Part 13: Complete and Total Collapse (Sungazer)

Just outside of Vale past the agricultural district was the small village of Emmer. A village only known for the bread that they make from the wheat that grew nearby. That bread was said to be one of the wonders of the world because though anyone could bake it, it never quite tasted the same as when made with the Emmer wheat.

Team RWBY had just been dropped off by the wheat fields. Ruby was still trying to rub the sleep from her eyes, Zwei poking his head from her backpack. Blake was wide awake her eyes darting around the wheat, remembering what Ozpin said about being as inconspicuous as possible. Yang stretched her arms above her head before cracking her neck letting out a satisfied sigh. Weiss had dark circles under her eyes her right eye twitching when the noise level drifted above silent. She was hunched over her bag seemed to weigh a ton, definitely weighing more than when she first packed it. At least she thought so.

She had even unpacked in the airship just to make sure a large rock hadn't found its way in her bag, but there was nothing there. When Blake asked her about it she said that she was just checking to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She couldn't tell her friend the truth, they already looked at her as if she could lose it at any second. And maybe she could if that crying didn't stop she certainly thought so.

"Alright team, this way!" Ruby declared interrupting Weiss's train of thought.

"Uh rubes, that way." Yang turned Ruby around so that she was facing the town.

"That way!" Ruby corrected herself.

Weiss groaned in pain, rubbing her temples. The crying was getting louder as if trying to drown out Ruby's voice completely. Blake looked at her in concern, placing her hand on Weiss's shoulder.

"I'm fine, it's just a headache." Weiss lied.

"I think I got some pain meds if you want some." Yang supplied.

"Please." Weiss whimpered.

"Weiss, you okay?" Ruby worried.

Weiss nodded halfheartedly, still rubbing her temples. Ruby frowned but left it alone. She let Zwei out of her bag and waited for Yang to give Weiss the pain meds before the team set off to the village of Emmer.

A short walk later and the team was in the small village. Only four or five shops, two of which were bakeries. There was one Inn, and one Bar, the other shop being a cross between a food market, and a weapons market. The rest of the small buildings were people's homes.

The team walked into the Inn and up to the elderly man at the front counter.

"Hi, One room please," Ruby said.

He nodded and turned to fetch them a key.

Weiss examined the lobby only two people occupied it. One is an elderly woman, the other being a girl just older than them. She had ebony skin and was dressed rather revealingly. Only a small purple strapless crop top and white parachute pants which showcased the logo of a spiny looking dragon head. A purple belt held her pants in place. She also wore some type of desert sandals and many bangles on her wrist. Her hair was black and exceptionally straight, pulled up into a sloppy ponytail. Her eyes were a brilliant yellow color, but what was most striking about her was the large and long spiny mustard yellow lizard tail.

The girl sat on her knees, her tail curled around her. She and the old woman were amid a heated checkers match. The old woman rubbed her chin in thought.

"Sorry, we don't have many rooms ready at this time. I'm afraid I can only provide you with a double, meaning only two beds." The Innkeeper drew Weiss's attention away from her observations.

"It's okay we can share." Ruby smiled.

Yang and Blake shared an awkward look, Yang's cheeks going a slight pink.

"Though I do have a question, we are looking for a girl named Eden?" Ruby went on.

The Innkeeper pointed to the two patrons in the lobby. Just then the old woman made a move and captured all of the younger girl's pieces.

"Gah! Not again, come on you could at least go easy on me." The younger girl complained.

"Then you wouldn't learn anything." The elderly woman laughed.

The younger girl pouted, turning her head to the team standing by the front counter.

"Eden?" Blake asked.

"Oh hey, you guys must be my escorts, I'm Eden." The younger girl hopped up from her spot on the floor before walking over to the elderly woman and helping her up.

"This here is Gertrud she is the Inn Keepers wife, I'd thought I'd keep her company as I waited for you guys. Apparently, I'm not good company." Eden rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Nonsense, the best company I've had in years," Gertrud said.

"Aw, thanks Gurdy." She smiled.

"We're team RWBY, I'm Ruby, this is Weiss, Blake, and my sister Yang." Ruby gestured to each member.

"Nice to meet you guys, man I am beat, so when are we leaving?"

"We will leave at the break of dawn." Blake supplied.

"I'll hold you to that. I rise with the sun. See you guys in the morning I guess." She stretched, before turning to Gertrud and bidding her goodnight, waving at the Innkeeper as she headed to her room.

With that team, RWBY bid the Innkeeper and his wife goodnight and went to their room.

"Sorry Zwei, no room, you can lay on my bag if you want." Ruby pet the pup.

He whimpered but quickly accepted his fate and curled up on the floor.

