AN/ Hey! Welcome to my new big fic series. I have a lot planned for this and I hope I can get it all out. But we're starting slow, with this first chapter. The plan right now is to update every Tuesday and Friday. I've got a bit of a head start and am going to try and maintain a lead on the updates.

This is going to be a White Rose and Bumbleby fic with a lot of appearances from a ton of RWBY characters. Spoilers all the way through volume 3, set five years after the season finale. Thank you for taking the time to check it out. Let me know what you think :)

"I think we're clear."

Jaune's voice pulled Ruby out of her haze as her legs finally slowed down. She searched for a tree to prop herself up against and stumbled into it. They'd been running for so long, she was surprised at how well Jaune had been able to keep up—maybe it was because she was slowing down.

That could be because she was fairly certain she'd taken a hit in that last fight. Not that there was any need to worry Jaune about that right now.

"I'm so…tired…of running." Ruby panted before turning and resting her back along the thick tree and sliding to the ground.

Jaune chuckled. "Considering that speed is your semblance I think that speaks volumes." Ruby was too tired to argue, or agree. She couldn't decide which, she was too tired. "We won't be able to rest here for long. I knew we should have stayed in the city. It's harder for it to track us."

"Harder, but not impossible. It's been relentless since we left Vale—it knows we're close."

As the wind picked up, Jaune glanced over at Ruby with a frown. "Are we close? I don't feel close to anything other than a heart attack."

Ruby had to believe they were close to something. They'd been at this for so long, for nearly two years since leaving Haven. It couldn't be for nothing, the small clues here and there, the sightings of the woman in black, it had to mean something.

"She's searching for something, Jaune. Something important and that…thing that's after us is trying to stop us."

That thing that was hunting them had been doing so for the better part of the last two years. One day, in the middle of the night, it burst through the door of the hotel they were staying at and tried to kill them. If not for Ruby's insomnia keeping her awake they would have easily fallen pray to it.

There was no real way to describe the thing. It was shaped like a human, but quick as a Faunus and as powerful as a Grimm. They'd battled it many times, in many locations over the past year. Each fight was the same. It would come at them, relentlessly and no matter how many times Ruby slashed it or shot at it with her scythe, it just kept coming.

Nowhere they stayed was safe and on top of that, it endangered the safety of those around them. A lesson they'd learned in the harshest of ways.

So they started running. It was better than standing their ground and getting hurt, which had happened more often than not. Whatever weapon it carried could cut through a person's aura as if it didn't even exist. They were outmatched, no weapon could stop it, and those magical silver eyes Qrow had once told her about had never returned since the day on the tower. They couldn't defeat this thing, once that realization dawned on them, all they could do was hide.

In the back of Ruby's mind, she knew there was one plan that hung over the both of them. Ever since Ren and Nora returned to their home village, it had just been the two of them. They'd come to rely on one another to get through the long days. So much had happened, they'd been through the worst of it together but Ruby knew that this style of life they were living couldn't last.

"Jaune." Ruby's voice was gentle, her tone preparing for the truth she knew he would see coming.

The look he gave her confirmed her fears. "Ruby, don't say it."

"You know we need to split up. It can't track us both."

He shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm not leaving you behind too. Where would I even go? Where would you go?"

Ruby took a deep breath, the cut on her stomach tightening. The blade of that thing was powerful, it struck wounds that took her aura days to heal. "I'll follow the lead into Atlas. We know she's been there because there's been at least two sightings and three murders of known hunters with ties to the White Fang. You can follow up that lead going back to Beacon."

"Beacon? Ruby we just came from there! There's no lead, you're just sending me away!"

She couldn't look him in the eye because he was absolutely right. Ruby knew this lead to Atlas was the right one, it was really the only one. Beacon was a dead end they'd been to more times than they could count. Long after the dragon unfroze and Cinder disappeared, the school was being rebuilt. Beacon was no longer the center of the fight, but it was safe and she needed Jaune to be safe.

"I need to do this, Jaune."

He took a hard step towards her. "Why? Why do you need to do this?"

"Because I failed, Jaune! I had a chance to stop it and I failed! I've been chasing after this…ghost for so long and I know I'm close. I can feel it, I'm so close! But with that thing on my heels all the time I can't catch my breath long enough to close the deal!"

She watched him pout and turn away with his arms over his chest. "I failed too, you know? I didn't do anything to—" his voice cut out and Ruby knew where his head was going. She'd watched his mind go there countless times through their years together. "She pushed me into that locker and I just…watched her walk away from me. I could have done more."

