Ruby gasped and she sat up quickly. Wincing in pain, she looked around, trying to find out where she was. Multiple IVs and electrodes dangled from her body. Hospital, then. Beside her, on her left side, Weiss startled awake. "Ruby…?" she asked, still groggy from her sleep. "You're…awake!" The heiress scooted her chair closer to the bed and took Ruby's hand in her own.

"Wha-? What happened?" Ruby's voice was low and hoarse.

"You were dead, Ruby. Dead dead. I carried your body back to Vale myself."

Ruby looked down at her fingers, feeling the warmth of Weiss's hands over hers. "Well, uh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'm still very much alive."

Weiss smacked her over the head. "Not funny, Ruby."

"Ouch, okay, sorry. Jeez." Ruby rubbed her head with her armored hand and leaned back. "So, what happened?"

"Like I said, I carried you back. You weren't breathing, you had no pulse. We got you back to Beacon and Professor Ozpin took one look at you and sent you to the hospital. He said, 'The Gauntlet doesn't lie.' Sure enough, just a little while after convincing the doctors to give a dead woman a room, you coughed and started breathing again. As best we can tell, the old magic in the Gauntlet must've preserved you long enough to seek medical attention."

Ruby sat up and scrambled at her back. Weiss hung her head. "I'm sorry, Ruby. The doctors did everything they could." Weiss handed Ruby a small hand mirror.

The first thing Ruby noticed was the deep scar over her right eye. She blinked her eyes several times until she was sure she was seeing correctly out of both. She ran a metal-laden finger over the deep fissure in her skin. "This scar is old. How long was I out?"

Weiss took a breath. "Seventeen days." Ruby nearly dropped the mirror.

"Seventeen days? Guess I have a lot to catch up on." Weiss motioned for Ruby to continue her examination.

Ruby shrugged off the hospital gown, freeing her torso of the soft material. She craned her head around and used the mirror to try and get a decent glance at her back. What little she could see was a bright red scar swathed across her lower shoulder blades and back. It was shaped, vaguely, like a starburst. Ruby set the mirror down in her lap, then, to Weiss's surprise, shrugged and grinned.

"Cool. I've got a couple of kickass scars. And my eye even matches yours!" Ruby laughed.

"Wait, what?" Weiss asked, incredulously.

"What, you think a couple of scars will bring me down? This girl just cheated death!" Ruby pulled Weiss into a deep hug. After a while, the two untangled themselves and began discussing events. Ruby told Weiss all about her two years with Qrow and Ozpin—all the training, sparring, exercising. She told Weiss about the Vault and the few run-ins with the Guardians she'd had. As she talked, Weiss took the time to truly give Ruby a full inspection. She looked relatively the same, just older and buffer—and taller. Weiss frowned at that, but it quickly passed. She truly was beautiful.

After Ruby finished her tales, Weiss told Ruby about what had transpired while she was away. She recanted the events of Penny's fatal match with Cinder. Ruby fiddled with her Guantlet during the story, her eyes downcast. Weiss moved to cheerier subjects, going on about the new couples and events.

"Oh! Ironwood survived!" Weiss exclaimed, almost forgetting. She knew the old general's death had weighed on Ruby and Ruby's grin revealed her relief at the news. "You'll never believe it, but turns out Ironwood was actually mostly cyborg." Weiss nodded at Ruby's raised eyebrow. "Yep, turns out he was actually Penny Mark I." The two girls giggled at the thought of the old war hero in a dress, wearing a curly red wig. "He's headed back to Atlas with Penny's power core and memory banks. I'm sure once he's finished, he'll let her visit."

Ruby nearly cried at the good news. "Hmm, what else happened?" Weiss thought. "Oh! Your sister and Blake got engaged!"

"What." Ruby said, flatly.

"It's true," Weiss nodded, "and do you know who proposed?"

"Yang, probably."

Weiss shook her head. "Blake did."

"What?" Ruby asked again.

The heiress laughed softly as Ruby shook her head, trying to absorb the information.

"Wait, Weiss…" Ruby was suddenly completely serious. "What about Pyrrha?"

