"I need help." Ruby told Ozpin, as she and her two teammates stood in front of the headmaster in his office, the prestigious man himself seated behind a large desk. Blake stood to her left, and Weiss a little to her right, and both of them stayed silent as Ruby spoke. That night the two of them took turns watching Ruby, making sure she wouldn't make a third attempt at her own life, and at six in the morning, they made their way to the headmaster's office. They weren't sure he'd be there so early, but it was indeed open, and he was waiting there patiently for them.

"Oh?" Ozpin took a sip of his ever present cup of coffee.

Ruby uncovered her wrists, and held them up for him to see, "I've… Tried to kill myself." She muttered, looking down to the floor in shame as she lowered her hands to her side, "I need help."

Ozpin studied her for a long moment, and then his gaze switched to Weiss, who was just staring straight at the ground, not saying a single word. He could see her shaking, and he knew immediately that she was greatly opposed to this, but was going along with it anyway. His eyes wandered over to Blake, who was holding it together much better, but he could already see the sadness in her eyes. She was avoiding looking over at Ruby, and was just staring straight at him. Their eyes met, and Blake turned away almost immediately.

"This is very serious," He finally stated after a long moment, "When did this happen?"

"Two nights ago," Ruby lied, keeping her friends safe. If Ozpin found out that they kept the first attempt secret, then who knows what he would do.

"You should have come to me as soon as it happened," He said, directing his words at Weiss and Blake, "Hiding something like this is ill advised." He then looked towards Ruby, "Then I expect you want me to give you indefinite leave from classes?"

A long moment of silence passed.

He saw Ruby glance over at Weiss, and then towards Blake, tears springing to her eyes. He could see clearly as day that she wanted to say no, that she wanted to stay with her friends, but she closed her eyes. She was stronger than that, she already admitted that she needed help, so he already knew she was going to go through with it. He was unsurprised that Weiss wasn't able to help Ruby, but he did feel bad for the poor girl. The heiress was unable to hide her tears, though she tried to hide them under her bangs.

"I'm not going to leave." Ruby stated firmly. Blake glanced at Ruby in shock, her yellow eyes widening a small bit. Weiss too looked over at Ruby. Weiss was about to say something, but Ruby shook her head. "I want help, and I would like to request aid, but I want to stay here."

"Is that so?" Ozpin asked, raising an eyebrow, though a very small smile appeared on his lips, unnoticed by the three girls in front of him.

"Yes," Ruby replied earnestly, "I'm not going to quit, but I know I can't go on like this, I need to do something about it as soon as possible."

"I see," He took another long sip of his coffee before setting it down again.

"Treating my – my illness," Ruby spat the word out distastefully, "And attending Beacon aren't mutually exclusive, I can do both at the same time. I might miss classes occasionally, and I might not feel well on certain days, but I can do it. I know I can do it."

"While that is true, I hope you realize that if you do intend to stay at Beacon, you will be expected to fight the Grimm and participate in practice fights with other students. I've already heard from Ms. Goodwitch that you had an 'episode' in her class the other day."

"I can control that," Ruby claimed, "Before that happened, I was doing just fine, ask Jaune about it if you don't believe me!"

"That may be, I still believe it's not a good idea to allow you to stay, especially after seeing the state of your wrists." He pointed to her bandaged wrists, and she nervously hid them behind her body, "Now that I know about that, I'd be responsible if something were to happen."

"Nothing will happen." Ruby replied.

"If I may?" Blake spoke up, looking nervously at the headmaster, who nodded his head towards her, giving her permission. "I'm not a doctor, but I've seen symptoms like this before," She didn't elaborate on that, but Ozpin knew that it was most likely from her times in the White Fang. "There's medication to deal with these kinds of things, and sending her to Vale once a week for therapy wouldn't cut too much into her classes."

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, "Exactly!"

