Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As Pyrrha and her team reached the porch of the Xiao Long home, she couldn’t help but stop, her legs freezing in place and her gloved fingers clenched into her palm. To her, the plain-looking wooden door that stood before her loomed greater than any of her previous missions and responsibilities. 

Except one, of course. She’d hesitated there, too, and it was why there were only three of them here now instead of four. 

“Pyrrha, you… doing ok?” Nora’s concerned voice broke through Pyrrha’s reverie, and she looked down to see the shorter girl’s face wracked with concern. 

“I’m fine, I’m just feeling… a bit dizzy is all.” As she lied, she felt a pang of guilt strike her. Pyrrha just didn’t want to hear it again. The platitudes of how it wasn’t her fault. How it was normal to feel what she felt, that she hadn’t been a coward.

“If your concussion hasn't fully healed we can always postpone. Ruby would understand.” Ren stated matter of factly, though Pyrrha could still see the faint crinkle of his eyes that showed Ren’s worry. He was probably the most composed person Pyrrha had ever met, but having spent so long as his teammate, she’d learned to pick up on Ren’s tells. 

“I’m fine, Ren!” She recoiled at the sharpness of her own tone. “I-I’m sorry. I was just lost in thought, that’s all.” 

Ren and Nora shared a quick glance, silently communicating before they looked back at her. Pyrrha couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy seeing it.

“We get it. We all have had a lot on our minds.” Ren’s response was blessedly curt. 

The three stood there for a few brief awkward seconds until Pyrrha realized they were waiting for her to take the lead. Of course they were. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes and steadying herself. No more hesitation.

She rapped on the door gently, and the sound of barking came from inside, which Pyrrha presumed was their dog Zwei. Only a few seconds later the door swung open and in the doorway stood Ruby Rose, stock still and her breath hitched as she looked at them. Was Ruby angry with her, disappointed in her? Pyrrha wouldn’t blame her. She’d murdered Penny before then failing to save Jaune….

Tears brimmed in Ruby’s silver eyes right before she wrapped Pyrrha and her two teammates into a group hug the best she could.

She sniffled, “Guys, you-you’re okay…. After I woke up everyone was gone and…” 

“It’s good to see you too Ruby,” Ren said as a faint smile crossed his face. 

“We were just in the hospital for a bit cause Pyrrha bumped her head, that’s all, silly.” Nora teased, and while Pyrrha wanted to frown at that, she understood that she was just trying to lighten the mood a bit. 

“Ruby I…” Pyrrha began, but a loud male voice, which Pyrrha presumed was Ruby’s father, called out. “Ruby! Don’t be rude and bring your friends inside, ok?” 

Ruby pulled away, quickly wiping her tears away before she ushered the three of them to the living room, where they sat on the couch while Ruby sat on a worn-out recliner next to them. The sound of scampering on the wooden floors alerted Pyrrha to Zwei running into the room, likely coming to investigate these strangers that had appeared in his domain. 

Pyrrha offered her hand out for him to sniff, which he did for a few seconds before giving it a friendly lick. She responded by scratching his furry chin and Pyrrha couldn’t help but smile. She heard Ruby and Nora both coo, and Zwei went to investigate the latter, who aggressively scratched his little head while Ren patted him gently. Eventually, he ran to Ruby, leaping into and curling up in her lap.

“So, where’s Yang?” Nora asked. “Is she ok after, well… that? By the time we were able to visit her in the hospital, they said she was already home.”

Ruby’s mood chilled , her shoulders slumping and her eyes became downcast.

“Yang's ... having a tough time and she doesn’t want to really… talk to anyone right now. I know she’ll get better but… she just needs some rest.” Pyrrha wondered how much of that last part was for them, or Ruby’s own sake.

“Oh,” Nora responded sadly, and Pyrrha frowned. The two had always gotten along well, with their positivity and… energy . The prank war the two had back at Beacon nearly destroyed their entire dorm hall.

Thankfully the rather downward turn of mood was interrupted by Ruby’s father, coming in with a tray of what appeared to be steaming hot cocoa, and placing it down on the coffee table.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hover over you, Rubes. I just figured you all” He said, looking at Pyrrha and her teammates. “Might need some warming up. It’s starting to get pretty cold out there and I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts snowing soon.” 

“Thanks, dad.”

A chorus of “Thank yous.” came from Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, the latter having a mustache of hot cocoa on her lip, having already chugged down more than half her mug.

“It’s not a problem. You’re all guests and my daughters’ friends. If you need anything, just holler okay? I’ll be getting dinner ready.” He said before he grabbed the now empty tray, leaving the room to them again. Zwei hopped off Ruby’s lap, leaving to follow Tai to the kitchen 

The group proceeded to drink their cocoa and make some small talk which Pyrrha mostly remained a spectator to. She still felt somewhat awkward even just… looking at her. It was Ruby who had seen Jaune last, gone to save him, while Pyrrha… Pyrrha was the reason he was gone. Ruby didn’t seem mad so far, but would it be that way when she knew what had happened? Knew the destiny Pyrrha shirked? She didn’t have a good answer. 

Eventually, however, the conversation slowed as their hot cocoa was finished, and the brief period of warmth and faux normalcy receded. They had danced around it asking about Yang, but what happened at Beacon was too large to just leave unaddressed. 

And as much as dredging it up would hurt, she wouldn’t let fear control her, so Pyrrha finally broke her silence. 

“Ruby… What happened at Beacon? To you, and…” She trailed off, still unable to say his name aloud.

Ren and Nora both looked surprised she even asked, with Nora’s foot tapping nervously. Ruby meanwhile just looked downright miserable, what cheer she had gained talking with them melting away. 

“If you don’t want to, we don't have to-” Pyrrha was quick to add but Ruby shook her head no, cutting her off.

“After Amity and…. Everything there. I managed to make my way to Torchwick. He had hijacked one of the Atlesian cruisers and was shooting the other ships. I…stopped him and his partner, but… the fighting destroyed the bridge. I made my way to Beacon where Weiss and I saw Blake injured and Yang after she lost her…” 

Her voice lowered, and Pyrrha could tell she was barely holding back tears. “After Yang lost her arm. That was when Weiss got your distress call and we… couldn’t understand much of it but we heard Jaune was in danger at Beacon Tower. Weiss helped me up the tower and I got there and I saw- I saw him and the woman in red, and then… Hold on.” She choked out. “Lemme grab something… U-Uncle Qrow brought it back when he grabbed me and you deserve to…” 

Ruby ran down the hall for a few seconds, and when Pyrrha saw just what Ruby had laid on the coffee table with the utmost care before gingerly unwrapping it, she couldn’t help but let out a sob, despite trying in vain to hold in.

It was Jaune’s armor and his weapon, or… what little was left of it. The hilt of Crocea Mors was charred a smokey black color, the worn blue finish having entirely been stripped from it. The actual blade itself was undamaged up until the halfway point, where the rest of the sword was unceremoniously gone, melted to slag. 

A round, partially melted oval confused Pyrrha until she realized by the faint gold that could still be made out that it was what little was left of his shield. Family heirlooms passed down for generations, that if Jaune was right, were old when the Great War was just beginning, turned into nearly unidentifiable scrap. 

But it was his breastplate that was the worst. A large hole through the center punched inwards, with the edges of the entry wound being warped by the heat. It was one of her arrows, Pyrrha realized. That had been what… 

She couldn’t finish the thought, her fists balling as a fresh wave of tears rolled down her face, and instead shifted her gaze to Ren and Nora. They were both now holding one other, Ren gently rubbing Nora’s back, who sobbed noisily into the crook of his shoulder, while silent tears rolled down his face. They had known Jaune was gone, but… seeing what little was left of him and knowing how it ended… That hurt differently. 

Ruby was hugging herself, fingers squeezing her own arms in a vice grip, eyes looking downwards and clearly distant. Pyrrha could recognize she was trying her best to hold it in, to not break out into a wave of crying in front of the grieving remnants of JNPR. 

Maybe it was the guilt at knowing her failure was the reason Ruby was crying, that she was bereft of the comfort of teammates and even her own sister because Pyrrha had been too hesitant. Maybe it was Pyrrha’s own selfish desire for any sort of human contact, a sliver of what Ren and Nora had, especially after now that she was so alone . Or maybe it was some mixture of the two.

Either way, Pyrrha looked at Ruby and weakly gestured for a hug, simply saying “Ruby…” She quickly found herself locked in a vice grip as the younger girl grabbed onto her, and Pyrrha laid her head on Ruby’s shoulder, tears streaming down her face despite her clenching her eyes closed. She could feel Ruby’s breathy sobs on her chest, and Pyrrha couldn’t help but keep muttering, uncaring of whether anyone heard, “I’m sorry.” 

///

Dinner was a morose and quiet affair, though everyone was still in a far better mood than earlier, especially given Taiyang’s skill as a chef and his subsequent gracious offer to stay the night. With the three of them all from originally out of country, Beacon destroyed, and Vale filled with now stranded people who were waiting for their turn on the evacuation flights, finding a place to stay that wasn’t a hastily set up center for refugees was challenging.

However, before they could get some much-needed sleep, Ruby asked them to meet her outside, supposedly for ‘nothing important’ but Ruby wasn’t exactly a good liar. 

Leaves crunched under their feet as they neared the tree line, and Pyrrha gently rubbed her fingers over Miló’s hilt. They’d been informed when they got to Patch that while things usually were safe, there was still the occasional Beowulf or Ursa around and it was always best to play it safe with Grimm. Far too many rookie Huntsmen met an ignominious fate because they were caught weaponless by Grimm they normally could handle. 

Ruby stopped before she took a quick look around, and the three of them also briefly scanned the surrounding area, checking for Grimm in the now-dark forest in front of them, their only light being the dim glow from the house behind them, and the omnipresent shattered moon overhead. Thankfully, there was nothing else nearby besides them and a single lone doe.

Ruby spun around, looking at them with her silver eyes which Pyrrha swore were almost shining. “So guys, there was something… Uh, two things actually, I wanted to tell you and well-ask you. I didn’t tell you because there’s some stuff I don’t want dad to know and well, we got… sidetracked. It-it’s gonna sound crazy I know it did to me but… it explains some things okay?”

“Ruby. There is nothing you could tell us that is crazier than what’s happened to us, and what we’ve all recently learned.” Pyrrha replied, looking at her two teammates who solemnly nodded. 

“Okay well… There’s a reason I was in a coma and that big dragon is now frozen on Beacon Tower. I think it’s the reason Ozpin let me in so early. Have you heard of uh, the fairy tales about Silver-Eyed Warriors?” 

Nora quickly responded “Let me guess? It isn’t just a fairy tale and you’re one of these super duper awesome warriors? Ohhh what can you do?” 

Ruby looked incredibly surprised but she continued. “Yeah, that’s uh, it. And as for what I can do well, I froze that dragon, killed a bunch of other Grimm, annnnd according to Uncle Qrow, it was very uh… glowy. I thought you’d be, well, a bit more surprised. It sounds a so crazy and stuff and I know I didn’t-”

Pyrrha cut her off. “Because, Ruby, that… Isn’t the only fairy tale that has more than some truth to it. It’s actually something I’ve been involved in, it's the reason this attack happened and…” She stopped herself not wanting to go down that road and derail this. Ruby of all people deserved to be let into this secret. To know why two of her closest friends were dead, and her team scattered to the winds.

“You’ve heard of the tale of the Four Maidens yes?” Pyrrha asked, and Ruby nodded her head, looking intently at her.

“Well, much like Silver Eyed Warriors, they were not just fairy tales. There really are four young women who have the power of the very seasons themselves at their command, though it is a mantle that changes to whoever the Maiden thinks about last in their thoughts. If they are a girl that is.” She specified. “Somehow the powers of one Maiden, the Fall Maiden, were… split.”

“The woman in red,” Ruby muttered, realization drawing on her.

“Yes. Somehow she managed to steal half of the Fall Maiden’s powers and left the previous Fall Maiden comatose. I was chosen to accept the responsibility to take the remaining half of the powers by Ozpin and his confidantes. Which actually included your Uncle. I was… too slow to accept this destiny, and by the time I did it was too late, she took it and...”

“Pyrrha…” Nora started but she put her hand up to stop him. Now wasn’t the time for their misplaced sympathy.

“That was who Jaune fought and that’s why this whole attack began. Because some mad woman wanted to take the power all for herself.” She clenched Miló’s in a death grip and her voice now shook with anger, both at herself and at the witch and all her little accomplices who were party to all of it. 

“Pyrrha told us all this once she woke up afterward,” Ren explained, with Nora gently putting a hand on Pyrrha’s shoulder in support.

Ruby for her part was clearly deep in thought, the metaphorical cogs turning in her head as she put her hand on her chin and silently paced before finally stopping.

She looked nervously at the three, “Well… What I’m about to ask you is actually uh, really relevant to that but… My Uncle Qrow may have let it slip that she and her team came from Mistral, from Haven Academy. I want to go and investigate but… I thought you guys should know and… I don’t think I could do it alone and well-” 

Pyrrha immediately responded. “I’ll do it.” 

“And we’ll go too!” Nora pumped her fist, while Ren simply hummed in affirmation. 

This was it. Pyrrha had thought she’d be just… sitting in Vale, clearing away Grimm from the school but now… She could reclaim her destiny and most importantly, avenge Jaune doing it. And when the time came… she wouldn’t hesitate again.

Chapter Text

Of all the members of JNPR, it was only Pyrrha who’d really needed to adjust to their shared living arrangements at Beacon. Jaune had always shared his room with siblings growing up, Ren and Nora had always been together, and any place with a roof over their heads was already a luxury for the pair.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, had always been an only child growing up. The only time she had to share sleeping space with anyone was in hotel rooms with her mother when the two traveled for Pyrrha’s tournaments. Private space was something she always had taken for granted.

However, Pyrrha had quickly grown to enjoy the constant interaction that came with the dorm, and she credited it for helping her break out of her shell. Even after shutting the lights off, the team could spend hours just talking about inane, silly topics as they lay in bed. 

Now, as she lay in bed in one of the two guest rooms in the Xiao-Long house, that same privacy she had had all her life except for those few precious months at Beacon was now so dreadfully quiet and lonely. She was used to falling asleep to Nora’s snoring, to the soft hum Ren made as he meditated, and to Jaune’s unintelligible but oh-so-adorable sleep-talking. Now, the only sounds that could be heard were the whistling wind outside and the creaking of the wooden floor under her bed as Pyrrha tried to shift into a comfortable position to fall asleep.

Eventually, she gave up, and pulled herself up and out of bed, grabbing her scroll, turning its light on so she could see, and oh so gently opening the door before creeping out into the hallway. Ruby had told them that the sizable bookshelf in the living room was open to them if they got bored and wanted to do some reading. 

She quickly found her target after she descended the stairs, pulling her light up to the bookshelf so she could see the titles. Beyond the heavy amount of more practical literature focused on huntsmen's work, the assortment was wonderfully diverse. There were books she’d expected such as a very well-worn copy of 101 Fairy Tales , to the surprisingly morose like the Mantelian Saga. Her hand almost went to pick up The Colonel’s Son but stopped. It was a classic but… a love story wasn’t something she particularly wanted at the moment, and instead, she grabbed a copy of A Heroine of Our Time instead. 

However, as she went to go back upstairs, Pyrrha noticed the slight glow from the kitchen. She swore if Nora was raiding the fridge of the house they were guests in at this hour… 

What she found instead was not a ravenous Nora looking for ice cream, but instead, Yang, who was seated on the floor and eating what Pyrrha was pretty sure were slices of ham straight from their container.

“Yang?” She called out softly. 

Ruby’s sister yelped , dropping the container, falling onto her back, gasping for breath, her one arm desperately finding purchase on the floor while her stump tried to do the same.

Pyrrha swiftly moved over, offering a hand to her, though when Yang’s breathing slowed and her eyes refocused, she ignored Pyrrha, instead desperately trying to find purchase on the ground. Pyrrha awkwardly stood there for a few seconds hand still out, until she decided to instead clean up the slight mess that resulted from Yang’s fall. 

“I’m sorry Yang… I didn’t mean to startle you like that.” 

As Yang finally pulled herself off the ground she said brusquely “It's fine Pyrrha.” before she quickly moved out of the kitchen and back to her room upstairs. 

Pyrrha stood stock still for a few moments trying to process just what had gone on, how that scared girl in front of her had been one of the toughest and brightest women she knew. Ruby had said she’d been bad but that was… Pyrrha didn’t know what to think about Yang right now.

///

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Pyrrha?” Ruby said, her silver eyes frowning with confusion as to why Pyrrha didn’t want to head into town to shop for supplies. The four had spent the morning on the front porch discussing what they might need once they finally left for Mistral.

Nora continued “Yeah! It’ll be a lot easier to get the stuff you want for our mi-“ 

Ren slapped a hand over her mouth before continuing. “For our move to here.”  He shot a glare at Nora. “Because we don’t have a place to go.”

“It’s fine really I just… Need to train, that’s all. That stay in the hospital was probably the longest stretch where I haven’t done any in years. I-I have a list I made so just use that instead.” She awkwardly proffered the slip of paper to the three.

