"Where the hell is she!?" Weiss groused as she stomped through Beacon's halls, Blake and Yang trying to keep up behind her, "If I have to miss the first class of the day because that dunce fell asleep tinkering with her precious 'sweetheart', then so help me…!" She let out a frustrated sigh in lieu of finishing her thought.

"Is that really so bad?" Yang asked in an attempt to quell the heiress's rage, "I mean, it's Port's class; he'll probably just end up telling some made up story about his time as a Huntsman and act creepy towards the girls." She shivered involuntarily at the memory of Team RWBY's first class with the rather rotund Professor. "And I'm sure there's a good, sensible reason why Ruby wasn't in her bunk this morning."

Blake glanced back at her partner with a raised eyebrow. "...really? You?"

Yang thought about trying to refute her partner's unspoken insinuation, but knew that it would be a futile effort; she'd be the first to admit she was more than a little protective of her younger sister, and though she wasn't as openly emotional about the situation as Weiss was right now, she couldn't deny that she was worried about what happened to Ruby last night that caused her absence this morning.

And that she wanted to strangle the little brat for making her worry so much.

Out of love, of course.

"...I'm trying to be optimistic right now, ok?"

"If you say so," Blake shrugged. She turned back to Weiss, "Any word for team JNPR yet?"

"No idea!" Weiss snapped. "They're probably more concerned with their own leader going missing."

Weiss technically had a point; the two teams had run into each other outside their doors, both sans their appointed leaders. They'd agreed to search together to cover more ground, letting the other know their progress occasionally.

They hadn't even covered half the school yet.

"Maybe we're doing this wrong," Blake suggested after a while, "We all know what Ruby likes, so why don't we try looking in the places she'd most likely spend her free time? We might get lucky."

Weiss skidded to an abrupt stop, nearly causing the other two girls to crash into her. She rubbed the bridge if her nose, "Why didn't we do that first?"

"Because you rushed off when she didn't pick up her Scroll," Yang supplied immediately.

Weiss's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Well then," Blake said to Yang before Weiss could snap at the blond for being right, "you know her the best of all of us, where's she most likely to be?"

Yang folded her arms under her chest, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Well...Ruby likes sweets and fighting, so by that logic she's either in the cafeteria or in one of the practice arenas."

"Then we can eliminate the cafeteria right now, because someone would have asked Ruby where the rest of us are and asked us herself what's taking us so long."

"But there's dozens of practice rooms!" Weiss pointed out, "We can't search all of them before class!"

"Then we have JNPR search half." With renewed vigor Yang sprinted ahead. "Either way, at least we have a plan and we're not running around aimlessly anymore!"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

By the time the three girls reached the third practice room (the first two had been empty) they final found a sign of their missing leader, or at least the closest thing to a sign they'd found yet: the "in use" display on the door was lit up.

"Well, this is a good sign, right?" Yang gestured conspicuously to the display.

Weiss groaned. "Is now really the time for your stupid puns?"

"Look, it helps me not get grey hairs thinking about why my baby sister didn't come back last night, ok?"

Blake put a comforting hand on Yang's shoulder. "You're still not off the hook for that."

"Fine, punish me later, let's just get my sister!" She shrugged off Blake's hand and grasped the handle, ready to tug it open. If either Blake or Weiss had any thoughts on Yang's second (possibly accidental though not really) pun, they didn't give those thoughts voice.

She hesitated.

"...maybe one of you guys should do it," she let go of the handle, "I'm too nervous."

"Well, I'm not!" Without a second thought Weiss brushed past her, grabbing the handle and giving it a tug.

The door stayed closed, and there was a discordant electronic buzz. Weiss tried again and got the same result.

"It's not working," Blake pointed out.

"Maybe try jiggling it?" Yang threw out.

Weiss suddenly whirled around. "Or maybe you should just punch it down! That's what you're best at, right?" Her nostrils flared as she breathed in and out heavily.

Yang was momentarily taken aback by her friend's intensity. "Whoa! I'm not the one who locked the door, Ice Queen, so don't take this out on me; I'm just as worried about Ruby as you are."

For a moment it looked like Weiss was going to fire off another barbed retort, but thankfully she held it back, letting out a long exhale instead.

"Sorry, I shouldn't take my frustration out on you," she apologized, looking considerably less manic than she had before. "It's just that when I woke up this morning I wasn't expecting find us sans our leader-"

"Uh, Weiss?" Blake tried to interject.

"-running off and missing breakfast to search for her-"

"That one's kinda your fault," Yang pointed out.

"Yang, hey-"

"-and now that we might have found her, the door's locked and we'll probably be marked as tardy as a result of all this, so you can understand why I might be a little on edge."

