Cold, damp air snaked underneath her cloak, and Ruby shivered. The gravel rooftop they were on, across the street from a large apartment building, shifted underneath her as Ruby wrapped the soft fabric tightly around her.

"How are you two not freezing?" Ruby asked the twins, neither wearing anything more than they had been at the club. Both turned to her for a moment, humphed, then looked away. Time passed.

"Yang never got cold," Miltia said disdainfully. Ruby lowered her head, her a sharp pang ripping through her stomach, and was silent.

Ruby wasn't sure what they were looking for, and the twins didn't say much, so Ruby stayed where she was, doing her best to think of nothing. Because nothing was far better than the wolves of pain and fear that prowled through her mind at all hours, snarling and gnashing their teeth at her, always ready to pull her into the shadows.

"There," One of the twins - Ruby wasn't sure which, they sounded the same - noted. A dark car had pulled up outside the apartment and a few men and women in suits got out. Ruby frowned. It wasn't the typical garb of the White Fang.

"Who-"

"Let's go." Melanie cut Ruby off. The twins stood tall and walked to the edge of the roof that overlooked an alleyway below. They stepped onto the ledge in sync, and then stepped off casually, with the confident swagger of those who did not fear, but were feared.

Ruby didn't like them much.

She followed the twins off the roof, landing in a crouch on the cement below, covered in small pebbles that scraped her hands and made her let out a hiss of pain. When she looked up, she saw the twins pressed to the side of the brick walls of the alley, observing the car silently from the shadows. Ruby stayed kneeled on the ground, confident the shadows would cover her.

"Get against the wall." Melanie hissed, never turning her head. Ruby complied, frowning. "We're not dealing with Grimm here, we're dealing with people. People are harder to sneak up on." The girl whispered, talking down to Ruby as though she were a novice. In a sense, Ruby was. It disturbed her how well versed the twins seemed to be with this line of work.

Ruby's train of thought was broken as the sound of tires on gravel signalled the departure of the car. She peeled off the wall a little to look at the apartment's entrance, seeing a few others holding the door open for one particularly burly man entering the building. All of them were wearing red ties and sunglasses.

"Those don't look like White Fang." Ruby muttered, half to herself.

The twins looked at each other, and rolled their eyes.

"Were you expecting antlers and revolutionary masks? The White Fang is an organized institution." Miltia said, voice dripping with venom.

"Let's go." Melannie added, stepping into the light, followed shortly by her sister.

Ruby stuck her tongue out at them, and then followed.

"Okay Red, you're up." Ruby didn't bother trying to figure out which twin had said it. She swung the door open and stepped inside as the twins broke off and headed for the fire escapes. The plan was for Ruby to cause a distraction, and then the twins would enter on the higher floors as the security came to deal with the huntress at their doors.

As she walked into the expansive lobby, the man behind the main desk who was reading a newspaper lowered it and looked at her with a queer expression on his face.

He paused for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" He finally asked, obviously confused by her presence.

"Well, I'm a huntress." He laughed.

"Sure you are." The man huffed and returned to reading his paper.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from its holster and unfurled it, twirled it around, and slammed the tip of the scythe into the floor, cracking the marble tiles.

The man's newspaper came down once more. As he saw the scythe, his eyes widened.

"Shit!" He yelled as he fumbled for the radio on his belt. Ruby allowed him to go for it. "Code red! Main lobby!" His voice was urgent.

Immediately, several doors opened along the sides of the wide room and a dozen or so men dashed out, each in a white suit with a red tie. They levelled a variety of guns at her.

"Don't move!" One of them, the only one wearing a fedora, ordered. Ruby sighed. She didn't really want to fight them, but the twins needed a big distraction if they were to get to the boss. All they needed to do then was tell him to back down, and order his men to stand down. When they did so, the three of them would leave.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby tensed and activated her semblance.

She shot forward, folding the edge of her scythe down so no sharp edges were exposed. She slammed the pommel into the first of the men, who had made a crescent surrounding her. There was a pause after as they processed how she had moved from there to there. Then the nearest one raised his gun.

Ruby ducked under the shot and kicked her leg out, snapping it into his knee, making it buckle. She cracked the shaft of her scythe across his head, knocking him out as her aura absorbed a volley of shots. She used her semblance to dash to the other end of the crescent and grabbed the man's hand, twirling him and throwing him back across the circle, crashing into two others. She dive-rolled behind the line of guards and swept out of the maneuver, holding her snaith out to crash into their legs. There was one last man standing, who hesitantly pulled his radio from his pocket. It was the one with a fedora.

"All available units to the main lobby." He commanded, then tossed the radio to the side. "Listen here, there are dozens of men in this building, and all of them are coming here right now so-" He was cut off as Ruby lunged forward, planted a leg behind his knee and snapped her palm into his chest, flipping him over and back into the floor.

