Ren grunted in pain as his back hit the wall, and he fell to his knees. Nora made to drop her weapon and rush to his side, but he held up his hand, and wheezed a few breathless words.

"Nora, don't, please. It doesn't help me if you aren't going all out. Let's try again."

He picked himself up off the ground and took a moment to breathe before walking forwards towards the center of the room again. The time that students would be called on to fight was drawing closer, and he still didn't feel strong enough. Nora was worried about him, and he didn't blame her. If she was acting the same way, he would've tried to talk her out of it too.

But he could feel the training working, and with such an ominous deadline approaching, there was no time to lose. His body was starting to bring itself out of his lethargy, and his aura was building up to be stronger than ever before.

There was such a thing as overworking, as he had been reminded by his teammates. Jaune and Pyrrha both had shared Nora's concern, but he had done his best to explain to them that he wasn't going to push himself too hard. The other three had been training the past couple of days, but not nearly as much as he had. He was done waiting, it was time for action.

Students all over the school were getting in any training that they could, making themselves as ready as they could possibly be. He hoped they did well, as the danger of the situation was clear to Ren. Cinder had an army of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who were at least as strong as Nora, and probably about twice as insane. A chill ran up his spine as he remembered what Nora had been like, and he blocked those thoughts out, refocusing on his training.

Nora had a hesitant look on her face as she held Magnhild loosely, not comfortable with what he'd asked her to do. Maybe he shouldn't have, but she was the best person he could train with. No one else had her unnatural strength or speed, traits he was sure to see in the battle.

Pyrrha and Jaune looked down at the pair from the seats of the classroom they had been allowed to use, and he could almost feel their straining to keep from asking him to stop. He appreciated their silence, but they needed to calm down.

Nora squared off across from him, and took a few deep breaths to calm herself, then slid down into a more combative stance. Ren slid StormFlower out of his sleeves, taking the pistols in his hands and taking a short second to make sure they had ammunition. They did, and their blades were sharp. They were ready to fight, but he knew he could give a few more hours of maintenance to them, making sure they were as deadly as possible.

He bent his knees slightly as he got ready. Nora could move almost faster than he could react, so he had to stay ready. His lips opened, hesitating just a brief second before speaking.

"Go!"

His voice rang through the large room, echoing slightly off the curved walls of the room, and he could see Nora flinch before she pushed herself off the ground, breaking into a run towards him. It wasn't her full capacity, he knew that, but it was the best he was going to get.

She approached fast, and as she did, his body tensed and he got ready to dodge. She always struck first, and he'd learned that there was no point in trying to parry such heavy strikes. He was used to being the lightly armed in battles, and thus the faster and more maneuverable. That advantage was out the window, though, against Nora. It was a handicap he needed to get used to.

She swung Magnhild in an upwards arc, and he dodged back, feeling the breeze of its head passing only inches away brush his skin. The swing was wide, and Nora was open, but he had to be fast to take advantage. He knew better than to get closer to her, she was too fast to allow that. Instead, he brought his pistols up, and closed his fingers tightly as the metal as it started to jitter in his hands.

Dust rounds erupted rapidly out of both barrels, and Nora was forced to raise an arm to her face. She didn't stop moving towards him, but she couldn't see too well. If she were anyone else, he wouldn't hesitate to rush in and score a melee blow or two, but the instant he stopped firing, that would become a far greater hazard than it was worth. If he could fire up until he got the hit, maybe he would be able to get away, but-

Hit thoughts were interrupted when Nora lurched forward, rounds still peppering her chest and arm, before slashing out with the arm she guarded with. Magnhild dragged on the ground behind her, but Ren wasn't able to keep his focus on the weapon. His gaze shifted to her hand, and he tried to pull his weapons away as quickly as he could.

In spite of his best efforts, she was able to catch one with her swipe, sending it spinning away as its fire stopped. He was able to pull the other one back fast enough, but this required that he stop firing it as well.

He took a panicked step back, then saw what Nora was doing next. With one arm, she was swinging Magnhild towards him in a wide horizontal swing, gripping near the base of the handle. It was already too late to get out of range, but if he was nimble enough, he could dodge it.

The war hammer was on course to hit his pelvis, so trying to jump it would be his best bet. He knew that waiting until the last possible second was normally the most successful way to dodge, but a second was far too much time to give Nora. He pushed off the ground as hard as he could, and pulled his knees tightly up to his chest, watching the hammer whoosh past, its speed making his stomach drop.