Weiss let her bag fall to the floor with a hard thump. Falling back dramatically on the bed with her hand covering her eyes. Ruby smiled at her and laid down next to her placing a light peck on her lips. Weiss moved her hand and smiled at her.

"You guys are okay with sharing right?" Ruby asked the other two members of her team, as an afterthought.

"Tsk, yeah, no problems here. We're like family." Yang played off, laughing nervously.

"Fine by me, just don't hog the covers." Blake shrugged taking her spot and pulling out a book.

Yang forced herself to relax and sat next to Blake. It was a tight fit, but Blake didn't seem bothered by it. The team quickly settled in, Weiss setting an alarm on her scroll. The only problem was that they were all ready for bed, but the light was still on. They each realized it at the same time.

"NOT IT!" They all said at once, but Weiss said it slightly slower than everyone else.

Weiss groaned and turned to Ruby. Ruby smiled at her and got up to turn off the light.

"Whipped." Yang teased.

Blake suppressed a laugh.

"Shut it." Weiss chastised.

With that, the light was flicked off.

Ruby settled in next to Weiss, wrapping her arms around her. Weiss seemed to lean into her and the two were out like the lights. Both of them exhausted. Yang laid turned away from Blake, Blake sighed and closed her book laying in the opposite direction.

They laid like this for a few moments, though both were accustomed to facing the other way, so they were uncomfortable. After a few minutes, Yang gave in first turning to face the same direction as Blake. It was such a tight fit that Yang's chest was pressed tightly against Blake's back. Blake's cat ears slanted down slightly at the awkwardness of the situation. Yang was trying to figure out where to put her arms, if she put them between her and Blake she would be touching things she was sure Blake would rather leave untouched. So, Yang awkwardly and slowly wrapped one of her arms around Blake's waist.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked.

"Oh, uh, sorry, it's just a tight fit, I didn't mean to-" Yang stammered quickly retracting her hand.

"It's fine, you just caught me off guard," Blake admitted.

"Oh, sorry." Yang swallowed loudly.

With Blake's permission, Yang once again wrapped her arm around Blake's waist. Blake, in order to get more comfortable, wiggled into Yang's embrace, finding it to be a perfect fit. Finally, comfortable Blake fell asleep. Yang, however, had trouble falling asleep, her racing heart betraying her.

Weiss's Dream

Weiss was in a restless sleep, the whaling of a baby haunting her dreams. Why was it crying? Was it hurt? Did someone abandon it? Was it hungry? Where was it?

'Make it stop, please, stop.' Weiss thought to herself.

The crying only seemed to grow louder.

'Where are you? I can't help you if I don't know where you are.'

Then in her dream, the baby appeared. A white crib was the source of the crying. She hesitantly walked over to it. There laid a screaming white-haired baby, it's entire face red from straining itself as it cried.

'Hello.' Weiss said in her dream looking down to the baby.

'Cline, Cline! Cline! The Baby!' a woman's voice broke through Weiss's dream.

Suddenly a woman who Weiss instantly recognized as her mother sauntered into the scene, her belly bulging as she was pregnant with her brother.

'Shut up! Why are you crying!' her mother screamed equally as loud.

'Maybe she's hungry…' a young Winter stepped into the scene.

'I can't. You deal with it.' Weiss's mother left a young winter to handle the problem.

'But…' Winter tried.

The baby screamed, and screamed, and screamed. Weiss covered her ears. Winter walked over to the crib and picked up the child.

'What do we do?' Winter asked handing Weiss the baby.

'I—I—don't know.' Weiss took the baby.

'We should just get rid of it.' Weiss father walked into the scene.

He snatched the child from Weiss's hands and wrapped his hands around its throat.

'No, stop, stop it!' Weiss cried.

'You wanted it to shut up, didn't you?' he asked.

The baby grew silent as it struggled to breathe.

'Stop, you're killing it!' tears streamed down her face.

'No, daddy.' Winter tried

The baby went still…

Reality

"No!" Weiss shot up in the bed.

Everyone in the room bolted awake. Just then Weiss's alarm went off signaling it was time for them to get up. Weiss got up from the bed looking to run away, but there was nowhere to run so she just collapsed on the floor. Her scroll still going off.

"Weiss, Weiss what's wrong." Ruby was next to her in a flash of rose petals.

"No." Weiss cried, burying her head into Ruby's shoulder.

Yang got up and shut the scroll off, her and Blake still trying to process their rude awakening. Zwei cocked his head in confusion, standing and stretching then moving to investigate Weiss.

Weiss couldn't form any words for the horror that she just witnessed. She was a blubbering mess her entire body shaking like a leaf. She held Ruby tightly, tears streaming down her face.

A glyph formed around Weiss and Ruby and out of it, a rather big Ursa emerged.

"Uh, Weiss!" Yang called.

