The dark creature standing over her, eyes red with rage, tentacles squirming behind its razor sharp fangs.

Penny stared out at the city below them as it was smothered by a thick blanket of white. Her mind was on the past.

The beast, stalking the city in search of someone to devour. The long claws hidden under shaggy fur. Its body black as the void.

She knew there were casualties. A lot of people had not survived when the parasites began to fall from space. There was credence to the idea that they were responsible for the monsters Ruby and Neo had fought.

Black wings covering up the sky. Yellow eyes staring down at everything. A snarling fiend reaching down and plucking innocents off the street.

If only the memories weren't so corrupted... Penny knew that backups of her memory would be in the vault beneath her father's workshop. With Ruby and Neo's help, the last guardians of the city would be able to find a way to defeat these monsters. Maybe the rest of the world was still alive. Maybe even Atlas held living people, survivors. She felt a twinge as her voice box shorted again. Tapping it to jostle the loose parts back into place, Penny turned to see Ruby resting on the side of the hole in the tower roof. Neo had dove under the water to maybe find out what was wrong with the power plant. The power was on, the lights were up, but no power was going to the rest of the city.

Was it Grimm? General Ironwood hadn't known. Winter hadn't known. No one seemed to know.

"Ruby..."

Ruby opened her eyes. "Mmm?"

"The parasites. They aren't Grimm, I think, but is it possible they are related somehow?"

"What do you mean?"

"I remember what you told us about Salem, and the two brothers. How the God of Destruction created the Grimm, and Salem used them after their creator left. Well, I was thinking, that was a long time ago. Is it possible... that he made something else?"

Neo appeared in the water, grabbing onto the edge of the roof and pulling herself up, resting on the short wall that ringed the tower roof. A cloud of white came out of her mouth as her breath, warm from the water, met the frigid air around them. She shivered, then relaxed. Ruby let go of the edge of their little pool with one hand, reaching across to Neo while keeping her metal arm on the roof, its weight alone keeping her from sliding off and sinking again. She put her hand on Neo's back, running her fingers up to Neo's neck. Neo let out a small sigh of satisfaction.

Ruby smiled to Penny. "No, I don't think so. They stopped caring about Remnant back then. They have no reason to return here."

"If you say so..." Penny turned her attention back to the frozen city before her.

Neo joined her in looking out over the city. It was beautiful, in a way. Frosty and quiet, peaceful. A sleepy town, empty of misery or greed. There were no people there anymore, so there was no one to feel the grief or malice that came with the human condition. It was almost perfect. If it was maybe a little warmer overall, not even necessarily above freezing, it would be just about the perfect place. If only there were not so many monsters still wandering around. She narrowed her eyes at one spot in the distance, where there was movement. There they were. The monsters. She'd never seen one at such a distance before. It didn't feel so dangerous from so far away.

Pointing out over the city, Neo drew the attention of the other two. "There's one there. What is it?"

Ruby swung her metal arm over her head and clamped onto the edge of the roof, excited to see this monster from a safe distance. "Where, where is it?" She followed Neo's outstretched arm to where the movement was. She felt her heart sink. It was bigger than the ones they'd already faced. Much bigger.

It was far away enough that it appeared as only a tiny creature to them now, but she could see the buildings it was walking around. From what she could tell, it was some kind of snake, but its movements were unusual. It was moving forward with none of the smooth motion of a serpent, and all of the jerky jittering of something that had feet, and on top of that its tail was held up in the air behind it, swinging back and forth just over the rooftops of the buildings. Ruby was about to remark how strange this was, when the creature turned away from them and crawled over the far side of the street. It had legs. Eight long spider-like legs. And two huge claws reaching out front. She could also see now that the tail ended in a stinger, making the whole thing look like a viper's head on a scorpion's body.

"I wonder if that's Tyrian."

Ruby was surprised to hear Neo say that, but after looking out at the creature for a few more moments, she had to agree. "That's a good guess. Well, at least that's one person I won't feel bad about forgetting."

"Caw!"

The three of them turned around to see a small bird standing on the roof behind them, staring at them with its red eyes.

After taking a second to realize what they were seeing, Ruby covered herself. "That better not be you, Uncle Qrow!"

The bird answered her accusation by hopping into the water with them.

Neo started scrambling to escape the water. "Shit, it's probably got one of those parasites! Ruby! Get out!"

Under the surface, Ruby watched as a black cloud spread out from where the bird had entered the water. Dark smoky wisps trailed through the water, reaching out towards her. Neo's panicked urging suddenly registered, and she almost pulled herself over the edge of the tower to escape before the creature reared its head out of the water. Long wet black hair arced up and behind the face of the familiar woman, spraying Ruby and Neo with water. She shook her head wildly, sending more water flying around, then leaned back against the edge of the hole in the roof, reclining in the warm water.

"You three make a lot of noise."

Neo slowly lowered herself back into the water. She wasn't sure if this person was more or less dangerous to them than another parasite, but she didn't exactly want to be exposing herself anymore. She looked to Ruby, then to Penny. "Did you... know she was here?"

Penny stared at Raven for several seconds, then shook her head. "I didn't know. I did suspect, however."

Ruby just glared at the woman. "Where's Yang?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Like I would know."

"Doesn't your semblance open portals to people you're close with?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at the newcomer. "Uncle Qrow. Dad. Yang. Was there anyone else?"

"If you must know, I was in Patch when the parasites started raining down, and I had to fly here because I can't reach my brother or Ya- ...your sister." Her expression softened and she looked away. "I was worried about them too." She frowned. "But I've determined they must have died. So... so I don't have a lot of family left. That's why I'm here. Because you're just about the only family I have now. Got it? Not because I like you or anything, I don't."

