Chapter 12

"I don't really understand," her compatriot said, stepping down off a fallen tree and landing in the dust. "What you have us out here doing."

"We're on a mission, Qrow." Ruby replied with minimal sass. "You know. As part of our combat class."

"Yeah but... I thought First Years only ever got easy stuff like detective work and city maintenance."

Ruby came to a stop, and the thin man nearly tripped over her. "Are you saying you want to clean up garbage and sweep corners?"

He puzzled for a second, searching for an answer in the vastly empty head of his. "Well, no, but isn't this sort of dangerous what we're doing?"

"Dangerous? Whatever do you mean? We've got the two of you, legendary bandits from a legendary tribe, Taiyang, who I can only imagine could punch a hole through the planet if he so chose..." she paused a moment to look over to said boy, and admire how his arms looked in his vest. She shivered. Bad Ruby. "And me, powerful huntress extraordinaire. I've been hunting and slaying since you were in diapers, boy."

He blinked at her. "What."

She relented. "Alright, not that long, I'm merely saying I've had a lot of training."

"How, you're barely older than we are, Mere, and-"

At this point, he was cut off his sister, who grabbed his shoulder and made him flinch. "Qrow, the less questions you ask, the more you understand about her, trust me."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" he exclaimed, spinning around to face the brawny woman.

"Don' worry about it." she said with a sly smile and her best impression of the bouncer from the other day. "What'choo don' know won't hurt ya."

He squinted, his eyes flicking between her and his sister. He gasped quite exasperatedly, throwing his arms up and spinning around. "Fine, whatever. Ex-cuuuse me for trying to understand what's going on here."

He brushed passed, taking Tai, who was laughing at his antics, with him. Ruby beamed at them, crossing her arms and shifting her stance to cock her hips at them. A move her sister favoured, calling it the 'sassy hip shuffle' and using it pretty much all the time.

"Actually, I have my own question, pertaining to his. Slightly." Raven stepped around her, her rather striking red leather coat crinkling as she did.

"Go 'head. I'm listening."

"I understand why we're out here, mission and all, dangerous or not, just..." she rolled her shoulder, and the rifle on her back slid forward and into her arms. "...Why as a rifle company?"

Ruby smiled and shrugged. "Using riflemen tactics and war-accurate weapons will teach us to work as a team together. We'll be relying on focus, tactics, bravery, camaraderie. You know, I think it will be good for us. Besides, these rifles shoot a big enough cartridge to rip through most of the Grimm in the county, so we won't be in all that much danger."

"...Sure, but you let us bring our regular weapons, too." She patted the pommel of her katana, sheathed tightly to her hips over her pants. "There's just too much kit, here."

"You trust me, right?"

"Of... course, Sunshine, I just don't understand? Like, these are bolt-action, crappy surplus rifles, they weight a damn tonne, and this sidearm holster is cutting off the circulation to my leg."

"They're not crappy, they're Atlesian surplus from the war. Incredibly high quality, legendarily accurate and reliable. Don't knock the 89k until you've fired it. And you can wear the holster on your belt, Rae."

She watched her partner fiddle with the old leather holster and the service pistol stored within it for a moment. The others were still within spitting distance, and Ruby was trying to keep it that way. They had precious cargo today, and she wasn't about to let it out of her sight.

"It's gonna be in the way of my sword, then."

"Wear it on your left side. Cross-draw it."

Raven fiddled for a moment, struggling to get the clasps undone off her rather thick and muscular thigh, before it finally broke free. The straps came off and were stuffed into a pocket of her coat. She took a second to massage her leg, her face twisting as blood rushed back to her feet, no doubt accompanied by the feeling of television static shooting down her leg. The holster was then re-attached to her belt, facing backwards on her left side. It was an old Valean Army thing to wear your sidearm like this, but that was back from the days of single-action revolvers and flintlock pistols.

"There, is that more comfortable?"

"Much. Still don't know why you think I need one, though."

"Always safe to carry a backup, Rae." she said, unbuckling her holster and lifting the vintage, nickel-plated firearm out of it. "Plus these old 1911s are stylish as hell."

With a practised spin, she dropped the gun back into the holster on the left of her belt, flicking up the wrong-sided safety and dropping the buckle down over it. The 1911 and 89k had only been manufactured as right-handed weapons and that was only a little infuriating to her, but Summer was right-handed, so she'd continue to play the part.

"I mean I guess so. You're the expert."

"Wow, I'm actually glad you think so, Rae."

She shrugged. "I tells it like I sees it."

