This is something that's been in my head since the Oscar/Ozpin scene, and it just demanded to be written before I could concentrate on anything else.

Song Themes:

Salem: Euthanasia by The Murder of My Sweet

RWBY

Ruby blinked in confusion as her mind slowly came back to life her head slowly took in her room back in Patch, though she was unsure of how she had gotten here from Beacon.

She grit her teeth as those last moments on the top of Beacon tower played through her mind again, the girl's hands clenching into fists as Pyrrha's last moments replayed over and over again in her mind.

Relief was only granted when a voice interrupted the cycle, her Dad's voice breaking through with a relieved shout of, "Ruby! You're up." She felt herself swept into a tight embrace by her dad, which she quickly returned taking comfort in his presence.

"Hey, Dad."

Tai's face was filled with joy and relief at the sight of his little girl awake again, and he quickly jogged out of the room. "You just stay there, kiddo; I'll go and make you some breakfast." As his footsteps receded into the depths of the house Ruby pushed herself to her feet, only to wobble slightly as she felt weaker than she had expected.

The huntress in training slowly, and carefully, made her way to her dresser, her hands running over the frayed edges of her cloak that was neatly piled on top of the furniture. Satisfied that her cloak was in decent condition she turned her attention to herself, and her silver eyes tracked upwards to regard her reflection in the mirror.

She was pale, well paler than usual, and she just felt...off.

It didn't help when her doppelganger seemed to minutely shift when she wasn't moving, a small lifting of the lips before it spoke and an unfamiliar voice came out of Ruby's mouth, "Hello, child."

A shout of surprise erupted from her, right before her weakened legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. Her eyes remained fixated on the small portion of the mirror she could see from her vantage point, but her attempts to figure out what had just happened were interrupted as her Dad burst into the room, "Ruby, are you alright?!"

The man's eyes were wide, and Ruby felt a stab of guilt as she realized what he must have gone through these last few days. Between what had happened to Mom, and then to have Beacon come under attack with both his girls there.

Ruby's heart clenched as she remembered the state that Yang was in when she had last seen her at Beacon, and the distraction caused Ruby to miss what her Dad had said.

"Ruby? Did you hear me? I asked if you're hurt."

Shaking her head with a sharp motion the girl tried to bounce back to her feet, only to nearly fall again. It was only thanks to Tai's reflexes that he caught the girl, "You sure, Ruby, its okay if you aren't all right after what you just went through."

Ruby took a moment to shoot a quick glance at the mirror, and finding everything there to be normal she just flashed her best attempt of a smile at Tai, "I'm fine, dad, just slipped is all. Old clumsy Ruby."

Tai just raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn't press the issue, "Well, if you won't stay in bed, I want you close by just in case. So, lets go downstairs and get you some breakfast." Ruby nodded at that, but she paused before she followed him, "Is Yang home, Dad?"

Sorrow flickered over Tai's features, "Yang's here, she just, needs some space, Ruby."

"But she's all right?"

She could hear the leather of her Dad's gauntlet creak under his grip, "No, Ruby, she's not."

"I wonder who he blames more for her condition, himself or you?"

Ruby's body stiffened at the sudden intrusion by the same voice from moments before, but she swiftly forced herself to relax when her Dad gave her a strange look. She followed him down into the kitchen, her troubles momentarily forgotten when her body remembered how hungry it was at the sight of the food on the table.

Her eyes lit with delight as she spotted the small bowl of strawberries, and she let out a hum of pleasure as she bit into one of them. They would be out of season soon so they would just go to waste if she didn't have them, or at least that was her justification as she devoured her favorite food.

She couldn't just survive off strawberries alone though, so she grabbed her utensils and began to devour the food before her. One thing that dad could make was breakfast, most every other meal though he managed to somehow wreck.

They had breakfast a lot when they were kids.

"Ruby, I'm going to take a plate up to Yang, then I'll be right back. Try not to cause any trouble." Ruby just rolled her eyes at her Dad's smothering attitude, before she nodded in understanding; her mouth too full to respond.

"He thinks that you are safe on this little island, we both know that the safe path isn't an option for us."

The fork in Ruby's hand tightened as she clenched her eyes shut, "Go away."

The voice gave a soft laugh at her demand, "I can never leave you alone, Ruby, we're one and the same now. I realize that it isn't something that will happen right away, but understanding will come in time."