As he started to fall back down, he brought his gun to bear again, hoping to start firing before she could do anything else. He pulled the trigger, and bullets started to fly, but he didn't expect Nora's arm to shoot out and grab a fistful of his shirt. She dragged him back towards the ground, and the air was forced out of his lungs as he hit the hard floor of the circular room.

Stars danced in front of his eyes, and he struggled to recall what exactly it was he had been doing. Somewhere above him, Nora grunted as she hefted Magnhild up for another strike. Ren's eyes shot wide open, and he started scrambling to get away. Somehow he had kept hold of his remaining pistol, but he knew it wouldn't be any use if he couldn't get any shots off. His eyes flicked up, and he saw Nora standing over him, looking down, her hammer over her head.

Suddenly all thoughts of being able to hit her vanished, and his singular concern became to survive a few more seconds. He pushed himself to his knees, then made something similar to a jump towards Nora's legs. If she were still her normal size, this wouldn't have worked. There was just enough room for him to be able to roll through, and he did so with grace.

The head of the hammer hit just behind him, and at first he felt relieved, then something occurred to him. He hadn't been fast enough to get out of that situation. He should've been hit. That meant…

He stood back up and turned to face Nora, his body relaxed. She pulled Magnhild off of the cracked floor, brought it into another horizontal swing, and spun to face Ren. It fully seemed like she was going to hit, and Ren involuntarily tensed up as he watched the strike, but didn't move.

Nora's eyes locked on him, and instantly her expression changed to one of worry. Magnhild slowed, then stopped a few inches away.

She let the hammer's head drop to the ground and took a small step towards him, confused. "Ren, what are you-"

He cut her off, his voice more stern than he was used to hearing it.

"You're still hesitating. Why can't you just help me do this? Do you want me to lag behind in the real battle?"

Nora bit her lip for a few moments, averting her gaze and looking guilty at the floor. Ren didn't want her to hold back but how was she supposed to not? She spoke in a high pitch voice, lashing out like she was cornered.

"What am I supposed to do, Ren? Look at yourself! You're too hurt to keep doing this! It won't matter how much you train if you die before you get there!"

She dropped Magnhild on the floor and put her hands to her face. Ren stared at her for a few moments before peering down at his own body. His clothes were a little more worn and dirty than they had been before, and he did ache fairly badly, but it was all tolerable, at least.

He looked back up at Nora, and could see the others in the seats above and behind her standing, staring at him with expressions similar to Nora's.

He looked from Pyrrha and Jaune to Nora, trying to figure out why they were acting like this. He was getting a little worn down, maybe, but he couldn't abandon his efforts now. He had regained most of his strength, but he was still behind. He had been training for days straight, he couldn't just give up now.

He made to turn away, and cried out as a muscle in his leg simply didn't respond, sending him to his knees. His hands shot out to catch him before he toppled completely. Before he could do anything else, Nora was by his side again, helping him to his feet and wrapping him in a suffocating hug. Over her shoulder he could see Pyrrha and Jaune making their way down towards them. They still looked worried.

He sighed, a task made more difficult by force on his ribs. Maybe they were right. It simply seemed like a bad idea, taking time away from preparations. The fate of the world was at risk, but he knew there was such a thing as overworking.

Naze watched through the eyes of his shades as Cinder neared the exit of the mountains. The pass was mined, and every artillery gun was trained on it, but he knew that many demons would survive. The bulk of Cinder's human forces had been destroyed, and at very little loss of Ironwood's men.

He had made sure to see every detail of the demons' behavior. They adapted quickly, which would be bad news for the Huntsmen who were sent to fight them, but that was what the runes were for. Many had already been prepared, and were ready for use. Their use by the warriors would ideally not only increase their survivability, but give them a disorienting edge as well.

Whilst the bulk of his scribes were occupied with producing more, the rest of his ilk had been preparing many more devious and deadly traps for the wretches when they arrived. The Black Morass that surrounded his ziggurat had once been considered cursed with magic so strong that even the trees were undead, and it would be so again.

A special eye had been turned to Cinder, analyzing her for some weakness. With her goal being so simple, there wasn't much trickery he could pull there. Making intruders become lost in the swamp was easy on weaker opponents, but Cinder's senses were much too sharp for something like that. Her demons could be killed by strong necromantic magic he was sure, but she would provide much more of a fight. His Death Knights might be able to weaken her further, but they would fall eventually. Even his countless sorcerers would not be able to destroy her, whether they combined their power or not.