Ruby chuckled and gently punched Raven in the arm, who very quickly and amicably reciprocated. Turning away, she very easily and very sportingly jumped up on the log and then flipped off the other side, landing softly in the grass on the other side. She turned to watch Raven vault the log with one hand, probably so as to not drop her new guns into the dirt. As nice as they were, the open action of the rifles were prone to clogging up with mud and jamming, and that wouldn't be so good if they were suddenly ambushed by a Grimm.

"So, other than having to carry a gun, are you enjoying your day so far, Rae?"

The tall woman shrugged, brushing herself off. "I guess. It's a lot of walking. And it's not that I'm not enjoying having a gun, I just think it's a little peculiar, that's all. Where did you get them, even?"

"Rudolf's gun store, downtown. They were like, two hundred lien a pop, and he gave me a deal on the bayonettes."

"When did you have time to go downtown?"

"I had to get my axe sharpened, so I went early this morning."

"But how did you get there and back without us knowing?"

Ruby paused, trying to figure out how to explain it without revealing her semblance.

"Uh, I know a guy."

Raven blinked at her. "Alright, then. Keep your secrets." She pushed past, rejoining the boys and their cargo. Ruby chuckled to herself, sighing and reminiscing for a second, before getting back in gear and skipping along behind them. She caught up, lining herself up with Tai and settling their march into a two-by-two pattern, with Raven and her irate brother tailing them by about twelve feet.

"How ya doin', buddy?" she questioned of the blond man, bopping him in the shoulder to grab his attention."

"M'alright, it's a fine day for a walk in the forest."

"I couldn't agree more. It's almost too warm out for this combat dress, eh?"

"You're right. You should have packed your tactical cargo shorts." he chuckled, gesturing down to his own beige shorts. "You can fit so many things in here. Snacks, books, band-aids... sun tan lotions..."

Ruby snorted. "I don't need you to justify your shorts to me, Tai, I'm already on your side. It's Captain Sense Of Style back there who disagrees with us!" she said, turning her head and directing her voice behind them.

"Beige is tacky!" Qrow yelled back.

"You're tacky!" Tai exclaimed with a grin, careful to not drop his cargo off his shoulders. Qrow swore something under his breath from behind them, that unfortunately for him, Ruby heard.

"Ey! Watch your tongue around the little one!"

Qrow brought his hands up in mock apology. "Sor-ry, princess."

"She's right, shut up." Raven smacked him on the back of the head, nearly making him drop to the ground. A little softer wouldn't have hurt.

"Since when are you on her side, Rae?!" he demanded.

"She's my partner."

"But I'm your brother! Twin brother!"

"Yeah, and you're a giant pain in the..." she paused to look back at them. "...butt."

Ruby smiled and winked, turning back to Tai as the siblings started to bicker back and forth behind them.

"Quite a pair, aren't they?"

He wiggled his eyebrows and sighed. "Very much so. Tried to take a shower this morning to find the two of them actually fighting over the toothpaste."

Ruby paused for a second. "Oh, that's why there's only three tubes. I thought one of you kept yours in your drawers or something."

"Yeah, sounds like..." he shuffled his shoulders to keep his precious cargo up on them. "...we gotta take them shopping."

"Ugh, I was literally just out shopping with Rae and you remember how that turned out."

Tai frowned down at her. "No, I don't quite know what you mean."

Ruby froze.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Don't worry about it, everything's fine." she tried with a smile. Tai's face suggested he didn't quite believe her, but was too afraid to ask. "How's your back? Need a break?"

He looked up to the face of his cargo. She seemed otherwise occupied with holding on to his head and looking around.

"I think I'm fine. Cindy, honey, you okay?"

The little girl on his shoulders looked down at him and nodded vigorously, smiling, before getting distracted by a butterfly. Ruby beamed up at the precious little angel up on Tai's shoulders. It was a real contrast to what she thought she knew about the little girl. So innocent and pure. There was no way she would turn out like her memories indicated. She was going to make sure of that.

"So, not that I'm against it or anything, but I do have to ask..." Tai started, hiking his shoulders and keeping the little girl centered. "...But why are we bringing her with us?"

"Why?" Ruby looked up to Cindy, reaching the long way up the tall man, and tickling little Cindy in the spot between her shoulder and her ear. "Because Auntie Summer broke the fundamental laws of time and physics and has to pay the price! Isn't that right, my little munchkin?"

Cindy flushed and giggled, trying desperately and unsuccessfully to pull away. Tai chuckled.

"You did what?"

"Don't worry about it."

He blinked at her. "Alright, if you say so, boss."

"No, Headmaster asked me to babysit her. Wants me to help her unlock her semblance or something. Not really sure how that's gonna be possible, though."

"Why, because she's so young?"

"Being young doesn't have an effect on your semblance. My sister unlocked hers when she was like two. You-" she paused. "Her dad tried to cut her hair and she exploded."

