Author's note:

As a preface to this, I'd like to say that this is essentially a re-write of my other unfinished story, "Reforge" so it's going to use those themes and all that, but with a reworked setting to make it easier to move along. So with that in mind, thank you for reading, and if you liked "Reforge" I highly recommend you follow this one too. And of course, leave a review and tell me what you thought.

Ruby could remember the wind whipping past her face as she sprinted up the side of Beacon Tower as quickly as the runes beneath her feet could carry her. Somewhere in the distance, the dragon Grimm bellowed out a deafening roar, but Ruby couldn't afford to let her attention waver for so much as a second. The edge of the tower had seemed to take an far too long to reach her, but at the same time, there was no way she could have been ready.

She'd pulled herself over the edge just in time to see an arrow pierce Pyrrha's ankle, bringing her to the ground while Cinder stood over her, a smile wrapping around her face. Cinder had started to circle Pyrrha, speaking as she did so.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours."

She put a finger under Pyrrha's chin, ceasing her struggle to regain her footing and tilting her gaze up.

"But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in way you never could have imagined."

Ruby's body had locked up at the edge of the roof, a sense of dread clouding her mind.

Pyrrha pulled away from Cinder's hand, looking the woman directly in the face. Her eyes were hard, defiant. Despite being at Cinder's mercy, she hadn't given up yet.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

Cinder's eyes hardened as well, and in a gravely serious voice, she responded.

"Yes."

She brought her hands up, bow forming in her hands. As she drew back the string, an arrow knocking itself seemingly from nowhere. At that moment, a surge of fire had flushed through Ruby's veins, and she catapulted forwards, Crescent Rose flared out behind her. A trail of petals streamed in her wake as she closed the distance between them, and brought Crescent Rose arcing down towards Cinder.

Despite having the element of surprise on her side, Cinder's reaction time was far quicker than Ruby had thought it would be. In the instant before Ruby's hit landed, Cinder pivoted and loosed her shot into Ruby's abdomen.

The arrow shattered against her aura, blocking out most of the damage. The broken arrowhead fell away, only for the shaft to hit her, again, only to break off for more of the arrow to strike her. By the time the broken projectile finished its assault, Ruby's aura had been shattered alongside the glass arrow. The force of the attack knocked her back, sending her sliding back towards the edge she just climbed from. She did her best to cling to the smooth metal floor, coming to a stop just as she felt her toes go over the edge.

Pyrrha had looked up at her, eyes wide and reaching out towards her, as if trying to pull her back from the edge.

"Ruby!"

Cinder walked slowly between Ruby and Pyrrha, another arrow forming between her fingers as she tugged at the bowstring.

"Now, let's finish this up, shall we?"

She took aim again at Pyrrha, and straightened up as she readied her shot.

Ruby felt a mad panic take a hold of her, and with the last reserves of her strength, she launched herself forward again. It was difficult to tell if she was using her semblance or not, but she felt like she was practically flying towards Cinder again, despite her body being too exhausted to move properly.

Cinder turned and scowled before bringing a heel up and planting it solidly in Ruby's gut. All of her forward momentum disappeared as the stiletto heel slid between her abdominal muscles, and everything started to look fuzzy. Ruby slowly peeled her eyes away from Cinder to look down at the wound, marveling at how it hurt so much, yet was somehow still not much more than a dull ache.

Cinder gave a final push with her leg sending Ruby stumbling away. Trying to catch herself was impossible, it was all she could have done to aim herself for one of the pillars of debris that remained from the roof being torn away. She smacked shoulder-first into it, knocking several of the bricks near the top loose, which went tumbling over the edge.

Ruby did her best to turn back to Cinder, but as she did so, she instead found an arrow flying towards her. One heartbeat later, she felt the arrowhead drive into the shoulder joint of her left arm. In the next instant a wave of pain traveled through her body as the arrow scraped along the back of her scapula, before striking the wall behind her and shattering. Muscles and tendons were sliced apart, and her nerves were set ablaze as the shaft of the arrow embedded itself into the wall.

For a moment Ruby writhed in pain, doing her best to put pressure on the wound without breaking the glass shaft. Everything went dark for several seconds and Ruby could feel herself starting to drift away. While it did dull the pain, she knew she couldn't let herself go into shock. She grit her teeth as hard as she could, and fought to stay conscious.

As her vision returned to her, she saw Pyrrha trying to crawl towards her, tears streaming down her face. Cinder followed behind, mouth moving like she was talking, but Ruby couldn't hear anything beyond a droning buzz.

Cinder stopped, nocking another arrow, and made one last comment to Pyrrha. Whatever it was, it made Pyrrha stop dead in her tracks, then turn to face her. As soon as she turned, Cinder loosed another arrow, and Ruby could just see the fletchings over Pyrrha's shoulder spouting from her chest.

Pyrrha seized up and made what looked like a few shuddering attempts to speak as Cinder approached. Then, finally, as Cinder reached out a hand to Pyrrha's temple, she went limp. Her whole body flared with a warm orange light, as though she had been wrapped in a cloak of soft flame. The next thing Ruby knew, Pyrrha was falling apart before her eyes. Collapsing and blowing away as though she was made of nothing more than dust.