"We all could have done more." Ruby said carefully as she pushed to her feet. "This is why we fight, Jaune. We're doing it for her, for Penny, for my sister and for everyone that Cinder and her people have hurt. We hunt them because we can't sit back and wait for them to make another attack. If I—if we find them, maybe we can stop them before they hurt anyone else."

"But when you say we…you mean you." Jaune sounded more than a little betrayed and Ruby felt horrible.

Still, he was once again right. "Jaune…I need you to do this." Ruby repeated tiredly.

When she saw him finally close his eyes and look away from her, she knew she had won. "You always were the better leader."

"That's not true," Ruby countered. "You lead your team fine, just…differently. Neither one of us were really ready for it but we did okay. We were better than Cardin." She tried to joke, to make him smile and make this moment not so terrible. She'd had so many terrible moments in the last five years. She was tired of sad goodbyes.

It didn't work. In fact, she'd somehow made it worse. "I don't know, last I remember, he didn't lose one of his teammates."

Ruby felt a vice grip her chest. "Jaune."

"It's fine, I'll head back to Beacon and see what I can find. I'll wait for a few days, if it doesn't follow me there then I'll come find you in Atlas."

Part of Ruby wanted to tell Jaune to stay away. To run and never look back, because as much as she trusted him and appreciated his help, she didn't want him to be as caught up in this mess as she was. He'd lost so much—yet he was by her side through it all and not once did he doubt her or question her motives.

She wouldn't have made it this far without Jaune Arc, so if he wanted to continue to fight with her, she had no right to stop him.

For now, she just needed a few days separation from that thing chasing them. "You be careful, okay? If it comes for you, you lay low and you hide and you be safe. I am not kidding, I will know if you're reckless and I will kick your butt from here to the ends of Remnant."

"I will," that made him smile. "Stay fast, Ruby." He said before pulling her into a warm embrace.

She wrapped her arms around his middle and took in the comfort of her friend. Unable to keep the voice out of her head that this might be the last time she'd ever see him. "Stay guarded, Jaune."

When she pulled away, Ruby gave him one final look before planting her foot into the ground. A moment later, she ran as fast as she could towards the kingdom of Atlas.

The sound of someone coughing stirred Ruby from her uncomfortable sleep. She opened her eyes to find the bustling of people moving through the airship, chatting idly with one another and some staring at their scrolls.

Her back ached as she moved—sleeping on a small metal bench was far from ideal but it was still better than under a tree in the forest. Ruby pushed herself up to a seated position, wincing slighting at the still present cut on her stomach, and reached under the bench to pick up Crescent Rose.

She was exhausted still, not even the peace of the airship was enough for her to recapture the lost sleep of the last week.

As she traced her fingers over her weapon, Ruby's thoughts traveled to Jaune. She hoped he'd made it out of the forest okay. They'd sufficiently trapped that thing that had been chasing them but trapping it was all they ever could do. Even then it always found a way to escape and come after them. For now, Ruby could only wait and wonder if it had chosen to follow her or Jaune.

She was so tired, both literally and figuratively. She was tired of running, tired of not sleeping, tired of feeling so alone. This was not the life she imagined when she entered Beacon years ago. It was supposed to be adventurous and romantic. She was going to save the world, she was going to fight monsters and celebrate with her teammates and enjoy the life of a huntress—going to bed every night knowing she'd done well.

Instead, she was tormented with nightmares, she choked down food out of necessity and slept only when her body couldn't function anymore. The last few years had been so hard on her, changed her. She envied the child that walked through the doors of Beacon thinking she could be a hero.

There was no such thing as heroes—only victims and survivors.

The only person she'd contacted in the last five years was Yang, and even those rare conversations were unpleasant. She never told Yang what she was doing, never gave any details. Though Ruby wondered if Yang still cared, she couldn't risk having Yang come after her. There was no sign of Blake and as far as Ruby knew Weiss had been completely taken away from being a huntress. She'd said goodbye to Ren and Nora and now Jaune as well…then there was Pyrrha.

She took a deep, shaky breath and refused to let her mind wander that far. There was no reason to feel that pain, not today. Instead she held onto Crescent Rose a little tighter and let her eyes close.

At some point she must have drifted back to sleep because the next time her eyes opened there was a very portly man looking down at her. He had a long, red beard and she watched him reach up and push his glasses higher on his nose.

"You can't stay here." He said dryly and Ruby looked around to see that the airship was empty.

"O—oh…have we reached our stop?"

