"What exactly am I looking at?" Ozpin asked as he pushed his glasses up.

"What's left of Mercury Black." Qrow told him. "We've been chasing a dead man. Been dead over a year apparently." He shrugged as he shook his head. "My guess would be that Cinder decided she could still use him even if he was dead. Using him to throw us off her track."

On Ozpins desk sat a charred, twisted and mangled prosthetic combat leg that was filthy, covered in dry blood and mud. Ever since Cinders failed attack on the academy and city they continued to hunt her. She was severely weakened after the failure as was the White Fang but they were still a threat. If they could catch Cinder they figured maybe they could find out what 'SHE' was up to. Cinder Fall was currently their only lead. The information they had gotten from Emerald Sustrai was valuable but not what they needed or had been looking for. Cinder unsurprisingly didn't tell those under her very much, it was simply go where I tell you to and do what I tell you, no questions.

They had wanted to catch Mercury Black hoping he knew something they could use. So they had spent a lot of time tracking him down. But as it turned out they were chasing a ghost. Cinder had been spreading around a lot of false information about Mercury to throw them off her trail. It had worked causing a lot of wasted time and effort that could have been used elsewhere. At one point they thought about asking Ruby if she knew anything or would be willing to help since she hated Cinder to. But after some thought it was concluded Ruby would more than likely tell them to fuck off.

Qrow had eventually gotten suspicious about all the numerous rumored sightings of Mercury. So he took it upon himself to do a little digging and found out about his death and the attempt on Cinders life when a building had been dropped on the woman. It had been extremely difficult to get anyone to talk, it had been shear luck that his one contact had been drunk enough that he had loose lips. Mercury's body was missing but his metal legs were still around where he had died. They were half buried and barely recognizable but Qrow was easily able to identify them.

"Do we know who killed him?" Oz asked.

"No." He shook his head. "But I have a pretty good idea." Qrow walked over to the desk and pointed at some marks on the metal legs. "Those cuts were made by a scyth. And there's only two people I know of that use such a weapon that would be strong enough to beat Mercury. And I know it wasn't me."

"Ruby." The older silver haired man leaned back in his chair.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say Cinder used him to try and kill Ruby." He pulled out a flask and took a swig. "Who then turned around and dropped a building her. At least from what I'm able to deduce based on what little evidence I was able to get."

"She has shown herself to be HIGHLY capable. Even more so than she use to be." Oz took a drink from his mug. "Though I never expected her to end up as a maiden."

It wasn't hard for them to figure out that Ruby was a maiden. After the attack on her club the description of Ruby's abilities by her former team and friends gave it away very clearly.

"I'm worried about her Oz." He shook his head as he walked over and sat down in a chair. "It's pretty apparent she's not all there in the head."

"Considering what she's been through both from what we know and can only guess on, it's not a surprise. Though because of Summers own mental health Ruby had already had a potential disposition for it as well." Looking at Qrow he continues to speak. "You and Tai really shouldn't have lied to her about Summer."

"I know that, we both do but..." Qrow briefly trailed off. "For all intents and purposes Summer might as well have been dead."

"I'll admit, she did come back from that mission acting very differently. And not simply just because of her injuries." Oz explained. "What ever it is she saw was enough to traumatize her and push her mental health over the edge."

"I still blame Tai for that." Qrow frowned. "He was supposed to go with her but instead elected to follow a lead on my bitch of a sister." He ground his teeth a bit before relaxing. When Summer chose Tai over Qrow he had always been a little jealous but Tai made her happy and they were friends. So he had mostly let it go. "Though Summer always did struggle with her mental health, so I know him being there might not have necessary helped. But at the same time she had been doing so well for a few years at that point." He took another swig of his flask. "Knowing about summer we should have kept a better eye on Ruby. We knew Ruby was at a higher risk for developing issues but she always seemed perfectly fine. Then again after the way all of us treated her..."

"She needs help Qrow, it's pretty easy to see." Ozpin said politely.

"I know Oz, but convincing her of that would probably be difficult." He leaned back in the chair with a sigh. "She's stubborn, always has been, much like her mother. But her stubbornness is even worse than it use to be."