Nora put her hands on her hips, eyes narrowing. She knew it was an excuse, Pyrrha knew it was an excuse, but the thought of everyone seeing her made her shudder. The girl who murdered Penny in front of the world, starting the Fall of Beacon. The girl who failed in fulfilling her destiny. 

“If Pyrrha wants to stay, that’s okay.” Ren grabbed the list and Pyrrha gave him a thankful look, though his sad frown back told her his opinion on her hiding away like this.

“Well, maybe you can come next time then! We’ll probably end up forgetting something… Be back in a few hours.” Ruby gave a little wave to Pyrrha as Ruby, Ren, and Nora left, while Pyrrha stood on the porch, watching them grow more and more distant until the trail disappeared into the forest.

She heard the door crack open behind her, and Pyrrha turned around to find Yang in the doorway, her eyes wide and mouth in an “Oh” of surprise. Getting a better look at her in the daylight really heightened just… how different she seemed beyond just the loss of one arm. 

Yang’s striking golden mane, which she’d always taken such good care of that Pyrrha would ask her for haircare tips, was now limp and dull. Her lilac eyes which always seemed to have that spark of energy and joy, something she shared with Ruby, were tired and distant. Her skin clearly hadn’t seen much sunlight in a while and the greasy look it had combined with her hair made Pyrrha wonder how long it had been since Yang even bathed herself. 

The door began to close but before Yang could go back inside, Pyrrha quickly grabbed her arm. 

“Yang! Are you… avoiding us?” 

“What made you think that, huh?” The pure acid in Yang’s voice caught Pyrrha off guard, but she pressed onwards. 

“I just want to talk, okay?”

Yang looked at her arm, which Pyrrha still had a hold of, and shot her a glare. Pyrrha pulled away, mumbling a “Sorry” and the two stood awkwardly for a few seconds before Yang huffed. 

“Fine.” 

She took a seat on the porch, and Pyrrha joined her, sitting down next to her. Yang didn’t bother looking at her, instead just… staring off at the forest. Pyrrha had never moped like Yang seemed to be doing, her team wouldn’t let her and she wouldn’t let herself but… she could see the same listless sadness that had plagued her.

“C'mon, say your piece, and let's get this over with.”

Pyrrha sighed. “Yang… I’m not going to tell you you shouldn’t be feeling guilty, or sad, or… whatever it is you’re feeling. I’ve gotten enough of that advice myself to know how... I just… I presume Ruby told you about our plans? We’d love to have you along. I know having a goal, having the chance to maybe make up for my mistakes and do something. To avenge Jaune. It helps make me feel… worthwhile.” 

“If you haven’t noticed yet Pyrrha, I’m not in much of a state to do anything right now.” Yang moved her stump for emphasis and Pyrrha winced. 

“That doesn’t mean you can’t. Even your company would be valuable and that doesn’t mean you can’t fight anymore! Me and Nora could help and I know some trainers in Mistral who also still fight despite similar…injuries. We could get you back to normal and you-”

“Jaune was lucky,” Yang said, finally looking her right in the eyes.

Pyrrha stopped at the non-sequitur, unsure of where this was going. Plenty of people had told Jaune he was lucky for having Pyrrha as a partner but how-

“ I gave it all up for a partner who paid me back by running away! From me and my sister! Meanwhile, after he’s gone you still care about him, you stuck around. And now I’m stuck here just… worthless, knowing it was for nothing. Jaune at least got to go out in a blaze of glory. So yeah, he was lucky.”

Ice gripped Pyrrha’s heart, her arms were shaking, and Pyrrha could feel a twinge in pain from where her gloved hands were clamped around her own thighs, trying to keep herself from…. How could… How could she say that?

“Thank you for your input, Yang. I won't bother you anymore.” Her tone tried but failed at remaining level, and Pyrrha quickly got up, and stormed off into the yard for training, only to realize in her… emotion that she’d left her weapons on the porch. She turned around, seeing Yang must have already fled back into the house. That was more than fine by her.

///

Pyrrha carefully looked down the scope on Miló, aiming at one of the now many empty water bottles from rehydrating after her earlier workout. It was now perched on an old stump in the forest that, based on the various old craters and gouges, was what Ruby had probably trained on Crescent Rose when she was younger.

BANG!

The bottle toppled over as the shot nicked the neck of it and Pyrrha grimaced. Damn! Her marksmanship was sloppy today, though she didn’t know whether it was just her lack of recent practice or the faint tremble in her arms. Training usually helped burn off steam but now…

She pulled her face away from the scope and went to reload her weapon when a gruff voice called out to her. 

“Hey, you have a minute?”

Pyrrha whirled around to find Ruby’s uncle standing a respectable distance behind her and she frowned.

“How long were you watching me?” She asked as she folded up Miló, before wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead.

“Just long enough to wait for a good opening to talk. Spooking a huntress while she’s training is a good way for someone’s foot to get blown off, especially when she’s keyed up.”

“Things haven't exactly been the most ideal lately so I hope you can understand me being… ‘keyed up.’” 

Qrow just laughed “You can say that again.”

“I… hope you’re not here to tell me I didn’t mess up like Professor Goodwitch tried to. I know she was lying.” Pyrrha’s eyes looked downwards 

“No kid, I’d be a damn hypocrite if I tried to lecture you on that.” He took a swig from his flask before continuing. “I’m here because someone sent you a letter all the way from Mistral. Probably one of the first people to be getting any mail period.”

Did Mom call in some favors to contact her? She gently took it from his hands and frowned at the crisp envelope’s empty return address. Definitely not Mom then.

She stood awkwardly, waiting for Qrow to give her some privacy to open the letter, but she quickly realized from the slight grin he was giving her that he probably knew a bit more than he let on. She gently opened it with her fingernail, taking care not to tear the envelope before pulling the letter out and unfurling it, reading the fine cursive out loud. 

“Dear Miss Nikos. With the tragic attack on the Vytal Festival, we imagine you are likely wanting to see family and return to your home kingdom of Mistral as soon as possible. We are offering you an expedited return via airship on…” Pyrrha’s jaw dropped as she saw the date. Non-essential airship travel was severely restricted, and they were offering her a flight back in two days?! “We hope you will accept this gracious offer, Mistral could use the light of its rising star” She snorted, “to shine through the confusion and chaos of the Vytal Festival attack. Signed, Headmaster Lionheart, Councilman Fir, Councilwoman Vert, and Councilwoman Topaz.”

She folded the letter back up before looking Qrow in the eyes. “They want something.” Left unsaid was that they wanted something and from the sound of it she’d almost certainly be right back in the public eye again.

“I know how Mistral works but,” he emphasized. “Leo’s one of us, and a good man at that. He’ll probably be the one owing favors to the council for this rather than you. Besides, even if that isn’t the case,” his gaze matched hers. “When it comes to our mission, your mission now, if the only sacrifices we had to make were playing nice with petty politicians and some unwanted attention… I think the both of us would be much happier.”

Pyrrha stiffened and her eyes broke away from Qrow’s stare. She had her suspicions that he’d let the information ‘slip’ to Ruby intentionally, he didn’t seem the type to be so careless, but… 

“What are you doing then?” 

“Helping pick up the pieces, get our side of the board back in order, look into certain contacts and leads that are a bit more ah, touchy. Things none of you can do. ” 

“And there is nothing else we should know?”

Qrow looked away and rubbed his stubbled chin for a few seconds, before moving in closer. “Well since you are already in the loop about it as a former Maiden candidate,” Pyrrha winced “and I imagine Ruby and your little friends are as well now… The Spring Maiden is missing in Mistral. Ran off years ago and no one knows where she is, not us or our enemies… but that kind of power doesn’t hide forever-”

“And they are actively hunting for them now...”

Qrow nodded in affirmation.

“I… Thank you, for telling us. Rather than just saying we should stay in Vale, and that this isn’t also my responsibility.” Pyrrha’s fists clenched in frustration. 

“No problem kid, and this won't be the last time we talk. I just hope that next time will be in Mistral rather than here in Patch when I come to say goodbye to my brother-in-law and niece next week.” 

Pyrrha’s eyes glanced back down at the letter in her hand, but when she went to look back at Qrow he was… gone.

Guess I’m not the only one to keep my Semblance close to my chest…

///

Ruby gently knocked on the door to Pyrrha’s room. Ruby, Nora, and Ren had finally gotten back from shopping, it was just before sunset hit when they’d finally gotten home. Doing team shopping with Nora was an… experience.

“You can come in.”

She opened the door with her free hand and saw Pyrrha on the bed in her sleepwear with A Heroine of Our Time lying beside her. Her crimson locks were out of her ponytail and resting on and over Pyrrha’s shoulders. From the slight dampness of her hair and the familiar strawberry scent of one of Yang’s shampoos, Ruby figured Pyrrha must have taken a shower not too long ago.

“Oh um if I interrupted your reading I-“

“Don’t worry Ruby, I just got to a good stopping point anyways.” She said, shifting into a sitting position.

Ruby stammered, tapping her feet nervously “Umm well tomorrow we’re gonna be shopping an-and I know you might not wanna come but we uh, took a bit longer than usual and we also need to book our sightseeing trip, things are going to be booked out if we don’t.”

“Ah yes, booking our sightseeing trip is rather necessary isn’t it,” Pyrrha responded, a knowing smile on her face. That was the code word they all had agreed on for their eventual trip all the way to Mistral. 

“A-anyways I know you don’t wanna be out in public b-but I thought this might help!” She laid the package her other hand was holding, which Pyrrha grabbed, curiosity written into her face. She gingerly opened it, gently unfurling the black fabric that was folded inside.

“It’s… a cloak.” Her voice was filled with bemusement as she ran her fingers over the soft fabric.

“Mhmm!” Ruby nodded eagerly. “I know you uh, don’t want to go out now and umm…” Ruby shifted awkwardly. “When I was younger I uh, was always kinda nervous a-about meeting and seeing new people a-and-” she pulled her own red cloak over her shoulders, “it helped me feel a bit safer… I-I know it's probably stupid and stuff compared to what you’re feeling but-”

“It’s not stupid at all, it's really thoughtful and sweet actually. Here, let me try it on with my normal attire actually!” 

Pyrrha got up and Ruby exited the room, closing the door so Pyrrha could change. It only took a few minutes, dang Pyrrha changed fast, before she opened the door for Ruby and… wow.

In the doorway stood Pyrrha, one hand on her hip in her standard combat gear, but instead of the normal bare shoulders and upper arms, there was now a cascade of soft black fabric that came down to just above her ankles, and Ruby let an internal sigh of relief that the size wasn’t off. Her hair was still down, likely so she could fit it underneath the hood which was currently pooled around her shoulders, much like how Ruby normally kept hers. 

“That looks… Amazing!” Ruby let out a little hop of excitement and Pyrrha smiled, like full smiled, which made Ruby smile too because… Pyrrha hadn’t been doing that very much lately.

“It looks like we’re`-” Ruby stopped herself. She was going to say partners but… Ruby had Weiss and Pyrrha had had… Jaune…

“It looks like we’re matching now.” She said much more softly. 

Luckily, Pyrrha didn’t notice her near faux pas. “Thank you, Ruby, it’s very sweet and…” She took a deep breath, standing up a bit straighter. “I’m sure it’ll help when I come with you all tomorrow. I know how Nora can be on a shopping trip.” 

Ruby’s breath hitched. She actually helped even if it was just a little bit! She was so worried it’d just be like with Yang and-

“Though… I don’t think we’ll need to book any sort of sightseeing trip. ” Pyrrha smiled coyly as she passed Ruby a small letter, which Ruby began to read her eyes widening the further she got down it.

Ruby ran out of the room and shouted downstairs, “Ren, Nora! Come here! Pyrrha’s got something to show us, well, a few things!” 

The two of them had offered to help cook the sides while her dad was out working the grill, and it took a few seconds until she could hear the sounds of mostly one pair of footsteps coming up the stairs which drowned out the other pair.

“What’s up, we can’t stay too- oh so that’s what Ruby was getting for you. Lookin good Pyrrha!” Nora whistled as she saw Pyrrha, who blushed and retreated into her cloak a bit. 

“Fashion wise I think it works quite well. Good job picking it out Ruby.” Ren added and Ruby couldn’t help but beam. 

“That’s not all, look!” Ruby excitedly showed them the letter and they both read it over before handing it back to Pyrrha. 

“We can talk about details later, I don’t want to burn the pastries, but that’s… that’s really good.” His voice grew softer. “If it's okay with you Pyrrha.”

“Thank you, Ren, and… It’s okay.” 

“Hey Pyrrha, can you pull your hood up and stuff?” Nora asked and Pyrrha looked confused at the sudden change of topic but complied, pulling her cloak over herself until only her face was showing from underneath the hood.

Nora’s voice was gruff “I am Pyrrha Nikos! I am the Night! I am… Justice!”

“Nora.” Ren chided, and Ruby frowned at the joke, not wanting Pyrrha to feel embarrassed. But Pyrrha… Pyrrha started giggling , and soon enough everyone else joined in. Everyone was laughing, they had their ticket to Haven, and for the first time since she’d woken up from the Fall of Beacon, Ruby could say things were finally looking up for once.

Chapter Text

As Pyrrha and her friends walked through the cobbled streets of Patch’s main settlement, she was pleasantly surprised that Ruby’s idea to cover herself in her cloak worked so well. There were no stares of people gawking at her, just a few passing them by and occasionally recognizing and waving to Ruby, who smiled and waved back. 

Patch’s main settlement reminded Pyrrha a lot of a smaller more tight-knit, Vale, and she could tell from the dominance of the tightly packed two to three-story brick buildings that matched Vale’s own post-war architecture, that this place had taken off only after the Great War. From what Pyrrha had read about the history of the place, it made sense. 

For a long time Patch had just been a small fishing and farming community but considering the rather idyllic nature of the island, with the post-war economic boom Vale had, Pyrhha guessed that more and more people began settling in Patch for business and pleasure, though as caught a very strong whiff of some kind of fresh catch, she could tell that the industry that birthed the place was very much alive and well. 

“So our list is… hmmm do we still need cookware and stuff if we’re going by airship?” Ruby’s brows were furrowed intently as walked ahead of the group, leading them along like a flock of ducklings, with Nora being the one to carry the one bag of goods they’d already bought. 

“We’ll still probably need some if we want Ren to cook food at all, but that’s something we can pick up in Mistral instead,” Nora answered. “Airships are craaaaamped and I can’t imagine it’d be easy to fit that in our luggage.”

“I see I’m already defaulting to group cook again,” Ren responded, though the edges of his mouth showed just the slightest hint of a smile. 

“Don’t worry Ren, I might not be as good as you but I’d love to show everyone some more Argus-specific dishes. But… getting back to the topic of cookware, while I doubt the airship provided will have space issues, I also think we can wait until Mistral. Besides, when we get there I can pay for it since I’ll have my accounts back.” 

“Aww you don’t have to Pyrrha. But thanks!” Ruby chimed in from the front.

“Ruby, it’s okay. Before all this, I made a rather decent amount of money through licensing deals, sponsorships, and tournament winnings. It’ll be best to save our Lien until then just in case.” Pyrrha had generally been the one to pay for her team normally as a result, especially since before she had friends the most she spent Lien on was books and Huntress-related necessities. 

“Well then… looks like we should be done! Is there anything else we need to pick up that isn’t on here?” Ruby asked stopping and turning around to wait for their response.

“If you don’t mind, could we stop at a weapon shop? T-there’s something I need to pick up actually?”

Ruby’s eyes glittered with excitement and she bounced on her heels happily.

“Of course! I’d love to show you Pyrrha, I brought Ren and Nora there yesterday! This is the place I bought like, most of the parts for my baby even if they had to order them in! Mr. Sethlans is super nice and helpful andohmygosh-” 

Pyrrha smiled as Ruby continued on with unadulterated excitement… even if she had some trouble really understanding the strings of words. She wished Weiss was here,  she seemed to be able to decipher Ruby when she got excited like this but… maybe in time, Pyrrha could do so as well. She had gotten reasonably good at understanding Nora when she got similarly… enthusiastic. 

It didn’t take long to reach their destination, a place called Custom Combat. Ruby held out the door for her Ren, and Nora, which made a jingle as it opened from the little bell on top. The inside was filled with various racks of ammo, guns, parts, and other accessories. She could see why Ruby was excited, for someone of her tastes, this place would be divine. Pyrrha found herself drifting behind the other three, drawing a bit more into her cloak as she saw the man behind the counter look at them, a rather older fellow with tanned skin, strong-looking arms, and a rather thick beard. 

“How may I- oh hello again Ruby! And it seems you brought those friends of yours from yesterday, Ren and Nora, right?” 

“Yep, that’s us!” Nora replied while Ren nodded in agreement. 

“I hope there weren't any issues with the merchandise you got yesterday?”

“Never, Mr. Sethlans, actually it's just our friend who wasn’t able to come along yesterday and needed to pick something up!” 

His copper eyes bored into her. “And what might your name be miss? Almost missed ya back there despite being so tall.”

Pyrrha’s fists clenched together and her knees locked up. Did he know? It didn’t sound like he knew but-no, keep it together Pyrrha.

“H-Helen.” She lied, using her mother’s name.

“Oh that’s a lovely name. Is there anything I can help you with?” He responded, and Pyrrha felt her nerves begin to calm. There was no accusation or recognition. Just kindness towards a friend of a recurring customer.

