Chapter 5: Winter's Plea

"Come on! I know you can go faster than that! Move it! Hustle people, lift those knees! I swear to the gods if I have to come back there and physically push you, I will!" From the front of the column, Arslan bellowed back at the panting troupe of girls behind her. Ruby was managing to keep pace with the older girl, but only barely. They'd been running for nearly twenty minutes now, following a winding trail through and around the outskirts of campus. Ruby had gone on runs that lasted longer, certainly, but always alone when she could change up her pace or jog for a bit to catch her breath. Arslan would have no such thing in her training sessions.

They crested a hill and Ruby could see the track come into view. It wouldn't be too long now. Beside her, a girl with green hair, shaved short in the back but worn long in the front, winked at her. "Home stretch kid," she said, winded, but obviously enjoying herself. Her name was Reese, and she was Arslan's partner, the same way Weiss had been hers back at Beacon. Ruby supposed that keeping up had become something of a survival instinct for her.

When they finally made it to the track, Arslan slowed them to a jog, then a walk, before leading the team through a cool down. When they were done stretching, Ruby turned to leave. Reese caught her arm as she went past. "Hey, where are you off to?"

"Um, back to my dorm," Ruby said. She still felt a little awkward around the track team, despite having joined a week ago.

"Why don't you come hang with us? Some of the team were going to go get a few drinks in town, we'd love to have you around."

"She's not eighteen Reese, remember?" Arslan said from behind them. Ruby hadn't heard her approach. "But that doesn't mean we can't have Bolin or Nadir pick something up and bring it back to the dorms," she added with a sly smile. "What do you say kid?"

Ruby liked Arslan and Reese. When she started training with them, they'd gone out of their way to make her feel included, even introducing her to the other members of their group. Part of her thought it would be a good idea to spend time with them. Maybe make some new friends, to integrate herself better in the school. But whenever she tried imagining it, she just thought of how much more distance it put between herself and Beacon. She started thinking about her own friends, and how much she missed them. Her old life had already started to seem very far away.

"Maybe next time," Ruby said with an attempt at a smile. Arslan didn't seem convinced.

"Has everything been okay?" she asked, that maternal look of concern Ruby noticed when they'd first met creeping over her face again. "You missed practice yesterday, and you seemed pretty tired today. Anything you need to talk about?"

Ruby looked away. The truth was, she hadn't been sleeping well. Ever since she'd gotten in touch with her uncle Qrow two weeks ago, the nightmares had come back, worse than ever. Each night it was something different, but Qrow was in all of them, holding that terrible scythe. She had watched Pyrrha die again and again, the light fading from her green eyes. She had stood silently screaming while Beacon University collapsed around her. She'd seen soldiers and White Fang members alike gunning each other down, turning the campus into a war zone. Each nightmare left her shaking and crying, feeling as drained as though she hadn't bothered sleeping at all.

Part of Ruby desperately wanted to take Arslan up on her offer, but what was she supposed to do? Unload everything she felt on people who were practically strangers? She didn't even feel like she could talk about it with her own friends. Jaune, Ren and Nora had lived it just as much as she had, and making them worry about her wasn't going to help them move on with their lives. Ruby had sent a message back to Weiss after she'd talked to Qrow, but after the surprise request, things from Atlas had gone back to radio silence.

That only really left her father, Taiyang, and even he was beyond her reach right now. He was usually really good at this kind of thing. Ruby thought maybe some of it came from harbored guilt about how he had been when they were younger. After her mom had died, he'd kind of shut down for a while. Yang had taken care of her more often than not, and Qrow's visits were most frequent then. He'd come around eventually, but the attack on Beacon and Yang's injury had made things pretty messy in the household for a while over the summer. He'd born the brunt of a lot of Yang's anger and frustration, and Ruby thought he might blame himself for her leaving. It was probably why he'd sent her a message a few days after classes started saying he was going to try and find her and bring her home.

Ruby refused to be a burden. She had to deal with this herself. She would prove that she could be just as strong as anyone.

"Thanks Arslan, I really appreciate it, but I'm fine," she said. "It's just been a lot to get used to, that's all. I promise when I get a little more organized, we'll hang out, okay?"

Arslan frowned, but she didn't push the issue. "Alright. Take care, kid."

Ruby waved and headed back across campus. It was Friday, which was nice. It would give her some time to actually work on some of the homework that had been piling up around her. Ruby, much to the surprise of anybody who didn't know her well, was a mechanical engineering major. That meant a lot of tough classes, and for the first time ever, she was beginning to feel like she was struggling to keep up.

The dorm was empty when she walked in, which meant there was nobody around to tell her not to hog all the hot water. Her muscles ached, and she planned on taking her time. Who knew, between the workout and four pages of differential calculus problems, maybe she would actually finally be able to get some sleep that night. She was still in the shower, thanking whatever gods may be that hers had decent water pressure, when she heard her scroll vibrate on the bathroom counter. She poked her head out and craned her neck to get a good look at the screen. She had a text message.

From Qrow.

She shut off the water and wrapped a towel around herself, snatching the scroll of the counter. If he was texting her, that meant he was nearby. Sure enough, the message was curt and simple. "I'm downstairs. Got a sec?" Ruby felt her heart hammering somewhere in her throat. Seeing him on the video call had been enough. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see him in person. She was still staring at the screen, studying her own indecisive reflection when another message popped up.

"I won't keep you long."