"True but she seems to be getting better. Miss Scarlatina seems to have had a rather unique effect on her. Though that Neo woman seems to as well. Perhaps with their help it would be possible to convince her." He explained.

"Oz you have degrees in that psychology stuff. Do you think she has what mother did?" Qrow asked.

"Qrow you know it's not that simple." Oz sighed. "Without a proper evaluation neither I nor anyone else could give a proper diagnosis. She would need to be properly evaluated for an extended amount of time."

"Okay fine." He huffed. "Then an educated guess?" He asked which got a sigh from Oz.

"I do not believe she has what Summer did." Qrow started to release a breath of relief but didn't get the chance as Ozpin continued. "I think she has something more debilitating." He cleared his throat and then took a drink. "Without an evaluation my best guess would be Schizoaffective disorder. She shows all the signs, including bouts of psychosis which as far as we know have only been minor, so far at least."

"That doesn't sound very good." Qrow commented.

"With proper consouling and medication you can live a relatively normal life like anyone else." He took another drink only be sad that there was none left in his mug. "But again it's only a guess, and I can not and refuse to state it as a fact."

"We would have to convince her to get help in the first place. And since she doesn't rightfully trust us on top of whatever has happened to her the past few years, she's more likely to tell us to fuck off after trying to stab us." Then Qrow pointed at Oz. "Especially you, she REALLY seems to hate you."

"I'm aware of all that." And yet another sigh from the headmaster. At least he could be grateful she hadn't stabbed him, unlike Qrow who was not so lucky. "Qrow I do want to state that despite her obvious mental illness that doesn't mean it can be blamed for everything. She is still capable of making her own choices. Now sure her mental health can affect her decision making. But as far as I can tell she still knows right from wrong and as of this moment she is in full control of her own action."

"Full control? Bullshit Oz!" Qrow huffed. "The things she says, the things does, that...that's not Ruby."

"She's been through a lot, and you of all people should know that people can change. Sometimes people don't change for the better." Oz told the man. Ozpin really didn't want discuss her mental Health, they knew to little so he decided to change the subject. "Speaking of her past I was finally able to get some information on Ruby from her time in that prison." The headmaster tossed a scroll with a file on it over to Qrow. "There is also some information on her child. Had to call in more favors than I would have preferred. Even burned a few bridges but I believe it to be worth it. If there's any chance of hopefully helping her and correcting are major fuck up."

"Did you...did you just cuss?" Qrow looked at him stunned.

"Yes well..." He cleared his through. "the new generations seem to be rubbing off on me a bit."

Qrow started reading the files and then his eye's started to go wide before becoming teary. He felt disgusted at what he was reading, to know this stuff had happened to Ruby. To know she had almost died in there, that she would have died alone and scared. He had always been unsettled by the circumstances in which Ruby had been locked up. Something had always seemed off about it but he could never really place it. At the time he thought it was just him being biased because of his relationship with the girl. Sure he had wanted to believe she wasn't capable of doing what she had been accused of, but he knew from experience that everyone was capable of doing wrong. Hell before he became a hunter he had done some terrible things as a part of the Branwen tribe. It wouldn't have been unfounded for someone as innocent as Ruby to do something bad, it happens plenty. People are not perfect.

Even if she had actually done it, they shouldn't have abandoned her. They may not have put her down the path she's on, but they sure as hell didn't help. Instead they let a 15 year girl go to an adult prison causing her to be traumatized which in turn put her down a path of unchecked, and neglected mental health. When looking at the reconstructed footage of Ruby when she gave up her child he could see some of it in her face. How she went from smiling and being happy to cold and uncaring, to being sad and crying, then back to being cold again. Some of it could be chalked up to hormonal imbalance from the pregnancy but that's not what he felt it was. He was interested in who the dark skinned woman was in the video with her. Neo who was on one side of her he knew, but this other woman was a mystery to him.