"Guys!"

"What?" the two asked, finally turning to Blake, who now wore her own frustrated expression.

She continued once she was sure neither girl would interrupt her. "Let's find a teacher, it's going to be faster than anything we can do on our own."

"Hmm," Weiss hummed, "that's...probably true."

"But who do we ask? Because personally, I don't want to try to explain to Mrs. Goodwitch that we lost our leader."

"I'm not sure about Port or Dr. Oobleck either; they're not bad, but I have no idea how they'd react to this. And heaven knows Professor Peach is never around!"

"Why don't we ask Ozpin?" Blake suggested, "if anyone has full access to the school it would be him."

Weiss sighed. "While I don't think that's necessarily a bad idea, how likely do you think is it that the headmaster of the school while take time out of his schedule, which I assume is quite busy, to help some students open a door?"

"More likely than you think," Yang said, now staring down the hallway, pointing at a quickly approaching Ozpin. Weiss and Blake both looked shocked as the headmaster walked up to them, smiling good naturedly.

"Good morning, ladies," he said, "...may I ask why you're here and not in class? I believe there's still time to make it if you don't wish to be late."

"We're aware of that, sir," Weiss sighed. To her credit she managed to compose herself considerably by this point. "Actually, we were looking for our team leader for that very purpose."

"Miss Rose?" His brow furrowed, "I've only had the pleasure of speaking with her a few times, but she never gave the impression of someone tardy." He looked back to Team RWBY, "I take it she's not normally like this?" They all shook their heads.

"Nope," Yang said, "she's usually the one getting the rest of us up."

Blake interjected, "We think she's in there, but for some reason the door's locked and we can get it open. We were hoping you or one of the other teachers could help with that."

"I believe I can, Miss Belladonna." Ozpin reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his Scroll, typing something on the screen. When he was done he held it up to the locking mechanism next to the handle.

There was an unpleasant whine as the lock tried to disengage, only to cease after a few seconds and let out a discordant buzz again.

"Oh my," he exclaimed, "this is concerning…."

That didn't bolster Team RWBY's spirits.

"What's wrong?" Weiss nearly growled.

"There lock appears to be jammed, and I'd wager whatever's causing it is on the other side." He drew his Scroll back and began typing out of message, "I'll need to have a custodian look at this. In the meantime you three should head to class, this may take some time."

"With all due respect," Weiss said, "we wouldn't be very good teammates if we just abandoned our leader."

"You just want to strangle her before I can," Yang accused.

Weiss shot her a glare. "Not now!" she hissed.

"You didn't deny it."

"Yang!"

"You'll let us know when it's open?" Blake asked, ignoring her bickering teammates.

He nodded. "Of course. Now you should probably get to class; Port may not seem as strict as Professor Goodwitch, but he has more…creative ways of 'rewarding' latecomers, as a fair warning."

Team RWBY didn't ask what.

"Thanks for the help," Yang said, firmly shaking Ozpin's hand, "Girls, let's head to class!"

As the three headed back towards Professor Port's class, Yang turned to her partner and asked "How'd you know Ozpin was gonna be here?"

"I didn't," Blake corrected, "it just made sense that he'd have the highest access to the school; I'm just as surprised as you are that he showed up."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Try as they might, the majority of team RWBY couldn't help but worry as they waited for news on their errant leader. All throughout Professor Port's lectures ("And that's when I came across the seventh animal to bear the name of 'Edgar'! Once I rescued her from the trap I set, of course; poor thing walked with a limp for a full month after that….") Yang's thoughts floated back to her sister and the room she was most likely locked in.

...OK, she didn't have any definitive proof that's where Ruby was, but she was willing to delude herself about that until proven otherwise!

What the heck were you up to last night, sis? she wondered, absently nodding along with the rest of the class at something Port said. It wasn't like there where very many things to do around Beacon after hours; the only areas that stayed open to the students were directly connected to the dorms, and everything else was shut down for the night around curfew, unless there were still people using them.

It was entirely possible Ruby just lost track of time while working on Crescent Rose like Weiss suggested. She used to do that all the time back home when they were still going to Signal: Yang would come home late after hanging with friends to find her younger sister sprawled out on top of a bunch of parts, her weapon half disassembled next to her. Then she would usually scoop her up and carry her back to her room and tuck her into bed properly before turning in herself, laying her cloak over her.

