Blake and Weiss walked down the hallway, looking at the other students walking past. It had been just a couple days since the Guardians had been defeated, and already the whole school felt different. People were more cheerful, they felt safer. There was still more security than usual, but it was only a precaution, now. The weight of all the students that had been lost was still there, but with the enemy defeated, people felt hope. Many students were still absent, after their parents had pulled them out of the school. But now, they would be coming back. Ozpin would be staying on as headmaster. The council's decision to let him stay had been greatly influenced by the Guardians being defeated, by his own students, no less. It would be a long time before things at Beacon were "normal" again, but Blake couldn't help being optimistic about the future.

"Ruby will be gone for a few weeks," Weiss was saying, "Maybe two or three."

"I'm happy for her," Blake said, "We shouldn't have kept her here so long. I'm glad she can mourn with her father, now."

"Hey," Weiss said, stopping and looking at Blake, "She chose to stay and fight. You didn't force her to stay."

"I know," Blake reassured her, "I know. But I'm glad she's going home now, either way. When is she leaving?"

"Her ship leaves later tonight," Weiss said, "I thought we could have dinner together in our room."

"That would be nice," Blake said.

"She wants us to keep up our training while she's gone," Weiss noted.

"Oh, "Blake said, "Are you not going home either?"

"No," Weiss said, "With the Guardians gone, I convinced my father to let me stay. Apparently Winter vouched for me."

Blake nodded. As they continued down the hall, they saw Jaune coming up in the opposite direction.

"Hey Jaune," Blake said, "What are you up to?"

Jaune looked up at her and smiled. He removed his sword from his hip.

"Just came from the Forge," He said, pulling the sword a few inches out of its sheath, "Thought it was time I fixed this."

The sword's blade was freshly recast. The edge was perfectly straight again, leaving no evidence of the serrations that had been cut into it.

"Good for you, Jaune," Weiss said, "That jagged edge, you know, if you don't mind me saying, it didn't really fit you."

Jaune slid the sword back into the sheath and returned it to his belt.

"Yeah, well," Jaune said, "I didn't really feel like me before. I do now."

"Your hair is growing back," Blake pointed out.

Jaune ran a hand over his head. The regrowing hair was still short and thin, but the bright blonde colour was visible.

"Yeah," Jaune said.

"Are you going to shave it again?" Weiss asked.

"I don't think so," Jaune said, "I'll let it grow a while, see how I feel about it."

There were a short few seconds where nobody had anything to add.

"Well, I should get going," Jaune said, "See you later."

"See you, Jaune," Blake said.

They went their separate ways. Blake and Weiss continued down the hall. Blake was starting to breathe more quickly, nervous at the idea of their destination.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah," Blake said, "Just... I've never done this before."

"If you don't want to do it-" Weiss began.

"No," Blake said, "I need this. I should have done it a while ago."

They headed down a hall that lead past the infirmary, to a room neither had actually been in before. Blake stopped, and stared at the closed down in front of her. She thought of all the things that had happened to her, this past month and before it. She thought of the things she'd done.

"We can do this any way you want," Weiss said, "I can go in with you, you can go in alone. Its up to you."

"I think... I think I should go alone," Blake said.

"Okay," Weiss answered.

Blake exhaled slowly, drew in another deep breath and opened the door, which had Counselling stenciled on the frosted glass of its window. She stepped in and looked back at Weiss. Weiss smiled at her, hoping to reassure her. Blake smiled back, nervously, and walked in. The door closed behind her. Weiss was left standing in the hall. She sighed, happy for her friend. But there was something else she was feeling, something eating at her mind. She reached into her pocket and touched the tiny little object hidden there. She nodded, turned, and walked away.

Weiss and Ruby sat together, in silence, in Team RWBY's room. Ruby was on her bed, an open backpack full of clothing and other items beside her. Weiss was sitting in the chair by the desk, looking at the object on the desktop. It was a tiny sliver of a Dust crystal. It was hard to determine the exact colour due to it being almost completely depleted of energy. Weiss looked down at it, lost in thought. Ruby made an unsuccessful attempt to distract herself from the Dust shard by continuing to pack. She kept looking back towards Weiss, waiting for her to say something.

"So... I was thinking," Weiss began, "I mean, if she's said goodbye to Yang. Not... not goodbye forever, but... if she's stopped seeing her... and she's happy..."

"You're not going to tell her?" Ruby asked.

"Would it do her any good to know what I did?" Weiss replied.

"Doesn't she deserve to know?" Ruby said.

"What if she blames me for taking Yang away from her?" Weiss asked, "What if she forgets that this crystal was slowly driving her insane?"

Ruby shook her head. She went back to folding clothes. Weiss stared at the crystal for a while. She bit her lip in thought.

"You understand that, right?" She asked Ruby, "You realize telling her could do a lot more harm than good?"

"Of course," Ruby asked, "But are you willing to keep that secret from her forever?"

"I don't know," Weiss said.

"The longer you wait, the worse its going to be," Ruby said.

Weiss sighed, reached for the crystal and pick it up. She looked at it for a moment, then dropped it into her pocket. Ruby watched this, nodded, and placed her folded clothes into the backpack. There was another prolonged silence. After zipping her bag shut, Ruby looked up at Weiss.

"What happens if she find out?" Ruby asked.

Weiss looked at her.

"Are you going to tell her?" Weiss asked.

"No," Ruby said, "That's up to you. But what happens if she finds out on her own?"

Weiss shook her head, "I don't know."

"It probably wouldn't be good," Ruby said, standing up, "I need to go pack my stuff from the bathroom."

She walked into the bathroom, out of sight of Weiss. Weiss heard things shifting around in the bathroom as Ruby packed her toothbrush and other items. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the crystal. She stared down at it. Just a few centimetres long, jagged and sharp. Easy enough for any doctor to miss while stitching a wound closed. She held it between her fingers, turning it over and over. She glanced at the open window.

"I'm sorry, Blake," Weiss whispered.

Taking a deep breath, she snapped the crystal in half. She tossed the two halves out the window, letting them fall to the grounds below and be lost.