"Understand what? I don't even know who you are!" Her fist slammed into the table as her frustration got the best of her, her body stiffened though as she could almost feel the pressure of a hand on her cheek before a faint image of a pale woman appeared momentarily before her eyes, "That you and I, Ruby Rose, are one and the same now."

As Tai came clambering back down the stairs Ruby had never been so thankful for a distraction in her life.

RWBY

Ruby rapidly went through the process of stripping down her weapon, attempting to find some normalcy in a world where Beacon was destroyed, her friends scattered to the winds, and she was stuck in her home like some sort of prisoner!

"Your father looks at you, and he sees her. That's all anyone sees, isn't it? Just the reflection of Summer Rose, no one sees Ruby. Well, except for your team, but we both know what they thought of you."

Ruby tried to ignore the voice, and instead began to polish her weapon's sight, "We both know that it hurt when no one suggested you go on in the tournament, especially when Weiss and Yang ended up doing so poorly in the next round."

"Children, being led to the slaughter."

"Shut up!"

Ruby winced at how loud her voice was, and she found her annoyance only growing when her dad's voice called from deeper inside the home, "Ruby, you okay up there? I heard shouting."

"I was just telling some birds to shut up, dad, everything's fine."

When silence was the only response Ruby sighed in relief, she was already getting enough odd looks that she really didn't feel like going through another inquisition over her outbursts again.

"Your lack of control is not my fault, Ruby, but your refusal to listen will not deter me."

She wanted nothing more than to strangle the voice in her head, but it suddenly returned in a much softer tone than normal, "I understand your frustrations, I truly do. The situation we find ourselves in would not have been my first choice, but it represented the best chance to achieve my goals; our goals."

"I'm not helping you do anything."

Ruby couldn't help but wince at her petulant tone, but there was no way that she would freaking start listening to a voice in her head.

"But I'm so much more than just a voice, Ruby. You're not yet ready to know everything, so I'll ask you a single question."

"Do you want to save this world?"

"Of course, I do;" the girl hissed in response, "But I'm not just going to listen to some voice in my head, that's what crazy people do!"

A low, almost melodious, laugh filled her ears, "As opposed to simply hearing a voice in your head. Regardless, Ruby, you are quite sane, we are simply in a period of adjustment."

"You want to be a hero, Ruby, to be something more than just the shadow of Summer Rose. To surpass her though, you have to stop trying to be her."

Ruby's eyes shifted to her cloak that was sitting on the dresser, "You don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't I? I can see every time that someone defined you by her, every time that they failed to see you and instead saw her. Even before our merger though, I knew you were special. Not because you reminded me of Summer Rose, but rather because you reminded me of who I once was."

"You have an unmatched potential for greatness, Ruby, you just have to find the strength and courage to forge your own path."

Ruby became silent at that, the words whispering to the thoughts she kept under lock and key. She did feel trapped by the legacy of her mother, that to everyone else she was just the continuation of Summer and not Ruby.

Yang had been the one only one who saw her before Beacon, and now she wouldn't even look at her.

And the rest of her team? She hadn't received a single message from anyone, not Blake, or Weiss, not even remaining JNPR members had messaged her.

Did they blame her for Pyrrha's death?

Tears ran down her cheeks as she realized that she wouldn't blame them if they did, she hadn't been fast enough, or strong enough to save their friend. The redhead who had always taken notes during Port's classes and shared her copies, who had been so happy when Jaune finally stopped being such an idiot, who deserved a better fate than being shot by an orphan in the remains of Ozpin's office.

Ruby winced in pain as her mind tried to understand where the knowledge about Cinder had came from, and the only hint she got was a whisper in her ear:

"This is not a fairytle, Ruby. Cinder was not born evil, she is simply the result of what happens when you kick a dog so much that it finally bites back. There are a thousand more just like her in every kingdom, children who are exploited, Faunus who are denied the right to own property in human neighborhoods, hunters who are sent on missions that they know they won't come back alive from."

"That is the world you have sworn to uphold, one that is mired in corruption and death."

"All because of the cowardice of one man."

"Who?" Ruby didn't know if she wanted the answer, and the voice seemed to recognize her hesitation.

"Not yet, little Rose, not yet."

Any further questioning was interrupted by a knock on her door, she could tell from the sound alone who it was and Ruby hopped to her feet to answer the door as quickly as she could, "Uncle Qrow!"

