Home Is Where The Heart Is

Ruby groaned and reached over to turn off her alarm clock. Waking up early wasn't any more enjoyable as an adult than it had been as a child. But there were other reasons to enjoy adulthood, like waking up beside a beautiful – but decidedly cranky – woman.

"You know how much I hate that thing." Weiss glared, imagining how good it would feel to stab the offending timepiece with her rapier. "It is impossible to sleep through."

"Well, it is an alarm clock. That's sort of the point – gah!" Ruby fell out of bed as Weiss whacked her over the head with a pillow. For someone who used such a light weapon, Weiss had a heck of an arm.

"That might be okay for you – you're going on a mission." Weiss huffed and settled back onto her pillow. "But I am not going on a mission. I am supposed to be sleeping in." Her hands drifted down to cover her stomach, which was only just starting to lose its toned shape. "I look like a whale."

Ruby hopped back into bed. Getting knocked out of bed was a semi-regular occurrence, so she'd gotten very good at it. "Weiss, you're barely even showing. And even if you looked like a whale, I'd still love you." Ruby smiled. "You'd be my whale."

Whack.

Weiss lowered her pillow and fixed Ruby with another glare. Unfortunately – or perhaps very fortunately – the other woman had evolved almost complete immunity to all of her glares, scowls, and frowns. It was equal parts frustrating and endearing. "Ruby, I love you very much, but that doesn't make me feel any better."

"Would it make you feel any better if I told you that you look absolutely fabulous and that I'm the luckiest woman in the world to be married to you?"

Weiss's lips twitched. "It might. Go on, I could use another compliment or two."

Ruby was about to reply when she heard footsteps in the corridor outside their bedroom. The sounds stopped just outside their door. There was a small pause before someone knocked on the door.

"You'd better answer that," Weiss said. "You know how she can get."

Ruby went over to the door and opened it. There was no one there, or so it seemed. With a small smile on her face, she turned to the left. Doing her very best to blend in with the wall was a little girl with silver eyes, white hair, and pale skin. She even had a white bed sheet thrown over herself to try to match the colour of the wall.

"Who could have knocked on the door?" Ruby pretended not to see the little girl. Taking the act a bit further, she turned around and walked down the corridor. "Maybe it was someone from over here."

Tossing a quick glance over her shoulder, Ruby had to bite back a laugh. The little girl was following her, pressing herself flat against the wall in a desperate bid to avoid detection.

"Maybe it was a ghost." Ruby paused and then turned, darting over to the girl and picking her up in a blur of motion. "Or maybe it was a little girl!"

"Mommy!" The girl tried to squirm out of Ruby's arms, but all she managed to do was get more and more tangled in the bed sheet. "You're not supposed to be awake yet! Remember yesterday? You said I could wake you up for your mission."

"Is that so, Luna?" Ruby stroked her imaginary beard, a gesture that she knew Luna loved. "I guess you can still do that." She put the little girl back on the ground, went back into her bedroom, and tucked herself into bed beside Weiss. Then she began to snore. Loudly.

Next to Ruby, Weiss watched her wife and daughter with something akin to morbid fascination. In typical fashion, Luna was completely content with acting like Ruby really was asleep.

"Seriously?" Weiss poked Ruby in the side.

"I can't hear you," Ruby replied. "I'm sleeping."

Luna waved her arms in the air to catch Weiss's attention and then held one finger up to her lips. "You have to be quiet, mom. Mommy is sleeping, and I have to be the one to wake her up."

"Of course. How silly of me." Weiss sniggered as Luna crept through the door and then snuck over to their bed, using first a chair and then Ruby's bedside table as cover.

"Wake up, mommy." Luna shook Ruby gently. "It's time for your mission."

But Ruby refused to wake up, stubbornly keeping her eyes closed. But Luna wasn't about to give up so easily. She climbed onto the bed and then leaned forward so that she could try and open Ruby's eyes herself.

"Wake up, mommy!"

"I'm awake!" Ruby sprang to her feet, throwing the blanket off and grabbing Luna. The little girl gave a cry of delight as Ruby vanished in a swirl of rose petals, zipping back and forth from one corner of the bedroom to another with a speed that only she could muster. When she finally stopped, she held Luna up and looked her right in the eye. In her most serious huntress voice, she said, "Thank you for waking me up. I might have been late for my mission if you didn't."

