"Good morning, Beacon!" screeched the usual chipper voice from the intercom. "This weekend was great for our school, as our football team won their first game of the season! Also, our fencing teams represented us in an exhibition at Atlas!" Ruby lifted her head up as the announcement lady listed off all the teams that had won their matches; JV girls' epeé was not among them.

When Weiss had entered the classroom that morning, they'd looked at each other for a split second and then immediately looked away. When Ruby stole another glance at her, Weiss seemed a little too focused on the completed homework assignment she'd studiously put on top of her desk. That was fine by Ruby, who felt that Weiss ought to feel at least a little bad for the things she'd said and the way she'd said them.

But it had already occurred to Ruby that she'd still need a ride home after fencing practice, assuming she was still on the team. She and Weiss would have to be on speaking terms at least to make that happen. But as the day progressed and classes wore on, it became clear that after their talk on Saturday, neither of them was really ready to start a serious conversation. It was with a heavy heart that Ruby walked into fencing practice.

It was a subtle thing, but conversation went quiet for a moment when she entered the room. No one said anything to her at first—Sage made a speech about their performance at the exhibition before they broke to stretch, and didn't mention her at all. She felt a little ashamed at having expected to be talked about. But when people began to pair up, Sage came over to her before she could find a partner.

"Hey, Ruby. Can I talk to you for a second?" She followed him into a corner where they wouldn't be heard. "Do you know why I'm taking you aside right now?" He looked deep into her eyes, and Ruby felt shame bubbling up in her stomach.

"I guess it's because of Saturday."

"Right. Ruby, you're a great fencer, but you can't ever do that again. Girls' JV epeé needs you, for one thing, but also...Ruby, we didn't have anyone to replace you when you left. We didn't lose in your category, we were disqualified. If you had personal issues with Weiss, that didn't have to impact your performance for the whole team." Sage took a deep breath and plowed on.

"So I'll tell you flat out you're not going to be punished for this. But I will say, you made a lot of enemies Saturday. If this happens again, I can't guarantee there'll be a spot on the team for you when you decide to come back."

"I'm really sorry," Ruby murmured. She'd never been good with being scolded. "It won't happen again." Sage nodded once, then started to walk back toward everyone else. Ruby followed, and since everyone else was already paired up, Ruby and Sage faced each other. Every few bouts, Sage would give Ruby pointers. Eventually, he called it off, giving Ruby a strange look.

"We've got to talk about your form sometime, Ruby. You don't fence in a conventional way for epeé. For now though..." He clapped twice, and the team gathered up in front of him. "Good practice, guys. Hit the showers, and I'll see you Wednesday." Ruby took her stuff and got into the shower with the other girls.

Weiss always showered last, so Ruby did, too. There wasn't much point to waiting outside for twenty minutes waiting on Weiss. So Ruby slipped into the showers as soon as she saw Weiss going in, squirted some body wash into her hand, and got to lathering. Ruby surreptitiously watched Weiss bathing.

Weiss always showered like she was afraid of looking weird, with tiny scrubbing motions and as little bending as possible. She'd never gotten over locker room shyness. Ruby just shrugged and started scrubbing her armpits with the resigned air of a communal showering veteran.

Weiss swept her wet hair in front of her shoulders, and suddenly her entire back was clear to view. Ruby's eyes wandered despite themselves. Weiss had well-developed back muscles, which was pretty surprising considering her rich-girl attitude. But Ruby had to admit that Weiss had surprised Ruby in pretty much every way possible since that first glimpse in the Wal-Mart parking lot. They needed to talk.

"Hey, Weiss?" Ruby said. Weiss didn't respond. Ruby placed a hand gently on her own forehead. "Yeah, I'll save it for when we have clothes on." She finished up quickly and ran out to towel herself off and get dressed. Weiss did the same, and only when they had left the locker room entirely did they start talking.

"What did you want to ask me?" Weiss said, chewing her lip.

"Mostly when we could talk about Saturday," Ruby said. "I feel kinda bad about that whole thing, and..."

"Yeah," Weiss concluded. "Uh, anime club is at my house tomorrow, so you could ask your sister if you can stay over at my place for the rest of the afternoon? We could, uh, hang out, and chat or whatever. Girl talk." Ruby almost laughed. Weiss sounded like a character in a Disney Channel original movie. But she went along with it, and even though they lapsed into silence on the drive back to Ruby's house, the silence seemed more comfortable than awkward. They were on their way.

Ruby dumped her backpack on the ground as soon as she entered the house. She had homework, but all she wanted to do was take a nap. She tried to slide past the living room quietly.

"Nope!" came a voice from behind her. She whirled around to see Blake in the kitchen, eating a tuna sandwich. "Homework first, Ruby. You know the rules." Ruby spared a moment to despair of ever looking as good doing anything as Blake looked eating tuna, even in gym shorts and one of Yang's anime tank tops.

"Can I have a snack first?" Ruby asked. Blake waved at the tuna and went to pick up the book she'd been reading in the living room.

"Go nuts," she said. "Bread's in the freezer. But when you're done, I expect to see you studying. Yang'll have my ass if I let you slip while she's at work." Ruby stuck out her tongue, slapping a thick layer of tuna on her bread.

"Doesn't she already have your ass?" she asked, and ducked the pillow Blake threw at her from the couch. She inhaled the sandwich and put her dishes away, then went to get her bookbag with the air of a criminal being lead to the electric chair. All at once, she remembered another diversion.