Finding her voice, she responded. “I-I just need a scabbard that will fit something.”

“Don’t worry Mr. Sethlans! I know my way around this place pretty well, after all and I’ve been coming here since I was like, eight.” 

“Of course!” He chuckled. “Just offering as a courtesy.”

Ruby looked at Pyrrha and gave her a sunny smile, a wink, and a thumbs-up before grabbing Pyrrha’s hand and nearly dragging her through the store, which probably looked rather comical given she heard Nora giggling behind her, while Ruby kept muttering “Scabbards scabbards scabbards… there we go!” 

She pointed over to the rack full of hanging scabbards, sheathes, and more, with some designed for giant great swords and others for rapiers tinier than even Weiss’s.

Ruby strode through the aisle, picking at certain scabbards and carefully eyeing them “Soo I’m guessing you need something for Miló, what were her dimensions again? I know all my team’s stuff by heart but I’ll need to learn yours-”

“I-It’s not for Miló actually it's for ah…” Pyrrha reached into her cloak, untying and then unwrapping Crocea Mors, which had been hooked onto her belt.

Ruby looked wide-eyed and surprised, an “Oh,” being all she could muster. 

“Pyrrha, why?” Ren asked, his eyes darting between Pyrrha and the sword she held out before her.

“Because,” She said firmly one hand gripping the sword’s hilt intently “I’ll avenge Jaune by plunging Crocea Mors into her heart! It’s the least I can do for him...”

“Oh, Pyrrha he-” Pyrrha’s eyes narrowed into a glare, and Nora thankfully stopped herself. She just wished they could understand sometimes!

“That-um, uh  I know Crocea Mors well enough I-I can get something for it yeah,” Ruby replied hurriedly, her eyes darting nervously between Pyrrha and Nora before going back for her search. 

The rest of their time in the shop was awkwardly quiet, but soon enough Ruby found something that fit well despite the blade’s condition and they were back on the street… and standing around awkwardly now as well on the sidewalk.

It was Ruby who finally broke the silence. “So uh, as tea- errr, the expedition leader I propose we enjoy our last day in Patch and go to this totally awesome sweet shop that has the bestest cookies for uh, important morale boosting and so I can stock up in case Mistral has no chocolate chip cookies!” 

“I’m pretty sure Mistral has chocolate chip cookies, Ruby,” Ren responded in a deadpan. 

“They might not be as good!” Ruby huffed.

“Yeah, don’t be a stick in the mud Ren! It's cookies and Ruby always has good taste in cookies!” Nora crossed her arms.

“I wasn’t saying we shouldn’t do it. Pyrrha, do you want to go?” Ren asked.

“I’d be happy to spend some time with friends, we are going to be rather busy soon enough and tomorrow we’ll be flying most of the day.” She gestured to everyone,  “Besides, even if I didn’t want to go I think I’d be outnumbered.” 

“Fair,” Ren said while Nora wooted!

“Alright guys, Operation: Get Delicious Cookies is a go! Banzai!” Ruby raised her fist up into a cheer, and Pyrrha found herself joining her and her teammates with a happy “Banzai!”. Ruby’s enthusiasm was rather contagious, Pyrrha noted with a smile. 

///

“Night guys! Hope you’re all ready for tomorrow?” Ruby asked, stopping halfway in the doorway to her bedroom. 

“I have my alarm set and me and Nora have packed all our stuff. I assume the same for you two?” Ren asked

Both Ruby and Pyrrha both nodded in confirmation.

“Our arrangements should be good, and I’m bringing this along,” Pyrrha flashed her letter, “as well. Also… I… had fun today, so thank you Ruby for showing us around and everyone, for being so encouraging despite my… nervousness.” 

“Of course Pyrrha! I’m glad I was finally able to take some of my friends back home…” Ruby said rather wistfully.

“Pyrrha you’re our teammate, we’re always here to support ya and stuff.” Nora nodded before letting out a rather large yawn and heading off to bed.

While they may have decided to come in early for the night to ensure they were all ready in the morning and were not late for their flight to Mistral, Pyrrha certainly knew she was tired after a day spent in town. After they’d got cookies the four of them walked around the docks, toured the Great War-era Fort Argent, played at the arcade that Ruby had frequented as a child, and finally went for some very delicious seafood for dinner. 

Pyrrha pulled the covers off her bed, turned off the lights, and quickly slid underneath. She didn’t bother reading tonight, A Heroine of Our Time remaining neatly closed on the nightstand, as she could tell from the way her eyelids were drooping and the sluggishness of her thoughts that sleep would come quickly. Her head lay on one fluffy pillow, while she hugged the second one that had been provided to her. Pyrrha’s eyes closed and she quickly could tell she was drifting off… to sleep and she… found herself…

Pyrrha found herself back at Beacon. She and Jaune had only just managed to make it outside of Beacon Tower’s lobby when she heard a low ascending rumble before the windows burst, flames belching outwards and she could feel her aura pelted by shards of glass. They’d just made it out and already she had beaten Ozpin and was ascending to the top.

This was the power that Pyrrha had shirked… and because of that hesitation, it was now in the hands of someone willing to do this… willing to attack Vale and unleash countless Grimm, terrorists, and hacked Atlesian defenders onto the city during a festival meant to celebrate peace!

“Pyrrha what was all that, what is going on?” Jaune’s tone was nervous, and Pyrrha could see the sweat bead down his face and hear the panting of his breath, likely exhausted from their mad dash to safety. 

“Jaune there’s no time. You need to go I’ll-” Her voice hitched. She… she knew what she had to do and she knew what would happen but…but as she looked at her partner, whose blue eyes looked at her in confusion and concern, she paused. She… she was a Huntress but she knew what would happen if she went up there… 

“Pyrrha what do you mea-?” His eyes widened, mouth gaping in horror and Pyrrha couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt in her heart. She averted her gaze, fingers curling up into themselves. She couldn’t be weak, she couldn’t hesitate as she had with the mantle of Fall Maiden, she couldn’t shirk her duty! Pyrrha knew but she-

She felt strong hands on her shoulder, and her emerald eyes looked into Jaune’s blue ones in surprise, his face was now so close and she could see tears tracking down his cheeks. 

“Pyrrha I-I know what your thinking but-but… you’re such a good person and you have so much to do and-and you’re my hero. You’ve been so good to me and I’ve been such a bumbling fool this whole time and I don’t want you to die because of it and-!”

Even as her heart imploded, she readied her polarity, feeling the familiar sensation of her semblance gripping Jaune’s breastplate. She’d push him into one of two the rocket lockers and-

Pyrrha felt his lips across hers and her semblance and aura fell away, hands uncurling in shock even melting as she vaguely felt Jaune nearly lift her off her feet and spin her around the way she’d always wanted him to at the dance.  

Finally, finally, she felt him, unfortunately, pull away, and slowly Pyrrha returned to the present, and saw Jaune’s eyes half-lidded and looking away from her in… sadness? 

“I’m sorry Pyrrha.”

Jaune’s grip tightened and his head pulled back just the way Pyrrha taught him to do before a headbutt- wait no what-!

Pain split across her forehead and Pyrrha screamed in agony. She was moving, guided by… by Jaune but everything was so… blurry. She tried to grab onto something but…

“Jaune it’s… my destiny I… my… fault.” Her voice was slurred and she felt herself tumble backward into something cold and metallic… her ears were ringing, she-she had to…

“Pyrrha you-your destiny is… going to be living a long and happy life with friends and-and be the greatest Huntress there ever will be and... have  a partner so much better than I was!” His voice was strong but she could tell something was… wrong but what… 

Pyyrha heard a metallic slam and darkness enveloped her even as bright lights danced before her eyes, she flailed madly and she knew she knew she could find a way she a way out but how she couldn’t think her head-!

“I love you Pyrrha so-so let me be your hero this one time okay?” His voice came outside and she could hear tapping and beeping of… of something and-

“Jaune no!” She felt a brief flash of clarity, her polarity her semblance she-!

Suddenly she heard the roar of rockets from underneath her ignite and she was lifted upwards and sideways, her head split in pain as horrid vertigo swallowed her, and she was spinning and flying and felt like she was tumbling through hell. Her semblance snaked outwards, feeling every piece of her prison but she didn’t know which way was up and-

She felt a jolt, aura cushioning her head slamming into metal as she suddenly stopped, her ears ringing from the sound of the impact. Pyrrha just lay there for a few seconds, it still felt like she was spinning and flying through the air before… eventually, she-she had to get out and-and tell everyone!

Her semblance once again flowed over her metal prison and she pushed hard just like when she’d killed no-no-no focus!

Her metal prison quickly burst asunder and Pyrrha was finally greeted with blessed light from the moon above and she could vaguely tell sh-she was somewhere in… Vale? Her breathing was heavy as she slowly stumbled onto her feet… before she immediately collapsed to her knees and hurled, the horrid nausea induced by everything finally catching up to her. 

She rolled onto her back, watching as the moon and the sky still was spinning above her but sh-she was a Huntress a-and… Jaune was in danger! Her hand slowly fumbled for her scroll and she slowly pulled it above her, unfurling it. 

The text danced across her screen but she went off muscle memory and what blurry images she could make out, making her way to the contacts list, the blurry array of photos of her friends flashing before her.

She tapped desperately at them, not caring who as long as it was anyone who could warn everyone about her a-and save him!

A feminine voice came through the scroll “Pyrrha are you-“

“Beacon Tower! Get to Beacon!” 

“Wha-“ 

“B-Beacon tower he’s going to die!”

“Wh- you- cutting out, Pyrrha- we’ll come get y-“ The connection suddenly dropped as Pyrrha heard a loud boom and a horrible roar in the distance as she stared at the screen. The numbers and pictures and names danced and spun until she clenched the scroll shut.

He was going to die and it was her fault. Her fault for being weak, her fault for hesitating, all her fault, she killed Penny and now she had killed-

“Jaune!” Pyrrha screamed as she jolted upright flinging sheets and blankets off, sweat pouring down her body as she tried to quell the wave of clammy nausea that followed her from her nightmare. 

Her breathing was heavy and she swung her legs over the side of the bed to stand. She kneaded her head as she looked out the window, the bright moonlight and stillness helping her regain equilibrium. 

Pyrrha groaned, of course, she couldn’t sleep right before they had to get up for their flight in the morning. The times when she did manage to fall asleep she’d relive her last moments with… with Jaune. Relive the night she had failed him, had failed Penny, had failed Beacon, and had failed Vale.

She needed to get outside for a breath of fresh air. Pyrrha reached out with her polarity, finding her armor in the corner she’d left it and pulling it over to her, using her semblance to begin sliding it on. It was a routine her mom had gotten her to do, to put on as much of her combat dress as she could with her polarity, even maneuvering the tiniest of metal clasps into place that ensured the corset and greaves were all in their proper position and tightness. It helped hone the fine control that provided her illusion as the Invincible Girl, made it much easier to put on some of the harder-to-reach pieces, and frankly, it was always soothing to just use her semblance like that. 

With the last strap sliding into place, she tied her sash around her waist and grabbed her black cloak, sliding it over her shoulders before finally pulling Miló and Akoúo̱ into her hands. She probably looked at least a bit ridiculous like this, wearing her combat gear over her pink-colored nightwear but Pyrrha wasn’t looking to impress the crowds tonight was she? 

She slowly opened the door to her room, creeping through the hallway and down the stairs. She noticed the light from the fridge yet again glowed in the kitchen but she ignored it, making a beeline for the front door and emerging into the cool, night air of Patch, and she tightened her cloak around her, appreciating the warmth it gave her. Argus may have been colder than Vale, but that didn’t mean Pyrrha was immune to the midnight cold from an encroaching winter, especially when she didn’t have the proper clothes for it. 

The distant but familiar crack of Crescent Rose firing sent a shot of adrenaline through Pyrrha, her head swiveling in the direction it came from, behind the house likely somewhere down that small path she’d spotted when training the other day. She sprinted, legs pumping, leaves and branches cracking underneath her footfalls, while her cloak and sash fluttered behind her. 

She now heard the howling as well as three more gunshots that cut a few of those howls short. It seemed Ruby was doing well for herself at least, though worry still pushed her forward. She could be injured a-and why was she even out here at this time?!

Eventually, Pyrrha emerged into a clearing whose only occupants were a few remaining whiffs of black smoke slowly ascending and dispersing. At least it seemed like Ruby had made short work of the Grimm but… where was she? Pyrrha’s green eyes scanned her surroundings, weapons at the ready until her gaze fell upon another break in the tree line just a bit ahead. Unless Ruby decided to get lost in the woods that was where she must have gone. 

Pyrrha ran forward, and thankfully this trail was much shorter as it soon opened into a beautiful cliffside, overlooking the forest and Ruby… standing before a grave. That must be her… mother. Pyrrha felt a hot flash of embarrassment as she looked upon what was presumably a personal moment, though thankfully it seemed like Ruby hadn’t noticed her, and Pyrrha started to pull away when Ruby started… talking?

“Hey, Mom. I know I’ve been visiting a lot, i-it’s hard to sleep when I keep reliving that night, but… this is going to be my last one for a while I think… Me a-and my friends, uh, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha are going to Mistral to investigate the attackers, but also I just can… tell that it's going to be a long long time… and… it’s hard mom. My team is gone a-and Yang is… I don’t know what to do! Every time I try to help she just gets worse and everything is different and Penny and Jaune are gone but….” 

Pyrrha knew she should leave but her feet were frozen to the ground, curiosity overcoming her better judgment.

“But I gotta be strong l-like a leader and a hero for Nora, Ren, Pyrrha, and everyone else! T-they lost Jaune and he was so much more to them, especially to Pyrrha so I can’t let them down! I-I got to see Ren and Nora have a good time a-and I even managed to get Pyrrha to be happy s-so it is working and I just gotta keep going! Together we’ll get justice for Vale for my friends and we’ll make sure nothing like that happens again! I swear on it Mom, this is my time to be a hero like you were!” 

Pyrrha’s manners had finally won out and she managed to pull away from her spying as Ruby finished and Ruby began just… kneeling before the grave, letting her semblance shed petals onto the memorial and into the wind. 

She’d always known Ruby had a good heart to her but this… Ruby had lost so much and was completely innocent of everything, unlike Pyrrha, a-and she was putting all this onto herself even after everything? 

Pyrrha hummed in thought as she trekked back to the house. The trauma and pressure of the Fall of Beacon seemed to have affected everyone differently. Some like Yang or Blake had broken under the pressure, for Pyrrha, it had exposed her weakness, for Ren and Nora they bent but kept on going, but for Ruby it… it showed how good she was, it made her better!

But-but, Pyrrha vowed that Ruby wouldn’t be alone, she’d be strong for her, and Ren and Nora too. S-she wouldn’t be a burden for them needing to be supported. Pyrrha vowed that she wouldn’t get Ruby killed as she had with Jaune, another pure-hearted innocent dead because Pyrrha had rejected her fate. Even if that meant Pyrrha making the sacrifice she’d been too cowardly to make for him.

Chapter Text

Just keep your eyes on Pyrrha, eyes forward, one hand on her cloak, and don’t get separated.  

That was the mantra Ruby repeated as they all waded single file through the veritable sea of stranded people to either side of them through the various terminals of Vale’s aerodrome. Even when she wasn’t looking she could smell the clustered reek of people who hadn’t, no, couldn’t get a proper bath for who knows how long. She could hear the low murmur from the crowds around her, which was paradoxically almost deafening yet still disturbingly quiet for the sheer volume of people here. Compared to the nervous excitement of Beacon’s auditorium, or the excited ups and downs of the Vytal Arena it was just… low and sad. 

Pyrrha stopped to orient herself, looking at what Ruby was guessing were different gate numbers and directions while occasionally looking back down at the letter tightly clenched in one hand. Ruby felt a slight tug on her own cloak from the side and looked to see a little girl, looking up at her with pink eyes and a matching nest of messy hair on top of her head, “You’re a Huntress right, d-do you think you could help get us-?” 

Before Ruby could respond the girl was scooped by a very apologetic-looking mother, “Carnation, I told you not to run off, don’t bother them they’re-” Just like that, they withdrew back into the crowd, joining the ocean of voices and faces that were all around them and Ruby sighed, eyes downcast.

“Yeah, this… sucks,” Nora said from behind her, brows furrowed into a sad frown while Ruby huffed in agreement.

“Just another reason why we’re on this mission,” Ren said from behind Nora, his steely gaze focused on the crowd of people. “So this doesn’t have to happen again to anyone .”

///

“Alright everyone, our contact should be up ahead soon, so keep an eye out.” Pyrrha looked back at the group, her tired emerald eyes quickly checking over them, and everyone gave a brief, tired nod of confirmation. From what little Ruby could see the area they were entering was normally used for smaller or private flights that couldn’t use airbridges to board.

“I think I found them,” Ren said, pointing to the right, as Ruby stood on her toes to see. There was a flight attendant holding a small but visible sign with Pyrrha’s name on it. She felt Pyrrha begin pulling her cloak over her shoulders and Ruby let go, frowning as she watched Pyrrha look side to side nervously before she finally made her way over to the woman, with Ruby, Nora, and Ren following behind.

“Miss Nikos, yes?” The woman asked,

“Yes, that’s me.” Pyrrha handed her the letter, which the woman quickly looked at before nodding and handing it back.