Ruby looked up and her eyes went wide. In a flash of rose petals, she moved Weiss out of the way as the Ursa moved to attack. The Ursa let out a loud roar moving to chase after Weiss. Zwei started barking at it.

"Weiss do something!" Blake called leaping for her weapon.

Weiss looked at the Ursa her eyes wide, she had only ever successfully summoned small things before. Now here was a huge monster here because of her, but she had no control over it. The Grimm swiped at the duo scratching Ruby in the arm sending her flying into the wall with a hard thud. Ruby cried out in pain.

"Ruby!" Yang cried.

Blake got her weapon and transformed it into a gun, shooting the Ursa several times before it finally disappeared. Yang ran to her sister kneeling down to check to see if she was injured. Blake let her hand go slack to her side. She sighed and sat down on the bed.

"What is wrong with you? You could have gotten someone killed!" Yang turned on Weiss with bright red eyes.

"Yang I'm fine, it's okay." Ruby tried.

"No, it's not okay!"

"I—I didn't mean to." Weiss sobbed.

"Leave her alone it was an accident." Ruby came to Weiss's defense.

"Ozpin was right about you two, if you don't get your act together you are going to get someone killed." Yang stood and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Weiss flinched at the noise.

Blake sighed and stood to follow after Yang. She spared the duo a sympathetic look before walking out as well.

"It's okay, I'm fine. My aura took the hit not me. Are you okay?" Ruby moved to comfort Weiss.

"I can't do this." Weiss pulled out of Ruby's comforting grasp.

"Can't do what?" Ruby asked.

"This Ruby! Everything! I am losing my mind. Yang's right about me, I'm just going to get someone killed. Get you killed. I can't, I can't pretend everything is fine anymore."

"It was an accident, accidents happen. We can work through it, just tell me what to do and I'll do it." Ruby once again moved to comfort Weiss.

"There's nothing you can do! Don't you think you've done enough? Look at where we are Ruby, I can't be here, I can't pretend that I don't have something to be thinking about. It's always on my mind, what if I'm hurt, I can't be out here anymore. I have to give up everything, and you, you get to keep on doing whatever you want. It's not just me anymore. Don't you get that?"

"I do, I'm here Weiss, I'm with you. We can figure it out together." Ruby tried.

"No. When we get back, I think it's best if we just go back to being just friends. I'm going to tell my father and accept whatever comes next. I don't want you caught up in that. It's better this way." Weiss turned away from Ruby unable to look her in the eyes.

"But that's not what I want. I want us to face this together. I love you."

"I'm sorry. Please don't make this harder for me, it has to be this way. We're over."

"Weiss." Ruby reached for her, she pulled away and with a sob quickly left the room, leaving Ruby alone.

Ruby stared blankly at the spot where Weiss just stood. Her mind couldn't compute, there had to be something she could do, right? This was all her fault, she had to fix it. Maybe if she just, if she just…

Ruby was at a loss, she didn't know what to do, or how to fix this and that scared her. Her heart hurt, for Weiss, for herself, for everything. Still Ruby took a deep breath suppressing her tears, she had a mission to complete after all.

Half an hour later the team sat with Eden at a bakery, eating bread in silence.

"Gods isn't this bread just to die for." Eden cooed.

No one responded.

"Okay." Eden frowned.

"Sorry, rough morning, it's great." Ruby smiled.

"Let me tell you, I've been all over, Vacuo, Mistral, you name it, but I ain't ever had bread like this until I got here." Eden praised.

"Why thank you miss." The baker smiled.

"Everywhere? Do you travel a lot?" Ruby asked.

"Heck yeah, I love traveling. It's like my calling, going from town to town helping any way I can. But I always make it a point to see my dear friend Oz every year. And despite telling him repeatedly I don't need it, he insisted on my protection. He's too paranoid if you ask me." she shoved another piece into her mouth.

"You can never be too careful." Blake finally joined the conversation.

"Ah, now I see why he picked you guys." Eden smiled.

"We should get moving soon, we have two days of travel ahead of us." Ruby ate the last of her bread.

"Here, for the road." The baker gave them a bag of bread.

"Thank you, you're the best!" Eden cheered, happy to have more of the delicious bread.

"Don't be a stranger now." The baker called after the team.

"Take care." Eden waved at him.

"So, is that your dog?" Eden asked as the team made their way around the wheat field.

"Oh yeah, this is Zwei. The bestest dog ever." Ruby praised.

Zwei barked and wagged his tail happily.

"He's so cute," Eden said in a high pitched voice.

Zwei ran around in excited circles happy for the attention.

"He likes you." Ruby giggled.

