Ruby Rose stared at the moon through a window, sitting on the staircase. Snow is drizzling outside. Ruby checked on Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long, who were sitting on the rug and staring at the fire from the fireplace. Maria Calavera read a book while sitting on the sofa and Oscar Pine was pacing back and forth. Y/N meanwhile had wandered off, growing bored of hanging around. After checking on the others, Ruby stood up and walked toward Qrow Branwen. Qrow was sitting nearby the window, looking outside with his feet propped on the drawer.

Qrow: Storm's cleared up for now. We should be able to leave by morning.

Ruby: That's good.

Qrow: No... I don't have a good feeling about this place, especially with me around...

Ruby looks down at a wine bottle on the floor with Qrow's hand hovering near it, then looks at him.

Ruby: Are you... okay?

Qrow: Sure. Tell everyone to get some sleep. I'll wake you guys up just before sunrise.

Ruby walked away as Qrow drinks from the wine bottle. Ruby paused and looked back at him before narrowing her eyes downward.

Back in the other room, the fire continued to burn. The book Maria is reading bore a "III" on the cover, with the other two volumes on a nearby table.

Oscar: It's a diary?

Maria: The head of this household, Bartleby. Apparently, he and several other families founded this little settlement to try and live on their own. It sounds like it worked, at least for a spell.

Oscar: Grimm?

Maria: Just one of many hardships. Slowed down their farming, made everything harder... It's a shame, really. He seemed like quite the ambitious fellow, always thinking of new schemes to overcome the odds.

Ruby:  Hey guys. Qrow said we should get some sleep. We're gonna head out early tomorrow.

Blake: Thank goodness.

Everyone stood up to get ready to sleep. Maria hopped off the couch.

Maria: Hmph, the last thing you'll catch me doing is letting some kid tell me what to do.

Maria sat on an armchair, turned on the lamp next to it and continues reading from the book. Ruby shrugs and smiled before going to sleep herself. The fire continued to burn in the fireplace.

By next morning, the fire was out. Sunlight seeped through the curtained window while Team RWBY, Y/N and Oscar sleep on the floor. Maria rests on the armchair, still holding the book she was reading. Qrow sleeps on the chair by the window, still barely grasping the wine bottle in his hand. A couple other wine bottles are also on the floor. The bottle slips from his hand and clatters on the floor, causing Ruby to wake with a start. She looks around before rubbing her eyes and getting on her feet. She walks over to the window and opened the curtains.

Y/N:  Close the window!

Ruby walked over to the entrance hall and picks up the empty bottle Qrow dropped before walking over to her uncle.

Ruby: Uncle Qrow. Come on, get up. (shakes Qrow's shoulder)

Qrow: (groans) Leave me alone...

Ruby: We overslept.

Qrow, still groggy, just lightly shoved Ruby away. Ruby looked at the empty wine bottle, and after a moment, her hand starts shaking. She angrily threw it against the wall, shattering it. This woke up Qrow with a start.

Qrow: What?

Qrow looked around, seeing Ruby stand before him and then to the shattered bottle.

Qrow: Oh, right. Sunrise.

Ruby's angry expression softened and she hugged her uncle.

Ruby: You know, you can talk to me about stuff. Yang too. Y/N....maybe...I don't know...

Qrow:  Let's just get outta here.

Qrow gets up from the chair, with Ruby following him.

Later on, the group moved outside. Weiss used Myrtenaster to weld a metal ball to a makeshift trailer hitch attached to Bumblebee. Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow and Oscar's pupils appear to be dilated, while Ruby's and Y/N's are their usual size.

Weiss: There.

Oscar and Blake meanwhile sat on the porch steps.

Oscar: Can we just go back to bed?

Blake: If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?

Oscar: You wanna make it?

Blake: Not really.

Y/N: Hmph, you all seem pretty tired..

Ruby and Qrow pushed the flatbed trailer behind Bumblebee. Once it's in position, Ruby walked up to Yang.

Ruby: You guys got the bike ready?

Yang just gestured to it.