"Do you truly want to attempt to stay?" He finally asked, "Don't get me wrong, I like your bravado, and I appreciate that you want to keep attending, but as Blake has said, I've known people in my life as well who've gone through the same thing you have, and they've needed years to recover enough to interact with others, let alone be an active Hunter."

"I'm not like them!" Ruby denied quickly as she took a step forward, "If I left now, I'd be leaving everything I've worked for behind! Yang didn't die so I could just mope around and cry all day," She winced hard at the mention of Yang, and Ozpin could see her eyes lose a bit of luster at the mention.

"It appears that even mentioning Yang has an effect on you," Ozpin noted.

Ruby bit her bottom lip, and glanced away, "Yeah, it does."

"But I can see you're trying to work pass this," He noted.

"I am," She confirmed with a curt nod, "But it's still hard. That's why I want – no, need – help, I know there's medicine to help me with this…" She pointed at her head, "To make these thoughts go away."

"Anti-depressants," Ozpin helpfully supplied, and Ruby nodded quickly, "You'd have to be responsible and always take them, even when you're feeling well."

"I can take care of that," Weiss chirped, looking more hopeful, "I won't ever let her miss out on it."

"That may be, but in the end, it's not up to me to decide whether she stays or not." He leaned back in his chair, and he set his coffee down, "She'll need to be evaluated by professionals – people who can actually gauge your mental state. If they deem that you're fit to continue attendance, then I see no reason in denying it."

Ruby frowned, "I guess that's the best I can ask for."

"Given the circumstances, I think so." Ozpin agreed readily.

"How long until the evaluation?" Weiss asked.

"Ruby will be gone after Yang's funeral tomorrow," He replied, "I don't know how long they'll keep her," He shrugged, "But I'll allow her to stay if she can get a psychiatrist to say that she's still fit for duty." His gaze then hardened, "And that's the thing Ruby, if you stay, I will be expecting you to be able to fight. You're here training to fight the Grimm, and if you're incapable of fighting, or if you have another breakdown like you did before, then whether you think you're ready or not, I'm not going to allow you to keep attending."

It was harsh, he supposed, but Ruby seemed to relish in the fact that he was even bothering to say so much to her. She smiled, and nodded, "I understand!"

"Good," He replied, "Then I suggest you three enjoy this day, since it may be your last on a team together. Oh, and Blake," He noticed her eyes snapping up towards him, "You'll have a new partner next week, I hope this is acceptable?"

Blake nodded, "Yeah, it is."

"Good, then you're dismissed." He told them, and the three girls walked out of the room. He downed the rest of his coffee, and shook his head. He knew that Ruby would probably be coming to admit that much, but he didn't expect her to stubbornly try to stay as well. Was she going to succeed in her wish? Well, maybe, she seemed fairly stable a few moments ago, but then again, seeing her wounds, he could hardly make a professional call on her stability.

Regardless, he wished her the best of luck.

XxXxXxX

The atmosphere at the cemetery was thick, so much so that Weiss felt like she was suffocating. She took a few calming breaths, and looked to her right at Ruby, who was wearing all-black, and was bawling her eyes out. Blake was on Ruby's other side, and she was dressed like Ruby and Weiss – all black. Blake placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, trying to provide any support she could, but it was barely working.

Ruby was barely able to keep it together that morning when they were getting ready to attend the funeral. What made it even worse was that she had all of her stuff packed up as well, since she may never return to Beacon. And then when they got onto the airship to leave Beacon, the first few tears started to form at the corners of Ruby's eyes, and drift slowly down her face, before finally she was unable to keep her composure as they got off the airship and made their way through Vale.

Weiss was surprised at where they found themselves – the cemetery Yang was being buried at was a designated spot only for Hunters, and she couldn't recall Hunters-in-training being allowed to be buried there. She assumed that Ozpin or some other person had some sway in the decision, but either way, it did little to offset the fact that she was feeling horrible as she walked down towards the gravesite.

