Stacking The Deck

Summary: When Jaune's friends turned on him upon finding out about his transcripts, he felt more lost than ever. By chance he happened upon a stand in Vale, and his life would change forevermore… "I'm not a Huntsman… I'm a Hero."

Rated T, possibly M later.

Pairing: ANNOUNCED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAPTER!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and is owned by Roosterteeth. Please support the official release. I do not own the Fate Series. Fate was created by Kinoko Nasu and is owned by Type-Moon. Please support the official release.

Interlude I: Lost Innocence

Ruby Rose didn't get angry.

No, Ruby Rose was far too kind to get angry. She was an innocent flower who could never truly hate someone, a girl who barely even knew about how babies were made…

… If someone actually believed that about her, they were fools of the highest order.

Ruby Rose was livid at the moment.

The group had just returned from the docks after the incident with the White Fang… Topped off by Jaune chastising and yelling at them for forgiving Blake so easily and listening to her side of the story, while ignoring Jaune's own.

Ruby, of course, had wanted to comfort Jaune and hear him out. He was her first friend at Beacon, she was sure he had his reasons! But Yang had dragged her away before she could talk to him, and then she and the rest of her team told her to stay away from Jaune.

Normally, she wouldn't have listened to them. But what many forgot was that Ruby was a fifteen-year-old girl. A fifteen-year-old girl with major social anxiety and issues relating to it. They didn't mention what the possible consequences would be if she approached Jaune, but the idea of not getting along with her team for the next 4 years was horrifying to her.

And so, she had, very reluctantly, agreed.

It very quickly became the worst decision Ruby ever made.

The change happened all too suddenly. The very next day, during Combat Class, Jaune had come out looking totally different. His clothing, his fighting style, Ruby even swore she saw that his eyes were golden instead of their usual blue!

He dominated that fight, completely humiliating Cardin in the process and bringing his bullying ways to a complete and total end. And, all around her, she'd seen that her team and Jaune's had quickly realised they seemed to have fucked up and wanted to make amends.

The only problem was… Jaune didn't let them.

He avoided them at every opportunity, even going so far as to get his own room and move out of JNPR's dorm! There was barely any explanation from the teacher's either! They simply heard that Jaune was having a disagreement with his team, and he requested a single room to have some time to himself.

Three weeks later, and they were no closer to him than before. He'd avoided them like the plague, and they were left with seemingly no hope of getting close to try and get his forgiveness!

And now, the incident at the docks had occurred and Jaune had told them off for giving Blake a chance and not him a chance.

And honestly? Ruby agreed.

They all should have given Jaune a chance, she shouldn't have been such a baby and cowed to their demands. She should have stood up to Yang, and marched back up to that rooftop and comforted Jaune as best she could.

It hurt Ruby more so that she'd failed because, truthfully, the girl had a crush on Jaune. She was hoping he'd take the hint that Weiss didn't like him, and then she'd be able to move in and claim his heart for herself. But destiny seemed to have different plans in store... She would find a way. She always did.

So, by the time they got back to their dorm room, Ruby was beyond furious. She was completely and totally pissed.

"And just what," she growled, clearly in no mood to play games. "Were you thinking?" She started with Blake, the one who had caused her severe stress over the last couple of days.

"Ruby, I-!"

"Shut. Up!" She hissed at her. "Look, I don't care that you were a former terrorist! I don't care that you left the white fang, I don't care that you're a faunus! But what I do care about is the fact that you recklessly endangered yourself tonight!"

"I had everything under control!" Blake argued.

Silver eyes narrowed. "Don't you lie to me," she told her. "I'm fifteen, not stupid. I can tell when shit hits the fan. Roman Torchwick's body being decapitated? That is shit hitting the fan!"

Blake had no words for that, simply looking down in shame. Honestly that had surprised her too, but the fact remained that she and Sun being there had caused things to escalate to that point.

"What disgusts me is the fact that you are nothing but a complete and utter hypocrite!" Ruby yelled, not caring if anyone heard. "You stole, sabotaged, and probably killed too! All Jaune did was fake some stupid paperwork, and you dared to chastise him for his transcripts!? No Blake, you are the disgusting one."

The faunus of the team didn't respond. How could she, when everything Ruby said was correct? She was a hypocrite, and she'd turned Jaune away without remorse or care. All because of some stupid thoughts of Beacon being her place of 'Redemption' and that Jaune was tarnishing it by cheating his way in.

