One wrong step.

That's all it had taken. Was one wrong step.

Team RWBY had underestimated what they had signed up for, led to believe that they were dealing with a small force of Grimm in the forest. No big deal. They had done this dozens of times before. Get in, eliminate the Grimm in the area, and get out. Just like they had done before, on numerous occasions.

They had gotten into the forest from above; Via dropship, and fell into a small clearing. Immediately, they were surrounded. It didn't matter though. Blake, who had the best vision at night, confirmed that she couldn't see, or hear as she also had the best hearing, too big a pack. Around them now were simple Grimm; Beowolves, Ursa, maybe a few smaller Nevermores. The usual, really, and as soon as the beasts began to trickle into the clearing, the girls began to jump into action.

Yang exploded into the fight in a fury, taking hits and dishing out damage twice as strong. Each hit she took barely grazed her as her anger built up, explosions ringing out with every strike of her fists. Every moment, she would glance over to Blake, nodding when she saw her fighting.

Weiss darted around, graceful and nimble, stabbing and slashing where she could, summoning glyph after glyph to speed herself up, slow her enemies down, or shoot icicles before rushing back in. She made sure to keep an eye on Ruby, though she could barely keep up.

Blake swept the perimeter of the clearing, picking off any stragglers and watching over Yang just in case. Every time a Grimm creature seemed to land a hit on her, it was replaced with a clone of ice or rock and Blake deftly took it out, moving along.

Ruby was a red blur of rose petals with a large blade, arcing around, over, under, and above her enemies as she sliced through them like they were all made of butter. She kept close to Weiss, watching over her when she could, though she knew the girl didn't need it.

It started out well. The team of four had slowly began to thin out the waves of Grimm. Ruby and Weiss teamed up, Weiss speeding the girl up and Ruby dashing around like a child high on sugar and caffeine. Blake and Yang did the same, Blake swinging the other around with the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud and Yang firing off shot after shot, each one exploding in a pit of fire.

Then it happened. The smallest mistake.

None of them had seen it coming. None of them had paid attention to the giant Deathstalker that had somehow snuck up on them through the trees.

Weiss visibly relaxed, her dominant hand slumping and Myrtenaster's point falling to the ground.

The Deathstalker's stinger lashed out faster than any of the girls, Ruby included, could react. It's point slashed out across Weiss' chest, tearing open the front of the white coat that she wore. Blood sprouted out, a splash of red across the white that Weiss was known for. Ruby's eyes widened, and in the next moment, the Deathstalker was dead, Crescent Rose embedded in it's head. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that Weiss was hurt, and that Ruby hadn't been able to stop it.

She let go of her trusty scythe and ran to Weiss, who had fallen to the ground. Yang and Blake had begun to run over as well.

That was the second mistake.

From the trees, the Grimm came out, a tidal wave of black that soon washed over the girls. Drawn to the sorrow, the hatred, the complete and utter helplessness that Ruby felt, they attacked with renewed fervor.

Yang and Blake turned back to fend off the horde as Ruby gathered Weiss up in her arms, prepared to make a run for it. Weiss' skin was clammy, glistening with sweat, and she was burning up. Ruby could feel the blood that ran down her own arms, but if it was to save Weiss, she'd do and deal with anything. She took a step forward, getting used to the weight, and began to run.

A Nevermore swooped down, slashing out across Ruby's back with it's claws. She yelped out in pain and fell, turning onto her newly scarred back to protect Weiss as she collided with the ground. Yang turned back, spotting them. She called out, but was immediately smacked into a tree by an Ursa. She was immediately hounded upon, the boisterous yellow of her hair and the deafening red of her eyes disappearing under a sea of black and white bone armor.

Blake fared no better. Forced to fight out in the open, it was only a matter of time until A Beowolf stepped up to the plate and slashed out at her, cutting through her stomach and throwing her back, toward where Ruby and Weiss were.

Ruby was standing, though her knees were weak, Crescent Rose in her hands. She glanced at Blake, an unspoken conversation held between the two of them. Blake scrambled to her feet, clamping Gambol Shroud to her back, and picked Weiss up the same way Ruby had.

Yang came flying back toward them, Ember Celica basting off as she rocketed her way back to her team. Her clothes were a mess, her hair no better. She was covered in claw marks and blood, the red matching her eyes. She took a few steps back to her team, favoring her right leg.

Ruby observed her team.

Blake, struggling to carry Weiss. Covered in her own fair share of claw marks and blood. Her left leg was bleeding profusely, dripping into the grass below.

Yang, limping with her fists clenched tightly. Clearly the most damaged out of all of them so far. Her left arm seemed to be trembling.

Weiss, hanging limp in Blake's arms. Her head lolled back, and the blood still flowed freely from the wounds on her chest. Oh god, Weiss...