It was thoughts like these that made her worry about Ruby all the more. She knew her sister was a prodigy with her weapon and could handle giant Grimm with ease (she'd seen it first hand)...but when it came to fighting hand-to-hand she wasn't the best, which was putting it kindly, and as such there was always a little voice in the back of her mind whenever Ruby was on her own that liked to whisper all the bad things that could happen to her if she wasn't on her guard: robbery, muggings, assault, kidnapping...the thought of her sister being subjected to just those possibilities was enough to give Yang grey hair, and just forget about the darker possibilities that thankfully kept their mouths shut!

It was all she could do to keep herself from imagining Ruby left from dead in an alley somewhere, lying half naked on the ground and covered in blood and-

"Hey, earth to Yang; is anyone home?"

Yang was snapped out of her dismal thoughts when Weiss's face suddenly materialized in her vision, mere inches from her face.

"Wagh!" she exclaimed, "I'm paying attention, I swear!"

The fact that the excuse she reflexively threw out was so weak had the opposite effect she intended.

"Really?" Blake raised a dubious eyebrow, "because Port let class out five minutes ago."

Yang glanced around the auditorium to find they, yes, class was indeed over, only herself, Blake, Weiss, and a couple other student remained in the room now.

Her partner continued, "Also, Port winked in your direction at least three times and you didn't react." At her look of somber realization Blake asked "Still thinking about Ruby?"

"Yeah…." Yang nodded slowly. "It's kinda hard not to right now."

"Then I believe this will cheer you up!" Weiss proudly presented her Scroll, an audio message cued up in the screen. She hit the playback button.

#Ladies, this is Professor Ozpin. I've just been informed that Mr. Bragg has almost unjammed the door to that practice room. You may make your way over there if you want, I've informed all the teachers of what's going on.#

Then it was over.

"I just told JNPR to meet up with us there."

Yang was on her feet in no time. "Then what are we waiting around here for-?"

"You," Blake quickly interjected.

"Let's get going!" She practically tore out of the room, with the monochromed pair following after her.

Don't worry, Ruby, soon you'll be safe in my arms as I strangle you with love for making me worry so much!

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"I'm not sure whether to be impressed or horrified at this," Mr. Bragg, Beacon's resident custodian, said as he gestured to the slag that used to be a locking mechanism at one point hanging from its place in the wall, "because this thing is absolutely totaled."

"Don't worry," Yang assured him, "it looks like you've got a handle on the situation!"

Weiss smacked her upside the head.

"Really, more door puns?"

"I'm still nervous, OK!"

Blake ignored the byplay and asked the custodian "So you can get the door open now?"

"Once I reroute a couple wires; I needed the power cut to the door so I could work on it."

Blake nodded and stepped back, giving the man space to work. He mumbled a bit as he stuck his hand on the hole, and after about a minute he withdrew it and tapped something on his Scroll.

The "in use" display, which had been dark previously, first blinked white, then turned blue with the words "TEST MODE" scrolling slowly across the screen from right to left.

"...well?" Yang wondered, "Is it open now?"

The man tapped something else on his Scroll and the door slid open, though a bit laboriously.

"You tell me."

Once again, Yang was the first person forward. She was still nervous about what she would find, but by this point she'd rather be shocked than continue stewing over the myriad "what if" possibilities that tormented her thoughts.

The practice room itself wasn't anything spectacular, essentially just an open floor space with bleachers facing that on either side of the door.

Surprisingly, the room was empty.

"...so where is she?" Weiss asked, appearing behind her.

"I don't...I don't know…," Yang said, having a bit of trouble forming words. The room looked utterly deserted, and except for the fact that it was relatively clean and that there was a melted hole right next to the door in the inside there was no sign anyone had been here recently.

"JNPR's here," Blake called as she and the eponymous team joined the other two.

Pyrrha was the first to reach them. "Did you find Jaune?" she asked, her voice heavy with worry.

"Apparently not," Weiss shook her head sadly. "It doesn't look like anyone's-"

"No," Yang interrupted, "she's still here, I know it!"

"Uh, Yang, this room looks more empty than the school during the Vytal Festival. How're you so sure?" Nora asked.

"I don't know, but my big sister senses are telling me that's she's here."

Blake raised an eyebrow, "And if you're imagining it?"

"Then it won't take long to search this place, will it?"

As the rest followed after an almost maniacally determined Yang, Nora turned to Ren and asked "She has Big Sister Senses…?"

Ren, for his part, just shrugged.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

The search was turning out decidedly less successful than Yang was hoping. All the obvious hiding places (behind the bleachers, in the closet) were empty, and whatever windows the room had appeared to locked and untampered with.

Her worry and fear for her sister's safety was quickly getting replaced with frustration at not finding her.

"I'm going to check the changing rooms," Blake announced. "We haven't looked there yet."

Pyrrha immediately ran over to Blake's side. "I'll come with you!"