Like she was any better, she was a former terrorist who should be in jail for what she'd done. Jaune's would only earn him five years at best. Blake's actions would probably earn her life.

Infinitely worse than Jaune's.

"And speaking of hypocrites…" Ruby turned to Yang, who quickly became defensive.

"Name one-!"

"I'll name five!" Ruby spat at her. "Underaged drinking! Sending people to the hospital for pulling out strands of your hair by accident! Assaulting people when they don't give you the information you want! Going into the red-light district of Vale and doing god knows what! Oh, and let's not forget the time you trashed a god damn nightclub!"

Yang shrunk back. She'd never seen Ruby angry before, and she was honestly terrified. It was like when she saw Summer mad at her father when she found him with a bottle of alcohol. Nothing in Yang's life ever scared her more than seeing Summer angry back then… Ruby was starting to near a close second.

"That's what I thought," Ruby snarled. "You are a hypocrite Yang! You had no right to tell him to stay away from me, and you certainly have no right to continuously try to beat him up to get him to forgive us! That makes you no better than Cardin! Dad raised us better and you know that!"

And with that said, Ruby directed her gaze to Weiss.

The heiress flinched, before she put a shaky smirk on her lips. "What? You have nothing on me, Ruby. I should go get my nails done while you take the time to think-!"

"You are the single most self-centred and shallow person I have ever met," Ruby told her. "You thought Jaune, Jaune of all people, was only trying to get close to you because you were 'Weiss mother fucking Schnee' and he only wanted your money!"

"Well he does!" Weiss snapped.

"Stop hyping yourself up and shut the fuck up!" Ruby screamed at her, obviously furious. "If you would exercise that tiny fucking pea-sized thing in your skull you call a brain, you would realise that Jaune didn't even know who Pyrrha was on the day of initiation! Pyrrha is way more famous than you, and Jaune's never heard of her! So where, in your mind, did you come to the conclusion that he'd heard of you!?"

"Pyrrha is not more famous than me!" Weiss sniffed. "The Schnee Dust Company-!"

"Is famous, not you!" Ruby cut her off coldly. "Your daddy is famous! Not you! Grow up and get the fuck over yourself! And if your stupidity at thinking Jaune only wanting you for your money was bad enough, you took every single chance to belittle him and be nothing but a bitch to him! Someone needs to give you a dose of reality, and here it is! Weiss Schnee, you are a fucking nobody! You are no one special, the only things you have going for you are your combat skills, your intelligence, and your daddy's money! Without those things, you would be nothing!"

Weiss flinched back hard at Ruby's cold, but true words. Without her combat skills, her smarts she would be nothing. If her father stopped giving her allowance, then she would barely have her combat skills without her dust…

"Now, it seems we need to re-establish the pecking order in this team!" Ruby growled. "It goes you! The dirt! The worms inside of the dirt! My cookies! My strawberries! Than me! Any questions!?"

None of her three teammates responded. They didn't dare.

"Good, I'm glad we've established that! My first order to all of you, is to apologise to Jaune as soon as possible tomorrow! I don't care if you have to scream it across the lunch hall, in the middle of class, or whatever! You will apologise to him, and by Oum you will mean it with all your hearts and soul! Am I clear?"

Her team nodded.

"I said! Am! I! Clear!?"

"Yes!"

"Yes, what?"

"Yes leader!"

"Good!" Ruby nodded, now done with her tirade and satisfied with the results. "Now, we're all going to go to bed and have a nice, peaceful sleep, and you will damn well apologise to Jaune like he damn well deserves tomorrow! And I don't want to hear so much as a peep out of any of you until tomorrow!"

With that said Ruby climbed up into her bed, changed into her nightwear, and fell asleep.

It would be at least an hour until her teammates followed her example, all making a silent promise to do their best to never anger Ruby ever again.

~~Stacking the Deck~~

The next day didn't go as planned.

Jaune didn't show up to their first class… Or their second. And they didn't spot him at lunch either. For all intents and purposes, he almost seemed to have vanished from Beacon.

Ruby was, to say the least, annoyed. Where was he? She wanted her team to apologise so she could do the same, and then they'd all be friends again! And then she could set to work on making Jaune her boyfriend, like she'd wanted for a while now.

It was only in their next class when they were given the news by Glynda that Jaune had chosen to leave Beacon for the time being, in order to pursue goals that were more important to him at the current point in time.