Ruby could only imagine what she looked like. The mark across her back ached with pain, making it hurt just to stand. She felt blood dripping down the side of her head, sticking her hair to her skin.

Ahead of them, the Grimm crowded together. Smallest in the front, biggest in the back. Nevermore crowded the trees above them.

Ruby gritted her teeth. She only had one idea, one that Weiss would surely chew her out for. Luckily, Weiss was unconscious, and as such, could not disagree to her plan.

'Yang,' She heard herself calling out. It didn't even sound like her own voice anymore. Her half-sister turned back. Her irises had reverted back to their usual lilac, and Ruby saw fear in her eyes. 'Run when I tell you to and..please...tell Weiss I loved her.'

Yang's eyes widened in realization, but there was no time to argue, as Ruby immediately yelled 'NOW' and took off in a blur of rose petals.

The first line of Grimm all fell in unison, beheaded in a line. Ruby ran across, doing what she could to open a path for her team. Yang and Blake took off, the both of them casting glances over at where they thought Ruby was, or where they thought they'd seen her. Ruby was making headway in the crowd, who now turned their focus to her, as she let out as much hate as she could muster.

She hated Ozpin for sending them on this mission, telling them it was simple, first-year, business. She hated Weiss for telling her not to worry, that everything would be fine, just before they'd jumped from the airship. She hated the Grimm for hurting their team like they had. Most of all, she hated herself. For not paying more attention, for not being a better leader, for not protecting Weiss when she could, for not...for not telling Weiss just how much she had meant to her before she'd thrown herself into the sea of fangs and claws that she was now enveloped in.

Even after her team had long fled, Ruby fought on. She got progressively slower, a claw to the leg, to the arm, fangs grazing the shoulder. It got so bad she had reverted back to the middle of the clearing, too weak to run anymore.

She held her scythe out in front of her, though her arms trembled. She was much too weak to put up a fight, and the Grimm knew that. They were toying with her now.

Tears flowed freely down her face as Ruby backed herself further and further into the clearing. She stepped back, her foot grazing a rock, and she fell.

Instantly, the Grimm were upon her, but she could do nothing but scream. Scream out her sadness, her displeasure, her hate, and her own stupid pain.

Miles away, still running through the dark forest. Blake picked up on Ruby's howls of pain, yet she did not inform Yang. She didn't try to rouse Weiss. She only blocked it out, tears dripping down her cheeks as they finally burst into a clearing, just out of the forest.

Blake almost collapsed immediately, if only for Weiss, she stayed moving. There was a small village just out ahead, and Yang ran on, shouting, pleading for help. Blake didn't know how long she waited, she'd fallen to her knees, still cradling Weiss in her arms. She could hear the other girls' breathing, happy that she was still alive. But Ruby's screaming still echoed in her head.

Suddenly, Weiss was taken from her, and Blake was slung over Yang's shoulder, despite how much more damaged the girl was than Blake.

There was a crowd now, a horde of villagers surrounding them with weapons. Some held torches, blocking out the dark of night.

The girls were lead into the village, and Blake succumbed to unconsciousness.

They searched for hours. Yang and Blake were out of the villages infirmary in mere hours, and as soon as they were in fighting condition, they were gone, back out into the forest. Yang had called Beacon, and now Teams JNPR and CFVY were aiding in the search. Weiss was still in the infirmary, fighting off the after-effects of both the poison, and what Yang had told her. She couldn't bear to get out of bed, despite the fact that she was well enough to search for her teammate.

No, not her teammate. Her partner. Not even that, her friend. Maybe her best friend. She couldn't muster up the courage to leave her bed, to go out and look for her.

Ren had stayed behind with Weiss, brewed her a cup of tea, and sat her up in bed. He didn't encourage her to talk, didn't ask her to do anything. He simply waited, and aided Weiss when she asked for it. She was thankful for that.

After two hours, she finally decided to get up and get dressed. She refused to let the others find Ruby without her, refused to let them bring Ruby back before Weiss could chew her out properly. She would yell at her, then she'd cry of relief, then she'd...what? What else was there to do?

She left with Ren, running as fast as she could. Ren refused to let her use her glyphs to boost them along, as he deemed that she needed rest. Weiss complied without argument. It was the least she could do, what with how patient he had been with her.

The two of them ran on in silence, Ren hoping that they'd find Ruby, and Weiss hoping...just hoping in general, and just hoping a lot of things. She hoped they'd found Ruby, she hoped they hadn't, she hoped Ruby had gotten away, she hoped Ruby hadn't done something so stupid, she hoped...Gods, she hoped most of all that she'd be able to reciprocate what Ruby had told her, at least once.

They found the other teams in the clearing from the night before. The entire area was bloody, the once green grass now red, the faces of rocks plastered with blood, the bases of trees dripping with the stuff. It made Weiss sick to her stomach, but she held it in.