"Blake! I have to show you something."

"Ruby, seriously, you've got to do your homework," Blake said. But this time Ruby knew she was onto something.

"No, Blake, come to my room. I'm serious, there's something really weird in there that I found looking around yesterday. Come look!" With a sigh, Blake heaved herself out of the couch and followed Ruby to the back room. Ruby showed her the rotary phone in her nightstand and dialed the number from the bull carvings, then grinned as Blake's jaw dropped. Ruby clambered down into the passage, and Blake followed her down. The lights came on, and illuminated the basement.

Ruby suspected strongly that the basement was larger than the house above it. Pipes from the kitchen and bathrooms came down from the ceiling at irregular intervals, and an incredible workspace had been built around them. Benches, tables, and desks were arranged around the room, and an ancient PC was humming to life in the corner. Against several walls were racks of weapons, from garden-variety guns to the strangest, a sword with a deep red blade attached to what looked like a battery pack.

Blake looked around and took a deep breath. Ruby spread her arms wide.

"Check this out! I found it the other day! What do you think?" Blake kept staring. Her eyes swept over the work tables littered with paper, the racks of guns, and finally came to rest with the crimson sword reflected in her yellow-brown eyes. "Blake?"

"Ruby, I don't think you should come down here anymore. It could be dangerous."

"But Blake—"

"Do not—!" Blake cut herself, off, but Ruby had already heard her voice, full of more growl than Ruby had ever heard. Blake exhaled a long time. "Please. We'll talk about it in the living room. But I'm getting out of here, and I want to see you coming up when I reach the top." Blake crawled up the ladder, and Ruby started after her, but something caught her eye: a small brown book, sitting on a stool. She grabbed it before she had time to think and tucked it into the waistband of her skirt, letting her shirt fall over the book's cover.

The climb up the ladder was a precarious hell of adjustment, shifting her legs and hips to keep the book from slipping. But when Blake saw her coming up, Blake turned and left the room, giving Ruby plenty of time to shove the book under her pillow before running into the living room.

Blake sat on the couch, legs crossed and arms tucked in towards her stomach. Ruby plopped down next to her. For a few minutes, Ruby sat in silence while Blake adjusted her position on the couch like a cat settling into its perch, peering around as she did. Ruby's patience snapped, though.

"Soooo. What were we gonna talk about?" she asked, leaning forward to look Blake in the face. "We've just been kinda sitting here." Blake sat back and huffed.

"It's just a long story," she said. "I guess...okay, the guy who owned this house before me was named Adam. Adam Taurus." Ruby nodded.

"Okay. Was he like, a friend of yours?"

"No," Blake said, then curled her fingers back and sighed. "Well. Something like that, once. You know how I'm into activism?"

"Yeah, total SJW material," Ruby chirped. "Didn't you try to start a divestment club back home?" Blake nodded, smiling.

"Well, Adam was an activist, too. We ran in the same circles online, so eventually we started chatting on IRC boards and stuff. I more or less grew up talking to him, and one year when I had enough money, I flew out to a city here in Georgia for a convention I knew he was going to be at and met up with him." Recognition flared to life and Ruby leaned back, making a small and satisfied hum.

"That was that summer a few years back when you went missing!" she said. "I remember that. But I thought it was just for the convention..." Blake nodded, grim.

"I...I was young, and he seemed to respect me so much. It's complicated and a lot of it is still really off-limits, but I was taken with him. So when he offered, I stayed. I cancelled my return ticket, moved in with him, and started doing work on the ground. And then I learned a lot of thing about Adam that I hadn't known on the internet. Like, the fact that he was way older than me. I had just started high school and he'd been out of college for a few years. And nothing was ever enough for him—not the protests, not the community, not me. He started getting into dangerous stuff, talking about hurting people. And some, ah, other stuff happened. I went back to Cali in October and tried to forget it had all happened, but I guess Adam's still following me from the grave." The room felt hollow when Blake stopped talking. Ruby hadn't even known Blake that well before they moved in together. She'd never have guessed that Blake had run away to be an activist.

"So you lived here before?" Ruby asked. Blake shook her head, topaz earrings twinkling.

"He lived in the same city the convention was in, upstate. This was one of his safe houses, I guess. He was kind of a, uh, doomsday prepper." Ruby blinked. What?

"That's why you saw all those guns and stuff. He was constantly waiting on the day when the world would go to shit, because then he'd have all these weapons and machines and stuff cached."

"O-kay," Ruby said after a moment. Blake pressed on, looking Ruby full in the face.

"Ruby, I don't want you going down to that basement anymore. The stuff in there could really hurt you. And, to be honest, thinking about Adam's inventions makes me feel unsafe. I don't want his stuff turned on under my feet while I sleep. I just can't, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Sure, Blake!"

"Promise me." Blake took Ruby's hands in her own and kept looking her right in the eye. Blake's eyes were always a little unsettling, their yellow tone giving them an unearthly beauty. But now they seemed to glow, scrutinizing Ruby with an intensity she'd never felt. "Promise, Ruby."

"I—I promise. I won't go down there anymore." Blake sighed and closed her eyes, giving Ruby's hands a squeeze before letting go.

"Okay, thanks. That's really relieving, Ruby." Ruby couldn't help letting out a breath herself. It had been tense. "Now go do your algebra, squirt." Ruby groaned, out of excuses to procrastinate, and went to get her backpack from the front hall.