A/N: Hello! There's a new dual-written, multi-chaptered RWBY fic on the block. Me and the co-author, my brother, are finally happy to release it since we're comfortable with the amount we have pre-written. Thank you for checking it out and enjoy.

There was enough wreckage, rubble, and debris piled around to last her a lifetime. The same dreary scene stretched all the way to the horizon and back, molded into a tragically beautiful sculpture of death. As far as she could see, there wasn't anyone in sight. Not even the birds flew high above. An eerie still suffocated the air, the breeze absent in the stalemate of the after fall.

Yang had no time to mourn, worry, or cry. After she had come to the conclusion that it was just her and her younger sister, they had to do whatever they could to survive. She didn't know if there was help out there, or if someone was coming to look for them. For all she knew, they could have been the last people in the world.

They had stayed a long time in the bunker beneath their house, searching a radio station for some sort of news from up above. The dark had become their salvation. It was comfort and quiet while above was chaos and horror. There was a lack of surprise on neither of their faces when they finally surfaced—everything was gone, decimated and destroyed.

Ruby shouldered her bag at her back, ashen eyes glued down to the floor to her every step, head hung low and her face hard with a certain determination that she lacked in her heart. She wanted to stay as strong as Yang, never once flinching in the face of destruction of everything they knew. When they had surfaced from the bunker from days of loud, unearthly booms and screams, Yang never once wondered the why's or how's. She simply told her younger sister to start packing and off they were, running their heels into the ground and grudging on.

Yang kept her eyes ahead, running over the basic necessities to human survival over and over again in her mind as she climbed through house rubble and barely standing structures. Water, food, shelter. They took the rest of what they had from their safe haven—which wouldn't have lasted forever—and packed them into backpacks and carried them along.

Some places still fumed and smoked, while other small fires were still burning on, and Yang made sure to not step through them, mindful of her foot position as any injury would surely be fatal without the right help out here. Their first aid skills between the both of them would suffice, but only if they were careful. So she made sure she had a boot solid on the ground before taking a move forward. She reached a gloved hand up to wipe at her brow, scanning the remains of these homes for anything useful, noting that it had never naturally been this hot at this time of year.

"Stay close," she warned her sister who was trailing behind her, though she knew Ruby was responsible enough to have already been doing that. Yang just wanted to be certain.

The deathly silence around them was interrupted by her older sister's two words and Ruby perked up, heart pounding in her ears as she immediately shuffled among the debris to get within arm's length of her, but at the cost of clumsy footing. She tripped, a strangled yelp leaving her as she put both of her hands out to catch herself. Yang couldn't react fast enough to her sister, her own heart speeding up in panic as she zipped around to see what had happened. Luckily, a single wooden board lay across the floor and she caught herself on that in light of the broken glass just a foot away.

Yang was down by her side before she even spoke. "Sis! You have to be more careful," she warned, her brows furrowing at she willed her heart's beat to calm.

"Ow, ow, ow..." She murmured, readying herself to stand before she realized the shakiness of her limbs and the sweat at her forehead. Just then, a gleam caught her eye amongst the rubble before her and she looked between the glass, catching sight of a shattered jewelry box. Before her was a glimmering necklace of gold beneath a sheet of steel. They would have missed it if they kept going!

Ruby lunged forward, inspecting the piece as she sat on the floor, eyes wide as she turned the necklace between her splintered palms. "Yang, look! Do you think it's worth something?" Ruby stared at the piece of jewelry, entranced by the craftsmanship. She had never seen anything like it in her life. Not that she had been one to partake in such fine adornments.

"Maybe. It's hard to say what people find valuable now. But... worry about your hands!"

She went to pocket the necklace into her backpack's strap, her eyes finally meeting Yang's violet ones before she realized what exactly her older sister was talking about.

"Huh?" She looked down at the reddening flesh, hands shaking as she inspected them. "I-I'll be fine. It's just a l-little..." Suddenly the blonde took up Ruby's palm, inspecting the worst of the damage and let out a long sigh. A sharp noise of surprise left Ruby. "H-hey, be careful!"

"Geez, you have to be more careful first," she told her, plucking the wood out of her hands that she could easily make out. "I can't just give you a piggyback ride through all this terrain, even though I'd like to... but I'm sorry for catching you a little off guard. I didn't mean to pull hard on you or anything."

With a few more soft noises of complaint as Yang picked at her splintered palms, Ruby looked down to the ground with a bit of a pouty face, rubbing her hands gingerly. "Sorry I... I shouldn't have fallen and... sorry," she murmured meekly.

She let go of her reluctantly, coming to a stand and looking around, putting a hand on her hip. "Should probably take a rest anyway. Can't remember how long it's been since we did that, heh."