Ruby bit her lip. He was still the same man he'd been before, wasn't he? Just because he could do...whatever it is he had done didn't change the way he'd treated her when she was younger. It didn't take back all the stories he'd told her, or all the times he'd taken her to see the wonderful and beautiful places in Vale or her island home of Patch. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then dressed, opting for her own clothes instead of the Haven school uniform, which she had never been a fan of. Whoever decided that black and grey plaid was a good idea for a skirt design deserved to be fired. She went with her usual black and red skirt-and-corset with knee-high black boots over a pair of black leggings. She fastened her hood on over the whole thing and headed downstairs.

He was waiting maybe a dozen yards from the dorm entrance, leaning against a tree. He struck a fairly imposing figure there, tall and lean, wearing shades of black and grey. A silver cross hung at an angle from the cord around his neck, and he had a tattered red cape draped over his shoulders that reached his waist. His hair was black and unkempt, long bangs partially obscuring his red eyes. Across his back, beneath the cape, he wore an enormous single-edged greatsword. The blade of the weapon was filigreed with an intricate pattern that ended in a flourish not unlike a bird's wing. The base of the blade, where it met the red leather-wrapped hilt, featured an interlocking set of gears. Ruby knew that this wasn't the only form his weapon could take. She'd seen it in its scythe form, huge and menacing. Part of her was fascinated by the mechanisms and machinery that must have been involved in transforming it from one form to the other. Most of her could only stare at it and wonder how many people her uncle must have killed with it.

He was studying something as she approached. It looked almost like a scroll, but colored black and with some odd wires wrapped around it and plugged into several ports. A long antenna was attached to the top, and rather than a reflective glass screen, there was just a dull black diamond set in the middle of it.

Qrow must have heard her coming. He looked up at her and smiled. It wasn't a broad smile, but it was warm and genuine. It was the same smile he had always greeted her with back home in Patch. "Hey kiddo," he said, the familiar rasp in his voice.

"Hey Uncle Qrow." Her voice sounded small, even to Ruby. Despite her earlier trepidation, she couldn't deny it was good to see him. Maybe it was just the fact that she had been without a familial face for so long, but it was easier to see him here as her uncle, rather than the ominous symbol he'd become in her fevered nightmares. She allowed herself to relax slightly. "Did you miss me?"

Qrow's smile widened just a fraction. "Nope," he said playing their old game.

Despite herself, Ruby darted forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, careful to avoid the sharp steel of his sword. He seemed caught off guard by the affection, but he returned the hug. They stayed like that a moment, Ruby letting herself feel like a child again, safe in the knowledge that adults could fix anything, no matter what the problem might be.

"Gotta be honest, I didn't think I'd get this warm a welcome," Qrow said. Ruby pulled away slightly, craning her neck to look up at him. The top of her head came almost level with his chin, so this was something of a challenge.

"It's just… good to see you," she said, surprised by the truth in her words. "It's been kind of rough these last few months."

"I bet," he said. He drew away from her, lounging once more against the trunk of the tree. "I wanted to check on you. See how you were holding up."

Ruby shrugged. "I… I'm fine. You know. Mostly."

"Uh huh. Sure you are."

She looked away sheepishly. "Well, I mean, I've had a little trouble sleeping."

He nodded. "I'm not surprised. The things you had to go through, what you had to see… it's something I wish I could have protected you from."

Ruby scuffed her boots on the ground. "You did protect me," she murmured, surprising herself again.

"Yeah, and look how well that turned out. You get to see your uncle for what he really is for the first time. I'm pretty good at reading people, kiddo. Stay in my line of work, you have to be. I know what fear looks like. You think I didn't notice it when you called me?" He pulled a flask out of his back pocket and took a pull from it. "I expected a lot more of an interrogation session when I got here. Don't know if I should take this as a good sign or not."

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, suddenly becoming very interested in the way the roots of the tree twisted and knotted above the ground. "I… I do have a few… I mean, there's a lot I still don't really, um, understand."

She glanced up at him. He was studying her, the lines in his face more pronounced than ever. Ruby noticed there were dark circles under his eyes. Seeing the sorrow in them, hearing the worn out regret in his tone, suddenly she felt the need to comfort him. After months of being frightened of him, seeing him now she could only think that he seemed… old. And very sad.

"Let's hear it then," he said.

Ruby thought for a moment. "You killed those men." she said.

Qrow didn't flinch. "Yeah. And I would have killed a hundred more if it meant keeping you safe."

"What about Pyrrha?" The words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them. It was a childish thought, but one that had haunted her ever since that night. "If you could do what you did, then why did she…" Ruby couldn't bring herself to finish. She already felt tears welling in her eyes.

Qrow sighed. "I'm not a miracle worker, kiddo. It took me a while to find you. If I could have gotten there sooner, I would have." He paused, seemingly considering his next words before speaking. "If she hadn't been there, I wouldn't have made it to you. Those bastards would have gotten you first. You and everybody with you. Your friend saved a dozen lives, more if you count how many people wouldn't have been evacuated if they'd held the docks much longer."

Ruby hadn't thought about it like that before. She wasn't sure if the thought made her feel better or just piled onto the already incredibly guilt that felt like it was ready to crush her into nothing. Unwilling to think about it anymore, she tried, changing the subject. "What is it you do exactly?" Qrow raised an eyebrow. "You said, 'your line of work.' What work is it that teaches you to use… that," she indicated the sword on his back. "Or to move that fast, or to stop bullets."