No matter how hard Ruby tried, she couldn't avert her tear-filled eyes. She watched as Pyrrha Nikos, one of the top students at Beacon Academy, and one of her best friends, was scattered to the wind.

That was when things became too disconnected, too disjointed to make any sense of. The last thing that Ruby could remember solidly was the feeling of her tears bubbling away as everything faded to white. Then all of the pain was gone.

Ruby wiped her eyes, sniffling as she realized that she'd been crying again. That happened a lot these days, it seemed. Whenever she wasn't occupied with something else her mind wandered back to that night, almost six months ago now, repeating over and over again. Had there been something she missed? There had to be.

Absentmindedly, she reached for one of the books next to the chair she sat in. It was something her father had been looking through. It was about the workings of engines, or similar mechanics, judging by the bisected engine on the cover.

For a few moments, she continued to reach, becoming increasingly confused and frustrated at why nothing seemed to be happening. After a few more moments, she made to hit the armrest in frustration, but the thump she was expecting didn't come.

Her heart seemed to turn to a hole in her chest as she looked down, and found the limp sleeve that had taken the place of her left arm. With a tired sigh, she leaned back in her chair, turning her eyes towards the ceiling and staring blankly.

Why did she forget? It happened at least once a day, sometimes more, and every time it made her feel awful. But the thing that really got to her was that it felt like it was still there. When she wasn't thinking about how her arm was gone, she could feel it at her side, or resting on her lap, and even respond when she tried to move it. 'Phantom Limb Syndrome' was what they'd called it. There wasn't much that could be done about it, outside of some slow-going therapy sessions.

She put her right arm up the bottom of her shirt, and rubbed her fingertips against the bandages. There wasn't really anything left of her arm. The whole thing had needed to be amputated after her confrontation with Cinder. It was the glass from the arrows, the doctors had said. If the shots had been regular arrows, there would have been a much better chance of saving it, but the shards Cinder had left behind were simply too sharp and numerous, there simply wasn't much left to save. Ruby had to wonder if Cinder had caused her this much pain on purpose, or if it had simply been a coincidence. In her head, Pyrrha's final words echoed in her mind.

She wasn't sure anything was coincidence anymore. Beacon, one of the most prodigious schools in the world, had been brought down and burned by a plot to destroy it from within. And the worst part was that she didn't even know why.

Somewhere else in the house, a door creaked open, and heavy boot steps shook the floorboards slightly. Yang's voice came from down the hall, accompanied by the skittering sound of Zwei running around her feet.

"Ruby! Where are you? You still want to train today?"

She continued to stare at the ceiling, breathing a deep sigh as she remembered that she'd had told Yang she wanted to train. She didn't know why she tried anymore. She couldn't even hold Crescent Rose properly anymore, or fire it, or fight in much of any capacity at all.

With sluggish movement, she pushed herself up from the comfy chair.

"I'm in here! Give me a minute."

With a chipper "Okay" from her sister, Ruby started making her way back to her room. Crescent Rose sat on her desk, countless tools laid out all around it and an oily rag keeping the desk from being scuffed too much.

She picked it up, and took a moment to feel the weight. It still felt off. No matter how many times she changed things around, swapped weights, altered grips, in her hand the weapon still felt off. She just couldn't adjust properly to using her right arm.

Crescent Rose at her side, she turned to leave. When she walked out the door to her room, she found Yang leaning against the opposite wall, with Zwei looking up at her, panting excitedly. She smiled and put an arm out as Ruby approached.

"What have you been doing today? I didn't hear you tinkering like you usually do."

Ruby nodded as she let Yang put her arm over her shoulder, and walk the both of them down the stairs.

"Dad didn't get me up this morning, so I slept until noon. I think he just forgot, he was out getting groceries when I woke up."

Yang snorted, saying, "You know, I can get you up too if you want. It wouldn't be any trouble."

Ruby shook her head, her shoulders slouching down a little further. Sleeping late was nice. Staying in her bed was something that she could still enjoy.

"No, don't worry about it. It's fine."

Yang kept staring at her for a moment, before turning her head forward again, with a look of deep concentration on her face. It was an expression that Ruby was getting more and more used to seeing Yang use. It was the 'something's wrong with my sister, and I want to fix it' look. Ruby had to admit, Yang never gave up on trying to make her smile whenever she could, but both sisters could tell that it wasn't getting easier.

Jaune, Ren, and Nora had come to visit a few times since Beacon had fallen, and they kept in contact, but it had been a few weeks since they had come around last, and there was no sign that they would be able to come soon. With Beacon being down, there was no shortage of Huntsman work to be done, even by trainees. They were doing well on their own, all things considered. They were even starting to build up a considerable amount of money, nothing to brag about, but about as well as three trainee Hunters could hope to do.

When the two reached the yard, Yang walked about fifteen feet away from Ruby and turned, putting Ember Celica on as she did so.