They would be able to peer at Yang's body one last time before she'd forever be out of their lives, only to live on in their memories. Weiss could feel her own eyes starting to tear up at the mere thought, but she took another calming breath, steeling her resolve. Blake on the other hand, Weiss could see, was unable to hide her tears. It made sense, Weiss supposed, since Blake was Yang's partner, but it was still depressing to see the usually strong girl crying.

It wasn't until they made it to the open casket that Ruby broke down, collapsing to her knees, incapable of even speech. Weiss however just stared at Yang, and while it was cliché to say, it was true that it only looked like she was in a peaceful sleep. There was no longer any blood in her yellow hair she cared so much about, and there wasn't a hole in the clothing or blood anywhere. She looked away however, unable to bear seeing her teammate anymore as tears traveled down her face.

She knelt down next to Ruby, "Come on," She whispered to the poor girl. She reached out, and tenderly grasped Ruby's hand. Though Ruby didn't seem to even acknowledge a word Weiss said, she did at least grip Weiss's hand tightly, almost to the point that it hurt, but Weiss didn't say anything, and she helped Ruby up.

"I'll be with you guys in a little bit," Blake muttered, and Weiss could see that the Faunus was only barely managing to keep it together.

"Alright," Weiss replied. It wasn't her place to pry if Blake wanted to mourn without their presence. Instead, she just helped Ruby along, occasionally greeting a few people who walked up to them. Even team JNPR were there, Nora in particular being very quiet as they calmly talked to each other briefly before they parted.

The most interesting person to greet them was a very tall man, who had a nasty scar running from his ear all the way across his face to his chin. His eyes were piercing, and Weiss felt a chill run down her as he just stared straight down at her. His shoulders were very broad, and his hair was a mess. He knelt down next to Ruby, and finally spoke, "Hey, Ru, how are you holding up?"

"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby muttered, her lips trembled and tears continued down her face. He handed her a tissue from his pocket, which she gratefully took. "I'm… I'm…" Again her voice got caught in her throat.

The man leaned forward and hugged her, "It's alright…"

"This… This is my fault…" Ruby whispered to him, "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not," Qrow replied, ending the hug and placing his large hands on her shoulder, "This isn't something to blame yourself over. I've read the reports, and I know what happened. Your father nor I blame you for this."

"Really…?" She asked, "You don't?"

"We don't." Weiss eyed another man who walked over, and he looked far more like Yang than Ruby. His blond hair was cut very short, and he had silver eyes like Ruby. Like Qrow beside him, he was quite tall, and had a build that suggested he fought close and personal. He was a Huntsman, after all, and just from looks alone, Weiss could already tell where Yang had gotten her fighting style from.

"Dad…" Ruby muttered. She didn't even wait before she rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him, wailing into his chest. Her father just started to pat her back the entire time, whispering soothing words to the distress girl.

"You're Weiss?" Qrow asked, causing Weiss to snap her attend back to the other man standing before her, "Nice to meet you." He held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you too," She replied, "Though I wish it was under better circumstances…"

"Isn't that the truth," The man muttered, sneaking a flask out of his suit, and he took a long swig of it. "Regardless, I'm glad to finally meet you. Ruby liked to talk about you quite a bit over the summer."

"Did she now?" Weiss asked curiously. She'd always gone back to Atlas during the break, so she was never aware of what the rest of her team was doing during that time.

"All the time," He confirmed.

A blush crossed her face, and she shyly looked to the ground, "Well… That's flattering I suppose. I hope she didn't say anything too embarrassing?"

"Well…" A smile started to appear on his face, but then he sighed, "We can talk about such things at a later date." Weiss could agree with that. Every attempt at lightening the mood was dampened considerably due to obvious circumstances, not to mention it was hard to smile when Ruby was bawling right beside her.

The service itself was respectable, though it was hard to hear the eulogy with Ruby practically burying herself into her side, unable to stop crying. She just continued to pat the girl the entire time, and only gave Blake a look when she walked over and seated herself next to Weiss. Her eyes were red and puffy, but Weiss didn't say anything, not wanting to bring attention to it needlessly. Instead, she just focused straight ahead.