The risen heroes wouldn't make much of a dent in Cinder, unfortunately. They were hardly used to their dead bodies, even if they were they wouldn't have the raw strength or the skill to stand against her. They would only be minor inconveniences. That was why they would stay on the defensive.

He was sure that he would have to be the one to strike the killing blow. Direct combat was dangerous for him, not because he himself could be destroyed, but because if he were to be defeated, his phylactery would be made vulnerable.

And with the strength that Cinder had displayed so far, his defenses and enchantments on that would not be enough to hold her at bay. If she stepped foot in his ziggurat, it would be too late. He was the only one who could really stand between his phylactery and her.

In a contest of brute strength, he couldn't measure up to the power of a demonic lord. They had access to realms of limitless power, and he did not. Of course, Cinder was not a demon lord just yet. There was still time, though she was growing closer and closer to ascending. He wondered if there wasn't a way he could capture some of that power, and make use of it in his studies. It was unlikely Timor was going to give him any.

His own energies had been building, and he had been devising spells he could use against Cinder that would be able to do significant damage. There were many options, focused necromantic magic, raw arcane power, perhaps a more simplistic elemental spell would do more damage.

It was hard to tell what would affect Cinder, but he could think of one power that would definitely not be to her liking. The Paladins were weak in number, but their particular magic would be much less to Cinder's liking than the rest. Paladins would also be far more resilient to her seduction, making them assets on a battlefield full of otherwise much more susceptible fighters.

Whether any of them could participate in a battle between a Lich and a demon, though, was a radically different question. Naze was sure that wherever they ended up doing battle, it would be quite inhospitable for some time after.

He turned his focus away from thoughts of the battle, and more towards the mortals who would soon be pulled into it. Ozpin had not yet briefed the students over what they would be facing, but most Huntsmen around the world had already been called to respond, and were waiting for the command to fight. Their enthusiasm was admirable, but he knew they didn't fully comprehend what it was they would be going against. Cinder's corrupting influence would be like nothing they'd ever felt before, but he wasn't about to tell them to reconsider their position.

The harm that would be done if they actually were corrupted would be minimal, as they would have barely any time to mutate before they reached the swamps. There they would be killed off without too much trouble.

The ones most vulnerable to the corruption would be the students. They would be hit-and-run though, in and out before anyone knew better. It would spare them the brunt of Cinder's ability, but Naze didn't know if the effects would be cumulative. If so, he would have to deliver a message to Ozpin quickly.

He could feel the unrest of his subordinates growing. They were anxious, and he would be lying if he told himself there was not contemptible sliver of humanity inside his own shredded soul that didn't share that same feeling. He kept a tight hold on it, though, ensuring that it did not interfere with his thoughts.

The spark was stubborn, and would not die down no matter how hard he tried to suffocate it. If it grew at all, it could present a significant threat for the battle, as he did not know whether Cinder would be able to manipulate it or not. He knew she would try, though, and he could use that to his advantage. It would be an irresistible opportunity for her to see if she could bend him around her finger just as she did the others.

It would be an interesting test to see if she could hold any power over him, no doubt.

He would look forward to finding the answer, and to ridding himself of the threat Cinder presented. There was still time before that, though, and the mortals had plenty of work ahead of them. He had supplies to deliver to them as well, then they would be as well prepared as they could be.

.

Ruby raised an eyebrow as the large drawer slid back into the body of the large metal thing, and it started to glow brightly with white light. Several zombies stood close to the "generator" making sure that none of the students touched them or otherwise tried to fiddle with the machine. Ruby didn't like the way they looked, they were rotting and almost seemed to be on the verge of falling apart.

Weiss and Blake seemed to be just as put off as she was, but Yang obviously didn't mind. She even tried briefly to start up a conversation with one of them before shrugging its silence off and continuing to help the others get their weapons in the thing. None of them were particularly happy about having to surrender their weapons for any amount of time, especially in times like these.

Yang assured them that it would help, though. She said that they were infusing some kind of power into the weapons that would make them more damaging to the demons. Nobody wanted to argue with that. They would take any benefit they could get.

Still, it wasn't a fun experience to simply hand their weapons away. They were all close to their weapons, and the zombies that worked the machine didn't seem like they would handle them very carefully.