Qrow took another swig from his flask. "It's kind of a long story," he said.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Well, I was going out on a bar crawl, but I guess I can put that off for another couple of years."

Qrow let out a bark of laughter. "Anyone ever tell you you got Summer's sense of humor?" Ruby decided to take the comparison as a compliment. It wasn't an unfamiliar one - anybody who had known her mother liked to compare them whenever possible. "Fine, walk with me. I have to make a stop at the CCT." He detached himself from the tree and started walking along the worn dirt path that followed the edge of campus. Ruby followed at a quicker pace, her shorter legs working harder to keep up with his strides.

"The first thing you need to know," he started, "is that attacks like the one Beacon suffered are fairly rare. This is the first time something of this scale has happened, I'd wager, since the later days of the Last War. There's a reason for that, and it's not just because everybody's scared we'll blow each other off the face of the planet if a conflict like that ever happens again. As part of the accords that ended the war, each nation was required to found its own small organization of uniquely skilled individuals. These individuals would be hand selected, the best of the best that each nation had to offer, by the heads of these new organizations. They'd be given access to top-secret information, specialized training and the authority to ensure that nobody was above the laws set in place by the accords. It's all there buried in the paperwork if you can stomach all the legal jargon."

Ruby stared at the ground in front of her, trying to process the new information. "So, that's what you do? You're a part of one of those organizations?"

Qrow nodded. "It was decided that the best places to keep an eye out for likely recruits were the most prestigious academies in Remnant. Old Oz picked me out my first year at Beacon University."

"Professor Ozpin?" Ruby stared up at her uncle, convinced she hadn't heard him right. Professor Ozpin was Beacon's headmaster. She'd first met him over a year ago, when he'd insisted on meeting with her. When she was at Signal High, she had been involved in mocking up designs for a theoretical Dust-based engine nearly twice as efficient as the ones currently in circulation. Even though, as Ruby had tried to point out, several missing components from the blueprints didn't exist yet, the project had garnered a lot of acclaim, and drawn the attention of a lot of people, Ozpin included. That and her athletic proficiency had earned her a spot at Beacon University two years ahead of the rest of her classmates.

She remembered Ozpin as an odd man, the kind who seemed like he was always looking through you instead of at you, but he had been kind nonetheless. A little on the melodramatic side perhaps, but this… this just didn't add up. "You're telling me that Professor Ozpin is some sort of secret shadowy government-type person?"

"Trust me, it becomes way easier to believe the more you get to know him," Qrow said wryly. "All the heads of the academies run their organizations on the side. Shade Academy in Vacuo calls their members Shadows out of a complete lack of originality. Here in Haven they're called Mystics which is only a little better. Ironwood, apparently convinced he wasn't sending the right message when he accepted the role of both headmaster and commander of Atlas' military, went with Specialists."

"What about Ozpin? What does he call his group?"

Qrow smirked. "Oz has always had a healthy respect for the past. He claims that there was once a time when we relied on guardians to keep our world safe, and out of respect for them, he's keeping the good name alive. We're Huntsmen. And Huntresses," he added, seemingly as an afterthought.

Ruby felt a chill go up her spine. She was familiar with the stories. Qrow had told her most of them. They were the men and women who stood against the creatures of Grimm, back in the earliest days of mankind. Trained in deadly combat and armed with the elemental powers Dust, they'd carved the first kingdoms of Remnant out of a hostile world. These kingdoms went on to become the four great nations that existed today.

"So… you're telling me you're a… a Huntsman?" Ruby stared at the sword again her eyes wide with a mix of awe and fear.

"That's right, kiddo," Qrow said. "Gotta hit pause on storytime now, we're here."

Ruby looked up and saw the CCT tower looming in front of them. There were a few students milling around, as well as a few soldiers in their battle armor. Most of them carried automatic rifles, though a few had sidearms strapped to their hips and long stun batons in their hands. Soldiers had been posted at all of the Cross Continental Transmit towers after Beacon's had fallen. Losing another one was considered unacceptable by the authorities in Remnant, and for good reason. They risked losing even the local communication available to the world now if they fell.

As they entered the lobby, Ruby heard a buzzing sound. Qrow pulled the black device she'd seen earlier out of his pocket. The jewel-like thing in the middle was pulsing with a steady blue light. "Right on time," Qrow muttered to himself as they stepped onto one of the elevators that lined the first floor.

"Top floor," Qrow said to the small room.

"Authorization required for top floor access," a cool metallic voice answered. "Please place your scroll on the terminal to confirm authorization." He did so. There was a flash of light as his device was scanned. "Authorization granted. Welcome Mr. Branwen."

Qrow grunted and pocketed his scroll. Ruby fidgeted nervously beside him. Dozens of questions kept running through her head, but she didn't feel like now was the time to ask any of them. Qrow had a look of quiet concentration on his face, as if he was steeling himself for something. It reminded her too much of how he'd been at Beacon.

After an uncomfortably long ride in silence, the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. They were in a large, circular room with a green tiled floor. There was a strange cylindrical device as wide as Ruby was tall that sat in the perfect center of the room from floor to ceiling. It seemed to be made of dark glass, with wires and machinery intricately laid out within. Green light pulsed up its length in a steady rhythm, always from floor to ceiling. All around them, the walls were replaced with windows, granting a breathtaking view of campus, the town of Haven beyond, and the landscape beyond even that.

