Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in any sense of legal copyright. I just made this nightmare.

Road to the End, Volume 3

By: athrunzala

01: Information

"And you're absolutely certain of this?"

"Oh yeah. And Ruby?"

"Yeah, Emerald?"

"Thanks for trusting me."

The young leader ended the call with her informant, the mint-haired girl's information coming as a slight shock. According to her, Cinder, the very woman responsible for the current situation that they were in, was nearby.

Ruby turned around again to face her team mates, putting her scroll back in her pocket as she did. Looking around, she nodded with certainty. And she knew it in her head, before she even had to say it out loud. They couldn't tell Jaune.

It had been a good two and a half years since the Battle of Beacon, and the blonde swordsman still hadn't come to grips with the death of his partner. He tried to hide it, but the smile he wore on his face had become more and more hollow with each passing day. Training with Dante had done nothing to curb his desire for revenge, and he seemed hell bent on ignoring the advice he had been given by both Qrow and Winter.

None of this was lost on his friends. They had been watching the change from the sidelines, any attempts at helping him with his issues being met with a stern message to get away from him; the barrier he was building around himself making no sense to the rest.

Ruby walked up to the window overlooking the training room, only to jump back a good foot as Pollux flew up and impacted the barrier, falling harmlessly to the floor, followed by Weiss screaming into the microphone about how Jaune and Dante "need to be more careful" as the facility was "good, but not perfect". The pair shook their heads as the dueling sword fighters continued their brawl, and proceeded to the door, where Blake and Yang were both waiting.

"Don't you want to stay and watch, Weiss?"

"Thanks for the consideration, Ruby, but no, thank you. Those two are going at it like common brawlers. Almost no finesse."

"But," Blake interjected, her calm, alto-tone voice welcome in almost any discussion, "Jaune had been getting better. This is the first time he has ever gotten a weapon away from Dante."

"Yeah! And he's really shaping up as strategist!"

The trio turned to look at Yang, the blonde woman's outburst partly a signal that she was back to normal. Well... almost. There was still one thing she didn't like about her new prosthesis.

"Weiss?"

"Yes, Yang?"

"Why do I need to have these... these... things on when we aren't in the arena?"

"You mean the Normal Plates? They are a slightly lighter weight, and are meant for use when doing things of a less dangerous nature. Like going on dates," the heiress punctuated her ending remark with a knowing expression and tone, which had the blonde reeling for an answer.

"Yang," the cat Faunus queried, "What is she talking about?"

"You see... Blake... uh... I uuh... What she means is that..." She scanned the room they were in, praying for an escape. Seeing none, the blonde woman invented one.

"Gotta go shower. Yeah. Then maybe train when the arena is free. Right. Train. See ya!"

She sped off, leaving the rest of Team RWBY in a slight lurch.

"Ruby, what is with your sister?"

"Well, you see..." the younger girl chuckled nervously.

"You're gonna have to ask her when the time is right, Blake. It isn't Ruby's story to tell."

"I'll take your word, then," their ninja-like companion sighed before heading off to do... whatever it was she did when she wasn't reading, leaving the young couple alone together.

"Thanks, Weiss. I wasn't sure how to answer that one and you really came through without my asking you for help and... mmmfmmmm..."

She was silenced when the heiress, in a slightly unusual move for her, pulled on Ruby's cloak, whipping her into a kiss.

"What was that for," she asked once released.

"That," the younger Schnee said in a matter-of-fact tone, "was your payment for helping you out."

"I could get used to those."

"Just... just don't expect them to all be like that."

"I won't. Now, for the other issue."

"And that is... what? Exactly?"

"Do we tell Ren and Nora about the fact that Cinder is in Atlas?"

Both girls whipped around upon hearing a sword clatter on the marble floor. Their eyes grew wide as they saw Jaune stoop down quickly, retrieve his fallen weapon, and then rush off.

Ruby turned to Weiss, a worried expression on her face. "This..."

"...isn't going to end well," the Heiress finished.

Two days later, and Ren and Nora were trudging along behind Jaune, the orange haired female keeping her feet almost squarely planted on the ground, as opposed to her usual gliding skip. The taller male was, likewise, less than enthused about where they were going.

"You know we probably shouldn't have left Team RWBY out of this."

"They can't help us," was the reply, coming off as harsh and cold from the man who had once been a nervous ball of uncertainty.

It had been only a day ago when Jaune had left from the Schnee estate, with Ren and Nora following. The pair had been asked by Weiss to keep an eye on their well-intentioned, but poorly informed leader. So here the trio was, trudging through the cooler alpine regions around Atlas, on their hunt for a most dangerous target.

"Nora, I'm worried about Jaune."

"I'm sure he's fine. Weiss just wanted us to look after him because nobody should be alone, silly!"

Ren smiled slightly at his girlfriend's optimism. She had always been like that since they were little. Ever since their parents had been lost in a Grimm attack on their home town. It had later been revealed as a White Fang assault, but the damage had been done. Nora was a mess, and no amount of therapy was going to put her back to how she had once been. Both of them had sworn to take out as many Grimm as they could to prevent other children from ending up in the same situation that they were in.