A/N: Thank you to my reviewers for this story so far, and of course thanks to all of you following and favoriting. I really appreciate it!

Pyrrha often has nightmares about the day she died. She would wake heart pounding, shaking and covered in sweat, the fear from the dream leaving her paralyzed for several minutes. This night though the dream changed, rather than Cinders arrow connecting Jaune had jumped out of nowhere, smacking it out of the air. He had helped her up, hugged her close and just as he was leaning in for a kiss she woke up. Her heart pounding for much different reasons. Miles away Ruby had woken from a nightmare, it was a recurring one. The events at Beacon playing out exactly as it had, and yet, when she met the remnants of Team Juniper at her back door instead of smiles and reassurance they all sneered at her. Though there were no words spoken from the three she could feel their loathing and accusations. "It's your fault, you didn't save her" and other feelings flood her head until she finally snapped awake. She slips out of Jaune's arms and makes her way downstairs in the dark predawn hours.

The morning finds Ruby, sitting in the back yard of the Cotta-Arc home. It's a lovely little place to sit and think, the butterflies flitting about and the flowering bushes and fruiting trees a very odd thing, considering it was mid winter. She briefly wonders if it's the work of Terra or Saffron's semblances. It had begun snowing a few minutes ago the tiny ice crystals bouncing the early morning light added to the ethereal feel of this little space. Ruby could only distract herself from her troubled mind for so long. Pyrrha was back, she was alive, they celebrated with stories, cheers and tears yesterday. Today though her heart was heavy with memories of her failure to save the invincible girl that night. She's stewing in her thoughts when a steaming mug of coffee appears inches away from her nose. Blinking she reaches for the cup automatically before looking up to identify the bringer of hot liquid goodness. She had actually developed quite a liking for it over the last year.

"Something on your mind Miss Rose?" Ozcar asks, settling in beside her, his own steaming cup of coffee in his hands.

She sighs. "Yea."

When it becomes clear she isn't going to continue Oz interjects again. "I find talking about problems tends to make one feel better."

Ruby sips her coffee before turning her head towards her friend. "How do I apologize to her?" Oz is aught quite off guard by the question and raises his eyebrow. "To Pyrrha, that night I went to save her." Ruby's voice quivers and she drops her head. "I failed them both. I couldn't save Penny or Pyrrha."

Oz wants to simultaneously sigh and laugh, he had seen her grow and mature into a fantastic huntress and person in general. The girl he was talking to now reminded him so much of the insecure newly minted team leader she was back when she had asked if he made a mistake picking her to lead. She had grown so much it had allowed him to forget the bad habit she had of blaming herself and hiding her own feelings as not to burden anyone else. The more things change the more they stay the same. "If anyone should be apologizing to her, it would be me. Nothing that happened that night was your fault."

"But." Ruby interrupts.

"We tend to be our own worst critics, you and I are a lot alike in that regard" Oz interrupts her interruption. "Ruby, I'm so sorry."

Ruby turns to look at Oz, the shock of him using her given name taking over. This tine she raises an eyebrow at him. "Why are you apologizing to me?"

Oz sighs and meets her eyes. "With everything we've been through the last two years, I forgot how hard on yourself you can be. Your outward confidence hiding your inner doubt and struggles. I've asked you to bear so much burden without considering the impact it had of you. I should have known better, you are your mothers child after all."

"Thanks Professor Ozpin, you're a good friend too you know." Ruby smiles a small grateful smile, though she's not entirely convinced she does try and remember his words.

A few hours pass before Pyrrha arrives. She's greeted by the sight of Jaune, Ruby, Ren and Nora sitting on the floor around the coffee table, a large map spread out. Adrien is nestled in Ruby's lap, Weiss, Blake, Oscar, and Yang occupying various pieces of furniture nearby.

"What's going on in here?" Pyrrha asks, a hint of amusement in her voice as she settled in on one of the chairs.

"We're planning our routes." Nora explains.

"It took us about a year to get from Patch to Argus, but there are more of us now, and we learned a few places to avoid, so, we figure we should be able to knock a few months off travel time this go round." Jaune fidgets with a marker while talking. "Plus this time we're starting out closer to spring, we won't be walking in the cold as much."

"Walking? Wouldn't taking the train or an airship be faster?" Pyrrha enquires.

"Well, obviously." Nora rolls her eyes playfully.

"We need to lay low and public transit is a bit higher visibility than we want to risk." Ren explains.

"We need to stay off of Salem's radar, among others." Weiss picks up.

Pyrrha shuffles nervously for a minute, raising her hand to the spot she was struck. "Cinder?"

Ruby sighs. "Yea, her, and a few others."

"We prefer to fight as little as possible right now. We wiped out thousands of Salem's grimm in Atlas, Salem should be set back for a while. That being said, a wounded animal becomes twice as dangerous. It would be wise to keep that mindset as we continue our journey." Ozcar explains. "There's also the matter of Miss Valkyrie's delicate state." Ren nods in agreements Nora smiles fixating on being called delicate.

"Where exactly are we going?" Pyrrha asks, curious.

"We?" Nora sings.

Pyrrha nods. "I'll have to convince my parents of course. Honestly I wanted to say yes last night. I just needed a bit of time for everything to soak in."

