IMPORTANT A/N: I'm going to be uploading 6 chapters to this story today. if you caught it before i uploaded them all, they will be here momentarily. I call it 'act 1'. Please finish all 6 chapters before passing any judgments, and give feedback on whether you would like to see more of this story. Thank you for your consideration.

Act 1
The Fall

"Blaake!" Velvet Scarlatina called her friend's attention as she sprinted across the cafeteria. Blake Belladonna noticed shy rabbit girl was unusually excited. There were few possible reasons for her exceptionally good mood. She could rule out 'being able to use her awesome totally-supposed-to-be-a-secret weapon' since they were safely at Beacon. For such a timid girl, she did enjoy using it. "She said yes!"

There it is, Blake smiled. "I could have told you she would. When did you ask?"

"Just now, actually!" Velvet just couldn't calm down. "I can't believe she actually said yes!"

"Careful, you're starting to sound like your girlfriend." Blake tossed in the tease to make her friend flush red. She certainly achieved the desired result. "Wait, if you just asked, where is she?" Blake realized. Velvet face darkened another shade. "You didn't ditch her and run to tell me."

"I was really excited…" Velvet replied quietly.

"Velvet!" Blake was shocked. "Go back to her, now!"

"Velvet! Blake? Blake! Velvet!" Ruby Rose rushed through the cafeteria towards them.

"Speak of the devil, I suppose. This doesn't free you." Blake told her rabbit friend.

"Veeelvet!" Ruby yelled one last time as she approached the faunus duo. She stopped short in front of them to catch her breath. "Why did you run? Wasn't 'yes' the right answer?"

"I just got excited, I had to tell someone. It is still a yes?" Velvet was afraid her actions just cost her her girlfriend of five minutes.

Ruby smiled and answered, "Of course it is!"

Blake smiled as the couple before dissolved into a mushy mess. Velvet and Ruby took the same elective, Weapon Mechanics or Weapon Engineering or something along those lines. They eventually began talking, and really hit it off apparently. After three weeks of hearing Velvet talk about Ruby and visa-versa, Blake got fed up and decided to tell the next party to gush to her to ask the other out already. Turned out it was Velvet.

As Blake was reminiscing the world stopped. Everything around her froze and turned gray. Everything except for Ruby's eyes. The irises glowed a bright and familiar red, heating the space around the girls. The cafeteria hall suddenly erupted in flames. Voices called to their friends, the entire scene was chaos, and Blake recognized it. She quickly turned to where she knew her friends were. Yang was already on the ground, and that meant…

"RUBY!" Velvets voice reverberated through the landscape.

Blake shouted the same name and she shot up from the bed, dripping in sweat. She couldn't even use memories to make good dreams. Everything turned into the same nightmare. "Blake, you okay?" Weiss sat up from beside the cat girl on the same bed.

"Yeah… just dreams." Blake answered.

"At least that means you got some sleep tonight." Weiss considered it a small victory and kissed Blake's forehead before getting up and getting ready for the day. "Taiyang insisted we stay for dinner. We'll probably be spending the night too." Weiss informed her, despite having already packed for both of them.

"I'll let Velvet know, she wants to come with. I already told her she could, if you don't mind." Blake just remembered she hadn't already told Weiss.

"It wouldn't be fair to turn her down." Weiss responded. "I was going to ask her anyway, I thought she might want to tag along."

Blake nodded and looked around the dorm room. The bunk beds stood proud, well, except Ruby's. But if ever a bed could hang proud, this one did a fine job of it. Despite the four beds, only one was ever used anymore. Mostly Blake's, since the heiress still feared Ruby's bed structure was a wooden guillotine in waiting.

Despite the similarities, a lot had changed in a year… Yang and Ruby's beds were empty every night, for one. The last of team RWBY were unofficially and informally merged with team JNPR to continue their schooling, which was now nearing the end of its second year, though Weiss and Blake were still allowed to sleep in RWBY dorm. Blake had even stopped wearing her bow, though whether it was from pride or it was just too much to put it on every day after everything that happened, even the cat girl didn't know.

Weiss noticed Blake's unease. "What's on your mind?"

"Everything's different." Blake answered.

Weiss probably could have guessed that answer. She walked up and wrapped her arms around the raven haired girl. "We can get through today, Blake. No matter how it might seem now, it won't hurt forever."

Blake hugged the heiress back. "Weiss… do you think this is a mistake?"

"Going to Patch?" Weiss asked.

"No…" Blake answered softly. "I mean us. Would we have happened if it weren't for everything? So much sadness, and we threw ourselves into each other to avoi-" She was interrupted by flick on the forehead.

"Blake Belladonna, stop that." Weiss scolded. "However we came together, we are together now. You are not just a coping mechanism. I love you. I know it."

Blake smiled weakly. "You're right. I'm sorry, it's just all this…"

"I understand." Weiss assured.

