Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14138255-20160807005311/@comment-5430952-20160811035759

Lord Jaric wrote: I've always been under the impression that something more then what we have been told and shown happened at the top of the tower. If Ruby had fallen unconscious right away she would have been killed by Cinder. If Cinder had been frozen like the dragon Qrow would have killed her when he retrieved Ruby. So I think something went on a top of the tower and Cinder was forced to retreat. Ditto.

I'm leaning towards Cinder was about to kill Ruby, until Salem spoke to her from beyond, saying there was no need to destroy her since she'd done except cement their victory further (considering the Dragon isn't dead, more Grimm are being drawn to Beacon, so there's no chance of rebuilding the school or the CCT tower). Either that or she has "plans" for Ruby, such as setting her up to be the world's "last best hope," only to cast her down and plunge the whole world into despair, ie a bigger example of what happened to Penny and Pyrrha. And no matter how much Cinder disagreed she wasn't gonna talk smack to her Queen, so she stayed her hand and retreated with Emerald and Mercury, which would explain her absence when Qrow arrived atop the ruined tower.