The pictures of the her child, silver eye's just like her and Summer's. It was kind of hard to believe that the kid had been under their noses the whole time. That Arc kids sister and her wife adopted him, at least he went to a good home. Though to be honest he wouldn't be surprised if Ruby had something to do with where and who the child was placed with. It's not like anyone except Juane had seen the kid so they couldn't have known. You would think Juane would have noticed the eye color and resemblance to Ruby. But then again that kid could be oblivious. Qrow's thought process was interrupted when Glynda burst in through the door in a panic.

"We have a problem!" Glynda yelled as she gasped for air.

"Glynda calm down and breath." Oz told her. Once she caught her breath she explained.

"There's been a report of a large number of grimm amassing a few miles from mountain glenn." Her face was of pure concern. "There seems to be someone out there fighting them."

"How long ago did it start?" Both Oz and Qrow asked.

"Several hours ago." She responded.

"And we're just finding out about this!?" Qrow shouted.

"An unfortunate timing for the maintenance of the security system." The woman clarified.

"And your sure it's not a malfunction from the maintenance itself?" Ozpin asked. He believed her but he also needed to be sure with proper confirmation. If he were to react and it turned out to be a minor incident it could cause problems, such as undo panic from the populace.

"I already had a surveillance drone sent out. I..." The woman trailed off slightly still not as calm as she should be. "The images were not clear enough because of how fast everything was happening. But I believe it's Miss Rose that's been engaged with them."

"Shit!" Qrow didn't wait for another word and promptly jumped out of Ozpin's office window turning into his crow form.

"Glyda I want you gather as many as you can in such a short time and head for Miss Rose's location. I'm going to have a medical team sent out..." In the middle of his sentence he felt the slight shaking of the earth and thus the building. Then there was what sounded like an explosion of rock followed by a loud roar that could be faintly heard in the distance. One look out the window and both their eye's went wide at the sight of a wyvern grimm in the distance.

"It's headed for Miss Rose!" Glyda said in a panic after seeing the security alert from her scroll.

Qrow was panicked, flying as fast as he could. He was not going leave his niece alone again. Upon seeing the wyvern burst out of the mountain and head towards her his worry only increased. He had to move faster, he NEEDED to move faster! Damn these small wings and this small body he cursed in his head with audible bird chips. He had gotten there just in time to see Ruby get impaled and then thrown against a large Boulder. She was slumped against the large rock, her breathing fast and shallow. When he tried to get close he couldn't, the wing beats of the giant Grimm were preventing it. Qrow was forced to drop down into the middle of the surrounding horde. He was cutting his way through grimm as he ran towards her, not even caring when teeth or claw tore into him. Almost there, just a little more, then she screamed out in pain, her single eye glowing a bright blinding silver. He was forced to cover his eye's with his arm while using the ground to guide him as he continued towards her.

"RUBY!" He shouted as he made the final dash for her.

Reaching her side he was already down on his knees. Her body looked broken, a canvas of cuts, slashes, gashes and red. So much red, so much blood, it was just seeping out of her abdomen. Most of the blood though was coming from where her right arm should be. When the Wyvern had clawed through Ruby's scythe it not only completely tore it apart but took her arm along with it. Qrow was no doctor, he had some minor knowledge on how to patch some stuff up. Things he knew after Ozpin insisted he at least learn some basic first aid. But this was far from anything he knew how to fix. He knew not to even move her, he wasn't stupid, he knew there could be internal damage including broken bones. Moving her could make it worse. The only thing he felt he could do was cauterize the open wounds with red fire dust.

"Come on Ruby don't you do this to me!" He said as tears rolled from his eye's.

He was able to stop any of the visible bleeding but he couldn't be sure if there was any internal bleeding. It didn't help that what ever crap she had in her system had only made the bleeding worse. She was still breathing, but just barely which worried him. The fact that she was still alive at all was a god damn miracle to the man. Then again she was so damn stubborn to begin with that he honestly shouldn't be surprised. Not being able to do much to help her until help got there was agonizing. Every second he had to sit there on his knee's was emotionally painful. During this time however he finally noticed something, the grimm hadn't even tried attacking.