“Follow me.” She said, quickly leading them to one of the doors out onto the tarmac and to the airship that was waiting for them and… wow, this was definitely someone’s private vessel. It was a sleek, long-bodied, green and silver thing, that tapered slowly outwards in the back. Their guide led the four to the open passenger ramp on the side, where she stopped and asked them to wait while she retrieved the captain to greet them.

Ruby’s eyes drifted to the sky as they waited and she couldn’t help but gawk at the truly massive flow of airships taking off and landing from the aerodrome. It wasn’t just standard passenger ships either, as there were more than a few bulky cargo ships and military vessels of various stripes taking off and landing at various points with people being loaded onto them while orbiting above were Valean and even a few Vacuan and Mistralian warships. Despite the circumstances behind it, Ruby couldn’t help but feel her heart warm at the sight of the kingdoms of the world banding together to help.

Looking back to the opulent vehicle slated for them Ruby couldn’t help but cringe at the luxury craft they were lucky enough to be slated to ride on while some poor people were stuck getting home on literal dust haulers. And poor Pyrrha probably felt even-

A male voice broke Ruby’s reverie “I apologize for the wait Miss Nikos, I hope she fits your expectations so far, the Zephyr looks even better on the inside than on the out, easily the Council’s finest.” 

A middle-aged fellow descended down the ramp to greet them. He had striking green hair and he was presumably the captain from his uh, captainy hat and uniform. Weiss was usually the person who knew this kinda stuff…

Pyrrha grimaced, her posture rigid “I’m glad such… special considerations are being given to me, captain…?” 

“Captain Conifer, at your service. If you may ah, I have on records your two teammates, one Lie Ren and one Nora Valkyrie but…” His pale green eyes flashed to Ruby “I was presumably expecting one Jaune Arc not… who are you?.” 

Ruby shrunk back a little bit, and she noticed her three friends all winced as they looked away from the man at the reminder of their missing leader.

“I-I’m Ruby Rose and Jaune… h-he fought at Beacon and, h-he’s not with us anymore...” 

The man frowned, “Ah, I apologize for breaching that topic and I’m truly sorry I have to say this Miss Nikos but… Miss Rose doesn’t have approval to enter Mistral.”

Wait what, nonono-

“That’s bullcrap, why can’t Ruby come?” Nora growled.

“I’m sorry, Miss Valkyrie, but only Miss Nikos and her teammates were authorized to board this flight. Mistral is on rather high alert when it comes to who may enter and exit the Kingdom.”

“Heightened security due to the attacks on Vale?” Ren asked.

The captain nodded “The revelations that some of the perpetrators were Mistralian students has made the Council understandably cautious. I’m not saying she won't be able to come but I’ll need to contact the council and with CCT down-”

“That could take weeks! We can’t wait that long, especially now that everyone is going to know we’re leaving!” Ruby said, her eyes narrowing in frustration. 

“Yes, it may be quite a while.” He tutted sadly.

Pyrrha’s nostrils flared, her fists clenching, “We’re all a team now, we fought at Beacon together and-”

“Miss Nikos, that isn’t what is in the records,” He stared at Pyrrha with a look Ruby just couldn’t really make out. It wasn’t frustration, it was… expectant? 

“I wasn’t done yet. I’ll compensate you with…” She pulled out a stack of Lien chips, “This much up front, and five times the amount once we get to Mistral as I can wire you from my accounts if you’re willing to look past this little informality, and are willing to keep silent about me getting back to anyone that isn’t the Council. If anything leaks to the press I’ll know it was you, the deal will be off, and the Council will know you tried to extort me.”

 He looked at the stack of Lien, humming and hawwing for a moment when he finally finished, pulling away from Pyrrha and looking back at Ruby smiling, “Welcome aboard Miss Rose.” 

///

The interior of the airship was nice , with two couches, a bedroom, a television, and a bunch of other amenities listed off by the flight attendant that Ruby didn’t bother remembering, biting her lip as she bounced her leg while she, Ren, and Nora sat on the couches waiting for Pyrrha to exit the cockpit where she was ‘clearing up the details’ a bit more with the captain. The cabin was silent, and she let out a small yawn. Gods she was tired but… she know she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t-

Pyrrha finally entered the cabin, joining Ruby on the sofa as the airship began to gently sway from takeoff. “Sorry about the wait, but on the bright side, we’re finally leaving. He said the flight should be about-” 

“Pyrrha, d-did you just bribe him?! You’re always so honest and-and that’s illegal!” Ruby said. 

 Pyrrha sighed, shoulders falling but it was Ren who spoke up, his brow furrowed in worry, “Ruby… how much do you know about Mistral and just… how things work there?” 

“Umm, well I’ve never really left the kingdom, uh by that I mean Vale! But... I know it has a lotta people and is the biggest kingdom, and they like arts and culture and… Oh oh, I think Uncle Qrow mentioned that it was kinda seedy and had a lotta Torchwick types, and Blake said it was kinda racist and… yeah.” She said, cutting herself off before she started just babbling. 

“That is all true if rather on the surface level, half of Mistrali culture isn’t even theirs…” Pyrrha snorted before continuing, “Anyways, what Ren means is the way the law works in Mistral is far more… fluid in how it's applied than most places. Mistral is very much reliant on ‘favors’ and well, just what you saw me do.”

Nora nodded, “Yeah, Pyrrha’s right. When me and Ren came to Vale it took a long time to get used to cops not hassling you just so they could shake some spare Lien out of you because it turns out you were ‘jaywalking.’” 

“Or the other end of the problem, that someone could shake off legitimate criminal allegations and violations of the law by throwing money at the problem. Two underage orphans shouldn’t have been able to legally keep a grenade launcher… but it managed to come with us all the way to Beacon.” Ren gave a look to Nora who gave an innocent smile as her eyes looked away. 

“B-but we’re Huntresses we shouldn’t be… doing bad stuff just because everyone else does it! How do things get better?” Ruby said, eyes bouncing between her friends at just how blasé they were about bribery and-and threats!

Pyrrha sagged, “Trust me Ruby, my mother and I come from Argus, and the way most of Mistral works was something that took some… getting used to. She managed to mostly keep my hands clean of such affairs but… it’s not that simple.”

“Good people have tried to fix things, and they either lose their jobs because of bosses and colleagues who are in on it, or get killed by criminals as a warning.” Ren said sharply, before his voice softened, “I don’t mean to say there aren’t good people, or that Mistral is entirely lawless but… I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“When it's either sticking true to yourself and getting bogged down or being able to help people the best we can, I’m okay with parting with some Lien and making a teeny compromise, so I can do what's right. That’s why we’re taking this airship ride after all.” Nora’s blue eyes flicked over to Pyrrha

Pyrrha’s posture straightened somewhat, “Nora’s right. We’re getting special treatment that probably skirts more than a few laws and I know I’ll owe the Council some sort of favors… but I think we can all agree that it’s more important we get to Haven now before the trail runs cold, rather than taking who knows how long otherwise by boat.”

Ren and Nora nodded while Ruby just slouched in on herself, drawing her cloak over her shoulders. “I-I wasn’t accusing you of anything it just… it still feels wrong is all.” All those poor people like that girl and her mom were stranded and they were just… cheating their way past that.

Pyrrha put a hand gently onto Ruby’s shoulder and smiled, “There’s nothing wrong with feeling bad about this Ruby. While it may be something we have to unfortunately deal with, if everyone felt the way you do, the way we do, about how things work in Mistral it wouldn’t be a problem anyone would have to deal with.” 

Ruby gave them a weak smile in response, “Yeah, I-I know you’re just trying to keep me informed and stuff and that’s my job as… lead-as a Huntress so I don’t get into trouble because I don’t know any better, and mess up the mission. So thanks, it… means a lot.”

///

After taking off the four had decided to get some shuteye, as having to wake up so early to travel all the way to Vale had been rough on everyone. Nora and Ren took the bed while Pyrrha and Ruby each took a sofa. However, even with the airship they were on being faster than most, travel between Vale all the way to the city of Mistral was still a very very long affair...  

“I’m booooored” Nora groaned as she slumped over onto Ren’s lap who gently lifted her up back into a sitting position, offering her a small chiding smile… before Nora immediately flopped back into his lap. Pyrrha couldn’t help but grin a bit at her two teammates' antics.

“It might not be the most fun thing but it's important and it’ll pass the time for sure,” Ruby said as she popped off the couch.

Ruby’s eyes flashed with inspiration before she popped off the couch, spun around, and began riffling through her backpack.  It was surprising how much energy Ruby had especially since Pyrrha knew she hadn’t had any coffee. Letting out a loud “Aha!” Ruby pulled out a notebook and SLAMMED it onto the coffee table, causing Pyrrha to pull back in surprise.

Ren looked at the notebook and his eyebrow quirked up in confusion, Your… diary?”

“I haven’t been writing diary stuff now for a long time, but it's a good place to hide our adventure plans and all the notes and thoughts I’ve been taking on the perpetrators of this attack. We couldn’t really talk about it before 'cause Dad might catch wind of what we are doing especially since everyone knows everyone on Patch and we were just…” Her eyes softened as she looked away, “Trying to cheer up… But,” Her tone raised again and she pointed a finger upward, “Now that we are officially on our mission and stuff we can and should totally talk about it..” 

Nora sprung upright, Ren quickly pulling his head out of the way so he didn’t get smacked, “Now you’re talking! We discuss what's up with these sickos so when we catch em, we know all their weakness and can break their legs!”

“I concur with Nora.” Ren said.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea Ruby, but… just give me a quick second before we start,” Pyrrha said before she closed her eyes, clasping her hands together. She slowly began reaching out with her Polarity, caressing the insides of the airship and the appliances as she searched for any unwanted listeners. After about a solid minute she opened her eyes to the quizzical stares of her friends. 

“Ah sorry about zoning out there, I was just making sure no one had any listening devices, just in case,” Pyrrha said.

“Ohhhh wow, that’s so cool! Did you pick it up because of like, sneaky Mistral uh, shadyness?” Ruby asked.

“I always saw ya doing that in the lockers but I thought it was just you doing some meditation or fiddling with your armor. You were that worried even at Beacon and the Vytal Festival?” Nora added, her blue eyes looking at Pyrrha with a hint of concern. 

“No, this was for a different type of ‘shadiness’ as Ruby put it, that’s sadly a problem in every Kingdom. When you’re a celebrity there are always unscrupulous parts of the paparazzi who will go to rather extreme lengths to pick up any sort of private conversation and well… pictures.” 

Ruby’s eyes widened for a moment before her face screwed up into a gag, Ren let out a simple “Ah” even as his hands clenched into fists, and Nora looked Pyrrha dead in the eyes “Seriously Pyrrha if you ever have creepers who need their kneecaps busted just tell us.” 

Pyrrha waved her off, “Thank you Nora, but it’s fine. It’s definitely not a new problem, and certainly rather small compared to what we’re dealing with now. We are alone for now, though, so Ruby, if you could do the honors?

“Oh yeah right, well all righty then let’s get started.” Ruby picked up her notebook and began reading, “Alright so team ABER are our suspects, which uh, consists of uh, Ash Autumn, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and we all know that those three were involved for sure but also um, one Renata Plombira? I don’t know if anyone saw her but given her team, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in on it and we just didn’t see her.”

“We do need to consider all of them are coming under false names when we look for them. If they were infiltrating Haven Academy they were likely getting in on with falsified documentation,” Ren said.

“Yeah, I mean like, her name is Ash Autumn and she’s the Fall Maiden who shoots fireballs? No one’s real name could be THAT on the nose.” Nora added.

Pyrrha muttered darkly, “And their team name is pronounced Amber.” Her friends looked at her with confusion and she explained, “Amber was the name of the previous Fall Maiden, the one whose powers were stolen. It’s like she was taunting us, taunting everyone,” 

“I didn’t really see Ash much in person but what little I saw she seemed kinda quiet and stuff and Emerald said she had social anxiety,  but,” Ruby deflated “that’s probably a lie like everything else about Emerald.” 

“Yes from my encounter with the witch,” Pyrrha’s hands grabbed the edges of her sash and squeezed , “She’d be better described as cruel, and arrogant, and evil, and monstrous and-!”

She felt Ruby’s hand on her shoulder and Pyrrha’s eyes widened as she realized the metal cutlery from their last meal had been crushed by her Polarity. Closing her eyes she just breathed , for a few seconds before opening them again, looking to see Ren and Nora across from her looking at her with concern, and Pyrrha’s eyes flicked away from them.

“I-I’m sorry for bringing it up, I shouldn’t have- I should have suggested something else. ” Ruby stuttered as she closed her journal and began putting it away.

“Yeah, maybe let's do something else more-” 

Pyrrha cut Nora off. “Don’t worry about me I-I’m not broken like-” she cut herself off before she could mention Ruby’s sister, “I’m fine… we can’t stop our mission because I-I get a little emotional after all. Let’s talk about Mercury, he’s next on the list.” 

Pyrrha’s eyes darted between the floor, ceiling, her own legs, anywhere that wasn’t her friends so she didn’t have to see the pity that’d be on their faces. She prayed they just… took the out she gave and didn’t push it. 

There was a few seconds of awkward silence before Ruby awkwardly cleared her throat. “Well umm, uh, I know Mercury was uh back on his feet…” There was a very long pause, during which Ruby grumbled something about Yang and ‘her stupid puns’ before she continued. “Ahem anyways so uh, I know he wasn’t crippled despite pretending he was, but I have no clue how! I was thinking he had some sort of enhanced healing semblance that could have him like, heal stuff most people couldn’t but we have no clue and-“

“I think I actually have an idea.” Pyrrha interjected, “When I fought him in a spar back at Beacon, I noticed a lot of metal beyond just those boots with my Polarity. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but now that you mention it…”

\\\

The four had talked about Team ABER for about an hour or so before they decided to call for a break, and while Pyrrha didn’t know how much new information they’d genuinely garnered, they at least had a strong idea of what to research once they finally reached Haven Academy. 

They’d spent the rest of the day talking, playing a lot of cards (which Ren swept), getting some dinner, and watching a few movies until everyone but Pyrrha had fallen asleep on the sofas. She had retired to the bedroom and while she hoped to get some sleep to avoid the travel lag, she noticed the book that must have been left on the nightstand and well, there’s a saying about a good book and time…. Needless to say, Pyrrha didn’t get much sleep.

“This is your captain speaking, we should be arriving at Mistral at Haven Academy with an ETA of approximately ten minutes.” 

Pyrrha slid off the bed, putting down the copy of the dryly named The Decline of Religion After the Great War , making a note to herself to buy her own copy once in Mistral. She should probably go check on her friends, based on the current silence they were probably still asleep in the main lounge. She wanted to make sure they were able to see the view before they landed

Pyrrha entered the lounge and smiled at the sight of her friends. Ren was sprawled across on one couch, while Nora lay on top of him, head resting on his chest with one arm wrapped around him while the other was hanging over the edge of the couch.

Ruby, on the other hand, was curled up on the edge of the other sofa, a small puddle of drool leaking onto her cloak, which was wrapped around her, though as she moved closer to wake Ruby up Pyrrha’s smile quickly faded as she noticed the faint trembling, fidgets, and the slight whimpers coming from the sleeping girl. 

“Ruby, are you okay? W-we’re landing soon.” Pyrrha sat next to her, softly laying a hand on Ruby’s back, 

Ruby gasped and her silver eyes shot open, flailing for something and nearly hitting Pyrrha in the face before stopping, her breath heavy. 

“Oh-oh crap I’m sorry Pyrrha. I-“

“It’s fine Ruby, even if you did hit me, accidents happen. Are you okay? That looked like a rather fierce nightmare.” 

Ruby just waved her hand, and brushed Pyrrha off, “Nah, I-I’m good trust me Pyrrha. You said something about us landing soon I think, we should probably wake up Ren and Nora.” 

Pyrrha sighed as Ruby changed the topic and watched as she walked over to Ren and Nora, gently shaking Pyrrha's teammates awake. After they made sure they had no loose items taken out of their bags during the trip, Pyrrha led the three over to a window.

As Mistral and the twin peaks the city was built into entered closer and closer into view Ruby pulled closer to the window, eyes focused on Haven Academy straddling Mistral’s twin peaks, Nora’s eyes widened and her breath hitched, and Ren stood behind, eyes flicking between different buildings and locations Pyrrha could only guess at.

“It’s actually beautiful from all the way up here,” Ren murmured and Pyrrha had to agree. No matter how many times she made the trip by airship and her own feelings on the city it never stopped being beautiful, even when they would be heading into the lion’s den soon enough.

Chapter Text

Ruby couldn't help but gawk in awe as she walked through the entrance to Haven and was greeted by a truly massive mural overhead of some great battle, soldiers locked in formation holding off an unending wave of Beowolves, all surrounding the centerpiece, which was some warrior armed with a seriously wicked Mistrali halberd which he was using to cleave a Nevermore's head right off.

"I also had that reaction when I toured Haven the first time. Before it was converted to a Huntsmen Academy, this place was the imperial palace for the Mistrali royalty, and they certainly spared no expense on its construction…. Though you may not want to keep your mouth open too much, you'll end up catching bugs." Pyrrha teased from up ahead, her cloak and sash fluttering through the air as she spun around to look back at her friends.