While Ruby kept Eden entertained, the rest of team RWBY was having trouble trying to pretend everything was fine. Yang and Weiss lingered in the back of the group, Weiss looking miserable. Blake kept looking around, making sure no threats lingered nearby.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier, that wasn't fair of me." Yang turned to face Weiss.

"Ruby and I broke up," Weiss said coldly.

"What?" Yang looked to Ruby, who seemed to be perfectly fine. "Who broke up with who?" Yang asked in confusion.

"I broke up with her."

Yang watched Ruby for a second, the red hooded reaper laughed as Eden chased after Zwei trying to catch and cuddle him. Not a hint that she was anything but happy. Yang frowned.

"Why?" Yang asked Weiss.

"Because when we get back I'm going to tell my father. I don't want that to come back on her."

"Shouldn't that be her choice?"

"No. Not with my father, none of you know what he's like. I'm protecting her and if you love her, you'll do everything you can to keep her away from me. For her safety." Weiss swallowed.

"Weiss if he's really as bad as you say then I don't want you going near him."

"He's going to find out eventually, better by me than by one of his spies."

"Are you sure?"

Weiss nodded.

"There something Blake and I didn't tell you guys."

"Are you two finally dating?" Weiss turned to Yang with a raised eyebrow.

"What! No, me and Blake." Yang laughed nervously.

Blake's cat ears turned to listen to their conversation.

"Please, you're obvious." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Am not." Yang crossed her arms.

"If you say so."

"Look that is not what I was going to say, what I was going to say is Ozpin said if you two don't get it together by the time we get back he is going to suspend both of you and call your parents. He knows you and Ruby are, were dating, and he is concerned because you've both been acting weird."

"I am fine now, I know what I have to do. As for Ruby…" Weiss trailed off.

Both Yang and Weiss watched Ruby as she inspected the map, Eden next to her holding Zwei in her arms now, rubbing her nose to his. Ruby looked focused, not a hint that she was hurting in any way.

Ruby folded the map and once again started a conversation with Eden.

"So, how do you know Ozpin?"

"You could say we go way back." Eden set Zwei back on the ground.

"Way back? How way back are we talking you don't look that old."

Eden laughed at that.

"Don't tell me you're really old," Ruby said out of disbelief.

"No. It's complicated. Trust me you don't want to know. Let's just say he's a long time family friend. What about you guys, how long have you been a team?"

"Oh us, well we're only second years. I don't mean to brag but during our first semester we single-handedly took down a crime lord and his operation. There was a train explosion and a Grimm incident, but everything worked out fine in the end." Ruby waved at the air as if waving off the seriousness of the incident.

"You guys are crazy." Eden laughed.

"Certifiably." Ruby joked.

"So, uh the others, do they ever talk or…"

"Oh yeah they do, but uh, but uh…"

"But we are still just trying to wake up." Blake came to Ruby's rescue.

"Not early risers huh?"

"Not exactly." Blake smiled.

"Well I love the sun, if it's out I'm out. I just love the way it feels on my skin. So, I am certainly a morning person." Eden spread out her arms as if she was soaking up the sun.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" Yang asked finally joining the conversation.

"The sun, and not being morning people." Ruby summarized.

"Ah, yeah I hate mornings." Yang shook her head.

"Guess that makes me the odd one out." Eden shrugged.

"So, you said you travel a lot, but where are you from?" Blake asked.

"Vacuo, my pride, and joy. The people there are the best, so accepting, so lively."

"I've always wanted to see Vacuo," Ruby said.

"Oh, you should it's beautiful. A lot warmer than this place, but you get used to it."

For a second there was a moment of awkward silence as the team walked on. Eden looked to Ruby and smiled at her.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Tag!" she tagged Ruby before running forward.

Ruby smirked and used her semblance to quickly catch up to the girl.

"Tag!" Ruby tagged her back.

"What? How did you?"

"How did I do this?" Ruby zoomed circles around her, rose petals going everywhere.

"No fair." Eden pouted.

The two dissolved into giggles.

Weiss watched Ruby with Eden, a sour taste of jealousy flooding her mouth despite her best efforts not to let it get to her. But she had just broken up with Ruby, she expected her to be at least a little upset. From Weiss's point of view, it almost looked like Ruby didn't care that they had broken up. That just made her feel worse.

These antics continued on for another couple hours as the team walked towards vale. When they got to a large clearing Ruby collapsed on the floor in laughter as Eden constantly tried to think of new tactics to tag Ruby. Eden groaned in exhaustion, finally giving up and collapsing on the floor next to Ruby.

"Remind me never to play tag with you ever again."

"You two need to slow down," Blake said walking over to them.

"Yeah, you guys keep getting ahead. This is a mission remember." Yang chastised.

"Sorry," Ruby said.

"We should take a break, this is a good spot." Eden stretched out enjoying the sun.