"It'd be nice to take a pit stop," the brunette replied under her breath. She didn't want to say how tired she was. She wanted to at least somewhat keep a front to Yang so she didn't have to worry about her so much. Yang was strong, so she had to be, too.

The blonde sighed, really hating having to chide her sister about something like this, but she couldn't stress enough how important it was to... stay in one piece. "Okay," she concluded aloud, crossing her arms and still looking around. Always wary. "Pop a squat, and you can have some water too."

Ruby let her shoulders droop and a thundering sigh fall from her lips. She went to rub at the back of her neck and shouldered off her backpack, adjusting to sit on the very wooden plank she had caught herself on just moments before. She surfaced her water jug and a protein bar, fiddling with the wrapping of the food quietly. In one swift movement, Ruby pulled back to hood and popped the end of the chocolate in her mouth.

Yang sat on a pile of concrete, shrugging off her backpack, too, and fishing out a water bottle. All of the adrenaline was making her ignore her bodily functions, so it would have been a good thing to drink something.

"Yang?" A few chews later, "Um... where are we exactly? Where are we going?"

Yang uncapped and lifted the water bottle to her lips, not answering her sister right away, her lilac eyes on the ground. She took a few gulps, wiping at her lips and sighing. "We gotta be somewhere around the park," she answered finally, having walked from their house to the said location several times in the past. The houses were hardly discernible from one another now, though, and walls previously standing weren't very useful walls anymore. "And... I'm not sure, sis. Some place to crash, or friends. Friends would be nice..."

Ruby fell quiet at that, chewing on her protein bar idly, brows furrowed and her shoulders slumped. She went to wrap an arm around herself, knees drawing close to her chin and her eyes downcast in thought. What were they going to do?

What was left for them anyway? Why did they continue on when there was nothing? Trying to imagine how things had managed outside of their bunker was scary enough on its own. Friends... was everyone okay? Would there be anyone left if they went looking for them? Was there anyone in the world?

"We should get moving, then..." Ruby offered after she finished up her snack and took a few gulps of precious water. She was still hungry, but that should keep her going for a while. "Maybe there's a refuge somewhere..."

"Maybe," Yang repeated, hoping that her sister's words were true more than anything. The silence stretched for a long while as her eyes were elsewhere, not settling on one thing for too long. Her gaze began to drop, however, and for a moment she looked the weariest she had ever had in a long while.

Suddenly, Ruby was feeling the day's work, as well, eyes heavy and all the walking felt throughout her whole body as a pause became of the sisters. The rest was much needed, but it would be way too short until they found somewhere to sleep. Sleep sounded soooo good right now.

Yang flashed Ruby a smile before clapping her hands together and shooting up, hoping her sudden display of energy would inspire the same in her little grumbling sister. "Off we go, huh?"

Ruby squeaked in surprise as Yang jumped up, her heart pounding out of her chest.

"And what ARE you doing?!"

A strangled yelp also sounded from the brunette at the other sudden voice near them.

Yang's brows furrowed and she looked around, wondering where that feminine voice came from. A few large pieces of concrete fell from a particularly large mound and up peaked a stark white head, burning eyes settling on the both of them. Though it looked more like she was hiding from them than trying to do... whatever it was she was trying to do.

"Uh... what?" Yang asked, surely reflecting both of their opinions. The head was gone and instead she called from behind the waste.

"You... should not be TOUCHING things! What do you want?!"

Ruby shot to her feet, almost dropping her water bottle in the process.. "DUGH! W-what the?!" She looked to the new voice, or... where she kinda thought it was. A flash of white was all she had seen. "Uh... Yang? Did that pile of rocks just talk? Am I going crazy?"

"Not quite," Yang countered coolly, her smile unwavering as she crossed her arms and stared towards the accusing pile. Which was being particularly territorial for... well, considering what was here.

With the conversation that was going on, the girl concluded that they meant her no harm, so that just encouraged her bravery, and she stepped out from the ruins, picking through the remains with her legs wobbly. Of course it would be difficult for her because she was wearing heels, which could have also been called white in the past. She flailed on her own two feet, but she managed to find stable ground and stared menacingly at the two of them, putting her hands on her hips. For the most part, minus a few stains and smears, she managed to keep her clothing pretty white as well, probably meaning that she had just about emerged from underground herself.

"I don't know what you think this is, but I'll have you know that—" Her speech halted suddenly when she saw the remnants of her jewelry box on the ground, ice blue eyes setting aflame all over again. "YOU! thief!"