Qrow made his way around the cylinder and Ruby hurried to keep up. On the far side, away from the elevator, was a console with a screen sitting against the strange glass contraption. A single chair and desk were present as well. The console had the kind of slot you would insert a scroll into. Qrow looked at his black device again, the light still pulsing blue. He sat in the chair without looking away from it.

"Um, what is that?" Ruby finally found the courage to ask.

His eyes never left the light. "Some sort of Atlas tech," he muttered. "Apparently it can be used to boost the CCT tower's range, allowing for cross-continental communication if one's being used on both ends, even with Beacon's tower down."

Ruby furrowed her brow. "That would take a lot of power, right?" It didn't seem like even two of those small devices would have enough juice to output that kind of energy.

"Yup," Qrow said. "It's not perfect. Apparently it pulls power from the tower itself, overclocks everything. Longer we use it, better chance we have of blowing the fuse and shutting down the whole place for a day or two."

"Oh," Ruby said.

Her uncle looked up at her, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Don't worry kid, the person on the other end isn't going to want to draw this out too long." Before Ruby could ask what he meant, the light in the middle of his device turned green and stopped pulsing. "Showtime," he said, placing the device into the slot in front of him.

The monitor in front of them burst into static, and the frequency of the green light running up the cylinder doubled, creating a strobe-like effect. The lights overhead dimmed before returning to their former brightness.

For a moment, Ruby thought that was it. Then she heard something through the crackle of the static on the monitor. It was faint at first, but getting louder. Slowly the image resolved itself. When it cleared, Ruby thought for a startling moment that they'd called Weiss. The woman on screen certainly looked like her partner, with eyes the precise same shade of icy blue and pure white hair. Instead of worn long in an asymmetrical ponytail, however, it was kept high and tight, twisted into a severe looking bun. She was older than Weiss as well, her face harder somehow. Ruby recognized the woman from their brief meeting during the Vytal Festival last year: Weiss' sister, Winter.

"Qrow, can you hear me?" The static buzz had dimmed enough that she was intelligible now.

"Loud and clear," he answered, retrieving his flask from his pocket and taking a long pull from it.

Winter's jaw clenched in obvious frustration, her cheeks turning pink. "Are you drinking Qrow? This is important, goddammit, I was hoping you would take it a little more seriously!"

"Oh, I figured it was important when you sent me a toy that could blow the CCT by accident. Nice coordinates by the way, the drop zone was in the middle of nowhere."

"That was the point you insufferable-" she stopped herself and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, we do not have a lot of time, and I need your help."

"Got it. Business, not pleasure" Qrow said with an easy smile and a wink. To Ruby's horror, she saw Winter's face flush a deep shade of crimson.

Fortunately for the young girl, Winter decided to otherwise ignore the jab. "I have been conducting an investigation for General Ironwood. I'm looking into-"

Qrow interrupted her with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, the dust used in the bombs. Let me take a wild guess at where the discrepancies came from."

Winter looked away from the camera, shame marring her features. "I did not want to believe it at first."

"Which is why it was stupid of Ironwood to give you the assignment." Ruby got the sense that Qrow had made this argument before, though she barely understood herself what exactly he was arguing.

Winter let out a sigh. "Maybe it was. But that is not what is important right now. I need to get my hands on my father's documents discreetly. If I bring this accusation to the Atlas Council, they will launch a full investigation. The company will suffer, possibly even be broken up, and without the SDC, Atlas could face the biggest energy crisis in its history."

Qrow considered that a moment. "Energy crisis is maybe a tad strong," he said, "but there would certainly be an adjustment period. Dust prices would skyrocket, scarcity would go up at least a temporarily. It would create a decent opening for somebody with less than respectable intentions to make a move. Probably why the SDC was targeted in the first place." He grinned. "You always manage to surprise me Ice Queen. Alright, you have my attention. What do you propose we do?"

Ruby couldn't read Winter's expression. Her face had become a mask. "My sister has access to the documentation we need." Ruby's heart skipped at the mention of Weiss, but she fought the urge to ask about her. "Unfortunately, there is no way for her to get it without her involvement being obvious."

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "So you need an extraction. From the Schnee Estate."

"Not only the Schnee Estate, but the Schnee Estate with triple the usual security measures."

Qrow let out a low whistle. "Only one person I know who can do that."

"I know." Winter's mask never faltered.

"You got a window in mind? Even she's not a miracle worker."

"As a matter of fact, I do. Father is holding a banquet for members of the Atlas Council. He's trying to convince them to lift the Dust embargo that is keeping him from exporting goods to the other nations."

"Security will be focused on keeping the council members safe, might not be looking too closely other places," Qrow mused. "That's smart. How long do we have?"

"A little over a month."

Qrow took a longer pull from the flask. "A month? A month to track her down and get to Atlas? Are you crazy?"

Winter rolled her eyes. "You act like I am not willing to help you. The device you have can broadcast coordinates. Once you find her, send me your location. I will have my airship come and collect you."

Qrow looked uncertain. "I don't think you understand how badly she doesn't want to be found."

"Please, Qrow." The mask slipped a little. Beneath it, Winter looked tired. She looked sad too. "Please. I need your help. I don't have anywhere else to go." The lights in the room started to flicker again, and Ruby realized the light running up the cylinder was starting to slow.

"You don't have a lot of time either," the older man mused. "Fine. I'll do it. I'll send you the coordinates when we're ready for a pick up."

Winter's shoulders sagged with relief. "Thank you Qrow."

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Now you better get going before you manage to blow the Atlas tower."