Zwei ran up next to her and licked her face. She giggled and rolled around in the grass to try and get away from him.

Yang and Blake joined Ruby on the floor, Weiss finally catching up. For a second her and Ruby made eye contact, Ruby quickly looked away and for a second her team spotted just how hurt she was as her composure faltered. Though as quickly as it was there it was gone again.

Ruby turned her attention to Zwei, getting him some water and rubbing his belly drawing his attention away from Eden. Eden sat up and shook the grass from her hair. She looked up to Weiss, who still hadn't said anything to her.

"What's wrong?" Eden asked Weiss outright.

Weiss postponed answering the question by taking her time to sit down.

"Got a frog in your throat?" Eden asked.

"No, I am just reserved." Weiss supplied.

"Reserved huh, by the way, you carry yourself I wouldn't take you as the type. That symbol on your jacket isn't that the Schnee family crest?"

"Guilty as charged, I'm a Schnee." Weiss sighed.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing."

"Depends who you ask," Weiss smirked at her own joke.

Blake grabbed the bread from the bag and passed out a piece to everyone. They all ate in silence. Ruby examined the map once more, knowing that they were about to get in Grimm territory.

"Okay, guys we need to be out of this upcoming forest before nightfall. Don't want to get stuck out with Grimm." Ruby announced.

"Sounds like a plan," Eden said.

With that, the team got a move on. For the most part, they traveled in silence. Eden knew something was up with them, something happened to mess up their team dynamic. Still, it wasn't her business to ask about it.

Ruby and Eden would occasionally spark up a conversation and goof around but mostly things got more serious with the threat of Grimm in the area. Weiss for her part was doing everything to keep her negative thoughts to a minimum, knowing that they attracted Grimm.

Even so, something that had been bothering Weiss since her blow up this morning was that the sound of the crying baby was gone. She wanted it gone, she was relieved, but then again, she wasn't. Not with her dream still lingering in the back of her mind.

Blake knew that facing Grimm was going to be inevitable, with two of her teammates not in the right state of mind, it was a guarantee. She was the first to notice the Grimm, beowolves. She heard them coming before she saw them.

"Be ready." She called to everyone.

They all pulled their weapons out. Eden pulled out a whip which was hidden in her belt. The pack came bursting through the trees, Ruby was the first and only one to react. She was gone in a flash of petals. And in the blink of an eye, the Grimm were dead dissolving on the ground.

"We should get moving," Ruby said coldly, walking ahead.

Blake and Yang shared a concerned look. Eden frowned but quickly followed after the leader, followed by everyone else. Yang jogged to catch up with Ruby far enough ahead of everyone that no one could overhear their conversation.

"Hey, you okay?" Yang asked.

"Huh? Yeah, why?" Ruby played dumb.

"Weiss told me that Y'all broke up."

"Oh." Was all Ruby could say.

"Come on, talk to me."

"Now is not the time, we have to focus."

"Ruby you are far from focused. You need to talk about it, I know you're hurting."

"I'm fine."

"Ruby."

"I don't want to talk about it okay." Ruby walked ahead.

"Stop getting ahead of everyone!" Yang called after her.

Ruby ignored her and kept on walking. Yang sighed.

"Is she okay?" Eden asked.

"It's complicated." Yang frowned.

"I can see that. I know it's not my business, but I got a feeling it has got something to do with her and Weiss."

"Right on the mark, those two got some stuff going on. They just don't know how to talk it out."

"That's stupid if they are true friends they should just make up. Life is too short to waste on negative moments like these."

"I agree." Blake caught up to them.

With Ruby walking ahead and Weiss trailing behind something was bound to happen. Though no one quite expected what came next. Weiss struggled to keep up, which was unlike her, Weiss was more of a pack leader than a rear end kind of girl. It was her thoughts that kept her from keeping up, she was lost in her own world again. Her outlook on her future slowly looking grimmer and grimmer.

The ground beneath Weiss rumbled causing her to stop in her steps. Zwei's barking drew everyone's attention. Then out of nowhere, a large Grimm came bursting out of the ground sending Weiss flying. The Grimm resembled a mole, but this was no ordinary mole. It was three times as large as the girls and twice as tall. Its nose was made up of bone-like Teeth that would open and try to eat you, much like a Venus flytrap. Its hands were three long claws with spikes sticking out every which way.

"Weiss!" Ruby cried, but before she could move a second one came bursting from the ground right under her.

Weiss used her glyphs to catch herself midair, she drew her rapier and went in for the attack. She launched herself straight at the Grimm, though it had no eyes, it was still faster than her. It smacked her out of the sky and had her crashing into the ground.

Yang and Blake took off in opposite directions, Yang running to her sister, and Blake running to Weiss. Eden stood there wide-eyed still trying to process what just happened.