"Exploded."

"Yeah, set the living room on fire. Had to buy all new furniture and flooring. Do you know how bad burning laminate smells?"

"I'm sure I don't want to." he said, handing a lollipop up to Cindy, who opened it, stuck it in her mouth, and handed the wrapper back down to him.

"You will, soon enough." Ruby chided, hitting him with her elbow.

"God, I hope not." he said, bumping her back. "So what do you think her semblance is gonna be?"

"Fire. And that's a problem."

"How would you know that? And how would that be a problem?"

Ruby sighed. "Well, her name is Cinder..."

"It is?" he said with surprise in his voice. "I thought Cindy was short for like Cynthia or something. Cinder's a lot cooler than what I was thinking."

"She's a cool girl. But that's not the problem."

"Well, what is the problem then?"

Ruby reached up to neatly brush the hair out of Cindy's face and put it back behind her ear. She smiled through her lollipop.

"She's pyrophobic."

Tai frowned.

"Excuse me?"

Ruby leaned in and lowered her voice. "She's afraid of fire. Ozpin found her in a burning village, trapped in a collapsed house. She can barely deal with desk candles."

"...oh, damn. Maybe her semblance will be something harmless like water projection or super-speed or something?"

"B...believe me, it's not. Just trust me on this, okay?"

"Whatever you say, Mere. If that's what we gotta do, then that's what we'll-"

"Grimm spotted!" Raven suddenly interrupted, nearly making the three of them leave their skins.

Ruby immediately slung her rifle off her shoulder and got her hands around the grips, slamming the bolt up and back to open it. She spun around to her partner and Qrow, who had done the same. A good show of determination and trust that they hadn't immediately reached for their swords. "Where?"

"Not far off the path. Just one Creep from what I can see." she said, lowering her binoculars. She was proving an even more spatially aware lookout than Ruby had initially imagined she would be.

"I dunno, Creeps tend to move in packs of five or more." she said, pushing a stripper clip into the top of the old rifle and forcing the big rounds down past the follower. With a practised flick of her wrist, she sent the bolt back forward and down into battery, flipping the volley sight up into position.

"Really, I was more under the impression that they were partners, and I was forced to share a room with them."

It took Ruby a second to get the joke, but once it had finished processing in her brain she smirked, shouldering the gun and moving to the edge of the path. Sure enough, there was the single Creep, about two hundred yards off or so between the trees. She'd always found them weird looking. Where a Beowulf looked like a big dog, a Goliath like an elephant, and Nevermores like huge crows, Creeps always looked off. Like someone had taken a Komodo Dragon and edited out the torso and left it just with its hind legs. Not scary, just weird.

"Right, get in position. Tai, keep Cindy behind you."

"Yes, ma'am." he said, gently bending down to let the small child off his shoulders. She was surprisingly calm, despite the monster within attacking range. He too quickly loaded up and came into line.

"Right, has anyone fired a rifle before?" she asked, not expecting any affirmative answers.

"I went pigeon hunting with my mom once. Like, when I was seven." Tai said, fiddling with his safety. "Does that count?"

Ruby lowered her rifle all the way. Grandma had taken him hunting when he was a child? And yet he'd steadfastly kept guns out of her and Yang's hands until they were fourteen, that didn't seem fair to her. She made a face at him. To be fair, he hadn't done that yet.

"Eh, not really. A shotgun has no range, you don't have to account for windage, bullet drop, or the Coriolis effect." She re-shouldered her rifle. "These seven-nine-two full metal cartridges are also gonna kick worse than forty gauge birdshot and a lot worse than any modern PDW."

"So why aren't we using dust rounds?" Qrow asked from just to her left. He was still fighting with the almost eighty-year-old volley sight on his gun.

"Because dust is expensive, and these old rifle rounds will rip through Grimm armour plate like its tissue paper."

He seemed to balk at her sudden answer.

"So why the hell isn't everyone just using regular bullets?!"

"Because it's incredibly hard to acquire a PAL in Vale, especially if you're under twenty-five, and gunpowder ammunition is also crazy expensive and out of the reach of most consumers. Dust rounds are about a third as effective, but cost about a tenth the price, comparatively."

"Shit."

"I used to have a weapon that fired the incredibly illegal .50 BMG cartridge."

"And how did you get those?!" he asked, perplexed.

"She knows a guy." Raven and Tai said almost exactly in sync. Ruby smiled and looked over at Qrow.

"What they said. Right, ready position."

That was their signal. As soon as she'd said it, both Tai and Qrow dropped a knee into the dirt, leaving her and Raven standing upright. Four rifles were levelled on target, almost at the end of the range of the old guns' volley sights. She'd taught them to not grip the body of the gun but to rest it on an open palm, as this better balanced a gun like it was on a shooting bag. Made it easier to lay on target at range.