Qrow: Well, it's done now. So let's hook this thing up and--

Qrow rested his foot on the side of the trailer, and the tire on the opposite side goes flat. He groaned in frustration before checking on the tire.

Maria: You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?

Frustrated, Qrow just walked over to a nearby fence post and sat on the ground. Yang also sat on the ground by the well.

Y/N: Tch, fine, I'll do it myself..

Y/n started rolling a spare tyre out from the barn and started to replace it.

Yang: I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas.

Ruby: It's just a flat tire, Y/n already found a spare.

Yang: It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters... (sighs) I'm so tired...

Blake: Me too. It feels like we're always having to fight to get by.

Ruby: Yeah. But that's what we signed up for.

Oscar: We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable.

Weiss: Last night, I...  I couldn't stop thinking - why are we even going to Atlas?

Everyone shared troubled looks.

Ruby: Weiss, we have to.

Yang: Why?  Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a lamp in the middle of nowhere?

Ruby: What? The Grimm might--

Yang: They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw it down the well, it would take years. It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now.

Ruby detached the Relic of Knowledge from her belt, glancing at it before looking up at her teammates, who appear to all have dazed looks as if they were in a trance. Ruby stares at the Relic one more time before walking over to the well.

Ruby: I am... really...  tired...

Y/N turned around quickly and looked at her

Y/N: Ruby, No!

Ruby started to have the same dazed look on her face as she held Relic out above the pitch-black darkness of the well. However, instead of dropping it immediately, Ruby hesitates for a bit before composing herself. She started to pull the Relic back, but then notices a pair of glowing red eyes at the bottom of the well, startling her and snapping her out of her trance-like state and returning her pupils to their normal size. In her fright, she accidently drops the Relic into the well. Ruby helplessly watched it fall into the darkness below.

Ruby: No! No! No! I didn't mean to!

Her teammates continue to stare at her with dazed looks.

Weiss: Ruby, it's okay.

Ruby: No! No, there's something down there! I saw it, it was looking at me!

Ruby looks back inside the well, only to notice the glowing pair of red eyes are gone.

Yang: (putting a hand on her sister's shoulder) Hey, it's okay. You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go.

Ruby: (swatting Yang's hand off) What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave, we have to go down there! We have to get the lamp back! Oh, what was I thinking?! (facepalming)

Qrow: All we have to do is fix this trailer. 

Ruby: I'm not leaving without the lamp!!

Her teammates continue to dazedly stare at her.

Y/N: All of you are completely useless, I'm going down, if anyone wants to join me, that's their choice..Oscar, mind finishing the job with the tyre?

Blake:  I'll go down with you...

Weiss: We'll go down together.

Qrow: Fine!  Get the stupid lamp. Oscar, fix the stupid tire.

Qrow headed to the house, passing by Maria on the porch.

Maria: Where are you going?

Qrow: Where do you think? 

Maria just looks down.

Maria: Stupid...

Maria took a seat on the porch steps and continues to read another volume of Bartleby's diaries.

Team RWBY and Y/N hopped down into the well together, into a vast underground waterway system. Ruby and Yang took out their Scrolls and turn on their flashlights.

Yang: Maybe the current carried it away.

Team RWBY proceeded forward cautiously. Weiss notices more tunnel openings along the path.

Back above ground, Oscar worked on fixing the new Tyre to the vehicle while Maria continues to read. She turned a page, and the words "I did it! I found my solution" were visible.

Back underground, Team RWBY continued sloshing through the waterway. Y/N used his stand and just levitated over it.

Ruby: Oh, come on, where is it?

Blake: Turn off your lights and just look for the glow?

Ruby: Okay...

Ruby and Yang turned off their flashlights, and Ruby pulls out Crescent Rose and proceeds forward with caution.

Back above, Maria continued to read, with the words "The huntsman pointed them out to me the other day." visible on the page. Maria narrowed her eyes, reading more intently.

Underground, Team RWBY continued their search.