Neo coughed. "TSUNdere" She rubbed her nose casually. "Sorry, it's cold out."

Penny's voice crackled and she added, "Ge-tsun-dheit."

Ruby ignored them. "Wait, so you can still reach my dad? That means he's okay, right?"

"No." Raven shook her head. "I can't reach him either. All the connections I could make before this started have been cut. The only one I can open now is one that has been closed... for a very long time."

"You mean Summer."

Raven eyed Ruby suspiciously. "You catch on quick. Too quick." She sighed. "Yes, when we were back in school together, I made a connection with your mother. I didn't actually ever tell Tai or Qrow about that, and after it was cut, there wasn't a reason to think about it again. That is, until I was desperate and alone. I tried the others over and over again, with zero results. So I tried Summer, and wouldn't you know it, it worked. I didn't want to step through while I was alone and end up trapped somewhere, so I closed it again." She narrowed her eyes at Ruby, this time with much more danger lurking behind her gaze. "Which brings me to you. That happened a very long time ago."

Ruby cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean? How long has it been?"

"Long enough that you shouldn't still look like a teenager."

Ruby pointed an accusing finger at Raven. "You don't look all that old yourself, you know?"

"Yes, well, being a Maiden has its perks. And its drawbacks. For example, watching everyone around you grow old and die while you don't change one bit." She looked over Ruby again. "Maybe you're one of them. Summer or Fall?" She looked at Neo like she was considering stepping on a bug. "You too. You should have died a long time ago."

"We're not Maidens, Raven. We woke up here, in Mantle, around a month ago."

Ruby nodded in agreement with Neo. "What she said. Last thing I remember before waking up in the snow is running around trying to save people with my team." She leaned across the pool toward Raven. "Why? How old should I be?"

She went quiet, looking Ruby in the eye. Raven was studying the girl in front of her, trying to determine if what she was seeing right now was real, or if something else was going on that she didn't yet understand. Eventually, slowly, she growled at Ruby, telling her to back out of her face before she got bit. When Ruby did back off, Raven finally answered. "Probably as old as you are. You can't be the same Ruby I met back then." She pointed to Neo. "And you shouldn't be talking."

"Fuck you." Neo snapped back.

Ruby cut back in. "What do you mean? The same Ruby? I'm- there's only one Ruby Rose. One. Me."

Raven looked away. "Pfft, there's more than one. At least you're the more interesting one." She laughed at her own joke, which fell completely flat with the others. Clearing her throat, Raven continued. "Anyway, I'm not sure how long it's been since the parasites first came down, but it's been long enough that there shouldn't be anyone left besides the Maidens."

"You mean from back then, or there's no one left on Remnant altogether?"

"Uh..." Raven leaned her head back and thought about Ruby's question. She shrugged. "I guess there could still be people alive out there. I'm sure it's been a few hundred years at least."

"You're joking, right?" Ruby deadpanned.

"No, I'm not. Don't worry about it though. You're either a clone or a robot or from another dimension or something."

"That's some sci-fi bullshit right there." Neo shot across at Raven. "We're not robots, that much is obvious, and if we were clones we wouldn't remember everything we do."

"Another dimension it is, then." Raven discarded Neo's objection out of hand. "If you're not one of those, and you're not Maidens, then you have to come from some other Remnant. Which I have to assume is possible somehow, because there's no other explanation I can think of for how I can connect with Summer again after all this time."

Ruby mulled it over. "Another dimension... like a whole other universe? That's..." She suddenly looked up at Neo. "If this isn't our Remnant, and our Remnant is out there somewhere else, that means everyone there is still alive! Our friends are still alive!"

"Your friends, Ruby." Neo said sadly. "Ruby, my friends aren't still alive. My... friend... Do you remember when the parasites fell from the sky?" Ruby shook her head. Neo continued before Ruby could say something. "Well I do. I think... I think this is my Remnant. But if it's possible that you're from another Remnant... well, you're right. Your friends and family are probably still back there waiting for you."

"Well... no, but... if that's the case, then how are you still alive?"

"Ruby, I remember things that happened here. I don't remember how I got in that bed where you found me, but I remember a lot before that. Things you didn't see. I'm... I'm probably the Fall Maiden, now that I think about it. If something happened to Cinder, then it could be that she thought of me before she died. I assume just offhand, but still... I'm pretty sure this is my world, but not yours."

"Things have been pretty chaotic up here for a long time." Raven addressed Neo. "If you are one of the Maidens, you'd have to have been frozen solid or something. That might explain why you don't remember anything between then and now." She looked back to Ruby. "As for you, you've done pretty well to have gotten this far as intact as you are. If Neo is the Fall Maiden now, and you aren't the Summer Maiden, that means I probably have a direct line to the real Summer Maiden." She pulled herself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool. "The three of us should go find Summer, and maybe, with all four Maidens, we can finally fix this world. You should stay out of trouble, and we'll figure out a way to send you home once we're done."

Standing up, Penny approached the water's edge. "You can say that, and maybe we can do that, but I need repairs before we try anything like that. For now, nothing's changed. We open my father's vault. Which means we turn on the city's power."

Everyone agreed, including Ruby, but she couldn't help but feel like there was something else they were missing. Perhaps it had really been hundreds of years like Raven said, but if so, how was there still good food down in Mantle? How was this power plant still running? How had these buildings, after hundreds of years facing the elements without upkeep, stayed standing and in such good condition? Clothes and toys and bottled water still sat where they were left all that time ago, looking like it had only been yesterday. Something was not adding up in Ruby's mind. The only choice was to keep moving forward, and hope they would find answers.