"Where is she?"

Yang stared at the empty bedroom, which the four team members had cleaned out only that morning, in preparation for their graduation. She had hoped her sister was there.

Blake ran up behind Yang, "Yang? Are they...?" she halted as she saw the distressed look on Yang's face. "They can't have..."

Yang fell to her knees, staring at the empty room, "This has to be some sort of joke. They couldn't be..."

From her hand, a folded note slipped onto the floor. On it, in Ruby's scrawl were but a few words: 'We're going. Love you Yang.'

Home

A young man strolled through the small village, a bag of food slung over his shoulder. Short dark hair peaked out from under the red hood drawn over his head to protect him from the light rain. He wore a long crimson cloak, well-worn from years of use, over black shirt and trousers.

He politely greeted a couple of old ladies who called out to him, exchanging a few pleasantries before continuing on his way. He walked into a shop, the bell ringing as he stepped inside. "I'm home!"

"About time you got home Garnet," a voice said from behind the counter. "Mr Laurence would like you to have a look at his car."

The voice belonged to a young woman, who was sat behind the counter. She was a fairly short lady, with a short braid weaved out of her white hair. Her dress looked a little out of place for one who worked at a mechanic's shop, being very finely cut, and of a pale blue colour. Her blue eyes looked up from the dust canister she was fiddling with to smile at the man.

"You're the one who sent me out for food." The man's voice sounded high and light for an adult male, much more so than it had when he had spoken to the ladies outside. "You could at least be thankful and welcoming Grazie."

'Grazie' laughed lightly. "Okay, come here and collect your reward." As Garnet approached, Grazie wrapped her arms around him, and whispered in her ear "Thank you Ruby."

Ruby smiled, "Any time Weiss."

The village the pair were now living in was a small one, on a small island in the middle of a fast-flowing river. It was one of only a handful of settlements outside the walls of the four cities. The girls had been there once two years prior, having a hunt nearby. Now they had set up shop there, under assumed names, and the young 'Mr and Mrs Cameo' were now a small part of the villagers' lives.

Ruby drew back from Weiss and smiled, "Your make-up's wearing by the way."

Weiss sighed, pulling out a hand-mirror and examining the area around her left eye. From under the make-up she was using to disguise it, her scar poked out at the edges. She nodded, "I'm getting sloppy... thank you."

Ruby smirked, "Well I'm here to look out for you, aren't I darling?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Well you are my husband, right Garnet?"

Ruby giggled, then stepped away from the counter, opening a door to the back of the building, to their living area. She put the food she was carrying away and returned to the shop-front, grabbing a pack from behind the counter. "Mr Laurence you said, right?"

Weiss nodded, "He said any time this afternoon would be fine."

"Well I'll go do it now. You okay to keep shop for another couple of hours?"

"Yes, I'll be fine, now hurry along. I'll see you later."

"Winter's report came through. They've finished the comb of Vale and Atlas." Blake said, stepping into Yang's room. "There's no sign of them."

Yang looked round, away from the world map she was pouring over. Her lilac eyes slowly focused on Blake, seeming dull and tired. "Okay..." she grabbed a pen and drew a cross over Vale and another over Atlas.

"They're still searching in Mistal and Vaccuo, but as they didn't take any flights or boats..." Blake frowned. "I think we had better start looking at other settlements around Vale."

"I can't imagine Weiss accepting to live in a tiny village," Yang replied, chuckling dryly. "You got anywhere in mind?"

"Not exactly. There are twelve villages within fifty miles of Vale. If they wanted to avoid leaving a trail, I'd say those are our best bets."

"So what, do we just go search each one individually?"

Blake shook her head, "Most of them are difficult to travel to. It would be better to try to work out where they've gone first."

Yang rolled her eyes, "But that could take weeks, or longer."

"Do you have any idea how hard it would be to fight our way to just one of those villages? Whenever anyone goes to one of the outlying villages, they take at least one full team of hunters. It's far too dangerous."

"But they did it."

Yang's words were quiet, quite out of character for the girl. Blake sighed, stepping over to her partner. "Look, I know you want to do something, but you can't be reckless."