Yang activated her gauntlets and began firing at the Grimm. This gave Ruby her opportunity to get out of harm's way. She rolled away just as it brought one of its claws down, stabbing into the ground. Like a knife through butter.

Ruby drew her scythe and went in for an attack. It pulled its claws from the ground and clashed with the scythe, Ruby being pushed back several feet as she struggled to hold the weight. Yang came to the rescue as her fist connected with the underbelly of the beast. It roared in pain and opened its disgusting mouth to try and eat Yang.

"Chew on this!" Yang shouted firing off several rounds into its mouth.

Ruby slashed at it causing it to screech and move back. Yang reloaded and the two got ready for round two.

Blake fired off several rounds at the thing, but it did little to hurt it. Weiss made several glyphs and used them to fire ice shards at the beast, still, it advanced on them. Blake transformed her weapon and went in for a closer approach. She slashed at it several times, it could do nothing to counter as Weiss changed from blue dust to red and the ice turned to fireballs that exploded on contact.

Feeling overwhelmed the Grimm burrowed into the ground to escape. Blake looked into the large hole it created but it was gone.

"We got it, I think," Blake said trying to catch her breath.

"Are you guys okay?" Eden ran over to them.

"Just caught off guard is all," Weiss reassured her.

All of their attentions were drawn to Ruby and Yang who were still in a heated battle with their Grimm mole. Yang was knocked back, one of its claws swiping at her, leaving a giant dent in her aura. She activated her semblance and let loose a barrage of attacks.

Ruby aided as the two attacked, Yang from the front, Ruby from Behind. The Beast stood up on its hind legs and came smashing down on Yang, knocking the girl out cold. Her aura completely depleted which could be seen by a golden sheen washing over her body. Then it turned on Ruby and sent her flying into a tree her scythe knocked from her hands.

Blake and Weiss were already halfway to them when the first one re-emerged. It came up right by the second one which was closing in on Ruby who was trying to get to her feet.

"We aren't going to make it." Blake cried.

Weiss made a pathway of glyphs which propelled her forward as she raced to Ruby's rescue. Ruby looked up in horror as the beast opened its mouth, she held her arms to shield herself from what would come next. Then suddenly an ice wall shot up and stabbed the Grimm right in the face.

Weiss had made it just in time, standing in front of Ruby her rapier stabbed into the ground. She was out of breath and a little shaken, but she was still Weiss and no way was she going to let any Grimm hurt the girl she loved.

"Weiss," Ruby said touched by the heiress's actions.

"Look out!" Blake called out.

The white and red duo had little time to react as the second mole smashed head first into the ice, shattering it and letting free the other Grimm. Ruby grabbed Weiss and in a flash of red, the two were safe from harm.

Ruby retrieved her scythe from the ground and was ready for the final round. Blake bent down to help Yang up, Eden by her side. She too had her weapon drawn ready to get in on the action.

Ruby and Weiss shared a looked and nodded both ready for more. The Grimm moles charged at them and Weiss set a trap. When they were close enough she set a time dilation glyph under them which caused them to slow down to extremely slow speeds. Ruby went in with her super speed slashing away at the Grimm while they were too slow to defend themselves.

Weiss made a zig-zag formation with her glyphs and propelled herself upwards. Then bouncing off of each glyph she made several strikes to the moles. She landed on the ground with grace and once the time dilation was up a flurry of slashes could be seen.

The Grimm made loud screeching noises. Ruby shot off several rounds at the Grimm trying to get in a kill shot, but if their looks were any indication it was going to take more than that to bring down these moles.

"My turn," Eden smirked as she stood to make an attack.

She ran over to a mole and wrapped her whip around its neck then using her semblance she drew energy from the sun and her whole body started glowing a bright yellow. The energy traveled down her whip and she literally burnt through the skin of the grim and ripped it's head off.

Then she cracked her whip at the second one leaving a very large visible scar on its back. As it turned to attack Eden, Weiss and Ruby used their signature move ice flower and shot large ice flowers at it.

"Let's crank up the heat." Eden brought her hands together and shot a continues beam of bright yellow light at the beast.

With a final roar, it was taken down.

Everyone gave a collected sigh of relief.

Ruby turned to Weiss just as Weiss turned to her.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"I'm fine, are you okay?"

"Thanks to you." Ruby smiled at her.

Weiss smiled back.

"I'm fine too, just in case you were wondering!" Yang called out as she sat up with a pain-filled grunt.

"I was wondering." Blake smiled at her.

Yang couldn't keep the flush from her cheeks, so she played it off by smiling and playfully punching Blake in the shoulder.

"Whoa, that was a thing!" Eden said excitedly as she powered down.

"Thanks, we couldn't have done it without you," Ruby said walking over to her.