Ruby didn't expect to be verbally assaulted by a crazy white-haired girl, of all things, so any words came out a grumbled, confused mess, her brows furrowed and a bit of an embarrassed blush at her cheeks as she began to march towards Ruby, in which Yang intercepted and put her hands up. "Woah now," she cooed, the smile still not gone from her face. "Do you realize what's happened around you or not?"

"This is... WAS my house, and you're stealing from it!" she snapped. "I can be sure of that!"

"H-hey! Finders keepers! Why don't you go back into that rubble you had established over there!?" Ruby flared back behind her sister, fuming that this girl had the nerve to try and take what she found, especially after her little fall. "You didn't look so worried about your jewelry before I came along! You're just tryin' to pick a fight!"

"Let's talk about this!" Yang reasoned, moving to match her as the hot-headed girl tried to side step her.

"I DID NOT COME FROM RUBBLE! My father is a part of the government!" she shot hotly, only able to point an accusing finger at Yang's little sister. "I come up from underground and find YOU TWO going through my things?! What am I supposed to think?!"

"Hey, hey, hey! We were just passing by and thought the place was empty," Yang answered, her smile gone now and her brows furrowing.

"Ooooh, so you thought the owner was gone, so THEN you thought you could get away with this?!"

"Well, conventional punishments aren't exactly in place right now, so—"

"SO IT'S OKAY TO TAKE MY BELONGINGS?!" The white haired girl was now fully looking on to Yang, who was shying back from her pure rage. Just a little.

"Well, no, but—"

"So you admit you're wrong!"

"Hey! Calm down! Don't talk to her like that!" It was Ruby's turn to get a bit protective as she stepped from behind Yang, ashen eyes flaring with determination to get this girl's fury off of her big sister. "Geez, have your stupid jewelry, it's ugly anyway!" She reached into the pocket of her backpack she had shoved it in and held it out to her, pushing Yang aside in the process and her brows furrowed. "It isn't even worth the trouble of a girl who probably isn't going to survive the night!"

"How. DARE! You!" The girl snatched the necklace from her, waving the jewelry in front of Ruby's face. "This is 18-carat white gold that I got on my sixteenth birthday! But you probably wouldn't have been able to tell anyway!"

Ruby shrunk back at the girl's biting remarks about her stupid necklace, putting up a pouty face at the situation, hands balled into fists.

Yang frowned even more, feeling a whole lot more awkward, unsure of whether or not it was from the embarrassment of being caught in this situation or if she had nothing to do or say to quell the girl. "Hey, we mean no trouble, so we'll just get going."

"Go!? Just GO?!" she asked loudly, her arms flailing a little at her side before she stomped on the ground. "I'm not exactly done with the lot of you crooks! First and foremost, you obviously don't know who you're dealing with! Second of all..."

Yang stopped listening because her eyes drew past the lot of them, seeing the glowing of light approaching. She narrowed her eyes before they widened in surprise, and instinct acted before her mind did. "Get down! Hide!"

"Huh? Yang? What's—OH!"

She seized the both of them, pushing them down and nailing her back against the nearest crumbling wall. The newcomer yelped but otherwise didn't make another noise, pressed into the ground next to the blonde as Yang crouched over.

The hum of an engine neared and Ruby perked up, straining hard to hear. Did they see them? Why were they hiding? Didn't they need help?

"What are you—" Weiss started hotly.

"Shhh!" Yang hushed, no longer allowing this to go on as she watched the approachers. It was a vehicle, a jeep without a hood and with several masked people looking about. It most certainly didn't look like help, as they were all holding intimidating looking rifles.

Despite her concerns, Ruby didn't voice any of them aloud, the uncertainty silencing her and Yang's seriousness, quite frankly, was scaring her.

Groups, hoods, masks and big weapons. It looked like some people were taking all of this a lot better than others were. Who knew what they would have wanted to do if they had actually been found. She didn't want to think about it. Who knew what sort of desperation the desire for survival brings to other people? Their situation wasn't looking too good.

"Okay," Yang said finally when only the dirt kicked up by the tires hung in the air. She came to a stand, her eyes still on where the car had been. Ruby allowed herself to take a breath of relief when the gathering and the jeep were out of hearing range, far off and on their own business. The other girl also stood and dusted herself off, huffing loudly.

"What was THAT all about?" she asked sourly, looking at her even more ruined clothes.

"Looks like some bad news. We're not the only people on the streets and you're lucky you ran into the good crowd," Yang pointed out, turning back to the girl and crossing her arms.

"Yeah? W-well..." She seemed to start on something, but her face fell for a moment before she tried to start up again. Still nothing. "I-I... I know my father will have a lot to say to you. And what has happened here." She crossed her arms to match Yang as well, though it was more in defense of her dignity than a display of amusement. "So... I'll go find him. And you can... stay here for all I care!"