"Oh?~" A cheeky grin spread over Nora's face. She sidled up to her Mistrali teammate and nudged her with her elbow. "Hoping to catch a peek of Jaune without his shirt on?~"

"N-Nora!"

"Not the time!" Blake snapped as she sent one of her patented glares Nora's way, causing the ginger girl back up cautiously.

While those two were doing that, Yang plopped down on the bleachers, watching her friends disappear through a door on the side of the room that she'd somehow overlooked. Not that you could blame her, she posessed the same single mindedness about Ruby that her sister did when weapons were involved; everything else that didn't fit those narrow parameters was simply deemed "not important".

But more than that, she was angry. Partially at Ruby, and partially at herself for being unable to locate her. It was infuriating, because her usual method of solving problems (I.e. flipping on her Semblance and punching the 'problem' into submission) was basically rendered completely moot in this case. She'd be the first to admit she wasn't the most tactically minded on her team (that'd be Weiss) or the most subtle and cunning (ninja cat partner FTW!); she worked best when someone pointed her in a direction, and without that all she could really do was stew in her thoughts, and those weren't her friends at the moment.

Scenarios starting playing in her mind, none of them happy. They started out as her bashing through hordes of Grimm and human and Faunus goons so she could give Ruby a piece of her mind, which morphed into her tearing said baddies off her sister in desperation, which morphed into her finding Ruby in various situations that explained why she was missing.

None of them were pleasant.

Fortunately, her sure musings were cut short when she heard a "Kyaaaaa!" come from the changing rooms. It didn't sound like Blake's voice, the pitch was too high, which meant it was Pyrrha that screamed.

Yang could only think of two reasons why the "Invincible Girl" from Mistral would scream like that: either she found a spider, or she found a dead body.

And she highly doubted her sister transmorphed into a spider.

She might have shoved past some of her friends in her effort to reach the changing rooms, but right now her mind was only focused on whatever happened to be immediately in front of her and whether or not it would keep her from reaching Ruby sooner, so if she was accidentally rough with any of them she'd apologize later.

The changing rooms were more like one large room separated by a partition rather than fully separate rooms, and upon bursting into the Girl's side of room she skidded to a stop almost instantly; Pyrrha and Blake were blocking the way, standing completely still.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, "Did you find Ruby? ...or Jaune?"

Blake slowly turned her head to fade her partner; her yellow eyes were wide with shock. "Both…," she said.

"Then what's the problem?" Yang asked, trying to squeeze past the two girls, "Lemme see my little-"

She immediately understood why her friends were acting like statues once she made it past them.

Firstly, Ruby and Jaune were sitting on the floor of the changing room, alive and apparently none the worse for wear; neither looked dead, neither looked hurt, and neither had guns pointed at their heads. This was all good.

However, that was about where the good news ended in Yang's mind, because once those details were registered, the others painted a potentially more incriminating picture. The most glaring of the details being that Ruby wasn't wearing her cloak like normal, and instead was holding it against herself like that was all she was wearing, with Jaune peeking out from behind her.

Both of their faces were beet red.

...they're both naked, she noticed, ...why are they naked? Why is Ruby naked? Why is my little sister naked with a boy?

She knew why. She wished she didn't, but the fact that Ruby, who she'd pretty much raised practically her whole life, her precious baby sister, and Jaune were exhibiting all the classic signs of a couple caught having illicit sex was kind of impossible to ignore.

Needless to say, her eyes turned red and her hair flowed with Aura, small flames licking from it.

Seeing her sister go into rage mode Ruby spoke up. "Yang, I swear, I can explain everythi-"

"BASTARD!" the irate blonde screamed, pulling a fist back. Ruby squeaked and scrunched up, waiting for the blow to fall.

However, in hindsight she needn't have worried so much, since Yang's intended target was much more blonde than her sister.

POW!

"Oof!"

"That's for screwing my baby sister!"

to be continued….

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Uh oh, Spaghetti-o's!

...I'm not apologizing for that.

Anyway, welcome to my newest project; "Accidents Happen"! It's something of a spiritual successor fic to "Distorted Mirror Images" in that it's going to work off of that timeline...sort of? It's non canon, is what I'm saying. The basic premise is that Ruby and Jaune make "Whoopie" and have to deal with the consequences that result from it. To address the obvious question off the bat, no, THIS WILL NOT BE SMUT; this is more of a thought experiment more than anything else, so if you REALLY want to be perverts then feel free to check out my RWBY erotica fic "Melt".

So with that out of the way, I wonder how things are going to proceed from here? (He said, holding the script he just wrote...) The next chapter will be done soon, so be on the lookout for that! (I also do things on YouTube, Twitch, etc, so look for me there!)