It was afterwards that Ruby's dad walked over to where they were seated. "Are you ready to go, Ruby?" He asked in a gruff voice, obviously trying to hide his emotions, "We have a lot of things we need to do."

Ruby nodded, wiping her eyes, and she turned to Weiss, "I'll see you guys in a week, alright?"

It was an optimistic guess, but Weiss nodded anyway, "Yeah…"

Blake gave Ruby a curt nod, "See you soon."

Before Ruby left though, she reached forward and hugged Weiss, "I'll miss you."

Weiss didn't trust her voice, and just wrapped her arms around her. She hoped Ruby got her meaning, and when they parted, she just weakly waved as her partner left. She felt Blake grip her shoulder, and she allowed her to lead her out of the cemetery. They didn't want to stay to see the casket being lowered into the ground – there was no need, and Weiss doubted she'd be able to keep it together.

Though with Ruby gone, she already felt emptier on the inside.

XxXxXxX

Almost three weeks passed since then, and Blake was only just now beginning to recover. It still hurt a LOT to think of Yang, and she avoided all topics about the funeral and Yang like the plague, and no one really ever pushed it. It felt surreal how things seemed to just go back to the ways they were, despite how much changed. Classes were the same boring things, her schedule didn't change much, and even her friends just seemed to act like it never happened.

Her new partner was an interesting fellow though, and it was very difficult to get used to having a male in their dorm room, though she appreciated the company. It felt even weirder when he used Yang's bed – a part inside of her screamed in indignation, but she knew that he wasn't doing it to be rude, it was just how it was assigned. Yu – what an odd name – was a good person though, and she felt comfortable around him.

It was odd to have him replace Yang, simply because he was very scrawny and didn't rely on brute strength like her old teammate. Though like Yang, his hair was also blond, and he seemed to care about it just as much. Was it just a thing with blonde people that they had to care about their hair to such a ridiculous extent? Despite all of that, she enjoyed being around him, if only because he tended to stay quiet when she read.

"Where's Weiss?" Yu asked one night when they were doing their homework, and he glanced up from the desk beside his bed towards her, twirling his pencil absent-mindedly.

"Probably in the library." Blake replied, still writing down answers.

"Oh." He mumbled, gripping his pencil with a quick movement, ending its spinning. He still fidgeted though, and asked, "Has she seemed a little… upset to you lately?"

"Well we haven't heard anything from Ruby in weeks," Blake replied, "So I imagine she's just getting upset about that."

"Oh, that's right." He nervously rubbed the back of his head, "I kinda forgot about that."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Better to ask me than bring it up to her, she'd beat your head in for asking something like that."

"That's… Good to know."

Weiss seemed to be almost robotic these last few days, Blake idly thought. If she wasn't spoken to, the heiress could go through the entire day without a single word going through her lips. Everything she did was as if she was on auto-pilot, her mind elsewhere, and Blake knew why. If Ruby didn't return soon, then she would have to get a new partner, and given what she learned from Weiss the past week, the heiress really didn't want that.

It was a bit distressing not to hear anything from Ruby however, they figured she'd at least message them, or even send them a letter the old fashion way. Either way, it was taking far too long for their liking, and at least for Blake, it made her thoughts turn to darker things. What if Ruby managed to go through with suicide, or if she decided that she didn't want to come back? It was chilling to think that she may never see her team leader again, and she couldn't help but wish that she was with them.

So it was quite a surprise when the door to her door was slammed open quite loudly. She threw her assignment into the air, and her pencil flew off, never to be found again. She growled, and turned towards the door, ready to yell at whoever it was that would dare scare her like that, but her insults were stopped by the sight of red.

"HELLO TEAM RWBY!" Ruby ecstatically shouted, tossing her bag aside as she stomped into the room, "You guys miss me?!"

"Um…" Yu blinked owlishly, "Hi?"

"Oh," Ruby eyed him, and smile widened across her face, "You the new kid?"