"I think we can sway your parents." Yang sounds quite confident.

There are a few moments of quiet as everyone in the room smiles in the happy moment when a timer rings.

"Adrien, snack time!" Ruby announces, the boy already halfway to the kitchen. She gets up following him, the discussion of which snack he wants can be heard from the living room.

"We're babysitting." Jaune explains motioning between himself and Ruby, picking up on the way Pyrrha scans the room. "Saff and Terra don't get to have many kid free weekends."

"It's good practice for the future anyhow." Yang waggles her eyebrows causing Jaune to turn red and the rest of the room to chuckle.

Jaune coughs into his hand to clear his throat. "We're going to Patch, if we've done the math right we should make it there a month before the baby is due."

Ruby and Adrien come back from the kitchen. The boy carrying a sippy cup of juice in one hand while holding Ruby's cape firmly in the other. The two settle in, Ruby setting a plate of apple slices down. Jaune grabs her wrist and examines her hand seriously. He begins peeling back a bandaid, his hand already glowing its soft golden before Ruby yanks her hand free. "It's just a little cut! You promised the doctor in Atlas you wouldn't use your semblance until the doctor in Argus examines you!" Ruby protests, face pouty and yet serious.

"Yea, but you were in severe aura depletion!" Jaune shoots back a bit flustered.

"So were you!" Ruby points out. "Do you even know how hard that is for you?" She flails her arms in frustration." You've got like infinite aura! You promised! An Arc never goes back on their word, right!"

Jaune sighs, defeated. "I guess I'm still a bit overprotective." He smiles still somehow managing to look embarrassed.

"Me too." Ruby agrees smiling softly. "Me too!" Adrien parrots causing a mix of awws and chuckles. Ruby ruffles the little guys hair.

"That must have been terrible, are you two okay now?" Pyrrha is genuinely concerned.

"We're all pretty much right as rain now." Yang reassures.

"That last week of combat was rough." Blake adds in.

"Yes, well, all in all, with all we were up against I'd say we were very lucky." Jaune picks up.

"Why Patch?" Pyrrha asks, changing the subject, there was a strange air in the room, it was practically screaming that her companions weren't quite ready to talk about it yet.

Oz begins explaining. "Once there we will start planning. We are reclaiming Beacon, it's also a safe location for the little one to be born."

"Reclaim Beacon? How will that be possible? I've seen reports and pictures, they say the wyvern on beacon tower draws grimm to it constantly." Pyrrha sounds very worried.

Ruby sighs. "Yea… that was kind of my fault.." She points at her eyes.

"Ruby, you? How?" Pyrrha asks.

Ruby stands, collecting Adrien's empty plate and turning towards the kitchen. She shakes her head. "That's a story for another day."

Pyrrha feels the atmosphere in the room change and decides not to push the subject. Jaune's scroll lets out a series of beeps. "Ruby, it's time to get going!" He calls lightly, leaning his head towards the kitchen.

"Going?" Pyrrha's green eyes echo the confusion in her voice.

"It's time for my checkup." He flexes his arms for no particular reason.

"Adrien has an appointment too." Ruby states, emerging from the hall with a small diaper bag on her shoulder and a note in her hand.

"Going bye bye, Wuby? Wanna come!" Adrien runs over to her, his little arms outstretched. Ruby extends her hand down instead of picking him up. "I'm big boy! I walk!" he beams up at her Ruby nods, smiling.

"Me too!" Nora cheers, already on her feet, practically pulling Ren from the couch.

Weiss raises her eyebrow. "You're a big boy too?" Yang snorts in amusement.

"No, I have an appointment!" Nora grins patting her belly.

"Should I go home for now?" Pyrrha asks, feeling a little third wheelish.

"Nah, come with us!" Nora decides, the mom to be will hear no arguments, and with a cacophony of goodbyes, see you soons, and quadruple checking everyone had everything they were out the door and on their way, and only 15 minutes late! The brief walk to the Arc family doctor is pleasant. It would look to any casual passersby like the majority of the young adults were relaxed, Pyrrha knew better. She hadn't picked up on it last night, but in the daylight it was clear as day. Ruby was cheerfully engaging little Adrien in conversation – mostly answering all his "wat dat? Questions she noticed the reaper tense up for a second here and there. Jaune kept the illusion of a goofball up, but his eyes would turn hard and a fleeting frown would mar his face. Ren, while almost always quite stoic and quiet would scan the streets ahead. The most notable one was Nora, while she was her bubbly good natured self at the house, she was very reserved today. They all talked to each other in hushed tones, something she adopted without thinking. The day so far was proving to be very informative and yet, she almost felt like she didn't even know her friends at all any more.

A/N: Thieves suck, locking lug nuts are a thing that exists. I did not know that until this week. My lack of knowledge means I'm facing a repair bill on my car that costs more tha my rent. Adulting is so fun.. take my advice spend $30 on locking lug nuts and potentially save yourself $700.

Preview of next chapter.

Mr. Nikos paced around the room, worry written on his face. "Can you promise me she'll be safe?"

Ozcar fiddles with the top of his collapsed cane. "Truthfully , no, a huntresses tomorrows are never guaranteed. I'm sad to say the mission we are embarking on is infinitely more dangerous still"