"You're welcome, mommy." Luna flashed Ruby a salute and hopped out of her arms. "Can I come with you this time? I promise I won't get in the way."

The hopeful look in Luna's eyes would normally have gotten her almost anything – she had Ruby's talent for pouting and Weiss's knack for making people do what she wanted – but this was one thing that Ruby would never budge on. She was not going to let Luna anywhere near a monster until her daughter could build her own weapon and mangle things with it.

"Sorry, squirt." Ruby ruffled Luna's hair. "But you can't come. Missions are for grownups only."

"But I know all about monsters and stuff. I even know how Crescent Rose works!"

And that annoyed Weiss to no end. She'd tried to get Luna hooked on rapiers. She'd even bought Luna a plush rapier when she was a baby. But Luna had turned out to be a little grease monkey. Nothing made her happier than tinkering with tools and watching Ruby work on Crescent Rose. She was only five years old, but Weiss had a sneaking suspicion that Luna had already memorised what Crescent Rose looked like on the inside.

"Knowing how my scythe works is very different from being able to use it." Ruby sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside her. Luna ignored the bed in favour of sitting on Ruby's lap. "You can't even lift Crescent Rose yet, Luna."

"Who's going to watch your back, mommy?" Luna asked. "Huntresses aren't supposed to go on missions alone, you told me so!"

Ruby winced. She and Weiss had agreed not to talk about their huntress work too much at home, but it always seemed to find its way into conversation. And Luna was like a sponge, eagerly soaking up every little scrap of information she could find about huntresses and monsters. It didn't help that Yang had a seemingly endless supply of war stories to share, most of which ended with her punching everybody in the face and setting everything on fire.

"You have to let me come with you. Mom can't go because she's going to have a baby soon."

Weiss made a face. She had several more months of pregnancy to look forward to. Wonderful. "Your mommy isn't going on her own, Luna. She'll have someone with her." Her eyes narrowed. Ruby had better be getting help. The other woman had ended up in hospital more than once after taking on a dangerous mission without waiting for back up.

"That's right. I won't be on my own." Ruby gave Weiss's hand a gentle squeeze. She'd promised to be more careful, and she would be. "And someone has to stay here to look after your mom. Can you do that for me?" Her eyes twinkled. "You know, Luna, your mom is so used to having me around that she can't sleep on her own anymore. You might have to sleep here so that she doesn't get lonely or scared. You can keep the bogeyman away."

Luna pouted. "I don't need to keep the bogeyman away. Mom would just stab him or something." She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and kicking her legs back and forth. "But I guess I can stay here with mom."

"That's my girl."

"So who's going with you, mommy?" Luna asked.

"Your Aunt Blake will be going with me, so you don't have to worry about anything. Between the two of us, we'll be fine. And if things get really dangerous, she can just make heaps and heaps of clones while we run away."

Luna giggled. Her Aunt Blake could do all kinds of tricks. Luna's favourite was when she made lots and lots of clones while they were playing hide and seek. Not even the twins – Aunt Yang and Aunt Blake's two daughters – could find the real one. Everyone said it was cheating, but Aunt Blake said that they were welcome to use their Semblances too if they wanted.

"I guess you'll be okay. Aunt Blake is pretty tough."

"Blake better bring you back without a scratch," Weiss warned. "I don't ever want to see in the hospital again."

"It's been ages since that happened. Besides, you know me. I'm pretty tough too." Ruby flexed one arm, drawing a laugh from Luna and an eye roll from Weiss. "See?"

"How are you going to fight the monsters, mommy?" Luna leapt to her feet and jumped up and down on the bed. "Are you going to be all, hack, chop, bash?" She grabbed a pillow and swung it around like a scythe. "Or maybe stab, slash, whack?"

"No." Ruby took the pillow and waved it around. "I'll be more like… hack, slash, biff!"

"Biff?" Weiss raised one eyebrow. "What are you going to do, punch a monster in the face?"

"If I have to, but punching things is really more of a Yang thing." Ruby put one hand on Luna's shoulder to stop her jumping up and down. "How about you help your mom make breakfast? I'm going to have a shower and then eat."