The sight of her Uncle normally filled her with excitement, but Ruby suddenly felt herself engulfed in a cold sense of dread.

"Hey, kid."

The hunter made his way into her room, before dropping himself down into the room's only chair, "Your dad told me that you've been having a tough time, figured that it was about time that the two of us had a talk about what happened at Beacon."

Ruby gave a small nod as she settled down on the edge of her bed, "I can't remember much, just getting to the top of Beacon tower and seeing Pyrrha die. Then it is just a blur of light."

She gave a small shrug, "Next thing I know is, I'm here."

Qrow took a swig of the flask he pulled from his coat, "Sounds about right, though I don't think that anyone with the silver eyes has pushed themselves quite as far as you have for centuries."

Ruby blinked at that statement, and something in her mind clicked, "Ozpin, when he first met me, he mentioned my eyes."

A heavy sigh emerged from her Uncle, "Yeah, he knew. It was his call to accelerate your training, he was starting to get worried that something big was coming."

Ruby though, found herself focussing on the subtext of her Uncle's statement for a change, "He knew Beacon was going to be attacked?" Her voice cracked with confusion, as she somehow knew that the headmaster had indeed been expecting an attack of that magnitude.

"He built those schools as fortresses to protect his treasures, you and your friends were simply the latest generation of unknowing guards manning his castles."

Ruby shook away the voice just in time to hear Qrow's response, "None of us knew what was coming, kid, but Ozpin liked to hedge his bets. Like I said, he thought that it would be best if you were trained as quickly as possible, so if we ever did need you; you'd be ready."

"You were just a piece in a game you didn't know existed."

Ruby's hands shook in anger from what both Qrow and the voice had said, "People are dead, and now you're telling me that I could have saved them!"

Crimson eyes blinked in confusion as Ruby continued to explode, the girl, now on her feet, paced around the room angrily, "Why would you keep me in the dark! If I knew people were in danger I would have worked harder, pushed myself further!" a sob broke through her throat as she tumbled to the ground, body trembling as images of the Fall swept through her mind, "I could have saved them!"

"We'll never know though, because of the choices of men like Ozpin, and your Uncle."

Ruby felt like she was underwater, she had grown up idolizing her Uncle but in this instance the voice was right.

He knew Beacon was in danger, and he had never said a thing.

"Even the noblest of souls, can find themselves serving an unjust cause."

She heard Qrow move from his chair, and she tensed when he lightly put his arm around her, "You've got a good heart, kid, just like your mom did."

Ruby felt a flash of anger at the comparison to Summer, and for the first time she truly admitted to herself that she didn't want to be compared to her mother.

"People are dead, and all you can say is that I remind you of my mom?"

Qrow drew back, the stark, serious, tone of Ruby having caught him off guard, "I'm not my mom, Uncle Qrow, I'm Ruby. A girl that just lost her school, who watched two of her closest friends die, and all you have to say is that I have a good heart?"

"Pyrrha had a good heart, Penny didn't even have one but she was the brightest soul I ever knew, what does telling me that I'm like mom do to fix what happened to them!"

Qrow took a step back from the enraged huntress, and Ruby swore she saw confusion and fear in his eyes briefly, before it shifted into a look of sorrow, "There's nothing that can fix what happened to them, kid. Death is the end of our stories."

"It doesn't have to be."

She didn't know why she was so certain that her Uncle was lying, and the voice in her head was telling the truth, but Ruby simply nodded in answer to her Uncle's statement.

While on the inside she had decided to get more answers from the voice, even though she knew that it wasn't her best plan.

But, wasn't risking everything exactly the type of thing that a hero would do?

RWBY

Days swept by on Patch, and Ruby found herself alternating between doing battle and agreeing with the voice. Though, as each day passed, the huntress felt herself becoming increasingly frustrated by the atmosphere of both the house and Patch.

Stupid, idyllic Patch, a place that let you pretend that the world was safe.

Plus, discounting the voice, she was only interacting with her dad and Yang. Which made Ruby feel like the only person in the world who didn't want to just hide and pretend the world was fine.

A change had happened recently though, and the voice would at times be silent for hours, and at other times it would provide an almost running commentary. Ruby had noticed though that when the voice was silent for a long period that she felt, different.

Not necessarily bad, but at times she found that she did things seemingly out of habit she had never done before.