Yang stared at her feet. Eventually, Blake took the silence to mean acquiescence. She turned away and left the room. As she closed the door behind her, she could not help but hear the sound of Yang's fist crashing down on the table.

"Thank you very much Garnet. Here's your pay," Mr Laurence said, handing Ruby a small envelope.

Ruby opened it up and quickly counted the money inside, nodding when she counted the correct amount, "Thank you. Let me know if you have any more troubles." She affected a much lower voice than she normally had, still a little high for a man, but not so much as to draw much attention. Fortunately, any worry that came from people pointing out her femininity had been taken as embarrassment thus far. Weiss had helped by saying how 'Garnet was picked on for being feminine, but I just think he's cute.'

"Of course. I'm real glad you're about now. It used to be such a pain when anything broke." The man chuckled, "There's a few travelling mechanics who come round about once every two months, but what can we do for two months if something breaks?"

Ruby nodded, "I can only imagine." She glanced at her watch, a golden piece which Weiss had bought her for her eighteenth birthday. Seeing the time, she looked up again and said "I'd better be going. Grazie will probably be starting on dinner."

"Of course, you can't leave the missus waiting. Give her my regards."

Ruby bowed slightly, before turning away, shouldering her bag of gear, and heading for home. Walking down the street, she saw several other people heading home from work. Some called out greetings to her, which she returned.

As she wandered home, her eyes turned to the sky. It was still very bright despite it being nearly six, it being early Summer. The Sun had begun the last part of its descent, but was still high about the mountain-tops near the village. They had a few hours of daylight left, Ruby reckoned.

She turned into her shop, the bell on the door ringing, and she looked over to the counter. There was no sign of Weiss initially, but a few moments after she stepped inside, the woman stuck her head out of the door leading into the living area.

Weiss smiled when she saw Ruby. "Hey, I was just about to start on dinner. Could you close up shop please?" Ruby nodded, and Weiss ducked back through the door.

Closing up did not take long. All it really involved was turning the sign on the front door from 'Open' to 'Closed' and locking the front door. After that, she went over to the counter and took the money out of the small lock-box built into the counter. Putting the Lien into a small bag, she stepped into the living area of the building.

The pair had a fairly nice little house. The ground floor was half-taken-up by the shop, but also contained the kitchen and a small office-like room which Weiss used when she was not at the counter. Even now, the young woman kept an eye on world events and the economic state of the world. Ruby never commented on it, just let it be.

From the kitchen came the sounds and smells of cooking. Ruby smiled, glad that Weiss had learned to cook during their final year at Beacon. The team had been living in Vale, as did almost all fourth years, in a small two-bedroom flat.

Ruby walked upstairs, to where their shared bedroom was located. She slumped on the bed, taking off her boots, cloak and jacket. Folding the cloak up carefully, leaving the boots kicked into a corner, she unbuttoned her shirt, looking down at her chest. There were bandages tightly wound around her bosom. She loosened them and they fell to the floor. She sighed with relief, before buttoning up her shirt again. She bound her chest to keep up the disguise, and while she had got used to it, she always felt relieved to remove the bindings.

She stepped out of the room, smelling that the food was nearly ready. Licking her lips in spite of herself, she starting walking down to kitchen.

Weiss looked over as she entered, looking very different from her usual proud self, now with an apron over her dress and a frying pan in her hand. It occurred to Ruby every now and then, but Weiss made a really amazing housewife when she put her mind to it. Not that she would ever say that to Weiss, the same way she would never tell the woman just how cute she looked in an apron.

"It's nearly done, take a seat," Weiss said, smiling at Ruby.

Ruby sat herself down in front of one of the empty places, eagerly breathing in the scent of the steak Weiss was cooking. Weiss had always insisted on eating well and Ruby was not one to complain.

Weiss served the food onto two plates, then carried them over to the table, carefully placing one in front of Ruby and one at the other empty place. She sat down and the pair began eating, all ceremony discarded.

Ruby smiled, her face full of meat, "Vis if gweat!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh do swallow before speaking, were you raised in a pigsty?"