Winter looked for a moment like she was going to say something. She opened her mouth slightly, before closing it and nodding sharply. "Be careful," she said.

Qrow smirked. "Why start now?" With that, Qrow removed the device from the port in front of him. The lights returned to normal, and the cylinder resumed its usual, steady pulse.

Qrow pushed himself away from the console and stood, pocketing the strange device. "Well, I knew it was going to be something interesting. Definitely wasn't wrong about that." He turned to leave the room, only stopping outside the elevator when he noticed he wasn't being followed. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Ruby? You coming?"

Ruby was standing still, staring at the screen. She hadn't moved since Winter had laid out her plan. She felt cold all over and her chest was tight. Qrow noticed something was wrong. He moved to stand beside her, putting his hand on her arm. "Hey, you okay kiddo?"

Ruby pulled away from his hand, whirling to face him. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but there was anger in them as well. "You two are putting Weiss in danger." It wasn't a question. "This is about the attack, right? Winter wants to know things about the White Fang, and she's having Weiss get the information?"

Qrow sighed. "Look, Ruby, I know this is hard for you-"

"No!" Ruby said, stomping her foot. "No! No, no, no, you can't!" An image rose, unbidden to Ruby's mind. Weiss held between two men, a third training his gun on her. Blood everywhere, begging Ruby to run as the gunshot rang out. "Please, you can't!" Tears blurred her vision as they trailed down her cheeks. She was shaking.

Qrow knelt and took Ruby's hands in his. They were rough and calloused, but gentle. She didn't pull away, she just stood there, staring down at the man she'd once idolized. "Please… I can't lose her too," she said, her voice breaking.

"Look, kiddo, I know this is hard for you, but I know Winter. She wouldn't be putting her own sister in a position like this unless it was absolutely necessary. There are things right now bigger than us happening, and if we don't do something about it, more people are going to die."

"I don't care about them!" Ruby said with a strangled sob.

Qrow smiled. "Of course you do," he said. "You're just scared. Don't worry, I'll be there to keep her safe."

"Like you kept Pyrrha safe?" She felt bad about saying it the moment the words left her lips. She saw a pain in her uncle's eyes and she pulled her hands from his. She knew it wasn't fair to blame him for that, that if it hadn't been for him, she would be dead too. But she'd spent so long being afraid, sometimes it felt like it was all she knew how to do. She felt afraid, and helpless, and small, and it burned inside of her with every nightmare she had, ever tortured memory that haunted her. She swallowed past a lump in her throat. "Uncle Qrow, I'm-"

"You don't have to apologize," he said, standing. "You're right. I couldn't save your friend. And I may not be able to save Weiss either. I'm not perfect, not by a long shot. But I have a responsibility to more than just one person. Even you. It's my job to protect the people of Remnant, to make sure the bad guys don't win and innocent people don't suffer. I don't expect you to like it, hell, I don't even expect you to understand the decisions I have to make, but it's the reality we live in. Sometimes you have to take what victories you can, when you can get them."

Ruby thought about that. She thought about what would have happened if Pyrrha hadn't decided to fight those men. She thought about what could happen if Weiss didn't help her sister, if she didn't put herself in danger. It hurt Ruby more than she could bear to imagine anything happening to her friend, but if she didn't act, how many more people would suffer the same way?

And hadn't she wanted to help as well? Hadn't she turned and run to Pyrrha's aid, even though there was nothing she could have done, no way she could have changed what would happen? It had been stupid, it could have gotten her killed, but if she hadn't done it… how much worse would the pain she felt now be?

"Then take me with you." The words surprised even Ruby, but she knew that her mind was made up. "Take me with you, let me help."

"You know I can't do that," he said.

"Why not? What you did, you can teach that, right? It's not just you who could do those things?"

"Well, no, but-"

"I can't do it again," she said. Tears were running down her cheeks, but her jaw was set in resolve. "I can't stand by and watch while my friend risks her life. I can't just let it happen anymore. I want to help, I have to do something!"

"You're hurting," Qrow said, rationalizing. "You don't know what you want."

"Yes I do!" She was practically shouting at this point. "I'm tired of being scared! You can teach me, I've always been a fast learner. Teach me how to fight like you fight, how to protect people the way you do. I'm tired of being helpless, I'm tired of watching Pyrrha die over and over again every night. I can't let that happen to Weiss, I can't!" She was grabbing the front of his shirt now, clinging to him like a drowning woman clinging to a lifeline.

"Please Uncle Qrow… I can't just sit here and do nothing."

Qrow stared down at her. For a strange moment, Ruby felt like he was looking at somebody else.

"Even if I said yes, which I'm not saying I am, you have to understand: train as hard as you like, but I can't teach you to do what I can in a month. I can teach you some tricks, but if we go all the way to Atlas and I decide you're not ready, you'd be sitting out, got it?"

Ruby nodded her head violently, daring herself to hope.

"You'd have to do everything I say, to the letter. No backtalk, no ifs, ands or buts. My word's going to be law out there. Can you handle that?"

Again, Ruby nodded. Qrow ran a hand over his face. "Summer would kill me for this," he growled. "I need to pick up some things and make travel arrangements tonight. Be ready to leave at sunrise tomorrow. Say whatever goodbyes you like, but don't tell anybody where you're going, got it?"

Ruby was still nodding frantically, her heart practically bursting out of her chest.

"Right," Qrow said, his voice filled with regret. "Let's get out of here."