Ruby let out a breath and stood, making sure that all of the security guards were either knocked out or pretending to be so.

There was a ding as an elevator opened, and Ruby looked up to see another dozen men flood out. There was a loud crack as unseen doors opened and even more of the guards rushed into the room, all wearing white suits and red ties. Ruby frowned and sighed, readying her scythe.

Ruby stood, wheezing, in a sea of white-covered bodies. The order to stand down had never come, so Ruby had fought the men until there were none left. Her aura was flagging, but no more of the guards had come. She picked up a radio and listened, but there was nothing. No static, no one trying to broadcast.

Tucking the radio into one of her pouches, she jogged across the floor until she reached the elevator, which opened as she pushed the call button. When she got in, she pressed the top floor, and waited as it rose.

The twins hadn't given her their scroll numbers, nor did they have radios. There was no way to communicate with one another, and Ruby was growing worried that something had happened to them. The White Fang had been violent before she had returned, and despite the twins' words, Ruby was afraid that the order may not be as peaceable as they suggested. If that was the case, Ruby had let two civilians walk into a powerful operative's quarters alone, without means of communication.

The hard mask of determination that Ruby had almost forgotten descended on her face. This wasn't about her. This wasn't about Weiss.

As a huntress, it was her duty to save people, and now she might have to do just that.

Ruby cocked Crescent Rose, and the scythe unfurled, fully combat ready. Ruby was already crouched low and ready to move when the soft ding of the elevator sounded and the doors slid open.

The penthouse was wide and white, reminiscent of the old paintings of ancient halls with towering columns of marble. The penthouse was a shorter version of those halls, but with stainless steel gilding sliding around the columns like the tongues of flames flicking along their lengths. Everything was pristine and clean.

Except for a planter, tipped on its side and cracked so its dirt spilled over the the floor and the broken stalks of the Pachira it had once held. Ruby stalked forward, perfectly silent on the tips of her feet, and knelt down beside the cracked clay, running her fingers through the spilled soil. There was a damp patch, but in the dim light of the night, Ruby couldn't see it's colour. She rubbed the wet soil between her fingers, then held it up to her nose. She could smell the fresh scent of well maintained soil, but beneath that was the unmistakable tang of copper.

Blood.

Ruby would have cursed, but now of all times she had to be silent.

She walked along the hardwood floor, careful not to let her boots clack on the brittle surface, looking for any more signs of what had happened. The moonlight revealed nothing, until a stray beam flicked off something dark on the otherwise impeccably cleaned floor. A dark spec of liquid. Ruby didn't need to see it fully to know what it was.

Looking around, she saw a trail of splotches leading off into a side room with the door cracked open just a hair.

Ruby made her way to the door and leaned against the wall next to it, craning her neck, listening intently. She listened for the slightest scuffle, anything to give away what had happened. There were silent footsteps, and nothing else.

Ruby took a breath and steeled herself.

Shouldering the door open, Ruby cocked her rifle and aimed down the sight, searching for the threat.

But there was none.

The burly man that Ruby had seen earlier entering the building was tied up in a chair, head hung low, blood leaking from a large cut on his shoulder, sliding down his skin, and dripping into a growing puddle behind his legs. There was a bed behind that, upon which Ruby saw Melanie lounging, one leg hung over the side swinging back and forth.

Miltia was walking into the room from a lavatory on the side, her red dress swaying slightly, and her long, claw-like blades stained a darker scarlet.

The twins' heads snapped to Ruby as she barged in, the barrel of her gun pointed at Miltia's chest.

"What's going on?" Ruby said, her brow furrowed as she took in the scene in front of her. "What are you doing to him?"

The twins looked at each other, and shrugged.

"We're questioning him." Melanie answered in a drawl, propping herself up on her elbows.

"You're not questioning him… You're torturing him!" Ruby accused, keeping her rifle pointed at Miltia's chest.

The twin stepped forward, challenging Ruby to shoot. There was a look in her eye that terrified Ruby.

It wasn't malice. It wasn't fear. It wasn't anger or hurt or any other recognizable emotion.

It was nothing.

Utter apathy. The same void that had been gnawing at Ruby since her return. The void that threatened to swallow her whole. It was uncaring, utterly indifferent to hope, truth, and love.

Ruby swallowed hard.

"This is what we came here for." Miltia crossed her arms and cocked her hips.

"I thought we came to talk to the White Fa-" Melanie cut Ruby off with a laugh.

"It's not the White Fang." She turned to her twin. "She really is dumb, isn't she?"

Miltia didn't answer, but kept her eyes locked with Ruby.

"I'm so glad you came." The red-dressed woman deadpanned. "You really made this so much easier." Finally breaking eye contact with Ruby, Miltia walked behind the chair with the man tied to it, sliding her fingers under his chin and lifting it up. The man's head rolled back, and his eyes found Ruby, standing there, gun trained on his captor.