Nora and Velvet were off to the left of the clearing, out of range of the sickening sight. Both of them wept loudly, and Ren immediately ran off to them. He called out Nora's name, and she bounded out from the trees, latching onto Ren as she cried. Ren didn't seem to mind. He sat down behind a tree, blocking their sight of the scene, and pulled Nora into his lap. She sank into his tight embrace and buried her face into his shoulder, still crying.

The rest of Team CFVY stood further away. Fox had his head in his hands. Yatsuhashi had his back turned on the scene. Coco sat on a log, cradling her minigun as if remembering all the times Ruby had fawned over her weapon. Dried tears were left on her cheeks.

Jaune, Pyrrha, and Blake were off to the right side. Jaune was hunched over, breathing heavily and wiping away at his mouth with his bare arm. Pyrrha stood by his side, looking easily as queasy, and traced circles into the small of his back.

Blake had her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly as she sobbed quietly into her own legs. Occasionally she shook, and when she shook, she trembled. It was a wonder she stayed so quiet.

Only Yang was left, and she stood in the center of the clearing. The blood pooled around her feet the most, as if a dye bomb had been dropped right where she stood. Off to Yang's right, there was a thin line of blood that Weiss instantly recognized as her own. Her chest began to ache, but she quickly pushed it aside.

Yang's fists were clenched. Weiss couldn't see her face, but she didn't have to. She could tell. Yang's brows would be furrowed, her eyes red, her teeth clenched to the point of creating sparks. That's what she'd assumed as much. However when Yang turned around, that wasn't at all what Weiss saw.

She was crying. Something Weiss had never seen her do. Her face was drenched with tears, her eyes a pitiful lilac. Her mouth was hung in the most disgusting frown, grimace, sneer, type-combination that it made Weiss upset. Her skin was raw. She'd been crying a lot.

Weiss thought she'd never see Yang cry. The only thing that she thought that would push her that far would have to be...oh Gods.

She hadn't noticed, but at Yang's feet was a body. If one could even call it that.

Weiss stood next to her, unconsciously moving, and she stared down at the corpse of her teammate, of her partner, of her best friend, and of her first love, Ruby Rose.

Her body was mangled, her clothes as well, ripped and torn in almost every place possible. Crescent Rose lie in the red grass a few feet away, mostly intact with new scratches where claws and fangs and talons had met the blade in combat.

Ruby's hair was more red than black now, matted down with the girl's dried blood. It fanned out around her head, still soaking in the blood that had amassed around her body.

Ruby's face...oh Gods, her face. It hurt to look at. Her skin was red and raw, bloodied, almost every surface covered in a different kind of scratch, or tear, or bite, or slash, or cut, or anything. Her throat was ripped open, where most of the blood had poured out.

The girl's eyes were wide open, now-dull gray eyes staring straight up at the sky. A new gash, a scar that would've never healed properly, was opened over her right eye, matching in parallel with the one Weiss herself wore for years now.

Ruby loved you, The words echoed out in her head and a sob caught in Weiss' throat. Yang had walked away, storming back through the trees. No one followed, everyone caught up in their own emotions.

Weiss fell to her knees and allowed the first of a sea of tears to fall from her eyes. Weiss was never one to cry in front of people, yet as it was, she didn't give a damn. There was nothing in the world that would cause her to suddenly give a shit. Except for maybe Ruby rising up from the dead, and Weiss didn't believe in fairy tales. Not anymore.

She wept, she sobbed, she wailed, she bawled, and after a while, she whimpered. She stared down into Ruby's cold, lifeless eyes, and she began to cry again. Her shoulders shook, she trembled and hugged herself to stop, though she only shook harder.

There was no telling how long she'd been crying now. It had gotten significantly darker, and Weiss noted that she didn't want to be out any longer than she had to. A part of her, though, wanted to stay until the Grimm came and just give up. She wanted to let them take her, she wanted to die. If Ruby, the most optimistic, happy-go-lucky, loving, trusting, and overall amazing person she was, could be stripped from the world, what did Weiss have to live for?

Nothing. That was the answer to that. Absolutely nothing. If she could just...be reunited with Ruby, whatever way possible, maybe that'd make it all better, right?

Weiss shook her head. Ruby wouldn't want her to think like that, and Weiss refused to disappoint her, even in death.

She steeled herself, using her sleeve to dry her eyes. She looked up around the clearing. Everyone else was gone, a note against a tree telling Weiss that they'd all be waiting for her back at the hotel in town. Weiss rolled her hand over Ruby's face, shutting her eyes, and leaned down to place a chaste kiss onto each eyelid, and then onto her forehead. Her skin was cold, just reminding Weiss that her love was indeed dead.

