Highway Roses

by PowerOfThePenName

Weiss happens upon a girl broken down on the side of the road in the middle of the desert. A helping hand leads her on an adventure she never expected filled with rivalry, action, and love. Based on the visual novel: Highway Blossoms.

Look who is back, this slow as heck author. But I come back with a just gigantic fic so I hope that makes up for it. This "request" is from Beloved Nightmare Union, who actually gifted me the Visual Novel it's based on, "Highway Blossoms". I'm not usually one for VNs but this one I liked, especially the music, very fitting. Listened to it while I wrote. There is a small smut scene at the end, nothing kinky, but if you want to skip it the rest is all safe. Info on requests/commissions at the end. Well, without further ado, enjoy.

---

Weiss strummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove, the endless desert passing by. The music played over the speakers, a song she'd heard a thousand times. At first she'd been annoyed when it had just played over and over, so rarely hearing something else, but eventually she'd grown to like it. The tape was old and worn, but it still worked, so she still listened, even though she could probably play the song in her head easily and not miss a single note.

The song clicked off and she let out a sigh, not bothering to flip it and put it back. She stared out at the scenery as it passed her by. It was the same thing as always, endless rock and desert. To her left was fields of dirt and rock as far as the eye could see. On the right there was dirt and rock, and a broken down car with a girl waving her arms.

"What?" Weiss asks herself, glancing in the mirror to see if she really had just passed that, or if it had been her imagination. Sure enough there was a car there, and a girl standing beside it. Sighing once more Weiss slowed down and pulled off the road, turning around and heading back. As she reached her she pulled off again, shutting off the RV and stepping out.

"Oh thank God." The girl says, slumping forward for a moment before looking at her. "I didn't think anyone would ever stop."

"How long have you been here?" Weiss asks as she looks her over. She was small, roughly Weiss' height, and wearing a red hoodie over a dark grey shirt and a red skirt. Honestly it was a ridiculous outfit for a hot desert, though it did match her black hair and red tips.

"A few hours. I'm boiling out here. My car just like, stopped! I've been waving people down but nobody stopped until now."

"You've been waving down everyone?" Weiss asks. A young girl broken down on the road in the middle of nowhere waving down strangers did not sound like a wise idea.

"Yeah, but like I said, nobody stopped."

"What's your name?"

"Oh, sorry. Ruby." She says, holding out her hand. "Ruby Rose."

"Right. Weiss Schnee." Weiss replies, shaking her hand.

"So uh, Weiss, you know anything about cars?"

"Just a little." She says. Of course the girl, Ruby, looks at her with big, pleading, silver eyes. She sighs and waves a hand. "Fine, I'll take a look."

"Yay, thank you!" Ruby says, jumping up and hugging her.

"Ugh, could you let go?" She asks, "You're all sweaty."

"Oh, right, sorry." Ruby apologizes, letting go and backing away.

"It's… fine." Weiss says and walks past her.

"The keys are in it." Ruby says as Weiss opens the door. "It just stopped and wouldn't start."

"Let me see." Weiss says, turning the key. After just a moment she realized what was wrong and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Wow." She says.

"Do you know what's wrong?" Ruby asks.

"Nothing is wrong." Weiss says, getting up and out of the car. "It's out of gas."

"Out of… oh." Ruby says and gives a nervous laugh, touching the tips of her index fingers together repeatedly. "I probably should have got some before I left then."

"There was a station just about an hour back, how do you not have gas?" Weiss asks.

"There was?" Ruby tilts her head a bit. "Guess I didn't see it."

Weiss lets out an exasperated sigh as she heads back towards her RV. After a moment she stops and looks back, seeing Ruby there, twisting her foot into the dirt. She didn't want to, not in the slightest, but she knew if she didn't help her then this poor naïve girl would probably be stuck out here, or worse. "I saw a sign for a station a bit ahead." She says, "If you want a ride I can take you there. I'm going that way anyway."

"Yay!" Ruby cheers, skipping into the RV ahead of Weiss.

"Wait what are you-" Weiss barely gets out as Ruby plops down in the passenger seat. "Fine." She says as she gets in as well, sitting in the driver seat.

"Ahhh, AC, sooooo goooood." Ruby says, slumping in the seat when Weiss starts it up.

"Maybe if you didn't wear so much black and red you wouldn't overheat as much." She points out.

"But if I wore like, all white or something it would look silly." Ruby says.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asks. Her own outfit consisted of a pair of ice blue pants and a white top with a blue gradient around the seams. It was overall very pale, especially compared to the outfit Ruby was wearing.

"Huh? Oh, I didn't mean it like that." She says, "It's fine on you. I've got dark hair, and with the red, it'd just look odd on me. Wouldn't match."

"Right." Weiss says simply. It falls silent for a moment and she reaches for the tape deck, ready to play a song as a sign for silence, only to be interrupted by just what she wanted to avoid.

"So, Weiss, where are you going anyway?" She asks.

"West." Weiss says, keeping it vague.

"Right. West." Ruby says, making a small popping sound with her mouth as she looked out the window and lets it fall quiet again.

Weiss goes to reach for the tape deck again, but is once more interrupted.

"That means you're coming from the east, right?" She asks, "Go on any adventures while you were there?"

"No."

Ruby pouts a little, but again goes back to looking out the window. She remains quiet this time, but there's not much time left anyway as they reach the gas station soon.

Weiss pulls up to a pump and they get out, Ruby jumping past the steps and then skipping ahead. Weiss of course has no idea how she can do it, just stepping into the heat makes it feel harder to breathe. She grabs a gas can and walks around, getting the hose and filling it up. She marks the price in her head and then tops of the RV as well, not that it needed much.

After that she follows Ruby into the store, glad to finally get another reprieve from the heat. She finds her near the drinks, looking them over closely. "I'm done with the gas, are you ready to go?"

"Sure." She says, and then realizes something. "Oh, and uh, something else." She says nervously, touching her fingers together again.

"What is it?" Weiss asks.

"I uh, kinda forgot my wallet." She says, looking up at her with her head down.

Weiss lets out a deep breath. "And how did you plan to pay for the gas?" She asks. Of course she had figured she would pay for the gas anyway, but not having a choice was something else.

"With my money, duh." Ruby says.

"But you don't have any." Weiss says.

"Yes I do." Ruby counters, "It's just not here, it's in the car."

"If you don't have it with you then you don't have it." Weiss says, "Anyway, let's go."

"Sorry." Ruby says again. As they move up to the counter she looks around, and while she tries not to make a show of it Weiss can clearly see her eyeing something.

"What is it now?"

"Oh well," She looks at the slushie machine. "They have strawberry."

"So?" Weiss asks.

"So you almost never see that. Strawberry is my favorite and it's like, super rare but nobody ever has it and… I guess it's not important. I can come back after we get my car all juiced up."

Weiss rolls her eyes as they step up, one person in front of them. A woman with long blonde hair, wearing shorts so short they hardly even qualified for that, a small half skirt to cover what the shorts didn't, a shirt without a bottom leaving her abdomen exposed, and a vest that was barely buttoned so as to do the same. "No way, really?" She asked, talking into a phone. "Total junker huh? Well just grab what you can. Oh come on you know the drill. You're kidding. Guess that'll help a bit."

Weiss rolled her eyes as the woman talked. She was loud, brash, and apparently had no indoor voice. It was somewhat irritating just standing in line behind her. Eventually she was finished being rung up, taking her bags and walking out the door, still on her phone with whoever was on the other end.

Moving forward Weiss pulled out her wallet as she walked up to the counter. "Gas on three." She says and then she looks over and nods at the machine. "And a strawberry."

Ruby's eyes go wide and she grins big as the older balding man walks over to the machine and gets one of the drinks. While his eyesight must have been going since he was squinting a lot, he didn't miss a bit, capping the cup and putting a straw in it as he set it down on the counter. Ruby took it gleefully and began going to work on it.

"You two here for the treasure too?" He asks as he starts punching some numbers into the register. "Been good for business, haven't had this much come through in a while."

"The what now?" Weiss asks.

"What, you ain't heard about it yet? Was all over the news." He says.

"I'm afraid not." Weiss says.

"Seems to be that during that gold rush way back when, some prospector went and found himself a riches worth." The cashier explains, "Problem was he left his family behind. So when he came back to get 'em, he hid his gold all around the trail. Never actually made it back to find it. Just not too long ago then some family members were cleaning out their attic and found his journal. They decided to go and publish it instead and now everyone's out here looking for the gold."

"So people are out here in the desert looking for buried treasure?"

"Apparently." He says, "We just got in another shipment of the journals. Can hardly keep 'em in stock, selling better than the cold drinks."

Weiss looks over and sees a shelf of cheap looking books. "Those things? And people are out here for gold because of them?"

"Yep." Ruby says, "Apparently it's all supposed to be somewhere around here."

Weiss looks back at her, this having been the first time she'd spoken in a bit, which was surprising based on how she'd been acting so far. "Wait," Weiss says, "Is that why you were out here?"

"Um, maybe." Ruby says, "I heard about it and thought it sounded fun, like an adventure." She explains, "Don't even have a copy of the journal yet."

"Why does this not surprise me?" Weiss asks.

"Well most of the people passing through are headed out west. If you two ladies want to get in on it, I'd say that's where you should head."

"Right, thanks." Weiss says, paying him and moving to leave.

"Oh and why don't you take one of those journals with you?" He adds. "On the house. I've got plenty of them."

"Really? Thanks." Ruby says, running over and grabbing one. As she comes back she also throws out the now empty cup from her slushie on the way.

"Yes yes, now let's get going." Weiss says as she leads the two of the out, Ruby skipping along behind her.

…...

It takes a bit but they finally arrive back, Weiss pulling over with a decidedly confused look. "What in the…" She asks, "It has to be here."

"Where is it?" Ruby asks, moving out of the RV with Weiss behind her. "Are you sure this was the place?"

"Yes I'm sure. It's just gone. Someone must have stolen it." Weiss says, though why someone would take that care she didn't know.

Ruby slumps down to her knees. "Someone stole my car?" She asks, her voice on the edge of cracking. "Everything I had was in there. My money, my phone, my keys."

"Wait, you left the keys in the car?" Weiss asks.

"Well it's not like it started!" Ruby says, "Besides, you were in it last!"

Weiss face palms as Ruby pouts. "You still don't leave your keys in it." She says, "It's like you've never left the house before." She looks and sees Ruby looking down at the ground. "Wait, have you never left the house before?"

"Well, I mean, I went like, shopping and stuff." She says, "This is my first time really out of the town though."

"That certainly explains a lot." Weiss says. "Get back in. It's too hot for this out here." She waves an arm as she enters the RV again.

Ruby follows after her, sitting in the passenger seat. Her shoulders slumped forward and she stared at the dashboard vacantly. "It wasn't even my car." She says.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asks, turning the RV on and letting the AC blast them.

"It was my Uncle Qrow's. He had to go do some business thing and couldn't take it so he let me use it." She says.

"Well I'm sure he'll understand once he gets back." Weiss says. "Where are you from anyway?"

"Patch." Ruby answers.

"Pa- California?" Weiss asks in surprise, turning to look at her.

"No, New Mexico." Ruby answers with a small chuckle.

"Oh, okay then." Weiss says, remembering the place now. It was only a couple hours away actually. Apparently the girl hadn't made it far. "I suppose I can make a bit of a detour to take you back there. I'm not in a hurry after all."

"No!" Ruby protests quickly, and then calms back down. "I mean, could you not? I'd rather not go home like this. Barely left just today and going back with the car and all my stuff gone."

"I suppose I understand." Weiss says, "Where should I take you then?"

"Oh, I know." Ruby says and pulls out the journal. "If we can figure out the first clue then we can go there. It should be on the way, right?"

"I suppose." Weiss says skeptically as she eyes the journal. "If it's in the opposite direction though then you're out of luck."

"Uh, right, let's just look at it." Ruby says, handing the book over. "We might be able to figure out where it is."

Weiss takes the book and reads over the passage. The pages each held scans of smaller pages from a diary that looked old and worn. If it was a scam then they certainly went through a lot of trouble to make it look real. The words are long and overly florid with the worst of purple prose. Aside from that the author clearly thought highly of himself, filling it in with lamentations of his own genius. Deciding her brain couldn't handle such drivel she skipped a few pages until it got to the location. Pouring over it she pretty easily came to a conclusion.

"It's ship rock." She says, closing the book and handing it back to Ruby.

"Ship rock?" Ruby asks, "What's that?"

"How can you live so close and not know?" Weiss asks. "It's about two hours away, in the right direction. A large rock that looks like a ship stranded in the desert, hence the name. It's fairly obvious from the description that that's where it is. It's actually a fairly well known landmark."

"Hey, I said I don't get out a lot, okay?" Ruby says. "But it's good that it was so easy, we can get there fast."

"Us and many others. If it's that simple then undoubtedly there are a lot of people already there and searching." Weiss says as she starts the RV and pulls out, "I suppose it can't hurt to stop though, it's not like it will cost us too much time."

"Thanks." Ruby says, "I know it's out of your way."

"Not as much as taking you home would be." Weiss says as she drives. Reaching over she turns on the radio, letting the tape play again, and signaling for silence.

…...

It took a while but eventually they made their way to the ship rock, or at least as close as they could get to it. When they finally got there traffic was immense, with a line of cars and RVs as far as the eye could see. Pulling in Weiss was slowed to a crawl as she pushed through the crowds of people, eventually making her way to a spot just barely large enough for her to pull into. Once she had she opened the door and stepped out, shielding her eyes as Ruby came out behind her.

"Wow, it's really busy here." Ruby says as she looks around. "That's, uh, a lot of people."

"Yes it is. Like I said, the description wasn't exactly hard to figure out. Obviously quite a few people managed to figure out what it meant."

"Yeah I guess so." Ruby says. "So uh, where do you think it is?" She asks.

"Honestly? I don't even think it exists." Weiss says, "I assume it's probably just some book somebody wrote and published, then marketing decided that the best way to sell it would be to make it seem like an actual historical piece, and it turns out they were right."

"You really don't think it exists?" Ruby asks.

"A man traveled all the way across the country to find gold, and then just buried it along the way when he came back to his family, and never bothered to go back and get it? It's just not logical. I don't think anyone would do something like that. It wouldn't make sense."

"Speaking of sense, where's yours?" Ruby asks, earning a look from Weiss, "Your sense of adventure!" She threw her hands in the air. "I mean, even if there isn't any treasure, and I think there is, then at least it could be fun, right?"

"I hardly think digging through the dirt for gold that doesn't exist is fun." Weiss says, "You're just lucky I feel sorry for you enough to indulge you in this for now."

"Hey..." Ruby complains, "I never asked you to feel sorry for me."

"I know." Weiss says, "Let's just go check the area out." She moves forward, into the crowd of people heading towards the monument. She expected Ruby to take off without her, running ahead and ducking through the crowd, full of energy as always, but she was proven wrong. Instead she was much more tense, shoulders pulled in and sticking as close to Weiss as she could. Apparently for her boundless energy and motor mouth she was still not comfortable in crowds.

As they moved ahead they managed to push their way closer, finding a denser crowd of people at a blockade, with a man with a megaphone standing on top of an RV telling everyone to get back.

"Please move away from the blockade. This is a national landmark. Please remain calm and move away."

The crowd ignored him without a problem, pushing against the blockade as he yelled into the megaphone. The RV shook and he fell down on top of it.

"I HAVE A MEGAPHONE! BACK AWAY!" He yelled into it, to no avail.

As Weiss stood there and watched she noticed someone in front of them. Long yellow hair was the real give away as to who it was, the same woman from the convenience store before. "Is everyone here for the treasure?" She asked her.

"Huh?" She turned around, lilac eyes seeing them. "Yeah it seems like it. Surprised so many people turned out."

"Me too, it's hard to believe so many people would fall for such a thing." Weiss says, crossing her arms.

"What, you don't believe it's real?" She asks.

"I certainly don't. It's just some marketing scam that happened to get a lot of attention."

"Well, what if I told you I could prove it was real?" She says with a grin.

"Excuse me? How on Earth could you do that?" Weiss asks skeptically.

"Come to my RV and I'll show you. Not like we're getting anywhere here." She says.

"I don't suppose I have anything better to do." Weiss says, though she was admittedly curious as to how someone could prove the existence of the treasure. She was still skeptical, it was more likely they were falling for some ploy, but standing around didn't get them anywhere either.

"I'm Yang, by the way. Yang Xiao Long."

"Weiss Schnee." She answers.

"Nice to meet you, Weiss." Yang answers as she leads them away. Soon enough they come to an RV, and quite an impressive one at that, at least in terms of size. It was definitely much bigger than Weiss', and was black and gold as opposed to her own white one.

"Here we are." Yang says, opening the door and walking in, leading the way. "Up and at 'em dweebs, we got company." She calls out.

Weiss looks around, taking the place in. There were license plates everywhere, hanging in the form of wind chimes from the ceiling, stuck in boxes on the counters, there were dozens of them. Aside from that clothes were tossed about, littering the floor alongside empty bottles of alcohol. While the place may have looked fancy from the outside, it was chaos inside. It made her feel off just being here.

"What's up?" Comes a voice from the bed, more of an alcove really, turning to face them. A young man with blonde hair turns to face them, wearing a pair of shorts and a simple white shirt that was left open, showing off a surprisingly fit body.

"What's it seem like? I told you we got company." Yang says, gesturing at the two of them. "They're skeptics."

"I can't blame them." Came a new voice from the passenger seat, which spun to look at them. Sitting in it was a woman with long dark hair and piercing amber eyes. "It is a bit farfetched."

"Oh come on, Blake." Yang says, "You know it's true."

"I didn't say it wasn't, just that if you didn't know, it's perfectly understandable to not believe it."

"Well at least I'm not the only sane one around here." Weiss says, "So you said you had proof or something?"

"Oh yeah, totally." Yang says, "Ready to have your mind blown?" She asks with a grin as she opens a drawer and pulls out what looks to be a wadded handkerchief. Holding it close she slowly unwraps it revealing a single gold nugget.

Weiss' eyes go wide and she reaches forward, gently feeling it. It was soft and smooth, definitely not pyrite. This was an actual, real piece of gold. "Oh my God." She says.

"Yep." Yang says, wrapping it back and putting it away. "Told you so."

"Where did you even get that?" Weiss asks.

"That'd be me." Sun says, holding up an arm.

"You?" Weiss asks.

"Yep." Yang says. "Had it in his parent's attic. Apparently he's a direct descendant of the miner in that book."