He looked up and around and saw all the grimm simply standing there as stone statues. The Wyvern to was stone, frozen there with its mouth open having been in the middle of a terrible roar. Qrow had been so focused on getting to Ruby that he hadn't thought about that blinding light from before. But now, he had doubt that the stress from the situation and her injuries forced her silver eye's, or in Ruby's case eye to activate. Technically they were still alive but being frozen like this would make them easy pickings, the Wyvern included, which he would take care of himself later.

Turning back to Ruby's broken and bloodied body his panic kicked into overdrive again, she had stopped breathing. He didn't know what to do, he wasn't an expert, he could just make her injuries worse. Then he had an idea, he had lighting dust on him. Maybe he could use it to jump start her heart, it was worth a try and a much better option than doing nothing. The Lightning from the dust surged through her body, once, twice, three times and on the fourth her chest was moving again. She was breathing again, it was still shallow and labored but better than nothing. It was around that time that a bullhead was overhead and landing, crushing some of the stone Beowolfs in the process.

Aside from the pilot and medical personnel there were some hunters and huntresses, mostly the beacon staff. There was also some of the higher year students and a few former students who worked with or for the school. Some of those former students were teams JNPR and the remains of team RWBY, both of which were now graduates. (Everyone having to repeat an entire year actually seemed to be beneficial, causing some to think about adding an extra year to the academys). It was very short notice so it wasn't a surprise they had to use those who were there and available.

The medical team had to be extremely careful moving her. Once she was moved and onto a stretcher they rushed as fast as they could back to the bullhead. Seeing Ruby with her body broken like this had a big effect on everyone. She had gotten so strong, stronger than they could have imagined and yet here she was in this state. When they took her, Qrow went with them while everyone else cleaned up. He was worried about her, more than he ever had been. Seeing them attach so many tubes and wires to her pained him. This wasn't right, this should never have happened, she should never have been in this position. If they hadn't turned their back on her, if he hadn't turned his back on her then none of this would have happened.

"The fuck are you going!" Qrow yelled out when he noticed them fly right past Vale central hospital.

"Esclados Memorial." The pilot told him.

"That's on the other side of Vale!" He shouted in anger.

"I'm sorry but my hands are tied!" He flinched. "I was told to take her there and no where else!"

"By who?" Qrow asked as he seethed.

"I uh..." The man was afraid to answer him. So Qrow simply ripped his scroll off the console to look for himself. "HEY! That's not yours! Its confidential!" Qrow ignored him.

"Of fucking course." Qrow rolled his eye's in frustration before looking at Ruby. "Not even conscious and your still making sure you get what you want and making others do what you want." The message was an automated one from Ruby. Apparently even though she never expected to be put in this situation she still took precautions, that or she was being paranoid, maybe both. A program that would trigger in case of a medical emergency that made sure Ruby would be taken to the medical facility of her choice and treated by the doctors of her choice. Apparently the program would also contact an emergency contact, one who seemed to be either ignoring it or wasn't getting it. He was no tech genius but he had picked up a few things, and this pilot didn't exactly have his scroll protected well. The pilot worked for Beacon but also seemed to work for Ruby on the side.

Upon arriving at the hospital there was already a bunch medical staff waiting. They wasted no time in immediately and quickly taking her in. First they had to make sure to fix anything that was immediately life threatening before they could evaluate any and all other damage. Stabilizing her had been difficult, she flatlined at least once and had went into cardiac arrest. If Qrow hadn't cauterized her wounds when he did she probably wouldn't have even made it to the hospital. What made their job even harder was when Ruby briefly woke up in a pained panic and started strangling a nurse with her remaining hand. Despite her weakened state it was hard getting her to let go. She shouldn't have been able to wake up. She was on anesthetics, which she had been put on as soon as they knew it was safe to do so. But between her sheer stubbornness and what ever cocktail of drugs she had in her system it wasn't interacting well with the medicine.