"Alright, so what did you want to work on?"

Ruby kicked the dirt for a moment, covering a mark she left last time after a particularly bad fall. Yang did a few basic stretches, while Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose. She had to shrink down the blade by a good deal. Though only a few inches shorter, she had to cut away a lot of its mass just to keep it swingable. She also had to cut back on the power of her shots to keep them controllable. If it wasn't for her dad, she might have taken her own head off the first time she tried shooting with one arm.

"Can we just focus on swings for today? I'm not in the mood to do an actual spar."

Yang gave a silent nod and took up a more defensive stance than she normally prefered. Both arms close to her center, and fist up, she placed her right foot forward. Ruby on the other hand did a few flourishes with her blade, swinging it around her body, both to hide when she'd strike as well as to build up momentum. Her uncle had shown her an old manual from ages past. Though her scythe wasn't a direct comparison to their massive great swords, the style of flowing from one attack to the next certainly improved her fighting abilities.

Yang took a step back as Ruby stepped towards her. She almost dashed in, seeing an opportunity to rush her and stop weapon, but she held off. Ruby finally got into a comfortable pace, and with a slide of her finger, Crescent Rose's head stretched back, slashing out low at the blonde brawler. Yang easily hopped over the blade, holding back from another opportunity to stop the blade and counter.

As the blade passed by, Ruby slid her finger back. The scythe's head retracted to its normal position as she brought it around into a high overhead strike. The dirt split beneath the blade as the scythe planted itself. Anchored into the solid ground, Ruby once more made Crescent Rose extent its head, but with the blade unable to move, the shaft instead pulled on Ruby. Yang found herself surprised by the move, and barely had enough time to raise her guard to block a powerful kick from her sister. The force of her sister being thrown forward knocked her back onto her behind, while Ruby swung around the shaft. She intended to use her momentum to yank Crescent Rose out of the ground, but found that her fingers weren't strong enough to keep their grip. They came loose, and she went spinning through the air towards Yang without any control.

Yang ducked under her sister as she flew past, hitting the ground and yelping as she started rolling. Ruby put her arm out to try and stop herself, but was forced to simply cover her face and wait for her momentum to die down.

Yang Rushed over to Ruby's side, and when she knelt down over her, she found tears streaming down Ruby's face.

"Oh, come on, Ruby! You were doing good! Maybe just-"

Ruby's knuckles pounded the dirt as she cried out, "I can't do it! I'm useless now, Yang! I can't do anything!"

Her knuckles made an unpleasant popping sound as she struck the ground again, and she clenched her teeth as she rolled over, holding her hand close to her chest. Yang watched for a moment, waiting to see if Ruby was done, before gently putting her hands on her shoulders.

"You don't mean that. It's just frustrating. You've got more than enough reason to be mad, but you just have to push through it! I can't imagine what I'd do if I were in your shoes, but I'm sure you're doing a lot better than I would be! And sure, it might seem impossible now, but you know what else seemed impossible? My dopey little baby sister ever learning to use a scythe. Do you remember how you looked?"

She paused, and after a moment, Ruby sniffled and nodded.

"Then I don't even need to tell you how amazing it was to see you turn into a scythe-wielding badass through the next few years!"

She got back to her feet, gingerly helping Ruby up with her.

"You just need to push. Not right now, give yourself some time to cool off, but you've never stopped pushing before, and I know you won't now."

She left her sister for a moment to pick Crescent Rose out of the ground, examining it as she returned.

"And besides, you aren't useless. You've been tinkering with this almost as long as I can remember, and you're better at tinkering than anyone I've ever met. I don't know an awful lot about that, but I know you don't need two hands to do it. Not when you're as good as you are."

Ruby wiped her face on her sleeve as Yang held the scythe out to her, and with a shaky hand, took Crescent Rose from her sister. Without another word, both of them started back towards the house.

It was a few hours later when their father returned, and he did so with several large bags of groceries under his arms and a wry smile on his face. Ruby and Yang were both seated in the living room when he came through the door. "Hey, girls. Good day?" he asked as he walked over to each of them, leaning over to give them a kiss. Ruby sat up to present her cheek to him, only for Tai to pull away at the last second as a few of the bags threatened to slip from his hands. He took a second to balance his baggage before looking back down at Ruby with a smile.

"Let me go set these down real quick, then I think I've got a little surprise for you guys."

He shouldered his way through the kitchen door, and Yang got up to follow, intending to ask if he'd remembered to pick up a few things she had asked him to get. Ruby stayed seated, watching her father and Yang leave the room with a tired expression.

When Yang entered, something distracted her. An oddly shaped package was stuck in the middle of the bunch, jutting out at a strange angle. She walked over to the table as her father turned to put the groceries away.

It was long and straight, in a slender and very neat looking box. Yang laid it out flat on the table, and asked, "What's this?"

Her father raised an eyebrow as he turned, and seeing the package Yang was referring to, smiled.

"Something I had to call on a lot of favors to get. It's for Ruby. I think she's really going to like it."