"I can't blame her… it is rather beautiful," Ren said, his lilac eyes tracing over every detail of the mural above and the brilliant colors and vivid, flowing design of the Mistrali style of architecture. Compared to Beacon's grand but austere gray stone, it oozed a level of fanciness and money that Ruby was pretty sure would make Weiss blush.

"All this to house one person's family seems a bit like a waste," Nora added, eyes frowning as she looked around.

Pyrrha continued matter-of-factly, "Well, initially, this was a much more humble bastion by the First Empress to house her family and the city's populace when Grimm attacked."

"Explains why it's built all the way on top of two mountains. Makes it easy to defend." Ren said.

Nora's brow quirked, "So how did a fortress designed to protect people get turned into this monstrosity?"

"Well, Mistral eventually grew large and capable enough to defend itself without the need to fall back to Haven, and it was expanded into more of an administrative center to help the imperial family manage the growing empire."

Nora fired back, "Still doesn't explain why they'd need to make it so… glitzy. I imagine there is a lot they could have done with that wealth."

"As much as it was because they believed they deserved such privileges in response to their immense duty, the ostentatiousness of it all did have a practical purpose too. A beautiful palace above the clouds that cost the wealth of multiple kingdoms was a good way to flex your power over your subjects and vassals.". Pyrrha said.

"So, is there any sort of story to this painting? Or just some ruler trying to polish his ego by pretending he fought Grimm." Ren asked.

"No, this piece above us has some truth behind it, even if it is a rather glorified depiction of what happened. It was commissioned by the Fourth Emperor, showing The Battle of Ascension against the Grimm surrounding the outskirts of Mistral in 706 BGW. The battle is named such because it broke the Grimm's numbers for decades, which allowed Mistral to truly begin the imperial expansion that would eventually see it cover all of Anima."

"So, what were their names?" Nora asked, "You've only brought up their titles so far."

Pyrrha smiled, her emerald eyes alight with passion, "It's because the Mistrali emperors had a tradition of intentionally wiping any record of their name upon taking the throne and adopting the title. After all, what's a simple name compared to being the ruler of the known world?"

"Seems pompous to me." Nora crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out at the painting of the emperor.

Pyrrha chuckled, "Oh, they absolutely were pompous, though taking the name of your family's profession as a last name was actually how many people used to be named before the Great War."

"That sounds kinda boring. Imagine how many people last named 'Huntsman' would be at Beacon." Ruby said.

"They'd probably think we're overly self-indulgent, but Ruby Huntsman doesn't exactly have the same ring as Ruby Rose and…" Pyrrha's face fell, "I'm sorry… I'm getting distracted and delaying everyone when we should be heading straight to meet with Headmaster Lionheart."

Ruby frowned, "Don't apologize! I totally get what it's like when you just sorta really get talking about stuff you like. I get like that with weapons to my team all the time, and you actually make this stuff interesting, too!!"

That was sorta true, at least. Ruby mostly just liked seeing Pyrrha be so energetic about something, seeing how those deep green eyes lit up and how her controlled stride almost broke into an excited run like when Ruby got to explore a new weapon shop. Especially given everything that happened, Pyrrha deserved to be a little happy.

"I think spending some time walking around will help center us and also," Ren cracked the faintest hint of a grin, "stretch a bit after being on an airship for so long."

"And I think it wouldn't kill the headmaster to wait just a bit. We can always just… say we got lost, or some Grimm delayed our flight, or one of us had to use the bathroom because-"

Ren intervened quickly, "I think we get your point, Nora,"

Ruby let out a small giggle before looking at Pyrrha, who was looking at the three of them with a growing smile, "Well, if you wouldn't mind… I'd be happy to play tour guide…. Hmmm, where to-? Oh, I have an idea!"

Pyrrha spun around and strode forward. As they pulled behind to follow her, Nora sidled up next to her, speaking lowly, "You should have seen her at the Valean National Museum, but… thanks, Ruby."

It took a moment, but Ruby understood what she meant and flashed her back with a bright grin, "Of course! Pyrrha is my friend, too."

Pyrrha probably spent at least two hours talking and explaining the vagaries of everything they passed. She was a bit embarrassed that she'd ended up blathering that long, but… her friends seemed to enjoy listening to her play tour guide. Pyrrha certainly enjoyed seeing their faces when they realized just how the Imperial Gardens had been able to serve as Haven's courtyard, especially Ruby. Pyrrha had a feeling that Ruby thought it would just be a fancy herb garden.

Eventually, they'd meandered their way to the headmaster's office. Much like Beacon, the headmaster's office in Haven was situated at the highest point of the academy, the pinnacle of the former imperial palace. The doors to the office were heavy wooden things with ornate carvings depicting an artistic rendition of Haven, the surrounding city of Mistral, and the surrounding environment. All around them, sunlight shone through expansive windows, giving a truly stunning view of the surrounding sea of green that went all the way to the horizon. For hundreds of years, it was a view exclusively reserved for Mistral's imperial family but now accessible to everyone. Pyrrha sighed. Normally, thinking about such things helped cheer her up and center her, making her problems feel small, but… with everything that was happening, everything that had happened to Beacon, to Jaune… It felt hollow to think about how good they had it.

She shook her head, fists clenching. Now wasn't the time for navel-gazing anyway; as much as she didn't want to have this meeting, they were on a mission here. Pyrrha wouldn't hold everyone up with her hesitation. She looked briefly at her friends, who all gave soft smiles of support before firmly knocking on the double doors.

"A-Ah, give me a moment!" Pyrrha instantly recognized the voice of Headmaster Lionheart. From the sound of it, his voice much softer and muffled by the heavy doors, they must have caught him in the middle of a call.

A few seconds later, the double doors swung open, with the old headmaster gesturing for them to come in as he returned to his desk.

Compared to the last time she'd seen the man, there were noticeable dark circles under his eyes, his face resting in a slight frown, and his shoulders slumped as he sat down, not even attempting to maintain some sense of poise. Of course, then he'd been proudly giving Pyrrha a tour of Haven, not having to deal with… everything.

The headmaster took a deep breath, "It's good to see you and your friends have made it here swiftly and safely. I hope the accommodations the Council arranged were to your liking?"

Ruby's brows furrowed, "It was nice, but-"

Pyrrha quickly cut her off, "It was lovely; please pass our gratitude on to the Council."

She mouthed a silent 'Sorry' to Ruby, who looked briefly puzzled before letting out a wordless 'Ooh.'

The headmaster sighed, his shoulders sagging as he looked away, "I do wish this meeting was happening under better circumstances, and I'm… dearly sorry for everything that happened at Beacon."

"You have no reason to apologize, headmaster; it wasn't your fault what happened." After all, it was Pyrrha's fault. She couldn't bear to hear the same false platitudes yet again, not when it was her slowness that lost the Maiden powers, that got Jaune….

It was Ren who continued, "What happened at Beacon is precisely why we're here, headmaster. We know the perpetrators came disguised from Haven, and we've reason to believe they're coming for Mistral's missing Maiden next."

Lionheart's eyes widened, well-worn wrinkles on his face creasing, "W-who told you all of that?"

Ruby chimed in, "My Uncle Qrow did, Headmaster. So we can stop them from getting the Maiden while he's busy doing stuff we can't."

"We're hoping you could help us look into team ABER and maybe help locate the Maiden," Nora said.

The headmaster sighed yet again, "Unfortunately, you likely know just as much about her location as I do. Ever since she abandoned her duty around a decade ago, she's vanished, and we have even fewer resources to look for her when so many Huntsmen are now devoted to just keeping the upsurge in Grimm from overwhelming the outlying settlements. As for our perpetrators, I'll gladly give you a copy of their transcripts and applications, but Cinder's team seems to have-"

It took only a moment for the incongruity to rear its ugly head to her, "Wait, Cinder?" Pyrrha asked, "But the name she used was Ash Autumn? If you knew she was using a fake name, why not investigate?"

Lionheart's eyes widened, and Pyrrha could see the man's tail swishing energetically in the background while his voice quavered, "O-oh yes, she… I prefer to talk with each of my students at least once… and it came up that her name was Cinder."

Nora crossed her arms, "And that didn't seem suspicious at all?"

The headmaster gathered himself for a second before he continued, "Many students with troubled backgrounds use fake names to try and move beyond their past, and Cinder seemed like an exceptional young woman, so I didn't pry. Most of my attention involving Team ABER was focused on keeping watch on Mercury anyway. As the son of an assassin who made a career of killing Huntsmen and seemed to cause an entire team's worth of trouble, I hope you can understand why my focus, unfortunately, shifted to him. I wouldn't be surprised if that were their intention all along."

Ruby interjected, "And besides! Blake came in with a lot of things left out of her transcripts too so she could enroll in Beacon, and she ended up being a good person."

Pyrrha frowned. Calling Blake a good person? After vanishing when Ruby's sister lost an arm to save Blake's life and her team leader was in a coma? Ruby really did look for the best in everyone.

Nora nodded in response to Ruby before her eyes shifted back to Lionheart, "Is there anything you can maybe do to help with our investigation? Allow us to search the room they stayed in here, examine their applications, anything?"

"Or if we could assist your own investigation in any way, we'd be more than happy to help." Ren quickly added.

Lionheart steepled his fingers, eyes scrunching up in thought, "My own search has unfortunately come to an impasse. The faculty has already reviewed their form and records, and nothing has come up, but I've also been mostly focused on keeping this place from falling to pieces and dealing with the current diplomatic mess, so hmmm… I don't think there would be any harm in letting you take over the search." His gaze softened, "While I don't believe I will be able to help you all too much, I'll give you what I can, along with lodgings here at Haven." He sighed, "All I ask is that you make sure to take on some of the missions being posted. I know you are all still students, but we're so overwhelmed that anything helps."

"Of course, we'd be more than happy to help out, right guys?" Ruby's silver eyes flicked over Pyrrha and her two teammates.

Pyrrha and her two teammates nodded in affirmation before Pyrrha shifted her attention back to the headmaster, "I apologize for bringing this up since I know it might be… blunt, but I imagine that the Council certainly wanted something from me in exchange for helping us get here so quickly."

For the first time in the meeting, Lionheart gave a small smile. "No, you're just not sugarcoating how things work around here. After dealing with Mistralian politics for a few decades, someone getting straight to the point is far more preferable. As for what the Council wants, thankfully, it's only really one or maybe two things. They mostly want you to give an interview about what happened at Beacon."

Pyrrha felt her mouth dry up, "Wh-why do they need that?"

"Miss Nikos, the last thing most people saw was a national celebrity accidentally tearing apart that poor girl and scattered footage of Atlesian war machines gunning down civilians before being cut off from the rest of the world. They're scared and confused, and a good portion are convinced an Atlesian invasion is going to happen any minute. Having someone on the ground clear up what happened would do a great deal of good, and it could help clear your name of any odious falsehoods people may have spread."

Pyrrha's fists clenched, her polarity snaking across the room, grasping and touching the buckles, metal bits, on her friend's outfits, "I… I'll…" She just wanted to hide away, but… S-she couldn't be selfish again. She couldn't! How many people died already because of Pyrrha hesitating? Even entertaining that was desecrating Jaune's sacrifice.

Pyrrha took a deep breath as she tried to center herself "Y-yes… that is more than acceptable, Professor." Her voice only slightly wavered. She wouldn't let her fear control her, she wouldn't be a spineless coward like Blake, like Yan-

Nora stepped forward, eyes flicking between Pyrrha and the headmaster, "Can we get at least some time to settle in? A few weeks, perhaps? Give Pyrrha some time to prepare."

"Nora, it's-"

Pyrrha stopped as Ruby's hand gently wrapped around her own clenched fist, while Ren's light touch on her shoulder preceded the soothing calm of Ren's semblance, and Gods was Pyrrha shaking?

She exhaled, fists unclenching and her Polarity receding as she began clasping Ruby's hand in return.

Yes, Nora was right; she… she could maybe use some time to steady herself so she could be fully collected when the time came. That was it, yes.

Thankfully, the headmaster didn't comment on the exchange, simply replying to Nora, "Yes, I think I can sell the Council on a two-week gap, though almost certainly nothing more. If that is what Miss Nikos wants, of course." His gaze focused on her, and his eyes crinkled in concern.

Pyrrha took a few increasingly steady breaths before she responded, "Yes, I'd like two weeks to prepare if you don't mind, headmaster. It's not like we won't be busy after all; we finally have our culprit's real name after all."

Pyrrha and her friends arrived at the dorm that had been assigned to them to find all their luggage neatly sorted and separated into each individual dorm suite. Unlike the other Academies, at Haven, students had their own rooms with a larger common area connecting them.

Nora, of course, was the first to break in their new living quarters by promptly leaping onto and sprawling out over the couch in the common area, with Ruby and Ren sitting beside her. Pyrrha remained standing, fiddling with her scroll.

"Soooo, are you guys feeling hungry? I don't know whether it would be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, given this whole time change business, but I'm starving." Nora's question was immediately punctuated by the growling of her stomach.

"I think the dining hall would be closed, but maybe we could take them to some of the places in the lower quarter we used to go to? We'd get to show Ruby a bit of the city, and they wouldn't ask too many questions about our mysterious hooded companion." Ren's eyes quickly shifted to Pyrrha, and she flashed him a small smile of appreciation.

Ruby grinned as she nodded, "Yeah, that sounds great! Does that sound good to you, Pyrrha?" Her gaze shifted to Pyrrha, her soft, silver eyes meeting Pyrrha's own.

"I'm also feeling rather peckish, but… I need to make a call first, if you don't mind. With the CCT down, I haven't been able to contact my mother in Vale, and I want to let her know that I'm okay.

Ruby gave her a sympathetic look. "Of course, Pyrrha, go talk to your mom; we'd be happy to wait a bit for you."

Ren silently nodded in agreement while Nora playfully shooed her toward her room.

After Pyrrha closed the door, she sat on the bed, pulling out her scroll and tracking down her mother's number in her contact list.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she hit the call button. Her scroll rang once, then twice, then-

"Pyrrha, is that really you? Please tell me it's you!" Her mother's normally soft-spoken voice came through the scroll with an unfamiliar, disjointedness.

"Yes, mother, it's-"

"By the Pantheon, you're alive! You're okay! I-I know communications went down, and evacuations have been slow, but the last I saw you and with all the reports about everything happening in Vale, I…" A shuddering sob passed through the scroll, and a pang of guilt lanced through Pyrrha. Gods, her poor mother thought she'd died.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Mom, but I managed to make my way back to Mistral; me and my friends just arrived at Haven only a few hours ago."

"There's no need to apologize, especially with… recent events being what they are. Are you and your friends alright? Did any of you get injured?"

Pyrrha choked, and her mother immediately responded, "Oh Gods, Pyrrha, I'm so sorry, I'm here for you; just… do whatever you need to. I understand if you don't want to discuss it, but I'll always be here."

Pyrrha felt tears well up in her eyes, "W-well, Ren and Nora made it out all right, but… Yang lost her arm and… and… Jaune… he died saving me. He died because of me, Mom, and I-I-"

What self-control Pyrrha had shattered as she broke into ugly sobbing, tears streaking down her face even as she prayed her friends couldn't hear her.

"If you need anything, just ask. Gods, I wish I were there with you right now."

Pyrrha was silent for a few seconds before she finally mustered up the courage to ask, "Mom… I know you saw what I did to poor Penny. I… what do you think happened?"

There was a brief pause, but her mother's response was firm as iron, "Pyrrha, I know better than anyone else how much you've practiced keeping your semblance under control, especially during a fight. I don't know what those terrorists did to you, but they were trying to send a message. You would never hurt someone if you didn't think it was necessary. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool."

Pyrrha gave a quaking breath, "We know it was an illusionist of some sort; she also did the same thing to Yang earlier in the festival… but thank you, Mom.."

"It's no problem." There was an awkward pause before her mother continued, " I hate to change the subject, but… who is the 'we' in this context? I thought you would be coming back home to Argos. Please don't tell me you're putting yourself back in danger again."

"The we in this situation is Headmaster Lionheart, my teammates, and Ruby, who came along after her team broke up with… everything that happened. We're hunting for the perpetrators of the attack on Beacon. I… don't know how much I can tell you, but I wouldn't want to say it over an unsecured scroll call."

The line was silent for a few seconds until her mom's voice finally came through. "I'm not going to be able to convince you not to get involved, am I?"

"No, this… this is important, not just to me but-"

"You don't have to convince me, Pyrrha. I'd be a hypocrite to tell you not to get involved with something dangerous because you want to do the right thing. Can… I at least come and visit you?"

Pyrrha smiled, "Thanks, Mom, but… we believe that Haven is the next target, and if you're here and they attack… I'd prefer to have you safe in Argus and also… To get back home so quickly. I needed to cut a favor with the council, and they're asking me to do an interview to clear both my name and some of the confusion involving what happened in Vale and having you meet with me with your chairing of the Argosi Cultural Revival Organization wouldn't… go over so well. I'm sorry if this comes off as-,"

Her mother's derisive snort cut her short, "Never apologize for telling the truth. I know those vipers in the media would turn a mother visiting her poor daughter right after the Vytal attacks into a hair-brained conspiracy about me using you to peddle some Pro Atlesian message. I'm happy to wait… but keep in touch, and if you or your friends need any help with anything, I'll see what I can do, okay?"