"Set..." she dialed in her aim on target. She knew everyone else would either miss or merely wound it, so she had to make sure it would go down. It was an easy shot, straight ahead, minimal trees in obstruction, and with a fairly accurate rifle.

"Fire." she finished, calmly. Four loud bangs followed swiftly after as they all let fly. The rounds ripped through the foliage like it wasn't even there as the two-second delay snapped by and they hit their targets.

Targets, plural, of course, as she wasn't expecting any of them to be particularly good shots seeing as they all used melee-combat weapons and not distanced projectile ones. Two of the rounds went through the adjacent trees, only three or four feet off target. The third round, likely Tai's, went through the Grimm's left paw just below the ankle. Which would have crippled it enough to down it with a follow up shot, but Ruby hadn't given him the chance do reload his gun. She'd hit dead centre of the animal's face, millimetrically perfect between the eyes, severing the beast's brainstem, or what little there was of it, from its spine. It dropped to the ground mid-step like a sac of lead, crumpled and lifeless.

"Ho!" Tai cheered, having almost been knocked over by the recoil. "This thing really packs a punch! I want one of my own!"

"Eh, you can keep that one." Ruby shrugged, bringing the rifle only down enough to cycle the bolt and chamber a new round. "Keep your eyes out, there could be more."

"I've got movement ahead." Raven interjected, almost before Ruby could finish her statement. "Just behind where that one was."

Raven's rifle was the only one fitted with a proper scope, although it was an obsolete non-adjustable magnification sniper's sight, which made it difficult to aim at medium ranges like they were at. But with her almost hawk-like vision, Ruby'd decided she was the best candidate for being a spotter and carrying a scoped rifle.

"What's my lay?" Ruby asked, bringing the gun back up. Sure enough, there were three more black masses moving towards them from where the Creep had fallen.

"Maybe twenty more yards. You've got three incoming. Beowolves." Raven lowered her rifle for a second. "That's odd, why would they..."

"The creep was a decoy. Probably muscled into service. Same rules, closest one first." She finished. "Ready position."

"Are you telling me they bullied a Creep into being subservient? How is that possible?!"

"Did you pay attention in Peter's Grimm Studies lecture? Beowolves are notorious for drafting lesser Grimm into their ranks as decoys and sacrifices. Left side. Set."

They all went quiet and got the left-most Grimm layed on. Ruby let out her breath and steadied.

"Fire."

Again, four rounds went down range, tearing through the leading Grimm like it was part of the loose foliage. It too, went down like the creep had, crumpling to the ground with not even a yelp of pain. Surprising Ruby, three of the four shots hit the target this time. Someone was getting to grips with their firearm, it seemed.

"Range is still hot, target right."

They all readjusted, cycling their weapons and spitting hot brass into the dirt. Ruby turned her head back to Cindy. "You okay, sweetie? Are we being too loud?"

The little girl had her fingers in her ears and the little kitten doll tucked in the crook of her arm. She still had the lollipop in her mouth. Adorable, since even Ruby would have succumbed to the urge to just bite it apart by now. Cindy shook her head with a bright smile on her face. This put Ruby at considerable ease, knowing that the little angel felt perfectly safe in her care.

"Okay." she turned back to the Grimm. They were advancing kinda slowly in her opinion. She thought nothing of it. "Ready position."

Ruby'd left her gun with the spent casing in the chamber on purpose, as a test to her teammates. If any of them couldn't make the two hundred yard shot, she certainly could in a heartbeat, but she just wanted to see. "Set."

She braced. "Fire."

This time only three rounds went down range, but she faked the recoil anyways, making the gun lift and pulling it back like it had went off. Just like she'd expected, all three rounds had hit home this time, dropping the Grimm with a hit in the shoulder, stomach, and torso. A headshot would have downed it in one, of course, but the head was a tiny target for an inexperienced shooter, and aiming for it would have resulted in a miss. So the beast died as it fell, gurgling black blood out of its maw in its last few fleeting moments of life and making a pathetic attempt at a howl that never made it out of the lungs.

"Good shot, guys!" she said, unloading the fake spent cartridge and lowering the rifle.

"Why thank you, Mere." Tai tried, lowering his, standing up and cocking his hips at her. She chuckled, smirking in his direction.

"Don't be so full of yourself, Blondie. There's still one more."

"Yeah, but look how hesitant it is," Raven interjected, still having her scope trained on the animal down range. Ruby frowned.

"What? Give me your binoculars." she said, taking the item from her partner and looking through the eyepieces.