With that, she turned right on her high heels, marching back to... wherever, though her meaningful stride soon turned into struggling and wobbling all over again.

Yang sighed, wondering whether or not she should let her go. "Sure a handful," she mumbled under her breath, a hand dropping to her side while the other rested on her waist.

Ruby tilted her head as she watched the retreating figure of the white-haired girl. "She is a handful. Something about her father? Ugh... really, do you think she'll be okay? I mean, if she approaches everyone like that, then I really don't see her lasting very..." She trailed off at that, shoulders drooping and an ebb of guilt burrowing into her.

"Yeah, well... there's not much we can do," the older sister reasoned, turning around and putting her hands behind her head. She felt bad, truly, but dragging along company that didn't want to be there was a disadvantage to both parties.

"Yeah... kinda feel bad though. We should get going..." The younger sister went to collect her things she had left out in the open, staring in disbelief as she noticed her water bottle had perished on its side in the earlier flurry to hide. She winced, noticing just a gulp left as she screwed on the lid and packed it, worry furrowing her brow.

Before the white-haired girl could disappear out of sight, she paused, her clenched fists at her sides. She spun back around, looking back at them with a glare that looked like she was going to explode on them again.

Ruby then turned back to Yang just in time for the crazy girl to be back and demanding something of them. She seemed to deflate though, walking back towards them with some purpose. "As the daughter of the Commander of Defense, you're obligated to escort me," she said matter-of-factly, putting her hands on her waist. "We have to find him and... and find out what they're doing about all of this!"

"Huhwhatnow?" Ruby said as she neared the two. "Um... well, they're currently doing nothing."

"You are just one rude surprise after another, aren't you?! Don't you think since all of this happened he's trying to figure out how to help us?!" Now the white-haired girl stabbed her pointer finger mercilessly into Ruby to accentuate her words.

Ruby's eyes widened and her shoulders grew tense as she leaned away from said accusing finger, staring at it and wondering for a second if it would be totally called for if she bit her or something. She then decided that wouldn't help their situation at all and she doubted she wanted stingy-girl taste on her tongue. Ruby was left dazed at the hard-headedness of the white-haired girl.

Yang had watched the whole thing, absolutely amazed that anyone could be like that at a time like this. If what she was saying was true, though, and her dad was a government official, didn't that mean safety and all of the things that came with it?

The girl turned from the both of them and began to lead the way. "Come on! I know where his office is."

"Maybe we should trust her," Yang reasoned when she was out of earshot. "If her dad's big cheese like she says, and she knows where he is, then he has to be in probably one of the safest places in the world right now."

"Uh... it seems to be our only option. I mean, it's a good deal, I guess?" She started walking after her with a sigh. "Hey! Princess! You said your dad was Commander of Defense? What was his name? Sheman? Sneezey?"

Yang picked up her bag and followed after, putting her hands in her pockets and frowning as she watched this girl, who zipped around and stopped once again, looking crossly between the both of them. "My name is NOT 'Princess', it's Weiss. And my father happens to be Richard Schnee. He knows top secret military codes that could reverse all of this, I'm sure of it!"

"Yeah, wouldn't it be nice to press a button and undo all of this... not likely, Weiss," Ruby murmured, looking forward at where the white-haired girl was going. Which looked like a whole bunch of nowhere.

The blonde blinked at that, her shoulders relaxing a little bit as she was finally giving them some sort of legitimate information that she could utilize. "Heya, Weiss. Uhh… nice to meet you. I'm Yang. And this is my younger sis, Ruby."

"So... do you even know where you're going, there? Where was your dad last when you spoke to him?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, turning and marching onwards. "I DO know where I'm going! I've been to his office plenty of times! So you should just—j-just let me think!" She stomped where she stood, looking around at everything.

Ruby flinched at Weiss' tone, still on edge, loud, and all those other wonderful things that made her a complete joy to be around. She blew a quiet raspberry in her direction, but otherwise didn't say anything else.

After a moment or two, Yang was able to fully catch up with her, inspecting her to see what her pause was all about, her hands still in her pockets. Did she break?

Yang wasn't exactly met with the hot-headed girl she had encountered just a few moments ago. Instead, she seemed sort of skeptical and more mellow as she glanced about. A frown was fixed on her pale face, but that all only lasted for a moment before her visage hardened again. "Let's go," she demanded a little quieter than before. Yang just followed along, taking a moment to glance at Ruby to see if she could collect her opinion on this from just looking at her.

"Yeesh..." Ruby muttered as she followed after, in turn, a shrug at her shoulders and an uncertainty in her eyes as she looked back to her big sister. What exactly had they gotten themselves into?