At that moment, something shattered within Ruby.

She slowly shifted her gaze to her team, and the remnants of JNPR. Their fault… It was their fault Jaune left. And it was her fault for being too damn afraid to approach him and apologise for all she'd done.

When they got back to the dorm, her team was too afraid from the previous night to even strike up a conversation with Ruby when they got back. And they didn't dare mention Jaune's name.

But even so, it didn't stop her from turning her wrath upon them. "All of you have just had your rights to Vale revoked until the break," she snarled coldly.

"That's not fair!" Yang said immediately, only to shut up immediately at Ruby's glare.

"Oh, don't worry, my own are revoked until the break too," she told them, confusing them. "All of us are responsible for Jaune leaving Beacon. So, all of us, even me, are going to be punished for it… Do you have a problem with that?"

They all shook their heads rapidly.

"What?"

"No, leader!"

"That's what I thought you said," Ruby murmured as she changed into her nightwear and climbed up into her bed, closing the curtains and putting on her mask as she decided to get an early night for once and hopefully sleep off this ugly feeling.

As a result, she never saw the golden card depicting a bowman floating out of a crack in reality, nor how it hovered down and lay upon her chest… Before sinking into her skin.

She saw hell.

All around her, the city burned.

Man, woman, child, the burning city was filled with screams of agony, futile cries of hope that the hell around her would be undone.

She had long since lost her own parents, her own family… And so, she began to walk through hell. And as she walked, she began to discard and lose valuable things.

When she was too afraid to move, she threw away fear.

When she was too upset to move, she threw away sadness.

When the guilt clawed at her that she didn't help the others, she tossed away what she could of her guilt.

When the shame began to fill her of her failures, she threw that away too.

And when she ran out of emotions to throw away… She began to discard memories. Memories of her parents, her family, her childhood… They burned away in the flames as she continued to walk through that hell.

And finally, as the ashes began to settle, she ran out of things to throw away.

And so, she simply lay down to die.

She stared blankly at the clouded sky, coughing occasionally as her lungs were filled with ash and soot from the flames. But even so, her eyes held no fear. No joy, no sadness, no rage, they held nothing. The eyes of an empty person with nothing left to give.

She didn't know how much time had passed until she saw the smile on that man's face, who brokenly kept speaking. "You're alive… You're alive… Thank you… Thank you for living…"

She stared at it without feeling as she was held in his arms as he cried joyfully… And just a spark of emotion returned to that empty gaze…

'I wonder what it would be like… To smile like that…?'

And so, her eyes sealed shut… And the hill of swords filled her dreams.

Ruby woke up screaming at Five AM in the morning.

She breathed heavily, her entire form covered in sweat. Her eyes darted around the room, as if to confirm her location, before she sighed in relief and flopped back down into the bed. She glanced to her teammates, only to frown. They weren't awake at all, despite how loud she'd been screaming.

"Typical," she murmured, climbing out of the bed and landing gracefully on the ground. Her detest for her team had only grown higher since Jaune left, though she knew she was just as much at fault as the rest of them.

She stripped out of her sweat drenched sleep clothing, exposing her pale but beautiful naked form to the light of the rising sun, before she threw it in the hamper and stepped into the shower.

She started the water and shuddered as it hit her cold, before sighing in relief as it began to warm her up. She wiped the sweat from her body, feeling unclean because of it, and closed her eyes as the water hit her face.

Yet she couldn't help but shudder in fear as she remembered that burning city from her dream, how she had walked through hell while discarding everything that made her who she was, until there was nothing left to throw away. It was… Haunting, terrifying on levels she'd never thought imaginable.

She sincerely hoped it was some kind of awful nightmare.

'Hmph… Calling that twisted imagery that haunts me every day a mere nightmare… What a terrible contractor I have this time around…' Ruby froze as she heard a distinctly masculine voice speaking and looked around the bathroom frantically for any sign of the voice. And yet, it was her. Just her, and nobody else.

"Oh great, now I'm starting to hear voices," Ruby murmured to herself as she continued to wash her body.

'Is that what you think, naïve child?'

"Yes, it is what I think anonymous adult voice," she rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the shower and began to dry up, before heading to the sink to brush her teeth. "After all, there's no way that you're…"

She trailed off and paled in terror as she looked at her reflection in the glass… Only it wasn't her. Instead it was a young adult male with skin the colour of ash, buzzcut white hair, with cold golden eyes.