Sure enough, the final Beowolf of the pack was gingerly stepping around the decaying bodies of its comrades, a sight usually unheard of for the mindless creatures. But this one seemed almost remorseful. Scared, even. Ruby lowered the binoculars. Something wasn't right.

"Hmm. Well, better not leave it standing in case it has to report back to a superior. Watch this."

She slammed the bolt forward, chambering the next round and hoisted the stock up to her shoulder. Firing right-handed was a little more difficult, but not hugely, as she'd learned how after spraining her wrist during second year, and she always thought she was a good enough shot wrong-sided.

"What d'you mean, 'a superior', Summer?" Raven asked, pulling the last unfired round out of her gun.

"Doesn't matter, I'm sure it's nothing. Watch this, look at the Grimm, Rae."

She did, training her scope down range.

"Okay..."

"See the left eye?"

"Uh, yeah?"

Ruby pulled her trigger. The heavy rifle punched backwards into her shoulder, rising up a lot higher than the recoil-compensated sniper she loved so dearly. A hell of a kick for such a mediocre sized round, despite being absolutely massive compared to an equivalent calibre dust round, which even a child could one-hand. The lead sailed down range at her target, which was blissfully unaware of the pain it was about to endure. Most dust cartridges fired at sub-sonic speeds, meaning if you were far enough away, you could watch a round leave a gun and follow the trajectory with your eye. But the 89K fired at a staggering two and a half times the speed of sound, meaning that without the use of expensive high-speed cameras and two dorky blokes to operate them, the bullet was basically invisible.

Meaning the poor Beowolf had zero time to react as the round went in through it's left eye socket and back out through the back of its skull, bringing a mass of brain matter and black, acrid blood with it.

"Aw, gross, Mere!" Raven cried, wincing and wrenching her eyes shut. "Good shot, though."

"That ain't nothing, watch this." she said, cycling the bolt again and putting the last of the five rounds into battery. She gently switched hands, grabbing around the trigger guard with her left hand this time, and brought the gun up to firing position just to get lay on target.

"Wait, aren't you spent?"

"Not... quite..." she dialed in her aim. She then took the butt of the stock off her shoulder and held the gun out before her. Like a pistol. With one hand. "Watch, right between the eyes, where the split in its armour plate is."

Raven brought her scope back up. "That's gonna kick you in the face, Mere!"

"Wanna bet?"

She pulled the trigger. Much like a military rifle firing with three thousand joules of energy with one hand might, the gun jumped backwards and up in her grip, nearly breaking her wrist a third time from the rotational torque. But she held on, trying not to grunt from the strain of keeping the butt end of the stock from punching her lights out. Her first time firing Crescent Rose like this before she'd installed the recoil compensator had resulted in her waking up in the infirmary at Signal with a black eye and four stitches in her left eyebrow.

Her bullet hit home, exactly where she'd predicted, splitting the beast's compromised skull in twain and more or less ripping it from its shoulders. It stumbled forward a step, by whatever motor function synapse might have remained, before collapsing forward over the decaying Creep, dead. Raven gasped, turning and staring at her with a bewildered look.

"How did you- That's not-"

"Possible? What, did you think that the person who bought four very specific army rifles, expensive real steel cartridges, and planned out entire rifle company maneuvers didn't know how to shoot?"

Raven blinked at her. "Uh...yes? No?"

Ruby pulled the bolt back on her rifle, and spit the spent brass straight up in the air while holding eye contact with her flabbergasted teammate.

"Before you met me, this was what..." she snatched the shell out of the air like a fly. "...I was good at."

"I am genuinely, ceaselessly impressed by you, Sunshine. And a little scared, too." Raven said quietly, flipping her safety flag back over and slinging her rifle back around her back. "Remind me to never get into a gunfight with you."

"Oh, Rae, I don't think that'll ever be a problem." she quickly cheered, closing her bolt and slinging her rifle around her back. She turned back to the boys, who'd done the same, and to little Cindy, who was hiding a little timidly behind Tai's legs. Ruby smiled down at her, stepping towards the adorable child. "Would you like Aunty Summer to carry you, sweetheart?"

Cindy nodded, stepping out around Tai and skipping over with her arms out. Ruby caught the small child under the armpits and hoisted her up, letting the girl fall into the crook of her elbow as she wrapped her little legs around her stomach. The scratching sound of her adorable little navy blue wind pants and less than matching but very stylish black suede coat was acceptable as she got comfortable on her hip, keeping the little black kitten in her hand the whole time.

"There, all the monsters are gone now, you're safe with us."

"Are we not gonna point out the fact that she's probably the greatest shot in the world or anything?" Qrow demanded, making her redden in the cheeks a little. What a compliment. "There's no way any human being could have made a shot like that."

