In the emerald forest, not too far from Beacon, Team RWBY fought against a pack of beowolves. It had been about a week after the fight with Torchwick, and the team had been sent to eliminate the small pack of Grimm. Though it was a small job, the team was eager to be out again.

Ruby sliced through one of the monsters, sending it's mangled corpse to the ground. Weiss froze the beowolves then shattered them with her blade. Yang, a smile plastered on her face, punched through the creatures with ease. Blake wrapped the Grimm in Gamboul Shroud, then with a flick of her wrist cut them to pieces.

The beowolves were beginning to thin in numbers, and after another fee minutes were completely eliminated. Team RWBY looked around at the motionless bodies that were beginning to dissipate, making sure they all were in fact dead.

"Well that was fun!" Yang said cheerily before blowing away some smoke from her shotgun gauntlets. Both Blake and Weiss rolled their eyes, but Ruby eagerly nodded in agreement.

"We should start heading back, it will be dark pretty soon." Blake suggested as she looked up at the sky. Though it was still light out, the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon.

"Yeah, dinner'll be served in a little bit." Yang added.

"Wouldn't want to miss that." Weiss muttered. Without any arguments, the team began the walk back to the school.

"Hey, is JNPR gonna be at the usual table or are they gonna be stuck in after class tutoring?" The busty blonde questioned as she pushed away a low tree branch. Ruby thought for a moment.

"Mmmm... I don't know." She replied and moved her hand to her pocket. "Let me just message them and ask- oh no!" The rest of her teammates whipped their heads toward her, all quickly asking what was wrong. Ruby patted her pockets and the rest of her dress.

"I don't have my scroll! I think I dropped it back there." She said, a bit of panic in her voice. Weiss groaned loudly.

"You are such a child." The white haired heiress complained as she began walking back in the direction they'd come from. "Come on, let's go look for it."

"No, it's fine I'll go by myself." Ruby grabbed her partners arm and pulled her back. "It's my fault I dropped it, I'll go find it." Weiss yanked her arm back and began walking towards the school again. Blake and Yang, however, looked concerned.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Ruby?" Yang questioned. "There could still be some beowolves out there."

"We don't mind waiting." Blake added. Ruby just shook her head and began pushing them both towards the school.

"It's not that far away! I'll be fine!" The younger girl assured them before turning the opposite direction. "I can handle a few little Grimm. And if anything goes wrong I'll just use my semblance. Okgonnagonowbye!" She finished quickly and rushed away.

"Ruby!" Blake and Yang called out, but the hooded girl was already gone, a cloud of rose petals in place of where she had once stood.

.

As Ruby ran, her eyes scanned the area for her scroll. She finally came to a stop at the sight of their previous battle. A few corpses still lied motionless on the ground as they dissipated.

"Come on, it's gotta be here somewhere..." She muttered. She held Crecent Rose in its scythe form, but had absentmindedly lowered it to the ground. Ruby pushed a shrub out of the way, and was happy to see her scroll on the ground.

She bent down to pick it up, and as she was putting it away she heard a loud growl from in front her.

She brought up her weapon just in time to block a Beowolf from mauling her face. She swung down on the monster, cutting it in half. Another Beowolf lunged at her, and she jumped to the side to avoid being ripped apart. But she hadn't realized there was a hole in the ground. Her left foot fell in the hole, and when she jumped back she ripped it out of its socket.

Ruby cried out in pain as she fell to the ground, Crescent Rose fell a few feet away from her. The Beowolf, seeing its prey lying injured on the ground, faced Ruby with a wolffish grin spreading across its muzzle. The young huntress in training attempted to use her semblance to get away, but as soon as she tried to push herself to her feet a bolt of white hot pain shot through her left leg. With a yelp, Ruby fell back to the ground.

The Beowolf stalked towards her at a cruelly slow pace. It was dragging this on, letting its prey suffer from both pain and panic.

Ruby tried to scramble for her scythe, but it was too late. She turned and saw the Beowolf lunge at her. It's claws were outstretched and it had blood lust in its eyes. Ruby raised her arms up over her face in a last attempt to save her own life, closed her eyes, and waited for the pain to come. But it never did.

