Disclaimer: 100% certain I don't own RWBY.

Road to the End

By: athrunzala

12: Reasons

"Ruby, I know you're worried. But she'll be fine."

Weiss was trying to calm a nervous 16 year old, and it wasn't going so well. Ruby was still pacing around the waiting room. It looked as though she would dig through the floor with how furiously she was pacing. And it seemed as though nothing would calm her down.

"Ruby," Blake started, but stopped when Dante entered the room.

He limped confidently across to Ruby, and placed a hand on her shoulder startling her slightly.

"GYAH!"

"Sorry about that, Ms. Rose."

She turned her head to look in his direction, her body finishing the movement her head couldn't.

"When did you...?"

"Wake up? A little over a week ago. And, as you can tell, they don't want to let me anywhere near my weapon."

"Well, of course not, you massive boob! What kind of doctors would they be if they let somebody who has been unconscious since July just go and fight?"

The older huntsman shot Weiss a look that said "you call me that again, and you will die," but he smiled, which amended the statement with a "just kidding". He then returned his attention to Ruby.

"Look. I... wasn't exactly forthcoming with you on how the falling out went after Beacon was..." He looked around the room, and noticed that all eyes were on him. "After Beacon was destroyed."

"Whadda you mean?"

"I mean I have things to tell you. And now is better than never."

The brunette swordsman moved to his left until he reached a row of chairs, where he grabbed onto the arm of one and sat down. He then began to tell the rest of the story.

~One Year Ago~

"No way. No way I'm joining in this."

Dante was madder than he usually would be. Of course, he felt that there was reason to be. But the person he was arguing with was one Ozpin would expect, but not anybody else.

She stood around 5'9", with blonde hair that was kept trimmed to near military regulations. She wore a pair of dark green pants, with black pouches on belts hanging on her thighs, with black combat boots, a lighter green top, and a black jacket with her symbol on the back.

Normally, he wouldn't pick a fight with her, but she had made him a suggestion that he didn't agree with. He enjoyed his freedom too much.

"Dante, I'm not saying that you have to be in the military! Why won't you just see that!?"

"Oh, yeah!? Really, Caos? Really? Tell that to General Robodaddy over there. You seem to worship him now."

"Take. That. Back."

"Whatever. I told you where I stand on this. I'm not joining any military actions."

"Dante! I'm not saying for you to do that!"

"No. You're outright telling me to! Look. Your authority to give me commands as a leader ended at graduation!"

"Dante!"

"No, Caos. No."

"Dante, if I can't order you as a leader, can I request as a friend?"

"No damn way. As far as I see it, you are still obsessed with the military. I'm out of here."

He turned and walked away from her, still mad, but a pained expression on his face.

"Caos..."

"Lapis, I... This was a bad idea, us coming here."

The female Faunus looked in Dante's direction. "He still blames himself?"

Caos looked at the ground, her eyes obscured slightly by her ever present sunglasses.

"Yeah. I think... I think we all do. He just..."

Lapis put her hand on Caos' shoulder. "Want me to go after him?"

The blonde woman shook her head.

"No. To an extent, he's not wrong. I am still in the mindset that we need to have a fully planned assault on the school. You know," she said, raising her head to meet her friend's gaze, "to take it back. He was happy there. And now he..."

The swordfighter looked off in the direction of Beacon, the smoke from countless fires still visible. As she did, the rain started to fall, the cold water painting everything in darker tones, the clouds covering the moon, making it much darker than it normally would be.

~~Present Day~~

"But... how would you know what they were talking about?" Weiss' inquiry was not without merit. Dante had stated that he had left before Caos could say anything further.

"That one is easy enough to answer," the teacher turned arena fighter said, "Lapis told me about it in several messages. I have them all on my scroll, and would show you, if they would let me have it back again."

"They?"

"The nurses, Ruby. The nurses."

"Oh."

"So, Professor," Blake said, the sound of the title making Dante smile again a little, "After the argument, what happened?"