Weiss was sitting in the lobby of the Atlas CCT tower when Winter emerged from the elevator. She looked flustered, a hint of color noticeable in her otherwise pale complexion. Weiss stood and fell into stride with her as they headed out of the building. "Well?" she asked. "Did you manage to get in touch with him?"

"I did," Winter confirmed, as they left the building. The tower was located in the heart of Atlas City, and when they emerged, they were surrounded by the din of traffic and city life. The location of the tower shielded them somewhat from the noise. The building was surrounded by carefully kept grounds with immaculate lines of hedges that were still defying the seasonal change and blooming brightly despite the rapidly approaching frosts of Atlas's autumn. Ahead of them, a wide but shallow staircase took them to the plaza, which had currently been turned into a landing zone for Winter's personal airship. A number of soldiers in full battle gear stood around it, weapons held loosely in their hands as they minded the vehicle.

They weren't the only guards the Schnee sisters were accompanied by. Two of her father's household security fell in with them as they walked through the grounds, also wearing armored suits. Even Father's money couldn't hire actual soldiers to act as guards, but he'd outfitted them as best he could, getting his hands on the best military-grade armor and weapons he could legally obtain. As such, her guards were not only well-protected, but also carried strangely boxy guns that apparently fired non lethal rounds manufactured in Vacuo.

Fortunately for the two of them, the guards hung back and out of earshot, preferring to have a nice wide view of the area around them. Weiss dropped her voice slightly anyways. No need for her father to get anything in their report that wasn't strictly necessary.

"Did he agree to help?" she asked.

Winter nodded. "Yes. He knows somebody who can extract you with very little difficulty. We will do it at the banquet. After you have spent enough time socializing to make Father happy, you will find an opportunity to slip away, get what we need, then go to the rendezvous point."

"And where will that be?" Weiss asked, trying to mask the nervousness that was creeping into her stomach again.

"I am not sure yet. We have time to figure it out." The pair made their way into the courtyard and the soldiers parted to let them on the ship. Winter's airship was unique, having been designed by her personally. The body was longer than most ships of a similar class and rather than the pair of thrusters on either side of a regular ship, hers had four, evenly spaced with two on each side. Banners trailed from the exhaust ports on each thruster, going from white to light blue in a gradient, but Weiss couldn't help but notice that, despite the use of family colors on the banners, the Schnee family crest was nowhere to be seen.

The hatch opened on the back of the ship, and the sisters made their way up the ramp and into the interior. The soldiers filed in behind them, taking up positions in the rear compartment along with Weiss's guards. Weiss and Winter, meanwhile, made their way along the interior to the bridge. It was a little odd to think of a ship this size having a bridge, considering Winter could pilot the ship herself, but it was the only word for it. The front of the ship was a large windshield divided only by the steel frames that held the glass panes in place. As Winter sat in the pilot's seat and began the usual flight checks, Weiss made her way to the very front of the ship and stared out at the city around her.

Weiss had never spent much time in Atlas City growing up. Her father had always insisted that whatever she needed could be brought to the estate, which may have been true, but it didn't exactly make for an interesting environment to be raised in. Atlas was the youngest of the four nations and as a result, its capital city - confusingly named after the nation itself, as was custom - was relatively new. For all that though, the Atlesian people had proved they were a industrious and resourceful group, and the city had grown seemingly exponentially year after year until it became the sprawling metropolis it was now. As the ship took off, Weiss watched the cityscape unfold beneath her, hundreds of people milling about, visiting shops, or going to work. Outside the circle of protection granted by the CCT tower, the buildings pressed close to each other, with huge skyscrapers sitting on every corner of nearly every block. As they rose above even those, she could spot the gleaming white monolith on the outskirts of the city that marked the location of the Atlesian Military Academy.

Like everything else in Atlas, the academy had supplanted Mantle University as the most prestigious school in the north. It was the final insult to the once-mighty nation of Mantle, who had lost everything in the Last War when the alliance of Vacuo and Vale edged out Mantle and Mistral's own forces. While Mistral had managed to recover itself fairly well in the intervening years, Mantle had lost too much ground, and its once-small providence, Atlas, stepped in to take its place in the world.

Weiss watched as the city fell away and they headed towards the Schnee estate. So much of her world came from history books. There were days when she felt like she was just composed of facts filtered through what other people had seen. Maybe she should be grateful for the madness that her life had suddenly become. Maybe, when all was said and done, she would be able to experience the world herself for a change. She could rejoin Beacon when it opened, maybe try to repair what she had damaged when she left her friends. It was the silver lining she desperately clung to.

She made her way to where Winter was seated and perched herself on the seat next to the older woman, smoothing the hem of her dress as she sat. "So, what do we do now?"

"We do nothing," Winter said, looking up from her navigational equipment. "You have spent far too much time with me lately. I have some preparations to make before the banquet in any case. While I am away, you must continue your training."

Right, that. Weiss rolled her eyes. "I still do not see how this pseudo-spiritual nonsense is going to protect me if things go wrong."

"I cannot say that I blame you. It took me a while to truly understand it as well. But I have seen firsthand the kind of protection your Aura can grant you. Even if you do not have extensive training in it, which unfortunately you will not in any case, it gives you a significant advantage against somebody who still has their Aura repressed."

"And you said you learned all this from the General?"

"Yes. Who learned it from your headmaster, Ozpin."

Weiss remembered the conversation. It was hard to believe in some ways, but she'd devoted no small amount of time to picking through the accords to confirm what Winter had told her about the Specialists and the other organizations around Remnant.