Ruby opened her eyes to find the creature of Grimm sliced in half, and a young man standing over her, sheathing his sword. He was very tall, much taller than herself, he had on a black cloak-type garment, his brown hair was licked with red highlights, and there was a white mask over his eyes. He looked very familiar.

Not wanting to take any chances, Ruby quickly crawled over, grabbed crescent Rose, shifted it to its sniper form and pointed it at the strange boy. "Who are you?" She asked, trying to mask the pain that she was currently experiencing. He held up his hands in a surrender motion.

"Forgotten about me, huh?" He asked and took a step forward. His voice was gravelly, and seemed to carry a slightly sad tone.

"Well it has been a while. I probably look a lot different." He took another step and Ruby cocked her gun. Sure, this man might have saved her, but he could just as easily attack her too.

"Who are you?" The short girl asked once more. Ignoring her question, the man confined to walk towards her. The closer he got, the more familiar he looked. He stood right in front of her now, and now Ruby could see he two bull horns sticking up from the sides of his head. A flash of a memory passed through her mind as she lowered her weapon. No, it couldn't be.

The man knelt down on one knee beside her, not saying a word. Ruby didn't speak either, could it really be him? The man lifted up his right hand, not moving very fast, as not to scare the small girl, and rested it lightly on his mask. He slowly removed the barrier that had blocked the view of his eyes.

They were a shining brown, and they held so many things inside of them. They held humor, kindness, and warmth. But they also held secrets, sadness and anger. A large pink scar circled around his eyes, like an infinity sign. Even with the scar, Ruby recognized him.

"Hey there Little Red-Oof!"

"Adam!" Ruby shouted with happiness and crushed the air out of his lungs with a giant hug. The sudden movement made her move her foot, and she yelped in pain, quickly recoiling from the embrace and clenching her fists.

"We'll do happy reunions later." Adam told her as he moved to inspect her ankle. Her foot was bent in a way that was not normal. He gave it a gentle prod, and again she yelped. Ruby gritted her teeth. With all the adrenaline from the fight gone, she was finally feeling the full force of the pain.

Adam looked back up at Ruby. "Looks like you dislocated your ankle." He told her softly. The younger girl groaned in both pain and slight fear. "I'm gonna have to push back into its socket. And it's gonna hurt." He added, not willing to sugar coat it. Ruby let of another groan.

"Let's just get it over with." She whined. Adam handed her a small rock and she looked at it questioningly.

"Squeeze the rock whenever it hurts." He told her. Reluctantly, she nodded and held onto the rock with both hands.

"Ok." He said and put his hands on Ruby's foot. "1..." She gripped the rock tightly, not out of pain, but out of fear. "2..." Adam repositioned his hands to attempt and make the process less painful. "...3!" There was a squelch and a crack as Adam pushed the bones back into their proper place. Ruby let out a loud cry, her face contorting and tightening in pain. Having bones forced back into place was almost as painful as having hem ripped out.

Now, Ruby was a tough girl, really she was. But she couldn't stop the tears from dripping down her face. "Is it in?" She whimpered, afraid the answer would be no and she'd have to go through it a second time.

"Yeah, it's in." Adam said gently. Ruby looked down at her ankle. It was swollen and slightly purplish. It still hurt a lot, and she hadn't realized how much she'd been crying. At this point, she had begun hiccuping.

"Here let me get you back to Beacon. You need to get to the nurse." He told her as he, still kneeling, turned his back to her. "Climb up and I'll give you a piggy back ride like old times."

"Oh-*hic*kay." Ruby whimpered and climbed onto his back, trying to put as little pressure on her left side as possible. She wrapped her arms around Adam's neck, he stood up and wrapped each hand around one of her lower thighs to hold her in place. They had done this countless times when they were little, the only difference now being that Ruby was injured. He bent down, grabbed Ruby's weapon and handed it to her. She gave a small thanks before putting it int it's place behind her back.

Adam began walking towards Beacon. He went as fast as he could, but he didn't want to jostle Ruby around too much. The short girl currently had her face buried in his back, trying to stop the tears from seeping from her eyes. The pain in her foot was still very strong. Neither of them spoke. The only sound was Ruby's small whimpers.