"And then?" Luna's eyes gleamed. She knew what came next.

"Then… I suppose you could help me get ready for my mission."

"Yay!"

Ruby had a quick shower and then headed into the dining room for breakfast. Weiss was already at the dining table reading through some reports on a Scroll with a bowl of cereal in front of her. Luna was next to her, contemplating whether or not she should eat her toast since it had come with a jam smiley face on it.

A faint smile crossed Ruby's lips. Weiss was one of the wealthiest women on the planet, and the house they lived in was more of a manor. They even had servants, which Ruby still found weird. She'd lost count of the number of times she'd gotten up to go find a mug of hot chocolate or a cookie, only to find a servant standing there with whatever she needed.

At first, Ruby had been worried about how Luna would handle having servants around. But the little girl had taken it all in her stride. The servants weren't servants in her head. No, they were friends and family. She knew all of their names, and it wasn't the least bit unusual to find her playing an impromptu game of hop scotch with one of the maids or out in the garden helping one of the gardeners.

The servants were loyal to Weiss because they believed in her and what she stood for – equality for humans and Faunus – but they loved Luna. Ruby had absolutely no doubt in her mind that their security staff wouldn't think twice before throwing themselves between Luna and any possible threat. Heck, she'd caught one of the maids brandishing a broom as a club the last time they'd run a security drill.

"Come on, Luna. Eat your toast." Weiss looked up from her Scroll. She didn't like reading at the table, especially when Ruby was about to go on a mission, but there had been some important shifts in the corporate world overnight. "It will get cold."

"But it has a face on it." Luna tilted her head to one side and poked at the toast with her butter knife. Her silver eyes narrowed. "I can't eat it if it has a face on it."

"Is that so? Well, I don't mind if it has a face on it." Ruby leaned over and picked up a slice of toast, taking a large bite out of it. "Strawberry jam is so good."

"Mommy!" Luna gasped. "You can't – that's – but – that's my food!"

"You weren't eating it, so it became my food."

"What?" Luna looked from Ruby to her toast. "Gah!" She took a big bite out of the remaining piece of toast. "See? I bit it, so it's mine. Now give back the other piece!"

"Okay."

"Honestly…" Weiss put her Scroll down and shook her head. "You two… hey!" She slapped Ruby's hand away from the muffin beside her bowl of cereal. "That is my muffin."

"But you weren't eating it," Luna said. "And if you're not eating it, you should give it to mommy since she loves muffins."

"I suppose I could spare one muffin." Weiss handed Ruby the muffin. "But you owe me." Her gaze softened. "Come back safe."

"I will." Ruby inhaled the muffin and made short work of a second one in between two mugs of hot chocolate. It was, she thought, a wonderfully balanced breakfast. Then she stood and nodded firmly at Luna. "All right. It's time for me to get ready. Let's go, Luna."

Ruby got dressed for her mission as Luna carefully named each item of clothing and reminded Ruby to make sure that all of her buttons were done up and that all of her shoelaces were tied. The last piece of clothing was her famous red cloak, which had changed a little over the years.

Her cloak was slightly longer now, on account of her increased height, and the edges of the garment were trimmed in an intricate pattern of white, yellow, and black thread. Team RWBY didn't always go on missions together anymore – there weren't many missions that required all four of them – but her cloak was a visible reminder of the bond between them.

"Here." Ruby sat down on the bed and gestured for Luna to climb up beside her. "You can put my cloak on."

"Cool." Luna fumbled with the pins for a moment before locking the cloak in place. As Ruby stood up, the girl's eyes widened with awe. "You look awesome, mommy."

"Thanks. But we're not done yet." Ruby walked over to a rack mounted onto the bedroom wall and picked up Crescent Rose. Weiss hadn't been too keen on having the scythe in their bedroom, but Ruby had simply pointed out that Weiss kept Myrtenaster next to her bedside table. "We're going to the armoury."

The armoury was one of the most secure areas in the entire manor. It was packed full of weaponry and ammunition, and it was connected to a firing range and training area. It wasn't often that Ruby let Weiss pamper her with expensive things, but she'd been more than happy to let the heiress build it for her.