'Hello, Ruby Rose,' the man said. 'I am Servant Archer, a Servant bound to your pathetic mortal body through a class card. Feel free to start questioning your life in its entirety.'

Ruby did the only natural thing and screamed again. And, just like before, nobody woke up.

~~Stacking the Deck~~

It took a whole hour for Ruby to fully calm down from the shock of seeing someone else's reflection in the mirror.

It also took another half hour for Archer to explain to her just who and what he was to 2her.

When she found out, she was filled with a childish giddy. 'Woah, you're a hero from the past!?' She exclaimed with shock and awe. 'A-are you the King of Vale? The commander of the faunus army! The Founder of the White Fang!?"

Ruby wouldn't have asked that last one had she known her history better and known the founder of the white fang was still alive.

'You wouldn't be familiar with my legend,' Archer said vaguely and without a care. 'I am a Nameless Heroic Spirit. I have no name, and honestly the memories of my past are dull even in my own mind. All I know is I have no name and have no need of one. You may simply call me Archer.'

'Oh… Okay… Were you a cool hero though!?'

'No,' Archer's dry, annoyed voice brought her cheerful thoughts to a dead halt. 'I wasn't any kind of hero you would have respected. I killed who I wanted, when I had to. I didn't care who had to die for me to save people. Be it comrades or enemies. I am not a hero. I am a mistake, nothing more and nothing less.'

Ruby didn't say anything to that. Honestly, what could she say? There was a being living inside of her that was supposed to be a hero but… Was just some kind of villain who saved people? What kind of twisted hero was living inside of her body!?

She finally found her voice. 'That's… That's twisted! How can anyone live like that!?'

'Well I guess I'm not just anyone then, Master of mine,' Archer responded, and Ruby could practically hear the smug smile in his voice.

'Yeah!? W-well, I don't need you!' Ruby snapped. 'Someone as twisted and vile as you, beyond redemption as you kill without remorse! I don't need your twisted power!'

The chuckle Archer gave to her words practically send chills down her spine. 'We'll see, o' foolish master of mine… We shall see…'

Ruby didn't speak to Archer for the rest of the day that day, instead doing her best to focus on classes and keep her team in check. True to her promise, she didn't allow any of them- including herself- to go out into Vale. If they ran low on something, Ruby would coldly tell them to ask JNPR to get it so that they didn't have any excuses.

That day, in combat class, Ruby was ruthless on a level she'd never displayed before. She had crushed Cardin in under a minute flat as she let loose her rage at Archer, her team, JNPR, and Jaune for leaving her behind instead of taking her with him!

"Miss Rose…" Even Glynda was surprised. "While I am pleased to see you are making… Er… Progress… I ask you not be so… Unnecessarily brutal in your next match!"

"Yes, Miss Goodwitch," Ruby responded as she made her way back to her team. She watched Cardin getting taken away by his team on a stretcher, it seemed Ruby had ended up breaking his leg with her actions.

A stab of guilt flooded her at injuring a fellow classmate, before it was washed away with vindictive pleasure. The prick deserved what he got for picking on Jaune all that time, he didn't deserve any of the strife Cardin decided to inflict onto him! He deserved better than that!

She did her best to try and act normal throughout the day, though she remained distant with her team, making it quite clear that Jaune's leaving damaged their relationship in a way that it may never recover. They were her friends, but Jaune was her first friend. Her best friend. Her god damn first crush!

She wasn't going to forgive them so easily.

That night, Ruby lay down to sleep again after doing her homework. It was only a rough draft, and she'd probably check over it in the morning to make sure it was alright.

"Tomorrow is another day," she murmured as she lay down to sleep.

But as she drifted off, Archer's voice almost seemed to whisper in her ear. 'Let's visit hell again, shall we?'

And so, in the coming weeks, Ruby was plagued with nothing but nightmares of the hell on earth that was Archer's life. Accepting a deal from the entity of the world to become a counter guardian, being betrayed by his fellow magus and left to hang.

Becoming more and more twisted as he killed and killed, until he eventually began to like it as he gradually forgot everything that made him who he originally was. It persisted, and persisted, until he was soon just known as Nameless. The heroic spirit who carried no name.

But even so, even as the nightmares wore down her spirit, she did not break yet. She was worn down, beaten, and hurt by the nightmares that haunted her dreams. But she managed to remain strong, holding onto that last spark of innocence with almost fervent desperation. She would not break, she would not become like him.