"Hmm, you're right," she chided. "Maybe I'm some kind of eagle faunus, you don't know."

"Well... you'd have... different eyes, I assume, or like, feathers..."

"Maybe I do have feathers. How would you know, you haven't seen me naked."

Qrow went red in the face. Ruby wiggled her eyebrows at the poor boy, who huffed and stormed off to the laughter of Taiyang and Cindy, who both thought it was most amusing.

"I have." Raven deadpanned.

Ruby turned to her, swinging the little girl around on her hip. "Now, Rae, we said we wouldn't talk about that to the boys."

"I'm just trying to show up my little brother, c'mon." she said with a smirk. "Besides, we live in the same room, the only thing separating us is that canvas divider. I assume that they assume we change together."

"We're twins!" Qrow yelled back from the distance.

"I was born first!" Raven yelled back.

"Two minutes doesn't count!"

"Yes it does!"

Ruby snickered, holding Cindy tight to her. Arguably, Raven was right. Even two minutes was enough to be considered older, and now that she knew this fact, she knew that she was gonna berate the hell out of poor Qrow about this.

"Alright, shall we break for lunch, guys?"

"Sure, why not."

/.../

"Okay, I understand the guns, and the gunpowder cartridges, and the holsters, and the leather drop pouches, and the weird stances..."

Ruby blinked at her partner, currently spoon-deep in her food. The small campfire she'd made was really only to cook over, as it was a balmy nineteen degrees out, but she was sitting pretty close to it anyways.

"Yeah?"

"But did you have to bring us these?" she asked, holding up her package of lunch, flat-vacuumed in green plastic. "Like, what, is this even food? And what's this stand for, MRE?"

"Meals Rejected by the Enemy," quipped Tai, through a mouthful of steamed pea and carrot paste. Raven made a dry chuckle.

"Meals, Ready to Eat." Ruby corrected, picking up her coffee and sipping it to wash down the heavily-barbecue flavoured steak pieces. "If it's good enough for the brave men and women of the Armed Forces, it's good enough for us. Besides, you've got all the essentials of a hearty meal there. Red meat, vegetables, fruit, two slices of bread, a piece of brownie..."

"I'd hardly consider this bread. It's barely cardboard."

"It's fine, Raven," Qrow said, swallowing one of his rice cakes in one mouthful. "C'mon, we're fine. We haven't passed out yet. Just close your eyes and enjoy the fact that it's not fresh rabbit stew."

Raven frowned down at her lap and into her food.

"But I don't wanna," she pouted. "This is really gross. And how come she doesn't have to eat one?" she grimaced, gesturing to Little Cindy, who was enjoying a ham sandwich that Ruby had made for her in the morning.

"Because she's five years old, Rae, I'm not gonna make her eat these, that would be cruel."

"I'm seventeen, and this is cruel."

Ruby levelled a fierce glare across the campfire at her. "Eat. Your. Food."

"What if I don't?"

"Well, I was gonna take us to Chez Gaston after this mission, but you're on your way to ruining that, Rae-Rae."

The tall woman recoiled, shocked and disgusted. "You wouldn't! I love that place!"

"Mmm, I might."

Without another word but with another sour look, Raven pulled the cover off her MRE and dug in, frowning at her across the fire with every bite. Ruby just shook her head, and finished off her own, carefully closing the wrapper and putting it neatly away inside a large plastic sandwich bag with Tai's empty package as well. With Cindy finished her sandwich, she stood up and away from the fire, picking the small child up and into her arms again. The poor girl seemed sleepy, which was fair giving the time of day and the knowledge that Ozpin probably got her up at six in the morning to be at the school. In fact, she herself felt kinda tired after their very very long trek into the woods. The only person who didn't seem kind of tired was Taiyang, who was now standing off in the woods, eating the last of his pretzels. She joined him.

"Hey, big guy."

"Hey yourself." he said with a smile.

"How're you feeling?"

A shrug. "I'm alright. Just didn't want to get in the middle of that argument."

"Yeah, better that you don't. I'm afraid Raven's a child herself, sometimes. Very little foresight."

"Good thing she's damn beautiful, or I'd be inclined to agree with you."

"Yeah, you're right on that one, Blondie. She is beautiful." She sighed, content, looking back over her shoulder at the gorgeous woman, currently flicking her hair back out of her face in a very conditioner-advertisement way.

Tai hummed in appreciation. "Yeah..."

Ruby turned back to him. "On that note, explain to me why you haven't enacted our plan, yet. The longer you wait, the more she slips out of your court, man!"

He winced. "Well, it's not that easy, Summer. I have to build up to it. I'm not just gonna pounce, I'm better than that."

