Weiss Schnee studied her reflection intensely for the tenth time in the past hour. No matter how much she scrutinized her appearance, something always seemed... off to her. It was driving her mad. She tried changing outfits, different makeup, looking at herself from different angles, different lighting, but nothing was working. Eventually she gave into the overwhelming stress and collapsed onto the floor, letting out a sigh of defeat. She lay there, staring at the ceiling and trying to calm her nerves. The only company she had was the silence in the room, which was somehow deafening.

Her mind began to wander, which she had no interest in stopping. As long as she wasn't thinking about what was stressing her out, she was happy. She wanted to stay there, just laying on the floor. She wanted to will time to stop flowing, but she knew that wasn't possible. She slowly stopped thinking about everything and her eyelids started to become heavy. Sleep had it's hold on her and she was perfectly content with letting it take her. Right before she drifted out of consciousness, a soft, yet commanding voice shook her away from the dreamland she had almost created for herself.

"Weiss, are you okay?"

The heiress reluctantly sat up to make eye contact with whoever had the nerve to bring her back to reality. "Oh... Hey, Blake."

"Are you ready for tonight?"

Weiss let out a sigh. "Yes, I'm as ready as I'll ever be..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." At this point Weiss had gotten up and made her way to her bed in team RWBY's room. "I'm just nervous I guess."

"You're nervous? Why? It's just Ruby."

"I know, but she's been gone for a year. What if..." The white-haired girl stared at her feet, debating whether or not she wanted to continue this conversation. "... What if she has changed? What if she doesn't want to be friends with us anymore?"

"Do you hear yourself? Don't forget who you're talking about. Even if she has changed, and that's a big if, she wouldn't have changed enough that she forgot who her friends are. If that's why you have been so nervous, you've been worrying for nothing. Yang said Ruby is just as excited to see us as we are to see her."

Blake and Yang have talked about Weiss' recent behavior over the past few months. Ruby had been on a covert mission with her uncle, Qrow, and was only allowed to keep in contact with one person, and she chose Yang. Every time someone wanted to talk to Ruby, or Ruby wanted to talk to someone else, the messages had to go through the blonde. No one had really said much to Ruby except Yang, because transferring messages was a big hassle.

The longer Ruby was gone, the more distant Weiss became. Her friends began to notice, but they couldn't figure out why. A few days ago, Ruby contacted Yang and said she was finally coming back to Beacon. Yang informed everyone, and upon hearing the news, Weiss perked up immediately and started to become her old self. However, this was short-lived.

Yesterday, Weiss changed again, but instead of being distant and slightly dreary, she became nervous and stressed. Everyone brushed it off for the time being, instead focusing on Ruby's welcome home party, which was scheduled for that night.

"Weiss, don't stress yourself out about Ruby changing. The only thing that would change Ruby is if her friends aren't here to see her come home. and I mean ALL of her friends, so you better be there, Ice Queen."

This earned Blake a cold glare from Weiss. She simply brushed it off with a smile, amused that the nickname could still get under the heiress' skin.

"Well, I'm heading out to help put the finishing touches on the party. I expect to see you there, Weiss." Blake said the last sentence as she walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, leaving Weiss to her own thoughts.

"I have no clue why I am so nervous. Blake is right. It's only Ruby. She probably hasn't changed a bit. I know that. I just want to know why I am stressing out about this. There is no reason I should be feeling this way. I'm happy she's coming home. I want to see her. I missed her... So why do I feel like I want to avoid her? I feel so apprehensive about seeing her after all this time. You know what? I'm not going to let my stupid thought process keep me from seeing my best friend. I'm going to go to that party, see Ruby, and have a good time. Okay... I guess I should head that way."

Finally mustering up the will to move, Weiss got off of her bed, glanced over herself one last time in the mirror, and headed out of the dorm. Looking one last time back into the room, as if it was a safe haven that she was forsaking, she shut the door and left to go meet up with everyone else at the party to wait for Ruby's arrival.

In another part of Remnant, Ruby Rose sat on an airship which was en route to Beacon Academy. She had herself positioned so that her head was resting on the side of her seat, right below the headrest, and had one of her legs hanging over the arm of her seat and her other leg dangling off of the front, just barely scraping the floor. She had been on this ship for 6 hours and was exhausted, but somehow unable to go to sleep. She looked to the isle across from her and saw her uncle. Qrow was passed out in his chair and it looked as though he was ready to slide onto the floor of the ship. One arm was resting to the side of his chair and his other hand was on the armrest, steadfastly holding on to a drink. In the seat next to him, Zwei was curled up into a ball, sleeping so soundly it seemed as though he didn't have a care in the world. It brought a slight smile to Ruby's face.

Ruby turned her head and looked out of the window next to her. Her gaze was met with nothing but empty fields and trees. As she looked out the window, she started thinking about what would happen when she came home.

"I wonder how everyone has been. I've been gone for so long... I hope nobody is mad at me. I missed all of them. I hope they missed me too. I know Yang did. When I told her I was coming back I thought I was going to lose my hearing with how loud she screamed. From what she told me, everyone seems happy that I'm coming back. Knowing Yang, I wouldn't be surprised if she has an elaborate party planned for me, whether I want one or not. I guess I'll find out whenever I actually get there. I can't wait to see everyone. I guess I should try to get some sleep until then."

Finally, after becoming too tired to remain conscious, Ruby fell into a well needed slumber. Minutes became hours, feet became miles, and eventually the ship reached its destination. Ruby was suddenly woken up by the ship's announcement that it had landed.

"Passengers, we have reached our destination, Beacon Academy. Please make sure you gather all of your personal belongings before exiting the ship."

Ruby slowly opened her groggy eyes and gazed to where her uncle was, but she noticed his seat was empty.

"Uncle Qrow? Where did you get off to?"

As Ruby got out of her seat, she glanced through the window of the ship, to see her uncle lugging his suitcase towards the school, Zwei in tow behind him.

"Well, he certainly wanted to get off of the ship fast. I guess I should get off too, before I get stuck on here for another trip."

With that thought, Ruby collected her luggage and stepped off of the ship and onto the walkway that led to Beacon. She walked down the path until it met two huge marble arches which served as an entrance to Beacon Academy's courtyard. Walking through the arches granted Ruby with a view of the whole school. Upon seeing it, she just stood still and stared at it. Her mind began to fill with memories of all the time she had spent there and all of the things that had happened. She missed it more than she realized and she was more than happy that she was back.

Thinking about how badly she wanted to see her friends, she decided that it was time to actually walk into the school, just having one last thought. "Guys... I'm home."

Okay, so this is pretty much the first story I've ever written. If anyone out there actually takes the time to read this, thank you! Sorry if there is any grammatical mistakes. I read it over and over again to try to find any and I think I snuffed 'em all out. Leave a review if you feel so inclined (be gentle with me) and... Uh... I guess that's it! Thanks for reading!

P.S. Just so people know, I do plan to make chapters longer in the future, since this one is waaaay too short. Just think of this as a teaser.

:D