And then, finally, the last night before the break came. The day she'd finally be able to go home to patch and spend time with her family, and hopefully be able to take her time and recover from the traumatic experiences that were Archer's memories.

'So, you made it this far,' Archer spoke up as she lay down to sleep, sounding begrudgingly impressed. 'I'm actually surprised. Most people in your position would have broken by now, but I suppose there's no accounting for childish idiocy.'

'Say what you will, but I won't break no matter what hell I'm shown,' Ruby told him firmly. 'So, do your worst!'

'My worst, you say…' Archer's voice trailed off. 'Well… If I'm right, you should soon be seeing the memory that turned me into who I am today… I hope for your sake you don't break when you see it, o' master of mine… You'll never be the same again…'

With those ominous words, Archer fell silent and left Ruby to sleep in peace. She was initially nervous, before shrugging it off and slowly drifting into sleep. She'd seen the hellish landscapes he'd fought on, all the people he'd killed, and the horrendous things he'd done for Alaya.

What was the worst she could be shown?

A sigh escaped her lips as she sat upon the hill of blades, her two faithful guns in hand as she stared at the eternal twilight. Many would call it beautiful, she would only call it disgusting. A sun that never set was something truly disgusting to see, for it was an unnatural world that never truly saw day, and never knew the night.

She felt a presence behind her and glanced back. "Alaya," she greeted in a cool, cold voice. "I must say I'm surprised. You usually don't do me the honour of visiting me personally… And you even came in an unfamiliar body for once. So… Who do I have to kill today?"

"Oh Archer," the grin on the entity's face was unsettling. "Archer, Archer, Archer… I've been waiting a long time to drop this assignment on you… Your goal is simple, just kill everybody in the building. Nobody leaves alive under any circumstances, clear?"

"Crystal."

There was a flash of light, and Archer found herself hidden in the shadows of a factory. It was pitch black, with no light, causing her to frown before quickly applying reinforcement to her eyes to see just what was going on.

She barely held back a gasp…

That was… That was her body on the table. Fresh from the day she'd been hung. She recognised it clear as day and knew immediately this was her original timeline. But why was her body here? Had someone delved into Reality Marble research, and was using her body to find out more?

She didn't wait long for her answer, as the doors to the factory opened and in walked…

"No…" She whispered, horror in her voice for the first time in what felt like centuries. "No please… This is… Please no, not this… Anything but this…"

A woman walked in, with long silky black hair in twin tails, carrying a young boy with matching hair but a pair of golden eyes instead of the blue his mother had.

"Mommy…?" The boy spoke up. "A-are you gonna bring back Daddy this time?"

"Yes sweetie," she nodded confidently. "My calculations are perfect this time. There's no way it'll fail. Soon we'll be a perfect family with daddy, so just sit like a good boy and wait…"

"No, please… Not this, anything but this…" She croaked softly, unheard by both residents of the room. But the Will of Humanity heard and whispered in his ear.

'You have your mission, *****! Do it! I have commanded it, and you must do it! My Guardians cannot disobey me!'

Unbidden, she felt Kanshou and Bakuya in gun form materialising in her hands. "Please, no…" Tears openly flowed down her face, and he saw the woman tense as he pointed the gun at the child… But it was too late.

"SORA!" The woman screamed as a gunshot rang through the air, and the child slumped over in their chair, eyes completely vacant as blood poured from the bullet wound in their skull.

She ran over and cradled her child, and that was when she finally dropped from the rafters and revealed herself. The woman looked at her, and she watched as those blue eyes widened with complete and total horror.

"******!? W-why did you… Why did you kill our-!?" She demanded, blue eyes furious, before she spotted the tears streaking down the Counter Guardian's cheeks.

"I'm sorry…" She croaked. "She's making me do this… I… I can't stop myself…"

'No…'

"I… I just wanted you back…" Rin Tohsaka croaked out. "I just wanted our baby boy to have his daddy… Can the counter force not even permit that…? For a child to grow up with their father?"

"I-I'm sorry… I can't stop it…" A shaky hand lifted Kanshou and pointed it at Rin's head.

'No! Stop! Don't do it!'

"I-I know you can't… You stupid idiot…" Tears streaked down the woman's cheeks as she held her son's body tightly against hers. "… I love you Shirou…'

'DON'T!'

"… I love you too, Rin…"

BANG!

