Jay opened his eyes Ruby, who stared down at him wearing a blank, piercing expression. Under a grody sky, she monopolized his field of vision, cutting out most of what lay around them. Unruly flaps of hair stagnantly framed her face, defying gravity's pull while glistening within smoke which lingered loosely around her. She leaned back, her eyes glowing - but not the silver they should.

A magenta sheen ate its way from behind those familiar rings, not wholly red like Salem's, but somehow even farther from human.

This wasn't Ruby.

This was something else.

"You're not very good at this," it said, leaning back as Jay was pulled up by no one. The world turned around him; he didn't move an inch, but everything bent into place, leaving him standing. "You haven't killed her yet."

"Do I really need to?"

"Don't you want to save this world?"

"How will killing her fix anything?" The Brother Gods had damned Remnant personally. Humanity would never unite in a satisfying fashion, as their view of unity was so skewed that even they couldn't uphold it. One little girl fumbling the fall of nations meant nothing when the planet would be charred in five measly years.

The effort would be for nothing... but this thing didn't seem to agree.

Two sets of eyelids blinked, criss-crossing over top of one another. Silver encompassed the previous glow, masking it once more, and Jay watched as Ruby's body whipped: rag-dolled by her own head into smoothly gliding circles around him. Out of sight, her irregular breathing spread across the nape of his neck, unnatural in frequency.

Jay hadn't realized he'd stopped breathing until a sharp inhale broke the white noise, filling out his chest.

"Without her influence, Ozma will face no scrutiny." Fingers took his chin, their sharpened nails pinching and spinning his head around, drawing his quivering eyes back into its own, before they released him and it slowly drifted away. Ruby spun away from him "He will continue to fend off Salem flawlessly."

"You're wrong." Jay's lips faced a swell of pins and needles. Though the bottom one trembled, he knew he was right. Despite the way the world faded around it, and rabid shadows carpeted the land, Jay knew it would not lash out. It needed him; his presence here proved that much at least. "Cinder gets the Maiden Powers whether Ruby's involved or not."

"Ruby hands Death the world on a silver platter." Jay's body locked up all on its own, and while fear was far from new, the raw emptiness in its tone made the open sky feel cramped when compared. Any second now, he expected his soul to be sucked out through his throat; drawn into its hollow shell. "But you can change that. You have power: the drive and righteousness no other can master. You can kill her. You must."

Ruby zipped up before his face, and their noses touched, but only one breathed; doing so entirely wrong.

"Had she known her fate, she'd be begging for it. Don't make her live through what's to come. Spare her the heartbreak."

"I…"

"Then allow me to make things easier. She touched you, after all." The world began to melt into a rapidly growing sea of tar.

"What?" Who touched him?

"Don't worry. I'll be with you every step of the way~"

.

.

"Huh…" Mercury flipped the body over his shoulder, eyes leaving the skirt next to his face. "He really is a dude."

A shudder went through Emerald's skin, but for the sake of keeping them on track, she refrained from commenting as Mercury rubbed his free hand over his pant leg; still choosing to slap their target's ass before snapping into a finger gun and winking at her. While Emerald may have a knack for recognising people of similar tastes, she knew for a fact the only thing guiding Mercury's mind was a blatant curiosity.

Rampant sexual harassment aside, she took to wondering when exactly Jay would wake up. Not that they were in a rush, but they had to at least make it to a safehouse before he stirred; it would be too much of a hassle having to explain why there were scarlet sprinkles dotting her face and chest.

At least Mercury always pulled through when it counted, but at the same time, he really should have warned her. Truthfully, she knew it was her own fault - she trapped her wrist by choice to make sure their mark couldn't dodge.

"Do you really think he'll be as useful as Cindy says?"

"She brought you in, didn't she?"

That put a smile on the idiot's face.

"I knew you liked me."

"I was thinking more along the lines that she could make any bozo work." Emerald shot a quick wink back. "But sure. Let's go with that."

The raspberry to follow had her chuckling under her breath; and like all fools, he dug himself into a ditch. No one could really call out how useful Jay would be, but he had a few tricks in his pocket that, according to Cinder, raised him above even some huntsmen. For what he lacked in skill, courage, intent, and a whole lot of other areas, he somewhat made up for with potential alone. Cinder was happy at least, and that was reason enough to fall in with the job.

That twisted smile of hers was everything Emerald lived for; screwing over the world was a close second.

Most news crews and cops were more preoccupied with the burning building being accosted by Cinder's mob, and it showed when the officer cars that should have been on the way were instead making up excess roadblocks all across the streets - several of which didn't need to be cut off. That was the official excuse though, and to ensure nobody got in the way of the raid, Cinder had called in some of the blue-collared vultures within her nest to make sure no one came even close.

Roman must be having a field day. He should be happy that Cinder wasn't making him raid any more shops. Oh who was she kidding? He'd be begging for dust raids for weeks to come.