Like drinking tea, instead of coffee, or when she realized she had tied a glass bobble into her hair, and that's not even getting into the fact she had worn a pair of Yang's old heeled boots for nearly a whole day without noticing.

She had only realized she was wearing them when to her dad commented that she walked differently from the last time he had seen her, though he had phrased it as, "Nice to see you finally learned how to walk without stomping."

Slipping down the hall from her room Ruby checked to make sure dad wasn't on the second floor, he would never be on board with Yang leaving the house.

Even if it was just to go and visit mom.

Knocking lightly, the pajama-clad girl entered Yang's room, and her sister was where she always sat, blankly staring off into the distance.

Ruby waited to be dismissed, but either Yang hadn't noticed her or she just didn't care enough to even talk to her younger sister, "I'm going to go and see mom today, do you want to come too? It's been a while since we both visited her."

"No."

"Such disrespect."

The blonde didn't even look at her, but Ruby felt a spike of anger at the dismissal. Sure, maybe it was underhanded of her to lure Yang out of the house to visit mom, but it had been a long time since Yang had visited her, "When was the last time you went and saw her."

The words were innocuous, but the accusation in them was enough that Yang's lilac eyes turned to regard her, "Why does it matter? She's dead, Ruby, she doesn't care anymore," the blonde quickly turned away from the silver-eyed girl, muttering as she did, "She wasn't even my mom anyway."

Ruby's eyes hardened at the last statement, and, at the subtle urging of the other presence in her head, found herself giving voice to a thought that had danced in her mind ever since she had heard about Raven, "Do you think that if you find her she's just going to smother you with love? You only have one mother, Yang, and she's dead; Raven doesn't want you, and she never did."

Before either girl could say anymore Tai's voice broke through the tense atmosphere, "Ruby!" he grabbed her by the shoulders and half pulled, half carried, her out of the blonde's room, "What's wrong with you! Your sister is having a hard-enough time recovering as it is, and that's without you attacking her!"

Ruby though just stood her ground, as the voice in her mind began to speak again, "He coddles when he should be firm, all the while hoping that you two will give up just like he did. This broken man could be you, Ruby, if you let him have his way."

And Ruby found herself in complete agreement with the mystery woman, letting out all her frustrations at her dad, "Nothing is going to get better if we just hide here! Yang should be in Atlas to get a new arm! I should be out there helping people!" she thrust a finger at the brawler, "You should be with the other professors trying to take back Beacon! Not hiding in Patch, like you always do!"

Ruby shoved past him, and ignored Tai's shouts for her to stop as she slammed her door shut behind her.

Her eyes shifted about her room as she listened to her dad pace up and down the hall a few times before she heard him his footsteps descending to the lower level of the house. She released the breath that she had been holding, as she attempted to process as to why she had said those things.

They were true of course, but she would never have come out and said them before the events at Beacon.

"As our souls become more entwined, changes will occur. It is the nature of the process, though this is my first time as well."

She scowled at that statement, "So, what? I just sit back and let you take over my body?" her hands became fists as she refused to accept that outcome, "Maybe I'll just head to Beacon and see how many Grimm I can take out before they get me, take you out with me."

A soft laugh filled her head, and she was confused as to the lack of malice in the response, "I'm glad that you don't disappoint, Ruby, but you mistook my meaning. In the simplest of terms, I am becoming more like you, and you are becoming more like me, the result of our union will be paradoxically both of us and yet neither of us."

Ruby mulled that over, and she could feel the presence urging her to look at one of the beowolf figurines that sat on a shelf in her room, "I killed my first Grimm when I was six years old, by the time I was your age I had become a proficient enough warrior that I attracted the attention of the Wizard."

"Years later he approached me with a plan, a scheme, to destroy the Grimm. Somehow, he had discovered the source of all Grimm, and he believed that with enough skilled individuals, and a little luck, we could rid Remnant of the embodiment of destruction."

"Can you try and remember how that story ends, Ruby?"

"How am I supposed to remember your memories?" Ruby shook her head, but a prickling sensation filled her mind as unfamiliar images began to flicker in her mind. At first, she tried to push them back, but they grew more insistent and she found herself compelled to give voice to them, "I'm underground, in a cave or tunnel, it's dark but Lucia is using some of her remaining fire dust to give us light."

