The Final Exam

Beacon isn't the kind of school you just get a diploma from. You have to earn it. And the only way is by passing your final exam…

Ruby fidgeted in her seat, her fingers inching towards Crescent Rose where it was strapped to her belt. The clock on the wall opposite her continued its steady counting, indifferent to her agitation for it to go faster.

This was the day. Graduation.

Well, almost.

She paced anxiously in front of the arena door like a trapped dog waiting to be let out to run, trying to stay out of sync with the maddening ticking of the clock. Today was her Final, the last test before she received her Huntress Semblance.

Ruby paused, her heart thrumming in her chest. This was all that stood between her and achieving all her dreams.

"Nervous?"

She jumped slightly at the voice and spun to face her companion.

"Professor Ozpin? What are you doing here?"

Beacon's headmaster offered her one of his detached smiles that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm here to inform you of the rules and expectations of this exam." How exactly he had entered the room without making a sound, Ruby hoped she would learn after today.

"Oh, right." She turned to give him her full attention, clasping her hands tightly to keep them from darting back to her weapon.

Ozpin waited a few seconds, almost as if he were listening for something or waiting for exactly the right time to begin. Ruby bit her lip to try to remain patient and polite. She wasn't that same yammering kid who had impressed the headmaster four years ago. At least she hoped she wasn't. "You've passed the written portion and your team has completed the required field test so now you are qualified to take the Final." Ozpin began, sounding like he had said this far too many times to retain any interest in it.

Ruby started to nod but the professor suddenly leaned closer, staring deep into her eyes. Ruby shifted in alarm, her jitters replaced with a strange sense of dread from the proximity. His emerald eyes peered deeply into her silver orbs.

"This Final is an ancient right-of-passage for Hunters and Huntresses. Every warrior in this world with that burden has taken and passed the test that awaits you. For some, it is hard, for others it is impossible, for a few, it breaks them completely. Let me warn you now Ruby, this test will be the most difficult you will ever face." He told her solemnly. "But know that if you succeed, nothing will stand in your way again. Nothing will be able to defeat you. In this test, you must face your greatest challenge while simultaneously giving up your best asset."

Ruby's fingers curled around Crescent Rose defensively. "What must I do?" She asked. She knew that if he asked her to give up her prized weapon, she would most certainly fail. Her style was unique and relied heavily on the scythe.

Ozpin suddenly seemed to realize just how close to Ruby he was standing. He took a step back and sipped his ever-present coffee. "You must kill your opponent to pass." He said simply. His eyes glazed over blankly as he said that. "Only once either you or your opponent is dead will the test be over and the doors open."

Ruby nodded in understanding. "I'll do my best." She swallowed hard and pulled her folded up scythe off of her belt, cradling it carefully in her arm. With one hand she touched her left hip, where the lucky bottle of Dust her partner had given her for this day clinked against her spare shells.

Ozpin offered her a warm smile so unlike his usual detached demeanor that Ruby paused. "I saw to it that you got into this school Ruby, it only seems right that I watch you graduate as well."

Ruby looked up at him, her nerves returning. "You really think I can do it?" She asked softly.

"I've always known that you can."

Ruby's confidence rose up from the bottoms of her feet and swept through her, chasing away her insecurities and doubts. Ozpin had always believed in her. Right from the day they met, his optimism and expectations for her had driven her and carried her through a school full of warriors older and more experienced than her. His few kind words of encouragement had helped her become a better fighter, leader and friend.

Ruby nodded. "I'm ready sir!" She exclaimed.

Ozpin's smile faded. "Good luck Ruby. And…I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

But in his typical quiet, removed manner, Ozpin was already walking away. He left the prep room, leaving Ruby alone once more with her thoughts and the stupid clock.

Ruby faced the door, placing both hands on her scythe now. Her former resolve and excitement had been replaced with unsettling trepidation. What was on the other side of this door?

The clocked ticked eighty-seven more times before the signal to begin came.

With a click, the door slid open to the arena where the Vytale Tournaments had been held her first year. Holding Crescent Rose before her in its gun form, Ruby slowly entered the room. The door slid shut silently behind her, leaving her in the dark. Ruby waited, breathing softly and evenly, listening.

The lights came up slowly, revealing a completely bare room. No obstacles, no monsters.

