The nightmare, like everything in Atlas, was stark white.

He pulled his siblings close as he continued to pour his aura into them. They'd been hurt horribly during the battle but the battle was done and he had them now. He'd give them every last bit of himself if he had to. They'd be okay.

The beast, a metal monstrosity with too many limbs, continued to speak to him from where it lay broken on the floor nearby. It spoke with a man's voice, smooth and eloquent yet full of arrogance and condescension. They were nothing but test subjects, the man behind the machine had said, and despite being brought low the voice continued to mock him. He ignored it, tightening his grip on his family as he shared his aura with them.

She appeared suddenly in a whirl of red roses, the girl he'd followed halfway around the world. She stood there all in red, the only color in that white waste, and relief surged through him. She was okay.

But she was crying. A sudden panic gripped his heart. In all the time he'd been with her, he'd never seen her cry.

Where were her sisters? Her uncle? The boy their teams had adopted into their family? He pulled his own brother and sister closer to his chest. Bring them here, he tried to say, I'll help them too. They'll be okay.

His vision swam, darkness quickly rushing in, and she caught him before he could fall forward. Her red cloak surrounded him, shutting out the white, but as his siblings slipped from his grasp and he looked down he finally noticed - he was all in red, too.

The nightmare, like everything in Atlas, was bitterly cold.

He was sinking in a sea without water. He could hear the ocean, the roar of water rushing all around him, but all he could feel was the cold. Each limb was an icy weight, dragging him further down. He could hardly breathe.

He could hear voices, distorted and muted, somewhere up above. The various voices faded in and out, none recognizable save for one - the girl in red he swore to follow into hell. She was always there, sometimes shouting and arguing with other voices - the pleading of a group of girls, the anxious concern of a boy, and the deep, patient tones of a man. He knew some voices were missing but he couldn't remember who.

A new voice called to him from somewhere down below. Unlike the agitated and anxious voices above, it called to him happily in a singsong tone. It was accompanied by a tapping, as if someone were outside his bedroom window asking to be let in. The tapping grew louder, the voice more insistent, until he finally opened his eyes.

Jaune blinked blearily at the darkness before him. He went to rub the haze from his eyes but couldn't move his arm. He could make out vague shapes moving in the darkness before him and a glaringly bright light coming from off to the left. He could hear the roaring still, though it reminded him more of holding a seashell to his ear than the actual ocean. Where was he?

Once his vision cleared, he looked down at himself. There was something over his nose and mouth, presumably to help him breathe. His bare chest was covered in wires and tubes and two thick straps that kept him in place. His arms were similarly covered and strapped down. He was reclining slightly and, after shifting his eyes left and right, he realized he was in a glass tube of some kind. The tapping came from below again.

Nora was giving him a horrifying view of the inside of her mouth as she spread her lips against the glass and blew, puffing out her cheeks to make faces up at him. Her eyes lit up when she noticed Jaune watching her and she turned back to the dark room and waved excitedly at someone. A moment later Ren joined her, hands clasped behind his back.

Jaune wanted to cry. They were okay. Not even a scratch on them, as far as he could tell. He had gotten to them in time. He smiled down at them and, despite the breather covering his mouth, they returned it. Nora stepped to the side and hooked a thumb behind her and Jaune's smile grew.

A large table lay just behind where they stood, centered on the apparatus in which Jaune rested. All across its surface were the parts of a weapon he was all too familiar with and sleeping in the middle of the chaos was Ruby. She was resting her head on the table from her seat, face buried in her cloak. He watched with relief as her shoulders rose and fell as she slumbered.

Relief vanished as a sudden panic clawed at his stomach. Where was Weiss, Yang, and Blake? Oscar and Qrow? He looked worriedly to Nora as he struggled weakly against the restraints. What had happened? Who did he fail this time?

Nora patiently tapped the glass until he ceased his flailing and she smiled gently up at him. They're okay, she slowly mouthed to him from the other side of the glass, they're all okay. Ren nodded his assent.

Jaune sagged back and shut his eyes against the tears threatening to spill over. They hadn't lost anyone. Against the odds, they'd all made it through again. And to make things better, it seemed he was the only one to end up in the hospital.

He took some time to compose himself. Averting his eyes upward, he waited until the threat of crying passed. Ren and Nora had seen him cry plenty of times in the past and never teased him for it but it was still so embarrassing.

After collecting himself, Jaune turned his attention to the room. It was fairly small and unlike any hospital room he'd ever been in before. The right and far walls were lined with equipment, numerous screens giving off a faint green glow and covered in readings he couldn't make out. The left wall was bare save for a single door, the bright light from the hallway beyond pouring through its small square window.