"She's exhausted, but she still shoots at me a smirk that makes my heart skip a beat. The Wizard;" she feels weak, or sick, as the true nature of Beacon's former headmaster flows into her mind. The memories however continue to flow into her, forcing her to continue experiencing them, "He's telling us that we're close. The tunnel begins to widen soon after, and up ahead in the dim light of Lucia's flames I see the living darkness."

Ruby's body unconsciously tightens at the anticipation of combat, "I roar out a challenge as Grimm start pouring out of the darkness, Serge is the first to score a kill as his axe bisects a beowolf, and we keep fighting against the oncoming black tide as Ozpin works his magic."

Silver eyes twitched around her room as Ruby watched in horror, unable to continue narrating as she found herself fully engulfed in the memory.

Ruby's body topples to the floor of her room in Patch, even as in her mind she continues to battle against waves of Grimm. Many of the creatures she doesn't even recognize from her classes, but her lack of exposure to the beasts doesn't slow down the amount of them that pour out of the darkness. Time blurs as it tends to in combat, speeding up and slowly down as it wished. It was only when Serge falls and she finds herself struck on her now exposed flank that she realized Ozpin was nowhere to be found.

"He abandoned us."

That thought is last though she has, before Lucia's scream causes everything else to stop. Her breath catches in her lungs and panic overtakes her as she carves a path through the Grimm, throwing away any attempt at defending herself; all that matters is making her way to Lucia.

Then, even as another Grimm dies on her blade, she spots Lucia's prone form. Her beauty untarnished even when cloaked in scarlet, but it is obvious that she's too late to even hear her love's final words.

And something inside of Ruby breaks.

She strikes out at everything that comes within range of her blade, she even sees a panicked pair of blue eyes as she kills the only other survivor of the group still standing. Eventually even her blade falls to her rage as it shatters on the armour of one of the Grimm, but she just lashes out with her hands, feet, teeth, anything that will draw pain from the creatures.

She eventually finds herself with her soul broken, and betrayed, in front of the undulating darkness that the Grimm, even now, continue to pour out of. With one final roar, she hurls herself at the entity; her last thoughts filled with hatred and anger for the man that led her to this fate.

Ruby is dimly aware that she's losing consciousness as she continues forward, but as the darkness overtakes her a voice, her voice and yet not her voice, continues to speak.

"That, Ruby, is The Wizard that has chosen to perpetuate this world, to build it into his kingdom of lies and ignorance. A man, you knew as Ozpin. A man so terrified of what could happen that he refuses to use the gifts that were left to us to fix this broken world."

"My name is Salem, and together we will see to it that this world is made right."

RWBY

Ruby dragged herself to her feet, her senses finally returning after the barrage of Salem's memories from earlier. Moving to her bed she collapsed, sinking slightly into the soft surface. Silence was her only company, until she asked the question that had been echoing in her mind since the voice had first spoken to her.

"How?"

"During your battle with Cinder in the tower, the night of the dance, she informed me of your presence in the school. I know that you would be an important pawn for Ozpin, just like I had been for him once, and so I decided to make you mine."

"I don't have magic the same way that Ozpin did, or the Maiden's do, but I have time and patience on my side. A man who serves me, a doctor known as Watts was very involved with several Atlas projects before he was forced out of the Kingdom. One of which was the designs for the machine used to create your friend Penny."

"After that, it was simply a matter of constructing a machine to attune your Aura to mine, a feat accomplished thanks to your medical checkup and one of Cinder's companion's abilities."

"Emerald," Ruby hissed the name out with a rage she was unaccustomed to, she had thought the girl was her friend but even now she was learning of just how naïve she truly was.

"Don't hold it against the girl, she, like yourself, is but a pawn in a larger game."

"So, what? I'm supposed to be grateful that instead of Ozpin's pawn that I'm yours now!" Yet again Ruby thought that ending everything might be a better plan, she had the person responsible for everything that had gone wrong in her mind and the huntress was becoming increasingly aware of how much Salem was influencing her.

A laugh echoed in her mind at her last question, "Of course not, Ruby, you'll, we'll, be taking my place as the Queen in this little game. Once our union is complete you will be the most powerful piece on the board, and it will be up to you to see our wishes fulfilled."

"And how will I do that?" Asking a question into an empty room would have been ridiculous before, but Ruby had to admit it was steadily becoming an almost normal affair.

"By using the gifts the gods left behind."