She felt Winter's hand on her shoulder. "I know it is difficult, but please, try. You are my sister, and if anything were to happen to you because of all of this I-" she broke off, unwilling or unable to finish the thought. Weiss felt a stab of guilt.

"I will, do not worry," she said.

Her scroll chirped and Weiss checked it. It was a message from her father. "When you return to the estate, visit me in my office." Weiss showed the message to Winter. Her face was grim.

"He likely does not suspect anything," she assured the younger girl. "Still, keep your conversation as brief as possible."

"You do not have to tell me twice," Weiss said, stowing away her scroll. They flew the rest of the way there without speaking. When the ship landed, Weiss moved to leave. Winter stopped her, drawing her into a hug. It was out of character for Winter, but after a moment, Weiss returned the gesture, resting her head on her sister's shoulder.

"I cannot apologize enough for dragging you into this," she said. Weiss squeezed her in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

"I will be fine," she said, sounding more sure than she felt. The two drew apart. "Just be careful yourself, okay?"

"I will. Good luck." Weiss left the bridge, making her way past the soldiers while her guards fell into step with her. They made their way down the ramp and into the Schnee Estate's courtyard. The building itself loomed in front of her, enormous white marbled walls seeming more like a prison now than they ever did. There were men and women - mostly faunus - all around the grounds, grooming and tending to them, already preparing for the banquet. Father would be seating the Atlas council, and he wanted to make sure he made a good impression with them. He'd even rolled out the family banners, long and flowing, emblazoned with the white snowflake on a field of blue.

She couldn't postpone the inevitable any longer. She made her way inside and towards her father's office in the north wing. She was glad she'd decided to wear something nice today. Father hated seeing her dressed as a so-called "commoner." The outfit she wore now was one of the ones he'd approved for socialization: the dress lightened from lavender at the top to periwinkle along the fringe, the gradient broken by a white silk sash she had tied around her waist. It was sleeveless, but she wore a light bolero that matched the lavender of the dress, and fastened at the throat with a sapphire brooch. It drew attention to her blue eyes and matched her earrings as well. She wore heels, as per usual, that matched the bolero with straps that wound up her ankles. She was fussing over her off-center ponytail, trying to get her hair to cooperate when she arrived at the door to her father's study. She took a deep breath and tried to put a pleasantly neutral expression on her face. She knocked three times.

"Enter," a voice said inside after a moment's hesitation. She did so, making sure to secure the door behind her. She stood at attention, hands behind her back, knowing that he would address her in his own time.

Jacques Schnee was a tall man, as thin as a rapier's edge and twice as sharp. His snow white hair was slicked back, with not so much as a single strand out of place. His face was heavily lined, both his age and the stress of his occupation conspiring against him. He wore an immaculately pressed and taylor-fitted white suit and tie, with a blue shirt and a single red handkerchief in his breast pocket. At the moment he was bent over a few open folders, thumbing through some incredibly complicated looking legal documents. The only sound in the room was the rustling of papers and the clock that sat on the mantle of the office over the unlit fireplace.

A few chairs arranged around a circular wooden coffee table stood between the two of them. Weiss knew he hosted his most important business partners and political allies in this room. His papers were all strewn over his hand-carved wooden desk, a terrible eyesore that managed to somehow exude extravagance and arrogance at the same time. On the desk was a lone framed picture of her brother, Whitley.

Weiss found herself staring at the framed self-portrait of himself Jacques kept on the back most wall. It was done in his younger days - back when his hair and mustache had still been black. She was still studying it when he looked up at her. His eyes were steel and ice, the precise same color as her own. He beckoned her further inside and she crossed the spacious office to stand in front of the desk.

"I have changed my mind about that dress," he said, returning his attention to his paperwork. "Far too short to be seen in at the banquet."

Weiss was caught off guard, but she recovered as best she could. Even his way of starting conversations was carefully sculpted, usually meant to disarm whoever he was speaking to, allowing him to catch them in vulnerable positions. "You approved this outfit yourself, Father. I even wore it out today just so I would feel comfortable in it."

"Yes, well, that was when I thought that one of the council members was bringing his son to the banquet. It would have been a favorable match to be sure. Still, there will be other opportunities. I will have something else made for you."

Weiss was still fumbling for a response to that when he changed topics. "You've been spending an awful lot of time with your sister lately."

"Well, she is family, Father," Weiss said, trying to keep indignity from coloring her voice.

"She was family," he corrected her, leafing through a particularly large stack of papers. "Now she is just another one of Ironwood's toy soldiers. That man was already on thin ice with this family before these ridiculous Dust embargos. He presumes too much."

"That is not exactly fair, sir," Weiss said cautiously. "You know that the embargos were only to prevent possible leaks in our distributing process."

"And if there had been any leaks, does he think I would not know about it?" he barked, slamming his fist on the table. Weiss flinched, a phantom pain burning through the scar over her left eye. "Preposterous," he muttered to himself, seating collapsing into the chair behind the desk and picking up a document seemingly at random. "Still, I suppose you spending time with one of his top Specialists at least means that he is not using her for other, more enigmatic purposes.

"She has not mentioned any assignment she has been on recently by chance, has she?" he asked, finally giving Weiss his full attention.

She shook her head. "You know Winter would never divulge military secrets."

Jacques shrugged. "One can always hope." He steepled his fingers together over the pile of papers and studied her intently. "Klein tells me you have been spending quite a lot of your time training with your sword."