"Your brother sends his regards, Shiro Xiong." Her inflection never changed. Her voice never wavered. Ruby locked eyes with the man. His were wide, ice blue. He looked scared, tears brimming in his eyes.

"Miltia, stop." Ruby demanded, turning her gaze back down her sights, training it on the enforcer's face, but her finger stayed on the trigger guard. She wasn't sure yet if she could shoot. She didn't know what kind of a struggle they had had. If Miltia's aura was too low, the shot would break it, and kill the woman.

"You won't shoot." The red dressed girl met Ruby's gaze steadily as she straightened, her claws scratching against the man's throat. "Yang might've shot. You won't. You're a huntress, you can't hurt people."

"Don't touch him," Ruby warned emptily. Her tongue flicked out and licked her lips. Miltia was about to kill him.

And it was Ruby's choice.

She could end it now. If she pulled the trigger, it would either kill Miltia, or hurt her severely enough to put her down for a while. She'd save a life, but only at the chance of taking another.

She had to try something else. Anything else.

"Is it worth it?" Ruby begged, trying to make the twin understand the choice she was making. To make her understand where she was sending this man. To that cold, empty chill that crept into Ruby's heart every night, to that place she had come back from. To be no more. To be nothing but a memory in the hearts of those who had loved him; nothing but a scar on their hearts. "Don't make yourself someone who does this. No one can decide who lives and who dies." Ruby pleaded with the girl, but she saw no change in those flat, green eyes.

She didn't care.

"You're talking like I haven't done it before." Miltia muttered, and then smiled and slit the man's throat.

"No!" Ruby screamed, forgetting her scythe and dashing towards the man. He gasped and choked, trying to find air, but the crimson blood filled in his air way, drowning him. His eyes met hers, panicked and frenzied as his chest heaved and bucked, trying to draw air past the fluid filling his lungs. There was an electric urgency in them, and Ruby could see the pleading. He was asking her for help, to just please help him, get him the air he so desperately needed. Ruby pressed her hand against his throat, trying to stem the flow of blood, but it did nothing to alleviate his plight.

The choking grew weaker.

The panic in the eyes grew.

And then it was just weak tremors, and his eyes relaxed, and then he was still.

Ruby shook him with her scarlet hands, but he didn't move. And he would never move. He was still forevermore.

Shaking, Ruby stood. Her hands trembled, and she felt like she couldn't get enough air.

"What-" She gasped on the word as she tried to get it out. "What did you do?" She demanded, horror constricting her chest.

Miltia met her gaze levelly. "What you helped me do." She whispered.

"No…" Ruby shook her head and backed towards the door, to Crescent Rose. "I'm stopping you."

On the bed, Melanie laughed. "Stop us? You practically did our job for us."

"I'm taking you to the police, and then I'm doing the same to your boss."

Melanie cocked an eyebrow at that, and hopped off the bed, stalking towards Ruby.

"Really? You are? Because I think you spent a lot of time fighting a lot of people downstairs, and your aura must really be hurting."

Ruby scooped up her weapon, and held it, poised to strike. The white-clad girl wasn't wrong. She could feel her aura flagging, its last wisps coiling around her weakly. It didn't matter. They had killed. They had murdered. Without thought or regard for the life they were taking.

They had to be stopped.

"Put your weapons down." Ruby ordered, but the sisters did not oblige. Ruby's hands still shook on her gun, and she switched her grip so she was holding it as a scythe.

Melanie dashed forward, spinning and snapping a leg out towards Ruby's head. She ducked and tried to hook her blade under the woman's shimmering white boot, but Melanie hopped over it. Miltia jumped in, swinging at Ruby's chest and she had to twist to get out of the way, trying to extend her scythe to keep them at bay, but the two were already inside her guard, rendering Crescent Rose useless.

Ruby dropped the blade, batting a kick away and feeling the sharp spikes on Melanie's boots rake against her forearm. Her adversary followed up by going low for Ruby's ankles as Miltia swung high again. Ruby crossed her arms in front of her chest, using her aura to absorb the blow as it knocked her backwards. Ruby did a handspring and came up, hoping that she'd have some room to work, but the twins didn't give her a second.

They flowed and danced together, working as a single unit rather distinct opponents. Anytime that Ruby tried to mount an offence, she'd find a multitude of blows raining down on her, forcing her back into the defensive. Ruby slowly backed away as she tried to maneuver between legs and blades. Exhausted as she was from her previous fight, Ruby felt herself losing control. She struggled to raise her arms and use her legs to position herself, slowly waning. Each flurry of blows from the twins snapped against her aura, spreading it thin.

And then it broke as Melanie's foot snapped at her head. Her aura shattered and the heavy blow snapped against Ruby's temple.