"You got a problem with pouncing, Tai? She's an aggressive girl, she needs an intense approach. Some showmanship, some style. Some balls, you know? Because I know you have those, mister 'sleeps naked in a communal room'."

"Look, I'm sorry about that."

Ruby cut him off with a raised hand. "Don't. I don't wanna think about it. Just use those things, man! You gotta go get her! C'mon!"

"I can't."

"What, moral aversion?"

"No, it's just..." he paused, scratching his head. "I'm scared, man."

"Scared?! I'm sorry, what was it that Glynda called you on the first day? Horn-dog Xiao Long? Is that right?"

"Yeah, but that's different..."

"How?!"

"Well... Raven's scary..."

"And women like Glynda are not? I'm pretty sure she's taller than Rae-Rae, which is a great feat of evolution, if I'm honest because holy shit..." She paused, looking to the girl in her arms. "Please excuse my language, honey. Don't tell Oscar."

Cindy made the gesture of zipping her lips shut. Ruby smiled.

"I won't tell, Auntie Summer." she said in her adorable soft, lilted voice. Her lisp was coming through as she spoke, and it very much was nearly making Ruby buckle from the cuteness.

"Well, that's very kind of you." she said, putting the child down and neatly brushing the tangles out of the curtain of black hair, pulling it back into two very small pigtails so it was out of her eyes. "So what do you think, do you think Auntie Raven and Uncle Tai should get married?"

"Wai-"

"Uh huh!" she said gleefully, nodding and beaming like a spotlight. And this was the woman who was supposed to have murdered her best friend and burnt the school to the ground? As if.

"See, Cindy's on my side, aren't you precious?" she tickled the little girl under her chin, making her giggle and recoil, trapping her fingers between chin and collar, only exaggerating the problem. "Now, Tai, I'm gonna say this once, because I love and respect you, you need to go over there now, and get this over with."

"Now?! Are you insane? What am I supposed to even say?"

"Not a pickup line like you used on me, day one."

"Oh, come on, that one was good."

"'Is your name as pretty as your face', right, try using that on someone you've lived with for a month and a half, see how well that goes."

"Yeah, no, I didn't think that one through."

"No, you didn't. Try the natural approach. Straight up say 'would you like to go to dinner', and that's all."

"But to dinner? Really? Isn't that like... me assuming she's into eating..."

Ruby paused, not quite sure what he meant by that. "Bud, I'm pretty sure everyone likes eating..."

"No, that's not what I... like... more that I'd be assuming that she's a pig and gorges herself, or whatever..."

She squinted, as Cindy totted off after a butterfly for a few moments.

"Well... whatever point you were making, I'll just assume you were being obtuse, and tell you that she's a veritable connoisseur of fine foods. She's a machine when it comes to eating, bud, and she'll out-eat you and I in a heartbeat."

"...What?"

"She's like, six-two and probably pushing a hundred and seventy pounds of muscle," she gestured to herself. "She's got a massively powerful metabolism, and the appetite to back it up. You're barely taller than she is, and she's got the same build as you, if just a little more feminine."

"Are you saying I'm feminine?"

"I'm saying you're not man enough to ask her out. Because if you don't, I will."

"Excuse me?"

"Just go. And now." She said, pointing fervently back over to the campfire. "Aussitôt."

"Alright, alright, jeez."

She more or less shoved him back, collecting Cindy in her arms again and carrying her back over to the campfire. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Hot had managed to let the fire go out in the five minutes she'd been gone, which honestly didn't surprise her that much.

"Rae, hon," she called, snagging her attention away from her brother for the briefest of moments. "Tai here's got something he wants to say to you."

She swallowed her mouthful of brownie. "Whassat?"

Tai, unfortunately, didn't say anything. He just stood there, this look of contemplation on his face like his brain was stuck in a loading screen. Ruby smacked him on the back, gesturing to Cindy to do the same. She did, just softer with her very small hands.

"C'mon, we haven't got all day, bud. That radio tower is not gonna repair itself, get your mouth in gear!"

"Look, I'm trying, okay?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Can you not?"

Raven had either lost interest or become annoyed, and she'd turned herself back around to face her brother. "Whatever, you guys are weird."

"Rae, Tai has something he'd like to ask you. Isn't that right?" she smacked him again. "Qrow, would you mind giving us a minute?"

The boy shrugged and got up, stepping over the flamed-out fire pit and passed her and Tai. She stopped him for only a moment to hand Cindy to him. He seemed a little out of place with a child in his arms, with the whole grey jacket, skinny jeans, eyeliner, and edge that she was almost hesitant to let go of Cindy. But she needed to fix the Tai and Raven situation, so she relented internally and let him take her away from the circle. Somewhere behind her, she heard him opening another lollipop.