"Yes sir," she confirmed.

"I wonder if it would not be a more productive use of your time to be working on your application for Mantle University? I agreed to give you this semester off, it is true, but your education is too important to postpone any longer."

Weiss swallowed. "I… I was hoping to wait until Beacon reopened and re-enroll there," she said. At least, that had been her plan when she'd first come home. Her father's eyes seemed to bore into her own.

"If Beacon opens its doors next semester, we can discuss you returning, though why you would bother is beyond me. Nobody from that school has bothered to so much as send you a letter all summer. Might as well make a new start as far as I am concerned, and one closer to home at that."

Her stomach twisted as she remembered what Winter had told her, the messages she'd seen. She took a deep breath, holding her composure. Eventually she nodded, ever so slightly.

If her father noticed anything odd, he didn't say anything. "In the meantime," he continued, "finish your application. You will not be spending another whole semester wasting time waving a sword around, is that clear?"

"Yes Father."

"Good. I trust that you have found some time to work on your performance for the banquet when you are not busy stabbing training dummies with a sharp bit of metal?"

Weiss kept from pulling a face, but only barely. She hadn't wanted to be trotted out to perform like some sort of trained animal, but as was his way, Father had insisted. The council so loved her voice, he'd said, and showing her, a survivor of Beacon, off to them would only serve to emphasize the points he hoped to make about the embargo, and how they should be reaching out to the other nations in their time of need rather than denying them Dust.

Of course, all Jacques cared about truly were the millions he was losing every day with his market effectively quartered. Weiss took a deep breath.

"I have composed two new pieces, yes." A Schnee could never stoop to performing something written by another. It was one of the reasons she had been made to study music as a girl. "One of them is mostly instrumental though."

He nodded. "I will have a piano provided for you then." He sat back in his seat. "Well? Let me hear something."

She wrung her hands behind her back. "Do I have to?"

"I want to make sure you are taking this banquet seriously," he said, his tone brokering no argument. Weiss sighed, but adjusted her posture, bringing her hands in front of her, clasping them together. She closed her eyes, listening to the music in her head, counting off measures before she began.

"Red like roses fills her dreams and takes her to the place she rests.

White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test.

Black's no beast, but born from shadows.

Yellow's beauty burns gold."

She opened her eyes. "Is that it?" her father asked.

"Like I said, it is mostly an instrumental piece," she repeated. She'd written it earlier in the summer, when the absence of her friends had been hardest. She'd even written follow up songs for Blake and Yang, but she hadn't been able to find the right words for a song for Ruby.

"Mm, I see. Well, do not neglect this. It may seem trivial to you, but how you conduct yourself at this banquet could make or break your future career at the Schnee Dust Company. Do not disappoint me."

"I won't, Father."

He studied her a moment longer before returning his attention to his papers. "You are dismissed," he said, waving a hand idly.

She bowed her head and left him to his paperwork, letting out a sigh of relief as she shut the door behind her. A few of the staff made their way past her where she stood. She could hear the movement of the guards patrolling the halls around her. She thought about never returning, never coming back to her childhood home. It hurt to think about, but if asked, she wouldn't have been able to say why. Even here and now, surrounded by so many people, all supposedly at her beck and call, she was utterly alone. This was a prison to her. It had been her whole life.

She started walking down the halls, towards the west wing. Was it just her own nostalgia blinding her? Her own fierce desire for a place she belonged to? If she still had Beacon, or Ruby or Blake or Yang, would she have even hesitated to give Winter what she wanted?

Or was she just a coward?

Before she knew it, she was back in her room. She opened the door to find someone reading over some papers she'd left on her desk. "Oh, hi Sable," she said.

The tiny girl turned and gave her a smile. Weiss thought for the barest second that her eyes had been brown when she looked up at her, but when she looked again, they were the same familiar green she remembered. Maybe she should be training less and sleeping more.

"What were you reading?" Weiss asked her, not really expecting an answer. She picked up the topmost sheet of paper on the desk. At the top was the title of the song she'd been working on. It was the follow-up to a song she'd sung in concert before leaving to attend Beacon, creatively named 'Mirror Mirror Part II.' It was mostly done, she just didn't like the last chorus. It repeated the first one, but she felt like the song needed to develop more. It needed a better ending.

"Got any ideas?" she asked Sable. The young girl just gave her the same smile she always did. "Right, well, thank you. That will be all for today." Sable bowed and excused herself from the room.

Weiss collapsed in her chair and stared across the room and out the window. The rolling landscape beyond separated the Schnee estate from...well, anything. It sprawled out running over hills and rivers, finally rising into the mountains that protected Atlas's western borders. It could all be hers someday. Every inch of it. Hers and hers alone. She would always have a home.

Hers alone.

She turned to her desk, taking a pen in hand. She dipped it swiftly into a small pot of ink and marked out her last chorus, replacing it with something better.

Some believe in fairy stories

And the ghosts that they can't see.

I know that I could do so much

If I could just believe in me.

Mirror, mirror

I'll tell you something

I think I might change it all.

A/N: For some reason, I think writing Weiss has been my biggest challenge thus far. Not really sure why, but it seems like her parts have taken me the longest to put on paper.

Anyways, more lore of the world, and the plot begins to advance! This was something of a necessity chapter, and I cannot even tell you guys how much more excited I am for the next one.

Leave a review and let me know what you think so far! I can't tell you how much even the littlest amount of feedback means to me, it really motivates me to keep writing. That's all for now! Cheers.