AN: I am so sorry about how long it took me to update, more about that in the AN below. Until then, enjoy!

A little less than six hours later, Carmine arrived at her destination deep within the Forever Fall, a heavily loaded backpack in tow. A massive cave loomed in front of her, a jagged gash carved into the cliff face that she had worked so diligently to find. Under normal circumstances, this location would have taken days, maybe even weeks to find, but utilizing Ruby's speed semblance more than made up for the remoteness of the cave's location.

She could remember her mother's voice like it was yesterday telling her stories of how Dust was never a naturally occurring resource, and that the heavens themselves decided to bless humans in their fight against the Grimm, bestowing upon them the volatile crystals that would come to be known as Nature's Wrath. These concentrated pockets of energy fell to the earth below, burying themselves wherever they touched down in a glorious display of power and energy.

This cave was one such place. A monumentally large pocket of undiscovered Dust sang beneath Carmine's feet as she delved deeper into the mountain, moving steadily towards its center. After a few minutes of walking, she emerged into a dimly lit cavern whose ceiling stretched out far above her, ending in darkness before she managed to actually glimpse the top. Not that she was looking anywhere but the two massive Dust crystals that sat in the center of the cavern, each easily the size of a fully grown Ursa Major.

Letting out a tense breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in, Carmine began her tedious work. She had only a few short hours to arrange the necessary glyphs, symbols, sigils, and wards. She chuckled to herself as she imagined the look Weiss Schnee would have watching her apparent dunce of a partner preparing what was quite possibly the most complicated piece of Dust magic to be used in the last couple centuries. Her small smile soon fell as Ruby's feelings for the former heiress washed over her once again, a mix of pain and rejected love that broke Carmine's heart. Heavy sighs accentuated her work over the course of the next few hours.

…

Carmine wiped her sweat-drenched sleeve across her forehead, trying to clear her exhausted mind. She had expended quite a lot of aura to ensure her wards and glyphs were correct to the exact detail, and she still had the actual ritual to perform. Allowing herself a few minutes rest was all she could do before she clambered into the center of the cavern, a large rune-filled circle dominating the space. She stepped into the small clearing in the center, before focusing her mind on the two crystals that practically called out to her. A soft glow began to emanate from her and her hair was whipped about by a nonexistent breeze. The ritual had begun.

Carmine began first by shaping and condensing the extremely large Dust crystals. Making them smaller, more dense, until they were vibrating with untapped power and potential. And still she pushed, pouring as much of herself into the process as possible. Within the hour, both crystals had settled into a large, ovular shape roughly the same size as an average human. Panting with the effort, she began the second part of the ritual, which involved flaring her aura and expanding it as far as she could, allowing her perfect situational awareness. Slowly, she pulled her aura back in, drawing it deep into herself until she felt as if she were alone in a pitch dark abyss, unable to sense more than a few inches in each direction around her.

She pushed hard outwards, and she felt the layers in her aura, the distinct separations between her and the other two living beings that she shared her mind with. Mentally gripping the aura that pulsed and throbbed with unbridled malice, she shoved it towards the first Dust crystal, sealing it within the bundle of pure energy and activating the runes she had inscribed around it. Steeling herself, she began to activate the second set of runes around the other crystal and began to count down from ten. When she reached one, she slammed her own aura into the crystal and the world went black.

…

She awoke with a gasp, her head pounding and throat burning as she coughed and wheezed. Carmine immediately flared her aura and sensed two others near her, both unconscious. She sighed with relief and took stock as she rubbed her eyes. A smile briefly crossed her face as she was reacquainted with binocular vision, something she had definitely taken for granted before.

Groaning with effort, she stood up inside of the circle of runes and shivered, her unclothed form chilled by the cavern's cool air. She was thankful that she had packed clothing in the bag, and began to rummage through it. She had just finished dressing herself when a soft groan caught her attention.

Thorn lay in the second circle, clutching her head and whining pitifully. Her body was small, more similar to Weiss in stature than Ruby. Crimson red hair slipped through her fingers as her hands fell to the ground, pale skin practically glowing in the dim light of the cavern while she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Wasting no time, Carmine grabbed a small pouch full of various herbs and emptied it into her palm. She quietly padded over to Thorn and deftly slipped the herbs into her mouth when the half-conscious girl groaned in pain yet again, the Maiden's hand coming up to force her jaw closed and cover her mouth. Thorn thrashed around as violently as she could manage for a few moments before the herbs took affect and her eyes, molten amber gleaming dangerously, closed against her will.