She crumpled to the ground as white lightning arced across her vision and she gasped as it flared down her spinal cord, lighting her world in a brilliant flash of pain. The white faded slightly, giving way to a grey wash of colours. Ruby could faintly make out the twins standing above her even as the black began to creep in on the edges of her vision.

"Thanks for the help, Red." Miltia said with a smile, and then raised her boot. The kick was the last thing Ruby saw before the world disappeared in a swirl of shadows.

She let the hot water run down her body, sliding over her toned, smooth skin. She could feel the slight bumps of her skin with her fingertips, she could feel the streams of water breaking against her flesh, even the steam rising from the floor to tickle her face.

Yet everything was numb.

She first saw a man die when she was a child, just a few years old. She had cried for days.

She didn't think she would even notice if someone died in front of her now. It was like the world wasn't real. Every pore of the expensive tile of the shower that she could see with such fine clarity held no meaning. If she reached out, she was sure her hand would pass right through it with no resistance. Even as she raised her hand up to touch it, dragged her finger along it, felt it scrape against the pads of her fingers, it wasn't real. Her body was detached, as if she were simply observing things happening around her. The world passed around her, but she was stuck, suspended somewhere between everything and nothing, and she simply was.

She had no idea how long she had been in the shower, so she turned the dial slowly, feeling the water change from hot to lukewarm to icy cold in a matter of seconds before the streams ceased, and it was just her, standing there, water dripping down her hair, her body, falling off her fingertips and running down her legs. She listen to the drip drop of the small beads of liquid crashing against the floor, and at some point, she realized that they had stopped.

She stepped out of the shower, reaching for a towel. Her arm moved slowly as she wiped the towel down her skin. Each movement was slow, without purpose, but then, without knowing any time had passed, she was dry.

When she was done, the fog of the mirror had beaded up so she could see clearly in it, and she stood for a moment, locking eyes with the woman behind the looking glass. She looked strong. Her body was laced in sinewy muscle covered by tanned skin that shone healthily in the amber light. Toned, but not thin. Filled out, but not plump.

It was the eyes that gave it away. The woman in the mirror had dark, amber eyes that should have been beautiful. The were a rich shade, but they were glossy. Some poor imitation of life.

She wished she could do something for the woman, but she was trapped behind the mirror, far away, unreachable. Nothing could be done for her.

After what might have been an eternity, or perhaps the blink of an eye, She unlatched the door of the bathroom, fully clothed once more, and stepped into the darkness. She knew not when she had dressed. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the shadows. And it was there in front of her.

That which she had nearly lost.

She moved forward on silenced feet, tiptoeing up to the side of the bed and sitting on its edge. Underneath the covers, a fallen angel shivered in a cold sweat, nightmares shaking her dreams.

She could not blame the angel. Everything had changed, and there was no going back now. Death had taken so much from her. It had taken love and joy, and then it had taken reason. And without reason, the angel forgot how to fly, and plummeted towards the ground.

She had offered the angel a chance. A chance to be free of existence. A chance to let her light wink out forever, and leave a cold shadow on the world.

The angel was still there. Her light still burned, smouldering under all the pain and fear that choked her and clipped her wings, but it was there.

And yet, she had been offered a chance to be smothered.

Who would ask for that? A monster. One who wished for the deadly embrace of shadows.

Blake thought of the woman in the mirror. She wondered if the woman had forgotten how to fly.

She would not sleep tonight. So she sat, thoughts of weeping angels and women in looking glasses running through her mind until the first rays of the sun broke the shadows of the night.

A/N:

Hey all,

I promised I would finish this book, and I will. I'm just finding it really rough lately. It's just really hard to write for some reason now. I just can't see the words the same way I used to. It's like coming back to a game of chess after not playing for too long. You know that the pieces all fit together and move in a beautiful pattern, but you can't see it anymore. You can't make the right moves, the ones that make sense.

I can't find the right words.

I think part of it is the point in the story we're at. Or the past 2 chapters anyways. There are a few chapters that I want to write right now, but I can't. We're getting towards the ending, and I just want to jump forward and start writing it right now. But I can't. So I keep getting distracted when I write.

I think it also has to do with how busy I've been. I don't have the time to think about what I'm going to write beforehand. I've got about two free hours a week right now, and in that time I need to sit down and just write, or it'll be months before I can get a decent chapter out.

Onto this chapter though. This one was strange in that there was more action than I really wanted. I did what I could to abbreviate it though. This story isn't about fights and action. It's about choices and meanings. That said, this was a critical chapter that sets up the next big things! For those, I'm excited.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you hang on for a bit longer. I know it's been a long journey since this story started, but I promise I'm going to do my best to finish it well, with all the pieces I've made to fit together.

Hope you're still enjoying.

Cheers,

-Unjax