The man rolled his eyes. "You think? Ships been stopped for ten minutes now, everyone's off and its time for you to go. I've gotta clean your bench and you're keeping me from my break."

"Right," Ruby stood up quickly, cringing as she felt her scythe fall from her lap and crash onto the floor. "Sorry," she picked it up in a flurry. "I'm sorry." As the second apology fell from her lips, Ruby raced off the ship and squinted as the light of the falling sun shone in her face.

Atlas was as she'd imagined it would be. Massive. The buildings stood high in the sky and seemed to touch the clouds. Traffic was nonstop, even from her spot on the dock she could see the bustle of cars and people all across the streets below.

Ruby felt a strange sense of comfort here, if nothing else, it would be easier to hide. There was also a nagging feeling that this was a terrible mistake. If that thing came after her there was a good chance she'd be putting all these innocent lives at risk.

Still, they were at risk every single day that passed where she didn't find Cinder and stop whatever plan was brewing. The trail had gone cold before her contact here had told her of the sightings. A woman with black hair who seemed to disappear in a flash and never looked anyone in the eyes.

It wasn't much, but she trusted her source well enough to take the chance. Neon Katt was a lot of things, but a liar was not one of them.

Tucking Crescent Rose under her cloak, Ruby made her way into the city. She hadn't eaten all day and despite the fact that she'd been sleeping in the forest for the last few days, she only had enough money for a place to stay, but her stomach protested angrily. She needed food, after a week of running her body was almost demanding it.

"Maybe I could find a good box to sleep in. The city seems pretty busy. I'd probably be safe in an alley or something." Ruby muttered to herself as she slipped into the constant stream of people walking through town.

It amazed her how calm everyone was, even though she knew it was a good thing, these people were still blind to the fact that a threat was looming over them. These were the kinds of things that made Ruby question her own sanity on some days. She spent every day feeling so tense and threatened that to see a city moving and operating as if the time of peace was still upon them made her think she might be going crazy.

This wasn't right, they weren't ready…they needed to be ready. Ruby had seen the cost of not being ready.

As she strode through the city, she caught sight of a small bakery tucked away in the corner of a a series of buildings and decided to indulge herself. She slipped inside and took in the smell of fresh bread and cakes—it was magical.

The place was fairly empty, save for a couple with a pair of children who they were struggling to keep in their seats. Ruby stepped up to the counter and was met with a pair of green eyes from a girl that didn't look a day over eighteen.

"Hello, welcome to The Half Baked Dozen, what can I get you?"

Reaching into her wallet, Ruby fumbled with the few liens she had and slowly counted them.

"Um," she sat them on the glass counter. "What can I get for…twelve lien?"

The girl eyed the money for a moment before her gaze turned back to Ruby. Now, Ruby Rose might not have had a good meal in a few days, but she was far from starving. She had built a strong body, one needed to carry around her giant weapon and run from monsters on a daily basis. She'd grown up, as well as out in her frame. However, that didn't mean she wasn't hoping her tired eyes and 'help me I'm hungry' pout wouldn't earn her an extra cookie. Though getting things with their looks was always more Yang's style.

So when the response came, Ruby couldn't believe it. "How about six cookies and a piece of cake. Your choice, of course?" Maybe she looked worse than she thought. After all this girl wouldn't stop staring at her.

Ruby knew her mouth fell open and for a moment she thought a bit of drool might have come out. She closed it a moment later and stammered. "I—that…would be…are you sure?"

"Yes," the girl answered with a slight tinge in her cheeks. Ruby wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve such nice service. "I baked the cookies a little while ago so you'll have to tell me if you like them."

"I will!" Ruby beamed before watching the girl behind the counter pick up a plate of cookies and neatly decorate them across a plate. She then put the plate on the counter and gestured towards the cakes.

"What's your pick?"

Ruby eyed them mostly for show, because she already knew what she wanted. "Chocolate please, with the bananas!" She watched another smile pass over her server's face.

"You have excellent taste."

As someone who struggled with social interaction all her life, anytime a conversation went as well as this one, Ruby felt a sense of pride. This whole exchange was making her day better.

Once the piece of cake was placed amongst the cookies, Ruby took the plate with the promise of grading the cookies when she finished.

She found a table tucked away in the back corner and sat down, ready to devour her amazingly sugar filled meal and, perhaps, enjoy herself for a little while. Just as she was about to place a cookie into her mouth, someone suddenly sat down across from her.

"She was flirting with you; you know?"

A pair of disarming blue eyes were looking back at her and Ruby dropped the cookie into her lap. "W—Weiss?"