Author' Notes:

Hello there everyone, I'm finally taking a chance and diving into this site. I've been a "lurker" since March last year, and that's frankly too long to be in this state. I can't promise I'll be super active on the posting front, but hopefully the links in my bio will help you with any questions you may have. Anyways, onto the story. [Mild spoilers for RWBY V7C11 "Gravity"]

Ruby was shattered. The last thing she remembered with any amount of certain clarity was Ironwood announcing that she and her team were under arrest, and now, they were in Dr. Polendina's home.

She moved to sit up on her bed, but there was her sister's hand on her shoulder, and Weiss saying "No. You've been through too much already." What in Remnant were they talking about?

She looked over, and there were Yang's normally vivid lilac eyes. They were dull, with crimson around the edges. Ruby looked around at her teammates. All of them were quite visibly disturbed about something.

"What happened?" Ruby asked. Weiss almost went as pale as her hair.

"You see Ruby…" Weiss began, rather slowly. "Atlas was infiltrated by Salem's forces. Not just Watts and Tyrian, but Cinder too."

Ruby felt her gut twist at the latter name.

Weiss continued, still shaken, "She left a black queen on Ironwood's desk and he closed off to everything, wouldn't hear anybody out. Then, everything happened at once. He confronted us about withholding information from him, telling Robyn about Amity, and then, as we were at our worst…"

"That witch appeared." Blake took over. "Mind you, not in the flesh, but it might as well have been. She destroyed any resolve Ironwood had in his plan, then you, in one of your little 'hero' moments, confronted her. You tried to tell her she'd lose, even if we didn't have to kill her."

By now, the event was starting to sound familiar. In horror, her mind recalled what happened as Blake trailed off. She had confronted Salem, told her they'd seen her fail, and that they'd stop her. Then, the blow of a lifetime.

"Your mother said those words to me. She was wrong, too."

Those last four words completely shattered what was left of her spirit.

"She was wrong, too."

Out of nowhere, Ruby felt her eyes begin to flash. Memories, worse than before, flew through her mind. Memories of a single person. Memories of Summer.

She felt another hand on her other shoulder, and there was Weiss, looking shattered just as shattered as her mind felt.

She heard the rest of the story, how Marrow had held his fellow Ace Op's back with his Semblance, allowing the four to escape to Mantle, but she didn't really care. How could she, with the hit that witch had given her without even being there? Once they'd all fallen silent, Ruby's mind only had one thing to say. Go.

Wasting no time, she activated her Semblance and left her teammates in a cloud of rose petals as they called for her to come back. These calls would go completely unanswered, save for a few teardrops on the bed, and her scroll.

Ruby next found herself in the depths of Mantle City, trying to help citizens to what few landing zones were still active, and the rest to safety shelters. Any Grimm she saw were soon nothing but floating dust in the wind with a few short waves of Crescent Rose. Even with this, she couldn't take her mind off what Salem had said.

"She was wrong too."

It doesn't mean anything... Right? Ruby closed her eyes. No. There had still been a chance before. Uncle Qrow said there was a chance, back when she and her friends had become official Hunters. He'd said she was gone, but he also hadn't said she was coming back either. Just like Dad always hoped. But Salem. That witch. She'd taken every last shred of hope Ruby had and tossed it into a fire.

She was quickly pulled from her internal struggles as a Saber fell to icy crystals. She looked ahead and behind for any other threats but none came. Little did she know, she wasn't as alone as she thought.

High above, on one of the many Mantle rooftops, two figures watched the huntress lead civilians to a bunker, bustling them along, taking shots at any and all Grimm that appeared.

The taller of the two, who wore a patch over her left eye, smiled in a sinister fashion, despite wearing a few new cuts from a sword.

"Look at her down there," she rumbled, her voice tinged with malice. "We weren't able to get the staff or the Maiden, but at least we can get her."

The woman next to her glared at their soon-to-be prey, pulling out her umbrella holding it in a mirror of the huntress, only aiming at the girl's head.

The taller simply smirked. "Patience. We merely need to wait for the correct time to strike, when she least expects it."

Ruby led the last few civilians into the bunker, before charging at a small group of Beowolfs. Once the door sealed, and the alpha of the pack disintegrated, she let out a small sigh of relief. But this relief was short-lived, as she looked up towards the moon. On the way there, her eyes caught sight of a civilian, up on top of a rooftop, with a Saber swiping at her. Not wasting a single second, Ruby activated her Semblance and shot upwards.

On arrival, she shot the Grimm dead, but the woman was nowhere to be seen. Then out of the blue, she felt a blade slash across her back. Ruby turned in a sharp spin, narrowly avoiding a kick to the face. "You…" she shakily began. "But… it can't be. You-" Another swinging strike, and Ruby dodged again, barely keeping her right eye. Her mind raced, but not against the deadly opponent. She was very much regretting going on her own now, even a single teammate would help. In her distraction, she never saw the next blow coming.

The Reaper felt a kick to the neck, and her head hit the cold concrete, causing her to get a face full of rooftop snow. She turned over and a blade, protruding from the narrow end of an umbrella, was pointed directly between her eyes. Her attacker's twinkled in sadistic glee.

The next sound that came to the huntress' ears was Hush's blade being unsheathed, but then another, more familiar voice rang out.

"Remember, Neo, I need her alive."

Ruby looked and glared, partly in pain and partly in sheer rage. "Cinder."

"You didn't think you were safe from me, did you?" Cinder chuckled. "Oh no Ruby. I've had you on my mind ever since you did this to me." She lifted her patch away, to show an empty eye socket. "And, while I would love to return the favor," she continued, "I have… other needs for you."

Ruby stared at her assailants, at first in anger, then true defiance. "You won't get away with this."

Cinder's smile went even wider. "That's where you're wrong, little one." She gestured to her partner, who sheathed her weapon and raised the umbrella like a club.

The umbrella came down, and the last thing Ruby saw was that damned smirk. Then blackness.

Author's Note:

So to explain this story, it started out as a screenplay I posted on r/RWBY oddly on Christmas Eve. After the most recent episode, "Gravity", I decided it needed an update. I like the idea of Ruby being distraught by Salem's revelation and even with the comforting of her teammates, she just can't handle it. As a result, she does what she knows best: Goes down to Mantle and tries to save all those she can. But as you saw, this leaves her far too open, and far too easy a target. I'm honestly hoping anything like this doesn't happen in the show proper, but who even knows. We're two episodes away from the Volume 7 finale at the time of posting (three for non-FIRST members), so it is on the horizon. And what a grave horizon it is. Until I next post, I'm signing off. See ya then.

I do not own the RWBY characters, locations, or series; all rights belong to Rooster Teeth LLC.