Whimpering once again, and whispering a quick 'I love you', she stood up and looked around the clearing. She hadn't noticed it beforehand, but Ruby's cape, her blood-red cloak, was laying against the ground. It was torn, ripped and shredded at the bottom. The hood had claw marks just over where Weiss' right eye would be.

Weiss took the cloak and slung it over her shoulders. It was a bit longer on her than it was for Ruby, as Ruby had been slightly taller than her, but it was snug. It filled her with a lessened version of the love she'd always felt when Ruby hugged her, or when they were simply together. A sigh escaped her at the memories that flooded back to her, and she pushed them away. She'd remember, and enjoy her memories, later, when she had the time. She also grabbed Crescent Rose, turning it back to it's concealed form and then hiding it against her back as Ruby had done and shown her so many times.

She picked Ruby's body up and slung it over her right shoulder. Ruby didn't deserve to be left out in the dark. She hadn't deserved to die, yet she'd done it so that her team could get away and be safe.

Despite Ren's warnings earlier, Weiss utilize her speed glyphs to get back to the village. The strain it placed on her made her skin crawl, and it seemed as if she'd been poisoned by the Deathstalker all over again. Ren was right to stop her, but at this point, she didn't care.

As soon as she reached the village, Ruby's body over her shoulder, a crowd of villagers rushed out to meet her. None of them spoke, though. They simply parted, like the sea, and Weiss walked between them. Ruby's cloaked flowed out behind her as she did, wreathing her in red. In Weiss' eyes, it was akin to the blood that was spilled the night before.

Her first thought was to ignore the hotel all together, to take Ruby's body and find her own way back to Beacon, or to Patch, or wherever. Somewhere she could bury Ruby, like she deserved. She fought against it, however, and did end up going to the hotel.

Everyone was outside of it, standing around and waiting for her. Weiss hadn't put the hood of the cloak on, and they realized it was her, wearing Ruby's cloak, as she walked up to them. Yang noticed Ruby's body and, while she looked angry and sad at the same time, nodded her approval. Blake was sitting away, looking up at the sky and hugging her arms.

JNPR was off to one side, Nora still latched onto Ren as hard as she could. Jaune and Pyrrha stood next to them, closer than before, and nodded in Weiss' direction.

CFVY was inside, as Yang had told Weiss. Velvet was a wreck, Fox wouldn't talk, and both Coco and Yatsuhashi were working to pull the both of them from their stupor.

"Ozpin has assured us an airship is on the way." Pyrrha said, mainly to Weiss who didn't know, but also to herself just for reassurance.

Weiss nodded, though she wasn't really listening. She had entered a strange state of calm, where the only thing on her mind was doing what she could for Ruby now that she was...dead. A sob caught in her throat, but she pushed it back down. She was done with tears, for now.

"Okay," She responded, her voice hoarse. That was the first time she'd said anything to anyone that day other than Ruby, who couldn't even hear her anymore. She simply stood and waited, the girl's body slung over her shoulder, for that airship that would return them to Beacon.

There wasn't an official funeral. Both Yang and her and Ruby's father, Tai Yang, had been adamant that they didn't want one. Weiss, Blake, Team JNPR, and Team CFVY visited Patch to share their condolences. Weiss and Blake had, understandably stayed much longer. The teachers from Beacon visited, Qrow came around, and an entire garden of roses were shipped from the school.

Weiss had tried to give up Ruby's cloak and Crescent Rose, purely because she felt they deserved to be with family, but Tai Yang refused. He'd only get bad memories from them. Qrow refused as well, for the same reason. That left them with Weiss, who was more than happy to don the cloak like Ruby had, just to remember her.

After that, the girls had returned to Beacon. Ozpin let them remain as a three-person team, making Weiss the new leader of Team RWBY; They refused to change the name. Weiss refused to sleep in her own bed anymore, opting to sit up on Ruby's, twiddling a bright red Rose between her fingers.

Masses of people had come by their room, offering condolences, apologizing for nothing, and honestly just being nuisances. They'd stopped coming when Yang had punched a hole through the wall.

Now, the girls all sat together in Team RWBY's dorm. Weiss, in her usual position, on Ruby's bed, with a rose in her hand and Ruby's cloak tied around her shoulders. Blake was on her bed with a book, though they all knew she wasn't really reading it. Yang had reclined on her own bed, her leg kicked up over the other.

None of them spoke, though they all had similar thoughts.

I'm sorry, Ruby. Sorry that I couldn't do more to save you. I'll stop whining, but know I'll remember you and fight for you every time I go into another battle.

With Weiss, there was more.

I'm also sorry I never told you how I felt. I was nervous, and that seems like a joke now. But, I'll wear your cloak from now and on, to remember you and to keep you close to my heart. Because I love you, Ruby Rose, and I'm sorry that you died to save my life.