For the first time in weeks, Ruby didn't have the nightmare. When she woke, a small part of her wished she could return to that peaceful dream world, where she and her friends still laughed together at Beacon. But the cold breeze drifting into the crevice confirmed that this was still the real world. Looking around, she was the first to wake up, so she decided to head outside and scout out the area a little. Using Crescent Rose to climb the steep rocks above, she lifted herself out of the crevice and for the first time in a long time she appreciated just how beautiful this world actually was. When she still lived in comfort she took it for granted. Looking around to see the trees and grass gently swaying in the wind and the flowers dotting the landscape with numerous rock formations, as well as a waterfall so blue that she could swear she imagined it, she was awestruck. It was an incredible sight. For someone who had only known the colour of the night and the colour of blood for the past while, this was a very much welcomed change of scenery.

'Ruby?' she heard a voice call, and turning around she saw that it belonged to Yang.

'Why are you up here by yourself?' she asked, a small smile crossing her lips just for a fleeting fraction of a second.

'You looked... happy. I didn't want to wake you,' Ruby replied as she turned around.

Don't cry. Not in front of her. Be strong.

Gathering her emotions, she turned to face Yang once more.

'How are the others?' she asked, changing the topic.

'They're a little drowsy but they're awake,' Yang answered. The tone of her voice told Ruby that her sister was still very worried about her emotional state, and that made her both happy and annoyed. She was glad her sister cared for her, but she hated the fact everyone treated her as though she couldn't take care of herself, however true that may have been. After all, if Nora and Ren hadn't shown up to take care of that S class Grimm, Ruby would most likely be dead by now, along with the rest of her team.

When the rest of the group was awake and ready, they set off again in search of a more stable residence, however the immediate thought plaguing their minds was this:

'Where are we gonna find some food?' Ren asked, worriedly. 'I haven't seen an animal for hours. If we don't eat our bodies are going to get weak, and that'll just make us easy prey for the Grimm.'

'We'll find something,' Weiss responded, uncharacteristically positive, especially considering the situation.

'Why don't we try fishing?' Blake put forward, the others surprised at her decision to join the conversation, as she had been especially quiet lately.

'That's not a bad idea,' Weiss said cheerfully. 'There's only one problem. We're in the middle of a meadow. I haven't seen water for at least an hour, never mind a river.

After that, Blake shrunk back into her shell again, not saying a word until nightfall whereupon they decided to take turns resting underneath a huge tree, while one person kept watch. The tree was covered in apples much to their relief, so they each ate their fill before settling. After they had agreed the order, as the team leader, Ruby volunteered to watch the first hour. Nothing particularly eventful happened, mind for a few owls hooting in the distance and the occasional howl of a Beowolf. This series of uneventful hours continued until the fifth hour, when Ren was keeping watch. In the distance, her saw a tiny silhouette frantically sprinting towards them, and equipping Storm Flower he prepared himself. He lowered his weapons moments later however, when he saw it was not a Grimm but rather a young girl running towards them, no older than 10 at most. He walked out to meet her, and, panting very heavily, she collapsed onto the ground. It was then he noticed the reason the girl was running so frantically, as a Death Stalker approached in the distance, evidently chasing the young girl Ren held in his arms. Picking her up, he hurriedly took her to the tree where his team lay sleeping before shaking each one of them to wake them up, Nora turning to hug his leg as she slept.

'What, morning already?' Yang groggily asked with a yawn.

'Not quite,' Ren replied, 'but there's a Death Stalker heading right this way.

Alerting herself, she pointed something out to Ren.

'Uhh, Ren?'

'What is it?'

'That's not a Death Stalker.'

'What do you mean? I saw it and-'

What he saw horrified him. Yang was right. It wasn't a Death Stalker. It was six Death Stalkers.

'Who's the girl?' Blake asked, already wide awake.

'I don't know. She was running this way, and those things were following her.'

They were now faced with a dilemma. There was absolutely no way they could carry the girl and get away from the Death Stalkers, so they had two choices. Either leave the girl and run, or fight the Grimm that were approaching.

'Ruby, it's your call. Do we fight or run?'

'We can't just leave her here. We fight. I'm not letting anyone else die as long as I'm in charge!'

The group all accepted her response, and readied their weapons.

'Are we taking one each or taking them one at a time as a team?' Weiss inquired, looking to Ruby for an answer.

'One each. We'd never be able to take them one at a time and save the girl.'

Looking at each of them, while Ruby had faith in their abilities, she still couldn't help but be a little worried. They had fought a Death Stalker before in the Emerald Forest, but that was as a team where they had nothing else to worry about. Plus, Pyrrha was a major factor in that victory. She couldn't help but worry about them.