"Thanks, Mom, and if we ever have anything that takes us close to Argus, we'll be sure to pay you a visit and…" Pyrrha's voice tinged with concern, "Speaking of home, I hope everything is okay up there. I know we've been talking about me, but… I can't imagine things have been easy."

Her mom sighed, "Even with how close Argos's ties are with Atlas, after what happened, what people heard and saw from Vale about what Atlas's machines did, people have been scared; even the contingent of Atlesian soldiers at the Boot didn't seem to know what had happened. Ironically enough, it was a Grimm attack that finally caused things to calm down just a bit, given that Atlas managed to fend it off. ACRO has been starting to help get those still stranded in Vale back here, and if we find out they passed in the attacks, at least inform their families and see about helping pay for any costs to bring any remains and belongings back. It's been difficult but… knowing you're okay lifts a good portion of the burden awayfor me."

"I'm glad I can at least alleviate that worry and-"

A loud tumbling THUMP and Ruby's high-pitched but recognizable laughter caused Pyrrha to pause midsentence.

"Pyrrha?" Her mom asked, worry creeping into her tone once again.

"Oh, it's just my friends. We're planning on going out for food after this, and they tend to have fun in rather… loud and unique ways." Fun that Pyrrha had certainly partaken in a few times, much to Goodwitch's chagrin.

"Well then, I won't keep you and your friends waiting on food; enjoy yourself. Thank you for letting me know you're safe, and… I love you."

"I love you too, Mom, and… thanks, it was good to hear your voice after all this and don't worry about me, I'll…" Pyrrha swallowed, she always hated lying to her mother, "I'll make sure I come out of this, okay."

Chapter Text

After spending the rest of yesterday recovering from travel lag and settling in, today was the day Ruby and her friends officially started their hunt for Cinder and her cronies. And given they had absolutely zero lead beyond Haven being the next target… this meant more investigation. She could almost hear the ‘I told you so’ from Uncle Qrow, his statements about how Huntress work would require a ludicrous amount of sitting around at a desk ringing in her head. 

And that’s why Ruby’s eyes were now glazing over for the umpteenth time as she looked at the terminal in front of her as she sat in Haven’s absolutely cavernous library. Blake would have loved it here. This place was even bigger than Beacon’s library and certainly had more old books and… 

Ruby sighed, sagging into her chair and closing her eyes. She’d barely gotten a handle on Beacon’s digital archive when she’d had a project or paper she needed to do, with Weiss being her lifeline the entire way through. Now, here Ruby was at Haven, which had its own totally different and confusing and stupid system and no Weiss to help her either! She felt tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She just wished her team was with her, that Beacon was still around, everything was normal, and that Penny and Jaune were still-!

“Ruby, are you… okay?”

Ruby’s eyes snapped open, and she looked directly up into Pyrrha’s eyes, shining with concern even as her toned arms balanced a truly precarious amount of books. 

Ruby shot upright back into a sitting position, stammering, “Just, um, having some difficulties looking up stuff. Never was really good at this whole research thing back at Beacon and… just frustrated, is all.” 

“Would you like some help then? I’d certainly be happy to assist.” Pyrrha asked as she set down her books and sat at the terminal next to Ruby.

“I’m fine…” Ruby said weakly before immediately collapsing face-first onto the keyboard and groaning, “I’m actually not fine. This stuff is kicking my butt…”

Pyrrha smiled, “If you need help, I’d be happy to be your study buddy. It’s not like I haven’t helped my team before on how to do proper research, and besides, Ren and Nora have partnered up on their work already; there’s no shame in doing it ourselves.”

“I…well, thanks, Pyrrha; I’d be happy to have you save my butt here,” Ruby responded, a smile of her own crossing her face. 

“Wonderful!! So-” Pyrrha slid her chair next to her, leaning over her shoulder to look at Ruby’s terminal screen, “What in particular are you having trouble with right now?”

“Um, everything? I kinda got a teensy bit overwhelmed. Sorry.” Ruby said, her cheeks tingling with an embarrassed blush.

“That’s okay,” Pyrrha responded, putting her hand over Ruby’s and guiding the mouse. “We can start from the beginning. So let's start by going to advanced search…” 

///

Pyrrha had been just as much a lifesaver for her as Weiss had been back at Beacon, Ruby reflected as she gazed upon the terminal, now filled with multiple tabs of archived papers, news articles both recent and old, and the small pile of books that contained even the slightest mention about silver eyes stacked haphazardly beside her. 

As Ruby studied, Pyrrha sat beside Ruby, eyes scanning the screen of her terminal, the only sound coming from her being the occasional click of her mouse. The two had worked in relative silence, as while Ruby had always enjoyed striking up casual conversation back at Beacon with her team whenever they were working on stuff together, this wasn’t homework at Beacon anymore. She couldn’t afford to distract her friends, especially as their… leader?

Ruby shook her head, returning to the article she had tabbed into.

Originating from some of the oldest annals of Remnant's history, the silver eyes mythos holds a profound cultural significance across the world, resonating through generations as a symbol of hope and extraordinary power, as well as the human desire for a chosen hero and likely has been retroactively applied to various national heroes, such as King Ozymandias of-

The smell of falling ash clung to her nostrils as their campus burned, the smoldering heat pressed flagging aura, yet another roar vibrated the air around as she raced upwards towards the monster on top of Beacon Tower. So close, so close, so close, Ruby, you’re almost-!

A familiar scream cried out, and her blood ran cold. She pushed her semblance one last time and vaulted into what was left of Beacon Tower. She could save him! She’d save him where she couldn’t save Pe-

Her heart shattered. There it was. Her first friend, her best friend, kneeling on the ground, his face contorted with pain and fear as he looked at the woman who so tenderly cupped his chin…. all while he clutched at the burning arrow resting in his heart.

Then he was gone, nothing left but glowing ash scattered by a single, mocking breath from that murderer! She felt her eyes welling up from both tears and pure power, and then -

She closed her eyes, instantly closing the article, as she just sat there and breathed . Her eyes flicked to Pyrrha, but thankfully, it seemed she hadn’t noticed. 

Maybe it was for the best if she held off on that particular aspect, and Ruby switched tabs to one of the many Vytal fights she planned to look into. Maybe these could give her at least some sort of insight into Renata? Then, she could look more into her silver eyes later. She just needed some time, that’s all.

///

After burning through half the day, Pyrrha and the others agreed that they should reconvene and share their findings before breaking for the day to recharge. As much as she enjoyed research and studying, she understood that most everyone else likely was more than exhausted.

“Alrighty people! Lay out what you two got because we’re gonna save the best for last!” Nora said, slamming her hands down and dramatically leaning over the table Pyrrha and the others were now sitting at in Haven’s library. 

“You’re lucky the library is empty, Nora. Once people start coming back to Haven, I don’t know how much they’ll appreciate the noise level.” Pyrrha chided.

 “But until then, we can be as loud as we want. Besiiiiides,” Nora leaned in, her eyes shifting back and forth, “It’s kinda creepy how quiet it is. Even back at Beacon, there usually was some level of noise, but here it’s dead silent.”

“Nora…” Ren said, giving a pointed look to her.

“Sorry!” She said, her tone sing-song, “Guess we should get started. I can’t be the only one who's starving!”

As if to punctuate Nora’s statement, a mournful growl pierced the quiet, and everyone turned to look at Ruby, who shrunk back into her seat, laughing sheepishly, “Guess I am pretty hungry…”

“Well, how about I start us off then,” Pyrrha said, with Ren and Nora nodding in response while Ruby gave her a relieved smile.

“I’ll begin with the bad news. Beyond the records Headmaster Lionheart gave us, this Emerald Sustrai is a ghost. We don’t know how trustworthy those could be given they list her as having no semblance which…” Pyrrha’s face twisted into a scowl, “We know all too well that isn’t true.”

Her gaze shifted back to her friends, “My findings on the Maidens have been far more productive. While Maidens themselves don’t seem to appear all that much in historical records, their powers do . There have been plenty of cases of seemingly incredibly fortunate or unfortunate inclement weather that don’t seem so random anymore. King Ozymandias being aided by surprisingly out-of-season weather doesn’t seem so hyperbolic when you take the Maidens into account, and that isn’t the only-“ 

Pyrrha stopped for a brief moment, taking a moment to catch her breath as she reoriented herself away from the fascinating but irrelevant tangent she’d been about to go on. “The point is that if we want to track the Spring Maiden down in Mistral, we need to keep an eye on any strange or out-of-season weather conditions that might appear in any part of the country. Until we get a better lead, that should be our best shot for tracking our mystery Maiden down.”

Ren nodded, “Good thinking Pyrrha. Me and Nora are already rather familiar with how things are in most of Southern Mistral, so if it’s anything from there, pass it our way.”

“Yeah, we’ve been on the road there our whole lives; we could probably tell if it’s just the weather being the normal kind of crazy and awful or the weird kind of crazy and awful!” Nora added. 

“What if she’s hiding her powers? I mean, if she ran off into the wilderness, I think she wouldn’t wanna be found.” She asked before her tone turned apologetic. “Not that your idea isn’t still super smart or anything! Seriously, Pyrrha, you're awesome and-“

Pyrrha smiled, “Ruby, it’s fine. It’s actually a problem I’ve thought of myself, though unfortunately, if that is the case, we can only hope that Cinder isn’t able to find her either and that we can find another lead.” 

“Okay, I just wanted to check, and if I can think of another way we can find her, I’ll bring it up.” Ruby said, her expression softening.

“If you don’t have anything else, Pyrrha…” Pyrrha shook her head, “Then let’s move on to what Ruby’s found.” Ren asked, his eyes now on her. 

Ruby’s eyes widened as the attention shifted to her, “Oh, so uh, for silver eyes, I didn’t find much that we didn’t already know.” Ruby stopped briefly, clearing her throat before continuing, her tone noticeably more measured, “For ‘Renata,’ I figured out who she really is. I watched her fights during the Vytal Festival, and I realized her fighting style was the same as Neopolitan's; she was the same size, too! She must have used her semblance to help camouflage herself into the festival.” 

“Well, that’s a relief,” Nora said, “One less baddy than we thought if they’re the same person, and from how you talked about your fight with Torchwick going, I don’t think she made it out of there.”

“We can’t be too sure,” Ren countered, “If Ruby didn’t see her die, it’s safer to assume she’s still around than be surprised when she shows up again.”

“Yeah, if there’s anyone who’d be able to get out of that, it would be someone like her,” Ruby added.

“I think we can agree then that we shouldn’t count her out, but let’s pray that the Grimm took care of her as well, though hopefully maybe not as easy of an end as what befell Torchwick,” Pyrrha added glibly. Cinder may have been the primary instigator, but Pyrrha wouldn’t say no to ensuring that her lackeys didn’t also receive the justice they deserved when the time came. 

“Yeaahh…” Nora said, her eyes glancing between Ruby and Ren while her hands clenched together,  “Annywaaaays let's move on to me and Ren’s findings, right Ren?” 

Ren picked up immediately, “So, on the subject of Mercury Black, there wasn’t too much more than what the Headmaster gave us, though that’s been more than adequate given the amount of monitoring done on his father. He’s the son of a Huntsmen killing assassin who came to Haven after his father's death; the only difference from what was previously assumed was his reason for coming to Haven.”

“It boggles the mind they’d buy some nonsense about wanting to reinvent himself,” Pyrrha added darkly, though from the corner of her eye, she noticed Ruby shrink slightly at that.

“But we all know what you're here for!” Nora’s tone picked up its usual energy as she leaned forward. “We found some juicy stuff on Cinder; well, Ren did!” She turned her gaze onto Ren, a big, loving smile plastered on her face.

Pyrrha straightened up, leaning forward. She doubted they had her location, but finding out what made that psychopath ticked would be vital in its own way. 

“So, we found this.” Ren slid his scroll to the center of the table for Pyrrha and Ruby to read, and she realized it was the image of a newspaper headline, the picture of a burning manor of some kind front and center.

Pyrrha quickly grabbed it, her eyes scanning it as she looked closer, “Quadruple Homicide and Arson at Glass Unicorn…. Mother, two daughters, and Huntsman murdered… primary suspect is their adoptive daughter Cinder Tremaine.” Sure enough, as she scrolled through, there was an artist’s recreation, and while far younger, her features were clearly one and the same as Cinder’s, up to those piercing gold eyes.

“Gods…” Ruby said, her eyes widening in horror.

“This family took her in, and she rewarded them by slaughtering them and the Huntsman who tried to save them. As much as I’d like to wish otherwise, some people truly are just born twisted.” Pyrrha muttered darkly, eyes narrowing.

The scroll was swiped out of her hands by Nora, “Hold your horses, Pyrrha; that isn’t the full story. Understandably, after all this, there was an investigation to try and find the murderer, and while they didn’t catch her, a Valean Huntress named Summer Rose,” Her eyes flicked to Ruby, and she offered a quick smile, “did find evidence that Cinder was a victim of a rather widespread child trafficking ring which she busted wide open.”

Ruby’s eyes widened, “Wait, my mom helped out with this?”

Nora gave her a thumbs up, “Yeah, your mom is pretty cool.”

Ren nodded, “She got over a dozen orphanages that were part of it shut down, and more than a few employees with Mistrali Child Services ended up charged for taking bribes to overlook it.” 

Ruby’s face blanched, “The orphanages trafficked children that were trusted with them?”

“Mistral, unfortunately, has the dubious distinction of being the world center for human trafficking, so the directors of those places deciding to get involved with such a lucrative business is sadly unsurprising,” Pyrrha said matter of factly.

Nora’s eyes hardened into a glare, “Yeah when me and Ren were younger, there was a reason we just kept to ourselves. There were stories about those places…” Ren put his hand on Nora’s shoulder, the two sharing a gentle look for a brief moment before pulling away.

“Well, at least mom brought them all to justice, right?” Ruby added, an edge of hope coloring her tone.

Pyrrha shook her head, scowling: “No, with something on that scale, there is no way all of Child Services hadn’t been involved with it. They likely only ejected a few unfortunates near the bottom rather than the biggest culprits and enablers.”

“Oh,” Ruby deflated, sliding down her chair. “Uncle Qrow was right,” she grumbled, “Mistral kinda sucks. Uh, no offense!” She added.

“Nah, your Uncle’s right. Mistral does suck.” Nora added, while Ren simply hummed in agreement.

Pyrrha couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart as she nodded in affirmation with her friends. She may have known Mistral was broken, including their relationship with Argus,  but she was ultimately insulated from the worst of it. Ren and Nora, unfortunately, hadn’t been so fortunate…

///

While Pyrrha and Ren stayed at the dorms to prepare some Argosi dish that Pyrrha had wanted to share, Ruby and Nora went into the city proper to purchase supplies, especially Dust. The Fall of Beacon had meant strict rationing of the substance within Vale. Unfortunately, there was just one problem…

“This is, like, easily five times as pricey! Keeping Magnhild fed is going to be awful !” Nora groaned as she twirled a vial of lightning dust in her fingers, the Schnee snowflake displayed prominently on the side. Ruby could certainly already feel the impending pit in her wallet as she handed everything over to the tired-looking cashier for checkout.

“It was either this or have our stock entirely cleared out when Atlas announced that embargo of theirs a few days back, but…” The cashier’s eyes widened a bit as he scanned their purchases, “Well, it appears you have friends in high places; seems like every Schnee product comes up with a discount for you.”

A sad smile crossed Ruby’s face as she packed the Dust away, “Weiss…”

It was nice to know her partner was still looking out for her even now… but she couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart at the thought of the distance between her and Weiss. She’d always thought she’d have her partner, her team with her the entire way, and yet now… She closed her eyes, sighing, only to find herself wrapped in a gentle hug.

“Nora?”

“Hey, we’ll get them back, Ruby, okay? When this is all over, our next mission can be: get team RWBY back together!” Nora said warmly, offering Ruby a smile. 

“Nora, I’m fine, but… thanks,” Ruby responded weakly, and she leaned into the hug for a few brief moments before finally pulling away. 

The two walked for the door but were interrupted by a loud “shit!” from behind them, and they looked over to the other customer, who was currently glaring as she looked at her scroll.

“Do you need help, ma’am?” Ruby offered. A Huntress's duty to help never ended after all!

“You two are Huntresses, right?” She asked, her hot pink eyes scrutinizing the two of them. She was wearing some sort of business wear, and her hair was cropped short except for a distinctive tuft of v-shaped blonde hair in front. 

“Yea?” Nora responded, looking at Nora, who responded with a shrug.

“Good.” A look of relief seemed to pass over her face, “Now, how would you like to help me save a whole bunch of people from getting hurt and stopping a potential diplomatic incident?”

///

It was only after the mystery woman practically dragged them to a nearby alleyway did she finally explained the bombshell she’d dropped on the two of them. “I’ll make this quick. The name’s Harriet and I work for the Atlesian embassy, and currently, we’re being besieged by a rapidly escalating protest-”

“Hold up.” Nora interrupted, “Why is it a problem if they protest? We’re not going to beat up on some protesters just because they’re saying nasty things about Atlas.” 

“And if it truly is getting out of control, shouldn’t the police be the ones to prevent that? We’re not exactly equipped for that kind of work.” Ruby said, patting her Crescent Rose for emphasis.