It was after that nightmare, Ruby had never been the same again. Forced to live through Archer's experiences, forced to feel the emotions he had through the ages was bad enough… But to re-experience and feel what he'd felt when he'd been forced to kill his child and the mother of said child?

It was too much for her, leaving her soul completely broken and shattered from the experience. From what it seemed, she was about to head down the same path that Archer had walked down in his own life...

But that was when thoughts began to flit through Ruby's mind.

'Love… I loved her, and she's gone… No, I didn't love her… I love someone else… Kind… Handsome… Sweet… Jaune… He left… He was forced to leave, because of them and because of my own foolishness…

'What is lost can be found again… Yes, I'll find him again… And I'll protect him. Nobody will touch him. Nobody will hurt him. He will be safe, safe with me… I won't let what happened to Archer's lover and child happen to me…

'We'll be safe, we'll be happy… I will love and protect him, even if he rejects me…'

It was at that moment; Ruby Rose had changed completely. No longer the hero she had once been, now obsessed with one man, with one goal. Those eyes of innocent silver became as cold as steel.

And so, with the break of Beacon starting, she began to learn to wield her powers. So, in tune with the powers, with Archer's powers, her skin had already begun to darken to become more tanned by the time the fourth day of the break came by.

And every day, she stalked through the city as she looked for her beloved. The one she had to protect at all costs, even if it meant giving her life to assure that he was safe. He was her world, he was all she had faith and love in any more. Nothing else mattered, only him.

And then, one night, she spotted him. A man in a grey hoodie, carrying a guitar case. So curious about him, she began to fire at him without a care… And then, as if sensing her shots, he ran forwards and dodged.

For a brief second, she'd seen it. Eyes of sky blue, hair of sun-kissed gold.

It was him. Her beloved was there! She'd finally found him! Where all the others had tried their shady little deals, she'd found him all on her own! Destiny… Yes, this must have been destiny!

It didn't take any time at all for her to corner him in an alley, pointing Bakuya right at his face to make sure he didn't run again. She saw his eyes briefly look over her new attire and felt a shudder of satisfaction run through her. Yes, no doubt she was taking in her sexy body.

The style was a mix of hers and Archer's, though more her own than his. She hoped her beloved would like it and, if his brief glance was any indication about it, he did!

"Now, dear Jaune…" Her voice came out as almost a purr as she spoke his name, her desire for him and him alone dancing in her steel eyes. "Answer my question, simple yes or no if you please…

"Do you believe in destiny?"

And thus… The petals were engulfed by a fierce blizzard… And froze forevermore…

A/N: Well. All the votes are in. And I'll say, I'm honestly a little surprised at the results. But you all voted for it, so here are the votes for the pairing of Stacking the Deck!

1: Okita Soji Alter

2: Rhongomyniad

3: Tamamo No Mae

ALSO 3: Ruby Rose

5: Mordred

6: Scathach-Skadi

7: Neo

8: Atalante

9: Semiramis

10: Nero

11: Ishtar

12: Emerald

13: Cinder

I have posted it in the order that they came in. I was honestly shocked to see that, in the last week leading up to the interlude, enough people liked Yandere style Ruby enough to drag her up to third place. I'm surprised and honestly relieved in a way. It felt like I was starting to write this story in a direction where Lancaster was going to happen unintentionally. But with enough of the fans voting for it, it means I don't have to write my way out of it.

I'm sorry to everyone who didn't get who they wanted in the pairing, but come on. Who honestly wanted Neo to forgive Jaune for killing Roman? And who wanted any of the girls that are Jaune's class cards in the pairings when they don't have physical bodies?

I know many people will be angry about Ruby being in the final pairing. But you all voted for it, and I promised the top 3 will be in the final pairing. Both Ruby and Tamamo are 3rd, so I'm not sure what people will want me to do about it.

But, to be fair to all those who don't want Ruby in the pairing, I have put up another poll on my profile that will go on for 1 month, after which it will be taken down. The options will be as follows:

Ruby

Tamamo

Both

Those will be your options, and you will only be able to vote for ONE option for obvious reasons.

And, finally, this story will be on hold for a couple of months. Honestly I burned myself out a bit just doing one chapter a month and it took sleep deprivation for me to get my ass and gear and write both chapter 10 and the interlude.

I'll be writing and focusing on another story for the next couple of months, so look forward to that!

Until then, this is Ezras Hargrave, signing off!