It was also Luna's favourite part of the house.

"When can I try some of the stuff here?" Luna asked, pointing at a high-powered rifle that was bigger than she was.

Ruby patted her daughter on the head. "Not until you're older." Luna huffed and pouted. "Don't be like that. You can help me pick out ammunition for my mission."

"Can I shoot some, mommy? I've been really good at school."

Ruby paused. Luna had been very good at school. "Uh… no."

"Aw."

Ruby lifted Luna up onto a table and went over to the shelves that held Crescent Rose's ammunition. There were several different varieties to choose from, and Luna knew exactly what each kind did and what it looked like.

"How about some armour piercing bullets, mommy?" Luna pointed at the shelf. "Lots of monsters have armour and stuff."

"That's a good start." Ruby grabbed two magazines of armour piercing ammunition and put them on the table. Luna knew very well that she could look but not touch. "But what if the monsters don't have any armour, what sort of ammunition should I use then?"

Luna's brows furrowed. Some people might not have encouraged a child to learn so much about weaponry. But if Luna really wanted to be a huntress, then it was better to start early. "How about hollow points?"

Ruby smiled. "Nice choice." She took two magazines of hollow points. The reports she'd gotten for her mission were a bit sketchy. It was quite possible that they'd run into a horde of smaller, less heavily armoured monsters. If that happened, the hollow points should be able to stop most of them in their tracks. "But we also have to remember to bring some standard ammunition." She took four magazines of standard ammunition – which offered a nice balance between armour penetration and energy transfer – and put those on the table too. "Now, am I forgetting anything?"

"Dust bullets, mommy!"

"Ah, of course." Ruby patted Luna on the head. Weiss hadn't managed to convert Luna into a rapier lover, but she had definitely turned their daughter into a huge Dust fan. Luna was a miniature, walking encyclopaedia of Dust-related information, and she could do an almost perfect imitation of Weiss, especially when she recited the Schnee Dust Company's legal disclaimer. "I better bring some of those with me too."

Dust bullets for Crescent Rose were something that Weiss had come up with to help Ruby become even more effective on the battlefield. Each round was filled with a carefully calibrated mixture of Dust that was designed to activate upon impact. Ruby's favourites were fire- and lightning-based rounds. There was nothing quite like shooting a giant monster in the face and watching it catch fire.

"Okay," Ruby said once she'd gathered all of the ammunition she needed. "It's time for me to go."

"Do you have to go, mommy?"

"I do, Luna." Ruby picked Luna up and kissed her on the forehead. "Not everyone is strong enough to fight against monsters. But I'm a huntress, and I am strong enough. I don't like leaving you or your mom to go on missions. But each time I go, I'm going to help keep other people safe. That's what a huntress does, Luna – protect people who can't protect themselves."

Ruby went back to the dining room to say goodbye to Weiss. The other woman stood up as she approach, setting her Scroll down on the dinner table.

"Have you got everything?" Weiss asked.

"I do." Ruby smiled and gave herself a quick pat down to make sure that she did, in fact, have everything she needed. "Hey, what's with the frown, Weiss? I'll only be gone for a couple of days. I'll be back before you know it."

"You better be." Weiss pulled Ruby into a fierce kiss. "I don't want you getting careless just because I'm not there to watch your back."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." Ruby knelt down and looked Luna in the eye. "Look after your mom for me, okay? Make sure she doesn't stab anyone while I'm gone." She heard Weiss mutter under her breath and grinned. "Well, you could let her stab people a little bit, just not too much."

"Okay." Luna hugged Ruby as tightly as she could. "Take care, mommy." Ruby was walking out of the dining room when Luna suddenly remembered something. She hurried into the living room and then shoved something into Ruby's hands. "Here, mommy. I almost forgot to give you this."

"What is it?" Ruby unfolded the piece of paper.

"It's a picture I drew for you – so you wouldn't get bored when you're on the transport."

"Thanks." Ruby ruffled Luna's hair. "I'll see you in a couple of days."

X X X

Ruby bounded across the rooftops. The wind rushed past as she poured on the speed, blurring from one building to another until she finally reached the transport that would take her and Blake to their mission. The Faunus was already there, sitting on a bench as she read through a book. It wasn't one that Ruby recognised, and the silver-eyed woman tilted her head to one side to try and catch a glimpse of the title.