"Hey, you guys weakened it, I just finished it."

"Well, we appreciate the assist," Weiss said.

Yang and Blake joined the group, Yang rubbing her head. Ruby frowned.

"Yang I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have gotten ahead of everyone. I was just, and you were just, I didn't mean-"

"Relax rubes, I'm okay. Let's just stick together from now on okay."

Ruby nodded, giving Yang a hug.

"We need to get moving if we want to make it out of this forest before nightfall," Blake said.

Everyone agreed, and they were on their way again.

The tension was a lot better, it wasn't exactly the way it should be. Though Weiss and Ruby could stand to be near each other, the two still hardly spoke or looked at each other unless it was necessary.

With luck on their side, they made it to a stream and clearing just as the sun was setting.

"This should be a good place to set up for the night." Blake pointed out.

"Great because I am exhausted." Eden sighed sitting on a rock near the stream.

Ruby started a small fire and tossed everyone their sleeping bags. The team settled in and everyone seemed to enjoy the silence while eating dinner. The sound of the trickling stream filling the void.

"I'll take first watch." Ruby volunteered.

"I call second," Blake called.

"Give me third." Yang yawned.

"Guess that means I get the last one." Weiss sighed.

Ruby got up and walked closer to the forest edge taking up perch on a large rock. She sat with one knee to her chest and the other dangling off the rock. Her scythe on her back and her hood covering her head. Her hands rested on her knee and her silver eyes scanned the forest.

Zwei curled up and laid on Ruby's empty sleeping bag closing his eyes to get some sleep.

"She's so young," Eden said more to herself than to the group.

"What she lacks in age she makes up for in skill," Yang commented.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just meant that she's so young like she hasn't even really experienced her youth yet and she's already taking on a huge role as a leader. That's a heavy burden to carry at such a young age." Eden stared at the fire.

"The world isn't just going to sit around and wait for us to grow up. This is what the rest of our lives are going to be like. Might as well embrace it." Blake said.

"I wish the world didn't have to be like that." Eden sighed.

"Me too." Weiss agreed.

"We should get some sleep." Yang stretched and laid down, her eyes reflecting the stars.

Everyone else quickly followed by example.

Weiss tossed and turned unable to fall asleep due to her fear of having a nightmare like before. Eventually, she gave up and stared at Ruby who still had yet to move. The wind blew causing her red cape to flow around her.

"Just go talk to her," Blake said.

Weiss flinched not expecting Blake to still be awake.

"How can I sleep with you moving around so much?" Blake said answering the question Weiss's face expression proposed.

"There's nothing left to talk about, I've made my decision." Weiss looked at the smoldering fire.

"Weiss, I can't pretend to know what you are going through but I can be here for you. Just like Ruby can. You may have made a decision but maybe Ruby doesn't agree with it. Whether you like it or not you two are in this together. My advice, stop fighting it. Let her be there for you, it may not be what you want, but it's what you need. Pushing her away is only hurting both of you."

"I'm just scared. I don't want to hurt her." Weiss admitted tears forming in her eyes.

"What do you think you are doing to her now. It's okay to be afraid, we're here for you. We aren't going nowhere." Blake clasped her hand around Weiss's.

Weiss nodded forming a soft smile. Then she looked back to Ruby.

"Go to her." Blake urged.

Weiss took a deep calming breath and stood up. Blake watched as the heiress walked towards Ruby with her back straight and her resolve solid. Blake smiled.

"Do you think it will work out?" Yang asked from her sleeping bag.

"Please, those two are hopeless for each other. They'll figure it out." Blake turned to Yang.

"Yeah guess you're right. I do envy them though."

"How so?" Blake asked.

"I mean, I just wish I had someone like that. Someone who is as madly in love with me as I am them. Stupid huh?" Yang forced an awkward smile.

"I don't think so. I'd just say be careful what you wish for." Blake winked at her before laying back down.

Yang felt her face flame up quickly rolling over to face away from the smoldering fire.

Weiss slowly approached Ruby who still had yet to face her.

"Ruby," Weiss called.

Ruby still didn't look at her.

Weiss sighed and walked around the rock so that she was facing Ruby head on. What Weiss saw broke her heart. Ruby looked down to her as tears were streaming down her face, her silver eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

"Ruby." Weiss whimpered.

"Please Weiss if you are just going to tell me why we can't be together, I don't want to hear it." Ruby turned her head to look away from her.

"Ruby come down here." Weiss placed her hand on top of Ruby's.

Ruby sniffled and slid off the rock.

Weiss reached into Ruby's hood and placed her hand on Ruby's cheek. Ruby leaned into her touch and closed her eyes as if to savor the moment. Weiss wiped a tear with her thumb.

"Don't cry." Weiss whimpered.

