This story Starts during Salem's monologue at the end of Volume 3, Chapter 12, where Ruby visits Summer's grave before setting out to Haven with Jaune, Ren, and Nora, and will continue after that point.

Ruby Rose:

A girl in a black dress with a red hood knelt down and brushed the snow that had accumulated over a slab of marble overlooking the cliff side. As the snow was brushed away, the engraving of a rose became clear in the sunlight, followed by a name carved in elegant cursive.

Summer Rose

As the last of the snow was brushed off of the slab of stone, another engraving became clear. A single line from a poem:

"Thus Kindly I Scatter"

As she stood back up and took a few steps back from the gravestone, Ruby Rose remembered reading the poem that line was from long ago, back when she was a little girl. She hadn't even understood what all of the words meant at the time, but she had understood enough to feel the sorrow pouring out of whoever had written it. She had made it a point to read it again before she had set out with team JNPR... or what remained of them, anyways. Reading it certainly put me in the mood for what I'm going to say now, if nothing else. Going over the poem again hadn't exactly been pleasant.

Ruby remembered the stories Yang and Summer had read to her when she was little. Stories where heroes went off and saved the world from evil villains and monsters. She had listened to more stories than she could count, absorbing them like a sponge.

The poem on her mother's grave wasn't about that type of hero.

In that tale, the hero was alone. Either her allies had either abandoned her or already fallen. In that tale, the hero gave up. Even when she was a little girl, she had understood that. It had always bothered her why her mother, the eternally kind, cheerful, warmhearted, optimistic Summer Rose, would want a line from such a depressing poem on her grave. She had never understood why Summer hadn't come back from that mission so many years ago.

She was a hero, wasn't she?

"I... I think I get it now Mom." Ruby finally said softly, noticing now that her throat was somewhat sore. She hadn't been crying lately, and she wasn't crying now. But her throat felt like she had been all the same. "In all those stories you read me... the heroes won. We won. We slayed the dragon, defeated the witch, stopped the thieves, locked up the murderer. Even if the best of us died to make sure it happened, it always did. We never failed."

"The real world isn't as simple as that. We don't always win... you didn't win." Ruby stared at the vague and hazy reflection of her face on the wet marble of her mother's tomb. The last time she had been here was three months ago, right before the Vytal festival tournament had begun. She remembered how she had felt them, colorful and bright as the trees during Fall.

But Fall always leads leads to Winter. And with Winter, comes decay. Ruby looked away from her mother's grave and observed the stark and desolate winter landscape that stretched out below her, filled only with black trees and white snow. There wasn't even a sound to be heard beyond her own voice, and the occasional mild gust of wind.

But, as tragic as the state of the landscape was, it made things much clearer. It was simpler now. Black and White. The clarity was useful.

"I don't know what your mission was for. I might never know... I don't think people like to talk about the heroes that failed... you know that you were a hero, right mom?" Ruby asked softly, not wanting to break the silence around her. "Qrow says you were special... that you were destined to be the best of the best of heroes, and so am I... all because we have silver eyes."

"But having silver eyes doesn't make me a hero. They didn't make you a hero. Nor did losing make you any less of one. Even though we knew that the heroes in the books would always win, the heroes themselves didn't. They faced down the worst the world had to offer... they knew they could die... you knew you could die... I know... I... might die..." Ruby managed to get out with some difficulty. She had known it for months now... but she had never said it until this point. " If that wasn't a risk, then what we did wouldn't be special, would it? Those stories wouldn't be worth talking about. They wouldn't give us any hope. They wouldn't be about heroes at all. "

"But there's more to it than that... a lot's happened in the past few months. A woman... Cinder Fall... she wound up destroying Beacon and damaging a lot of Vale. So many people were hurt... killed...My team..." Ruby paused for a moment as she considered how to put what she would say next before recalling a line from the poem on her mother's grave.