"Well..."

~~One Year Ago~~

He wandered into the town, his face a mess, his hair dirty and unkempt. His feet were killing him, having been on the move across the countryside. Still, he kept his composure as he wandered into the bar, looking for work. Nobody knew who he was, but that didn't matter to him. His biggest accessory gave him away.

"Looking for work, Mister... uh..."

"Dante. Dante Volcanus," he said, his voice quieter than it would normally be, his mind tired.

"Right. Look. We don't have any Grimm issues here in Atlas, but there is one place you could work."

"I'll take it. Don't care what it is."

The bartender reached under the counter and slid a business card with an address on it to him.

"Go there. Tonight. Around 10PM. You'll know everything then."

~~Present Day~~

"So you basically just wandered around, killing Grimm, until you got to Atlas? Real smart, moron."

"I don't see you making any better moves there, Qrow."

"Fair enough," the scythe user said, prior to being led off by Weiss' sister, who had been, somehow, convinced to stop by the open door by her on-again, off-again, love interest. As they walked away, she looked at him.

"Do you always feel the need to antagonize people?"

"Nah. But him? Him I enjoy messing with."

"Why?"

"Because he's like me."

Back in the room, everybody had fallen silent. There were no spoken words after Dante's story. Everybody just sat there, until Ruby, slightly bored and antsy, made eye contact with Weiss, and made a subtle motion to leave.

"Where are you two going?"

"For a walk, Blake. You're welcome to join us, if you'd like.

The Faunus considered the Heiress' invitation, but shook her head, and politely turned it down. "I ran then, I'm going to be here when she comes out."

Weiss smiled at her friend, and followed Ruby out of the door. They got into the hallway, where Ruby leaned into Weiss, her head resting on the older girl's shoulder, her eyes tired.

"Ruby, have you been sleeping at all?"

"Not really, Weiss. I'm just..." the young leader yawned, "I'm worried about everything. What if my plan fails? What if this goes exactly like it did a year ago, and more people die because of my stupid idea? What if I..."

The fencer stepped away and turned to face her partner, her face concerned.

"Ruby, it won't. We have had a year. And you made so many modifications to Crescent Rose, helped me with my weapon, and even designed Yang's new arm. You'll be fine. You are exactly who we need leading this. Let's get you up to bed, okay?"

"But, Weiss..."

"No buts, Ruby. As your friend and partner, I am telling you to take care of yourself and get some sleep."

Begrudgingly, the younger of the pair allowed herself to be led up to her room, where Weiss tucked her into the bed, and then did the unexpected: She climbed in next to her, and placed her arm around her.

"W-Weiss?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"You stayed with me, I am returning the favor," the heiress said, moving closer to her partner. "So, please. Just let me help you."

Within moments, they were both asleep, neither one noticing the older family members standing outside the door.

"Should we wake her up?"

"Nah. Just let them be."

"But if my father finds out."

"He will find out one way or another. He knew about us, remember?"

"True. But I don't want them to be separated like that."

"Then let them have their moment a little while longer. They both need this right now, so who are we to intervene?"

"True. They need allies right now. Qrow?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did it take us so long?"

"Because we had adult things to worry about. You had joined the Specialists, and me... I was helping Taiyang and Summer... with Yang... And then..."

Qrow's voice trailed off as the memories of all of it came back to him. Many of them pleasant, like playing with Yang and Ruby when they were younger, or sitting down to family dinners, and then the sad ones hit. The memories of Taiyang almost completely shutting down when he heard about Summer. His own fear at stopping by their house to see that Yang and Ruby were gone, along with the old photo of their team. The fact that he could have prevented his sister from leaving when Yang was a baby, or that he should have gone on that last mission with Summer. All at once.

"Let's just... let's go somewhere else for right now, okay?"

"Of course."

||||===Author's Notes===||||

What's this? Something I haven't done in a while? Oh well. Just letting you all know that I have more planned for this story. This is just Volume 1. See you all in Volume 2!