The crowd of students slowly meandered away from the generator towards the auditorium. Ozpin had called a meeting, and all students thought that they could guess what it was about. Team RWBY, JNPR, and Penny all stuck together, not letting the crowd pull them apart. Ruby thought Ren looked a little under the weather, tired, and beaten up, but he definitely looked better than he had in the hospital.

She turned to look at Penny, and found that she was gazing around at the rest of the students like she could hardly believe what she was seeing. It was almost like a child, and it made Ruby giggle when she saw it. Penny didn't notice, and continued to look at the other students.

Dull murmurs moved around the crowd slowly, but no one broke out into a full conversation. The whole group could feel a heavy presence around them. Now was no time for joking around like they normally did, or chatting among themselves. It wouldn't be appropriate.

As they filed into the large room, Ruby could tell that there was something strange about it. Maybe not about the room itself, but of the feeling inside of it. It felt heavier than normal, even more than it had during orientation. She didn't like it.

Everyone made their way into the room, and all eyes went towards the stage, where Ozpin was standing alone, leaning slightly on his cane as he looked over the mass of students. A microphone stood in front of him, but he wasn't making use of it yet. Students were still moving into the room, so Ruby guessed that he was waiting for the room to fill completely.

Ruby's eyes passed over the rest of the room, trying to tell what it was that made things feel so odd. She nudged Yang's side and whispered, "Do you see any of the teachers? I don't think they're here."

Yang looked around the room as well, and after a few seconds she nodded. "Yeah, I don't see anyone else here. Not even Ms. Goodwitch is up there with him. Weird. Maybe they already left?"

Ruby shrugged, then felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, and found Penny giving her a curious look.

"Ruby, is mister Ozpin feeling alright? He doesn't look very good."

Ruby looked at Ozpin again, paying careful attention to his face. Large dark bags under his eyes were easy to see, if she looked hard, and his shoulders slumped just enough to make him look tired, almost old. He mustn't have been sleeping well. He wasn't the only one. As Ruby looked around, she saw that everyone looked a little under the weather. They were either bruised, fatigued, or some combination of the two. Ruby knew that she hadn't been sleeping very well, but how could she? There was an awful lot looming over her head, giving her plenty to worry about.

Everybody else had been feeling the same, Blake and Weiss hadn't been able to fall asleep. She'd heard them moving around almost all night. The only one who had really been able to fall asleep immediately was Penny, and she had simply stretched out on Yang's bed and been out. She almost envied Penny's ability to do that, but she figured that there were likely other respects that made her lucky.

Something occurred to her, and she turned to Penny again, saying, "Did you put your weapons in the generator thing?"

Penny's eyes widened slightly and she shook her head, giving Ruby a look like a confused kid. "No, Naze told me not to. He did not know how it would affect me. He was concerned that it could be damaging to me somehow, and said that the risk wasn't worth the benefit it would give me. I think I'll be fine without it! You've seen me fight before, I can manage with what I have."

Her confidence was comforting, but Ruby wasn't sure that Penny knew what she was dealing with. None of them were exactly sure what they were up against exactly, but Ruby had a vague idea of what fighting a demon would be like. She could still remember what Adam had been able to do in their short fight. Break her arm, almost kill Weiss, and take essentially everything that they had to give to take him down. After that, he had still been able to escape without being too damaged.

If all of Cinder's minions were that strong, she couldn't imagine what could stop that. It was demoralizing, to say the least. Maybe it was good that most of the students hadn't fought demons.

Her eyes drifted to the side, looking Nora up and down. She was half demon, kind of. Was she? How did that work? She had demonic characteristics, at least. Those made her a lot stronger than most people, so would she be a good analogue for what they would be fighting? It would help to get some realistic practice, but Nora was looking a little tired too. It probably wasn't the best time to ask, either. She would probably know why Ruby asked anyways, so she probably shouldn't ask.

Nora's head turned to Ruby, and she gave a warm smile as the speakers around the room gave off a small buzz of noise, before the sound of Ozpin clearing his throat brought the attention of everyone in the room back to the stage. Silence descended over the room, heavy, and stayed for a few seconds before Ozpin spoke.