Ruby swallowed pointedly before replying, "Nah, Yang was more like a Mother Hen. A big brawling Mother Hen... okay the comparison isn't great, but whatever."

Weiss sighed slightly, the mention of Ruby's sister drawing her thoughts to other things. Their leaving under a cloud meant there were plenty of regrets to go around, with Weiss feeling most apologetic towards Yang. While the pair were far from best friends, they were team-mates, making the pain she knew Yang would have gone through a pain for Weiss as well. She just hoped Blake was keeping the blonde together.

Ruby stared at Weiss's thoughtful face, the hint of sorrow betraying her thoughts. Ruby stood suddenly and was by Weiss's side in a moment, her hands reaching to cup her cheeks.

"Ruby?"

"Weiss, I told you that you didn't need to worry about all that stuff. We made up our minds, didn't we?"

"I just..." Ruby cut Weiss off with a kiss.

"You just what?" Ruby smiled at Weiss once she withdrew her lips. "We escaped together; that's all we did. Now, unless you're unhappy in our new home..."

"Of course not!" Weiss replied.

Ruby laughed a little, standing upright and looking down at Weiss, while nervously fiddling with a golden ring on her finger. "I'm glad, I do worry sometimes..."

"No, I am happy. After all, I deigned to choose you as my wife, why wouldn't I be happy? A Schnee never makes a bad choice!"

Ruby chuckled as Weiss looked away to hide her embarrassment. That way in which Weiss feigned arrogance to try to avoid Ruby noticing her nerves was adorable in the redhead's mind. Ruby made a mental note that she needed to fluster Weiss more often.

Ruby sat again and the meal continued in relative calmness. Nothing more than questions about each others' days were asked. Ruby had been out for a large chunk of the day, while Weiss had been watching the store. Hardly what Weiss had imagined herself doing a few years ago, but she did not mind.

Finally, once both had finished, Ruby set about cleaning up, while Weiss fiddled about with her scroll. Glancing over Weiss's shoulder, Ruby caught sight of a news article about the investigation into their disappearance. The official word was that the police had little idea as to what had happened to the pair. Ruby's note to Yang had apparently been suspected of being a forgery, or something like that. Ruby doubted that was the truth: Yang would swear blind it was from Ruby, even if nobody else would.

She saw a line mentioning that Weiss's father was putting a large amount of his resources into the search. Publicly, it looked like the reaction of a caring and worried father. Ruby already knew what Weiss thought of it though. Not wanting to have the nasty conversation again, Ruby let Weiss continuing her reading and went back to cleaning up.

Once Ruby had finished cleaning and Weiss had read as much as she wanted, the pair retired upstairs. They were both usually extremely tired by the time they finished dinner, and today was no exception. The pair flopped onto the bed, Weiss reaching for the remote of their small TV. It was a gift from one of the shop-keepers, an older model that they had too many of. To the young women, who had only so much money to throw around, it was a fine present.

The programme was some mindless comedy, just the sort of thing for half-watching while tired. Ruby felt Weiss snuggle close to her at one point, and the redhead put one arm around her wife. As Weiss's breathing softened and she fell asleep, Ruby smiled down at her.

"I'm glad we made this home, Weiss..."

A/N: Yes, I'm back lady dogs! Wait, that came out wrong, can I have another go?

But yeah, I'm back, because I felt like writing this thing. Doesn't mean that I'm not working on my original stuff, which I'm still putting up on Journalister... in spite of various annoyances with the site. Seriously, you'd think a site for writing would have a decent text editor... but I digress. This will not be nearly so grand in scope as Pink Like Posies, but will be a few chapters long. I would ball-park guess five or six, but we'll see where it goes. As for update schedule, I have no idea and make no promises. I've recently started working (or rather, training for work) full-time. This does not do good for my productivity... but oh well, we shall see how it goes.

Anyways, so yeah, reviews are always welcome, as would be some more traffic to my original works (links on my profile, HINT HINT). See you all next time!

'Til Eternity Ends

E.D.