Ruby normally would have been mesmerized by a story of Gods and heroes, but she could only feel a strange sense of both dread and anticipation. She knew in her soul that what she was about to hear wasn't some fairy tale, this was real.

"When the gods created humanity, they left behind four gifts for their children to utilize. In time humanity came to utilize the artifacts, and in their hubris almost destroyed themselves."

"And so, a man who was known as 'The Wizard' decided to hide the artifacts, to spread them across Remnant to ensure that no one could ever bring all four of them together."

"What about the Grimm?"

Silence was her only answer for some time, before Salem answered, "The Grimm have existed for longer than humanity. They are the embodiment of hatred towards life, and they hate humanity more than anything else."

"To the Grimm, we are the closest thing they have to kin, but they despise the light that exists inside of us. Those humans who have the light inside of them extinguished are capable of dominating the Grimm, but it is a constant struggle for control."

"Is that what happened to you?"

"Yes."

A frown pulled at Ruby's lips as she considered that answer, "So with you being inside me, doesn't that mean you've lost your ability to control them?"

"A small price to pay if it means achieving my goals," the voice became softer, almost motherlike as it continued to speak, "I know you don't fully trust me, Ruby, but together the two of us can make this world a better place. A world without Grimm, or wizards, a world where neither of us would have ever lost those we loved."

As much as Ruby wanted to deny the temptation that was being offered to her, both she and Salem knew that she had already made her decision.

RWBY

Drawers rustled as Ruby finished getting changed, Ruby swung her cloak onto her shoulders before she purposefully marched down to Yang's room, and as her hand settled on the doorknob Salem spoke again, "This time will be no different from the last. Some humans, like your sister, need but one setback and they fall apart."

Ruby's hands clenched together at that statement, she refused to give up on Yang, or anyone really, even though Salem had spent the last hour trying to convince her that sometimes destruction was necessary to create something better.

Ruby refused to give up on Yang, and she wouldn't destroy her sister either.

Pushing Yang's door open she strode in, not allowing Yang the option to tell her not to enter, "Yang, I need to talk to you."

Yang's hand tightened, as she was probably still upset from Ruby's last visit, but she just kept staring out the window in front of her, "Go away, Ruby."

"NO!" Yang's head turned towards the source of the shout, as Ruby stomped towards the blonde, "I won't just sit here while you give up!" She reached out and took Yang's hand in her own, "You've always been there for me, why can't you just let me be there for you?"

"I shouldn't have said those things earlier, but sometimes I just feel like you looking for your birth mom is because you don't feel like mom loved you the same as she did me." Ruby gave Yang's hand a small squeeze, "Mom loved you, I love you, and so does dad, Zwei, and all our friends at Beacon. You are our dragon, Yang, you keep us safe and I just want to be able to help you."

Yang though just yanked her hand away turning back towards the window as she did, but as she did Ruby noticed a flicker of something she hadn't noticed before.

Red.

"Yang? Are you, mad at me? I'm so sorry for what I said earlier-" Yang though let out a harsh burst of laughter at that, and Ruby didn't fail to notice the trembling fist that Yang formed after her apology. It was the tone of the words that followed Yang's laughter, that caused Ruby to realize that Yang was angry over far more than just her comment about Raven, "Shit always has to happen to me."

Ruby blinked a few times in confusion, but Yang kept going, "I'm the one who always gets the short end of the stick."

Her fingers rose as she listed each complaint, "Mom abandons me, I get stuck raising you, I end up stuck on a team with my baby sister as the leader, and when I finally get to shine in the tournament the whole world ends up thinking I'm a violent thug." Ruby could see Yang's eyes shifting hue, becoming a darker and darker crimson as she continued, "And to top it all off, I put my life on the line to save Blake and what does she do? Abandons me on that platform, my own partner couldn't even both to stick around after I lost an arm to save her from that lunatic."

Looking down at her shaking hand the Blonde's breathing became erratic.

"And now I'm out of fingers."

Before Ruby could react, Yang lashed forward and seized her by the throat, her eyes the darkest red Ruby had ever seen as her semblance involuntarily reacted with her mood, "So you tell me, Ruby, what's wrong!"

Ruby knew that she should have been terrified, or at the very least horrified, at what was transpiring, but somehow, she felt a calm. She let that calm wash over her as she tapped into her semblance and exploded into a flurry of black rose petals.