He chuckled, "The name's Yu, I assume you're Ruby?"

"That's right! Nice to meet you!" She walked over to him, "Doing homework?" She leaned on the desk, a grimace crossing her face, "Ugh! That looks horrible."

"It truly is." He nodded, "What's the point of homework in a school that's training us for combat?"

"I know right?" Ruby exclaimed, "It's stupid!"

"There's a good reason for it," Blake replied, walking up to Ruby, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to corrupt my partner."

"Blake!" Ruby jumped towards her, and wrapped her arms around her, "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too," Blake replied, her worried melting away as she held Ruby. She then glanced towards her bag, "So if you're here, I guess that you're fit to return to duty?"

"Yep!" Ruby nodded, she marched over to her bag, and knelt down beside it, "The most important thing is this," She pulled out a prescription bottle filled with pills, "I need to take these every night before bed, or else, well, you know." She saw Blake nod, "I also have to visit the doctor's office once a week, so I'll have to schedule around that, not to mention I have to go to therapy monthly, so there's that to schedule around too."

"That's… A lot of things." Blake replied.

Ruby shrugged, "It's better than the alternative, right?"

A smile, "Yeah, it is. I'm glad you're back."

"Trust me, I'm even gladder to be back." Ruby chuckled, "It was nice to see dad and uncle Qrow again, but…" She let out a sigh, and she frowned slightly, "It was just depressing, you know? Me and dad were both pretty messed up, so uncle Qrow took care of us and watched over us." She replied, "Oh – speaking of uncle Qrow, if the medicine doesn't work, or has severe symptoms, I need to call him immediately."

Blake nodded passively, "So you're alright now?"

Ruby smiled ruefully at Blake, "About as alright as I can be after what happened." She let out a sigh, "But I'm ready to work pass this now."

"That's good," Blake nodded.

"So where's Weiss?" Ruby asked, grabbing her bag, she tossed it atop her bed, causing it to swing from side to side dangerously before settling down.

"I think she's in the library," Blake answered, "You should go see her, I think it'll give her a heart attack to see you after the radio silence for nearly a month."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ruby apologetically nodded her head, "I… I was having a tough time, but I guess I should have called you when I knew I was coming back."

"Yeah," Blake replied, "But I guess since you're back now I can forgive you."

"Thanks!" Ruby grinned, and then she turned to Yu, "It was nice to meet you, Yu…" She paused after saying his name, and then she chuckled lightly.

"Get it out of your system," He rolled his eyes, "Nice to meet you too, I hope we can work well together."

"Don't worry about that, we will." Ruby replied casually, "Now I'm going to go find Weiss! You guys have fun!"

She walked out of the room, leaving two stunned people behind.

"I like her!" Yu exclaimed.

"Everyone does," Blake chuckled, glad to see her back.

XxXxXxX

Weiss sat at a table in the corner of the library, where she hoped to not be disturbed. Her textbook was open in front of her, and her eyes were practically glaring at the words as she took notes. If anyone dare venture too close to her, she'd direct that gaze right onto them, and she smiled slightly as she saw them scurry away like cowards. Needless to say, she was pretty pissed off, and the person she was pissed off at wasn't there for her to rant to, so she just took it out on everyone else.

Ruby was supposed to at least give them some sort of message by now – she woke up these last few days hopeful that the girl that supposedly loved her would say something, but there'd been nothing for a little over three weeks, and she knew that at this rate, Ozpin would see fit to give her a new partner, and he'd undoubtedly assign them a new leader. She fought so damn hard to keep Ruby as her partner and leader, and now it was all going to be for nothing.

"Whatcha reading?" An annoying voice asked her from behind.

"None of your business," Weiss icily replied, "Go away."

"Ouch, that's harsh, Weiss."