Blake kissed Weiss and rested their foreheads together. "I love you too."

Team JNPR and Coco saw Weiss, Blake, and Velvet off at the landing pads. "Be safe, all of you." Jaune told them.

"We're just going to Patch." Velvet responded. "We'll be fine."

"Still. It's been a weird year." Coco spoke up. "You're sure you don't want me to come?"

"I can handle myself." Velvet told her leader.

"So could Yang." Coco said, and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry, that wasn't right."

"Like you said," Weiss spoke next, "It's been a weird year."

Everyone said their goodbyes and the ships doors closed. "Ruby once told me Patch is beautiful this time of year." Velvet spoke up, trying to make a conversation to pass the time.

"You've never been?" Weiss asked.

"There was the funeral, but the snow had already fallen by the time it was held." Velvet answered.

"I was here during the summer one year, with my father." Weiss spoke. "We spent most of our time in the cities. But the climate was right, I imagine the forest is very beautiful. Have you ever been, Blake?"

"Never, other than the funeral." Blake answered.

"Maybe we can take advantage of the nice weather." The heiress suggested. "Have a picnic or something." Do something nice in spite of all this depression. The two other girls nodded in agreement of both the spoken and unspoken statements.

"Landing soon in Patch, ETA less than two minutes." The pilot announced over the speakers. The girls buckled and readied themselves for landing. The last few seconds were always very shaky, many a careless Beacon student fell out of there seat during their first landing of a flight. At last, the trip was over, the doors were opening, and the trio breathed their first breath of Patch air.

"Hey girls!" Taiyang shouted from his vehicle. Weiss noted that he was scruffier than she remembered. Though there were plenty of reasons for him to lack a bit of personal hygiene in recent months. "Weiss, Blake. Velvet? Didn't expect to see you. The more the merrier! Hop on in!" The girls piled in and the car took off. "So, are we going home, or do you want to be dropped right off?"

"It's late in the afternoon." Blake noted. "I'd like it to still be sunlight." Taiyang nodded and drove towards the cliff. They got as far as the car could take them and the girls got out. Blake looked back at Taiyang, who hadn't even unbuckled. "Are you not coming?"

"I go often enough on my own…" he grieved, "I'll keep the car warm."

Just a short walk away was the three girls' destination, a cliff overlooking the sea. A stone plaque was set there, marked 'Summer Rose', and just next to it was another, this one marked 'Yang Xiao Long'. The girls came to a stop in front of the latter. Today was the anniversary of her death, exactly a year ago. They all said what they came to say, with only Velvet saying her words aloud. "I know I didn't know you as well as others… but I still considered you my friend, and I will miss you. Everyone misses you… I hope wherever you are, they let you fight. Before they learn firsthand how foolish it is to try and hold you back."

The three girls shared a short chuckle and began the reminiscing on the way back to the car. When they reached the vehicle Taiyang joined in, and even Velvet had a story or two to offer. By the time they reached the house, they were all smiles. Sad smiles, sure, but baby steps would get them there eventually. Good smells were already wafting from the kitchen. Taiyang used a slow cooker so he didn't have to stay until it was done, in anticipation of the girls' arrival.

"Dinner will be ready in five." He told them.

"We'll just set our stuff down." Weiss told him, and she and Blake set off for the guest bedroom. Velvet followed them into the hallway, stopping at the closed door to another room. After a moment's hesitation, she slowly opened the door and stepped through to the room within. Ruby's room looked the same as the last time Velvet was in here, if a bit cleaner. She sat on the bed and looked around, taking it all in.

Taiyang stepped quietly into the room, though not quietly enough for a faunus not to notice. "You haven't heard from her either, have you?" he asked. Velvet's head hug low in response. "I assume you'll be staying in here?"

"I was hoping to, if that's okay." The rabbit faunus answered.

"It's your room too, as far as I see it. I'll see you at the table, Velvet." He turned and left Velvet alone in the room once more. She pulled out her weapon and used an interface to cycle through her currently saved weapon copies. She stopped on a familiar high-impact sniper-scythe. Every time she used a copy, she would lose it unless she could take another picture. Ruby had let her copy Crescent Rose as much as the faunus needed, but now she refused to use it. It felt like this last wisp was the only piece of her girlfriend Velvet had left.

"Where are you, Ruby…?" She asked the picture on the display. "I miss you…"

After a pleasant dinner, Weiss and Blake returned to the guest room. "It feels weird being here again." Blake thought out loud. "Without either of them, I feel like I'm intruding."

"Taiyang insisted we stay." Weiss reminded her. "Did you see his room? I don't think he sleeps here very often himself anymore."

"Too many memories…" Blake theorized.

"Speaking of…" Weiss wanted to say something for some time, and now seemed as good as ever. "I'm thinking, when we get back to Beacon, we should take the bunks down."

Blake eyed Weiss questioningly. "What? Why?"