The overall damage had been sever, she shouldn't even be alive but she was. A broken back, broken ribs, collapsed lung, missing right arm, deep lacerations and bruising, concussion, and a through and through abdominal puncture. And they were pretty sure that at one point she had given herself a stroke from overtaxing her body. Probably as a result of pushing her semblance past what her body could physically handle. Even with her aura it was going to take awhile for her to fully heal. For normal people 6 to 12 weeks alone just for a broken back, but is normally shorter for those with aura. For Ruby however the overall damage to her body was going to put a strain on her body and aura's ability to heal. The fact that Ruby was alive was nothing short of a miracle. Virtually anyone else wouldn't have made it but it seemed she was stubborn even while unconscious.

A lot of people were worried about her, not just Qrow and the others but even Junior and the rest of Ruby's employees. Surprising those who didn't know was when Lil Miss had shown up in a worried panic. For Qrow that definitely explained a lot about why she wouldn't tell him anything about Ruby. The girls room was a large private room that was and had always been strictly reserved for her and her alone. Qrow couldn't be sure but he was almost certain Ruby was and probably still is involved with this hospital.

His guess was right, for unknown to him the hospital had been built, paid for and funded by Ruby. It was named after Carmine, and had the most up to date medical equipment and technology available. The place was also staffed by some of the best medical personnel money could buy. What made the hospital more well known was the fact that despite being a private facility it was open to anyone. Wealth and social status meant nothing, no one got special treatment for any reason (well except her anyways). And even though it was a financial burden, Ruby had made sure anyone who couldn't afford it were worked with in any way possible. Even at her lowest Ruby still seemed to want to help people, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Despite having a private room she rarely went there for care on the rare occasions she needed it. The name of the hospital may have been her choice but it still hurt to be reminded of Carmine. It was a pain she never let herself properly grieve for. Carmine's death had been her fault, she killed her, it was accident but her fault none the less.

"I Tried to tell you not to do it!" Carmine yelled. "But NOOOO, you refused to listen!"

"We've been over this!" Ruby yelled back. "I had to do it!"

"You didn't have to do anything!" She responded back with another yell. "I told you it would be fine! We could have made it work! But like usual you were to damn stubborn to listen to reason!"

It was an argument between Ruby and Carmine. Carmine had caught Ruby using camera's to spy on the people who had adopted her son. Like usual Ruby was making excuses, she was being delusional and paranoid. When she decided to give up her child Carmine had tried to convince her not to. She had told her that they could make things work with the kid. But Ruby wouldn't listen, she was her own worst enemy and let the darker side of herself control her. Carmine had tried to get Ruby to see a doctor but she always refused. At one point she tricked Ruby into seeing one but when she realized what was going on she snapped and almost brought the building down on everyone.

She loved Ruby so god damn much, which is why it pained her to see the girl struggle so much. It was like a fight was always going on in her head, two sides of herself struggling for dominance. The flashes of innocence and kindness showed that a part of the old Ruby was still in there somewhere.

Their argument having pissed both women off found Carmine having decided to sleep on the couch. During the night she was woken up to the sounds of Ruby yelling and crying in her sleep while thrashing around. It wasn't unusual for Ruby to have night terrors, though normally they were not this bad (though it did happen occasionally). Carmine wasted no time in rushing into the bed room. As she tried to wake Ruby up she was forced to get on top of her. She had to try and keep her still so she wouldn't hurt herself. When Ruby did finally wake up it was in a surprised and shocked state as she instinctually reacted. Carmine felt a pain in her stomach, looking down the knife Ruby kept close at hand was sticking out of her.

Once Ruby was fully aware of her surroundings she realized what she had done. Carmine's body started to slump over causing her to fall off and beside Ruby. Ruby started panicking almost immediately as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I d-didn't mean..." Ruby was sobbing with tears poring out of her eye's. She was horrified at the situation.

"I know." Carmine chocked out.

"I-I can fix this!" Ruby cried out as she continued to try and stop the bleeding. She was using the bed sheets and blankets as a pseudo gauze.

"Ruby.." the dark skinned woman spoke.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She was panicking.

"Ruby."

"I can't-you can't..." She was practically hysterical at this point.

"RUBY!" Carmine said as loudly as she could as she grabbed the other girls hands with her own. "Stop."

