Started a new job on Monday. I think Gemstones will take a mini-hiatus after this arc finishes, so I can wrap up job training and relax a bit.

Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5

"They considered it a tool to break you, a way to fix their own broken heart. But that is not the Tree's purpose. It's a tool for betterment..." a familiar metallic voice rung out in her head, "I think its time we had a talk."

Those words were the last thing that echoed out clearly in her mind. Somehow, they were strong enough to give her one last burst of energy, a burst she used to run. The manor was left behind before anyone even knew she was gone, but after that? She didn't remember anything that followed, save for flashes of scenery and muffled sounds.

Ruby wasn't sure how she really escaped or if she was being followed. One thing she clearly remembered, though, was smashing that stupid teacup on the ground as one final act of defiance.

By the time that burst of energy had run out, the Broken Marshes were far, far behind her, along with Neo, the Cat, and whatever the hell else they had planned. She had crossed who knows how many bridges before her legs just gave out beneath her, bringing her to her knees. With her mind no longer focused on running, all of the emotions just flooded back and she just started sobbing.

Her body just felt heavy, a pressure surrounding her entirely as if she was being crushed in a vice. What Neo had subjected her to, what the Cat tried with that...violation-

Ruby just wanted to curl up into a ball and sob.

The tears flowed from her eyes and down her cheeks before hitting the ground below. The drops stained the soil as Ruby just couldn't keep her emotions bottled up anymore. Neo's manipulations and the Cat's deceptive schemes had pulled the proverbial floodgates wide open.

Ruby didn't want to Ascend, but she didn't want to be her anymore. At the same time, though, she wanted to keep everything that made her, well, her.

"What...do I want?" Ruby mumbled.

No sooner had she asked that did a new question come to Ruby's mind when she raised her head to take stock of her surroundings. Much like how the Red Kingdom had a very crimson color palette to it, this Acre had a similarly single-color dominated look to it, even if it was more normal. The leaves on the trees and the tall grasses were all green, but a very specific shade of flawless jade green. Even the sky sported a bright green hue to it.

"Where...where am I?" Ruby wondered.

The reaper's red outfit stood out like a sore thumb in this verdant vastness. By now, she was used to being alienated in this world, so it didn't bother her too much.

Ruby wandered through the woods, still trying to get a hold of herself. Neo had been manipulated; she had been manipulated. Everyone down here was being fooled by that fucking Cat.

And for what? For what?! Just so they could feed their curiosity? Because they were bored?

Ruby didn't have the full story, so there were clearly pieces missing, but the tale of the Cat was the least of her concerns. Chances are that the Cat was going after her friends.

And she was here.

Alone.

...

Ruby didn't see them, but she knew they were probably following behind her. towards that pink nightmare of a house. Maybe the Cat took over someone else's body, and they were fighting them.

They didn't need her, did they?

What if they took over Neo? Used her illusions to their own benefit?

They'd just be going through what she did. They'd probably fight the demons she had to.

Hurt like that doesn't just vanish.

As she wandered through the trees, Ruby heard a familiar tune on the wind, hummed by someone nearby. But...no, that couldn't be, could it? He was...gone. She slowly moved towards the source of the humming and discovered the Herbalist. Or at least an entity that looked like the Herbalist. From the waist up, he looked the same with one of the only differences being that his once small and useless wings were now large and could probably carry him into the sky now. Instead of a caterpillar lower half, he now possessed two humanoid legs that added to his height. The Herbalist's four arms were all preoccupied with building a new home, a simple wooden cabin made from logs with green rings in them.

"Herb?" Ruby asked, walking forward. The Herbalist turned around, looking confused.

"Yes? How do you...know me?" The Herbalist asked, looking confused.

"We...we've met before."

"Have we? I-I feel like I would remember someone like you," the Herbalist set down some of the logs so he could use one hand to scratch his chitinous chin.

He Ascended...and he doesn't remember anything. Even for something so small, it cost him his memories, Ruby frowned.

Maybe…maybe Ascension wasn't worth it? For the first time, she had someone to ask about the process that wasn't going to tell her half-truths or misunderstandings.

"Um, forgive me for prying, but you seem a bit troubled?" the Herbalist asked, "My shack isn't entirely ready but it should be serviceable."

"It's- actually, if you don't mind me asking, what was it like, when you...Ascended?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"When I Ascended? I didn't know I had Ascended. Neither myself nor any other Afteran to my knowledge would know what that's like."