Wait a minute…

Weiss spun around, her jaw dropping open as the girl she was just thinking of stood there. Ruby grinned at her, and shyly waved with her hand. She was wearing her typical Huntress outfit, the corset, the cape, the red and black color scheme… It was all there. Either this was by far the most convincing hallucination she'd ever experience, or Ruby Rose was actually standing there in the flesh. For the sake of her sanity, she decided it had to be the latter of the two options, and she reacted accordingly.

"You stupid DOLT!" Weiss cried, "Why didn't you ever call?!"

"Sorry about that," Ruby chuckled. Weiss wanted to strangle her for that chuckle.

Actually, a huge mixture of emotions whirled in her mind, and she was so shocked at seeing Ruby that she didn't know which one she wanted to settle on. Anger at Ruby for not even calling? Happiness to see her? She finally shook her head, calming her racing heart and mind, and she managed to ask, "Ozpin allowed you back in?"

"Yep," Ruby nodded, "I had to show him the paperwork from the doctor's office, and he decided I was fit to come back."

"What's the catch?" Weiss asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Well, I have to take pills every night before bed, and I have to go to therapy and the doctor's office every once in a while." Ruby explained, "But other than that, I should be good to go!"

"And that voice?" Weiss asked.

"Well… It never really left, but whenever I do what I'm supposed to do, it's quiet…" She admitted, "The doctor said that it will take a long time for that particular thing to go away, and he said it might never go away, but I can learn to ignore it."

"I see." Weiss replied.

Things turned awkward as Ruby just stood there, and Weiss looked at her from her seat. "I missed you the most, you know," Ruby spoke, "I was really excited to see you again."

Weiss stood up, her chair screeching as it dragged across the floor, and she turned fully towards Ruby, hugging her almost immediately, "I missed you too, you dunce." Weiss told her, trying to not let tears fall, "I was so worried!"

"Yeah," Ruby's voice rasped a little, and Weiss could feel her shoulders trembling, "I love you."

Weiss froze, "Eh?!"

"I love you," Ruby giggled upon seeing how Weiss reacted, "I thought you said you wouldn't do this anymore when I said it."

"It – it's just been a while!" Weiss defended herself, letting go of Ruby and turning away, trying desperately to hide her blush.

"Well, don't you have something to say back to me?" Ruby asked.

Weiss, crossed her arms, "Iloveyouareyouhappy?" Her words came out in a blur, and she already knew that Ruby missed most of it.

Ruby faked an expression of hurt, pouting her lips, and kicking the floor. "I thought you cared about me…" Her eyes were big, and Weiss could swear that she could see tears starting to form at the edges of her eyes.

"Ugh! Ok!" Weiss muttered, "I – I love you."

Ruby's smile reappeared, and she quickly hugged Weiss as tightly as she could to herself, "There you go!"

"Let go of me you dunce!" Weiss cried.

Letting go of Weiss, Ruby sat at her side, while Weiss returned to her own spot, and much to Ruby's chagrin, she started to explain the assignment, and then to Ruby's horror, Weiss started to go over all of the assignments she missed over the last three weeks. Weiss grinned evilly at the girl as she continued to explain everything in as much detail as she could possibly give. This certainly wasn't payback for Ruby's lack of communication, nope, it was just because Weiss wanted Ruby to succeed in class. Nothing more to it.

After about an hour, a drained Ruby walked beside a much happier Weiss, who was humming a song as she walked with her partner towards their room. If Ruby's head didn't hurt from the weeks' worth of knowledge that Weiss dumped in her mind, then she may have commented on it, but as it was, Ruby said nothing. Upon entering their room, they saw Yu on his bunk, playing a game on his scroll, and Blake was on her bed, reading a book.

"Oh, you're back," Blake noted, looking over to them, "Sure took you long enough, did you guys sneak into a closet along the way?"

"NO!" Weiss cried indignantly, "Nothing of the sort! I was just teaching Ruby all of the material she missed!"

Yu winced at that, "I'm so sorry," He told the girl earnestly.