"So, I heard you and Blake are on the same team." Adam broke the silence first, wanting to get Ruby's mind off of her foot and also wanting to catch up with her.

"Y-yeah." The scythe wielder answered, her voice wavering a bit. "I'm the leader."

"No way." Adam said in a surprised tone. Ruby gave him a sideways look.

"What do you mean 'no way'?" She questioned, temporarily forgetting her pain. "You don't believe I can be a team leader?"

"I'm just surprised that my Little Red, the same one that used to run around with a milk mustache, is the leader of a team. But I'm sure you're a great leader." He told her with a small chuckle.

Ruby blushed in response. "I was six! Milk mustaches were cool!" She defended herself.

It had been a long time since she'd been called Little Red. Adam wasn't the only one that ever called her that. But he was the only one that had ever called her his Little Red.

"Yang's on my team too." Ruby added, unwrapping one of her arms from around Adam's neck and wiping away a few of her tears.

"Is she still crazy?" He questioned.

"She's not crazy, she's just..." The cloaked girl struggled to think of a good word. "...never mind, she's crazy." Adam laughed.

For the rest of the walk, Ruby told him everything. She told him all about team RWBY, though he'd been a little conflicted when he heard that Weiss Shnee was her partner. Ruby continued to say that, even though she could be a little mean sometimes, she was really nice deep down.

She told him about classes; how hard they were, which teachers were the best and how Yang was convinced that Professor Port had a thing for her. She didn't fail to mention professor Ozpin or professor Goodwitch either.

She told him all about JNPR, about Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. About how they'd passed initiation together and were all good friends. She also recited a few of Nora's wacky stories.

"And that's how Nora ate a death stalker." Ruby finished with a smile. They, or rather Adam, had been walking for a while now, and dusk had descended upon them. The small girl still clung like an infant to the older boys back.

"I know I haven't met her, but this Nora chick scares me." Adam stated seriously.

Ruby giggled. "Yeah, that's what most people say when I tell them that story." She said. "Hey, are we getting close yet?"

"Actually, we're here." At that moment, Adam broke through the tree line. They stood on the edge of The Emerald Forest About five hundred yards away from Beacon's courtyard. All the lamp posts had been lit up, giving out enough light to illuminate the courtyard. Ruby winced, a new spike of pain running through her leg.

"The nurses office is that wa-" Ruby had started to point out the nurses office, having thought that Adam would take her there. But she was cut off when the taller boy bent down and sat her on the ground underneath the shade of a large tree. The tree was not like all the other evergreens, it looked like a tree from the forever fall, only it was green instead of red.

"Aren't you gonna take me to the nurses office?" She questioned as she rested her back against the trunk and watched as he kneeled next to her.

"Sorry, Little Red." He told her apologetically. "I can't go onto Beacon grounds." Ruby looked at him questioningly, before she remembered something and looked back at the ground.

"I forgot, Blake said you were still with the White Fang. Is that true?" He gave a simple nod in response. "Oh." There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "So, do you hate all humans?"

Adam chuckled. "Don't worry, I could never hate you." He told her with a smile. His expression then changed to a serious one and he sighed as he looked away. His eyes, which had been covered up again by the strange white mask, gazed up at he dark sky. "But," he paused. "Yeah. I do hate most of them." Another long silence.

"Why don't you call your team. They need to get you to the nurse." Adam said, breaking the silence. "I'm sure they're really worried about you."

"Oh yeah!"Ruby exclaimed, suddenly remembering how worried Yang could get. She pulled out her scroll and requested a video chat with her sister. As the scroll connected them, Ruby looked over to the older boy. "Hey, Adam, what happened with you and Blake? You used to be so close." She asked. He sighed and looked away again.

"Things got... Complicated-"

"Ruby!" The sharp voice cut Adam off as a certain blonde brawlers face popped up on the scroll. Her hair was a mess and she looked out of breath.

"Hey Yang." The younger girl replied, putting on a brave face so her sister couldn't see her true pain.

"Where the hell have you been?! I've been searching all over Beacon for you!"the blondes eyes narrowed on the screen. "What happened, why is your face all messed up?" Ruby realized how bad she must've looked. Her hair was all askew, and her eyes were pink and puffy from crying.