"But..." Ruby started but was cut off.

"There's nothing you can do." She shook her head.

"I-I can take you to a hospital and..." Ruby was cut off again.

"We're in the middle of nowhere." Carmine told her. "I'd bleed out long before you got me there."

"B-but we have to do something!" She yelled.

"Ruby, just stay with me." She reached up and placed a hand on Ruby's cheeks. "Please."

Ruby had relented and sat there with Carmine in her arms. She wanted to help her, to save her. But she knew Carmine was right, there was nothing she could do. She wasn't a doctor and only had basic first aid knowledge. Their cabin was to far from the nearest town, village or city. She never Meant for this to happen, it was an accident. But accident or not it was still her fault, she was going to lose Carmine because of her mistake. No not a mistake, it was because she was still weak, because of her own weakness.

"Carmine?" Ruby questioned when the other girl stopped talking. She was still in her arms, slumped over more than before. Carmine's hand slipped from her grip as her body started to glow. Then there was no longer the weight of a body. The older woman's body started breaking up into glowing particles of light. With eye's wide, Ruby's arms went through the empty space where Carmine should be. The particles started disappearing into Ruby as her hands flew up to her head in pain forcing her eye's closed. When her eye's opened back up they were lit up by a silver flame. She was left alone to cry on a blood soaked bed.

Two days later and Neo would return from a job to find Ruby on the bloody bed. Ruby went those two days having not moved at all. No food, no water, no sleep, she just sat there crying and in shock. Neo would get her cleaned up, fed and hydrated before taking her to to stay with Lil Miss. A week after that Neo had walked in to find Ruby bleeding out in the bathtub. She had tried to kill herself and almost came close, but Neo had found her and prevented it. Then one morning not long after that Ruby seemed perfectly fine. She was colder in her demeanor than usual and seemed to act like nothing happened, that it was all fine. It didn't take her long to head the Club she and Carmine had bought. The two women had been there on and off running the place but had spent most of there time at their cabin. Now however it was all work for Ruby, work and drowning herself in drugs, alcohol and sex.

It would seem that she had finally gotten the power she had so desperately craved, a fact that she was left alone to lament and regret.

Her single eye flew open in a panic as she started to struggle to move. The beeping of machines was getting louder and more erratic. She felt like she couldn't breath. There was a tube down her throat, and she wanted it out. She wanted up, she wanted to move, she wanted out of where ever she was.

"Ruby calm down!" Qrow who looked rather rugged and unkempt yelled as he leapt up out of the chair he had been sleeping in.

She didn't listen, and instead went to grab the tube in her throat and pull it out. However when she went to reach for it using her right arm she realized she couldn't move it. She glanced over at it as much as she could but simply saw nothing. It was gone, just a shoulder with nothing attached to it. Ruby was now starting to panic even more, making her heart rate spike. The Doctors had been forced to sedate her before she accidentally hurt herself. Four months she had been laying there unconscious and Qrow was there almost the entire time. Others came to visit, to talk to her hoping she would hear them, and she did hear them. She heard their apologizes, heard every sob and cry but Ruby found that she didn't care, she simply felt nothing.

A few hours later Qrow had returned from the bathroom to find Ruby's bed empty. Instead all he found was an unconscious doctor who's clothes Ruby had stolen. He was worried but also shocked that she was even able to move well enough to leave. Ruby had unsteadily hobbled her way through side streets while using small bursts of her semblance when she could. Her body was weak so she couldn't sustained her semblance for more than a few seconds at a time. When she had reached the club Junior had frozen up in shock. He knew there was no way she had been released from the hospital.

"JUNIOR!" Ruby yelled to get his attention as she didn't stop walking.

"Y-yes?" The man asked nervously as he followed her.

"The club stays closed tonight and for the next week. I have things to prepare." She said as she briefly eye'd her missing arm, then sadly glanced over at the door that use to lead to Neo's room.

"Uhm R-Ruby are you..." She cut him off before he could finish.

"Don't call me that!" She seethed. "Ruby Rose is dead."