Ruby rested her head on the table that stood just before his tube. Behind her was a cot, unused bedding folded up at one end. He felt guilty having her worry after him like this and guiltier still that it made a part of him happy. At least she was making good use of her time to work on Crescent Rose.

Another tap on the glass drew his gaze back down to Nora. She breathed hard against the glass, causing it to fog up, and drew rapidly with her finger. Ren stood beside her and watched her work with a small amused smile on his face. All of their emblems were there in a row - Jaune's twin arcs, Nora's hammer, Pyrrha's shield and spear, and a blob that had to be Ren's lotus. Nora leaned back and surveyed her drawing, arms folded proudly across her chest.

Ren said something to her, his voice drowned out by the whirr and buzz of the machinery Jaune was contained within. Nora set back to work fogging up the glass just below JNPR's emblems. RWBY's emblems joined theirs, or at least four blobs that could only be them. Ren chuckled into his closed fist while Nora just shrugged and rocked her hand in a so-so gesture. Not her best work but it would do, it seemed to say.

To cap the piece off, she drew a large heart around all eight emblems and added a lightning bolt through it. She huffed and puffed one last time, restoring the drawing in the fog and stepped back to catch her breath, shoulders heaving exaggeratedly.

Ren laid a hand on her shoulder as her breathing slowed. Nora patted his hand as she stared up at Jaune with a soft smile on her face and though he knew she couldn't see it, Jaune couldn't help but smile back. She looked back briefly to Ruby and then back to Jaune before lunging forward to squeeze the glass tube in a massive bear hug.

Jaune worried briefly that the glass would shatter under her ridiculous strength. She rubbed her cheek affectionately against the glass as Ren came up to join her. He pressed a single hand against the tube and gave Jaune a silent nod. Jaune rolled his eyes at the display; usually he was the one who was overly sentimental. Go get some rest, he wanted to tell them. I'll be okay.

Nora planted a big wet kiss on the glass before skipping her way around the table to Ruby's side. She leaned down, stroking the sleeping girl's hair affectionately as she whispered something in Ruby's ear. Ruby then received a kiss of her own, tenderly placed on top of her head. She stirred briefly from the contact but didn't wake.

Ren turned and bowed his respects to the sleeping girl, bending at the waist and holding there as Nora continued to pet Ruby's hair. He then moved over to Ruby's side, opposite Nora, and they both looked up at him. And though he couldn't hear her, he could read her lips as Nora spoke to him.

You'll be okay.

Jaune's blood ran cold as he watched them step away from the sleeping Ruby.

Wait.

Ren turned towards his partner with an extended hand and a smile. Nora ignored the offered hand and leapt onto the boy's back, causing him to stumble back and forth until he found his footing.

Wait!

Ren wheeled around unsteadily towards the door, the light from the hallway now blazing through the little square window and along the cracks in the frame. Like an intrepid adventurer on the back of her trusty mount, Nora pointed boldly towards that light - onward to their next adventure.

Jaune bucked against his restraints. The machine complained, an agitated beeping rising along with the pounding of his heart.

As Ren began to stride forward the door suddenly swung open into the room and bathed the two in a white light. Both horse and rider froze, staring wide-eyed through the open doorway. Jaune followed their gazes and saw the hand propping that door open from just beyond the entryway - a long brown glove and bronze bracer he had seen a thousand times, but recently only in dreams and one sad video.

His siblings surged forward into the light, Nora nearly lunging from her partner's back with her arms outstretched. Nora cried out then and though he couldn't hear her, Jaune knew it could only be one name.

Jaune watched helplessly as they rushed into that light. He caught a brief flutter of red cloth as the door swung shut, taking the light and his family with it.

Jaune opened his eyes to a dark, unfamiliar ceiling. He lay there quietly, the steady beep of a machine keeping pace with his heartbeat. Underneath the beeping machine Jaune heard soft, steady breathing. He turned his head left and right, feeling the damp spots on his pillow against his cheeks, until he found her.

Ruby's head rested on the edge of his hospital bed. Even in the low light he could see the fresh trails that ran down her cheeks. Both of her small hands held one of his own, her grip gone slack while she slept.

Jaune held his breath as he turned his hand slowly in her loose grip, running a thumb gently along her calloused palms and strong fingers. Ruby suddenly renewed her hold and pulled his hand closer to her face. He tensed until she murmured something into the back of his hand, new tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes, and went still again. Fresh tears of his own pricked his eyes as he held her small, warm hand.

He waited, clinging to Ruby, for morning to come.

For someone to tell him he'd be okay.