Please, let them all live. Please, if there's someone up there, don't take them from me.

With that thought, Ruby shot forward, her eyes fuelled by the desire to keep her friends alive as she used Crescent Rose to propel herself forward. Landing mere feet in front of the first Grimm, she shot upwards at the tail to weaken the stinger before launching herself upwards, slicing through the it as she dashed through the air. Then, she shot upwards again, this time to launch herself downwards, thinking back to how Nora killed the first Death Stalker she encountered as she slammed Crescent Rose down onto the sting, impaling the creatures head. As she did this, the rest of the group were also dealing with their Grimm.

Weiss used her dust to systematically blind each one of her Death Stalkers eyes, causing it to flail wildly in panic, which allowed her ample time to get in position and thrust Myrtenaster into a weak spot on its body, the beast twitching slightly before succumbing to the attack.

Blake had a little more trouble with hers however, her bullets and blade failing to do any significant damage. She attempted to attack its weak points like Weiss, but was swatted away, hitting a tree in the process which broke several of her ribs. Grimacing in pain as blood began to pour from her chest with at least two ribs broken, she looked up to see the Death Stalker approaching. She tried to move but even breathing was painful for her, let alone walking. As she began to accept her fate, Yang suddenly attacked the claw of the Death Stalker, shattering it and drawing it's attention away from Blake. Two of them were tough for Yang to handle though, and she soon found many holes in her legs and arms from the stingers. Using her semblance, she punched one, destroying it completely and turned around to grab the other, using the last bit of her strength to launch it into Ren's Death Stalker before collapsing in pain.

Nora had a relatively easy time, her weapon well suited to battling heavily armoured opponents as she easily smashed her way through the Death Stalker's thick hide, killing it with little effort.

'Yang!' Ruby shouted as she realised her sister had been badly injured. Quickly checking her over to make sure she was OK, she hurriedly went towards Blake.

'Can you move?' Ruby asked tenderly, the worry in her voice evident.

'Not... not on my own,' Blake managed to wheeze in between pained grunts, her hand gently clutching her chest.

'Weiss, could you make some ice for me?' Ruby asked, and a few moments later she tore a piece of her cape off to wrap around the ice, creating a makeshift ice pack.

'Here, hold this against where it hurts for a while,' she gently told her. 'Careful, it's cold,' she said, a small smile crossing her lips as Blake gasped cutely in surprise at the sudden temperature drop against her ribs.

'Is Yang OK?' Ren asked Ruby, looking over to where she was curled up, happily sleeping on the lush, soft grass.

'She's fine. She's just sleeping. Her wounds weren't serious, just a bunch of holes in her skin. Luckily, they didn't go too deep so they just needed patching up with some cloth and they'll heal after a few weeks.'

'That's good. At least we all came out of that OK, more or less.'

Sighing, she laid back, her body relaxing against the calm breeze drifting through the fields. She took a deep breath, worn out from the fighting, before turning to look at the young girl whom Ren had carried back to where they were resting.

'I wonder who she is?' she said out loud to herself, before looking back up at the sky. Hours passed, the sun now high in the midday sky, and the girl finally woke up. Yang was also awake, and Blake was able to move, albeit very slowly as her ribs were still extremely sore.

'So you said your name was Jade?' Weiss confirmed with the girl, who simply responded;

'Yes.'

'Do you not have anyone to look after you?' she nervously asked, worried for the child's safety.

'No. My mom died when I was born and my dad was killed by Grimm about 6 months ago. He was a Hunter, so fighting Grimm was his job.'

Blunt, and to the point. For such a young girl, the Huntresses found it quite jarring that she was this... calm about it.

'You're taking it awfully well,' Blake stated, 'most kids your age don't take it this easily,' she continued.

'I have to be,' Jade replied, a faint solemn tone catching her voice. 'I had two choices. Sit, cry and die, or be strong, get over it and survive. I was scared of death more than I was sad that my father died. It hurts... but it's just how things are now.'

It was like a knife in the heart for the group. A child shouldn't have to go through this, they all thought. She should be able to play happily with her friends, and go home to eat, all covered in dirt from having so much fun. She shouldn't have to act like an adult already.

'I'll fix this broken world if it's the last thing I do,' Ruby muttered to herself. 'Come on, let's go find some fresh water and look for our friends. You can come with us,' Ruby said with a loving smile to their new companion. With that, they slowly began to walk again, making sure to walk slowly so Blake could keep up with them.

The sun is especially hot today, Ruby thought to herself. We'd better find water fast, or we're done for.

Author's Note: For people confused as to why they weren't helping each other during the fighting with the Death Stalkers, all those fights were taking place simultaneously, I just wasn't very sure how to convey that better than how I did.