"All her lovely companions, are faded and gone. Weiss's father took her away from Vale. I don't know if she's continuing her training as a huntress in Atlas now, or if her father wants to keep her out of all this. I hope not. She's changed so much from the person who I first met when I arrived at Beacon. She finally got to be one of the heroes for a while. I hope her father doesn't take that from her. I hope she doesn't let her father take that from her."

"Blake left our team on her own. None of us have seen her since the night Sun, one of our friends from Mistral who was visiting for the tournament, saw her go. With the CTT down, we haven't been able to contact her. That's why I don't know what Wiess is doing now either... I just wish I could help her. If only I knew why she ran away like that... I hope I can see her again one day."

"And Yang.." Ruby's eyes widened and she covered up her mouth. I haven't told you about her yet... she realized. Ruby struggled to get the next words out of her mouth. "Some guy... some guy attacked Blake. He was going to kill her... Yang tried to help, but that... man... he cut off her arm. After everything that's happened... I think she's like that hero from the poem. She's given up. I did everything I could to try and help her... but nothing helped. I know that she... she was there for me after you left. I wish I could do the same thing for her now. She deserves that. At least she has dad watching over her. He'd do anything to make her better. I know that. "

Ruby recalled the letter she had left for her dad before continuing.

Dad,

I'm sorry I have to leave like this. I wish I could stay here with you and Yang more than anything in the world. But... you, mom, and uncle Qrow all raised me to help others. I don't know exactly what I did to that dragon... but I know that I can use it to help make things right again..

I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise.

Ruby.

"Right after I woke up... after I discovered that I was special... Yang told me that "Sometimes bad things just happen, Ruby." She was right... but that's why we became huntresses, isn't it? To make them happen less. To help people get through them."

"I'm with some other friends I made at Beacon, Jaune, Nora, and Ren. They had another member of their team... Pyrrha Nikos. She tried to stop Cinder from taking over Beacon... but she wasn't powerful enough to stop her... she's gone now. I saw it happen, and that's how I discovered the powers I have. The powers you passed on to me. And in the end, I stopped what was happening, or at least put it off. I don't know what happened to Cinder... but the Dragon that attacked Beacon is frozen. It's not hurting anyone else for now. Her sacrifice is why I'm still here. Why all four of us are still here. "

"Her friends miss her terribly, and I do too. But we all know that she would want us to finish fighting for what she died for. That's why we're heading out to Haven. Qrow told me that's the best lead we have about Cinder and her allies... so that's where the four of us are going next. We don't know if we'll win... but it's not about winning in the end. It's not about being able to beat the bad guys, although don't get me wrong that certainly helps. I want to win. It's... it's..."

Ruby was silent for a while longer as she wondered what to say next. I don't have much time. They'll be back soon. "I guess.. I. guess being a hero is about fighting for what's right. In the end, you aren't more or less of a hero because you won or lost. You were a hero because you always tried to do what was right, even though you knew that it could get you hurt. Even when it did more than hurt you."

Ruby closed her eyes as she continued. "I'm sorry mom. For the longest time, I never understood why you had to leave me and Yang and Dad and Qrow. Why you never came back from that mission. At the worst of times, I blamed you for leaving, somehow thinking you were responsible for what happened. I will always be sorry for that. But I get it now. You were a huntress. You were a hero, just like... no, better than all the heroes in the books."

"It really is like they say." Ruby says with an air of finality in her voice. "Like mother, like daughter."

Ruby heard the wind blow, and the cold air washed over her face.

"I love you Mom. I promise, I'll make you proud."

The sound of footsteps in the snow came from behind her, and Ruby turned around to face her new team. Ren, Jaune, and Nora stood side by side, waiting for their leader to return to them.

I shouldn't keep them waiting. We've waited long enough to start this.

Ruby walked over towards her team, and the four heroes set out on their journey together.

AN: I haven't written fanfiction in a long time, so I'm sorry if this is a bit rusty. I'm always looking for feedback, so I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review. A large reason I'm writing this is to improve my skills as a writer overall, and I can't do that unless I get some second opinions.

I plan on updating this story at least once every two weeks, but that could very easily change based on my schedule. Thank you for taking the time to read this!