Well, I cut this story up into four parts, and then I decided to rewrite the ending based on feedback extending it even more. That's why I love this community though, you guys aren't afraid to voice your opinions, even if they are harsh. It definitely makes me a better writer, and consequently, I think it makes the story itself better as a result. So thank you for the criticism and reviews.

Please Enjoy.

XxXxXxX

"RUBY! LOOK OUT!"

Time slowed to a crawl for Ruby as she twisted her body around, the smile on her face fading quickly as she saw the Beowolf that had somehow managed to get pass her guard. Her eyes widened by a fraction as she saw its sharp claws aiming straight for her heart, and she hesitated, a mere second was all it took for the beast to strike its deadly claws forward for the kill. It was laughable that one of the strongest Huntresses-in-training would be put down by such a weak foe, but this was the price of underestimation.

It was all so easy though! Her team was sent on a typical hunting mission to simply clear out Grimm for a nearby village to the north of Vale, and for the most part it was a ridiculously easy mission for such a strong team like themselves. However, that got to her head, and Ruby started to play a bit too much – kiting the Grimm around, laughing as they failed over and over to kill her. They became mere toys for her to play with, and that is what cost her. She hadn't expected a Beowolf of all things to go for her when she had her guard lowered, but it did, and she could almost see a satisfied and sadistic smile as the beast's maw widened with drool slipping out to the ground.

She was so certain of her death in that moment that it was quite a surprise when suddenly a flash of yellow appeared in front of her, and her sister appeared with her arms wide apart, using her own body as a shield for her sister. Ruby didn't even have time to comprehend what was going on before the beast dug its claw deep into the girl's body, and only a second later its arm burst out of her back, her blood splattering all over the red-clad girl.

Ruby watched in horror as her sister's body shuddered briefly, her head flying back as she spit out a large amount of blood, and then her body went limp, her weight dragging the beast down, but it was quick to rip its arm out of her, and use its tongue to lick the fresh blood, before its eyes flickered back towards Ruby. It stepped forward, one of its feet pressing onto the girl's body below him, and it let out a menacing growl.

A blink – and then another – and all she saw afterwards was red.

"YANG!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, she gripped her scythe tightly with both hands, and with as much strength as she could muster, she swung the weapon as hard as she was physically capable of doing, using her semblance to add extra speed to the attack. The Beowolf didn't even have a chance to react as she sliced its torso clean in half. Not content with just that, Ruby rushed forward and rammed her entire body weight into the beast, knocking it off of her sister, and then she raised her scythe again, slamming the blade down on the beast's head.

Sure that it was dead, Ruby let go of Crescent Rose, allowing it to stay firmly stuck in the beast for now, and she looked to Yang, who was face down in the ground, a pool of blood growing larger by the second under her. She rushed to her side, and gently grabbed her by the shoulder, turning her body over so she could see her face, "Yang, come on…" Ruby mumbled, her hands shaking as she held her sister's head gently, looking down in her lilac eyes. She got rid of some stray strands of hair on the girls face, absently noting the blood smearing across Yang's forehead as she moved it away.

"H - Help! I need help! Yang's hurt!" She looked around frantically now, "Weiss? Blake?!" She called out, but neither of them were nearby, having gotten split up during the chaos. "No, no, no…" She looked back down at Yang and shook her gently, "Wake up!"

Yang's eyes were glazed over, and her mouth was open, blood coating her lips. Her hair she cared so much about was now a mixture of yellow and red, having mixed with the blood still forming around her. She didn't move a single muscle, and her eyes never once blinked. Ruby felt her heart suddenly seize in her chest as she finally started to wonder if she was dead.

"No! Yang! YANG!" She screamed, finally noticing the fact that she wasn't breathing, "H – Hold on!" She set the girl down, and placed both of her hands on Yang's chest, and began to pump up and down, "Come on! Breathe!" She really didn't know what she was doing, she had some vague memories of how CPR was done, but not exactly how it worked. Still, she pressed on, pressing down on her sister's abdomen, "BREATHE!"

Tears were beginning to form at the corners of her eyes as she started to take shallow breaths, her mind was freezing as she desperately tried to do anything to bring her sister back. She could vaguely recall something about blowing air into their mouth, so not even caring that her sister's lips were bloodied, she pressed her mouth to her and blew air into her sister's mouth, "Yang… Please… Breathe!" She cried, gasping for breath and coughing, using her sleeve to wipe away blood from her mouth.

She leaned back and took in the full sight of her sister. And finally she couldn't deny it anymore. She was dead… Ruby's entire body shook, and she started to breath quicker, her breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps as she vividly recalled what it was like when she lost her mother. She knew that she was beginning to hyperventilate, and that she had to calm down, but despite screaming that in her mind, her body refused to act, and that rational part of her mind faded as tears poured from her eyes, and she collapsed to the ground, dizziness and nausea welling up within her.

"Ruby? Yang?" Ruby couldn't turn around to see who it was, but she knew that was Blake's voice. "What the – Oh my god!" A sharp intake of breath, and Ruby saw Blake rushing over to Yang's side, "Yang?! Ruby! What the hell happened?!"

Ruby felt herself being lifted up by Weiss, who looked just as shocked and surprised as Blake did, "Ruby, are you okay?"

Ruby was still hyperventilating however, "I – I – Y – Yang!" She looked sharply over to the girl on the ground beside her, "H – H – Help – h – her!"

Blake pressed a finger to the yellow haired girl's neck, and her face turned pale, "I don't feel a pulse." She muttered.

"You're joking!" Weiss exclaimed, her eyes widening in horror.

"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" Blake snapped harshly, "What happened?! She was fine not even five minutes ago!" She saw the shredded hole in the girl's chest that was obscured by the girl's clothing, so she moved it aside, "This is…"

"A – A – B – Beo…" Ruby coughed, still struggling to stay conscious and helpful, though it was quite difficult. Her mind was close to shutting down, and she wanted so badly to just sleep and pray that this was all a dream, but she couldn't… Not with her teammates here. "Help - H – her!" She begged Blake.

"Ruby…" Weiss muttered, looking down at the girl with a mixture of pity and sadness, "I don't think we can do anything…"

"She's dead." Blake muttered, still in shock herself.

That did it, Ruby felt bile rushing up her throat, and she rolled off of Weiss and got on her hands and knees as she violently emptied in her stomach, coughing as the wretched bile left an awful aftertaste in her mouth. "No!" She cried, not even bothering to wipe her mouth as she sobbed, "Yang's fine – R – Right?!"

As her two teammates watched, Ruby crawled towards her sister and lifted her head up into her lap, "It'll be fine! Yang will wake up! She'll be fine and we can all just laugh about this little scare!"

"Ruby, stop…" Weiss whispered, averting her eyes from the sight.

"Yang… Please…" Ruby's voice cracked, and her lips trembled, "Don't go… We have a lot of work to do, remember? Tests are next week, and you promised Weiss that we'd study as soon as we got back, right?"

Blake just stared down at her partner, her body refusing to do anything other than stare helplessly down at the body of her fallen companion. She could only vaguely hear Ruby begging and whimpering for her sister to wake up. Instead, she couldn't help but wonder what to do now – Yang was her partner, and arguably her best friend… What was she going to do without her?

"Not like this…" Ruby cried, "I can't lose you too… M – Mom already left me, you said you'd always be there for me, so you can't go, you'd be breaking your promise…"

Weiss placed her hand on her partner's shoulder, though Ruby hardly noticed, and instead was entirely focused on Yang, "Ruby… I…" She paused, unsure of what to say. They had been partners for several years now, and she had grown used to interacting with people on a more civil basis – somewhat – but all of that did absolutely nothing for her now. What could she say to make this better? Was there anything to be said? Instead, she just gripped Ruby's shoulder, and tried to fight her own tears that threatened to come.

"We were supposed to always be there for each other…" Ruby muttered, her voice becoming hoarse, "Please… Come on… Don't go… Please don't go…"

"Ruby." Weiss tried to keep her voice firm, "We h – have to call for help." She mentally cursed herself for stuttering even the slightest bit, "We have to let them know about what happened…"

"Y – Yeah…" Ruby mumbled, her eyes turning to look at Weiss, though they were quite unfocused, "T – They can help her…"

Weiss tried not to grimace at the near maniacal look in Ruby's eyes, but it was a failed effort. With all of the blood covering Ruby's face, it was difficult to see her as the strong leader she needed to be, and not as a scared child. "Ruby. You need to get a hold of yourself. Now is not the time for mourning, okay?" It almost physically hurt to say that to her, especially given the circumstances, but they were still in enemy territory. Any moment, a Beowolf could come out and try to get them while they were weak. Blake looked to be out of commission just as much as Ruby was, so if they were attacked, it fell on Weiss to keep them safe.

"You – You're right…" Ruby blinked a few times, and Weiss nearly sighed aloud in relief as she regained a little focus and was actually looking at Weiss, "We… We…" Again her focus started fading, "I…" She shook her head, and tried to stand, but it was a futile effort, and she just collapsed back down to the ground, "Scroll… Weiss… Use your scroll and call for help… I'll protect us…" She again tried to stand, but again she failed, falling to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.

Weiss did as Ruby said, immediately calling the emergency number. The call was very short, and as soon as she mentioned that one of their team was dead, it ended promptly, with the promise of help coming immediately ending the call. She pocketed her scroll, and looked back towards Ruby, who was just staring at her hands. "Ruby?"

"It'll be fine… Yang will be ok. It'll all be ok…" Ruby mumbled to herself over and over, causing Weiss to frown, "Right… Right, Weiss? She'll be ok!"

Weiss knelt down in front of her team leader, and again put her hands on Ruby's shoulders, "Ruby… It's… It's going to be alright, ok?" She lied blatantly to the girl's face, but Ruby showed her a desperate smile, and nodded approvingly, "So please pull yourself together."

"Yeah, but…" Ruby glanced back at Yang, and her smile faded away, "She's… She's dead…"

Weiss wanted to pull her hair out as Ruby kept shifting back to the panicking little girl after every little bit of development towards being functional, but given the circumstances, she could hardly blame her. "Ruby… Please… Just calm down."

"Don't leave me alone…" Ruby cried, staring back at Yang, "Please… I don't want to be alone…"

XxXxXxX

Three days.

It had been three whole days since the incident, and Weiss still couldn't believe it. Every single day since then she woke up in a living nightmare, hoping against hope each night that when she woke up the next morning, things would go back to how they were. Unfortunately, she learned early in life that wishing for such things was a path towards despair. Her life had been difficult growing up, having to live up to her family's nigh impossible standards, having to learn to fight and defend herself at such an early age, and coming to terms with her place in life had all done its damage on her psyche, but it was Ruby who had saved her from drowning in despair.

Too bad she couldn't return the favor. She frowned as she woke up to yet another bleak morning, and she looked at the bunk above her, precariously tied to the ceiling. Such a thing made her incredibly nervous for the first few weeks of school, but now, three years later, she'd simply grown used to it, however, that was hardly what worried her that morning. The girl on the top bunk was very quiet, not making a single sound, but if Weiss had to guess, she knew that the girl hadn't gotten any sleep that night.

"Ruby?" Weiss called, "Are you awake?"

No answer, not that she necessarily expected one anyway. With a sigh, she turned to look at the other side of the room, where Blake slept on the lower bunk of the other bunk bed. The Faunus girl was being quiet, but Weiss also knew that she probably hadn't gotten much sleep either – all of them didn't sleep much these past few days… Not since Yang died. Weiss sat up, and got out of bed, her body protesting the entire way, but she pushed forth anyway. She had to shower and prepare for classes, despite how dumb and trivial they may seem to her now.

Of course they had been excused from classes, but Weiss was nothing if not a perfectionist, and despite the despair gripping her team's heart, she still went, and she kept notes, and she studied. The second day Blake joined her, though like Weiss, she was silent, ignoring the whispers from people around them. Weiss had bit her tongue so many times these past few days to prevent herself from lashing out at them – who were they to gossip about them?! What did they know? Didn't they recognize how much it hurt them when they did that?

Weiss stepped into the shower, and let out a soft sigh as the warm water started going down her back, and she again thought back to Ruby. The poor girl was nearly catatonic when help finally arrived in the forest. Her voice was hoarse from begging Yang to come back, and when the medics started to take Yang's body away, she absolutely lost it, wailing and crying, realizing that her sister was truly dead. It broke Weiss's heart to see Ruby like that, and the entire time she held the girl on the way back to Beacon – distinctly out of character of her, to be sure, but given the circumstances, it was perfectly understandable.

Ruby only seemed to get worse as time went on. After being released from the hospital, she, Ruby, and Blake were all told that they were exempt from classes for as long as they deemed necessary, and they went back to their rooms. Ruby was no longer crying, but she seemed to be only a former shell of herself. She was very quiet the entire way to their room, and then when they finally reached their destination, Ruby pulled herself into her bunk, and did little else. She got up for the occasional bathroom break, but otherwise, she never left. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep, she didn't do anything, and Weiss didn't know what to do about it.

Blake was at least sort of returning to normal, though Weiss could see that Yang's death had affected her just as bad as Ruby. The Faunus never said anything, even when asked a question in class, she would just silently stare straight ahead. She never laughed, she never smiled, and she never even interacted with her teammates. She just seemed like a machine, going through the motions of living her life, but not actually living it.

Weiss reached for the shampoo, and noticed that she grabbed the wrong one – the one she was holding now was Yang's favorite brand…

"Now don't you ever touch this, or you'll be sorry!"

Weiss's lips curled and she blinked her eyes rapidly to try and keep her tears at bay as she recalled the memory. Yang was always so happy and energetic… Despite being such a nuisance to her all the time, Weiss couldn't help but miss the big oaf. What was the saying? You never really appreciated what you have until it's gone. That's right… Yang was an annoying hyperactive idiot, but she was a good friend, and one that Weiss was going to dearly miss.

"Damn it… Pull yourself together…" Weiss muttered, wiping her eyes with the hot water, making sure no stains would appear. She could hardly go to class advertising she had cried, she unfortunately had a reputation she was required by her father to upkeep. She may be able to get away with it now, but she was hardly go to bother trying, not wanting to get on his bad side.

There was a quick knock on the door, and Weiss looked up, "I'm in the shower," She called, already knowing it was Blake, and like the last two days, Blake saw fit not to respond, and everything was silent yet again. Weiss stared at the door for a little, a small part of her hoping that Blake would say anything to her, but it was a futile hope, and she looked back at the shower wall, placing her hand against it and leaning forward, her forehead touching the cool wall.

Nothing was ever going to be the same anymore.

Twenty minutes later, she exited the bathroom, her hair was still damp, but it was dry enough to where she was able to sloppily get it how she usually did it. While she was still willing to attend classes, and she knew she had to look good, she didn't put her all into her appearance, her heart just wasn't into it. Upon leaving the room, Blake stepped right pass her and entered the bathroom, the door shutting quickly, and a quick click proving that she locked the door behind her.

Weiss stared at the closed door for a few seconds, and then back towards the room to the top bunk of her bed, where she knew her partner was. Mustering up the courage, she stepped forward towards the bed, "Ruby," She called, "Are you ok?" She winced – an idiotic question, of course she wasn't ok. "Ruby… Do you want to come to class with us today?" She asked only a few seconds later, hoping to cover her blunder.

It hardly matter, since the only answer she received was a very slight shift in the sheets Ruby wrapped herself in. Other than that, it was silent yet again.

"Very well…" Weiss muttered, looking away.

She wandered over to the drawer beside her bed, and gathered up her books that sat atop it, making sure she had all of the proper texts for her class, and she went to leave the room, sparing Ruby one last glance. When she saw that Ruby wasn't making any effort to move, she opened the door and started to walk to the cafeteria to get something to eat. She just couldn't bear to stay in the room with its horribly oppressive atmosphere. Guilt wracked her body as she shut the door, leaving behind her two depressed teammates, but there wasn't anything she could do.

XxXxXxX

The day went by painfully slow for Weiss, and just like the two before it, she could hear the whispers from the other students, which only caused her blood to boil. Why couldn't they just shut up about this? Did they really need to constantly talk about it? She grit her teeth as she walked down the hall, her hands tightening on the books she held close to her chest, as she made her way to the cafeteria for lunch. She still had several classes left, but at least she got a lengthy break to attempt to relax during.

Once she entered the cafeteria, she looked around in a vain hope of seeing Ruby around, but she wasn't able to spot the distinctive red cloak of the girl, and she just sighed, feeling her heart sink further. It was stupid to hope for Ruby to recover so soon, but having her partner and team leader behaving in such a way was really… Distressing, she supposed. She was so used to Ruby being an active and chatty girl who was always happy, so witnessing her be the exact opposite was disturbing.

"There has to be something I can do…" She muttered to herself. She watched the students gathering food, and a light-bulb lit up in her head – food! Ruby hadn't eaten for days now, so perhaps Ruby would start to recover if Weiss brought her something to eat? Well… It was unlikely, that was for sure, but she was at a loss of what else to do, so she decided to go with this for now.

"Weiss?" She stopped in her steps, and turned towards the voice behind her, "Oh wow, you look…" He paused, "Um, well, good – good!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes in annoyance, "What do you want Jaune – other than to insult my appearance?"

Jaune winced and averted his eyes, rubbing his neck sheepishly, "I – I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, but…" He sighed, "Weiss, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She lied.

Jaune frowned, glancing towards her briefly, before looking away again, "Well… That's good, but Ruby hasn't been out of your room for a while now."

"What about it?" Weiss asked harshly, glaring at him, "Do you want to know what all the gossip is about?"

"No," He sighed, and she noticed him straighten his posture and look her directly in the eyes, "I just want to say that if you, or Ruby or Blake need someone to talk to, my team is willing to be there for you. I can't say that I know what it's like to… go through what you've been through, but my sister always said that it's better to talk to someone about how you feel rather than bottle it up, so…" His posture faltered, and he looked away, "Tell Ruby that she can talk to us, ok?"

"As if you can help her…" Weiss grumbled unhappily, "You're right about one thing though: you have no idea what this feels like, so stay out of our business."

"That's fine…" Jaune sighed, his shoulders sagging in defeat, "But I mean it, we'll be here if you guys need anything."

"Yeah, I hear you." Weiss had already turned away and walked towards the food counter, dismissing his concerns with a short wave. She didn't see if he looked dejected or hurt, but she hardly cared. He still had his entire team alive and healthy. With that in mind, what the hell could he do to help them? Her frown deepened into a grimace as she started gathering food on a small tray, making sure to pick Ruby's favorites, and she left quickly so she wouldn't have to be around anyone any longer.

Opening the door to their room, she had to swallow quickly as her heart sank at how dark it was. The oppressive atmosphere was thick, and it honestly reminded her of her home back at Atlas. She pressed on anyway, opening the door with her shoulder as she guided the tray of food in with her hands, and then once she was in the room, she kicked the door shut. Looking back towards the beds, she just knew Ruby was still on her bunk.

"Ruby," She called, "I've got you some food." She managed to snap the lights on, and she allowed her eyes a few seconds to adjust.

There was no reply, not even any movement, and it made Weiss wonder if the girl was asleep right now.

"Come on," She set the tray of food down on her dresser along with her books, relieving her heavy burden, and she climbed atop her bed so she could look at Ruby's bunk above hers. She pulled herself up halfway, and finally caught a glimpse of Ruby, and it nearly made her jump out of her skin. Ruby was staring right at her, her eyes were bloodshot and had black circles forming around them, as if she hadn't slept in days. She didn't even blink, and her eyes were entirely unfocused, as if she didn't even notice Weiss looking straight at her. The smell was also bad, and Weiss grimaced as she noticed Ruby's greasy hair – It was only three days since they came back, but it had been longer since Ruby had even taken a shower.

Suddenly, Ruby's eyes seemed to snap back into focus, and they zoned in on Weiss before her, "Weiss…?" She mumbled so quietly, her voice sounding gravely and hoarse, "What do you want?" She reached up and wiped her eyes with her hands.

"You haven't eaten in days," Weiss replied casually, trying to ignore the fact that Ruby looked like hell, "I've brought some food."

"No thanks." Ruby muttered, turning to the other side so all Weiss could see was her shoulder. "I'm not hungry…"

Weiss glared at the girl briefly before she swallowed down her anger – Ruby was hurting, and yelling at her wasn't going to fix things. "Ruby, you have to eat." She instead said sharply, "Look… I know you're upset, but you can't do this to yourself."

No reply again. If Weiss had to guess, she'd say that Ruby lost her focus and was again just staring off into space, essentially being a zombie.

"Damn it Ruby!" Weiss growled. She hopped down to the ground again, and stared at the plate of food. What in the world should she do in this kind of situation? She couldn't even think of a similar situation in her life comparable to this one, and it only frustrated her more that she couldn't help her partner. She picked up a strawberry off of the tray, and idly examined it, "I wonder if it'd be okay to just shove this in her mouth…" She whispered quietly to herself.

The door to their room suddenly clicked, and Weiss glanced up in surprise as she saw the third member of their team walk into the room. Blake was still as silent as ever, and she spared Weiss a quick look, and her eyes landed on the tray of food. They back to Weiss, and then up towards Ruby, and a frown marred her features, "What are you doing?" She asked – the first thing she'd said in days.

Weiss stumbled over her words initially, shocked that Blake actually spoke, "I – I'm trying to get Ruby to eat." She explained, "She hasn't eaten in days, and it can't be good for her."

Again Blake glanced up towards Ruby, and her expression grew even worse – a glare, and her lips curled in disgust, "Why bother?"

"What – What do you mean?" Weiss asked, again shocked by the girl's words in less than a minute, "She's part of our team!"

"Ruby doesn't even give a shit about our team, that's why Yang died, after all." She grit her teeth at the mention of the yellow-haired girl's death, "Let her wallow away in her misery, she deserves it."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Weiss asked, "How can you say something like this?"

"If she had just done her fucking job instead of being a little stupid idiot like she always is, Yang would be alive. The Grimm aren't toys, they aren't a foe to be underestimated, and she as a team leader should have known all of that! She's supposed to guide and protect us, but what she did on that mission was the exact opposite of all of that! She's worthless, and she's responsible for Yang's death, so I say let her rot."

Weiss's face grew murderous the longer Blake went on, and she crushed the strawberry in her hand as she tried to contain her anger, "OUT!" Weiss finally shouted, "Do you even understand what you're saying?!"

"Why are you defending her?" Blake asked, pointedly glaring at the heiress, "Just because she's your partner? You're always the logical one – don't you agree that Ruby was out of line during that mission?"

Weiss thought back – Ruby was particularly annoying on this mission with how she bounced around everywhere, talking a mile a minute and toying with the Grimm, but she distinctly recalled Yang was laughing along with her… Not only that, but she and Blake were laughing and having fun too, despite how much either of them tried to hide it behind their respective façades. "You're right about her being out of line," Weiss finally agreed, "But none of us tried to stop it. Ruby always listens to her team, and if any one of us had told her to tone it down, you know she would have. This is as much our fault as it is hers."

Blake paused for a moment, and then her eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare, and she marched over to Weiss, "Don't you DARE put this on me! We're all competent fighters, and Beowolves should have posed no threat to us, but Ruby couldn't handle one of the beasts, and she got Yang killed because of that. She should have tried to behave during the fights at least, don't you agree? Or are you just going to keep defending her?" Blake was now right in Weiss's face, and both girls were glaring angrily at each other.

"Get out of my face!" Weiss snapped, shoving the girl roughly away, "Just get out! I'm done wasting my time with you!"

Blake stumbled back a few feet, and then just glared angrily at Weiss, and then her eyes looked back up to Ruby. She looked like she was about to say something, with her mouth opening slowly, but then she shook her head, and walked over to the dresser beside her bed, gathering a few books from atop it, and stomping out of the room, leaving only Weiss and Ruby yet again.

Weiss let out a deep sigh, trying to rid herself of her excess anger, and she wiped her hand on her sheets, reminding herself to wash them later that day unless if she wanted it to smell like strawberries. She looked at the tray of food – Blake's words running through her mind the entire time, and she picked up a strawberry. "Blake's wrong," She called up to Ruby, "I know you heard that, and I want you to know that this isn't your fault." Again she went up, this time with a small batch of Strawberries in her hands, and she climbed on the bed, causing it to swing precariously for a few seconds before settling down.

Ruby was facing away from her, but she could hear her sniffling, and she saw her shoulders shift every few seconds, knowing that she was probably reaching up and wiping tears. "Just go away…"

"Ruby, you have to eat." Weiss replied calmly, "I'm not going until you eat all of these strawberries. They're your favorite, so eat up. I also have some cookies you can eat too."

"I'm not hungry," Was Ruby's curt reply.