Harriet’s tone turned snappish, “Unfortunately, the police seem to have a similar opinion and are just standing on the sidelines rather than doing their damn job- there’s already been one molotov thrown over the side and people trying to breach the wall. Our normal security’s already a no-go because of what happened at Vytal, and what do you kids think’s gonna happen when a bunch of people breach the barrier and someone tosses a brick at a soldier in that situation huh?” 

Ruby’s blood turned to ice; Gods, she could see it happening. A Huntsman would already be nervous in that situation, let alone some poor soldier already jumpy from Vytal.

She returned Harriet's stare, “We’ll do it; just send us the location on our scrolls.” 

Harriet’s glare lightened, “Thanks, just don’t let anyone know I sent you. A bunch of kids from Beacon like you, there’s no way they can give you shit for breaking this up, but if they find out, you're helping me…” Harriet left it hanging, but Ruby and Nora both understood the meaning. They’d be creating an entirely new diplomatic incident rather than stopping one.

As they turned to leave, Ruby gave a brief wave, “Stay safe, Harriet.” 

She just snorted, “I’ll be fine. Good luck, you two.”

///

Luckily, the Atlesian Embassy turned out to only be one terrace below where they’d been shopping. Unluckily, the situation had only deteriorated from what Harriet had described when they finally reached the place. There were a lot of people outside the entrance to the walled complex, and there was a storm of bricks, rocks, and even a couple of lit molotovs making their way over the wall!

While the noise was deafening to the point of blending together, Ruby could make out chants of “Justice for Vytal!” and “End the Embargo Now!” among other more varied ones, which faded to the background.

And there were the police, standing to the side to make sure it didn’t expand past the embassy… but perfectly willing to enable the chaos in front of them!

“Hey!” Nora bellowed, waving an officer down, “We, you need to do something! People could get hurt!”

He just shot her a glare, even as he nervously shuffled. “It’s within their right to protest. We don’t need some trigger-happy Huntresses coming into here and hurting-”

“People could get hurt if we don’t stop this!” Nora’s tone was vicious, and Ruby didn’t think she’d ever seen her get so angry.

“And if that happens, it’ll be Atlas’s fault.” He said, and Ruby could see the other officers beginning to move closer, though there was an undeniable hesitance to their movements.

“This is pointless; I-” Ruby’s eyes widened as she saw someone with a pair of wire cutters; that’s how he must have gotten past the hastily set up wire on top of the wall and began to go over the edge.

Instinct took over, the familiar lightness of her semblance overtaking her body as she bounded over the line of police, landing behind them into a controlled tumble before she took off again. 

Please, please, let this be enough! Ruby really didn’t want to land on some poor person’s head, and she pushed further and- there! Her arms wrapped around the man, pulling him off the top as she spun he wasn’t below her as the ground came closer and closer, and-

She grunted as she impacted the ground, her aura cushioning her from the worst of the landing. Thankfully, the man seemed okay, given he immediately scuttled off her after a brief second of shock. 

Ruby jumped back on her feet, quickly brushing herself off and noticing with relief that she hadn’t landed into the crowd and hurt anyone… a crowd whose attention was now redirected directly onto her. 

“G-guys, you need to calm down, okay? I get you’re mad at Atlas, but I-”

“Don’t make apologies-” One voice called.

Her breathing quickened as she took a step back; she thought she heard No-

“How dare-” Another rang out

“Please, I’m just trying to he-” Her voice choked as they got closer, and behind her were the police pressing in and-!

The yelling, the anger, and the hate all merged into a low rumble, just like back at Beacon—the screaming, the yelling, the low rumbling of the flames in Beacon Tow-.

And from the corner of her eye, she saw it: somebody threw a bottle, and once again, her instincts kicked in, Crescent Rose unfurling as she twirled it into the front of her, the projectile harmlessly breaking against it.

“Shit, they’re Huntresses!”

The anger in the crowd instantly rippled as it transmogrified into terror . 

“Ru-”

“Get aw-”

“I don’t want to hurt you!” She pleaded, but it was useless. Signs and pickets dropped as people, even the police, scattered in terror like so much ash into the wind.

She frantically looked in front of her and at Crescent Rose to see if she’d hurt someone, but her blade was still as clean and silver as her eyes. 

She vaguely felt a hand on her shoulder, Nora’s hand, her bright blue eyes looking at Ruby with a mix of concern and fear as she guided Ruby to sit on an overturned bench, something about catching their breath.

Even as she mumbled platitudes to Nora that yes, she was fine, Ruby couldn’t help but stare at one sign in particular. A picture of a smiling child and the year she’d been born and the year she’d… died—this year at Vytal .

She didn’t know how long she just… stared, huddled into her red cloak, feeling Nora’s rattling breaths as she leaned against her until she heard more voices, no, the voices of Ren and Pyrrha. They’d called them before they… before they got here. 

Nora practically leapt upwards, Ren’s arms wrapping around her, and Ruby found her being joined by Pyrrha, who sat beside her. She was… she was saying something, and then Ruby felt Pyrrha’s black cloak sliding over her and a hand gently rubbing over her back. 

“Breathe, it's okay, just… breathe.” That’s what Pyrrha was saying, and Ruby exhaled, letting go of the breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding, sagging into Pyrrha’s side, even as a single question began to race through her head.

Why were they so scared of Huntresses?

Chapter Text

“Protests continue outside the Atlesian Embassy in Vale, a week after the embargo has-”

Yang hissed as the screen was replaced by dancing static, the TV’s signal cutting out yet again. She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. The fact they even had anything this soon after the attack was miracle enough and besides, Yang needed to get up anyway. It wasn’t like the household to-do list would get done with her sitting around uselessly. Dad was too busy actually helping with things that mattered to Yang to let him get stuck with the one thing she could do. 

She slowly picked herself off the couch, stretching for a few seconds to relieve the aches and protesting in her joints that came from lying around for too long. Yang had gotten pretty used to that feeling recently…

Slinking out through the front door, Yang scanned the surrounding woods for Grimm. She made her way to the mailbox, her hands striking gold as she pulled out a single envelope, her eyes widening as she read the name. She jogged back to the door, reaching out with her right arm- except she didn’t have a right arm anymore. She glared at her stump because she wouldn’t be able to open the door without crushing or dropping the fucking letter because she was fucking useless and-!

Yang’s anger dissipated as her hand began to clench, stopping herself from crunching it because, duh, the solution was obvious, but she hadn’t even thought of it before throwing a goddamn hissy fit.

She gently put it between her lips, quickly entering the house, putting the letter back into her hand before making her way to the dining room table, where she fussed for a minute before tearing the thing open. Now she couldn’t even perform the simplest of things without it being a godsdamned ordeal!

She shook her head, unfurling the letter, a faint smile breaking through the gloom at her sister’s familiarly horrid handwriting.

Dear Yang and Dad,

I know I already said it in my goodbye note, but I’m sorry about taking off so suddenly, but the sooner we left the more likely we will find the people behind the attack on Beacon. We’re currently safe in Haven and have just been settling in, and it's really pretty here. You totally should see the view from the academy up here!

Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha have been total lifesavers so far. Mistral is so different then Vale in a lot of really not-so-nice ways. We’d probably only have just gotten to Mistral if it hadn’t been for Pyrrha’s help! 

We’ve been doing a lot of digging into the attackers, and there is a lot more waiting and paperwork than I thought there’d be, but we’ll be helping out and going on actual official missions while we keep an eye out! We’re actually leaving tomorrow for our first one! I can’t wait to go on one with you and the team when we get back together.

With love,

Ruby Rose

Even as relief flooded her that her sister was okay, that Grimm didn’t knock their airship out of the sky or any million worries, she couldn’t help but feel bitterness well up inside her. Was she really so naive to think that the team would still be a thing? That she didn’t already have a new team, that Yang would get better, that Weiss’s father would let her go, that Blake would come back?

Or was it Yang who was wrong? Did her sister have the right of it, finally grown up and leaving the roost and her broken and useless caretaker behind now that Yang couldn’t fight and Ruby had outgrown her? Ruby wouldn’t abandon her, she had a damned good reason to go, but-did that mean that Blake also had one? Did Ra-

A knock on the door broke Yang from her thoughts, and she whirled away from the seat, flipping the letter over, breathing heavily as the door cracked open, creaking and groaning and-

“Dad?” She drew closer to the ajar door, her breathing finally slowing as she saw her dad’s face in the doorframe. 

“Hey, kiddo, I’m sorry about the surprise, but the outage meant I couldn’t call ahead, and… I need to talk to you about something,” he said, gesturing her to come outside.

“Sure?” She warbled before weakly adding on,  “We uh, we got a letter from Ruby…” 

Tai’s eyes widened, “Really, that’s great! How is- No, I can’t keep our guest waiting but we can talk about it right after.” He shook his head, shaggy hair bobbing. 

Guest? Was it one of Dad’s old friends from Beacon, a coworker from Signal?

He opened the back door and pulled a wheelchair out the back, gently helping her down. 

“Dad?” She asked, trying to get a better look at whoever the passenger was. 

“I’m sorry to spring this on you, but accommodations are still pretty tight with everything going on, and poor Jane over here has been going to physical therapy at Signal… It was either continue staying at some overcrowded hospital or give her some proper accommodations until she gets back on her feet… Maybe help her out outside PT, given how overstressed everything is.”

Dad shuffled to the side, giving her a better look at the girl, who was leaning forward, a scroll in one hand with ‘Hello, I’m Jane Cream.’ plastered on top. The rest of her was well, rather plain and short, with the only notable features outside her height being her cream-colored hair, while her eyes-

A flash of purple and brown irises, gleaming playfully, thin blade held high, ready to claim Yang’s life if it wasn’t for her mother-

“Dad!” She hissed, clenching his sleeve and dragging him away.

“What’s the matter, Yang?” he asked, his blue eyes flickering between her and the little murderer.

“She’s- she’s that’s!” She looked back over… sloppily gesturing with her stump before looking back at the psycho who-!

Chocolate-colored eyes stared back at her, wide and with clear worry filling them, the poor girl leaning back in her seat, shakily typing something. It was like a splash of cold water had been dumped on her. Yes, Yang, freak out at the mute potential cripple who, from the sound of it, has lost everything. Way to fucking go.

“Yang?” Dad asked again, worry dripping into his voice. 

“It’s…” She stole another look at the girl, still normal but clearly nervous. “Nothing… just seeing things is all.”

“Will that be a problem?” His voice was low as he gently rested a hand on Yang’s shoulder “If having someone else around makes you uncomfortable, I can find-”

“No, it’s good! Seriously.” She said, pulling away from his grip and turning towards the girl. She couldn’t just… remain like this, huffing and puffing miserably, flipping her lid at this girl, at Pyrrha, at Ruby .

“Hey, I'm Yang. Uh, sorry for freaking you out. I’m cool with you staying and…” She paused, trying to find her words, “If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll be around the house, and it’s not like I’m normally very busy.” 

She gave the girl a smile, one which was only half forced. Jane slowly nodded in response, and she let out a sigh of relief. She’d fucked things up with her sister and her friends… but she managed to not be a total bitch to Jane. Progress.

///

Dinner had been a relatively quiet affair, but it was the first time since Beacon that she’d actually eaten with her father and now their new houseguest. They’d mostly talked about Ruby’s letter and arrangements for Jane. It was all business; there was so much she and Dad weren’t talking about, and Jane’s muteness made small talk abortive, but it… it was something. Perhaps that’s why on the third day after Jane came back, when she knew Jane would be home and downstairs since physical therapy wasn’t running and dad was busy, Yang actually came down from her room. 

It wasn’t hard to find the girl, who seemed to be staring out the living room window. Like Yang had been doing from her room the past couple of weeks. Dad said she’d had no one, and… she was probably being rude. Yang cleared her throat, and the girl quickly wheeled around to face her, panic melting away into a frown.

“Sorry. I was, uh, grabbing lunch and figured I’d ask if you wanted anything from the kitchen,” Yang said, her hands absent-mindedly going through her hair. She hissed as her fingers snagged in a knot.

Jane concentrated for a moment before pointing to an empty glass of water on the coffee table. She then began to sign for a brief moment before frowning and grabbing the scroll she’d used to communicate, simply spelling out, “Sandwich. Not picky.”

“Got it,” she said before making her way to the kitchen. Her prayers that she hadn’t eaten all the lunchmeat in her late-night snacking were thankfully answered, with enough lunchmeat for at least enough to make something for her and Jane. 

Two finished sandwiches later, and she carried Jane’s water first and then a trip for both their sandwiches. Previously, this would have been only two trips, maybe one, but she-

Yang shook her head, not the headspace she wanted to be in, as she sat down at the dinner table, Jane rolling up to a spot cleared for her so she could wheel herself up and eat. She smiled as Jane tore into her sandwich like a woman possessed, and the two ate in relative silence, and as it looked like Jane was finished, and preparing to roll away, Yang spoke.

“So… I hope you’ve been settling in well enough? That everything’s fine and stuff?” She asked, cringing at her own awkwardness, which Jane also seemed to notice given the way she quirked her eyebrow, snorting before beginning the gentle pitter-patter of her fingers against her ubiquitous scroll. 

‘You and your dad are nice. Good place, not dirty. Wish I could sleep on something not a couch, and take a shower when I want, and move around cuz bored, but not your fault I have gimped legs. ’ Her eyes glanced toward the stairs, and Yang frowned. 

“Still sucks and good to know as, uh, one of your hosts and all. We have our stash of movies in the TV stand and our bookshelf you can borrow from if you’re tired sitting here...” 

Jane shrugged, and like that, the conversation petered out, but… baby steps. Yang made food like a normal person rather than eating out of the fridge like a gremlin and actually said words that were genial and friendly to someone who wasn’t her dad. 

///

Fate was very, very funny, Neo reflected. Here she was, nestled in blankets and vegging out on the couch to Johanna Wick at freaking Little Red and Blondie’s family residence. An entire half of the bitches four who’d been after them and their dad, and she was right under their nose, even if the smaller irritant was away for now. Not the nicest place she’s stayed in, but it definitely was much better than a shitty lumpy hospital bed next to that asshole who just wouldn’t stop fucking crying , and she had bunked in some pretty seedy locales with Roman and-

He was gone now, but no, no, no, no matter what they said, he was fine . Roman always got out. He was too slippery to have died to Little Red of all people. He was just-!

She rubbed the forming tears out of her eyes, taking yet another look at her scroll, browsing through the various sites, emails, backups, and more they’d kept just in case they got separated. Still, there was no response… but that didn’t mean anything! The CCT was down, and service was spotty even for transmissions within the Kingdom. It was too soon for anything. 

Best to think about planning. Planning so when she and Roman got back together, they’d be ready to go for Little Red and Tall Dark and Smoldery, and gods; their biggest headaches were two bitches who really, really loved their reds. And as funny as it was that she was right under their noses, it was also a blessing in disguise. She’d already found out Ruby’s location and the fact that she absolutely would be hot on the heels of Cinder. She’d get continuous updates on any changes in information and location until she was ready to go out. 

Gods, she absolutely would pay back that little whore for getting her legs shattered into a zillion tiny pieces. Take Hush to her shins? Yeah, Neo liked the sound of that. Neo might be able to walk again, but she’d make sure Little Red would never walk again. See if that little bitch would still be so sanctimonious after Neo had a few hours to make her scream .

And speaking of cracking the unflappable, Cinder might even be more enjoyable to break. So smug and condescending as she lorded her power over them like a god after Cinder forced them to work for her, only to try and dispose of her, to try and dispose of Roman. Taking Hush’s blade to that pretty little face of hers she valued so much and carving it up, see what other tones that sultry voice that seemed only to ooze arrogance could make. She shivered at the thought, her grin growing even as she wanted to leap out of her seat to bring about her artistry now-!

The creaking of stairs alerted her to the presence of someone coming down, and yep, it was Yang, who’d probably just seen her… reaction to fantasizing about turning her annoying little sister into a quivering pulp. 

“Looks like you're enjoying the movie… or at least the eye candy.” Yang playfully waggled her eyes, and ok, thank goodness she had an alibi.

Neo snorted, pointing to the screen, where Johanna was facing off a mafioso while wearing a rather fitting shirt, and mimed a whistle. 

“Do you mind if I join you? Can’t exactly sleep.” 

No, she thought, even as she scooched over and patted beside her on the couch, Yang plopping beside her and leaning back. 

It wasn’t long until she broke the silence (well, non-movie silence). “My sister used to get the same look you did when watching these movies, though I’m pretty sure it was over the guns rather than the actors.”

Neo looked at her and raised an incredulous eyebrow. Little Red also appreciated the lovely implements of artistry like she did? She was too nice but- No. For as much a sanctimonious little turd as she was, it was the type of sanctimony that had lent itself to steel, to the zealotry of the kind that caused her to launch Neo out into a swarm of Grimm to be violently torn apart without a second thought, to go track down and kill Cinder, to potentially murder Roman in cold blood. Yeah, Ruby had that killer instinct in spades. 

Neo must have been screwing up her face in a way because Yang backtracked. “L-look, I know how that sounds, and I’ve seen you looking at the photos on the wall, and yeah, she comes off as kinda edgy with all that black and her weapon, but trust me, she’s a real dorky sweetheart.