Ruby sat down on a log. "So, you have no regrets? No feelings towards your past life? No…no pain?"

"Nothing of the sort, no. Why do you ask?"

"Why?" Ruby questioned.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry, it's...it's just not fair." Ruby said. "I don't…I just don't like how this world works. You break and you're immediately fixed. I break and I have to meticulously pick up every damn piece of myself, but I don't want to change every aspect of who I am. I still want to keep myself the same, flaws and all. Am I the crazy one? Or do I just not belong in this world? Or...or..." Ruby sighed. "I just...want to be what I've always wanted."

"Which is?" Herb asked.

"A…a Huntress."

"A Huntress hm? And if I may ask, what does that mean to you? To be a Huntress is to what, exactly? Forgive me if that seems a little, ah, direct. I just need to know."

"To hunt...is to search." Ruby began. "To find what you want to be, and own it. Present to everyone."

"But you said you want to be a Huntress. Sounds to me it's more than just to search."

"It...it's to defend, I guess. To protect those who can't protect themselves," Ruby explained.

"And you feel as if you haven't exactly lived up to that definition, don't you?" the Herbalist asked.

"Not…not as of late, no."

"Hmmm. Then I think I know someone who can help better than I."

"You...you do?" Ruby asked, confused. "Who?"

"Their name has been...always something of a debate. Some call them a carpenter, others a blacksmith, but the one thing everyone can agree on is that they are connected to that," the Herbalist explained before pointing to the Great Tree that towered in the distance.

"The...the Blacksmith?" Ruby asked. I met her before, right? She had those weapons.

She had mom's weapon.

"Indeed. Many have sought her aid in finding their purpose. If you'd like, I could send you to them."

Ruby took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

"...please." Ruby said after a few tense seconds of silence.

The Herbalist nodded and motioned for Ruby to follow him, the towering insectoid figure moving into his incomplete home. Despite the flashbacks that were playing in her head, the echoes of her then shrunken teammates trying to warn her, the crimson-clad huntress followed him in. There wasn't much in terms of decorations yet, and much of the Herbalist's materials were still in sacks and chests. One such chest was quickly unlocked and the Herbalist began searching through its contents, pulling out a collection of the Great Tree's leaves and some fuel for a fire.

"I'll need to dilute it. Too much smoke could cause you to see some unfortunate hallucinations." The Herbalist explained. "That sort of overexposure could draw from your memories to confront you..."

"Dilute it? You...you mean that wasn't supposed to..." Ruby wondered.

"You were exposed to an undiluted dosage? Oh my, that...that must have been quite unfortunate, to put it lightly."

Ruby shuddered. Unfortunate is a very nice way of putting it.

The Herbalist began to pour various liquids into the cup and started mixing. A few moments later, he grabbed a light, and put it to the mixture, heating it up.

"There we...go," he smirked as the multi-colored fumes began to rise, "You're going to have to breathe in the fumes."

Ruby walked over and held her breath for a moment. Was she sure about this? Would this make her feel better? Would a simple talk cause her to feel like herself?

Ruby, without a second of hesitation, was ready to take that risk.

She reached out to take the fuming cup, her hands carefully gripping the clay handle.

"Careful now, still hot," the Herbalist cautioned.

Ruby didn't really heed the advice. She inhaled the fragrance, letting the fumes fill her nose.

The effects hit practically immediately. Reality seemed to turn dark, like the world was vanishing around her. Her body felt light, as if that heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt more...awake, seemed to be the best term for this.

And then, in stark contrast, she felt very tired. Her eyelids seemed to get heavy, as if she had just gone through the world's fastest sugar rush and now she was in the crash. When her eyes closed, she didn't even realize she had fallen backwards, her body was that light.

Ruby's eyes fluttered open slowly, consciousness just as quickly returning to her as it had left. She thought she'd be greeted by the warm and colorful skies of the acres, the welcoming normal lights of Swan Lake or the soothing twilight purples of the Garden, but instead, her eyes gazed up into a green-hued void with specks of flickering light dotting the horizon like stars. The red-hooded Huntress slowly got to her feet, her boots clicking against the solid floor, ripples emanating out from where she stepped. Well, at least she thought it was the floor since it looked exactly like the sky. Ruby looked around this strange space, noting several green orbs that seemed to gently fall into nothingness. But something told her it wasn't into nothingness, it was into something else, a second life perhaps.