"Wait, if you had the gold and knew about it, why didn't you do this earlier?" Weiss asks.

"Didn't have the journal." Sun says, "Guess it got lost or given to some other branch of the family or something. Been wanting to go treasure hunting for a bit, but only just now found out where to look."

"I'm still going to be skeptical." Weiss says, "For all we know that could be the only piece."

Yang rolls her eyes. "Ugh, you are the worst."

"Calm down, so she's a nonbeliever, doesn't hurt you none." Sun says, fiddling with what looks to be a group of license plates in his hand.

"Guess it's just one fewer person looking for the treasure." Yang says.

"Check it." Sun says, holding up what seemed to be a wind chime made of license plates, just like the others around. "One more state done."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asks.

"He's collecting license plates from all the states." Blake says, "He hopes to get a wind chime from every one."

"Well I'm glad you got something out of it." Yang says, "Dang junker wasn't worth the paint that was on it. Barely got anything out of it."

Weiss furrowed her brow. "Junker?"

"Yeah some abandoned car on the side of the road." Yang says, "See 'em all the time."

Gritting her teeth Weiss looked at the license plates. New Mexico. "This junker wouldn't happen to have been east of here would it? Near a small gas station?"

"Yeah, you see it too?" Yang asks.

"Um, Yang." Blake says, seeing the anger in Weiss' face now.

"Wait… you mean…" Ruby says, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"What's up with…." Yang says, "O-oh." She says as she realizes.

"Did you even think?" Weiss asks, raising her voice. "Did you think for one second that that wasn't yours? That someone might have been using that?"

"We didn't know." Yang says, raising her hands.

"Exactly! You didn't know a thing! You just saw something that could be worth some cash and you took it. No consideration for who it might belong to!"

"Hey, those things are all over the place. People just abandon them. Why should we think it was any different?" She asks, "We're sorry, right guys?"

"Definitely." Blake says.

"Oh yeah." Sun agrees.

"Sorry?" Weiss asks, "You're sorry? Sorry doesn't get the car back!"

"Weiss." Ruby says, "It's okay."

"What?" Weiss asks in shock, looking to Ruby who had barely spoken up so far.

"It's okay, they didn't know. Didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"They did though. They just walked along and took something because it was there. This was your car, Ruby, your Uncle's car. Sorry doesn't just make up for that."

"I know." Ruby says, "But they didn't mean to. It's my car, so I should be the one getting mad, but I'm not, so it's okay."

Weiss stares in shock a bit, her jaw moving like she was trying to form words but failing. She eventually pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs before crossing her arms. "Fine." She says. "Just… fine."

"Look, we still feel bad, alright." Sun says, "You can borrow our equipment if you want it, for treasure hunting."

"Yeah, we can't really give you the car back. Kinda scrapped it already." Yang says.

"That was very fast." Weiss says.

"Hey, we work quick." Yang says and gives a nervous laugh.

"You guys didn't happen to find a phone in the car, did you?" Ruby asks.

"You mean a black one with a rose on it?" Blake asks.

"Yes!"

"Uh we kinda sold that too." Yang says.

"Oh." She looks down.

"Come on, Ruby." Weiss says, turning away, "Let's just go."

"Yeah, alright." Ruby says, following her out the door. "Um, bye." She waves.

"See ya." Yang says.

"Sorry again." Sun calls as the door closes behind them.

"So what now? Treasure hunting?" Ruby asks.

"No, we're going to go back to the RV. There are too many people out now. We'd be better off looking at night."

"So you're still going to stay and help me look?" She asks.

"Well it's not like we could get out of here anyway. I'm still skeptical, but I'm also not in a rush so I suppose it won't hurt."

"Sweet." Ruby says, "We can rest up and head out tonight. We'll find the treasure, Weiss, I know it." With that the two head back, gearing up for a long night.

…...

"Do you think it's on top?" Ruby asks as they walk around the large landmark. She sweeps the metal detector out in front of her, searching any hint of what they seek.

"No I don't. The journal said he camped under it, so it should be there." Weiss answers. "If it even exists."

"Still, it was nice of them to lend us their equipment." Ruby says, "I'm sure it'll make it a lot easier."

"This is just their awful form of repayment." Weiss reminds her.

"I know, but they didn't have to do anything at all." Ruby says, "Oh, I got something." She adds as the metal detector begins to beep.

"Probably just another bottle cap." Weiss says.

"Nope." Ruby says, bending down and picking it up. "A quarter. See, making money already."

"Yes, wonderful, you can get a piece of gum." Weiss says.

"Cool, I like gum." Ruby says, pocketing the piece and continuing her sweep.

"Check a bit closer to the base of the formation. I'm sure if he wanted shelter he'd be there."

"Right." Ruby says, moving a bit closer. For at least another half an hour she scanned around with the metal detector with Weiss walking nearby carrying a shovel.

"I think this is it." Weiss says, "We're not going to find anything."

"Just a bit more, we're getting closer, I can feel it."

Weiss rolls her eyes but scans around. Most of the area was nondescript land, protected from development for cultural and religious reasons. Turning back to ship rock she looked it over. Aside from size there wasn't really anything giving away where the treasure, if it existed, would be hidden. A flat top, coming to a point at the end, and at the base just ground and rocks.

Narrowing her eyes she looked closer. There definitely were rocks at the base, and a lot of them, forming a large pile almost the length of the named attraction. "Ruby." She says, "Did you scan over the pile of stones there?"

"Huh?" Ruby asks, looking where Weiss gestured. "No, I didn't." She says and walks over. She moves over it, waving the detector over them. "I'm not getting anyth- wait." She says as it starts to beep. "There's something."

"Another quarter?"

"No, this is bigger, and deeper down." Ruby says. She then takes off the metal detector and sets it aside, bending down to start moving the rocks.

"Wait, stop." Weiss says, moving over and setting the shovel aside as she stopped Ruby. "I don't want you to hurt yourself." She explains, crouching down to pick up one of the larger rocks and toss it away.

"Um, okay. Thanks." Ruby says, frowning a little as she stepped back. "Um, okay. Thanks." Ruby says, frowning a little as she stepped back. She stood away, taking off the metal detector and setting it aside as Weiss worked to move the rocks. Moving to sit on the cooler she twiddled her thumbs a bit and looked around, keeping an eye out to make sure they weren't caught.

Eventually, far too long for Ruby's taste, Weiss moved enough of the rocks out of the way. Ruby hopped off of the cooler and opened it, grabbing a bottle of water and the shovel and moving over to her. "Here." She says, handing over the water to Weiss, who was now sweating fairly heavily.

"Thank you." Weiss says, breathing heavily as she takes the water. She opens it and takes a long drink before pouring a bit of it on her face and drying herself off of it on her sleeve. She held out her other hand then. "Shovel." She says.

"Nope." Ruby says easily.

"Excuse me?" Weiss says.

"I said nope." Ruby repeats. "You moved all the rocks, you're all exhausted. I'll do the digging."

"I'm not so sure that's a good-"

"Too bad." Ruby cuts her off, "You're too exhausted to keep going, so I'll do it."

Weiss sighs and steps away from the area she cleared. As much as she hated to she would admit that she was definitely exhausted. While she wouldn't say she was weak, physical labor definitely wasn't something she would consider herself proficient in. "Fine." She says, "But if you need any help."

"I know." Ruby says, putting the shovel to the ground and pushing on it with her foot so it sank in.

This time it was Weiss who sat on the cooler, looking around to make sure no one came to stop them as she finished the water. Occasionally she'd spare a glance at Ruby who was working up a sweat of her own digging a surprisingly sizable hole. Even so she didn't seem to show any sign of stopping, much to Weiss' surprise. While they were about the same size, she hadn't figured the surprisingly naive girl to have much in the way of muscle.

After a while though there was a thud and Ruby stopped digging. "Hey Weiss." She says, "I think I've got something.

Weiss gets up and heads over as Ruby uses the shovel to dig around whatever it was she found. Looking down it seemed to be a wooden box of some kind, definitely worn from having been buried. "Do you know what it is?" She asks.

"The treasure, I hope." Ruby says.

"Could just be a time capsule or something that someone buried." Weiss says.

"Just wait, it's the treasure, you'll see." Ruby says. Setting the shovel aside she bends down and picks the box up, setting it out of the whole and stepping out afterwards.

"It's locked." Weiss says, crouching down to look at it. "Seems rusted though. Hand me the shovel." She says as she stands back up. After Ruby hands it over she draws back and hits the lock with it. Once. Twice. Third times the charm as it busted. Going back down she pulled the lock off.

She knew the concept of treasure was ridiculous, that the story was absurd, but she couldn't help that her heart was beating faster now. It had seemed so farfetched, but just on the other side of this lid was the chance at actual, real gold; or perhaps a lot of disappointment.

"Well are you gonna open it or stare at it?" Ruby asks.

"Uh, you should do it." Weiss says, standing up "It's your idea after all."

"You sure?" Ruby asks.

"Yes I'm sure. Besides, you did the digging."

"Yeah but you moved the rocks." Ruby says, crouching down in front of it. "I'll still do it though. You ready?"

"I am, go ahead." She nods.

Ruby looks at the box for a moment and then lifts the lid. Her eyes, as well as Weiss', go wide as they see it. Filling it to the top was a large number of gold nuggets. For a moment, all either of them can do is stare. Then ruby breaks into a big grin and stands up, wrapping her arms around Weiss in an exuberant and unexpected hug. "It's real!" She cries excitedly. "It's real and we found it!"

"Shhhh." Weiss says, "You'll wake everyone. And can you let me go, we're both sweating."

"Oh, right, sorry." Ruby says, letting her go and backing away. "But we did it!"

"Yes, we did." Weiss says, looking back at it again. "It's real." She lets a small smile cross her face. "And it's ours."

"Yep." Ruby says. "There be gold in that there box." She says with a poor fake accent.

Weiss goes to say something at that and then just presses her face into a hand. Leave it to Ruby to make a great moment like this into a poor joke. "Yes there is." She says, "Now let's get it back to the RV."

"Oh, right." Ruby says. "Can you carry the shovel and metal detector?" She asks, "I'll take the cooler and the gold."

"You sure you want to carry all that?" Weiss says, "I can do it."

"No, I'm good." Ruby says, "I wanna do it."

"Alright, if you say so." Weiss says, grabbing the equipment as Ruby stacks the gold on the cooler and then picks it up with both hands.

"Let's go." Ruby says and heads back. Luckily they didn't run into anyone on the way, so their prize wasn't found out. Instead they made it back to the RV without disturbance and set everything away. Ruby set the gold on top of the counter and opened it again, looking at it as she flopped down in the seat across from it.

Weiss sat down on the couch beside her, looking at it. "We did it." she says.

"Yep." Ruby says and yawns. "We did."

It was just now that Weiss began to feel it as well, the exhaustion of hard work and a late night. The gold had put a lot of adrenaline in her, but now they were both dirty and in need of rest. "There are some clothes, in the closet." Weiss says as she gets up. "You can borrow them. To sleep in." She grabs herself some and steps into the bathroom.

After she finishes changing she steps out and Ruby walks into the bathroom. She closes the lid on the gold, which she still could hardly believe was real, and makes sure everything is ready for the night. Once she's done she reaches over to the couch, taking the pull out bed out. Just as she did, Ruby steps out.

Weiss looks over as Ruby walks out and was glad she hadn't been taking a drink of anything as she looks away for a moment. The first thing she noticed was that, without their shoes, the height difference was a bit more pronounced. Sure it was only a few inches, but it was enough that the shirt she'd lent Ruby didn't quite completely cover her midriff. Aside from that she definitely had a slightly larger chest. Once again this wasn't anything exceptional, except that it was clearer when she was wearing a loaned t-shirt to sleep in.

"Is that a pull out bed? I didn't know that." Ruby says.

"Uh yes, yes it is." Weiss says.

"I'm sleeping there then, right? I don't wanna sleep in the chair again."

"Yes you're sleeping here. I'll be sleeping in the other bed in the back." Weiss says.

"Cool." Ruby says.

"There are pillows and blankets in the closet." Weiss says as she moves past her towards her own bed.

"Good, was about to ask about that." Ruby says.

"See you in the morning."

"Alri-" she lets out a yawn. "Alright. Thanks again."

"Of course." Weiss says as she stops in the doorway. She goes to say something else but instead closes her mouth as she sees Ruby climb into bed and walks over to her own, getting in. Usually this would be where the sleeplessness would hit her but after all of today she didn't have any trouble as her eyelids closed like a weight had been set on them.

…...

When Weiss woke up she did so slowly, at first not moving even her eyes while her mind adjusted to awareness and her other senses awakened. Finally she opened her eyes, first halfway to let them adjust to the light, and then the rest of the way. Usually she wouldn't take so long, but she was still somewhat worn from the night before.

Then she heard something, the sound of the bathroom door opening, footsteps, and whistling. Sitting up she stretched her arms and got out of bed, stepping through the doorway to see Ruby, already up and putting up the fold out bed. "You're a morning person." Weiss says.

"I'm an always person." Ruby says with a smile. "I mean, I don't like getting up too early, I need my sleep, but if I get it then I'm up."

"Wonderful." Weiss says, her voice dull. "Make some coffee." She adds as she heads into the bathroom. After finishing her morning routine and getting dressed she stepped back out, finding Ruby hunkered down, staring at the coffee pot.

"I hope I did it right." Ruby says, "I've never made coffee before."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. My dad always made it. He drank way more of it than I did anyway, so that was kinda fitting."

"Not a coffee person?"

"I like milk." Ruby says, "Juice is good too. Soda sometimes. Slushies or freezies or whatever you call them, it changes. Oh, and milkshakes, I love milkshakes."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Weiss says, looking at the pot. "Let's just hope you learned from him."

"Yeah, I hope so." Ruby says.

"Let's get everything cleaned up." Weiss says, "Including ourselves."

"Right, probably need a shower after last night."

"Definitely." Weiss says. "I'll get things put away, you can go first."

"Cool, thanks." Ruby says, grabbing her clothes and heading into the bathroom.

Weiss lets out a yawn and sets about putting things away. The pull out had been put up, but she put the cushions back on the couch. After that she put the equipment away in a corner, where it would be out of the way. Then it was back to her room to make her bed.

About that time she heard the buzzer on the coffee go off, the small pot having finally finished. Heading over to it she grabbed a cup and poured it in, blowing on it for a moment to cool it before taking a drink. She had to admit she was surprised, for someone who hadn't made coffee before, it came out quite well.

"All done!" Ruby said in a sing-song voice as she skipped out of the bathroom. "Oh, is it ready? How is it?"

"It's good." Weiss says.

"Oh whew." Ruby says, "Was worried it was gonna be awful."

"Would you like a cup? You did make it after all."

"Uh, I guess so." Ruby says, grabbing a cup and pouring some. She glances around for a moment before looking back at the cup. "You drink yours just black?"

"Usually." Weiss says. "Sometimes I'll add a dash of cream, but that's usually only if it comes out improper. Like the coffee at fast food places."

"Oh..."

"Do you want some? I believe I have some, there should be some sugar too."

"No, it's fine. I'm a big girl, I can handle it." Ruby says and takes a drink, then grimaces. "Or maybe I can just try some other time." She says.

Weiss shakes her head softly as she reaches down to the small fridge, opening it up and pulling out the cream. She hoped it hadn't expired from how little it got used. She set it down and pushed the sugar bowl over to her as well. That was mostly used for meals instead of coffee, but even then a little usually lasted her a while.

"Thanks." Ruby says, giving a small, oddly hesitant smile.

Weiss watched as she added a dash of cream, and then sugar, and then some more, and then some more. Sure the spoon wasn't very big, but five seemed excessive. As she took a drink it was now Weiss' turn to grimace a bit. She had no idea how people could handle things that sweet.

"Ahh." Ruby says, now with a more comfortable smile. "That's better."

"If you say so."

"So," Ruby asks, "What do we do now?"

"Well, I suppose we-" She's interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Yo!" A voice calls out, "You ladies up yet?"

"Yang." Weiss says.

"I got it." Ruby says, answering the door. "Heya."

"Hi." Yang says, standing there with Sun and Blake just behind her. "Came to see if you were done with the equipment yet."

"Yep." Ruby says.

"I thought you gave us that." Weiss says. "You know, as repayment for the car that you stole."

"Hey, I said we were sorry about that." Yang says, "And I loaned it to you."

"Just let them have it, Yang." Blake says.

"We need that for our treasure hunting though." Yang says, "How else are we gonna find it?"

"I'm sure we can get some new stuff. Maybe even better stuff." Sun says.

"Don't bother searching around here though." Weiss says, "You won't be finding anything."

"Ever the skeptic still?" Yang asks.

"No, I believe it now. You just won't be finding anything."

"Well that's odd. Why would you change your mind but still think..." Her eyes go wide and her jaw drops. "No."

Ruby steps aside so they can see the box on the counter, which Weiss opens with a bit of a smug grin.

"No no no." Yang says, jumping the steps to come to it. She grabs a piece and rolls it in her hands. "Noooo, it's real!" she says.

"Oh my God." Sun says, "Go you."

"Congratulations." Blake adds.

"My gold!" Yang says.

"No." Weiss says, "My gold."

"You don't even need the equipment now. You found it." Yang says.

"There's still three more to find though."

Yang narrows her eyes at her. "Oh you wanna go princess?"

"I'll be going alright, and I'll get there before you do."

"We'll see." Yang says, "Last one there's a broke hobo."

"Hope you have a bindle ready then."

"A what?" She furrows her brow.

"A bindle." Blake says, "A carrying device like a tied bag on a stick."

"Oh, OH." Yang says, glaring at Weiss, who just met her gaze with a smirk. She backs up towards the door, keeping her eyes on Weiss. She points at her own eyes with two fingers, then at Weiss. "This ain't over. Call me Midas cause that gold is mine."

"Not likely." Weiss says.

"Watch the step." Ruby calls, just as Yang steps back, causing her to grab the door to avoid falling when the ground suddenly wasn't beneath her feat.

Stepping down properly now she moves out of the RV. "See you at the next piece, if you get there in time." She calls back before closing the door, leaving Weiss and Ruby shut off and giving her the last word.

"That was weird." Ruby says. "She didn't even actually take the stuff."

"Weird is an understatement for that group." Weiss says, and heads towards the front of the RV. "Now, where's that book?"

Ruby lit up at that, skipping ahead and plopping down in the passenger seat before reaching into the glove box and pulling it out. "Right here."

"Alright then," Weiss sits down in the driver's seat, "Let's see what the next one says." She takes the book from Ruby then and flips through some pages. "So the next one is... here we go again." She says as she begins to read. Once again the whole thing is set in awful florid prose that lamented the author's greatness and bragged on their intelligence. It was like a written version of hearing someone brag about how they were better than everyone else; in fact that was exactly what it was. It made it very difficult to stomach reading it. Nevertheless she read through it, and then read through just the important part once more, before setting it down.

"Any ideas?" Ruby asks.

"I'm not sure." Weiss says, "It's definitely some sort of ruins, native american, in use back then but only just, and in some sort of canyon."

"Canyon?" Ruby asks, smiling a bit, "The Grand Canyon?"

"No, certainly not." Weiss says, "There are others around too, none as big or well-known though."

"Right." She deflates a bit. "So no Grand Canyon then?"

"No, it wouldn't be there. It definitely wasn't big enough, and doesn't have the ruins."

"Nearby ruins..." Ruby says, "Oh!" She gets up and runs to the cabinets before coming back with a stack of brochures in her hands. "I've been reading these." She says, "Here." She hands two of them over to Weiss.

"These are... right." She says, opening them both. "No not that one." She tosses one aside and looks at the other. "Yes, this would work. About the right time frame, and not too far away. It says someone took care of him there and he lent it to them for safekeeping, so it would definitely be in a living area. This is the place." She says with certainty.

"Awesome." Ruby says, "Let's go!"

"Yes, let's." Weiss says, starting up the RV as and pulling out. Soon enough they were on the road and on their way once more.

...

"There doesn't seem to be a lot of people here." Ruby says, looking out at the parking lot. "Think they're open?"

"There should be another tour group going through." Weiss says, "The last one."

"Then we're too late?" Ruby asks.

"Not quite, come one." Weiss says, getting up and grabbing some things from the drawers before heading out the door.

"Uh, alright." Ruby says, following her out. "What are we doing?"

"Here." Weiss hands her a flashlight. "We'll sneak over and join the group."

"What? Just like, sneak in? Do you even know where they are?" Ruby asks, looking around.

"They should be on an easy trail, but we'll have to make sure we sneak up just right. Make it look like we were with them the whole time."

"What if we're caught?"

"We won't be." Weiss says, "It's not like they'll expect us to sneak up on them. Besides, we'll sneak away again once we get to the ruins."

"And they won't notice that?" Ruby asks, "But if we are caught then we'll be put in jail! I can't go to jail! They have to pee in front of people!"

Weiss rolls her eyes. "You won't go to jail. We're just treasure hunting. At most it'll be a small fine. I'd rather not do something like this either, but it's this or we leave the treasure, take your pick." She says, putting a hand on her hip and looking at Ruby.

Ruby only hesitates for a moment before steeling herself. "Right. For the treasure." She says.

"That's better. Are you ready now?" Weiss asks.

"Yeah, lead the way." Ruby nods.

"Good." Weiss says and turns around. She walks over and hops over the railing at the edge of the parking lot. "According to the map, the trail should take them this way. If we take a shortcut we can cut them off and meet up with them."

"Can't we just go to the ruins right away?" Ruby asks.

"No, that won't work. I'd never be able to find them. The trail doesn't go directly to them, to keep people from disturbing them. We need to stick with the group in order to find them."

"Ahh, okay." Ruby says as they walk.

"When I say, turn off your flashlight. We can't have them seeing our lights from a distance. We'll have to sneak up without them."

"Got it."

That was the last thing said for a bit as they walked, eventually spotting a group of moving lights headed towards them. "They're here. Turn of your light. We need to hide and come up behind them."

"Over here." Ruby says, moving quickly to duck behind a large rock as she turned off her light, Weiss following just behind her.

They waited and watched then, letting the group pass them by. Once they had they stepped out and walked up behind them until they were only trailing by a little bit. "Told you we wouldn't be caught." Weiss says.

"Yeah, guess so." Ruby says. "Now we just have to wait for them to show us the ruins right?"

"Yes. Once they do that we'll slip away and head into them. After we find the gold I'm sure we can find our way back pretty easily."

"Good. I don't want to get lost out here."

"Nobody does. Besides it's not that far. Even if we did get lost it would only be for a few hours. It's not like we'd be stuck in a forest full of monsters."

"I don't know, that might be kind of fun. Like an adventure story. Heroes and villains and monsters, maybe a dragon on top of a tower that has to be stopped."

"So hunting for gold in a desert isn't an adventure to you?" Weiss asks.

"Sure it is. Or would it be a quest since there's a thing we're after? I can never remember the difference."

"I don't think it matters right now. Just focus on listening to the guide."

"Right." Ruby says.

"Oh hello." Comes a voice then, causing Ruby to look to her right. There was a young woman there with long red hair done up in a ponytail, wearing a brown shirt and a red skirt. "I don't remember seeing you earlier."

"Oh, uh, right. I'm Ruby." She says. "This is Weiss."

"We just blended in." Weiss says. "You can't keep track of everyone."

"Very true." Pyrrha says. "Oh, this is Jaune." She grabs a blonde man buy the sleeve and pulls him over. Say hello, Jaune."

"Hello, Jaune." He says and chuckles. "Nice to meet you."

"Yes, wonderful." Weiss says, sounding in no way impressed.

"I'm Ruby." She reaches out, shaking his hand. "So… what are you guys doing here?"

"Oh well that's a fun story." Jaune says, "You see, me and Pyrrha met a few years back…" He starts, with Pyrrha looking up at him with a smile.

Weiss glances over at Ruby, who had actually made the mistake of paying attention. Having been around enough, she knew a storyteller when she saw one, and this guy was definitely going to ramble for a while. Slowly sliding away she left her partner-in-crime to serve as a distraction while she moved a bit farther up to listen to the guide better. One of them had to know where to stop after all.

Soon enough they came upon them, with the ruins to their left, a ways past the railing. Unfortunately they were a bit hard to see from there, but now that they knew where they were, it didn't matter. Falling back a bit again she returned to Ruby's side, who had somehow gotten caught up in a conversation about the time Jaune had helped birth a cow. While Pyrrha seemed enraptured, staring at him with a smile, Ruby looked quite queasy.

"Oh there you are." Jaune says, "You just missed it."

"Jaune was telling a wonderful story about the time he helped a calf be born." Pyrrha says.

"Sounds lovely." Weiss says, "It seems we're coming up on Mummy Caves, I thought you might want to know."

"Oh yes, that's what we wanted to see." Pyrrha says, "Come on, Jaune, we can get a closer look. Thank you!" She says and drags him off as he waves back.

"Never leave me with strangers again." Ruby says, "It was awful."

"Well you managed to keep them distracted while I figured out where we were going, so that helped." Weiss says, "We'll need to let them pull ahead a bit and then hide out. It doesn't look like anyone else is going to try and bother us."

"Good. I mean they seemed nice but I just do not want to hear more stories like that one." Ruby says.

"I can understand that." Weiss says, "Now follow my lead." She shines her light on a rock wall, pretending to inspect it as the crowd keeps heading forward, following the guide. Then in a moment she turns it off and ducks behind a rock. A split second later and Ruby does the same, joining her. As she goes to speak Weiss puts a hand over her mouth to stop her, pulling away once Ruby nods in understanding.

Counting down in her head she lets a full minute pass and then peaks out. Seeing nothing she waves and steps out from behind the rock. "We should be clear now." She says as she walks over to the railing.

"Wow, looks kinda far away." Ruby says.

"And no cover in between here and there." Weiss points out.

"You're sure we won't get caught?"

"No, but at worst we'll just be thrown out. Calling the police would be a hassle."

"Well, alright then, let's go." Ruby says and jumps over the railing.

"Impatient little…" Weiss grumbles and climbs over. She looks around and then grabs Ruby's hand. "Run!" She says and takes off. Sprinting as fast as she can across the landscape she had to admit she was surprised when she realized Ruby was keeping up. She had expected her to fall back a bit, but instead she was right beside her the whole way, right up until they made it to the next cliff face.

"Wow." Weiss says, trying hard to keep her breathing steady and appear stronger. "I must admit I'm a bit surprised that you made that so easily."

"Hey." Ruby says through her own heavy breathe, not bothering to keep it in check, "I'm more active than I look."

"Apparently. Either way, now we have to get up there." She says, looking up at the cliff.

"Wait what?" Ruby asks, "We have to climb up that?"

"Well I don't expect you to run up it." She says. For a moment she lets her flounder in shock before she smirks a bit. "Or we can walk up that." She says, pointing to a small incline. It was moderately steep, but nowhere near the vertical climb of the cliff.

"Ugh, you big jerk." Ruby says, "I believed you!"

"I noticed. Well, are you coming or not?" She asks, starting to walk up the incline.

"You sure it'll hold?" Ruby asks, looking at it skeptically.

"It'll be fine as long as you spread your weight out. It's mostly dirt instead of loose rock."

"If you say so." Ruby says, climbing up to join Weiss. From there they both started hiking up it. They were doing fairly well until Weiss' foot hit a rock. It slid beneath her and her foot came out from under her. Before she could go falling down the hill though Ruby's hand shot out, grabbing her arm. "Are you okay?" She asks, her eyes wide and voice clearly worried.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." Weiss says, straightening up a bit. "Let's keep going, we're almost there." She says and starts up the hill again.

"Right." Ruby says, following her up. Soon enough they make it all the way up, both breathing just a bit heavier for the climb. Before them lay the ruins, old abandoned buildings, some with walls and roofs missing. The cave they were in ran a long way back, but the buildings all seemed to be quite small, enough that it was almost hard to imagine people living here. "So, uh, what now?" Ruby asks. "Did it say where it was?"

"No, it didn't. The page said that they got sick around here, and he was cared for by someone who was probably the last person to live here. Since he gave it to them to hide, it could be anywhere. If it's even still here."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asks.

"Well these ruins have been gone over before, by quite a few people. It's entirely possible that someone else found it." Weiss explains.

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that." Ruby says, "It makes sense."

"I guess there's only one way to find out though."

"Yeah." Ruby says, giving a nod and a smile. "Let's do it."

They moved separately, going into buildings and beginning to search. With as ruined as they were it was hardly even like being in separate areas, just low walls between them at times. While Weiss did worry a bit about their flashlights being seen, it wasn't like they really had a choice. So instead she opted to move quickly, hoping to limit the amount of time they spent there. As she moves from one building to the next she hears Ruby giggle a bit.

"What's so funny?" She asks.

"I was just thinking, this is all kinda out of nowhere, you know? Guess you never know what's gonna happen next."

"That's true. I never once expected a girl broke down on the side of the road would lead me to buried treasure in the middle of the desert."

"See, isn't life more fun when you just go with it?" She asks, "Thinking is good, but sometimes it's better to just say 'yes' and see what happens next."

"I'm sure it is." Weiss says, letting them fall into silence as they kept looking. Overall the area was fairly small, and after about twenty minutes they'd searched through it all. Giving a grumble of frustration Weiss looked around some more, running her hands over a wall in her search.

"You find anything?" Ruby asks.

"No. You?"

"Nope." She says.

Weiss lets out a low groan, almost like a growl, and marched off deeper into the cave. "Ugh, there has to be something here." She says, frustrated. This was the only place it could be, all she had to do was find it.

"Weiss?" Ruby asks, her voice small. When Weiss paces back again to search at the other end she speaks up louder. "Weiss!" She says, "It's not here."

Weiss stops, her shoulders dropping. She lets out a defeated sigh. "I... yeah I know." She admits, her back to Ruby.

"You okay?" Ruby asks.

"I'm fine." Weiss says, taking deep breaths, making sure to keep her composure.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Yeah." Weiss says, stepping over a bit and leaning against a wall, sliding down it to sit on the ground. "I'm alright."

"It's okay if you're not." Ruby says, sitting down beside her. "You can talk to me, Weiss. What's wrong?"

"I..." She hesitates, "It should be here. It's not though. I know it should be here but it isn't. Now I just wasted all of our time on this and it was for nothing." She says.

There's a short pause before Ruby responds. "Nope." She says.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asks, "It's clearly not here!"

"Well yeah, obviously. Someone else probably got it like you said." Ruby agrees, "But it wasn't a waste of time. You said it was for nothing, but it wasn't."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asks, perplexed. "This whole treasure hunt was your idea. You're not upset that we didn't find it?"

"Nope." Ruby says again. "So what if we're not super rich? I had fun, we broke into a place we're not supposed to be, and I got to see things I never would have otherwise. So I'm glad it happened, gold or not."

Weiss sighs softly, looking down at the ground. "You really are something, you know that?"

"Yeah I've heard." Ruby says with a soft chuckle. "So, you ready to go now?"

"I think so." Weiss says. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be. Everyone has feelings. Don't need to be sorry about them." Ruby says, standing up and brushing herself off, then offering a hand to Weiss.

Weiss gives a small smile, hardly visible in the darkness, and takes her hand, letting herself be helped up. "Alright, lights off. I don't think we can make it back to the group now. Let's just head back to the parking lot."

"Right." Ruby says with a nod before turning off her flashlight. With that they were off, back down the incline and running across the open area between the ruins in the cave and the tourists' path. Once they got back on the path the lights came back on, since they weren't out of a restricted area anymore.

"So, that way right?" Ruby asks, pointing her light.

"Yeah, let's go. I hope they didn't notice we were gone." Weiss says.

"Most probably didn't, but those two we met might have. Jaune and Pyrrha."

"Oh yes. Hopefully we won't get roped into any more stories like those."

"Hey I was the one roped in. You abandoned me." Ruby says as they walked.

"A tactical diversion." Weiss says.

"One where you didn't have to listen to them talk about cow birthing."

"I had no idea that was going to happen." Weiss says, "But yes. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Nobody should."

"Agreed. So much agreed." Ruby says and shudders a bit.

"Looks like we made it back right on time." Weiss says as they reach the parking lot, only to see the tour group coming out, some of them already starting to leave.

"Hey, there you are!" A voice calls out, and both of them turn to see Jaune and Pyrrha walking over.

"Hello again!" She says with a wave.

"Oh, hi." Weiss says.

"We thought you might have gotten lost or something." He says.

"No, we were just, um, looking around." Ruby says.

"Looking around?" Pyrrha asks.

"Yes." Weiss says, "The self-guided tours were all put on hold, but we decided to take a bit more time to look at everything on our own."

"On your own…" She says, looking between the two of them, and then her eyes widen. "Oh, I see. I suppose I can understand wanting to be alone. It's much more, uh, intimate after all."

"Intimate? Like scary?" Ruby asks, tilting her head.

"That's 'intimidating' not intimate." Weiss corrects, "But um, no it wasn't like that, really."

"Wasn't like what?" Jaune asks, and Pyrrha leans over and whispers in his ear, causing him to blush. "Oh!" He says, "Gosh, sorry. Yeah, um, okay then."

"What's going on?" Ruby asks, looking at everyone. The blushing, the denial, the words… then it hit her and her jaw dropped a little, turning red as well. "Wait, no, really it wasn't like that!"

"No, it's okay." Pyrrha says, "Completely understandable. Don't worry, your secret is safe with us." She says and tugs on Jaune's arm. "Come on, let's let them go. I'm sure they're quite worn out."

"Yeah, right. Well uh, nice meeting you two. Have a fun trip." He says with a wave as they leave.

"Dear lord that was mortifying." Weiss says.

"Almost as bad as the cow thing." Ruby says.

"Almo- wait, you didn't know 'intimate' but you know 'mortifying'?" She asks.

"I judged from context." Ruby says. "Can we just, you know, go? She was right about me being tired."

"Right, let's get out of here." Weiss says as they head back to the RV.

"It is too bad we didn't find it." Ruby says as she walks in, turning and plopping down on the couch. "Maybe the next one."

"Perhaps." Weiss says, "We just have to figure out where it is first."

"Yeah, who knew treasure hunting was such hard work?" Ruby asks.

"Did you expect it to be easy? If it was then the treasure wouldn't still be hidden would it?"

"I know. I just didn't expect it to be so exhausting."

"Are you that worn out?"

"Kinda." Ruby says, "And my back hurts from all that bending over. Couch beds probably don't help a lot either." Then she quickly adds, "Not that I'm not grateful."

"Well if it's that bad then you could always-" Weiss stops herself mid-sentence as she realized what she was about to say.

"Always what?" Ruby asks.

"Pillows." Weiss says, "You can grab some extra pillows from the closet. There should be plenty."

"Oh, right." Ruby says. "That's good to have. Pillows are nice. Soft."

"Yes they are." Weiss says. "Do you want to use the shower first?"

"Sure." Ruby says, getting up. "Probably need it." She says as she heads into the bathroom."

Weiss sighs and heads into her own room, falling down on her bed. It was a lot more relaxing than she'd expected it to be. To think of what she'd almost done with just a slip of the tongue. Letting out a sigh she sat up again, and walked over to the front of the RV, grabbing the small journal and sitting down in the driver's seat. "Let's see." She says, finding the next one. "Ugh, great, more of this."

"More of what?" Ruby says, leaning over the seat behind her.

Weiss looks back at her suddenly. "I didn't hear you get out. You startled me." She says.

"Sorry." Ruby says, "Ohhh, figure out where the next one is yet?" She asks as she notices the journal.

"Not yet. I'd only just gotten started."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Ruby says, "You know tons of stuff. Like, a whole rack of those brochures, but it's for lots of different places instead of just all for one or two places, you know?"

"I think I get your point. Thank you." Weiss says, "Now give me a minute to focus." She says as she starts to read. For a few minutes things fall into silence as she reads, and her face falls.

"What is it?" Ruby asks, "Do you not know where it is?"

"Oh I know exactly where it is." Weiss says.

"Awesome!" Ruby says, excited for a moment, and then with a confused look. "It is awesome right?"

"It's in Arches National Park. Filled with thousands of natural rock arches." She says

"Great. What's the problem?"

"The problem is, he says he hid it between two big rocks." Weiss explains.

Ruby's face falls then as she realizes. "Oh…"

"Yeah."

"Well uh, guess we better get started then. Gotta find it before anyone else does." She says.

"Yeah, I guess so." Weiss says. "You can sleep. I can drive overnight."

"You sure you don't want me to keep you company?" Ruby asks.

"I thought you were exhausted."

"I was. Then I had a nice hot shower. Now I'm better." Ruby says with a smile.

"Grab me an energy drink." Weiss says, putting the journal away. "Then do what you want."

"Got it." Ruby says, skipping over to the fridge and then coming back with two, handing one to Weiss.

Weiss notes that she's decided to stay up as she cracks open the drink. She honestly didn't care for them but they helped a lot with long night trips, and long night trips helped a lot with traffic problems. So she tipped the thing back and downed half of it at once before setting it in the cup holder and taking a deep breath. "Here we go then." She says, starting up the RV and taking off towards the next piece of gold.

…...

"Ughhh." Ruby groaned, leaning back in the passenger seat.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asks, glancing over for a second.

"Nothing." Ruby says, and then grimaces a bit.

Weiss swallows nervously, glancing over again. That was definitely a look of pain on her face. She knew how bad it could be when someone ignored a health issue, even something minor, so that wasn't going to happen here. "Ruby." she says firmly, "What is wrong?" Then as Ruby opened her mouth she adds "And don't say you're fine, you're clearly not. Now don't lie to me."

"Alright." Ruby says, "It's just embarrassing." She says.

"What is it?"

"Well, I kind of..." She hesitates.

"Ruby..."

"I just need to..." She trails off, clutching her stomach as it lets out a loud gurgle.

"Oh my God." Weiss says, pressing her hand to her face. To think she'd gotten so worried over something like that. "I told you didn't I?"

"Yeah."

"Never trust gas station burritos."

"I know that now." Ruby says, "It tasted fine though."

"Well you'll just have to wait." Weiss says. "I haven't drained the septic tank and I won't be able to until we get to the arches."

"What?" Ruby says loudly. "But I can't hold it that long!"

"You'll have to." Weiss says, "There aren't any gas stations between here and there so you'll just have to wait."

"What about a rest stop?" Ruby asks. "I saw a sign for one, it should be really close."

"No." Weiss says simply, "Those places are awful. You're much better than that."

"But I need to!"

Weiss sighs. She'd never actually been to one herself, but her grandfather, the man who was practically as people loving as Santa Claus, had always told her how awful they were. She figured if even he despised them then they must be truly awful. "Ruby you'll just have to-"

"No!" Ruby says, cutting her off. "If we don't stop I am going to explode. Better hope I don't sneeze or something or I might anyway." Then before Weiss can answer she leans in closely "Explode, Weiss! Boom!" she says, glaring heavily at her.

"Fine." Weiss says, "We can go."

"Thank you!" She sings out, sitting back in the seat, returned to her super sweet personality.

Just when Weiss thought she couldn't be surprised by her again, there was this. Just a minute later she pulled over into the rest stop. It was just a small building with a single street light, not even right on it but a bit away, as if the light itself refused to even touch the place. The only other vehicle was a large semi, pulled in in a bad parking job. "Alright now Ruby be-"

"Bye!" Ruby says, already bolting out the door.

"Wait Ruby, it's not safe!" Weiss says, getting up and running out after her. She managed to almost catch up just as Ruby reached the doors, only for someone to step out into just being visible, probably the owner of the semi. Just a few steps later and she was beside her as the guy came into view, Ruby having stopped in front of him.

"Hey there." He says, clearly trying his best to sound smooth. "Didn't expect to meet anyone around here. Especially not such excellent company."

Weiss looked him up and down. He had, of all things, blue hair. His clothes were better than she'd expect from a truck driver, but they just screamed that he was trying too hard. A red jacket over a white shirt and tie, but at the same time somewhat faded jeans, like he couldn't decide between trying to be fancy or casual in his fashion.

"Oh uh, ladies room is out." He says, gesturing at the sign on the door.

"Wait what? Now what do I do?" Ruby asks.

"Just use the men's." Weiss says.

"But that's the men's, I can't do that!" Ruby says, "I'm not a guy."

"It doesn't matter it's just a bathroom. Unless you want to, how did you put it, explode?"

"Don't worry, it's not too bad in there, for a rest stop anyway."

"Fine." Ruby says and bolts in. "Holy crap is that a trough? Those are real?" Comes through the door.

"So, it sounds like your friend is going to be a while." He says.

"Um, yes, it seems so." Weiss says.

"So she's Ruby, but I didn't quite catch your name, Snow Angel." He says with a smile.

"It's Weiss." She says, glancing around. For some reason he wasn't leaving, and she figured she knew why. "And you are?"

"Neptune." He says confidently, "Like the God of the Sea. You know, the one with the big trident."

"Yes, I'm aware." She says. Then it falls quiet for a moment. Not wanting to give him a chance to direct the conversation though, she speaks up quickly. "So, that's your truck?"

"Yep, keep it up myself." He says, "Trailer is for the company, but the real machine, that's all me." He gives her a wink at the last part.

"Oh, well good for you." She says, "Though most people would say it's overcompensating for something."

"Well uh, they'd be wrong." He says. "Care to take a look at the inside? I could give you a ride around."

"I've got my own, thank you." Weiss says, letting out an internal sigh. Luckily Ruby came out just then.

"That is so much better." She says, and then looks at the two of them. "Oh hey. You two, um, having a nice chat?"

Weiss opens her mouth to talk, but then pauses for just a second. "Yes." She says, "Wonderful."

"Uh yeah, great." Neptune says as well, though even he seemed a bit surprised by that.

"Now, I need to tend to something in the RV before we go." Weiss says, grabbing Ruby by the shoulders. "How about you chat with Nep here while I do so?"

"Wait what?" Ruby asks, her eyes going wide.

"Just keep him distracted." Weiss whispers to her, and then quickly moves back to the RV. Heading inside she searches around, looking through drawers. Eventually she comes on a screwdriver. "Perfect." She says, stepping out of the RV and moving over to his truck. Bending down she unscrewed the cap on the valve and pressed the screwdriver into it, letting it deflate with a loud hiss.

As soon as one deflated she moved onto the next. She hated how long it took but she just had to be patient and let Ruby keep him distracted. There were pretty good odds he wouldn't be coming back to check on his truck while he still had a girl to talk to. She'd seen guys like him dozens of times, shameless flirts, usually with nothing behind it. Hit on any woman they could get within earshot. Of course that didn't mean she was going to deal with that easily. It would also help keep him off the road if he decided to do a bit of treasure hunting while he was on his delivery.

After a bit it finally finished, the last tire deflating. Putting the caps in her pocket and hiding the screwdriver behind her back, tucking it into her pants. Quickly she hurried over to where Ruby was. "Hey there." She says as she arrives, grabbing her by the wrist. "It looks like we're running a little late, we better be going."

"Oh really? Well that's too bad." He says, we were just having a nice little chat.

"Heh, yeah, nice." Ruby says with a clearly fake smile.

"Yes I'm sure." Weiss says, "Anyway, bye." She pulls on Ruby's wrist and leads her away. "Walk fast but don't run." She says to her.

"Yeah, got it." Ruby says, walking quickly beside her. As soon as they get into the RV both jump into their seats, Ruby buckling up quickly.

Weiss starts it up, pulling it out quickly and then heading out of the rest stop as fast as possible. Once out on the road again she takes a moment to buckle up. Just after she did she felt a punch to her shoulder, then a few more in rapid succession.

"Stop. Leaving. Me. With. Weird. People!" Ruby says, each word accentuated with a hit, the last one fairly solid. Then she crossed her arms in the seat and glared over at Weiss.

"You don't need to hit me." Weiss says, rubbing her shoulder. "Besides, it was all for a good cause." She says, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the caps, handing them over to Ruby.

"What are…" Ruby starts, trailing off as she looks at them. "Wait, these are…" she looks over at Weiss. "You didn't!"

"Yep." Weiss says. "One less person on the road to deal with."

"Weiss, can you just promise me one thing?" Ruby asks.

"What's that?"

"No more rest stops, ever."

"Deal."

…...

Weiss looked around as she drove, though she was really doing more of the first than the second. Finally having reached the town just before the next national park they needed to visit she was now stuck in standstill traffic. She couldn't even blame it on anyone, as probably a good two-thirds of the people were prospectors just like herself.

Yawning she looked over at the passenger seat. She'd already gotten used to Ruby sitting there, so with her sleeping away on the pull out Weiss kept glancing over at the empty seat. She wasn't quite sure how Ruby was still asleep either. While she'd pulled over to sleep herself for the night, she'd been up for a while now. Ruby on the other hand had gone to sleep before her and was still asleep now, over ten hours later.

After what felt like a few hours of sitting in traffic, but was probably just one and a half at most, she decided to give up for a bit. Pulling over she made her way into the parking lot for a restaurant, shutting the RV off and relaxing back in her seat for a moment. Just as she was about to get up though, Ruby chose that moment to do so as well.

"Hngh, are we there yet?" She groaned and then let out a yawn, leaning on the seats.

"No, we're not." Weiss says, "But traffic is stopped at the moment so I thought I'd stop for some breakfast."

Ruby lets out a soft, fake-offended gasp. "Without me?" She asks.

"You were asleep." Weiss says, "Though I will eat without you if don't get dressed quickly."

"I can do quick!" Ruby says, grabbing her clothes and heading into the bathroom. She comes out a moment later having changed, and seeming to have gotten rid of her exhaustion as well. "There, all ready."

"Seriously, what do you do in there when you get changed? You were barely standing a minute ago."

"Those were bedtime clothes." Ruby says, "I put those on and my body goes 'oh bedtime clothes, guess I should be tired'. These are daytime clothes, so my body knows to wake up."

Weiss blinks a few times, processing the information. "Well, if you say so. Anyway, we should be going. With as many people as there are they might just run out of food."

"Nooo, I need food." Ruby says, jumping out the door, completely skipping the steps. "Come on Weiss we don't wanna be late!"

"Right." Weiss says, stepping down much more slowly and following Ruby into the dinner at a much more subdued pace. As they entered she noticed a sign saying to grab a menu and seat yourself, so she reached over, taking some. Smiling just a bit to herself she reached just a bit to her left and grabbed something else before they headed over and sat down.

"You got me one too right?" Ruby asks.

"Yep, right here." Weiss says, sliding her a piece of paper and a small box.

Ruby looks down for a moment and then realizes what she was looking at. A kids menu and a box of crayons for coloring. She breaks into a broad smile suddenly. "Sweet I didn't know they had those." She says.

Weiss sighs softly. Of course Ruby would be excited about coloring in a menu. She watches as Ruby picks up one of the crayons and begins coloring the page. "That was meant to be a joke. The real menu is here." She says, holding it out.

"Oh cool, I'll need that one for food." Ruby says, taking it and opening it. "Got it." She says immediately and closes it again, going back to coloring.

A few moments later a waitress walks over to their table. "So, can I start you off with some drinks?" She asks.

"Coffee, black." Weiss says.

"Chocolate milk." Ruby says, causing Weiss to sigh softly.

"Alright. Do you need a minute to order?" She asks them then.

"I'll have the number three, eggs over easy, no yolks if possible." Weiss says, handing the menu back.

"Strawberry pancakes." Ruby says, handing hers back as well.

"You want the adult or the kid's size?" The waitress asks, causing Weiss to give out a small snort of laughter that she barely held in, followed by receiving a swift kick to the shin.

"Adult please." Ruby says.

"I'll be right back." She says and walks away.

"That wasn't funny!" Ruby immediately says, glaring at her.

"You really had it coming, between the menu and the chocolate milk." Weiss says.

"Hey I like chocolate milk, and I know how to enjoy the simple things in life. Doesn't mean I need people patronizing me."

"Fine, fine." Weiss says. "I'm just surprised you knew the word patronizing." She adds, only to get another kick in the shin, much weaker this time though. "Stop kicking me."

"Stop being rude." Ruby says and sticks out her tongue for a moment. Just then the waitress comes back, setting the drinks down. Both are enormous, with the mug of coffee looking like it could fit a whole pot, and the chocolate milk almost seemed to be half a gallon's worth.

"I'll be right back with your food." The waitress says, leaving quickly to take care of the other customers.

Ruby reaches over, taking a large drink of her milk. "Mmm, yummy." She says, licking off the small milk mustache she'd gotten.

"Well look what we have here." A voice comes out, causing the both of them to look over.

"Oh joy." Weiss says with a sigh as Yang, Blake, and Sun stride over.

"Yeah yeah great to see you too." Yang says, sitting down beside Ruby. "Grab a seat guys."

"We're not paying for your food." Weiss says as Blake sits beside her, Sun crowding in to the last open spot on the same side.

"Aww, won't you help us?" Yang asks, fake pouting, looking over at Ruby. "You've got all that gold now and we're out here living on scraps."

"Sorry, Weiss said no." Ruby says, "She'd grumble the whole time if I did. Plus I think gold is a bit much for diner breakfast."

"Ah, so that's it huh?" Yang says, "Old ball and chain won't let you? I understand. Happy wife happy life as they say."

Ruby looks taken aback, her jaw working as she tries to form words, but clearly not succeeding. Luckily she's saved by the waitress' return. "Here you are." She says, setting the breakfasts down, both just as oversized as the drinks are. "Anything for the rest of you?"

"Dang now that's a lot of food. Well I guess I should chew-se." She says, emphasizing the last word.

"Ugh, great now you killed my appetite." Weiss says.

"Sweet I'll take yours."

"And it's back. Order your own." She says, "Separate bills."

"I'll have the number four with toast and a glass of tea." Blake says.

"Same but with bacon." Sun says.

"Glass of milk to go with waffles, fruit, sausage, and bacon." Yang says, earning a look of disbelief from Weiss. "What? Unlike a twig like you I can actually eat food."

"You got it." The waitress says, heading away just before Weiss responded to Yang.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Weiss asks.

"Means your tiny. Like a toothpick. I could probably throw you a long way like a javelin, but I don't trust you that much."

"Yes well I trust you exactly as far as I could throw a buffoon like you."

"Sank your own boat to take me down with you on that one didn't you?" Yang says.

Hardly. I'm not weak, I just don't see you getting thrown very far."

"Stop it." Ruby interrupts. "No fighting at the table. We've got food getting cold." She says as she eats.

"Yeah, maybe you'll finally get a bit of color in your skin if you eat something." Yang says.

"Oh shut it you oversized wig rack." Weiss says as she takes a bite.

"Leave it, Yang. We're at their table after all." Blake says.

"Fine." Yang says, dropping the subject and looking out the window. She didn't have to bother for long though, as soon enough the waitress returned with their food.

"Here you go." She says, setting down the food and drinks. "Anything else?"

"Nope." Yang says.

"I'm fine." Blake says with a nod.

"All good." Sun says as he gives a thumbs up.

"Alrighty, enjoy your meal." She says with a smile and turns to head to another table.

"Sweet!" Yang says, "That is a crapton of food."

"Well it will be once you digest." Sun says.

"Sun, please don't say things like that while I'm eating." Blake asks as she takes a bite.

"Heh, sorry." He says, digging in as well. "So, I guess you guys haven't found the treasure if you're here then."

"Not yet." Ruby says, "We would be there already, but traffic was bad and it was breakfast time so we figured food was good."

"Food is always good." Yang says. "Well, usually. Some people can't cook."

"Trust me I am perfectly aware of that." Weiss says.

"Oh really? Let me guess, you can burn water." Yang says as she takes another bite.

"Hardly." Weiss says as she rolls her eyes. "I am actually capable in the kitchen… mostly."

"Mostly?" Blake asks.

"I can manage, okay. It's not five star food, but it's perfectly edible."

"Now it's a bit more believable." Yang says, "A bit."

"As if you can cook." Weiss says, taking a drink. "You probably couldn't make ice."

"Hey I'll have you know I can cook perfectly well." Yang says, "Tell her, Blake."

"She can do okay." Blake says, "Sun's better. She can bake though."

Yang opens her mouth as if to protests and then closes it and shrugs. "Eh, I'll take it." She says.

"Looks like traffic is starting to clear up." Ruby says, looking out the window as she eats.

"Cool, we'll be able to hit the road soon, and find that treasure before you guys." Yang says,

"Unlikely." Weiss says, "We found the first one, and we're much more likely to find the second than you are. History says so."

"Hey, you guys got lucky." Yang says, "And you had our equipment to help you. Just cause you found that one doesn't mean you'll find the other."

"Perhaps, but you also haven't found any, despite having been looking longer than we have. Clearly we're better at this than you are." Weiss says.

"Don't be mean, Weiss." Ruby says, "Maybe we did just get lucky. Lots of other people were looking too after all, and it's not like we found that other one in the canyons."

"Ha, see." Yang says, "Even she knows it."

"That goes for you too, Yang." Blake says, "At least they've found one. You thought that it was on top of Ship Rock and it wasn't anywhere near there."

Yang deflates a bit at that. "True, but still, I wasn't the only one who thought that."

"Which is probably why we didn't find it." Sun says, "Gotta think outside the box."

"Why would I do that when the gold is inside the box?" Yang asks with a grin.

Ruby gives a small snort of laughter. "Wow and I thought Weiss' jokes were bad."

"Hey!" Both Weiss and Yang say at the same time.

"My jokes are not that bad!" Weiss says.

"I can't be worse than her, there's no way someone like her has a sense of humor." Yang says.

"I'll have you know my sense of humor is just fine." Weiss says, "Just because I don't choose to use it often doesn't mean it's not there."

"That's what he said." Yang says.

"And now you're just making my point. Your jokes are either bad puns or simply crass."

"Crass?" Yang asks, "I'm taking humor advice from someone who uses the word crass?"

"Just because my vocabulary is greater than yours does not mean I can't make a joke. If anything it provides more avenues with which to do so."

"Now you're just talking big cause I made fun of your words aren't you?" Yang asks.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Didn't we ask you two to calm down?" Ruby asks, "Let's talk about something else."

"Sounds good." Sun says, "So, you two, what do you plan on doing with that gold you got? Big plans?"

"Oh yeah." Ruby says, "I'm gonna buy a strawberry patch. Maybe a rose garden. Lots of pretty plants. They'll go around my mansion."

"Well that sounds dull." Weiss says, "Just one place? I'll be making the smart investment. A small home with a sixteen car garage to hold all of my RV's." She says and they both grin a bit.

"Wow, that's a lot of RV's." Yang says.

"You must really enjoy travelling." Blake adds.

"I suppose." Weiss says, "Its how I grew up so it's all I really know. Stopping in one place for too long just feels like it would be confining."

"So your parents must have traveled a bunch then right?" Sun asks.

Weiss looks down at her plate then, pushing a bit of food around with her fork. She wasn't one to usually talk about this, or try to deal with it at all for that matter, but it had been a bit of time so she figured she could manage it. Taking a deep sigh to prepare herself she finally spoke. "No, actually. I... I don't know much of what they did at all. I grew up with my grandfather. The RV was his before he..." She trails off then.

"Oh sorry." He says, "I didn't know."

"No, that's okay. It was a while back." Weiss says, "He was sick before it happened too, probably for the better. We just had to stop moving so much once he got sick. He hated staying in one place so much, and I guess I can't really blame him. We both got used to being on the road."

"Yeah that happens." Blake says, "We're kind of the same. Started out a while back and just haven't stopped since."

"You okay, Weiss?" Ruby asks gently, looking over at her with concern.

"I'm fine." She says, "Just thinking... I suppose it's probably for the better that I managed to stay with him. Even if we did have to stop for a while once he was gone I was back on the road, just like he wanted to be. I suppose he did always say I was a chip off the ol-" Her eyes go wide and she looks up, just as Yang does the same.

Reaching back she grabs her wallet and pulls out a wad of money, slamming it down on the table as she gets up while Yang just jumps up, grabbing Sun and Blake and running for the door. "Come on." Weiss says, grabbing Ruby's wrist and dragging her along as she ran out as well, bursting out the door into the driveway.

Immediately she spotted Yang and her crew ahead, already jumping into their own RV. "Hurry!" She shouted, running along as Ruby finally managed to find her feet, following her to the RV.

"What's going on?" Ruby asks as they climb in, Weiss jumping into the driver's seat and already starting it as Ruby got sat down.

"I know where it is!" Weiss says as she pulls out, twisting the RV around and gunning it out of the parking lot. "I know where it is." She said again, softer this time, more to reassure herself. She pulled out onto the road, following behind Yang closely, unable to find a place to pass.

Just then she has to lean back as Ruby moves in front of her, half blocking her view. Before she can ask what she's doing Ruby grabs the belt, buckling her in, before leaning back and doing the same herself.

"Okay better. Now what do you mean?" Ruby asks.

"Do you remember that one rock in the brochures? Balancing rock?"

"Um, yeah, I think so."

"The journal said he hid the gold between two identical rocks. Well there used to be a second rock just like it. They called it 'Chip off the old block', or just Chip for short. It collapsed around fifty years ago."

"Fifty year-" Ruby's eyes go wide "IT WOULD HAVE STILL BEEN THERE!"

"Yeah, I bet that's where the treasure is, between those two rocks."

"Oh wow, that's awesome!" Ruby says, "Way to go, Weiss!"

"It's just something I happened to know. Yang knew it too though." Weiss says. She was going as fast as she dared, but Yang's lead was growing. If she didn't start going faster they'd never catch up. Resolving herself and praying they didn't get caught, she started to speed up, just as an eighteen wheeler pulled onto the road in front of her, between the two RV's.

There was no way she'd catch up with Yang if she stayed behind this thing. Gritting her teeth for a moment she braced herself. "Hang on!" She says, but doesn't wait for a response as she pulls into the oncoming lane for an illegal pass.

She floored the gas, picking up speed as they drove alongside the trailer, which was already slowing down, probably having spotted their reckless pass. Ahead of them an SUV was coming towards them, far too close for comfort. Weiss gripped the wheel with white knuckles as the pushed the old RV to its limit trying to get it to go faster.

They were almost even with the trailer now, the oncoming SUV having come to a complete stop ahead of them. On their left a rail kept them from going off the road and passing that way. They were pinned until they could get ahead; if they could get ahead.

They started to edge out the trailer then, just barely. It finally came to a complete stop and Weiss pulled the wheel hard to the right, barely getting between the SUV and the trailer, as horns blared from both of them. She lined herself up in the proper lane again. They were safe.

For a moment there is silence before Ruby yells out, "Oh my gods!" she says before breaking into laughter.

Weiss begins laughing a bit as well for a moment, her breathing heavy. After just a bit though she gets hold of herself. "It's not over yet." She says.

"Yeah!" Ruby says, bracing herself. "Go get 'em!" She cheers.

Weiss can't stop a small grin at the encouragement as she presses the gas down again, gaining on Yang just ahead of them. The distance between the two RV's shrinks quickly as they burst through the turn off to the arches. Weiss grabs the pass hanging from the mirror and slaps it to the window, flashing it at the park rangers as they go by, though she's not even sure they'd have time to check it with how quickly they flew by them.

Flooring the pedal she gets closer and closer to Yang. It was hard to keep up when their RV was so much newer but she managed to close in on her. As she reeled her in she once again swung into the oncoming lane to try for a pass. This time was even more dangerous as they were going around curves and anyone could come around at a moment's notice and slam into them. She could only pray that didn't happen as she pushed the RV to its very limits.

Slowly but surely she managed to come up even with her. Out of the side of her vision she can see Yang with a fire in her eyes. Weiss grins a bit at the surprise on Yang's face when she notices they've caught up. Pulling the wheel to the right she slams the RVs together, the awful sound of metal on metal reaching her ears as she tries to push her off the road.

Just as she pulls away Yang matches her, slamming them together again with a sound that made her want to curl up. She managed to avoid being run off the road as Yang pulls back, not retaliating as the side of the road has dropped off and it could be truly dangerous now.

They fly by a sign telling them it's only a few more miles till balanced rock, but not which direction it is. Just a moment later and they're coming upon a fork in the road; one way leads to the treasure, the other somewhere else. Another sign stands telling them the way, or it would if it hadn't been damaged. Now Weiss had no idea which direction it was, but she was sure Yang didn't either. Unfortunately there wasn't a decision to be made. She couldn't get over, but neither could Yang. They only had a minute before Yang barreled down the exit, heading away from them, and Weiss went to the left.

Almost as soon as they got away from each other Weiss began to slow down, eventually reaching a perfectly normal speed. Both she and Ruby stared ahead, out the windshield, at the empty road. Finally after her adrenaline began to crash and her heart slowed down Weiss spoke up. "So, you okay?" She asks.

"I'm uh, I'm fine." Ruby says. "Alive, I think."

"We do seem to be." Weiss says.

"Good." Ruby says. "Can we, um, never ever do that again?"

"Right, of course." Weiss says. "I certainly hope so."

"Okay, that works."

The two of them fall silent again as they continue driving. After a bit Weiss considers that maybe they'd taken the wrong path; that Yang was now already digging into Balanced Rock to find the treasure. Just before she was considering turning around though, it appeared. Unlike some of the other attractions, there wasn't hardly anybody here, and most seemed to be tourists and sightseers rather than treasure hunters. It seemed not many people had actually given Balanced Rock a lot of thought. She couldn't blame them, it wasn't her first thought either.

Finding a parking space was easy and she pulled the RV in, shutting it down. As she stepped out her legs were shaky, still not fully recovered from the speeding down the road apparently. Being on solid ground was already helping a bit though. Looking over she saw Ruby was recovering better than she was, already with the shovel over her shoulder and the metal detector, in hand.

Weiss followed along then, her legs getting more study beneath her as she went. They were mostly ignored by the sightseers, though that was to be expected. As many prospectors as there had been out here today, people were probably just expecting more failures. There were a few spots of turned up dirt here and there, so some people had been out this way, but she expected they hadn't looked very hard.

"Hey, over here?" Ruby asks, standing near Balanced Rock.

"Over there." Weiss says, pointing to a pile of rubble where the smaller rock used to be. "It used to be right there. So if we're looking we'll want to start searching there."

"Hurry up then, Slowpoke." Ruby says, moving the metal detector around on the outside of the rubble.

Weiss took a moment to pause and watch. She would give Ruby credit for determination if nothing else. She'd come out to Balanced Rock and didn't even take in the sights. It was kind of a shame actually, but she'd figured out by now that Ruby could get pretty into things when her mind could actually focus, and now she was really into the treasure hunt. Perhaps they would have to come back after all this was done, redo the trip but this time with the focus being on all the sights rather than on the treasure so she could truly enjoy it.

Breaking from her musings Weiss made her way over to the pile and began shifting rocks from the outside. "Scan after I move the rocks out of the way, if people have missed it then it's probably because it's buried under all of this."

"Roger, Captain!" Ruby says, giving a small salute and holding the metal detector at the ready, shovel already set aside.

Weiss shook her head a bit as she began to move the rocks. It was slow work, shifting one rock at a time, some being quite large. A few were too big for her to lift so she simply pushed them off of the unstable other rocks. As she did Ruby was right behind her, scanning each bit she uncovered, hoping to find the treasure.

It was slow work, hard and tedious. It wasn't long before she began to get sore. Her back aching from bending over, sweat causing her clothes to stick to her skin, and her arms beginning to get exhausted from the repeated lifting and moving. She wouldn't say she was too out of shape from her time on the road, but spending most of her time in a driver's seat with a fair amount of walking certainly didn't exactly make her good at lifting and moving rocks.

"Are you having trouble? Do you want me to take over?" Ruby asks, noticing her heavy breathing.

"No, I'll be fine." Weiss says, "This just isn't something I'm used to."

"Yeah, you don't really look the weight lifting type." Ruby chuckles. "I bet if Yang was here she'd be having an easy time of it."

Weiss gritted her teeth a bit and then got back to work, redoubling her efforts. It was likely Yang had already realized she'd taken the wrong path and would circle back around soon. Aside from that she simply was not going to be outdone by her. She wasn't sure what it was but she seemed to clash with her quite a bit, and it brought out her usually dormant competitive side.

It was only after a minute of moving rocks that she realized she'd been played, and that motivating her had been Ruby's entire intent in mentioning their treasure hunting rival. It was almost worth thanks, since she'd managed to get more work done in that minute than in the last three combined. Instead she simply continued working, picking up a rock almost as big as her upper body just enough to shift it to the side and let it tumble off of the pile. Almost as soon as she did the metal detector began to beep, causing her and Ruby to share a look.

"I'll grab the shovel." Ruby says and quickly hurries off as Weiss stands up straighter, pulling out her water bottle and drinking from it.

She looks over as Ruby returns, setting the metal detector against a rock and walking over with the shovel. When she makes a move to grab it though, Ruby pulls it away.

"Uh uh. You did all the rock moving, I'm not gonna let you do everything." She says.

"Ruby you can't be-"

"I am." She interrupts. "If you want the shovel, you gotta take it."

Weiss decides she's too exhausted to argue and steps aside. "Fine, have at it then."

Ruby smiles as she walks over. She then spins the shovel around one arm, then her waist, and then the other arm in a surprising show of coordination, letting it lead right into stabbing directly into the ground as if she was trying to kill something in it.

"You don't have to show off." Weiss says, "Especially if you're going to do it wrong. You need to adjust the blade of the shovel at an angle. It's a spoon, not a fork."

"Oh, right." Ruby says, giving a small nervous chuckle and pulling it out.

"Here, like this." Weiss steps over, putting her hands on top of Ruby's on the shovel and guiding it at the angle it would need to strike at. She notices the tension in Ruby's body for a second as she does, which fades away after a second.

"Sorry, do you get it?" Weiss asks, stepping back.

"It's fine. Just didn't expect that. Yeah, thanks." She says and begins to work it much more properly.

Weiss would have to admit to being surprised at Ruby's progress. It seemed the ground was a bit firm, but nevertheless Ruby was doing decent work. She sat back on a rock and watched as she worked, each shovel of dirt getting tossed and scattered onto the other rocks as she flung it about haphazardly, luckily not in Weiss' direction.

Eventually the shovel struck something most certainly neither dirt nor stone and both of them looked at one another. Ruby held out the shovel, now breathing heavier and sweating harder. "Here." She says, "I think you'd be better at this precise stuff and I don't wanna mess it up."

"Of course. You've earned a rest anyway." Weiss says, moving over and taking the shovel. She taps away lightly finding the edges of the box and beginning to scrape them away. Then she dug deeper around it, before sliding the shovel under it and lifting it a bit out of the ground.

Ruby quickly bent down, brushing away the dirt with her hands to reveal the old wooden box, identical to the one already in their possession. "Do you wanna do it?" She asks.

"Not here." Weiss says, looking around for a second before holding a finger to her lips as a sign of silence and nodding toward the parking lot.

Ruby nods and picks up the box, a bit of a strain in her arms at the weight. Definitely a really good sign. When Weiss moves to take it from her she turns away. "Nope. You get the other stuff." She says.

Weiss gives a small frown but complies. Grabbing the shovel and metal detector they both quickly make their way back to the RV.

Once inside Ruby sets the box on the counter as Weiss sets the equipment aside. She then opens the drawer and grabs a hammer and screwdriver to smash the lock with. "Weissssss." She says and holds them out.

"You handle it." Weiss says, seeing how excited she is, not that she can blame her.

"Eeeeeee." Ruby lets out a high pitched squeal and bounces from one foot to the other with a smile.

Weiss can't help but smile as well. If she'd known it was that important to her she'd have let her done it with the last one. She watches as Ruby very carefully lines it up, and in two strikes manages to break the lock off without damaging the wood around it.

"Come on." Ruby says, setting the tools aside and putting one hand on the box, off to the side where Weiss could put her hand on the opposite one.

Weiss rolls her eyes a bit but puts her hand on it as well. "Now." She says and they both lift up, revealing the treasure inside. Numerous dull gold nuggets, even more than the last one, filled the box full. Reaching over Weiss plucked one out, feeling its weight in her palm and rolling it in her hand. She then handed it over to Ruby.

She took the piece and held it in both hands as she looked down at it with a grin, rolling it between both hands and then holding it up in one. Once she was done looking she gently placed it back into the box.

Once she had Weiss took the box and placed it in a drawer, sealing it away. It was almost good to have it put away. The whole thing had a weight about it much more than physical. That much gold, so solid, dense, and worth so much, just sitting out, it had a real presence.

Ruby flopped down on the couch then, letting out a deep sigh and then into some laughter. "We're kinda awesome." She says. "Best treasure hunters ever!" She throws her arms into the air for a second. "They'll call us 'The Huntresses', treasure hunters so great that once people hear we're looking for it, they just give up cause we're gonna find it first."

Weiss smiles a bit and sits down beside Ruby. "I suppose we are fairly good at this." She says. "I'm surprised it's gone this well. We only have the one left."

"Just one?" Ruby asks, sitting up a bit. "Really?"

"It seems so. The next entry is the last one. After that it's all stuff that's been added by historians." Weiss says, holding up the journal.

"Wow." Ruby says. "We're almost done."

"Almost." Weiss says. For a moment there's a silence between them before Weiss breaks it. "So shall we look?"

"Yeah." Ruby nods once. "Might as well."

Weiss opens it, turning to the last journal entry. She reads over it, then again just to be certain. Closing it she sighs. "The Valley of Fire." She says, almost with resignation, but absolute certainty.

"You seem sure." Ruby says.

"No doubt." Weiss says. "If it's anywhere, then it's there. It won't be anywhere else. The Valley of Fire." She repeats almost as if to reaffirm herself. Though with the way it was written the journal did everything except say its name.

"Cool." Ruby says simply.

"That's it? Cool?" Weiss asks. She'd expect jubilant exclamations or questions, but instead just got one word. "You're not going to ask how it stays on fire?"

Ruby pouts, though it's less adorable and more deadpan. "I'm not stupid." She says.

"I never said you-"

"You think I'd think a place is on fire?" Ruby asks. "What am I? Nine?"

"Well when you say it like that it does sound ridiculous." Weiss says.

"It is." Ruby says.

Weiss signs once more, though this one is distinctly different. "I'm sorry for assuming you'd make such an absurd guess." Weiss says.

"That's better." Ruby says, "Now what is this place?"

"It's like..." Weiss begins, "A sea of red. Everything from the sand to the stones is red."

"Cool." Ruby says again. "Red is my favorite color."

"I'm sure it is." Weiss says. "Well, I'm exhausted. I believe I'll sleep before we head out."

"Me too." Ruby says as Weiss gets up.

Weiss pauses at the door. She can feel it, something is off now. She's not sure what though. "Ruby..." She starts, but stops just as Ruby looks over from pulling out the bed. "Good night." She says and heads into her room.

"Good night." She hears Ruby return as she lies down on the bed. Whatever was going on, it felt like it was only the beginning. She didn't know if that was good, or bad. Nevertheless, it kept her tossing and turning for a while before she finally fell asleep.

...

As she woke up the next morning Weiss dragged herself out of the room. Grabbing some clothes she went straight into the bathroom to get changed. On stepping out she saw Ruby already awake and putting the bed away. "Yours if you want it." Weiss says, gesturing to the bathroom.

"Thanks." Ruby says, putting the cushions on the couch and beginning to fold the blanket.

Weiss walks over to the counter to find coffee already there, probably started by Ruby at some point though she wouldn't have any idea as to when. She grabs herself a cup and begins to pour it as she lets out a yawn, her eyes screwing shut as she did. Then she realized the sound was different and looked down to see that she'd moved the pot away from the cup and poured it onto the counter.

"Dang it!" She lets out, jumping back a bit and then putting the pot back where it belonged.

"I got it." Ruby says, reaching for a rag to dry it up with.

Weiss' hand moves though, blocking the way of Ruby's and grabbing the towel herself. "I'll do it." Weiss says, looking over at Ruby for a second as she picked up the rag and then turned to begin cleaning up the mess.

"Fine." Ruby says a bit curtly. A moment later Weiss hears the bathroom door close and sighs. She'd have to deal with... whatever that was later.

Once she finished cleaning up the mess she poured herself another cup, much more carefully. Just as she started to make her way to the driver's seat Ruby came out, joining her in the passenger's seat. Neither said anything as Weiss started it up, pulling out on the road and heading towards the Valley of Fire. Towards the last piece of the gold that had kept them together all this time.

...

Weiss can't bring herself to break the silence as they drive. She glances over at Ruby on occasion, seeing her staring out the window, lost in her own world for the most part. While she's used to driving with music, for some reason it feels like doing so now would be a kind of betrayal. Though she's aware that Ruby isn't completely gone, catching glimpses out of the corner of her eye of her moving, looking over, but only when Weiss isn't. Though Weiss is being careful to do the same thing.

It's a tension in the air, she's sure Ruby can feel it as well as she can. Something both of them are refusing to address.

After hours of driving, many cups of coffee, and a lot of silence about as heavy as the gold they were searching for, they found their way to the Valley of Fire. Weiss put the RV in park and shut it down, sitting back with a sigh. "We're here." She says.

"I can't believe this is it." Ruby says. "It's almost over."

"Yeah. The last one." Weiss says.

"There's not many people here." Ruby points out. "They don't seem to be looking either."

"I guess we left them all behind." Weiss says. "Too fast for them."

"Yeah, that must be it." Ruby says.

"Well, let's narrow it down." Weiss says, pulling out the book. Even though it hadn't been long it was starting to look worn down. The spine cracking and the pages looking ready to tear. It was probably just because it was so cheap, but it almost felt like it was a sign of progress, of how much had happened in such a short time. That or Weiss was just getting to be a bit too sympathetic for a cheap book. Even if it had been important to her recently.

Opening it she turned to the page and read it over once more. She only needed to do so once though before she set it aside. "Windstone arch." She says.

"Is that like the ones we saw earlier?" Ruby asks.

"No." Weiss says. "It's more of a cave actually. That's where it is though. It's vague but... that's where it is."

"Then I guess that's where we're going." Ruby says.

"Right." Weiss says. For a moment neither moves, but eventually they do both get up and step out. It's hot, that's for sure, but at this point that's hardly relevant. Not like either of them isn't used to the heat.

As they walk they both take a bit of time to look around, not just for the cave, but taking in the sights as well. Especially Ruby, turning around at times to see everything. Without the massive crowds it's much easier to enjoy the view, and since they already know where the gold is it's not like she has to keep her head down and focus on looking for it.

Weiss can't help but watch a bit as she turns in circles while walking, the blue sky contrasting with the various reds, browns, and even pinks of the landscape. She had to agree on one thing though, red really was her color. Somehow it seemed to fit her, being here surrounded by it.

Eventually they did manage to find the place. Stopping before it Weiss would have to admit it did look intimidating. Even despite being less grand than the other monuments they'd been to, it somehow felt far more imposing. Like stepping in meant there was no turning back. A doorway to more than just a cave, with no clue what was on the other side.

Looking over Weiss saw that Ruby was just as nervous, staring at the rock like it was an authority figure about to rule a judgement upon them. It was an accurate description of how Weiss felt as well. It was daunting, but it was something they had to face. They couldn't back down now; they had to keep moving forward.

"You ready?" Weiss asks, still staring at the entrance.

"Yeah. You?" Ruby returns the question.

"As ready as I will be. Come on." Weiss says and walks in with Ruby following behind her.

The cave was just as red as the rest of the rock, a deep crimson that showed its color especially in places where the light filtered in through the cracks in the top. The walls seemed to ripple with the various shadows and shades of red mixing to create odd lighting in places.

"It's really pretty." Ruby says.

"Yes it is." Weiss says.

As she looked over she couldn't help but notice how red everything was, or to be more specific, how well Ruby seemed to fit. The red of the stone and the reflected light highlighting the undertones of her hair, and tinge of her cheeks, the blend with her red clothes and contrast with the black of her clothes and hair. She had been right about one thing, red certainly was her color. "It really is."

"Let's do this then." Ruby says, looking over at her. They share a single nod and Ruby begins scanning around with the metal detector, over the ground and walls, anywhere it could be hidden. Weiss simply watches, staying out of the way as she does. It's not long before the metal detector goes off, beeping over a spot in the wall with a small hole in it, not even big enough to fit a hand into.

Weiss moves forward as Ruby backs up, taking the small pickaxe they'd brought. She gets between Ruby and the wall and begins to swing at it, careful not to hit Ruby as she does. What she lacks in raw power she makes up for in precision, easily chipping away around the hole to widen it out more and more where the cave had sealed over it. Once it was large enough she sets it down with a huff and prepares herself, hoping that nothing had decided to camp out in there. A spider bite was the last thing she needed right now.

Quickly she stuck her hand in, finding the feel of wood beneath her fingers. She pulls it with a sharp tug and it comes out easily. Holding it in both hands she can feel the weight, there's no doubt about what is inside. Even so, they need to make sure. "Ready?" She asks Ruby. She gets a nod in return and, before either of them can backtrack or hesitate, she opens the box easily, the lock already long since gone. Inside laid a pile of gold nuggets, just like the last. In this case, it truly was the last.

For a moment both are silent as they look down at the final pieces of gold. The end of their treasure hunt. The end of their beginning. "So... what now?" Weiss asks as she looks down at them, then moving her gaze up to Ruby.

"Umm..." Ruby hesitates, clearly not knowing the answer either. For a moment she pauses and thinks, tilting her head a bit. Then her eyes get a spark and she gives a small smile. "Let's go hiking." She says, "I saw a sign for a trail on the way up here. We're already here, might as well enjoy the sights." She gives a small shrug.

Weiss blinks for a second in surprise and then smiles softly, closing her eyes and lucking down. She chuckles a bit and looks back up. "Yeah, hiking. That sounds good." She says. Leave it to Ruby to find an answer so simple, and yet so fitting.

...

"This trail is awful." Weiss says as they walk. They'd stored their things away and were know on the hiking trail, but it could hardly be called that. It was more just walking in a place a few people had walked before, with a few sparsely placed signs denoting the right direction. "How do they expect people to not get lost? The treasure was easier to find."

"Just enjoy it you party pooper." Ruby says. "It's not about the path you take; it's about how much you enjoy getting where you're going." She looks back at Weiss, "And the people you get there with."

Weiss shakes her head a bit with a small smile. "Of course it is." She says. It made complete sense that Ruby would see it that way. She wouldn't care where she went at all, as long as she was enjoying the trip. Weiss figured that might be a lesson she could learn herself. She had certainly come to enjoy this trip after all, it was certainly worth more than just the gold they'd found. There was no doubt in her mind she'd have enjoyed it regardless of if they had been successful.

"So," Ruby starts, "What is this thing you were talking about? Fire water? Fire Falls?"

"Fire Wave." Weiss says, "It's a sort of phenomenon where the wind moves through the rocks and sand and looks like fire." She explains, "At least to the best of my knowledge."

"Wait." Ruby stops, "You mean you don't know?"

"I know." Weiss says, "I just explained it to you didn't I?"

"You don't know." Ruby says with a grin.

"I do too. I may not have witnessed it in person but I have seen pictures." Weiss says as Ruby skips over to her.

"Well then... What were the pictures like?" Ruby asks, resting her chin on Weiss shoulder.

"Photographic." Weiss says.

"You know what that means right?" Ruby asks.

"No, what does that mean?"

"It means..." She pauses for dramatic effect and then grabs Weiss' wrist. "We get to find out together." With that she bolts off, dragging Weiss along.

"Ruby wait!" Weiss says, struggling to keep up as she was dragged forward. Had Ruby always been this fast? "Ruby!" Her protests were met with silence as Ruby pulled her along, and then suddenly came to a stop causing Weiss to stumble forward. "You could have given me a warning before you-" She stops as she sees Ruby isn't paying attention, staring ahead instead. Turning she gets a look at what Ruby is so focused on.

The fire wave. A simple name, but descriptive. Sand moved by wind like water, picked up and swirled around rocks. Reds, oranges, pinks and all kinds of other warm colors, enhanced by the light of a setting sun bathing over them. An ocean shore in the middle of the desert, like liquid flame dancing around the stones.

She falls silent as well, staring out at the sight. It was no wonder it was spoken of so highly. The colors, the swirling sands, the shining light, it was marvelous. As she admires it the sun continues to move, shifty shadows from the rocks and rays of light casting between them. She'd seen a lot of things in her travels, but this one was the best so far. Well, one of the best.

Turning a bit she looks over at Ruby, the look of awe and joy in her eyes as she beheld the beauty of nature unfolding before them. The fire wave was one of the best views, but only one of them, she decided then, not the best. Without even realizing it a hand drifts upward, brushing aside some of the dark hairs from her face.

As she did Ruby looks over at her. There's a silence between them, but this time it's not filled with awkwardness and nerves. It's not a silence of force or fear, it's one of stillness. The silence of a moment not to be broken, simply enjoyed, accepted. So she does. She accepts the moment, as her hand moves down to Ruby's cheek, softly cupping it as her thumb rubs over it and she leans in.

Their lips meet, just as soft as she'd expected and as sweet as strawberries, almost as sweet as her. For a moment she kisses her, getting no reaction though Weiss begins to pull back, only for Ruby to finally act, stepping in and putting her hands on Weiss' waist as she returns the kiss.

That's all there is for a moment, the two of them lit up by the sunset as it set fire to the sands, embracing one another in silence and beauty of the world. Then they pull back, their gazes meeting for a moment before they turn to look out at nature again, side by side. One of Ruby's hands reaches over and twines her fingers with Weiss' and she gives a squeeze in return. This was it, this was all there was. The two of them, and the setting sun, here at the end of their golden treasure hunt.

...

"So..." Ruby says, sitting on the couch back in the motorhome, "What now?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss asks.

"I mean, what now?" Ruby says again. "What about the gold? What about where to go? What about... what about us?"

Weiss sighs, sitting there on the other end of the couch with her hands on her lap. "I don't know." She says honestly, her gut twisting. The walk back had been fine at first, but the closer they'd come to the motorhome the worse her gut had twisted with the same question Ruby was asking, what now? For all she'd been through this was not something she knew how to deal with. The answer eluded her and that bothered her.

"Well that's helpful." Ruby says playfully.

"Oh quiet you." Weiss says with no real heat behind her tone. She looks over at Ruby and they both chuckle softly. Then Weiss gets an idea. Resolving herself she stands up and walks over to the front of the RV, opening the glovebox and getting out two tickets. Heading back she hands one to Ruby.

"These are tickets to a music festival. It's where I was going before we met." She explains. "My grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, he was the one who raised me. My family had... issues, but he was always there for me. He passed away not that long ago. I'll use some of the gold to pay for his funeral and medical bills. Before that, I'll be going to this musical festival. I was supposed to go with him, but that's no longer an option. If you'd like, you can come. Give you some time to think things over."

"Wow." Ruby says, looking down at the ticket in her hands. "This must mean a lot to you."

"It meant a lot to him." Weiss says, "So I suppose it does."

"What was he like?" Ruby asks, "Was he as know-it-all as you?" She grins a bit.

"Hardly." Weiss says, "He was messy at times, an old hippie. Obnoxiously happy even when he didn't need to be. Kind of big, too big for a motorhome, but that didn't stop him. He loved to travel too much. Said he wanted to visit everywhere. He used to whittle, make little wooden figures, and he'd buy useless things he didn't need. Gave all of it away. Every toy, every trinket. Whatever he didn't need he'd just give away, usually to kids, but he was always getting more things just so he could."

"He sounds like a great guy." Ruby says.

"I guess he was." Weiss says. "It was odd, he never had a lot to himself, or rather he did but he always gave it up, gave it to someone else. I asked him why and he'd just laugh and say that it was better. They'd enjoy it more, and he liked their smile more than he liked the thing. I guess he was one of those people who figured it was more important to be happy than to have stuff."

"Well he's not wrong." Ruby says, "Isn't that the most important thing? Being happy and making others happy?"

"Maybe. But maybe if he'd kept some things, or sold them instead of giving them away, he wouldn't be..." She trails off.

"Hey..." Ruby says, putting her arm around her. "It'll be okay. I guess, well everyone has to go sometime. That's not always much of a comfort but, he was happy at least. He made the world a better place. Traveling around giving out gifts and making people smile, think of how many people he made happy."

"I suppose that's true, he left quite the legacy."

"Yeah he did. Those gifts too." Ruby says with a smile. "Money is, well it's useful yeah. It can be super helpful, but you remember the treasure in the canyon? It didn't matter that we didn't get it, because we had a good time. Breaking in and searching, a story to tell. That's worth as much as the gold, and your grandpa left lots of stories with every gift."

"That he did." Weiss says, turning her head to look at her. "Thank you, Ruby."

Ruby chuckles. "It's why I'm here." She says, "Make you feel better."

Weiss felt a bit of a tug at her stomach at that. She didn't want to admit just how accurate that was. Here she was giving Ruby food and shelter, but why was she? She'd taken her in, dragged her across state lines, and now even kissed her. Shifted the entire paradigm of their relationship, and why? What made her do that?

"Weiss?" Ruby asks, breaking her from her thinking, "You okay now?"

"Yeah." Weiss says, "Kind of tired though."

"I get that, it's been a busy day." Ruby says, "Why don't we get some sleep?"

"Good idea." Weiss says, standing up. "I'll see you in the morning."

Ruby stands up as well, quickly giving Weiss a small kiss. "Good night." She says.

"Good night." Weiss says, moving into her room as she heard Ruby pull out the bed. She glances back from the door frame at her for a moment and sighs before stepping in and closing the door behind her.

Kicking off her shoes she falls onto the bed without bothering to change clothes, face planting into it and the pillows. She feels sick to her stomach. The more she thinks the worse she feels, and the worse she feels the more she thinks. This was supposed to be a happy moment, but her emotions kept rolling like a wave. High tide in, she's floating on air and kissing a cute girl. Low tide out and she's sick to her stomach, forgetting the only person willing to care for her and giving over his ticket.

Eventually she managed to curl up on her side, thinking and fighting the feeling of her gut twisting until sleep finally claimed her.

...

They say that sleeping on it can help you think things through and feel better in the morning. Sort of a "turn it off and back on again" effect but for people. However that wasn't always the case. In face if anything, waking up today made Weiss feel even worse. It's like her mind was jumping through hoops to find the worst possible iteration of how events had taken place. Even so she needed to get up, so she did.

Having slept in her clothes she simply straightened them up and put her shoes on before she stepped out. Ruby, of course, was still asleep. As she walked over she put some grounds in the coffee pot and started it before heading into the bathroom. Relieving herself and washing her face to help wake up she stared into the mirror. "What are you doing?" She asks her reflection softly. Then she hears the sound of the coffee pot, telling her it's finished. Stepping out she sees Ruby sitting up, finally awake apparently.

"Good morning." She says through a yawn.

"Did I wake you up?" Weiss asks. "My apologies."

"Is alright, should get up." Ruby says, climbing out of the bed and scratching the side of her head.

"Let me give you a hand." Weiss says, helping Ruby to put the bed back away and the pillows where they belonged.

"Thanks, I'm gonna get changed." Ruby says, grabbing her clothes and stepping into the bathroom.

Weiss sighs and walks over to the counter, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Her hand shakes though, spilling it on her other hand and the counter. She hisses softly and sticks her hand under some cold water. Drying it off once she'd cooled she grabs the coffee she'd managed to get in the mug and downs it in one go, scalding hot coffee searing her throat as she drinks it.

Immediately she pours herself another cup and lets this one sit as she cleans up the spill on the counter from the first one. Once she's done she grabs her new cup and moves to the driver's seat, taking a drink before sitting it in the cup holder and then leaning on the steering wheel. It was going to be a long drive, but she had a lot of thinking to do.

"Hey!" Ruby says, sitting down beside her, causing Weiss to sit up. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." Weiss says, "But I've got my coffee."

"Hmm, alright. Ready to go?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah, we'll be heading through Palm Springs on our way there, but that's still quite a ways. Hope you're ready for another long one."

"All set." Ruby says.

"Very well." Weiss says, starting up the RV and pulling out, starting some music as she began the drive. It was certainly going to be a long one.

…...

It was slow, or at least it felt that way. Miles of desert turning into traffic as they began to get closer to the city. There was nothing really along the way but stretches of dirt and sand as far as the eye could see. It was a lot of time to think. Too much time to think.

Music was the only thing keeping her grounded. Even then barely. Her mind kept swirling around itself like it was trapped in a whirlpool, remembering what she'd done, painting it all the worst colors, and then repeating it over and over. First she'd failed her grandfather, and been left alone. Then she'd taken his tickets and started the drive to go see the show without him. She'd picked up Ruby, for her sake she'd told herself. A girl that naive and trusting wouldn't do well out in the world.

Now, looking back, that was a lie. The more she thought the more she reconsidered. She'd picked her up at first to help her of course, but she hadn't needed to go with her anywhere, to help her find the first piece of gold she hadn't even believed existed. She had though. Why? Because she had nothing else to do? No, that wasn't it, not really.

She was lonely, miserable. Ever since her grandfather's death she'd been wallowing in that pain and loneliness. Then along came a bubbly, happy girl who distracted her. A girl who dragged her into a literal treasure hunt that earned her boxes full of gold. A girl who made her forget that she was alone. And how truly awful was that? The person she'd loved most in the world was gone, and here she was picking up some poor naive girl and just using her to wipe them from her memory, just to feel better.

She was sick to her stomach as she thought about it. How could she try and forget? How could she take the person who had given her everything, the one person who had truly cared about her, and just try and leave them behind? Worse was using Ruby to do so. The girl wanted nothing but happiness in the world, for herself and everyone else. She was kind, gentle, and forgiving. She'd had everything she brought with her stolen within hours of leaving, and just forgiven the thieves within seconds. It was remarkable, and Weiss was using her as a bandage to hide her wounds.

The more she thought the more she realized just how wrong she'd been. She'd come around though, realizing she was being unreasonable. It wasn't wrong to move on. But then the tape would change songs, or Ruby would make a comment, or she'd just catch a glimpse of her from the corner of her eye, and her heart would drop into her stomach once more. Ruby cared about her, trusted her completely, and she was here using those emotions to salve her own wounded ones.

She'd kissed her. In that moment she'd taken something from Ruby. Her first kiss. She'd taken her trust, and pushed it, and Ruby hadn't backed away for a second. Again and again she'd told herself that Ruby was naive, that she wouldn't have done well on her own. That the strangers wandering the road weren't to be trusted, and that's why she needed to help her. Now, well she was one of those strangers wandering the road, not to be trusted. Yet Ruby had, and she'd taken advantage of that trust.

She did have feelings for Ruby though, she couldn't deny that. There was something there, she was happier with Ruby around. Ruby seemed to have feelings for her too. Wasn't that how things were supposed to work? They'd make each other happy. At the same time though, should she really be happy? She should be mourning, grieving for her lost family member, but instead she was here on a road trip with a cute girl taking her to his concert. Wasn't that some kind of betrayal? It certainly felt like it was.

Perhaps it wasn't though. Her grandfather always wanted to be happy. He loved the simple things, and was always looking to make people smile. Wouldn't he want her to be happy? To know she was going to this concert with someone she cared about? It certainly seemed like something he would want.

Just then, as her thoughts were beginning to come around, a loud boom reverberated through the motorhome and smoke poured from the engine. Her eyes went wide in shock and she turned the wheel, guiding them to the side of the road as she stares in shock. Once they come to a stop she unbuckles her belt, pops the hood, and gets out, Ruby following behind her.

"No." She says, "No no no. Not this, not now." She lets the hood up, smoke rolling out of it. "Damn it, no!"

"Hey, Weiss." Ruby says softly, "It'll be alright."

"Yes because it certainly looks alright doesn't it?" She says.

"Come on, do you have any tools? Maybe we can-"

"Maybe we can what, Ruby? Fix it? Do you know anything about engines? I don't! Actually I know you don't because when I found you you couldn't even recognize a car was out of gas!" Weiss says, her voice raising a bit.

"You don't have to yell, I just thought-"

"No, you didn't!" Weiss says, "Because you don't think. You just act. You're impulsive and naive and you don't think. All you do is get an idea and act on it on impulse and hope it works out. Jumping in a car to go treasure hunting with no plan, never been away from home, who does that? You weren't even smart enough to get gas, so don't tell me you 'just thought' because you've clearly never done that in your life! Just go wait inside while I find us some help."

Ruby's jaw moves a bit and then she closes it and swallows, looking down and crossing her arms in a kind of self-hug. Then she slowly walks over, getting inside the motorhome as Weiss begins the lookout for any vehicles that look trustworthy.

…...

"Got it." Weiss says, "Yes, thank you, I understand." She hangs up, setting down the hotel phone. She moves and sits down on the bed. A five star room in Palm Springs. Fortunately they'd been close enough that once she'd managed to flag down someone and borrow their phone to call a tow truck to come get them. After that, some full up cheaper motels lead them here, where no less than a full nugget of gold managed to get them in. Not that they had much besides the gold. Even so it was worth it, to treat Ruby... one last time.

Just then Ruby steps out of the bathroom, her hair a bit fluffed from being washed and dried. She looks at Weiss for a moment before looking down and walking over to a chair, sitting down. "So, is the um, is the RV going to be okay?" She asks hesitantly, twiddling her thumbs and not looking over.

"Yes, it will be fine." Weiss says, "It wasn't anything major, just an overheat. It should be fixed by tomorrow."

"Oh... good." Ruby says.

It goes silent again, neither of them willing to break the silence. It had been almost completely silent their ride back too. Just as Weiss had been getting her thoughts together, the engine broke down; it was practically a sign. A sign and silence, which had led her to where she was now, and what she had to do.

"Ruby... I'm sorry." She says, "I was upset earlier, and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that and I apologize."

Ruby looks over and gives a small smile, and then gets up and walks over, sitting down next to her. "It's okay." She says. "Everyone gets mad sometimes."

"I still shouldn't have done that. It was wrong of me."

"Its fine, you apologized, I forgive you." Ruby says, leaning onto her a bit.

"It's not about being forgiven, Ruby." Weiss says, "It's about what I failed to do."

"Failed?" Ruby asks. "What do you mean."

"I haven't held up my end of the agreement."

"Agreement? Weiss what are you talking about." She looks at her confused.

Weiss stands up, taking a few steps away. "I... I just made a call. You have a ticket back to Patch, one way." She says.

"What?" Ruby asks, her face dropping.

"I called a cab as well. It should be here at ten in the morning to get you and take you to the station." Weiss says, looking down at the ground.

"Weiss this doesn't make any sense, what are you saying?" Ruby pleads. "You're sending me home? What about the festival? What about the treasure?"

"Keep it." Weiss says, "My family has money. I suppose I can go back to seeing about them. If they still don't want me then I suppose I can find a job somewhere, pay for things like I should have."

"Weiss... What about... us?" Ruby asks, her voice weak.

"What about us?" Weiss asks, "Sometimes things don't work. Sometimes people make mistakes."

"But why?" Ruby asks desperately, tears running down her face. She couldn't understand why Weiss was doing this. Everything seemed to be going so well. "Weiss, please, tell me what's wrong. Let me help. We can work through this."

"It doesn't matter." Weiss says, "Just remember to get up in time for your cab. You can use the phone to call your family and tell them you're on the way home. Expenses should be covered. Once you get on the bus remember not to avoid strangers. You never know who you can-"

"I'M NOT A GOD DAMNED KID!" Ruby yells out, causing Weiss to look at her. Her face was red, with bloodshot eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. She flinched back at her own words. "I... I just... Weiss don't do this... please." She chokes out, nearly begging.

"I'm sorry." Weiss says, backing away. She finds the door handle, twisting it; she needed to leave. "I'm sorry." She says again, closing her eyes as she looked down, away from Ruby, and turned, running out the door.

...

Weiss walked down the street, the crowd of people pushing and jostling her as she went. She didn't care though, simply going with the flow. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go right now after all. Her RV was shot, and Ruby was back in the hotel, probably still crying. That was all she had in the world, and now she didn't have either of them. At least she'd be getting the RV back.

Part of her, a very large part, wanted to go back. To apologize and hold her and say she'd been stupid, to make her tears go away. She couldn't do that though. This is what was best for Ruby. If they'd stayed together then she'd have just ended up using Ruby more, perhaps making things worse for her. It was better this way. Even if it hurt like concentrated hell poured down her throat and into her gut.

Eventually the crowd thinned, and then stopped entirely. Even as she noticed it happen, she also didn't have enough of a concept of time to realize just what had happened and when. After a while she did realize her feet weren't touching concrete, and hadn't been for some time. Looking up and around she realized she'd left the city quite a ways behind.

Now with her attention back she realized she also heard something else. Not something good. Looking around she saw the lights of the city, and turning until she was facing a bit away again she saw a lone light a short distance away, the source of the... she was hesitant to call it music. It seemed an affront to the word. Even so, like a moth to a flame she headed towards it.

As she got closer she made out a shape, a very familiar shape. Moving closer still and colors became apparent. Now more than just the shape was familiar. Not only was this an RV, but it was one she'd seen a few times before. "You've got to be kidding me." She says to herself as she approaches.

Now that she was closer she could hear the obnoxiously loud music joined by something even worse, singing. Not even singing with the music, no that would have been moderately tolerable. This was a terrible, off-tune wailing that the creator was most likely enjoying because their music had left them incapable of properly hearing anything else.

Weiss walked up to the door, determined to put an end to this abomination of sound that threatened all natural life within a half mile radius. Raising her fist she drew back and pounded on the door a few times.

"Heyyyy you're back!" Came a loud call just before the door opened, revealing Yang. She paused for a second to stare at who was in front of her, and then closed the door.

Weiss raised her first and banged on it again to get her to come back, and sure enough it opened again, just enough for Yang to look out.

"You got my gold already, what else do you want?" She asks.

"Your arm." Weiss says.

"Give me the gold and you can have whatever body part you want."

"No deal." Weiss says.

"Didn't figure." She grumbles. "Where's the nice one at?"

Weiss sighs and looks down, crossing her arms. Not a question she especially wanted to answer.

Yang turns around, heading further in and leaving the door open. "Come on in. Having a party." She says as she moves towards the fridge.

Weiss follows, heading in, not like she had anything else to do. Immediately she's met with what Yang calls a party, which is mostly just the smell of multiple different types of alcohol with bottles on the floor. "You live like this?" She asks.

"Hey I don't go to your place and tell you it smells like all the sticks you keep around." She says.

"Sticks?" Weiss asks.

"Yeah the one's you've got shoved up your ass." Yang says and stands up, poorly tossing a bottle at her.

Weiss has to duck low, her hands almost brushing the ground as she catches it. "I don't have a stick up my ass." She says.

"Probably true." Yang says, plopping down on the couch. "You're too much of a prude to put stuff up there."

"I'm not a prude, you're just a drunken slob." Weiss says.

"Don't knock it till you try it." Yang says, gesturing to the couch.

Weiss moves and sits down on the couch, far less relaxed than Yang. As she does Yang reaches over and pops the top off of the bottle, beer apparently, before doing one of her own and then taking two tries to turn the music off before succeeding.

"Well, drink up. And don't waste it. I'm not rich you know. It's your fault too." She says and takes a drink of her own.

"Yeah yeah." Weiss says and takes a drink. To say she hated it would be, well honestly, an exaggeration. To say she liked it would be a lie. It definitely wasn't something she cared for. Alcohol had never been something she'd had much experience in, or enjoyed, but she'd definitely say if this was any indication of what beer was like she wouldn't be seeking it out very often. "Ugh." She says, looking at the bottle.

"Oh well I'm sorry my good beer is still too low brow for The Great White Bitch." Yang says. "If you aren't going to appreciate it then give it back."

Weiss looks over for a moment and then just takes another drink while keeping her eyes on Yang.

"How impressive, you conquered your disgust to live like us peasants."

"First beer, then Narnia." Weiss says.

"Geez, God help us all if you could do magic."

"Better than you. You'd just be using it to blow things up and turn things gold."

"Hey I have a damn good time, not like your moping butt."

"Yeah because I'm the one moping in an RV and getting wasted."

"Well aren't you?"

Weiss can't exactly argue against that point. Here she was sitting in Yang's motorhome, drinking beer and moping over what had happened. Honestly she wasn't sure if she was more upset about being here, or Yang having been right. She grimaced a bit and took another drink. "What even brings you here? Come to terrorize the people of Palm Springs? Maybe hit up a bar and then blow it up?"

"Sun heard about some music thing. Said it'd be a good way to kill some time. Figured why not? Like music and it's not like I'm going to be finding any gold."

"You mean the festival? You're going?" Weiss asks.

"I guess we are. Why you got a problem with that?"

"It's a big festival, you can go. It's where I've been heading this whole time."

"Wonderful, just what I wanted to hear." Yang says and rolls her eyes.

"So where are the other two?" Weiss asks.

"Sun wanted to go sightseeing. Blake went with him so he didn't get into trouble." She says, "What about you? You and the good one have a fight or something?"

"Or something." Weiss says, looking down.

"Whatever it was, it was probably your fault." Yang says, "Can't imagine it was something she did."

"You're not wrong." Weiss says. Seemed like that was happening a bit now that she was actually talking to her. Maybe she was smarter than she looked. Weiss shook her head a bit. Nah, had to be luck.

"You wanna talk about?" Yang asks, "Not that I care about your problems, but I'm not doing anything else now am I?"

Weiss sighs, finishing her beer and setting it down. There's the sound of another one opening and then the bottle is held in front of her face. She takes it, but doesn't drink it, simply staring at it.

"Well if you're gonna talk then talk, if not then just say so. I'm not a therapist, you ain't paying me." Yang says.

"Give me a moment. I'm not exactly used to talking about my feelings. Especially not to someone as uncouth as you."

"You're not exactly used to having feelings." Yang says. "But you ain't doing nothing until you get started."

"What does that even mean?" Weiss asks.

"It means if you don't do it, you're just sitting there. Thinking about it or saying you're gonna aren't the same as doing it. So just... do it." She says.

Weiss rolls her eyes with a huff. She didn't know why she was doing this at all. Maybe it was because Yang was simply familiar, a presence she was used to. Maybe it was because Yang simply felt like the kind of person you could vent to. She wasn't actually sure if Yang cared or not, but if she did then she could help, and if she didn't then even better, like confessing to a stranger on the internet. Finally she sighed and took a drink before speaking.

"My grandfather died." She says, "Just before I met Ruby. He was, well far better than you. My parents didn't want me, so he took me and raised me in that RV. He loved music, giving gifts, and making toys. Believe it or not that was actually pretty nice for a kid. I thought it was great. He was there to take care of me. When I got a little older I thought maybe he was a bit naive, always so trusting. I decided I needed to take care of him too. Repayment, you know? Show how thankful I was for all that he'd done for me. Then, well he got sick. I did everything I could but nothing helped. Just slowed it down a bit. Then he was gone. I'd done everything I could to help, to take care of him like he had me, and I failed."

She pauses and takes a deep breath and another drink. Yang had yet to interrupt or make rude comments, even though she almost wished she would so she could snap at her. "Then I decided to go the festival. He wanted to go to it so bad. The tickets were his, he said it would be a great celebration. We were supposed to go together. Instead, I was going without him, trying to do one last thing in his honor. That was when I met Ruby, the same day you stole her car. At first I was just trying to lend a hand to some girl who needed help and clearly had no idea what she was doing. Then I stayed a bit longer to help her look for the gold. We found it too. I couldn't believe it. I told myself that's why I kept going with her, for the treasure. I had bills to pay after all. Really though, that wasn't it. I felt like I had a second chance, someone else to take care of. Someone just as naive, just as in need of help, where I could make up for having failed. That's what I told myself at least. It was actually because... well when I was with her I was happy. For the first time since he'd died, perhaps even a bit before, I was happy."

She swallows once and then takes a long drink and lets out a sigh. "But I forgot. I forgot about my grandfather, about his death. What kind of person just forgets the most important person in their life was dead? I was just out here using Ruby to mask my pain. She trusted me, far more than she should. I kissed her. She believed in me and just wanted to make people, make me, happy. I used that and manipulated her emotions to make myself feel better. So I did the one selfless thing I could. I bought her a ticket back home, gave her the gold, and left. Maybe now she can find someone who isn't quite so messed up inside. Someone who deserves her."

After a short pause Yang stood up, walking over to the fridge. "You done?" She asked as she opened it, bending down to get herself another drink.

"Yeah, I'm done." Weiss says.

Yang walks back over, stands in front of Weiss, and pops the top off of her beer. "You," She points at her with the hand holding the bottle, "are an idiot."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asks. "Your one to talk you-"

"No, quiet." Yang says, "You talked, now you listen. You are an idiot. I spent years dreaming of that gold. Then you come in, take my equipment, get the gold and the girl, and now you're depressed cause you made out like some kind of action hero? Your gramps is gone, you think he's gonna be pissed cause you moved on? How damn narcissistic can you be? Thinking you have to take care of people cause they can't do it themselves? Why do you even bother if that's the only reason you're doing it?"

She takes a pause to drink, but before Weiss can get a word in she speaks again. "You don't take care of people because you gotta, you do it cause you love them, you idiot. Nothing to do with what you have to do. If it was really something that you had to do, you'd hate it. You said yourself you were happy though. That's why you helped her, cause you wanted to. And there's that too. You say you were 'using' her, but who was using who here? She's staying in your home, eating your food, using your gas, while you help her get the treasure, and what do you get out of it? No, she wasn't the one being used here. Honestly I feel sorry for her. You're out here doing everything for her, and what does she do? Skip around tell you how nice you are? I sure as hell don't let those other two idiots treat me like that. Yeah they do shit for me, but I'll be damned if I just sit there and let them. I'm here to take care of them just as much. We're friends, family, and that's how family works. You take care of each other cause you care. Works both ways."

With that she polishes off her beer and grabs two more, sitting down on the couch again. She pops both open and shoves one at Weiss. "You're an idiot, and it's pissing me off. That and the booze, but mostly you."

It falls silent as they sit there, drinking a bit. Weiss can't help but think about Yang's words. As she does it comes back to her, things she should have seen before. When she left, Ruby asked to let her help so they could work on it. She yelled about not being a child. Even before that, things like refusing to let Weiss dig for the treasure at the arches. The signs were all there.

Weiss sighed. This whole time she'd never treated her as an equal. She'd been so focused on taking care of Ruby, she hadn't realized how hard Ruby was trying to return the favor. One Weiss didn't let her return. Yeah Ruby had made a few mistakes, but had their roles been reversed, well she would have felt like a useless idiot. Again and again she'd taken it on herself to do everything, while Ruby had to sit back and watch. She was being treated like a child by someone who should have been treating her as an equal.

Weiss felt her stomach roll in disgust, or maybe it was the alcohol. Either way it was the same. She felt even worse now. There was one thing she had been right about, things wouldn't have worked out if they'd kept going like they were, but not because Weiss had been using her. Their relationship had been unbalanced, and it was terrible for both of them. Ruby probably felt useless at all times, and Weiss had kept putting all the pressure on herself. Neither of them could have stayed like that.

"God I'm an idiot." She says, taking another drink.

"Damn right." Yang says, looking over at her.

"How could I not have seen it?" She asks.

"Cause you're an idiot." Yang lets out a small belch. "Look, princess, you and me? We got people. I got these idiots and you got that one. And, this is the booze talking but, we're kinda alike."

"In what way are you and I alike?" Weiss asks.

"We're both stubborn idiots who need to take care of others." Yang says.

Weiss blinks a bit. Maybe Yang was just very observant when she was drunk. It was the only way a statement that accurate made sense. "So you're an idiot too then?"

"As if you didn't already think it." Yang says, "Nobody out there is perfect. I got flaws, you got flaws, everybody does. But here's the catch, just cause you gotta take care of someone to feel good about yourself don't mean they can't take care of you too. You gotta warm up to people and stop shutting them out. Blake used to shut people out; took forever to break her of it. I used to not rely on others, they broke me of that. You just, you just gotta not be such a stuck-up."

Weiss stares down at the bottle. "Yeah." She says. She'd argue, but she really didn't feel like it. As blatant at Yang was being, she wasn't exactly wrong. Taking another drink she sat back, letting it laps into silence once again.

After a while Weiss stands up on shaky legs. She'd had a few and wasn't near the heavyweight that Yang apparently was, though she was passed out on the couch. Looking over Weiss leans down and adjusts her to lay her down on her side. "You know, you're not so bad after all." She says and walks out the door. There was something she needed to do.

She walked for a while, getting away from the lights of the RV and the city both. Eventually she came to a stop, out in the middle of nowhere, where she could look up at the sky as clearly as possible. Taking a deep breath she let it out slowly. "Hello, Grandfather." She says, and gives a small smile. "You never did care for me calling you that. You always believed it was too formal. I guess I can humor you a bit, just this once, Grandpa."

Taking a pause for a moment, she then continues. "I miss you. I don't know if you can hear me, I never gave the afterlife much thought, whether it's there or not. I just, I wanted you to know. I miss you. I'm sorry I couldn't do more. Maybe then we'd be able to go to the festival together. You wanted to see it so much."

She takes a moment to wipe away some tears beginning to form. "I met someone. Invited her to come with me instead. I hope you don't mind. I doubt you would, you were always giving things away to make people happy after all. I still felt kind of bad about it, but I guess that was just me. She's great though, loves sweet things, just like you did. Makes me wonder why she liked me though."

A deep sigh and she wipes away more tears, swallowing once. "I may have messed things up with her, I hope I can fix it though. I'd just been so caught up in me, in losing you, that I didn't really think about how that would mess up things with her. Hope you don't mind me moving on. It's the only way to be fair to her though. I guess that's why I'm here. I gotta say goodbye. Missed out on that at the funeral, wasn't ready to let go then I guess. I'm ready now though."

She shakes her head a bit, looking down at the ground for a second before back up. "That's a lie. I'm not ready. I've gotta do it though. I promise though, I'll never forget you. You mean far too much to me for that."

Sitting down in the dirt, she takes a moment to recompose, no more tears this time. "So let's just have tonight. You and me, under the stars. Just like when I was little. One last night to say goodbye. It may just be lying in the dirt, but I was a bit too stubborn to do this the right way, so you'll have to take what you can get. You always did though, managed to make the best of any situation with a smile on your face." She lays down then, staring up still. "I think you two would have gotten along pretty well."