"I'm sure you all know why you are here. You've all heard of the monster that has come into our world recently, and you've heard of the damage she's done. Her name is Cinder Fall, and she used to be involved in a wide variety of secretive criminal organizations. Now she has become, or is becoming, a demon, with the intent of controlling every man, woman, and child who walk this earth. Maybe you've seen the footage from Menagerie, maybe you haven't, but either way, I think you know the danger we are in."

He sighed, and put more weight on his cane, as if the words physically weighed on his shoulders. His eyes moved over the amassed students, and Ruby thought she could see a little bit of wetness in his eyes. Was he going to cry?

"I'm afraid that I must ask you more than should ever be asked of anyone, let alone children like you. You have decided to dedicate your lives to protecting the innocents of this world, but there was no way you could have anticipated having to do something like this. Still, every bit of help we can get will make a difference, and measures have been taken to make it as safe as possible."

Ozpin paused, and closed his eyes for a few moments, turning his face towards the stage floor. She'd never seen him like this before. She doubted anyone had, he usually tried to appear distant, or at least well handled. She was willing to bet that he was just as unfamiliar with being so close to breaking down as they were to seeing him like that.

After he composed himself, he continued to speak, looking back up to the gathered faces.

"When you first came here, I told you I saw wasted potential. Now I want to say how proud I am of all of you. You've taken that potential, and shown me that you harness so much of it, you could become great heroes, every one of you. It isn't fair to ask people with so much life left to live, but please, if you do not think you have the strength to do this, do not throw your life away. I believe every one of you could perform just as well as any Huntsmen, but if there is any shred of doubt in your own heart, do not make yourself go through this. You mustn't sacrifice yourselves so readily. Sometimes the lives you must protect are your own."

He stopped again, and sighed again. Ruby made out an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and he looked up again.

"Perhaps I ramble, and lose my meaning. I want you to know that there is no there is no shame in admitting you cannot bring yourself to do this. It takes strength to admit a fault, and I have faith that you will be honest. "

He paused for a moment as whispering broke out among the students again, then stepped back from the microphone.

"I will give you a few minutes to think."

The talking slowly started to rise as students started to communicate. Ruby turned to her teammates, and immediately felt a little out of her league. But she was team leader, and it would probably fall to her to make the call.

Blake and Weiss looked worried, but Yang gave Ruby a confident smile. She wanted to ask what they all thought, but the words caught in her throat. Weiss was the first to speak, taking a deep breath before crossing her arms and giving the rest of them a hesitant look.

"We… are doing this, right?"

Yang gave a quick, "Definitely!" but Ruby and Blake stayed silent. The two in favor looked at the two undecided, and Yang quickly added, "As long as everyone's cool with it. Are you guys up for this?"

Blake let out a breath, shaking her head before nodding her affirmation. "Yeah, just a little nervous, I guess. Ruby?"

The three looked to the team's youngest member. Ruby looked back, from one face to another, before saying. "I don't know. I mean, I want to, but Ozpin said that if you had any doubt, you shouldn't. And, well, I'm not too confident. But it's probably not important. Just like Blake said, I'm just a little nervous. Yeah, we got this."

Yang gave her sister a reassuring thumbs up, then looked past Ruby to Penny.

"Hey, Penny! Are you going to go on this?"

Penny responded by giving Yang a large smile and nodding resolutely, saying, "Of course! I'm combat ready!"

Yang turned around, finding Jaune, and the rest of team JNPR. She asked the same question, "Are you guys going to go?"

Jaune gave her a small laugh, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly before replying, "Yeah, you really have no idea how hard we've been training. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Suddenly his face relaxed, and his voice became more enthusiastic. "I'm looking forward to it, actually. It'll be good to make a difference."

Pyrrha's hand slipped into his, and the two looked at each other, smiling, before Nora burst from beside them with an energetic smile and her fists balled in excitement.

"I'm gonna kill 'em!"

Yang laughed, and Ren walked out from behind Nora, looking at the surrounding students whose attention Nora had caught. He ruffled her hair, and turned to speak as well. "We've all been working hard."

Yang nodded.

"Amen to that."

The rest of the students, Ruby noticed, were not having such an easy time of deciding. Voices were raised to shouts in several places through the large room, and it sounded like there were even more heated arguments happening all over. It wasn't a good booster for her confidence. It truth, she wasn't sure she wanted to go, but the others were confident, and she knew that they wouldn't go without her. The battle would need them, she was sure, but it wouldn't need her. She was just fifteen, she couldn't be of too much help out there.