"I don't know what to do, how to fix this. I know we don't always see eye to eye and I know that having a baby isn't exactly an easy fix. I just—I can't lose you, Weiss. I can't imagine my life without you. I love you." Ruby sniffled.

"Ruby…" Weiss leaned in and their lips connected.

For Ruby, it was like she could breathe again. She felt herself melt into Weiss. Her entire body filled with a comforting warmth. Ruby didn't know what was to come next, or if they would come out unscathed. What she did know was as long as she was with Weiss everything would be okay.

They broke for air, their foreheads still touching. Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss's waist, and Weiss rested her hands on Ruby's shoulders. For a moment the two said nothing and just stayed like this.

"Ruby, I'm sorry about earlier. I'm just so terrified. What if I can't do this, what if I'm not meant to be a mom?"

"You're not alone, I'm here. We can figure it out together."

Weiss shook her head no.

Ruby pulled back to look her in the eyes.

"What scares me most of all is that one day you may not come back to me. You're going to be a huntress Ruby, and I'm not. I'm not going to be able to graduate like the rest of you, I'm not going to be able to go on missions like you. All I can think about is how you told me your mom never came home, she died on a mission. What if that happens to you? That's something I can't even think about." Weiss finally admitted.

Ruby's eyes went wide as it finally clicked to her what the problem was. The problem wasn't that Weiss didn't want to be a mom, nor was it that her family would be angry if they found out. The problem was that Weiss was afraid that she was going to be alone through all of it. Afraid that history would repeat itself and Ruby would die just like her mother. What scared Ruby even more, was that she couldn't promise Weiss that would never happen. She couldn't tell her that she would never die on a mission that she would always come back to her because she can recall her mom telling her dad the same thing yet that didn't stop it from happening.

"Say something," Weiss begged.

"I can't promise you that will never happen. But I can promise you that I won't go out so easily. That I won't let anything keep me from you. That the time we have together will be spent making memory's that will last a lifetime. I still have two years until I graduate, two years that I can promise I'm not going anywhere. After that, we will have to take it one day at a time. Can you do that?" Ruby asked.

Weiss nodded and then leaned in to kiss Ruby again.

For Weiss, the kiss was like life. It was the very essence of a happier life for her. Ruby is her future. Ruby is her other half and Weiss knew at that moment that there would never be anyone else for her.

She wrapped her arms around Ruby's neck and deepened the kiss. Ruby pulled Weiss closer to her before breaking for air and kissing Weiss again. Weiss's hand traveled up Ruby's neck and through her hair, her fingers grabbing a handful of hair.

Ruby moaned into her mouth grinding her hips into Weiss's, her bulge rubbing against Weiss's thigh. Weiss snaked one of her hands down between them and rubbed Ruby's bulge, giving it a tight squeeze. Ruby moaned again, this time out loud.

"Not the time, or the place." Weiss chastised, slowly pushing Ruby away.

"You're so mean to me." Ruby pouted.

"Well someone has to keep you in check." Weiss crossed her arms and stuck up her nose.

Ruby smiled and admired how cute she looked.

"I'm glad it's you." She said then she kissed Weiss on the cheek. Weiss's entire face turned red in blush.

"Come on, let's get some sleep, you dolt." Weiss grabbed Ruby by the hand and led her back to the nearly dead fire.

Weiss shook Blake awake, and the two shared a look. Weiss smiling appreciatively at her. Then Weiss went to lay with Ruby, letting Ruby hold her. She finally let her exhaustion get the best of her and fell asleep.

In her dream there was no crying baby, instead, there was a laughing baby in Ruby's arms. Though Ruby looked slightly older, Weiss could tell it was her. Ruby smiled widely at Weiss, the baby turning in her arms to look at Weiss. It smiled a wide toothless smile and reached out to her. Weiss smiled and reached for the baby, letting the warm happiness consume her. She slept peacefully.

A/N: Hey everyone! I know, I know, it's been 84 years… Just kidding but as I mentioned before I am a very busy woman. What better way to end the year than with a new chapter. Admittedly I have had most of this chapter written, at least 6000 words, for like four months now. I just never got around to writing the ending. Sorry, it got really dark there for a moment, had to check to make sure I wasn't in the DC universe. You know what they say when you hit rock bottom, it's only up from here. Though I make no such promises that more angst is not on the way. An update on me, I am currently sick. Everything else is mostly the same. I am almost finished writing the movie script that I am working on, as well as I am halfway through the third draft of my book. I have two semesters left until I graduate so it is kind of crunch time for me. I'll try to update again soon, within the next couple of months at least. Feel free to leave comments and let me know where you want this story to go. The play is coming up very, very soon so expect that chapter if not this next chapter the one after. Until next time,

-Batty