But there was someone else in the room. Light ghosted over immaculate clothes, a shining silver blade, long cascading white hair…

"…Weiss?"

Her partner seemed just as surprised to see her. "Ruby!"

They crossed the space between them quickly, wanting to greet each other but too utterly confused and anxious to fix the moment with a hug. They stopped about two feet from each other, weapons in hand, eyes locked.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked the older girl. "I thought the Final was an individual battle?"

Weiss shrugged, eyes darting around the empty room. "I guess they have partners take it together?"

Without a command or thought, they fell into a fighting formation: back-to-back, Crescent Rose curled protectively around them, Myrtenaster held out and ready for quick attacks.

The formation was more reflexive than anything. After four years of training together, the two unlikely partners had developed many strategies and attack combinations that held a certain comfort in their ease and familiarity. Whenever they were faced with a situation they did not understand, such stances gave them confidence.

Ruby saw a small smile at the corners of Weiss' mouth. "What is it Weiss?"

The Heiress looked at her. "Nothing, just…there's no one else I'd rather take this with…" She admitted quietly.

Ruby grinned. "Same."

They waited like that silently, shifting slowly so that they could take turns observing every part of the room. But nothing happened. Nothing shifted or leapt out at them. Ruby found herself missing the clock.

Several tense minutes passed this way, or maybe it was an hour. Ruby kept expecting a horde of Beowolves or perhaps a murder of Nevermores to descend upon them. But nothing came. The apprehension was maddening. "Where's our opponent?" She finally burst out. Her voice echoed around the room, seeming to reverberate endlessly until a thousand Rubys were all shouting the same question back at her.

She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her. "You dunce…" Ruby glanced over her shoulder. Weiss was trembling, something Ruby had never known her to do. She stared at Ruby, unblinking, something like fear in her eyes.

Blue met silver. Comprehension dawned over Ruby like the chiming of an hour.

Her heart clenched. "…Weiss."

"Ruby."

Their defense formation broke, each of them turning to face each other in the empty arena.

Ruby swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like the air in the arena had gone sour. "So they want us to fight?"

"They want us… to kill each other." Weiss' voice broke as she uttered that damning sentence. Her eyes were locked on Ruby's, trapped in a sickening turmoil of fear and uncertainty, almost like she expected Ruby to kill her right then and there.

Ruby couldn't think straight. This was like walking into a nightmare where nothing made any kind of sense and being told you'd been mistaken all your life and this was reality. Only Ruby didn't expect she'd be waking up anytime soon.

Ozpin's instructions danced through her head: The doors will only open once you have defeated your opponent. Only once the doors open have you passed.

"But…why?"

Her partner's shoulder's sagged. "Because this is the ultimate test." Weiss said, resigned to their fate. "A Huntress has to be able to adapt to even the most unforgiving circumstances…such as facing an opponent who knows all your weaknesses and has always been your greatest strength."

Ruby could see tears pooling in Weiss' eyes. Weiss never cried. Weiss was the strong one.

Ruby shook her head violently. "I wont kill you Weiss." She folded Crescent Rose away to prove her point and stubbornly crossed her arms. "I wont." Something like relief flickered across Weiss' face but it was quickly overtaken by that fearful apprehension from before.

"Don't be stupid Ruby." Weiss chastised her, watery eyes hardening even as her tears thickened her voice. "Then they'll just kill us both. You know what this arena is capable of."

She knew. The obstacle course that ran in here for training was indeed infamous for mortally wounding the unprepared. Even Blake had had to be rescued once during a particularly challenging training course.

Ruby's mind tried to plan, the same way she had every day as the leader of Team RWBY. There had to be a way out. This was just a test right? Just proving their resolve…it wasn't like they actually had to… "We can make it out of this Weiss, I know we can!" Ruby assured Weiss, trying to sound chipper and optimistic. Like she always was. "Remember that time we were cornered at the Endless Echo Caverns? We didn't think we'd make it out alive but you figured out how to use the Dust to bring the walls down on top of the Ursi! We defeated Cinder Fall when she had us outnumbered and outmatched! We…"

"Stop saying we Ruby!"

Weiss' angry shout startled Ruby out of her ramble.

"But…that's what we are Weiss." She said, confused. "That's what we've always been."