"At least someone understands my pain," Ruby groaned, stumbling over to Weiss's bed and collapsing on it, "Someone help me, I don't have the strength to get up to my bunk…"

"Oh stop being so dramatic!" Weiss waved off Ruby's concern, "And get off my bed," She added half a second later.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Ruby decided, standing up, causing both Weiss and Blake to suddenly freeze.

"Is it alright to do that now?" Weiss asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

Ruby glanced between the two of them and nodded, "I'll be fine, I'm on medication now, remember? I won't do something like that again."

Weiss still looked scared, but Blake seemed to accept that answer and went back to reading her book. "Maybe I should go in there with you, just in case?" Weiss decided to say, causing Yu to let out a choked gasp.

"Say what now?" Yu glanced down from his bunk.

"Not like that you pervert!" Weiss growled, "I swear, you get that mental image out of your head right now, or I'm going to get it out for you!"

"Deleted!" Yu cried, "It doesn't exist! 404 page not found!"

"Good," Weiss sighed, turning back towards Ruby.

Ruby put a hand on Weiss's shoulder, "I promise, I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me doing that ever again."

Weiss decided that the twenty minutes Ruby was in the bathroom alone were twenty of the most distressing minutes of her life. Visions of what happened before clawed at her mind as she watched the door like a hawk, and she went to open the door several times, but Blake managed to talk her out of it each time. Finally, the door to the bathroom opened, and a pajama-clad Ruby stepped out.

With her tank-top on, Weiss could easily see her wrists, and she was glad to see that other than the scars from the self-inflicted wounds from three weeks ago, Ruby was cut free. She let out a content sigh at the sight, and went to take a shower directly after her.

Ruby didn't do very much that night, other than getting her stuff out and setting it up around the room. She lovingly put Crescent Rose on the wall as close to her bed as she could get, and then walked over to the dresser beside Weiss's bed where her pills were. She made sure to show them to her team, and then she went ahead and downed one. Afterwards, she got into bed, and Weiss followed suit, getting into her own bed.

After so many weeks, Weiss was finally able to get to sleep at a decent time again, no longer staying up plagued with guilt and nightmares. She would still get the occasional nightmare every once in a while, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it was a month ago. Still, there was one thing she was missing…

"Hey, Weiss?" Weiss turned her head to the side, and saw Ruby peering down at her from her bunk.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Do you mind if I sleep with you? Only for tonight, I swear!" she clapped her hands over her head, causing Weiss's eyes to dart to the other side of the room, making sure her other two teammates didn't wake up. Uncharacteristically, Weiss nodded almost immediately upon the request though, and Ruby climbed down, and then she snuggled into Weiss's side, a wide smile on her face. "Eh heheheh," Ruby giggled, "It's so warm."

Ruby's warmth, that's what she was missing.

"Yeah, it is." Weiss agreed.

"Hey," Ruby whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Love you."

Weiss felt her face flush, and she turned her head towards Ruby, "Oh yeah?"

"Are you blushing again?" Ruby chuckled, "You are going to do that every single time, aren't you!" More giggles, and Weiss felt a vein popping on her head, "It's so cute!"

Weiss impulsively leaned forward, and planted her lips on Ruby's, causing the younger girl's eyes to widen comically. Though it was dark, she could see Ruby's face burst red, all the way up to her ears. Though it lasted only for a few seconds, Weiss was already missing it when she grinned at Ruby in triumph, "What were you saying?"

"Uh, I…" Ruby was at a loss for words.

Well, Weiss thought, hopefully this would make Ruby tone down her teasing from now on.

XxXxXxX

Notes:

There we go.

I rewrote the ending, effectively doubling the length of this story in the process. I'm MUCH happier with this ending though, so I think that's all that really matters. I was actually planning on writing a couple of more scenes of Ruby's struggles as she successfully continues her education at Beacon, but then I realized that they weren't really needed. After such a heavy story filled with depression and attempted-suicide, I think it's only fitting that it ends on a light and happy note - sort of like the light at the end of a long tunnel.

Thank you for reading!