Skipping between the rooftops, the act itself a second nature of sorts, they passed over several cluttered crowds, all of which carried cameras and were snapping picks at every roadblock around. It wasn't the craziest sight, but the sheer number of blockades would surely make headlines.

If it kept them from looking up, Emerald figured the media could grab as many pictures as they liked.

The trio came upon a small, rundown building a little ways away from Junior's, and as they had many times before, dipped inside through the rooftop latch. Cinder stationed multiple haunts within key points around the city, mostly just to keep supplies nearby for if things went sour; a habit that proved itself more than useful. Not all that lavish, and without heat or water, the rundown shop at least carried a spare change of clothes and provided a decent vantage point.

Disgusted and knowing they wouldn't have time to reach a place with running water, Emerald nevertheless stripped. Mercury whistled from behind, right as she was rubbing the last remnants of blood from her chin.

"Feeling fresh tonight, I see~"

A wad of dirty clothes slapped him across the face, and while most of it fell off undeterred, her pants remained stuck in his hair. It did nothing to wipe away his smirk, but it shut him up. She finished redressing before he could cast it aside.

"Okay, now we're ready to go."

"So how are we doing this?" Mercury slapped Jay atop the dirty mattress beside the window, peering between the boards to the streets below.

"We want him to know it was us who saved him." Cinder made that point excessively clear over call: Jay needed to believe he owed them. "So I'm thinking we get as close as we can to Junior's and wait for him to wake up."

"Should we toss him in the mud beforehand?" Mercury backed away from the window, choosing to lean against the wall with his arms crossed and head dipped gently. "Say we saw him being dragged off by some shifty weirdo?"

"It'll give us a reference point." Jay would have no reason not to believe them. Slipping on a cheeky smirk, Emerald shot a look over Jay's unconscious face. "Sure. Sounds good."

"Okay, but what about Cindy?" Mercury's eyes narrowed, and while his scowl would normally tick her off, she quickly let it slide. "Should we check if she wants in?"

Emerald already had her scroll out, and Mercury settled back against the wall, spitting out a breath.

"I guess that answers my question."

.

.

"Gah!" Ruby's clenched fists slammed down on the library table, eliciting a harsh shush from the librarian beyond the shelves, and some shifty eyes from her teammates as they sat back down. Lowering her volume, Ruby took on an almost gravelly tone; teeth grinding together. "How much longer do we have to wait?"

"I'm sure she'll be back soon," said Weiss, reaching over to lay her hand over top of Ruby's. Gliding her fingers into place, she linked them together, although the motions felt foreign to her. "Your sister is anything if not hard headed."

"More like hot headed." Ruby proceeded to grumble, sinking into her seat. "I could have helped too."

"She wanted to go it alone." Blake pulled in both faces, scrolling along her scroll's feed. "It won't be fair for us to jump in."

"But why?" Ruby's apt anger began to dissipate, making way for something far smaller. The thought of Yang being alone with Jay had her quaking under her arms who half-shielded her face. "She could have taken you or Weiss; not just me."

Weiss wanted to sigh when Ruby pulled her hand away to sulk, she really did, but she couldn't bring herself to tank her leader's morale even further. Sometimes, Ruby's optimism and straightforward outlook on the world could venture down more than one or two roads. But even so, it granted her the power to show kindness and mercy in more places than one, and while Weiss didn't fully agree with some of those decisions, she would rather have a leader willing to always do the right thing.

As opposed to one focused on success.

"You trust your sister, don't you?" Blake, through that alone, sent Ruby into a swirl.

"Of course I do!"

Another shush, which went ignored by both; Weiss flinched.

"Then why are you so worried?"

"What?" Blake didn't even look to see Ruby's flushing cheeks, she just continued to scroll.

"Hasn't Yang been to a number of clubs before."

"Yeah…"

"And were you ever worried then?"

"Not really…"

"So what's the problem here?"

Ruby appeared to fumble with her fingers as her lips pushed together tightly; her posture straightening next. It already wasn't like her to worry, usually being the more go-get-them type of gal. It was almost distressing how the seconds stretched on without a peep. Somehow, she powered through; not with the answer they wanted, but instead a question.

"Do you think she still hates him?"

Oh... Oh no. The tiny pinpricks along the corners of her eyes made Weiss want to scoop up her unsteady leader. Instead, Weiss refrained, letting Ruby mumble on.

"I know she said she doesn't, but..." Shaking her head, Ruby struggled to put it into perspective. "She says a lot of things, and... a lot of the time she doesn't mean them."

"Do you think this is one of those times?" Blake peeked from beyond the screen; Weiss only caught it because the scrolling momentarily lingered on a single spot.

"No... I mean, probably not."

A stretch of silence fell between the three, perhaps to the relief of the librarian's throat, and Blake's scrolling officially ended when her eyes stretched too wide, before dulling back down to their ordinary radiance. She closed up the device, giving Ruby her full undivided attention. Weiss felt the often quieter girl's leg grace hers, most likely on its way to cross over the other underneath the table, and watched intrigued as Blake rested her hands together flat before her.