Blake: There. (points at something ahead)

Ruby looks to the direction Blake is pointing toward and notices the blue glow of the Relic of Knowledge coming from a tunnel along the path. Ruby ran forward by herself. Y/N shook his head and followed.

Above ground, Maria turns a page, revealing an illustration of a humanoid-looking Grimm with its name on the adjacent page: "The Apathy". Maria gasped.

Underground, Ruby arrives at the tunnel, and finds the Relic of Knowledge on the ground. She runs over and picks it up.

Ruby: Guys, I--

Y/N: Ruby, back away towards us...now...slowly

Ruby then looked up behind the Relic, adopting a horrified expression on her face. Multiple humanoid-looking Grimm of different sizes stood bunched together. They turned their heads toward Ruby, reaching their arms out to her. Ruby let out a terrified scream, and her teammates snapped out of their trance-like states, their pupils returning to normal.

Yang:  Ruby?!

Ruby backs away and runs out of the tunnel. Yang, Weiss and Blake see her run out and approach her.

Yang: What is it?

Y/N: Grimm

Y/N started throwing knives at the skeletal grimm and soon the rest of the team notice the skeletal Grimm slowly trudging out of the tunnel. Ruby took out Crescent Rose and fired multiple rounds at them. One of the Grimm lets out an ear-piercing scream, causing Team RWBY to struggle to stand.

Yang: What is this...?

Blake: My weapon... feels heavy...

Y/N put two and two together and he scowled

Y/N: The people....

Maria: Run!

From behind, Team RWBY and Y/N  noticed Maria appear.

Maria: Now!

Maria turned around and runs. Team RWBY watched the Grimm start to move toward them.

Ruby: Go, go!

Y/N kept throwing knives to slow down the approach of the many Grimm as Team RWBY turned around and ran, catching up with Maria. They spotted daylight coming from the well, but more of the Grimm appear and block their path. Another ear-piercing scream is heard, affecting the five women and Y/N. Ruby notices another tunnel entrance next to her.

Ruby: This way!

Team RWBY and Maria ran into the tunnel, Y/N close behind. They continued to run through the complex underground passages while avoiding more of the Grimm's kind along the way. They then make their way to an underground room. However, Team RWBY and Maria noticed a much larger group of the Grimm at one end of the room. They make a run toward the other way, but one of the Grimm lets out another scream, causing Team RWBY and Maria to collapse on all fours. Y/n clenched his fists angrily and in effort as he tried to resist the Apathy.

Yang: I can't... do this... I can't...

Maria got back up, using her cane to support herself before collapsing again. On her fall, she felt a set of stairs in front of her.

Maria: An exit. An exit!

Ruby looked up and notices the stairs leading up to the cellar door. Ruby crawls forward to Weiss.

Ruby: Come on!

Ruby then heard a weapon drop behind her and notices Blake collapse to the ground, while the Grimm continue to inch toward her.

Ruby: Blake... get... up!

Blake:  It's fine...

Blake starts regain her dazed look from before. More Grimm emerge from the entrance Team RWBY and Maria came from. Ruby looks on in horror and in her desperation, crawls and attempts to reach out towards Blake, who continues to lie down motionless. The Grimm reach their hands down to the cat Faunus...

Ruby: BLAAAAAKE!!!

Upon yelling out her friend's name, Ruby's eyes started to glow brightly, causing the Grimm to back away in pain. Y/n took advantage and unleashed an attack rush whilst Blake gasped and snapped out of her trance, her eyes back to normal. Ruby helped her up while Weiss, Yang and Maria also stood back up.

Ruby: I've got her!

Maria: What just happened?

Weiss ran up the stairs and tries to get the doors open, but they do not budge.

Weiss: They're locked!

Y/N: oh of course they are...

Yang: Out of my way!

Yang runs up the stairs. The Grimm recovered from their incapacitation, and another scream is let out. Team RWBY and Maria collapse once again.

Yang: (reaching for the cellar door) No... No...!

As the Grimm inched closer, Maria crawled toward Ruby, only able to see the world in shades of cyan.