Having knocked out her main concern, Carmine sighed with relief and bundled the girl in a cloak before tying her hands and feet, making sure that the knots were tight while not being cruelly so. While restraining Thorn, Carmine realized that she was young, much younger than she had initially thought. The young girl whose features strongly resembled those of Cinder Fall's couldn't have been any older than seventeen, her face still slightly cherubic although she had begun to grow into a woman. A pang of guilt stole through her for a quick moment before she recalled just how malevolent the girl truly was.

She shook Ruby gently by her shoulder a few minutes later, having checked the young girl for any injuries that could have been brought on by the transfer of aura into the crystals. She had found a few signs of aura fatigue but nothing that couldn't be fixed by a good night's rest. Ruby slowly came to and found herself staring at a pair of golden orbs that shone with warmth. They were set in a delicate face that had high cheekbones and a sharp jawline, framed by hair that seemed to be spun from pure gold as the tresses shimmered in the low light. Ruby found herself reminded of Yang, but where Yang was the fire of passion and intensity, this woman was the warmth of soft kisses and gentle hugs, burning gently but still shining just as bright.

"Carmine?" The older girl nodded, smiling at the crimsonette. "You're so pretty!"

Carmine laughed, a rich and husky sound that made Ruby blush when she realized what she had said. She quickly buried her face in her hands, mortified.

"Will I ever develop social skills?" She groaned mournfully. Carmine laughed again and ruffled her hair softly before speaking.

"I appreciate the compliment, Ruby Rose. I know you do not mean anything untoward by it."

Carmine's voice was just as husky as her laugh, deeper than Ruby would have expected. "After all, we have shared a mind for quite some time. I know exactly who the apple of your eye is."

An image of snow-white hair framing ice blue eyes flashed through Ruby's mind, her chest aching.

"I-I'd rather not talk about that right now, if you don't mind." Ruby mumbled almost imperceptibly, her face continuing to get more red. "What happened? How are you, well, you?"

"I separated my aura from yours, as well as Thorn's, and managed to create vessels for Thorn and myself. It was a fairly experimental technique that I've been thinking about for some time now. It required a truly massive amount of energy, probably enough to keep an entire kingdom powered for the better part of a year, but it worked."

"Thorn?" Carmine gestured to the bundled girl still laying in the center of the second circle. Ruby quickly stood and took hesitant steps towards the person that had tormented her thoughts for years. Ruby thought she was pitifully small, her diminutive form at odds with the mental picture she had created. The voice in her head that was so full of malice and hate should have belonged to a towering amazon who struck fear into the hearts of all that looked upon her, not a small girl with crimson hair with skin so pale that it was practically a pure white. While inspecting the unconscious girl, she noticed something that broke her heart.

"She's so young..." Thorn, the terrible voice that had made her do and say so many awful things, was barely older than a child. She turned her baleful silver eye to Carmine, tears gathering but not falling as she spoke. "What did Cinder do to her?"

Carmine was silent for a long time, unsure of how much to share or even how to describe what Thorn had experienced. "Imagine that your mother viewed you as nothing more than a tool. You are not someone to be loved or cherished, but something to be utilized and used. Cinder is as close to a mother as Thorn can have, and that is how she has been treated. You thought that it was Cinder controlling you from afar with the mask, but really the mask was intended to nullify your aura while allowing hers to develop and grow at an accelerated rate. She is broken and suffering greatly, that is all I will say for now." Carmine's voice was full of pain as she motioned to Ruby to follow her out of the cavern.

Ruby looked down once more at her pale tormentor and could only feel pity. As much as she wanted to be angry or hateful, all she could think about was how grateful that she had had a mother like Summer, and an older sister like Yang once their mother had passed.

She shuddered at the thought of knowing nothing but Cinder as an authority figure. Never warm, never smiling except when reveling in someone's pain.

She looked at Thorn's thin face and wept as she picked her up and followed Carmine out of the cavern.

AN: Hello all, sorry about the short chapter, but I have only just been able to sit down and write again and I wanted to get an update out quickly. I have fully recovered from my injury and have since started working in a management position that eats up a lot of my time, as well as having to commute 3 hours each day for the position. I recently moved to the area my store is located in and now I finally have some spare time every once and a while to just sit down and type. Thank you all for your patience and I fully intend to finish this story!