"That's an interesting book you've got there, Blake." Ruby chuckled. "Raising Children With Destructive Semblances. Since when have the twins had Semblances?"

Blake took note of what page she was on and then closed the book. "They haven't shown anything yet, but I'm planning ahead. If the girls are anything like Yang, I'm going to come home one day to find a big, smoking crater where our house used to be." She sighed. "Did you know that when Nora came over last week, they somehow talked her into showing them how to open a can with a grenade launcher? I'm not sure which scares me more – the fact that Nora knows how to open a can with a grenade launcher, or the fact that Yang decided to top that by showing them how to open a dozen cans at once with her Semblance."

"That does sound like something Nora would do. And that's definitely something Yang would do." Ruby snickered at the thought of her sister melting the tops of cans off to the cheering of her children. "Was Ren there?"

"He was, but you know how Nora is. There's no stopping her when she decides to do something. At least he was smart enough to get the kids behind cover." Despite her words, there was definitely amusement in Blake's eyes. Although she'd never admit it, she enjoyed the craziness that Yang and the twins had brought into her life. "Next time we need a babysitter, I should ask Pyrrha and Jaune to handle it. They're both reasonably sensible, and Pyrrha isn't going to make anything explode."

"To be fair, she doesn't have to make anything explode to open a can. She can just use her Semblance." Ruby rubbed her cheek. "Then again, you might want to reconsider that. Weiss mentioned something about Luna asking how a rail gun works. If she works out that Pyrrha is basically a walking rail gun…"

"Then she's going to ask Pyrrha to demonstrate." Blake shuddered, already picturing the potential property damage and Weiss's reaction to it. "And if Luna works out something like that about Pyrrha's Semblance, it's safe to say that she'll tell the twins."

"Yep." Luna shared everything with her cousins, and the three kids had a talent for mischief that reminded Ruby a great deal of her own childhood with Yang. "Anyway, I read the mission reports. They didn't really have anything concrete in them. Have you found out anything else?"

"Not really."

The transport's doors opened, and they stepped inside, nodding at the crewmembers they passed. They weren't the only ones on it – there was a larger, but less experienced, group of huntsmen and huntresses en route to a different mission. They drew more than a few stares, but Ruby didn't let it bother her. She was used to it by now, and all Blake had to do was toss a mildly questioning look around to put a stop to it.

"It's sounds like it's going to be a standard search-and-destroy mission, Ruby." Blake settled into a seat by the window. "The town we're helping has reported a steady increase in monster activity over the past few months. It wasn't anything big at first, but it's escalated into attacks on the outskirts of town in broad daylight. They want us to go in, kill the monsters, and then take a look around to make sure there's nothing else going on."

"That sounds simple enough." Ruby picked the seat opposite Blake, with a table in between them. "So… what do we do now? Did you bring a pack of cards?"

Blake pulled out a pack of cards and grinned, shuffling them with expert ease. "How do you feel about poker?"

"Poker? Against you?" Ruby shook her head. "Not a chance." She wasn't sure how much of it was Blake's ability to read people and how much of it was her Faunus-enhanced senses, but Blake was monster at poker. The only one who stood a chance against her was Nora, and that was due more to the redhead's freakishly good luck than anything else. "How about we play something else… maybe… Go Fish?"

"Really, Go Fish?" Blake raised one eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit… childish?"

"What can I say? I'm a kid at heart. Besides, Luna likes it, and I need to practice."

"Please don't tell me that your five-year-old daughter is beating you at Go Fish." Blake sniggered. "That's worse than the time the twins beat Yang at Monopoly."

"Yeah, yeah." Ruby gestured at the cards. "Just deal."

X X X

Three hours into the flight, and Ruby had suggested – more like demanded – they do something else. She had yet to win a single game of Go Fish, and Blake's quiet smugness was even worse than the outright boasting that Yang or Weiss would have done. Heck, it was even more aggravating than Luna's over-the-top cheering and dancing around.

"You're a really bad winner, you know." Ruby gave Blake a mock scowl. "You need to learn to be more gracious in victory."

"Or you could learn to stop losing."

"Hey!" Ruby laughed and leaned back into her chair. "I guess I could learn to win more." She reached into her pocket. "Oh yeah, Luna gave me this just before I left. It's a picture she drew to stop me from getting bored."

If someone else – except maybe Yang – had pulled a child's drawing out of their pocket and started pondering its merits while waiting to jump out of a transport to fight a bunch of monsters, Blake would have questioned their sanity. But this was Ruby, and this was about par for the course.

"Luna's drawing is getting better," Blake said.

It was only the two of them on this mission. It was quicker and easier this way, and it would be safer too since they didn't have to watch over any novices. They'd both fought so many monsters over the years that she was convinced they could do it in their sleep. If everything went to plan, they'd jump out of the transport, kill all the monsters, sweep the area, and then be back in Vale in a couple of days. After that, they could send in a team of novices to keep the monster population to a minimum.

"It sure is." Ruby held up the drawing so that Blake could get a better look at it. It was undoubtedly crude but also very adorable – the work of a child. It showed a stick figure with a red cloak and a scythe hacking away at some other stick figures with claws and masks while another stick figure with a thin sword shot what looked like fire and lightning at the monsters. "It's wonderful, isn't it?"

Blake pretended to take the question seriously. In all honesty, Luna could have kicked over a can of paint and Ruby would have called it the greatest thing in the world since Crescent Rose. "Yes, I can see the resemblance." Her lips curved up into a faint smile. "Although I didn't realise that your claws were so long."

Ruby gaped and then threw a lazy punch at Blake. The Faunus slapped the blow aside and then pushed away from the table. Ruby followed her, and the two engaged in a playful scuffle as Blake created a clone to examine the picture more closely. Some of the other huntsmen and huntresses were staring – some were even taking bets on who would win – but it was all for fun. There was nothing quite like a half-hearted brawl to loosen up before a mission.

"Luna really looks up to you and Weiss, doesn't she?" Clone-Blake asked.

Ruby ducked under a kick from Blake and replied with a punch. The Faunus twisted around the blow with cat-like grace. "We are her parents." She puffed out her chest and struck one of the heroic poses that Luna loved so much. "But she definitely likes my scythe more than she likes Weiss's rapier, which totally makes sense since Crescent Rose is the coolest thing ever. She even tried to lift it last week."

"You let your daughter handle Crescent Rose?" Blake flipped over a sweep and landed lightly on her feet. She and Yang had allowed the twins to examine their weapons, but only under strict supervision. That hadn't stopped the kids from trying to punch through walls like Yang though, which had led to several hasty trips to the fridge to get ice for bruised knuckles. "And Weiss hasn't beaten you to death?"

"Of course not. She loves me too much to kill me." Ruby smirked and threw an elbow at Blake's chin. She could still remember meeting Weiss for the first time – she'd been absolutely terrified of the other girl. But Ruby knew Weiss a lot better now. The heiress might talk tough, but there was very, very little she'd deny Ruby if Ruby really wanted it. "And I did make sure to unload Crescent Rose and leave a sheath on the blade. I'm not crazy. Besides, Luna is still too small to do anything with it. I'm just happy she thinks scythes are the best."

"You've got it easy." Blake leaned away from another kick. "A few days ago, the twins complained about a monster hiding under their beds."

"What did Yang do?" Ruby loved hearing about Yang's creative approach to parenting. Then again, she wasn't one to talk. She'd started explaining scythes to Luna while the girl was still in her womb. "She didn't set their beds on fire, did she?"

"No. She told the twins that the best way to deal with monsters was to punch them right in the face. She stayed up punching pillows with them until they were convinced they could beat up anything that showed up from under their bed." Blake gave an exasperated – but fond – sigh. "You can guess what happened at school the next day when one of the other kids jumped out from behind a bush to surprise them."

"Ah." Ruby nodded sagely. "I'm guessing that kid went home with two black eyes."

"Bingo."

A voice came in over the speakers. It was the pilot. "Huntresses Rose and Belladonna, we are approaching your drop site. Please proceed to the drop deck."

Ruby glanced at Blake. "Looks like we're up. Are you ready to kill some monsters?"

"You sound like Yang." Blake's clone handed the picture back to Ruby and then vanished. "But, yes, I am ready to kill some monsters." She checked to make sure that all of her equipment was ready and then headed toward the drop deck with Ruby. "Try to be careful, Ruby. If you come back with so much as a scratch, I'll never hear the end of it from Weiss. Getting pregnant has made her even crankier than normal."

"Says the woman who threatened to stab everyone when she was pregnant with the twins." Ruby dodged Blake's punch. She wasn't lying. The normally reserved Faunus had been scarier than any monster Ruby had ever faced, and even Yang – her normally irrepressible and utterly fearless sister – had been cowed into doing Blake's every bidding. Ruby had never heard of anyone running out to get pickle-flavoured ice cream in the middle of the night and in pouring rain. Heck, she hadn't even known that pickle-flavoured ice cream was a thing.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't mention that." Blake flushed and looked away. She wasn't particularly proud of her behaviour, but Yang had certainly deserved some torturing. After all, Yang was the one who'd suggested that Blake carry their children, and giving birth to the twins had been one of the most singularly painful experiences in Blake's life. She might have broken one of Yang's hands during the delivery. Of course, all the suffering had been worth it the second she laid eyes on the twins. They had been perfect in every way: two little blondes with small, violet cat ears, and smiles so big that it was all Blake could do to look at them without bursting into tears of joy.

"Anyway, I'm just glad that Weiss didn't send her private army to help us. That would have been awkward. Not to mention, we'd probably have to hire another transport."

"Since when does Weiss have a private army?" Blake pursed her lips. Weiss had always shown the occasional megalomaniacal tendency – no normal person cackled so much while engaging in corporate warfare – but she'd never shown any desire to actually conquer the world. Perhaps that had changed, and Blake would soon be welcoming the first in a long line of Rose-Schnee overlords. Oh well, it could have been worse. Nora could have been the one with an army.

"Technically, it's not an army – it's a private security force."

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense."

Weiss's reformist agenda hadn't gone down well with everyone. Establishing greater equality between humans and the Faunus wasn't easy, and although Weiss could defend herself from practically anything, not all of her employees and associates were that lucky. She and Ruby also had a child now, and neither of them wanted to take any chances with Luna's safety.

The private security force contained a large number of Faunus who had developed an almost fanatical loyalty toward the only Schnee to have shown any interest in genuinely improving their lives. In Weiss, they saw a chance for a brighter future for all Faunus, and it was a future they would gladly die defending. Although Weiss was the designated heiress, Ruby had no doubt that others in her family would challenge that claim when her father finally stepped down as head of the company. If push came to shove and Weiss had to assert her claim through force, the private security force would come in handy.

"Although I guess it is large enough to be called a private army now. They run patrols at all of the facilities Weiss controls, and they escort all of her shipments and products too. They also provide security for employees, business associates, and their families. You should know, actually, since you helped train most of them."

"There is that." Blake ran regular seminars in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency tactics. She would never be able to erase her time as part of the White Fang – nor did she truly want to since it had led her to Yang and the others – but she could put it to good use. "It's funny. I used to dream about bringing down the Schnee Dust Company. Now, I'm friends with its heiress, and I help train her security."

"To be fair, most of the other people in Weiss's family are jerks." Ruby didn't like speaking poorly about others, but it was true. Her marriage to Weiss had not been well received by certain parts of her family, and Weiss's reformist policies had only further alienated those same parts of her family. "Ready to jump?"

"Eager to get home?" Blake stepped back as the doors of the drop deck opened. There was nothing but forest below them.

"Always?" Ruby grinned. "Aren't you?"

Blake thought of Yang and their kids and nodded. "Yes, I am." Yang had always hated getting left behind, but she was currently leading an important exercise with some of Beacon's students. As for the kids, they wanted to come on every mission even though they were only five years old. They were also at the awkward stage when they'd begun to realise just how much keener their senses were than those of regular people – Luna had been forced to use increasingly cunning tactics to keep up in their games of hide and seek. "Let's go."

Ruby jumped out of the transport and tumbled toward the ground. "Race you down! Last one there has to buy the winner a cookie."