Maria: Ruby... what color are your eyes?

Ruby: They're... silver...

Maria let out a gasp of excitement.

Maria: You have a family? Friends?

Ruby: What?

Ruby looked up to see the Grimm getting closer, but Maria laid her head down and covers her ears. From Ruby's perspective, Maria's next words sound slightly muffled.

Maria: Don't think about them. Think about the people who love you. Focus on the thought of them, the way they make you feel. Focus!

Taking Maria's advice, Ruby closed her eyes and concentrated. While Maria speaks, Weiss tried to budge the doors open, and Yang reached out in desperation before falling under a trance, her eyes even more blank than before.

Maria: Life... is beautiful. It is precious. And it must... be protected.

Y/N: I can't hold them off much longer, this is the end!

After focusing, Ruby opens her eyes, the silver gleaming. She sat up and her eyes glow brightly once more, driving the Grimm back and partly disintegrating them all.

Y/N smirked slightly

Y/N: This is the world!

Time slowed to a stop and Y/N unleashed a powerful attack rush, causing the tunnel they had taken to collapse, preventing the remaining grimm from entering, he smirked.

Y/N: and time shall move once more.

Once time resumed, Maria and Ruby stared in awe at the handiwork of Ruby's eyes while Weiss, Blake and Yang recovered. Yang crawled up the stairs and punched the doors open with her prosthetic arm while firing from its gun. Team RWBY and Maria ran out and find themselves in the basement that Ruby and Weiss discovered the day before.

Blake: We're back in the house?

Team RWBY then look at the bar and see Qrow leant on the counter, passed out.

Y/N: Oh for god's sake...what a useless uncle...whilst we were fighting for our lives, he was drunk here..

Ruby: (Uncle Qrow, get up!

Qrow:  Hey! Get off me! What are you doing here?

Maria: We're leaving, you idiot! Come on!

Maria ran out of the room, with Blake and Yang following her. Weiss looked back towards the basement entrance.

Weiss: Not yet...

Outside, Oscar had replaced the tire for the trailer and is filling it up with air. The noise from the air machine muffled the sound of people crying out his name.

Yang: Oscar! Oscar!

Maria: Oscar!

Oscar looks behind him to see Yang, Blake and Maria run out of the house.

Yang: Oscar! We have to go, now!

Oscar looks at them bewildered.

Back inside, Weiss grabs a few of the alcoholic bottles from the shelves and throws them towards the basement, shattering them.

Qrow: ) Hey... Hey! What are you doing?!

Y/N: killing two birds with one stone, during my five seconds of movement i was able to block the tunnel, however those grimm could very well squeeze through the gaps between the rocks

As more of the Grimm slowly started to come out from the basement, Weiss used Myrtenaster and a glyph to send fire toward the cellar doors. Using the spilled alcohol, she sets the Grimm on fire.

Weiss: Now we can leave!

Weiss helped Ruby grab Qrow's arms as they drag him out of the room.

Qrow: Stop it! Stop! What's wrong with you?! What Grimm...

As Qrow looked up, he sees the Grimm on fire still walking towards them. Qrow looked on in shock as he was dragged out of the house by his niece and her friend.

Outside, everyone sat in the flatbed trailer while Yang started up her motorcycle. She wasted no time driving away from the now burning house.

Yang continues driving Bumblebee down the snowy road with everyone sitting in the trailer being pulled behind her.

Maria: The Apathy. They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always.

Oscar:)"Managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable, but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired."

Maria: The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked. No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left.

Maria took one more look at the final page of the diary, the last words written down being "I'm tired". She then closed the book and tosses it out into the snow, the cover having "VIII" on it, while the group continues to drive down the road.

Weiss: I'm... sorry for what I said... about giving up.

Upon hearing this, Yang stopped driving.

Yang: Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe.

Blake: It's not your fault. It was those... things.

Maria: I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be.

Y/N: i didn't think those things even existed, just a bedtime story they told us back at the bandit camp...

Ruby: Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?

Maria: Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes.