooth like crystal. Its croak was closer to a purr.

"Hello, George."

Weiss proceeded to climb the great toad's back, and after some effort, she reached the top and stared out at the Borough from her new vantage point. Riding atop a gigantic frog to rescue her girlfriend from a bunch of deranged criminals? It wasn't exactly how she planned on her evening going, or her life. It was, in fact, patently absurd. But, she did recall stories from her youth of brave knights riding into battle on their noble steeds, rescuing fair maidens from terrible dragons. They were tales of bravery and heroics, and while she wasn't as inspired by those fairy tales as Ruby, she still found them endearing. This? This was basically the same thing. She could tell herself that at least.

She knelt down on George's back, steadying herself on the smooth surface, and smirked. "Come on. We've got three idiots to rescue."

The toad heard her command. Then, leaped into the air, bounding down the empty street with its master riding atop it.

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Would you like to start again?

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Hello, Mr. Blacksmith.

It is good to see you again.

I've had the most awful day.