"If you want to be a Huntress Ruby, you need to stop thinking like that."

Ruby took a shocked step back at those words. Weiss' voice had gone cold and hard, chilly and unfriendly as the day they'd met.

Her partner gazed upwards towards where they knew the cameras were, watching their progress. "Hunters and Huntresses work alone." Weiss said. "So why train in teams? Why learn to rely on others when ultimately you end up alone anyway?"

Ruby was silent. This was too much…too much to take in, to comprehend.

"And why are we so rare? Because of this. Because at most only 50% of the incoming class can graduate." She glanced back at Ruby. "And only those strong enough to defeat their partners are worthy of protecting the world." She uttered. "Only those who can overcome a challenge as trying and horrible as this one."

Ruby wanted to throw up. Was this twisted system really what produced the warriors she had dreamed of becoming? Had every Huntress she'd admired committed the same heinous act Beacon now demanded of her? Something told her that this was true. Something in the way Glynda and Ozpin reacted to the world, like there was a piece of them missing, be it Ozpin's absent enthusiasm or Glynda's inability to smile.

They'd had to kill a part of themselves to achieve their Semblance.

Weiss had been quiet for a long time, letting it all sink in. Her hand was gripping Myrtenaster tightly as if wishing it would snap.

They couldn't just stand here forever. The arena would kill them first.

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked in a small voice.

"You're the leader, Ruby."

That was the answer Ruby feared. She didn't want to make this decision. She didn't know what to do.

It seemed like the arena was holding its breath, waiting for her response. If she responded correctly, it would relax, letting them both carry on a little longer. If she responded incorrectly, it would unleash untold horrors upon them both.

They would both perish. Instantly.

And Ruby knew she couldn't let that happen.

"One of us has to make it out alive."

Weiss nodded in agreement, her eyes softening considerably. She was proud of Ruby's decision.

"It'd better be you." The Schnee Heiress snapped at Ruby, her gentle eyes betraying her attempt at annoyance.

Ruby tried to smile. She knew what her partner was doing. Weiss was trying to make their last moments together about what they had been, the relationship they'd had, not what they were now. Ruby tried to muster up a bit of that to return the favor. A bit of that quirky, introverted, awkward girl who had tripped over Weiss' luggage, forced her to sleep in a bunk bed and dragged her into ridiculous food fights, childish games and crazy adventures.

"I was about to say the same thing."

It did the trick, Weiss huffed in agitation, her mouth curling up in a smile.

They shared one last moment of partnership, locked in a death-trap that demanded they end each other.

The battle would not be easy. Nor would it be fulfilling.

They knew each other too well. Four years of studying together, laughing together, training together. They'd learned each other inside and out for the sake of cooperation. And now, they had to take that knowledge, information gained by trust and friendship and use it to destroy each other.

That was the Final Test to become a Huntress.

Weiss raised Myrtenaster, her hands still visibly shaking. She spun her Dust cartridge readying what Ruby knew was a fire-strike.

"Ready, Ruby?"

Ruby readied Crescent Rose in a pose she knew Weiss recognized as a spin-attack.

"Never."

~RWBY~

Snow crunched under heavy boots. The Huntress stood in the cold and the wind.

At her feet was a gravestone.

If the final exam weren't rigorous and painful enough, the victor was made to bury their former partner in whatever way they saw fit. A kind of homage and final goodbye. All while the blood of the deceased still clung to them.

The Huntress stood still and silent, gazing down upon the stone.

Her hood flapped in the wind, rose petals dancing endlessly in the snow.

She had carried her partner's broken form all the way up this cliff and carved a grave out of the unrelenting stone to lay her in. Even though by the time she finished, she was numb, aching and more exhausted than she'd ever be again, she felt no relief. There was no satisfaction.

She was dead. She had killed her.

She saw the blood staining the tip of Crescent Rose. But she could not comprehend it.

"Weiss!"

Her prized weapon fell from her grip and clanged to the floor. Weiss' body fell heavily into her arms. Blood gushed all around them, pooling into a stick puddle under their huddled forms. Myrtenaster spun slowly on the floor beside them. Slowly counting out the beats of its last battle.

In the end, Ruby was too fast for Weiss to keep up with. The lucky jar of Dust that Weiss had given Ruby tipped the scales. An unexpected puff of the concentrated energy propellant. Followed by a whistling, unrelenting silver blade.