But still, she would go. They had to stick together, after all, and she couldn't let her team break up. She tried to let the sureness of her friends seep into her, but it didn't really work. She still felt like she was out of place, but she continued to shake it off.

The arguments around the room continued to rage, and she saw Ozpin looking at the students who fought. He looked sad, but there was something else to. He looked like he almost hoped more students would decide not to go. It made sense, she guessed, but she still had trouble imagining him getting very emotional, even during something like this. But that was just part of the image he got, being in charge. He was a human too.

It took more than a few minutes for the fighting to start calming, but when it did, Ozpin stepped forward to the microphone again, clearing his throat to indicate he was about to speak. Faces turned to the stage again, and he began, more collected than before.

"Now that you've had a little time to discuss, I hope you've come to a decision. Those of you who decide to fight will have to leave tomorrow, and the rest will stay behind. You will be provided with items made by the undead that will serve as an emergency retreat in the battle. Some of you may harbor distrust, but I can give you my word that I trust them completely. They are essential allies in this fight, and you would be wise to accept their help."

He stopped again, and took a moment to look over the multitude of faces again. His eyes met Ruby's, and for a second, she could swear that he was trying to signal her for help.

Before she could react, Ozpin continued to speak.

"I am not the one to give you the details of the plan, though. For that, an undead has been sent to Beacon. I would advise you listen carefully to his words."

Ozpin stepped away again, but this time looked to the side of the stage. Ruby followed his eyes, and saw the human body of Naze approaching the stage. It hadn't changed in the least since the last time she'd seen it, and its skin was just as freakishly pale as it always was. His sunken eyes passed briefly over the students, and she felt a chill run up her spine as his eyes met hers for a short second.

He reached the microphone, and started to speak without hesitation in the same monotone voice he always used. It was even more unsettling when projected from the speakers, coming from every corner of the room.

"Those of you who will fight, you will have until tomorrow to prepare for this. Tomorrow, you will be transported via Bullhead to southern Vytal, where a camp has been set up. From that camp, a series of hit-and-run raids on Cinder's forces will take place. A series of similar camps are set up all along the path Cinder will take. The items mentioned by Professor Ozpin will be used to return you to these camps, or to relocate to the next camp. Experienced Huntsmen will do the majority of the direct fighting, you will be used for ambushes and support."

He stood mostly still as she talked, hands behind his back and eyes slowly roving around the audience. Most students shuffled uncomfortably around her, but she glanced to her sister, and found her with a large grin on her face. She glanced to the other side at Penny, and found that she had a similar look on her face. Neither of them seemed to notice the somewhat overbearing presence he gave off.

"A more detailed briefing will be given once you arrive. Many of the specific details have been handled by those on-site. I have one piece of advice I will give you now; if you see Cinder herself, do not attack her. If you see her, flee immediately. You cannot challenge her and escape."

Ruby's skin tingled, and she swallowed hard.

"Students willing to participate will be asked to report to the school's main entrance at noon. Anyone who chooses to stay should avoid that area until the volunteers leave."

He stopped and stepped back from the microphone, showing that he was done talking. Silence fell over the room, and Naze started to walk away. Ozpin stepped forward again, looking slightly surprised, and took his place in the front of the stage.

The rest of the meeting was over quickly, with Ozpin bidding them farewell for the day before dismissing them. Ruby barely paid any attention, though. Her head spun with possibilities, imagination kicked into high gear. What was going to be waiting for them out there? What were their ambushes going to look like? Naze's warning about Cinder had been rather ominous, but Ruby had no trouble believing every word of it. Cinder had been affected by demons a lot longer than Adam had, and he was almost more than they could handle.

She wondered how Yang or Penny would do against her, though. She didn't have any doubt that they would be defeated, but would they be as resistant to Cinder's affects as they were to Naze's? Would Naze be affected by Cinder, and vice versa?

Her head started to hurt, and she found that while she hadn't been paying attention, the group had found their way back to the dorm room. Penny and Yang were having a conversation, while Weiss and Blake sat on their beds.

The weapons would be ready in a few hours, Ruby remembered hearing that. Where she had heard it, she didn't know, but someone had definitely told her.

She looked forward to getting Crescent Rose back. She felt naked without it on normal days, so not having it when everything was going crazy was not fun.

She leaned against the wall behind her bed, trying to take in the scope of the situation she was in. Only one day until they fought demons again. Were they ready?