Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY nor its characters, I am merely playing in the wonderful sandbox Rooster Teeth has created for us.

This occurs following the battle of Haven Academy, for obvious reasons.

Though exhaustion weighed on her body like a sheet of cold lead, Weiss couldn't sleep. Not for the life of her.

Ha.

That could have been literal, if not for Vomit Boy and his surprise semblance just hours before. Even now she could feel her aura spreading throughout her bones, repairing the minute tears, bruises and deformities remaining from the day's fighting. It was like a warm wind on her skin, her hair prickling up instinctively where it found somewhere to work.

Her aura was far more alive now than she'd ever felt it before. Dancing rather than flowing along the contours she'd lovingly shaped for it through careful training. An aspiring Dust Mage could do no less. It melded to her body, a cloak underneath her skin, touching everything, even—

Weiss shivered, reaching for her side, just below her ribcage, where a too-smooth patch of skin had sealed over the terrible wound.

Too soon.

There were no shadows in her room. Icy blue eyes peeked open in the darkness to watch for them. Her room had no windows, unlike her rooms in Atlas, or Beacon, or even the small spot she'd made for herself in the cargo ship's hold.

Something creaked outside her door. Weiss bolted upright, hand already reaching for Myrtenaster, lying at the ready beside her bed just in case she—

"…Weiss?"

Ruby's voice. The ex-heiress sagged, frowning at herself. Was she already that paranoid? She slipped out from under the covers, shuffling across the uncomfortable cold wooden floors to the door.

It opened with a whisper of oiled hinges. Weiss stared at her partner, wanting desperately to be annoyed at having her rest interrupted. That wasn't about to happen, though. Silver eyes avoided her own, Ruby's hands wringing together as she shifted her weight from one side to the other.

Something was bothering Ruby. Weiss felt her annoyance rise, though it was no longer directed at her partner.

"Hi," Ruby murmured finally, shyly. Weiss wanted to grab her hands to stop their fumbling with each other.

"What do you want, Ruby?" she asked, smothering her annoyance.

Wait, that was bad phrasing. The point was to make Ruby feel more at ease not make her feel like she was intruding you stupid dunce!

"Oh, you know, just wanted to check in on my partner," Ruby said evasively. Weiss narrowed her eyes. The lack of light couldn't conceal the shadows underneath Ruby's eyes, nor the sag of her shoulders. Unlike herself, Ruby hadn't received an aura boost to speed up whatever injuries she'd taken during the fighting, and it showed in how much her aura had sapped her strength.

Right then.

Weiss grabbed Ruby's hands, pulling her into her room after her. Ruby squeaked quietly but quickly capitulated to Weiss' determined grip. Weiss hooked her bare heel against the door and swung it shut with a quiet click before leading Ruby over to her bed (with rumpled covers!), pushing her down to sit.

Ruby stared at her, nonplussed. No smile present on her face. Just wide silver eyes gleaming in the darkness as Weiss scooted herself back onto the bed to save her feet any more time on the cold wood.

"Alright," Weiss said quietly. "Are you going to tell me what's going on for real, or do I have to go find Yang and have her drag it out of you?"

She wouldn't unless she really had to. This reeked of being personal. Weiss knew that, close as the two were, Ruby wouldn't be happy to have Yang blow up at whatever was bothering her. The blonde was far too overprotective for any kind of subtlety.

Ruby shifted, heels kicking out into the air. "I just… I wanted to see you," she murmured.

Hands. Damn you Ruby, stop that. Wait, what?

"See me?" What was that supposed to mean?

"Yeah, I… couldn't sleep," Ruby admitted. Her chin tilted downwards, hiding her eyes behind dark eyelashes so she could stare at her lap.

Oh… Oh Ruby.

Weiss didn't really know what to say to that. The rippling energy within her touched against the healed-over injury again as her thoughts turned toward it. How long had she been unconscious? How much had Ruby seen before she'd drifted back to awareness, had she thought she was dead?

She didn't know what to say, or do, only that it had to be something. Weiss curled her fingers into her palms, wishing not for the first time that she hadn't spent a childhood sheltered from other people and learning everything except how to deal with people and their complex emotions…

Hands. With each moment Ruby seemed to curl up on herself just the tiniest bit more, her posture deflating into something more like the tiny, cringing girl Weiss had met on their first day at Beacon. Before she'd learned any humility or how to look past the child toward her partner…

And her hands were still wringing together, pale fingers with their rough callouses from countless hours wielding Crescent Rose bending and twisting together as her nervousness overpowered her confidence.

"I know, it's stupid, I just—"

Weiss took Ruby's hands in her own, curling those fingers up into fists inside her own hands. Ruby jerked, flapping about for a few seconds before subsiding and just letting Weiss anchor her. "It's not stupid," Weiss muttered, squeezing Ruby's hands. Hers were even smaller than Ruby's, shockingly. Theirs were both amazingly tiny, nothing like Yang's, which were big enough to rival most of their male peers.

They sat like that in silence for a long time. Weiss didn't have anything to say to Ruby, no words to convey what she was feeling right then, and neither did Ruby. Instead they communicated in other ways. By holding each other close, squeezing fingers at seemingly random. Slowly, the tension drained out of Ruby's shoulders and she leaned against the ex-heiress, exhaustion weighing her down.

"I should let you sleep," the ravenette muttered sleepily. Weiss rolled her eyes and pulled the covers out from under them, letting Ruby's hands go to crawl underneath them. When the other girl blinked at her confusedly, Weiss tapped the mattress impatiently, icy blue eyes deceptively soft as the short-lived protests on Ruby's lips died a quiet death.

Ruby's warmth beside her was welcome. Fall was already upon Mistral; a cold snap having come upon the kingdom in the last few days. The house had central heating, but Weiss hadn't turned it on for her room… and she didn't want to get up now.

Instead she backed up against Ruby, letting her curl around her back protectively. Weiss shivered as Ruby's hand came to rest on top of her belly, precisely where she'd been impaled just earlier that day.

"You're alright," Ruby murmured into Weiss' hair. She sounded so relieved, like she hadn't truly accepted it until that moment.

Weiss cupped Ruby's hand under hear own, relaxing into the warmth. "I'm alright," she agreed.

Soon enough they were both asleep.

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