The ringing of a hammer striking against an anvil caught her attention. She froze up when she first heard it, too scared to take a step towards the sound, but something felt different this time around. Her fear, her apprehension, seemed to fade and she began to walk towards it. Each step she took seemed to match up perfectly with the head of the tool striking metal. As she walked, she noticed that some of the green sparks moved past her, like she was going against the current of a river. Eventually though, the ringing reached its loudest point and Ruby was met once again by the Blacksmith. Their back was turned to Ruby, their attention focused on their current project. The crimson-clad girl tried to peek around the imposing figure's form to see what they were working on. The metal was glowing orange, fresh out of the flames of a forge, and the shape was rather hard to discern, really, but there seemed to be two holes in it. Was it a mask of some sort?

"I wasn't expecting you up so soon. It's nice to see Herbert's repairs are serving him well," the Blacksmith said after one last hammer strike. They moved to grab a pair of tongs before using them to pick up the glowing metal and dip it into a trough of water, letting steam hiss and rise off of it.

"I...I wasn't expecting to...be up," Ruby admitted, "You...you're not just another Afteran, are you? Are you...are you the Tree?"

"I suppose you could say that," the Blacksmith turned around with a chuckle, "but that is a simplistic understanding of the Tree and what it does."

"So...what's going to happen to me now? Am I...am I going to stop being me? Am I going to get wiped from existence and replaced?"

"The only things that could happen here are what you want to happen. Who you become, where you end up, those decisions are all yours to make."

"I don't know if I can trust myself with my decisions," Ruby's expression fell.

"And why is that?" The Blacksmith asked.

"Every decision I make seems to be wrong. What if...I end up regretting my choice here?"

"Many Afterans have felt some regret after their first Ascension. And if that's the case, then they're allowed back. Simple as that. But something tells me you won't regret your choice," the Blacksmith seemed to give a knowing smile.

"How!? Nothing I've done has worked out these past few days. I screamed horrible things at my best friends, my sister, at Max and I don't even remember what I said! Every decision has led to us breaking down in tears or the world being set on fire. I...I don't like me, but I don't know if I can live with not being me! What if I just keep Ascending, never being truly satisfied with what I need to be?! How do you know that!?"

"In all my years of aiding Afterans find their purpose, not one has ever been stuck in this hypothetical cycle you propose. Your burden is the source of all these different outcomes. You've come here to choose someone who can live without it...or to become someone strong enough to bear that burden."

With a heavy and metallic clink, the sound of the Blacksmith snapping her fingers, several glass cases emerged from the starry void beneath them, each one decorated with elaborate golden metal vines. Held aloft in each case, as if on display in a museum, were several weapons. Daggers, short swords, maces, even shields were all on the proverbial table.

"What are these?" Ruby asked, looking around. They all looked new, but still used at some point.

"Weapons. Symbols. Extensions of the soul," the Blacksmith explained.

"Who...who did they belong to?"

"The question isn't who did they belong to, but rather who could they belong to. Go on. Browse."

Ruby walked around the hall, but didn't feel an attachment to any of the weapons before her. Nothing sang praises. Nothing felt bright. Nothing-

Her train of thought halted as she paused at a very specific weapon. Well, only some saw it as a weapon.

"How..?." Ruby asked. "How did you get this?"

"I have my ways." The Blacksmith smiled.

Ruby walked over to the weapon, and stared at it in bewilderment. It was-

"An...Omnitrix? But...this...this is Ben's." Ruby took a step back away from it.

"True. But it could be yours as well. Any of them could be. When you look at the weapons, no matter if they feel bright or special, can you imagine the woman holding it? The weight of who she is? You can pick up any weapon, slip on the Omnitrix...and we'll see what happens from there."

Ruby backed away. "No. No, I can't. I just...I just can't put this on. It'd feel wrong."

"But the power-"

"The power isn't worth it." Ruby quickly turned away from the watch and walked off, continuing to browse the weapons. Yet still, none of them felt right. She could see herself reflected in the cases that held the weapons aloft and she tried to follow the Blacksmith's advice, imagining who she could be with the weapons. With each and every one, it just didn't feel right.