"Ok, enough of this moping stuff," Weiss's anger flared as she reached over, grabbing Ruby's shoulder and pulling her around so she'd have to face Weiss. Immediately Weiss regretted it though, since she had to see Ruby's tear strained face, which made her chest hurt just to see. The one member of their team who seemed so powerful and unstoppable was just a sniveling little girl, crying over her lost sister and what she heard her supposed friend say about her. "Ruby…"

"Just go!" Ruby cried roughly, reaching up and rubbing her puffy eyes, "I – I just want to be alone…"

Weiss's resolve was breaking with each second, but she let out a calm breath, and again reached for a strawberry, "Ruby, I know you're sad, we a – all are…" Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat, "But you need to eat, you're just withering away up here, and I don't want that to happen…"

"But Blake was right," Ruby cried, "So why are you still being nice to me?"

Weiss felt anger flare up again, and she glared hatefully back down to the door, "Blake was wrong."

"No, she wasn't… I wasn't being a good team leader… I let a stupid beowolf get by…" She sniffled, wiping her eyes on her arm and she kept crying, "I k – k – killed…" She couldn't finished, and just started sobbing.

Weiss didn't ever think she'd want to attack her teammates, but at that moment, she wanted to strangle Blake so badly. Logically, she knew that it was most likely Blake's grief doing most of the talking, but allowing Ruby to hear all of those hateful things when she too was going through grief was just the worst possible thing she could have done. Even worse though was that looking at Ruby crying so hard made Weiss's eyes start to shine with tears, and she tried her damn hardest not to let them fall.

"Here, if you eat half of these, then I'll leave you alone for now." Weiss's original objective was to get her to eat all of them, but she knew that she had to make a compromise somewhere.

Ruby's cries softened, and now she was just staring at the Strawberries that Weiss had placed on the sheets, and she reached forward, grabbing one of them and rolling it around in her hand. She suddenly dropped it though, and looked at her hand in fear. She wiped her hand on her sheets over and over, but whatever it was didn't seem to be going away. "I – I need to get this off first…"

"Get what off?" Weiss asked curiously, seeing Ruby's hand was just fine.

"This blood… There's so much blood on my hands…" She looked at her other hand and formed them into fists, "I – I thought I washed them off earlier, but it's back…"

"There's no blood, Ruby, calm down." She reached forth to try and grab Ruby's hand, but the girl brought them both to her chest, and looked fearfully at Weiss, "Ruby, what in the world is going on?"

"Don't touch me!" She cried, "I – I don't want to get it on you too… This… It's all my fault…"

Weiss grit her teeth, realizing now that Ruby was probably experiencing Post Traumatic Stress. She remembered the doctor saying something about it to all of them, claiming that seeing the death of a close friend would likely cause all of them to go through it, and it could manifest in many different ways. "Ruby, I won't touch you, ok? But I need you to just calm down."

Ruby astonishingly heard her voice, and did as she was asked, calming down ever so slightly. She hid her hands under her sheets, and Weiss couldn't figure out if it was because she didn't want to see the supposed blood anymore, or if she didn't want her to touch them. "Ok…" Ruby muttered silently.

"Now, since you can't use your hands, I'm going to feed these to you myself, got it?" She picked up a strawberry, and she pulled off the leaves, "Is that fine?"

Ruby's lips trembled, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

It was the same question as earlier, and Weiss just averted her eyes, feeling self-conscious now, "You're my teammate you dunce, we're supposed to care for each other, right?"

Though she was crying, Weiss could see the start of a small smile forming on Ruby face, "Th – Thank you…" Ruby whispered.

"It's alright, now open up." Weiss plucked the first strawberry into Ruby's mouth, and felt great relief as the girl finally started to eat something. She didn't make any sounds suggesting that she was enjoying it, but seeing her eating was more than enough.

She must have been really hungry though, because Weiss was able to give her the entire batch of strawberries, in addition to a full water bottle. Ruby must have been dehydrated and exhausted, and moments after finishing everything Weiss prepared for her, she fell to sleep. Weiss just sat beside her for a few minutes, watching her, before she finally climbed down from Ruby's bed and looked at the time.

"Afternoon classes are starting soon…" She mumbled, taking the empty tray and the textbooks she'd need. She looked back up to Ruby's bunk, "I'll be back soon."

Of course there was no answer, but she did feel a little lighter as she walked out of her dorm room.