"We can never move on if we don't let go." Weiss explained. "Yang's gone, Blake."

Weiss was right, of course. She was always right. "What about Ruby? If she comes back, she'll need a place to sleep." Blake resisted.

The heiress drew her girlfriend into a soft hug. "Blake, it's been three months without the single, smallest sign. I don't think she's coming back." The cat faunus cursed under her breath. Weiss was always right. This wasn't the first time Blake wished to hell she wasn't, but she always was.

In the shadows of Vale's back alleys, a faunus was running scared. The deer man was an ex-member of the White Fang, which had been all but disbanded nearly a year ago. He foolishly thought he could leave that past behind him now. But it had caught up with him. Why else would some crazy girl with an oversized scythe be hunting him down? That thing was definitely a hunters (or rather, huntresses) weapon.

He went to turn the corner, but was stopped short as a shot rang out, the bullet hitting the ground inches from his feet. He jumped backwards, away from the impact, and tripped over his own feet in the process. He landed ass first on the concrete with his back against a dumpster. A shadow fell from the rooftops, landing in the allay facing the faunus man. It was the shadow chasing him, the girl with the scythe. It seemed the latest local rumors were true. This girl was a grim reaper, with so much bloodlust, even her eyes were red.

She flashed forward in an instant, burying the blade of her scythe into the dumpster mere millimeters away from the deer man's neck. It was all true; the girl's eyes glowed red. He had tried to fight back at first, but each hit he landed only seemed to make the girl stronger and angrier. He should have known how foolish it was from the start, he should have just run. She might have forgotten about him and let him go.

But he had tried to fight, by the time he was faced with the choice of running or dying where he stood, she was beyond pissed. It was too late for him now. "Please, I'm sorry," He decided to beg through his now shaky voice, "Please, don't kill me. Have mercy, please!"

The girl's rationality was shot, her thoughts scrambled by what she called the Red Haze, periods of time where her anger overrode her sanity. With a growl, she pulled the trigger. The recoil from the weapon's sniper function launched the blade through and out of the thin metal of the dumpster, severing the deer man's head in the process. Have mercy. Heroes have mercy. But heroes only exist in fairy tales. Mercy only ends in tragedy. These thoughts and the image of bloody blonde figure were the only things that could penetrate the Red Haze.

Looking over the still warm body, the girl's boiling blood began to calm, and her eyes faded from red to silver. She was starting to get used to the Red Haze. She sometimes wondered how Yang could handle it. She eventually concluded that since the blonde grew up with it, she always knew how to control it. It was a part of her, after all. It's not a part of me, though. No matter how long I have it, it will never be a part of me. I may never learn how to rein it in…

The scythe wielder was suddenly distracted by a buzzing on the ground nearby. A black scroll lay there, with a text message from 'a friend', according to the contact name. She picked the device up and read the message, which simply said 'Behind you'. The red girl turned on the spot to see a strange woman with a parasol. Right down to her hair and eyes, the girl seemed to alternate between a pink and brown color scheme.

"You're one of Torchwick's." the scythe girl recognized. She could feel the Red Haze coming again. Twice in one night was really going to make her sore in the morning. The black scroll buzzed in her hand.

'I've been watching you. You don't want to fight Torchwick.' The message said. The scythe girl didn't know if the strange girl was mute, but she was at least putting on the show.

"And why not?" The scythe girl decided to use her voice rather than play with messages.

Buzz 'Torchwick never held their ideals. Money bought his loyalty. He and I were always survivors, nothing more.'

"Why does that make you any less a target?"

'Because we could be allies.'

"Allies? I'm a huntress. I don't work with criminals."

'Huntresses kill civilians in back alleys?'

"It's not what it looks like…"

'It's exactly what it looks like. An ex-Fang killed in unending revenge. And not the first. Beacon will never take you back now.'

The girl was right. At least, she made enough sense to be right. And the scythe girl hadn't made any progress controlling the Red Haze in the past three months. She could only aim it, and let it run. She was certainly screwed. When the scythe girl didn't respond, the scroll buzzed again.

'Come with me, hear me out. You're already one of us anyway.'

"A criminal?"

'A survivor.'

The scythe girl stared at the device, considering her options. At her current rate, she could never control herself well enough to return to Beacon. Even if she did, there was a lot to keep secret now. For now, she could either continue this, night after night, or work with Torchwick. Survive, and maybe make a living in the process. "What do I call you, friend?" The girl gave her answer.

'Neo' the scroll buzzed, the girl herself wearing a huge smile. 'Shall I call you Ruby?'

"Ruby could never make this choice…" She answered, raising her hood. She thought on the rumors she had heard around town the last couple of week. "Call me Reaper, until I think of something better." Neo nodded, acknowledging Reaper's wishes. "Torchwick's still locked up. Guess we have to break your boss out, Neo. Lead the way."