Maybe Salem was right, maybe Yang needed to be broken down before she could have a sister again.

Yang could only gape a little as Ruby reformed a short distance away, her throat covered in an angry red mark from what had just transpired. Silver eyes met crimson as Ruby failed at speaking a few times before managing the task, "I think that you want to be angry, Yang, because it's easier to be angry than admit that you failed."

She stepped back into Yang's range, as if daring her to try to attack her again, "In Mountain Glenn you said you were becoming a huntress because you wanted an adventure;" the smaller girl's head shifted to look down at where Yang's arm had once been, "Is the adventure over already?

Ruby's eyes locked on to Yang's as she continued, her body trembling with rage for both what had happened and for what her sister had been reduced to, "I wasn't strong enough to stop Roman in Mountain Glenn or during the Fall, I wasn't fast enough to save Penny or Pyrrha, and I stopped that dragon but we still lost the whole school." Tears glistened in her eyes as she kept going, "But I'm not you, Yang, I won't just give up and sit back while everything falls apart!"

Her heels clicked as she left the room, her voiced filled with condemnation as she spoke over her shoulder to her sister, "Just hide from the world like Dad, the rest of us will fix it without you."

RWBY

Ruby was partway across the lawn when she realized she wasn't alone, her eyes scanned the area quickly before landing on the form of her Uncle leaned back against a nearby tree, "Hey, kid."

The man walked toward the girl, a frown forming on his face when he took in just how much she had changed in but a handful of days. "Your dad called me, said that you and Yang went at it again today."

He sighed heavily before continuing, "Look, sometimes family can drive you nuts, but in the end family will always have your back."

Ruby just shook her head, "You mean like you and Raven?"

"Ouch," pain flickered across Qrow's face before he took a swig from his flask, "Raven, she's family to me, but I'm not really family to her; if that makes any sense."

Ruby nodded at that, despite how angry she felt at her Uncle and his secrets he was still her family, "It just feels like she's not even Yang anymore, it's like something that looks like her is just sitting there." She wrapped her arms around herself to stave off a burst of cold autumn wind, "Dad, he's just so scared of losing us that he's just happy she's home, but she's not really home."

She felt Qrow's hand settle on her shoulder, "Your dad's worried about both of you."

"I'm fine."

"You switched to tea, you hate tea." At Ruby's raised eyebrow Qrow rolled his eyes, "Okay, as far as examples go that was pretty weak."

"Yep." She leaned against him slightly, both knew where she was heading as they travelled through the forest to her mom's marker, "I'm just growing up."

"Ruby, once you take the world on your shoulders you don't get to take it off." A sad sigh emerged from her Uncle, "Trust me, I know from experience."

Silver eyes, hardened after the events in Beacon, met with crimson, forcing a sad laugh to emerge from the hunter, "I suppose it's a bit too late for that now though."

"Oh! I just remembered;" rummaging in his coat the man pulled out a letter, "Glynda found your friends, the blonde kid's team, in the ruins of the school, she's got them confined to her base camp until she can get them sent to a safer area. The blondie wrote a letter for you, and I figured you could do with some cheering up."

Ruby took the letter slowly, her eyes reading Jaune's scratchy handwriting on the front of the letter, "Thanks, Uncle Qrow."

"Least I could do, kid." He came to a sudden halt when they came to the sight of the marker up ahead, almost backing away from the simple stone marker, "You go on and talk to your mom, I'll hang back here."

Nodding slightly, she made her way up to the edge of the cliff, kneeling in front of the object that proclaimed that Summer Rose had indeed existed.

"Hey, mom."

Normally she would just talk about what had happened, or how Yang was doing, but instead she found herself looking inward at her situation, "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. You were always my hero, my role model, but you died."

"You died, and I just tried to be you, because if I didn't then you would really be gone." She could feel the tears trickling down her cheeks as she pushed forward, "But you are gone, and I, I can make a difference."

"If I could make a world where that no one ever has to lose their mother again, where we never have to worry about the Grimm ever again, isn't that something that is worth some sacrifices."

She pulled a few blades of grass out of the ground, letting them drift on the wind that came off the ocean, "I know that she's affecting me, changing me, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing now."

"The old Ruby would have just done whatever she was told, or gone off on some quest to defeat the villain, but I'm not that Ruby."

"I'm the Queen."

RWBY

That's it, one-shot is complete!