"Okay, what do you want?" Raven asked, with that look in her eye like her lunch wasn't fully agreeing with her. Maybe the MREs were a bad idea after all. "'Cause Sunshine's right, we technically don't have all day."

Ruby caught Tai looking nervously over to her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Go on, 'fraidy cat."

"I just..." he started. "...I was wondering if... you'd... with me 'n..."

Raven's interest was piqued, her eyebrows raised. Ruby folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently, absentmindedly flipping her hair out of her face and biting her lip. How hard could this possibly be? Asking someone out was easy, even if they were abrasive, aggressive, and outwardly rude. She'd done it before, and she was a lot less charismatic than Tai was. She wondered how she'd gotten that far anyways, without his charming good looks, perfect blond hair, rippling muscles...

She looked away, red in the face, having to fan away the heat under her collar.

"I'm listening." Raven's words distracted her from the impure thoughts that had flooded her vision.

Taiyang was distressed. "Well... you and I are... we could... would you..."

He was hopeless. Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "C'mon, you got it."

"You know what?" he huffed, crossing his arms. "No, screw this. It's not the right time. Screw you, Summer."

He spun around on his heels and stomped off, leaving a moron-shaped cloud of dust in his wake. Ruby's eye twitched, as she tried to unclench her muscles from the frustration. She sighed, dejected. How could he be so pretty yet so dense? She was right in front of him! He had the perfect opportunity! It was brilliant! But now, all her planning was for naught. Perhaps a call to Hei would solve this. A bit of muscle from the Mob might convince him, or at the very least a lesson from The Prophet would tell him that this was the right path to take for the survival of mankind. Well, peoplekind. Can't forget the Faunus, of course.

"The hell was that?" her partner asked, standing up from her log.

"It's not..." she tried, sighing and letting her shoulders droop. "An idiot, who I thought was more capable than he is."

"What was he trying to ask me?"

"It's not important, Rae. If he ever mans up and asks, you'll know. God, I wish he wasn't so... Taiyang."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She gave a pity smile.

"Let's just say that when the two of you get married, we'll look back on today as one of those 'why's he so fuckin' stupid' moments. You feel me?"

Raven went fully red in the face. "M-married, excuse me? That's not... no, what that's not gonna happen."

Ruby shrugged. "You're right, so far."

"Summer, I couldn't..."

"Time to enact plan S, then."

Raven gasped, placing a hand to her chest. "No, not plan S! Wait, what's plan S?"

"That thing we talked about last night."

She jumped back even further, nearly tripping backwards. "No, I can't!"

"Why fuckin' not?!" she almost yelled, before checking to see how far away Qrow and Cindy had gotten. Far enough to swear out loud. "What problem do you have with that?"

"It's... not the way people do things, right? He has to ask me, if I disrupt that process, we'll all be doomed. Doomed!"

"I appreciate your dramatic attitude, but we need to get your head in the game. Remember what I said."

"Right, the entire future depends on it. And somehow I'm the dramatic one, Mere."

Ruby reached up and gently tapped the tall woman on the cheek with her hand. "We'll get you there, Darling. Just you be patient."

"I know, I know." she said with a rather endearing smile. "Just hope you can help me get to him before anyone else does."

Ruby's face twisted. "Who the hell else would?!"

"I dunno, there's plenty of people at school. That Glynda girl, you, Meyln across the hall... my stupid brother."

Ruby's thoughts took a minute to untangle from the pocket-full-of-headphones that Raven had just made turned them into.

"Your... brother... right, I don't think that's a possibility."

"You've seen the other side of the divider, they sleep naked!"

"They're just stupid boys, they'll-"

Raven brought her hand up to silence her. "Shush."

"... Don't shush me, Ra-"

"Shush! Did you feel that?"

There was a look of panic on her face. Ruby suddenly felt a sharp pang of fear shoot up her back, standing all the hairs on her neck on end.

"Feel what?"

"Something's not right..."

This time, she felt it. The ground rumbled under her boots. Not a huge amount, but a steady amount. Fair play to Raven, who's thinner, stylish leather riding boots probably had more feel than her own all-buckles steel-toed ones.

"No, that's an accurate assumption. What is that?"

"Not sure. Underground railroad?"

Ruby shook her head. "It's not even started construction yet I don't think. No, that's... that's not a machine..."

They looked nervously at each other, frozen in place. The rumbling got stronger. And faster. And closer. Ruby whipped her head around to Tai, Qrow and Cindy. They too were now huddled together, searching around for what could possibly be making that noise. Poor Cindy looked terrified. Ruby's breath caught in her throat.

Then, with a mighty roar, it burst from the ground.