Weiss glanced at the Gauntlet. "We couldn't extract her soul by ourselves. As far as we know, she's still in there. We were hoping that once you woke up, you could tell us."

Ruby reached her consciousness deep into the old armor piece. Sure enough, deep inside, was Pyrrha's soul, still faintly pulsing with life. Ruby stroked the Gauntlet quietly, and whispered words that Weiss couldn't catch. The Gauntlet lit up and they both felt Pyrrha's presence grow. "Jaune has been in here every day, talking to his two favorite girls," Weiss explained.

A smile graced Ruby's lips as she looked up to Weiss. "Everything's going to be okay now, Weiss. We all made it."

Soft knocking at the door nearly caused the two young Huntresses to jump out of their skin. Standing in the doorway was Mercury Black. Ruby was instantly on guard but Weiss stood up and offered the young man her arm and helped him into the room. He was hunched over, like an old man. His head was shaved bald and several deep scars tore through his face. Ruby wondered why Weiss would let the attempted murderer of her sister in her room, but her fears were washed away with his soft words.

"Ruby Rose," he began. His voice sounded completely different. Any trace of arrogance or vileness had been replaced with humility and sadness. "I've done horrible things to your family, and to you. I helped a criminal commit atrocious acts and I committed equally atrocious deeds in her name. I know you could never forgive me, but I wanted to tell you that I truly am sorry. Emerald came to see me that day. She told me of the compassion your teammate showed her. Before they took her away, she gave me this." Mercury extended a small plastic card. "It's every lien she's ever stolen. She wants you to give it back to the people, to Vale. It's her way of atoning for what she did."

Ruby sat, speechless, as she accepted the crippled man's offering. "Ruby, you changed our lives for the better. I want you to know that Emerald was free. She had started to let go of the hate she'd held in her heart, just as I have let go of mine. You saved us, Ruby. Thank you." Mercury bowed his marred head and slowly hobbled to his feet. Weiss helped him out of the door and kissed his bald head before he disappeared.

As she sat back down in her chair, she smiled at Ruby. "I hope you can forgive him. He's lost so much all in the name of a cause he never truly believed in. If it helps, Yang's already made nice with him. Blake…well…not so much."

Ruby tried to form words with her mouth as she clutched the fortune-filled plastic chit in her fingers. Tears streamed from her eyes and Weiss was instantly there, comforting her and holding her.

After Ruby's tears had subsided, the two girls sat, hand-in-hand, staring out of the window, into the rising sun. "It's not over, is it, Weiss?" Ruby asked, her voice small and sad.

"They never found Black Taurus, no. And my father and sister are up to something." Weiss didn't mention seeing Raven at the warehouse. Ruby wouldn't be able to handle it and Weiss didn't want to open that particular can of worms yet. "I can tell you something, though, Ruby. As long as we're all together, we'll win."

Weiss smiled at Ruby. Ruby sniffed and returned the smile, small and meek. Weiss leaned in and as the sun rose over Vale, the two Huntresses kissed, passionately.

Part I:

The End

They killed my son. They killed my most trusted agents. They have made a fool out of me. Not again. I will return. I will have my vengeance upon Vale and all her inhabitants. Ready your precious students, professor, for I will wash over Vale as a tsunami washes over an island. I will drown you in sorrow and despair. When the time comes, and I have exacted my vengeance, you will beg for death. I am coming back. Prepare.

Author's Note: END OF PART ONE! I want to thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to read, like, favorite, follow, and/or comment on my story. You guys are awesome! No, seriously, you are! Fifty chapters. Man, I never thought I'd see this all the way through. And I've still got big plans!

I had planned to take a short hiatus from this story to work on some other projects, but after the overwhelming amount of positive feedback on my last few stories, I have decided to jump directly into Part II. So keep an eye out! I've decided that I will publish it as "Sunshine and Shadows II", just so that everyone knows it's the second in a trilogy.

Thank you all for reading and enjoying. I love you all. See you guys in the next part!

-Adam Beck

Keep Moving Forward.