"What's really wrong?" Even Blake seemed to pick up on Ruby's unusual behavior. Not since their arguments over Jay's introduction into their lives had Ruby been so overtly upset.

"I have a bad feeling." That wasn't something she usually said. "And I mean a really bad feeling, like the kind you get when your friend tells you they're going on a boat trip, but then a week later the news is talking about a sinking ship."

Weiss shuddered, fighting against the twitch in her hand, before subconsciously shaking her head. Some things just hit too close to home; not that she was the one who should be feeling regret - you get what you pay for, and some just can't handle that. A flash of cold eyes said otherwise, but she chased them from view. It had been years since she faced those nightmares, and she'd be damned if they got their grubby claws on her now.

"If you're feeling that way, then I guess we can pop down quickly to see how things are going." Blake stood, throwing both Ruby and Weiss for a loop. Before anyone could ask, Blake slammed her hands down on the table, summoning up a loud thump. "News pages are reporting on a bunch of police blockades popping up all around the city. They're distracted. If we're quick, we may be able to slip down before they have the sense to move on and look into other stories."

"Blockades?" Weiss blinked, as did Ruby, but unlike the latter, the former still had access to her voice. "Since when? And for what?"

"Nobody knows. They're just cutting off access all over the place. If there's ever a time to get you involved, it's now."

It took Ruby a little too long to really fall back down to Remnant, but she landed just fine.

"Okay!" She stood, her chair clambering over from the speed. The prospect of finding both her sister and Jay, apparently, slapped her distress away. "Let's do it!"

"Excuse me!" Everyone shrunk in on themselves, but then Blake looked over and flinched.

"Velvet?"

The woman stared at them; arms crossed and a twitch in her eye. Her rabbit ears lay flopped to the side, seemingly pulled down alongside the corners of her mouth.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Huh?" Ruby popped a couple of blinks, her voice shrill. Velvet rolled her eyes, huffing before stepping to the side and pointing to the door.

"I warned you too many times already. Now go."

"Hold on just a second, please." Weiss tilted her head. "Were you the one shushing us?"

"Yes. I'm filling in for the librarian tonight, and as this is my shift, I'm telling you to go."

Meekly, they were shoveled out the door, with Ruby offering a muted apology before they hit the road. Considering the library was only an hour away from closing, neither counted it a serious loss. More so, the blockades were rattling their brains. Ruby in particular questioned whether this was what her uncle had been talking about, but Weiss pointed out the excessiveness of the act. Catching Jay may have been their unintended priority, but none of them could discount that roadblocks only served to stop cars, and not people on foot.

Traps would be a better bet.

Mullings over the law's plan for catching Jay had stirred within them the realization that they didn't have a plan going down to the city either. Go to Junior's and hope both Yang and Jay were there; not exactly riveting stuff. Blake brought up the idea of scouting individual sections of the city, but Weiss reminded her that Junior most likely had that covered.

Rushing into the fray would only get them hurt, and while Ruby knew Weiss was right and that Blake was just trying to help brighten her mood, that feeling, the sourness in her mouth, it only started popping up when she thought of him; not even recently, right then and there back at the library. It was like an alarm had been set off, and she was the cop on call to investigate, just like how the cops were clogging up most of the city.

Luckily, nobody batted an eye when three young huntresses in training ran across the rooftops overhead. It wasn't glamorous, but it was quick and kept them off the street. But as they drew closer, the three hopped down to the sidewalk below to continue on foot. Again, nobody seemed active. Were police cars really that interesting? They had to be, if it kept everyone from going about the nightlife.

Something changed midway through the short two-block walk which, while small, still prompted Ruby's attention. A low thump and splash turned the corner of the alleyway coming up, three of them in fact. While that wasn't immediate cause for concern, a part of her mind immediately trailed to Yang. It was a low chance, but maybe Yang was searching through that particular alleyway for some reason. Maybe Jay was there. Maybe she had him by the collar. Before she knew it, Ruby had bolted past her teammates, ailed by the sickness in her gut, and as they gave chase, she felt it in full: that strange unease she always got around her new friend – faint, but exactly as she remembered.

Lying face up in a puddle of muddy water, accosted by two individuals whose eyes almost looked to light up underneath the dull street light leaking, was Jay.

He wasn't moving.

Author's note

...

Jay just keeps on stumbling into trouble; not even needing to be awake to find it.

On the bright side, Emerald and Mercury had a good idea in mind. Playing the hero is always a sure-fire way to win people's trust. We also get a scene between the main trio in the library - also, Velvet gets to pop off again, which was fun.

Just to note, another small edit was made in an earlier chapter - 26, I think - which after giving a brief reread I concluded didn't sound right - if you noticed an update earlier, then that's why. Again, I occasionally fixed smaller issues at random times, so if you get pinged and there's no new chapter, then that's why.

Nothing more to add this time.

Until next chapter.