"Oh, I, um, Igotattackedintheforestanddislocatedmyankle." Ruby told her in one breath.

"What?!" Both Weiss and Blake's faces appeared next to Yang's. "Why didn't you call?" Yang asked.

"Oh... I forgot." Ruby replied with a shrug. "But, I'm at Beacon now! I'm on the west side, right by the emerald forest. Would you guys mind coming and taking me to the nurses office? I can't really walk."

"Wait, if you can't walk, how did you get to Beacon?"

Ruby smiled suddenly. "Oh! I almost forgot! Guess who helped me get here!" She turned the camera towards an unsuspecting Adam, who was fully illuminated by Beacons lamp lights. He was currently looking up at the broken moon. "Say hi, Adam!"

The bull Faunus turned in her direction. His eyes widened when he saw the camera pointed at him. No one was supposed to know he was here. He just blew his cover. The leader would kill him if he found out. "Red! No one is supposed I know I'm here!" He hissed. Ruby quickly lowered her scroll.

"Oops!" She exclaimed. But the damage had already been done.

"Adam?!" Blake's voice rang out from the holographic device. Her face was now the only one on the screen, as she'd pushed both Weiss and Yang out of the way. "Ruby, stay right there! We're coming! Adam, if you touch her I'll-"

Her voice was cut short when the tall boy grabbed the scroll from Ruby and hung up. Silence overtook them as he handed the device back to her.

"Sorry Adam," Ruby spoke up first. "I didn't know you didn't want anyone to see you."

He sighed before responding. "It's ok, Little Red." He told her. "You had no way of knowing." He have her a gentle smile to reassure her, which she quickly returned. Both their smiles disappeared when he stood up. "I should leave now."

"What?! Why?" Ruby cried.

"Your friends are coming to get you. I need to leave before Blake tries to kill me." His voice held a joking tone, but Ruby's frown didn't change.

"Here," He kneeled down again and picked up Ruby's scroll. After pressing a few buttons, then pulling out his own scroll and pressing a few buttons on it, he have her scroll back to her. "I have your scroll number now. I'll message you sometime."

"Promise?" The scythe wielder asked, her soft silver eyes staring at his white mask.

Adam chuckled. "I promise." He began to stand up again, but Ruby grabbed his sleeve. He looked at her again.

"Will you stay just until they get here?" She asked, a small glint of desperation in her eyes. He was about to answer, when Ruby quickly added, "Please?"

Adam let the corner of his mouth flick upwards in a small smile. "Ok, but as soon as I see them I have to leave." Ruby only nodded in agreement.

Then they sat their, side by side with their backs up against the tree trunk. Neither of them said a word, Adam continued to look at the shattered moon, while Ruby tried to focus on anything except for her swelling ankle. But, without anything to focus on, the pain continued to worsen.

"Ruby!" The cry broke through the silence. Looking up, they both saw three girls running full throttle towards them. Leading the charge was Blake, her ebony colored hair flowing in the wind. Close behind her was Yang, her usually lavender eyes now a crimson red. It had been her who had called out her sisters name. Close on their heels was Weiss, she looked almost as angry as Yang.

"That's my cue." Adam said as he stood up.

"Bye Adam." Ruby told him sadly. He grinned as he bent down.

"Bye Little Red." He said softly. He kissed her lightly on the forehead, making her blush like mad, then pulled the hood of her cloak over her face. Ruby struggled for a few moments to remove her hood. When she could finally see again, Adam was gone. But a few seconds later Yang was right in front of her, Weiss and Blake at her side.

"Ruby, are you ok? Did he hurt you?" Yang began to rattle off questions. "If he even touched you I'll skin him alive!" Her hair flared a little bit.

"No he didn't..." Ruby began.

"You'll have to get in line." Blake growled.

"He didn't do-"

"Of course you would get yourself in this situation." Weiss mumbled as she inspected Ruby's ankle.

"I'm going to go look for Adam. You two take Ruby to the nurse." The ebony hair girl said before removing her weapon from its holster on her back.

"Blake, wait!" Ruby yelled. The Faunus paused and looked down at her. "Can't you just let him go? Please?"

There were a few seconds of silence.

"No."

Then she took off into the forest.