And then she saw it. It should've stood out like a sore thumb among the collection of generic weapons, but her mind was just so conflicted and emotional that she missed it. Hovering in one of the cases was her mother's weapon. But...wait. She remembered her mother wielding Fleur D'argent, a halberd. That was what her trip through time with Paradox showed her.

So why was her mother connected to an ax?

"I...I don't get it." Ruby muttered. "I don't get any of this. Why would I want to just...turn myself into other people? I don't want to replace myself with them."

"That one seems special," the Blacksmith said, "Why not give it a try? It won't be permanent. Just...put your hand to it."

Ruby didn't want to trust her words. But what did she really have to lose here?

Ruby reached out to the glass display, and touched the surface. This feeling of warmth enveloped her entire body, filling her with...something she was missing.

A little bit of knowledge that she hadn't known about, that neither Yang nor Ozpin could fill her in on, since neither knew what happened that night.

The last night Summer spent with her family.

The sun had long since set for the island of Patch, the warm oranges of sunset replaced by the cool night sky. Ruby and Yang, as children, were already tucked in and sound asleep in their beds. About ten minutes ago, the two sisters were so happily pleading with their mother to read their favorite fairy tale before bed. Even though this would be maybe, what, the tenth time the two had heard it, how could Summer refuse. At first, they had attentively listened to the adventures of Alyx, particularly her encounters with the Mice, the King, and especially the Curious Cat. They were just such fun characters! But as the story went on, sleep claimed the two sisters, their dreams no doubt focused on their own imagined adventurers in the Ever After.

"And on the wind, Alyx heard one more question," Summer read off, "What are you?"

With that, she closed the book and sighed happily. She looked to her sleeping daughters, happy to see them at peace. Which made what she needed to do all the more difficult. The best mom in the world, according to the Rose-Xiao Long household anyway, took off her silver rose emblem and placed it atop the book of The Girl Who Fell Through the World. The book was then gently placed on the nightstand between the sisters' beds after Summer had stood up, steeling herself.

"I love you two...just the way you are," Summer whispered, before leaning down to kiss her daughters on their foreheads, "and I always will."

With a sad smile, Summer moved back towards the door, flipping the lights off and silently closing the door on her way out. She went back to a storage closet and brought out her secondary weapon from it. In recent years, she'd created a second weapon along with an entirely new fighting style to go along with it. Silver Bloom had served her well, but she found it prudent to diversify her techniques. Silver Bloom was perfect for her more flashy and sophisticated moves, but sometimes, one needed a simple and direct approach.

Enter: Sundered Rose, an axe and rifle hybrid that was perfect for heavy hits and sundering defenses. She threw on her white cloak, adjusting it, before going downstairs as quietly as she could. She looked out the window to see the nighttime forests of Patch and sighed. She had to do this.

"You know," Tai suddenly said, startling Summer, "It's not like you to rush off on a mission in the middle of the night."

"You know how Ozpin gets. Mystery after mystery with him," Summer masterfully deflected.

"And when it turns out to be yet another run-of-the-mill patrol, he'll say, without fault-"

"I always prefer discretion!" the couple said, each putting on their best Ozpin impression to great comedic effect. They shared a little laught between them before the joy left Tai's face, his grin turning to a frown. Summer raised a hand to rub his cheek comfortingly.

"I'll be back soon," Summer said, pulling her husband into a loving hug, "I promise."

"I know," Tai said, hugging back.

Summer took a moment to linger, before breaking away. "I love you." She said, staring deep into Tai's eyes.

"I love you too." He responded.

With the bravest smile she could muster to seal the deal, Summer turned and walked out the door.

With Sundered Rose at her hip, she marched into the forest, her white hood up and covering her elaborately styled rose-shaped bun. Her silver eyes scanned the branches of the trees, before she spotted a black-feathered bird with red eyes resting amidst the leaves of the tree. The bird cawed before flapping off into the sky.

And, not long after the bird had ascended, Raven dropped from where the bird had flown, straightening up and grabbing the hilt of her blade.

"They suspect anything?" Raven asked.

"Not a thing. They just think it's a typical mission," Summer answered, lowering her hood.

"Summer Rose telling lies. Hell itself must be having one strong winter," Raven smirked, before her look softened, "Um, what about..."

"My daughters?"

"Y-yeah. You're just gonna...leave them?"

"You're one to talk," Summer scowled.