...

Weiss blinked, raising a hand to block out the light. With a groan she sat up; sleeping on dirt was not good for her. The sun gave away that it was morning. She wondered how late. Having never had need of a cell phone she didn't keep one, and she'd never worn a watch. Soon Ruby would be in a cab and leaving. It didn't matter how fast she could run, she'd never get there in time. Unless...

She didn't have to run, at least not very far. There was still a chance. Getting up she took off running, not even bothering to brush herself off. "Please be there, please be there." She says. Luckily for her, they were still in the same spot, the motorhome coming into view as she got closer.

"Yes." She says, running up to it. She pounded on the door as she caught her breath. "Open up! Please!"

A moment later and Sun opened the door, Blake peeking out from beside him. "Oh, Weiss. Hey." He says. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"The time, what time is it?" Weiss asks.

Blake pulls out her phone, looking at it. "Nine forty." She says. "Why?"

"There's still time. Please, where's Yang? I need a ride!"

"Uuuuugghhhhhhh." A loud groan comes out. "Why is it loud?"

"Yang!" Weiss says, louder.

"Shut up!" Yang says, and there's the sound of footsteps as she comes closer. "Can't you see I'm hung- Weiss?"

"Yang, last night, you were right. I was an idiot. I need help now. Ruby is leaving soon, if I don't get a ride, right now, I'll never see her again." Weiss explains as fast as she can.

All eyes land on Yang as she stares blankly at Weiss for a moment. Then finally, "Get in." She says. "Sun, Blake, lock it up! We got shit to do!" Weiss jumps in as Sun and Blake begin to lock down everything. While they do Yang jumps into the driver's seat and starts it up.

"Yang it's not ready yet." Blake calls out.

"Do it on the way, we got ourselves a mission. I didn't get the gold but I'll make this one!" She says and takes off just as Sun and Blake finish. They hit a bump and the whole RV bucks, sending Sun into the ceiling just as Blake makes it to the passenger seat and buckles in.

"Dang it Yang, watch out!" He says.

"Does it look like we got time?" Yang asks.

"We don't, we really don't." Weiss says.

"You heard her, we gotta move!" She says as she makes a sharp turn, sending Weiss into the couch and Sun into a wall. Empty bottles from last night roll all over the floor.

"So where the hell are we going?" Yang asks as they make it into the city.

"Hotel downtown. The big one." Weiss says.

"The big one? You used the gold on a hotel?" Yang asks.

"One nugget, yes."

"See this is why I should have had it." Yang says, swerving into oncoming traffic to pass some vehicles.

"Truck... Truck... Truck!" Blake says as a semi comes at them head on.

Yang pulls the wheel hard, cutting off those in the proper lane as she switches over last second. "I can see it."

"I'm gonna die before we get to her." Weiss says. "We're all going to die."

"We're almost there." Weiss says as she gets up, looking out the window. "Time?"

"Nine fifty-five." Blake reads out.

"So close." Weiss says. "If they're early then..."

"That your hotel?" Yang asks as they take a sharp turn around a corner, sending Sun rolling into a table.

"Yes!" Weiss says.

"That your girlfriend?" She asks then, as Ruby comes into sight, standing on the sidewalk ready to get into the cab.

"Yes!" Weiss says. She turns and runs to the door, throwing it open. The motorhome was slowing but it was still going to shoot bye at this speed. "RUBY!" She yelled out, causing her to look up. Even as it slowed she jumped out before it could come to a complete stop. Stumbling, her hand hit the ground hard enough to sting as she caught herself and took off running towards a clearly stunned Ruby.

She runs over and nearly crashes into her, throwing her arms around her, pressing her head into her shoulder as she held her. "Ruby... I made it. I thought you would be gone. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I was being an idiot. I just, I was scared, and worried, and such an idiot."

"Weiss..." Ruby says, and then hugs her back, already starting to cry. "Weiss. I thought you were gone."

"I know, I know. I was being stupid." Weiss says.

"But... why?" she asks. "What was wrong? What were you scared of?"

"I was scared of using you. I was scared of not being enough. I was scared of letting go and being happy." Weiss says.

"You're right, you are an idiot." Ruby says. "Of course you're enough. You don't have to take care of me all the time, I can help too. That's not using me, it's being partners. Why were you scared of being happy?"

"I was just afraid. I lost my family, my grandfather. I was scared of being happy, like I was leaving my family behind."

"Weiss, it's okay. You're not leaving him behind. Besides, I'm your family now." She says.

"I know, I see it now. I'm sorry. I love you."

"You doof. I love you too." She says through her tears.

Weiss pulls back, looking her in the eyes. Then at the same time they both press in for a kiss. For a moment that's all that matters, until they hear a loud wolf-whistle. Breaking apart they look over, Yang staring at them.

"Well don't stop cause of us." She says. Beside her Sun is looking away and Blake is looking over with a seemingly uninterested expression.

"Oh, hey guys." Ruby says.

"Hello Ruby." All three of them say at once.

"Thank you." Weiss says, "All of you. Especially you, Yang."

"Well it's not like I'm gonna let love die just cause you beat me to the treasure." Yang says.

"She's a sore loser, but a good person." Blake says.

"Oh yeah, speaking of that." Weiss says. She leans down and opens up Ruby's bag, going through it to some odd looks before she stands back up and tosses a nugget of gold over to her. She catches it easily and looks down at it, Sun and Blake both looking at it as well.

"Guess you got your gold after all." Blake says.

"See, all works out in the end." Sun says.

"Yellow beauty." Yang says, looking at it, and then gives a small smirk to Weiss. "We're still not even, but one of these days..." She trails off.

"See you there." Weiss says.

With that they turn and head back to their RV, which was currently parked in the middle of the road stopping up an entire lane of traffic. Sun waves as he heads off, Yang giving a wave from over her shoulder. "Good luck you two." Blake says as she follows them in.

"You too!" Ruby calls out. "Thanks so much." She turns back to Weiss then.

"Guess we should get back to ours as well." Weiss says.

"Yeah, ours." Ruby says with a small smile.

...

"It's good to be back." Ruby says, sitting down on the couch in the RV. After getting it back from the shop they'd driven for a while, mostly silent except for the music. Unlike before the silence wasn't painful or heavy though, it was soothing, comforting. Now they'd stopped, and were resting a bit, far away from any others.

"It is." Weiss says. "Ruby, again, I'm sorry about before."

"It's alright." Ruby says, stopping her before she can get too into it. "You apologized already."

"Yes I suppose I did." Weiss says.

Ruby scoots over next to her, taking Weiss' arm and putting it around her as she leans her head on her shoulder. "We're past that now. Let's just be happy."

"That sounds like a good idea." Weiss says. For a while they simply rest there like that, enjoying each other's presence. Then Weiss looks over at her. She could still hardly believe what had happened. How picking up a girl on the side of the road had led to all of this.

"Whatcha thinking about so hard?" Ruby asks, looking up at her from where her head lay.

"Oh, nothing." Weiss says, a little surprised at having been caught. "Just, all that's happened. I never would have expected it."

"Yeah, I mean who would expect to find some idiot buried his gold in the desert?" Ruby asks, giving a small smirk.

Weiss smiled back. "That's not what I meant and you know it." She says. "Yes the treasure was a surprise, but I think you were even more so."

"So, the real treasure was the friends we made along the way?" Ruby asks.

"Dork." Weiss says with a small chuckle as she rolls her eyes, poking her in the forehead.

"Yeah but you love me." Ruby says.

"I do." Weiss says. "I can hardly believe it, but I do."

"Love you too." Ruby says, pushing up a bit to give her a kiss.

Weiss turns into it, returning the kiss. The arm that had been around Ruby moves to run her fingers through her hair while the other finds a place on her hip. For a moment there's just that, the two of them, together. Eventually they do break apart though.

"That was nice." Ruby says.

"It was." Weiss says.

"You're actually kind of good... at... that." Ruby says, her last few words dragging out in a yawn.

"Thank you." Weiss says. "Are you tired?"

"A little. I didn't really sleep very well." Ruby says.

"Sor-"

"Don't." Ruby stops her.

"Right." Weiss says. "I didn't either. Slept on the ground."

"Really? You slept in the dirt?"

"Yeah, looked up at the stars. Talked to my Grandfather."

"How'd that go?"

"Really well." Weiss says.

"Good." Ruby says, resting against her. "I'm glad."

"Me too." Weiss says. "Would you like to take a nap? My bed is available."

"Oh your bed is available huh?" Ruby asks with a playful grin.

"Wha- no I didn't mean it like that." Weiss says.

"Didn't mean it like what?" Ruby asks.

"Like... you're messing with me aren't you?"

"Awww, you figured it out too fast." Ruby pouts.

"Well I'm sorry that you couldn't tease me more."

"No you're not." Ruby says. "But, well, maybe I would like to try your bed."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. I mean, if you're there too. It's your bed after all."

"I suppose I should be there then, shouldn't I?"

"Definitely." Ruby says. She gets up, and holds out her hand, helping Weiss up as well. She blushes slightly, and Weiss takes the lead, guiding her into the room. Once they get there they both head to opposite sides, climbing onto the bed to meet in the middle.

Weiss lies on her side, facing Ruby who does the same. She reaches up, brushing back some of Ruby's hair and moves in, kissing her softly. She feels Ruby return it, and then pulls back, looking her in the eyes and brushing her thumb over her cheek.

She appreciates the moment, but then Ruby moves in this time, kissing her a bit firmer, and Weiss returns it evenly. Then as Ruby pulls back she presses into it a bit more, keeping it going, more on instinct and a moment of eagerness than out of much real thought. Overthinking things had only gotten in the way before, so might as well stop doing that and just do what she felt instead.

While a little surprised, Ruby moves back in, meeting Weiss equally, pushing into the kiss as well. Putting a hand on Weiss she rolls back a bit, pulling her with her, feeling Weiss match it with a push, and she was now on her back with Weiss over her. She wrapped her arms around her and continued the kiss.

Eventually Weiss did manage to pull back from the steadily escalating kiss, both of them with red faces and breathing heavier. "Ruby." She says, "Before this goes any further, as it seems to be, I have to ask…"

"No, I've never done this before. Yes, I do want to, if you want to." Ruby says, anticipating her question.

Weiss smiles at that. "I'm glad. I do too." She says and kisses her again.

She feels Ruby smile into the kiss and pushes her tongue into her mouth. She feels Ruby's tongue meet hers as she deepens the kiss. When she breaks it she moves down, kissing Ruby's neck, earning a soft moan for her efforts. Her hands slide down to the bottom of Ruby's shirt, slowly pushing it up, testing the waters.

Ruby puts her hand on Weiss' shoulder, pushing her back as she sits up. Once she does she reaches down and pulls her own shirt up over her head and tosses it away. As soon as she does she returns to kissing her, falling back onto the bed.

Weiss moves one hand to the bed for support, the other sliding up Ruby to her breast. She squeezes her gently through the fabric of her bra as she kisses her. As she does she feels Ruby's hands finding her own shirt and pulling up. She moves back just enough that Ruby can pull it off of her, and then kisses her neck, sucking gently on it.

As she does she slides her hand from Ruby's chest around to her back, undoing her bra and then pulling back to toss it aside. Returning to her neck for a moment her hand now gropes her bare breast, earning small moans as Ruby held on to her back. She then kissed her way down to her chest, taking her other breast into her mouth and sucking on it, swirling her tongue around the nipple and getting a particularly loud moan from it. Even as she did she felt Ruby's hands move to her own bra and pulled back when she felt the clasp undone to toss it aside.

"Wow." Ruby says, looking up at the now topless Weiss, her hands on her hips. "You're beautiful."

"You seem surprised." Weiss says with a small smile.

Ruby shakes her head. "Nope. Just impressed." She says.

"Well, you're not the only one." Weiss says, leaning back down, kissing her lips again. As her hand returned to Ruby's breasts she felt Ruby's hands on her pants. She didn't bother slowing down as she undid them, letting her push them down and then kicking them off, leaving her in just her panties.

To return the gesture she slid her hand down from Ruby's chest, her head moving back down to her neck to suck on it as her hand made its way to her skirt. She found a small zipper and pulled it down just enough to loosen the skirt, and felt Ruby raise her hips up so she could push it down and off.

"Weiss." Ruby says, her voice heavy and breathy as Weiss' hand slides up her leg. Already there was a small dark spot on her panties.

Suddenly Weiss is pulled upwards into another deep kiss which she happily returns. Then she feels Ruby's hand on her breast, moving over it, her thumb circling over her nipple. It seemed she was a quick learner. "Ruby." She says softly.

"Is this good?" Ruby asks.

"Definitely." Weiss says, one hand gripping in the sheets lightly as Ruby kisses her neck. She lets out a soft moan as she sucks on a particularly sensitive part and can feel Ruby smile against her skin. Pulling away just enough to stop her she kisses her lips again, seemingly unable to get enough of doing so.

As she does Ruby's hands move down her, both stopping on her hips at the waistband of her panties. There's just a moment of hesitation, so Weiss deepens the kiss as a reassurance and Ruby pulls them off. She almost returns the gesture, but Ruby is already squirming a bit under her, removing her own. It's comforting, knowing Ruby wants this as much as she does.

As she kisses her she moves a hand down, sliding over Ruby's stomach to just above her pussy. "Are you ready?" She asks her.

"Very." Ruby says, her breathing heavy.

"Me too." Weiss says, her own chest rising and falling as she tries to catch her breath. Her heart is beating fast, but in only the best way. She moves her hand the rest of the way, rubbing over her wet lips gently. The look of pleasure on Ruby's face as she does only encourages her more. She keeps going, rubbing in large slow circles at first and then slowly speeding up a bit. So focused on the look on Ruby's face and making sure she was doing it right, she didn't notice Ruby's on hands and let out a small gasp of surprise as she felt Ruby's fingers touching her.

"This is okay, right?" Ruby asks.

"Yes, of course." Weiss says, "Just startled me."

"Sorry." Ruby says and kisses her neck.

"It's fine. Good in fact." Weiss says and continues her own movements. She then pulls back for a moment to stop the kiss on her neck before leaning in to kiss Ruby's lips for a moment before moving her head down to her breast, sucking on it and savoring the moan it causes. It's not one-sided though as Ruby's other hand moves to Weiss' breast, beginning to massage her chest.

Weiss hums around Ruby's breast as she flicks her tongue over her nipple. Then she tentatively pushes with a finger, sliding it into her. She can feel Ruby shudder under her and is almost afraid she'd done something wrong until Ruby rolls her hips.

In response Ruby does the same, sliding a finger into Weiss and feeling the moan she lets out on her breast. She was mostly copying Weiss, using it to gauge what was proper, and making sure they got fairly similar treatments. She figured it was safe to assume anything Weiss did was something that she enjoyed after all.

Weiss slowly moves her finger back and forth, and moves her head up to kiss at Ruby's neck once more. Then as she felt Ruby was beginning to adjust enough she pushed a second finger in, exploring within her to find what set her off. It was made more difficult but also more enjoyable by Ruby also sliding in a second finger, slowly working them within her.

By now Ruby's moans were more frequent, and Weiss herself was breathing very heavily even as she kissed and sucked at her neck. Curling her fingers inside of her she found the point that set her off, causing a small cry from Ruby and a particularly pushy roll of her hips. Fortunately for Weiss though Ruby wasn't far behind in finding what she liked either, almost causing Weiss to bite down on her neck as she ground her hips against her fingers. Deciding to pick up the pace Weiss moved a bit faster and returned her lips to Ruby's, pushing her tongue into her mouth to kiss her deeply.

Ruby's hand moved from her breast to around her back, holding her close as her other hand went faster as well, even a bit more forceful than Weiss'. She'd been holding herself back for a just a bit now, already to the edge and refusing to go over. She wanted to do it with her. Breaking the kiss she spoke. "Weiss..." She says out, her eyes screwed shut in pleasure. "Weiss, are you..."

"I am." Weiss says.

"I am when, when you are." Ruby says.

Weiss understood easily. She could tell Ruby was close, or apparently already there, and was waiting on her. She'd been attempting to focus mostly on Ruby, but decided to let herself be overcome by the pleasure now. Kissing her again she focused on feeling. Already close it wasn't long then before she finally reached her peak.

Clutching at the blanket with her supporting arm her body tensed as she came, her hips pressing into Ruby's hand, her toes curling, and her fingers curling within Ruby. Of course at feeling this Ruby let herself go as well, moaning loudly into the kiss as she clutched at Weiss, arching her back up into her. For a moment that was the world. The two of them, locked in bliss, with and from each other.

Eventually they did come down from their highs though. Weiss let herself fall onto her side, each of them pulling out of each other. Weiss held Ruby close, kissing her once more. She filled it with all the love she could convey and she hoped she succeeded as well as Ruby did in returning it.

"Wow." Ruby says as they separated. "That was… wow."

Weiss smiles, pressing her forehead to Ruby's. "Yeah, it was." She says. "I love you, Ruby."

"I love you too, Weiss." Ruby says.

Weiss reaches down then, grabbing the covers and pulling them over the two of them. Once she does she feels Ruby tighten her arms around her, holding her close and pressing her face into the crook of her neck as she snuggles in.

"The festival is tomorrow." Weiss says. "You still have your ticket?"

"Of course." Ruby says, pulling back to look in her eyes.

"We've got that to look forward to then."

"That, and the rest of our lives." Ruby says.

"Yeah, we do." Weiss says. With that kissed her again and they fell silent as they held each other, eventually drifting off to sleep. After all that had happened, there were bound to be more adventures in the future, especially with Ruby around. The first would be the festival, and after that, well they had an RV and a world to explore, and their whole lives to do so. Most importantly, they had each other.

---

Well that one was a big one wasn't it? Took me way too long to write imo but oh well. I learned a lot from it too. As requested I tried to keep it as true to the original story a possible, but of course I made a few changes for characters and cut some scenes for length. If you even somewhat enjoyed the story, go get the VN, it'll be worth it I promise.
Now for the big info: How to get your story! Namely, commissions. I am opening them. I'll take a limited number of commission slots (probably 3 but I might decide up to 5 if there's high demand so feel free to send them in). Penny a word and you get your fic. If all goes well with that I'll open requests again eventually too (nothing of this caliber though) so definitely send them in. (I am new at commissions though so while I can do the writing the rest of the business might be a bit slow. More info in my profile)
So with that, Thank you for reading, really please leave a comment I poured a ton into this, and have a nice day!