Oh, was that the sound of opportunity calling? 

‘How so?’ She asked innocently, and totally not because she wanted to hear embarrassing baby stories about one of her nemesis. 

“Wellll, this one time she-”

And boy, did Yang deliver, much to Neo’s glee, many, many embarrassing stories about the girl, like the fact she was scared of clowns, clowns! And even ignoring that… Blondie was a surprisingly damn good storyteller, soon enough veering into other non-Ruby-related tales from her childhood that she listened to raptly. Sue her, she’s bored!

Neo didn’t know how long she’d stayed up before she’d begun to slowly… drift… away… Mmm, it was so warm, it felt… like when Ro… carried her… tucked her-

Her eyes blearily opened, only for wakefulness to quickly begin to come back as she was now in a bed in a different room, and Yang was standing in the doorway like a kid who just got caught in the cookie jar and wait, she had two arms now and oooooh it was a prosthetic but why hadn’t she been using it at all until-

“Fuck I’m sorry.” Yang said, doing that whisper but not whisper thing, “I, uh, figured you might want to sleep in a real bed and moved you up to the guest rooms, and I didn’t want to wake you up, if you want to go back down I-”

Neo shook her head, cutting off Yang’s jabbering before looking over to the nightstand. Thankfully, Blondie wasn’t that dumb because her scroll was still there. She grabbed it, quickly typing out, ‘You better be up for me in the morning so I don’t starve up here.’

Yang smiled weakly, “Yeah, you got it. Not like I’ve been doing much anyways, so it’s no biggie, so unless you need anything else… goodnight, Jane.” 

‘Night, Yang.’ she typed out, giving a faux friendly wave to the girl who was leaving before immediately burying her face in the pillows and marveling at the fact she was finally back in a real fucking bed, and it wasn’t long until the deepest of sleep claimed her. 

Chapter Text

It felt odd to be back on the field again, even more so with someone else leading them, as Pyrrha stole a glance towards Ruby, perched in one of the trees, staring through Crescent Rose's sights as she scanned for their target in the ever-thickening forest that was just ahead. Their first mission was a relatively simple one, a search and destroy mission for an Alpha Taijitu that had been probing the nearby town of Komatsu and shadowing the roads as of late, the creature likely having emerged from Lake Matsu with the chaos after everything with Vytal. 

The girl must have spotted something, with the way she lowered her weapon, flipping out of the tree with petals scattering behind her, semblance cushioning her fall.  

“Spotted the trail that way,” She pointed off in the distance, looking to Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora before turning and going, Pyrrha and her teammates following after a few awkward seconds.

“Nice work spotting that,” Pyrrha offered slowly, filling the silent air with something, and it wasn’t as if the comment was genuine. 

Ruby looked back, “Oh uh, thanks Pyrrha? It’s nothing that serious; Uncle Qrow taught me and Yang that stuff, I would have thought everyone would have known.”

“I certainly didn’t learn that in Sanctum,” Pyrrha added.

“And we generally picked up on how to stay away from the Grimm when were younger.” Ren said, with Nora nodding along.

“Huh, well, go me, I guess? Should thank Uncle Qrow again next time I see him…” Ruby’s reply was quiet, melancholy, and she quickly returned to looking up ahead. 

Pyrrha quickly realized her mistake. Ruby’s family was almost certainly a sore topic, and she came from a family of Huntsmen and Huntresses, so of course, her family had taught her that! Even if Huntsmen and Huntresses tended to love, marry, and have children younger than civilians, those who could survive even that long were often some of the best of the best. They tended to pass on that hard-earned experience, the mindset of a warrior they earned, and the one that fundamentally alienated them from civilians to their children by pure osmosis. It was something that, for all the money Pyrrha or Weiss had spent on tutors or trainers, they could never replicate that. They’d have to earn that experience and that mindset in the field through the expenditure of blood, sweat, and aura. 

It was why so many Huntsmen and Huntresses in Mistral valued and trumpeted that pedigree, a continuation of the culture of noble lineage, that rulers passed down the knowledge and strength of the soul to rule to their children. She knew how much that lineage, that pressure had affected Jaune, pushing him to forge his transcripts to make it to Beacon because even if his family hadn’t pushed, society had . 

There was a reason Pyrrha hadn’t said anything, had pushed to help him instead, because she knew how brutal that expectation could be, even from the opposite end without that pedigree. Maybe she shouldn’t have; maybe she should have told Ozpin, got him expelled so he’d at least be alive. But that would have crushed his spirit, right? She should have asked; he always talked about his family but never about why a Huntsman like his father would settle with a civilian, why he had so clearly pushed against his son’s dreams that Jaune had to forge his way into Beacon. But she’d been respectful; she’d waited for them to be closer so he could tell her on his own time, tell her whether his father had been a controlling parent he’d wanted to escape from or simply someone who wanted their children to live a happy, simple civilian life.

But she hadn’t asked, and now she couldn’t even say whether she’d made the right decision because she’d been too timid to ask. She’d never know the answer, never know what choice had been the right one... 

She sighed, and only the silence of the forest and the tromping of footsteps on the leaf litter were there to greet her. She so dearly wished she’d had his constant chatter instead of the surprising severity from their new leader, but…

It was a dissonance she’d been feeling all day, now that they were out in the field, having a different leader. She’d expected it to be similar; after all, Jaune and Ruby had been friends, and Ruby had given him pointers on leadership. And while the silence had seemed rude… her earlier train of thought came to mind, and how their situation was frankly the odd one out. Jaune was still a civilian through and through when he’d come to Beacon, while Ruby had been steeped in the mindset of being a Huntress since birth. 

Once Jaune had come out with the truth about his background, he had learned to rely on his team. He’d always asked, made sure he was making the right calls, and made sure that his assessment of their capabilities wasn’t off simply because he was so new to this all. He didn’t want to fail them by making a bad call because of his inexperience, instead falling back to his teammates' greater knowledge and, in many ways, simply letting JNPR do what they did best while he crafted the larger strategy from the back. 

Ruby, on the other hand, knew Huntresses; she’d lived them her whole life, and her sister had even been her teammate. It was a well-oiled machine built on their implicit understanding of their mutual capabilities, one greater than the sum of its parts on the field… and a machine torn apart as its internal contradictions off the field tore each other to pieces, failing in the face of its first major crisis, all the while JNPR had stuck together, even after they’d lost their leader, even after Pyrrha had betrayed that trust. She’d been foolish. She should have told them and adhered to that spirit of openness that made JNPR strong. They’d have told her not to dawdle, take the powers, fulfill her destiny.

But because of Pyrrha’s actions, her failure, two teams were torn to pieces before they could reach their full potential. Team JNPR, never reached that cohesion on the battlefield, Jaune cut down before he could ever reach his prime. RWBY had issues even before everything had went wrong. It never had the time to get the internal stability JNPR had before Beacon’s Fall had flared their issues to the point they’d all abandon their leader while she was in a coma! The tragedy inflaming Weiss’s toxic relationship with her father so he could reel her in, causing Blake’s cowardice to flare up and igniting the slow burn of Yang’s anger at the world into a toxic inferno, one so rancid she refused to seek justice against the monster who took her arm, the witch who’d destroyed everything. She refused to even be by her sister's side. Ruby, who’d been abandoned by her team and her own family, still reached out to help the remnants of JNPR, to be their leader to help them hunt down Cinder, to help Pyrrha avenge Jaune!

It was Ren’s voice that broke her from her reverie, loud as a gunshot in the silence of the wilderness, “Ruby, can we stop for a minute?” 

“Trail’s breaking up so sur- Is everything okay?” She asked as she turned around, seeing how they'd stopped, how Ren and Nora were looking at Pyrrha with pity .

Pyrrha waved her off, “I’m fine, Ruby. There’s nothing-” 

Nora wagged her finger. “Nuh-uh, I’ve been your teammate too long for you to pull that with me Pyrrha.”

Ren’s tone was far sterner, “Pyrrha, you’ll be bringing Grimm down on us if you keep this up. We can stop for a few minutes; let me use my semblance on you, and we can get going, okay?”

Shit, he was right, she couldn’t even get over herself for a minute before-

“Guys, I think our target has found us .” Ruby slowly pointed the barrel of Crescent Rose upwards towards the tree top. 

Pyrrha looked upwards, shifting her stance to intercept whatever was up above but there was nothing, just the light coming through the-

“It’s camouflage-”

Sections of the canopy shimmered, light and leaves shifting to black and white scales as the black head of the Taijitu descended, jaws agape, Pyrrha raising her shield in time to catch the creature's bite as she fell to the ground from the sheer force of the strike. She smelled the creature's breath, that same rotting, chemical smell all Grimm had, as it tried to bite down, crush Akouo. For its trouble, Milo pierced out one of its glowing red eyes, and the creature pulled back, freeing Pyrrha even as gunsho-

She saw the white head move, followed by the crashing of tree branches and a scream of “Ren!” rang out, and Pyrrha flung herself off the ground. She refused to give this head time to pull away, legs and a pinch of polarity onto her armor leaping her upwards, directly on top of the beast’s head, straddling it while desperately grasping with her shield arm into the beast’s missing eye, black ichor coating her hand. 

The world was a blur of color and gunfire as the creature undulated, shaking and trying to knock her off as she stabbed over and over and over, hoping to reach something vital even as she finished blinding this head.

“Ren, occupy it. Pyrrha, Nora, smash the head down on my mark!” Ruby’s voice broke through the din of combat. 

“With what!?” She screamed back. Gods, she was getting nauseous, and she just wanted to close her eyes but-

“Nevermind! Nora, grenade, Pyrrha, polarity it into the mouth? You still do your thing, Nora!” 

“Got it!” Nora’s reply came out even as Pyrrha drove the sword into the eye socket one last time even as she read- a flash of pink appeared, and she pulled, propelling it into the creature’s gullet before she finally let go, trying to balance herself out with her polarity, make a proper landing but-

Twin booms came out as she hit the ground, along with one final crack from Crescent Rose as Pyrrha hit the ground. Her aura, at the very least, cushioned her as she hit the ground. The dizziness, the disorientation, the flight, the impact—no, no, no, no, not agai-!

She felt a rose petal on her cheek, silver eyes even brighter than the spinning sunshine coming through the canopy gazed down in concern at her. 

“I got you,” Ruby said as she clasped Pyrrha’s sword arm, uncaring of the ichor coating it as she pulled Pyrrha up, letting the taller girl lean on her for balance. 

She saw the remnants of the Alpha Taijitu, the black head a bloody dissolving mess, the white one pancaked into the ground, a spray of smokey gore surrounding it fading away, whilst the middle of the beast had been split in twain. Crescent Rose Pyrrha realized. 

“Go team ummmm… us!!” Nora shouted, while Ren, leaning slightly against her, simply smiled. 

Pyrrha nodded along, smiling for her friends' benefit. They all had performed admirably, after all, Ruby in particular for slotting into the existing dynamic and coming up with a plan on the fly. She wouldn’t let her own performance bring them all down. 

///

It was Ruby who’d first broken the steady silence of the Bullhead flight from Komatsu back to Mistral, her eyes shifting about, but never meeting the gazes of Pyrrha or her friends, the nervous tapping of her feet growing ever louder.

“Ruby, is everything okay?” Pyrrha asked, her voice dripping with concern as she watched the girl sitting beside her grow steadily more distressed and agitated.

She looked away, silver eyes refusing to meet the gaze of Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, all three now looking at her with a mix of concern.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it, guys,” She tried to smile, but Pyrrha knew the girl well enough to know when she was faking.

Nora leaned forward, “Nope, we aint doing that again,” Her eyes flicked to Pyrrha slightly before settling back on Ruby “We’re your friends so tell us whats up.”

From the grimace Ruby was making it looked more like she was struggling with wrapping up a gash she’d taken from a Beowulf, but eventually, she came to a decision. “I’ve been doing some thinking and… I just was realizing how much I failed you all as your leader out in the field today!.”

Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora’s heads all swiveled to look at Ruby, a mix of wide-eyed incredulity across each. 

“Fail? Ruby, we took down a Grimm that we didn’t know could turn invisible and did, like, your super coordinated explodey slashy plan to take that thing down.” Nora leaned forward, incredulity turning into a concerned frown. 

“No one got seriously hurt either, Ruby,” Ren added. 

Before Pyrrha could speak, Ruby barreled forward, speaking fast even by her standards: “We got ambushed by that Grimm, and I had to come up with that attack on the spot, and I still had to change it again because I didn’t prepare better.”

Pyrrha put her hand on her shoulder, “Ruby? What are you talking about?”

“Remember in the fight when you asked what you could pin it with!” Ruby’s hands went up, narrowly avoiding smacking her in the face on accident, “Sorry, sorry, sorry!”

“It’s okay, just… calm down and explain?” Pyrrha asked her, voice steady. 

Ruby did not calm down, her hands moving to grip her thighs tightly, feet tapping the metal grated floor even more erratically. “When you said you couldn’t pin it, I was so used to having Weiss as my partner with her dust and stuff, and in the fight, when I was planning and stuff, I just ended up thinking of you like I was with… like I was with RWBY, just slotting you into what role was most similar but like, that’s super super stupid and dumb of me! You all are your own unique fighters, and the way I thought about you all could have ended so so so badly!” 

Ruby took a deep breath before continuing, hands now gesticulating wildly, “Like, Ren and Blake’s ranges are nowhere near the same, and you don’t have her clones, but your semblance is super super useful in the leadups to these fights! Pyrrha, you and Weiss are both beautiful and amazing duelists with super versatile awesome semblances, but those skills and semblances are totally different. And Nora, I -  planning with you as if you were Yang, that you had her semblance? I could have hurt you!”

“And despite all that, you managed to come up with and change your plan on the fly, all the while keeping us all safe against a highly dangerous Grimm that managed to get the drop on us because I forgot one of the earliest of being a Huntress and let my negative feelings get the best of me,” Pyrrha said. She’d wanted to say more because, Gods, she could have done so much better, but she left it alone. No need for this to become a pity party; she just needed to show it wasn’t Ruby’s fault.

Ruby, however, was unperturbed, “And as the leader, I should have totally noticed you were feeling all out of whack and-”

Nora took over, “Me and Ren should have noticed something was wrong. Pyrrha is our teammate and we should know better by now than to just let it be or not notice!”

The look in Nora’s eyes, the emotion in her voice, and her earlier insistence on asking what was up with Ruby… This wasn't just about now. It was about the Vytal festival, that they hadn't noticed Pyrrha had been lying to her and Pyrrha’s heart broke because it wasn't her fault.

Ren nodded solemnly in agreement, putting his hand on Nora’s shoulder and giving a gentle squeeze before he started speaking. “I think we all can agree that we could make some improvements from our performance today. It's been the first time we’ve been in the field since… everything at Beacon. Things are different now and we need time to adjust, and we should work on it together rather than blaming ourselves.”

Nora nodded along emphatically while Pyrrha gave one, quick and curt. She knew it was all her own fault, killing Penny, not accepting the power, Jaune, but… if it helped her teammates, if it helped Ruby, she'd go along with the white lie for now. 

Speaking of Ruby…it had taken a second, but Pyrrha could see her nodding, brows furrowed in that way Pyrrha had quickly come to realize meant Ruby was thinking about something. 

“Good thinking, Ren I… we should have enough downtime to work on this stuff,” silver eyes began to light up, “work on team attacks; oh goodness, why didn’t I think of that! When we get back-”

“We can get some food and rest for training tomorrow,” Pyrrha said, soft but stern. She knew better than most the necessity for breaks, something her instructors had drilled into her back when she was just starting off, scaring her with stories of the grisly results of trainees who’d pushed themselves too far, too fast.

Nora said, “We could make this a celebration of our first mission. Go to that place on the upper level just outside of Haven!”

“You mean Inari’s?” Pyrrha asked.

“Mhmm! I checked out the menu and they mentioned the portions are sized for Huntresses and Huntsmen with discounts for all of us! It’d be perfect.” 

“You realize Ruby’s fifteen? That place has a pretty strict cap at sixteen and over.” Ren responded. 

Right. Coming from Argus, she sometimes forgot that sixteen was generally considered when you were an adult in most of Mistral. It was the age at which you were allowed to drink, vote, and apply to Haven, among other things. 

“Actually, I, um, I’m sixteen now?” Ruby said almost hesitantly, “My birthday was when I was still in a coma after Beacon, and just… it never came up.”

“Well, we can celebrate our mission and birthday at the same time! It’s great!” Nora exclaimed, arms shooting up in excitement. 

Pyrrha nodded along. While Pyrrha certainly didn’t deserve to partake in this celebration, she knew better than to argue the point, and it would make her friends sad if she didn’t come. After all, she’d promised to support the girl back in Patch, and there was more to that than just engaging in copious amounts of training to be the best warrior she could to support Ruby on the field. She’d learned that from Jaune. That need for others to believe in him and push him up when he was feeling down, whenever he felt like he was failing, whether it was real or simply perceived. This airship ride proved that Ruby felt the same way, maybe even worse given what Ruby had said at her mother’s gravesite, shouldering all that responsibility, the blame that she should be rightfully heaping onto Pyrrha. She and her teammates were supporting Ruby on the field, and they could certainly do the same for her off the field.