"Look, you're just...you were always better at that life than me," Raven sighed.

"And I'll be back to it soon. If we do this right, there'll be nothing to worry about," Summer brushed past Raven, purposefully bumping the Branwen sister's shoulder, "Trust me."

"Alright. Let's get this done then," Raven turned on her heel and unsheathed her blade, cutting a dark red rift in the air with her Semblance. Summer marched on through with the bandit leader following right behind, before the portal closed behind them.

Ruby blinked. The illusion ended in a flash of bright silver from her perspective and she found herself standing back in the hall of weapons.

"She...she lied." Ruby realized. "She lied about where she was going. Why?"

"Who knows why people keep the secrets they do. Maybe you're not the only one who has felt the weight of other's expectations. Like Alyx, like your mother," the Blacksmith said.

Ruby clenched her fist. What was the point? What is the use of getting all the half answers that left her with more questions? Ruby angrily pushed down the case containing Sundered Rose, letting it shatter on the ground, before doing the same to the case containing the Omnitrix copy. She pushed down weapon after weapon, just...letting this rage all out.

The Blacksmith did not intervene, just standing by and watching Ruby. When Ruby was done, she dropped to the floor in utter despair and confusion.

"Are you just trying to tell me that... it's useless?" Ruby asked. "That I shouldn't even try? Is that the big lesson I'm supposed to learn? Just… give up?" She stared at the weapons scattered on the ground. "To...be someone else who has all the answers?"

"Is that what I'm telling you-" The Blacksmith asked.

"I don't KNOW!" Ruby yelled. "Stop it with these stupid questions!? Why!? Why is this your therapy!?"

"Because I can't make the decision for you. Everything that happens here must be your choice and yours alone."

"My choice!?" Ruby's voice wavered. "Fine, it's my choice. But why can't you at least point me in the right direction? Why all this cryptic nonsense? I don't even know what I'm choosing half the time!"

The Blacksmith leaned forward slightly, their expression unchanging. "Because sometimes, Ruby, the journey is as important as the destination. You learn more about yourself, your strengths, and your weaknesses when you face uncertainty. You grow by making choices, even if they are difficult ones. I think...the reason you're pushing back is because you know what you want."

"And am I supposed to know that in one conversation?" Ruby asked.

"You've known it in one million conversations." The Blacksmith replied, snapping her fingers. The world changed again and Ruby was suddenly surrounded, this time by memories.

The shattered pieces of the glass cases suddenly rewound and reassembled themselves into new forms. Instead of display cases, they were now mirrors showing off several of Ruby's memories, taking the Huntress by surprise.

The shattered bits of memory showed the most core aspects of Ruby. These aspects were like guiding stars in her journey, and they anchored her to who she truly was.

Humanity. Her compassion, her ability to empathize with others, and the importance of treating everyone with kindness.

Humility. She didn't have all the answers- and that's okay. It's okay to ask for help or admit when she was wrong.

Joy. A reminder of the simple pleasures in life, the moments of happiness that could be found even in the darkest of times.

Her fighting spirit. That fierce determination that had brought her this far.

Her friends. An integral part of who she was. They stood by her side through thick and thin, providing support, laughter, and shared moments of joy. They were her chosen family.

"You've always been acting like Ruby Rose. You know what you must do." The Blacksmith spoke. "There isn't a single unimportant memory in your life...because they all have meaning."

"Even the bad ones?" Ruby noticed they were missing.

"Even the bad ones," she affirmed. "Every memory, whether joyful or painful, has shaped you into who you are today. They are all part of your story, Ruby Rose. You must choose. Choose for yourself one who could leave your burdens behind. Or choose one who'll be enough to bear them."

As soon as the Blacksmith had explained that, Ruby felt something shine on her. She turned around to see a crimson light coming from the only glass case left in the void. She turned to the Blacksmith, as if looking for confirmation, but she didn't need to. The towering Afteran gave a simple nod and held her arm out towards the case. Ruby then quickly leapt to her feet and dashed towards the case, stopping right before it. She looked up and saw Crescent Rose encased inside it, stored in its compact form.

I love you…

Just the way you are.

Ruby smiled. For what felt like the first time in forever.

"This one." Ruby declared. "I...I'm choosing me."

"Then it seems, that girl was enough after all," the Blacksmith said, kneeling down and putting a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby placed her hand on the case.

And a red light engulfed her.