Ruby had never been very good at using Dust in battle.

"Good…job…Ruby." Weiss coughed, sullying her heartfelt congratulations by sending a spittle of blood dribbling down her pristine face. "Cant…say it was…a correct application of…Dust but it did the trick…right?"

"No…no Weiss, don't leave me!" Ruby clutched her tighter, as if that would somehow safe her. Save them. She buried her face in her partner's shoulder, tears flowing freely. "No…no…" She kissed the scar above Weiss' eye fervently.

"…Ruby…" She looked up, into icy blue eyes that held no animosity. No anger.

"I told you I was going to be the best teammate you'd ever have…" Weiss said quietly, so quietly that the cameras would not be able to hear it. "I guess this is how." She lifted a trembling, bloody hand and stroked Ruby's cheek. Ruby trapped the hand against her shoulder, holding it in place.

Weiss smiled. "Now go on…you dunce."

The brilliant icy-blue eyes dulled and the door behind Ruby slowly slid open.

Ozpin hadn't returned to give her any final words or explanation. Glynda hadn't offered any comfort upon greeting her for her ceremony. But her eyes had mirrored the same loss, the same piece of herself she had sacrificed to achieve her dreams.

The Huntress' Semblance was a constant hole in her heart. A constant stream of rose petals dancing around her.

All she could think about was her. All those moment's they'd laughed. The times they'd fought. The lessons they'd imparted to each other.

What had it all been for?

Their fate had been sealed from the moment they'd locked eyes in the Emerald Forest during Initiation.

Weiss should have walked away then. She should have chosen a new partner. She almost did.

But then…

The Huntress fell into a crouch, one knee buried in the snow near where the body rested with weapon at her side. She didn't cry, all her tears were long gone. But she felt them like little shards of glass in her heart, cutting open old wounds.

Would she have made it this far without her? Without the girl who had constantly challenged her and ridiculed her, even while encouraging and supporting her?

There was no way she'd ever know. Perhaps, if she'd locked eyes with someone else in the woods that day, she'd already be long dead. Perhaps she would have been the one killed in the Final. Or maybe, both her and Weiss Schnee would be alive but hate each other so much it wouldn't matter.

No matter how their story played out, it was never a happy ending.

Not that many such stories of the Beacon graduates were.

Pyrrha had passed of course. She'd hand-picked Jaune for the task from day one. He'd never stood a chance. For all her training and doting on him, it was just to ensure he'd survive until the Final.

No one saw Ren anymore. Killing Nora had killed what little was left of him. He was a completely silent Hunter now, stalking his prey in the shadows. Never saying a word.

The snow swirled. Ruby looked up.

Why did it always snow whenever she came here? Perhaps it was the deceased's way of reminding her of the promise she'd made…

"I'll always do my best." Ruby whispered into the winds, repeating the words she'd spoken as she carved this gravestone. "I'll fight hard and think before acting. I'll protect everyone I can and save those in harm's way. I'll be the best Huntress there has ever been. And I'll never forget your sacrifice." But she still could not utter the name out loud.

Never again.

The wind stilled for a moment and Ruby closed her eyes, imagining she could hear her partner's sharp voice again. Feeling that she was nearby, reaching out to her…

Snow crunched behind her but Ruby did not rise from her crouch. She knew who it was.

"Paying your respects?"

The Huntress said nothing, the hood around her head preventing her from seeing the other person at the grave.

"She loved you, you know. We all did."

I think that was the problem. We loved too much. And that tore us apart.

She remained in a crouch, letting the wind whip her endless Semblance out across the cliffs to tumble endlessly with the snow. If only the metaphor could have carried over to Ruby and Weiss. To Team RWBY.

She hadn't spoken to her former teammate in years. Not since the outcome of the Final. Not since that teammate had killed her sister.

"I'm sorry."

The Huntress raised her head and stared at the tiny crumbling sliver in the sky. All that remained of the moon.

"I'm sorry too Blake."

A.N.: So yeah. I just always thought it was kind of weird that they partnered people up like that then just formed teams. What else is the partner for? And what the heck is that grave Ruby is shown at? So this was born of my morbid and twisted mind. There may have been hints of WhiteRose in here and I do not deny that. Read it as you wish.