X X X

Weiss wrapped one arm around Luna and pulled the girl a little closer. It had been two days since Ruby left, and they hadn't heard anything from her or Blake. As strange as it sounded, that was probably for the best. Most huntresses only reported in during a short mission when something went wrong. If everything went well, then it was easier to complete the mission and then report in.

"Will mommy get back home tonight?" Luna pressed her hands against Weiss's stomach and frowned. Her mom had said that she'd felt the baby kick, but Luna hadn't felt anything yet. Besides, wasn't it weird having something inside her kicking? It sounded painful. "It's movie night. We always watch a movie together on movie night." She looked outside the window. The sun had just begun to set. "We have to keep the window open too. Mommy likes coming in through the window."

Weiss's lips curled. Ruby had been partial to window entrances for years now – it drove her security team insane. She was hardly the only one either. Blake was perfectly capable of entering a room like a normal person, but the Faunus insisted on following Ruby's lead. Weiss was certain Blake did it to annoy her. "I think she'll try her best to get back home tonight, but sometimes missions take longer than expected."

"I guess." Luna pressed here ear against Weiss's stomach. Maybe she could hear something if she listened hard enough. "Come on, baby, say something…"

"The baby can't talk yet." Weiss laughed. "Even after she's born, it will be a while before she can talk. Why don't you tell me about school? Did you have fun today?"

"It was okay." Luna huffed and scowled, and Weiss had to resist the urge to hug her and never let go. She was so adorable. "We were playing hide and seek at lunch, but the twins kept finding me." Her eye twitched. "They can smell me no matter where I hide, so it's really hard to win. I thought about throwing pepper at them, but that's mean."

"It would be mean, yes." The caring, motherly part of Weiss approved of her daughter's restraint. The mercenary, corporate shark part of her wanted Luna to go with pepper spray instead. "Like most Faunus, the twins have very keen senses. If you throw pepper at them, you might actually hurt them, not just annoy them."

"Then I thought about bringing some catnip to school. Jason and Xanthia have a cat, and the catnip makes it lazy, so I thought that might work."

Jason was Pyrrha and Jaune's six-year-old son, and Xanthia was their three-year-old daughter. But as hilarious as the thought of the twins on catnip was – Blake was a bucket of laughs – it wasn't exactly ethical to expose them to catnip. And Blake would hold Weiss personally responsible.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Luna. In fact, you shouldn't do it. Why not try a different game?"

"Well, I like playing chase, but they don't like playing chase since I always win." Luna smirked. "I'm super fast – but not as fast as mommy."

"I don't think anyone is as fast as your mommy… although there was that one time your Aunt Blake threw your Uncle Jaune…"

"What?" Luna leapt to her feet. "What, mom? What happened?" She'd never heard this story before, and from the way her mother had sounded, it had to be awesome. It probably involved monsters and lasers and all sorts of cool stuff.

Weiss realised her mistake almost immediately, but she also knew Luna well enough to know that if she didn't tell the girl what happened, she'd simply find out from someone else. And that someone else – probably Yang – would undoubtedly exaggerate. It was better if she told the story herself.

"Once, when we were younger, Team RWBY and Team JNPR went on a mission to fight some monsters – some very, very powerful monsters. One of them was so fast that even your mommy had trouble keeping up with it. So your Uncle Jaune asked your Aunt Pyrrha to throw him."

"But that doesn't make sense." Luna's brows furrowed. "Aunt Pyrrha is super strong, but even she can't throw someone hard enough to be faster than mommy."

"She didn't use her hands, Luna – she used her Semblance." Weiss paused. Now that she thought about it, she shouldn't have mentioned that. But it was too late now. "You know how she can move metal things with her Semblance?" Luna nodded. She'd seen her Aunt Pyrrha juggle cans with her Semblance before. "Well, if people are wearing enough metal… she can throw them too."

Luna's eyes widened, and the world somehow got that little bit more awesome. "She threw Uncle Jaune with her Semblance? Cool!"

It had been. Pyrrha had launched Jaune forward like a bullet out of a gun, the young man's scream cut off as he hurtled toward the monster sword-first. He'd managed to stab the thing in the head and slow it down enough for Ruby to catch up and help him beat it to death.

"Wait… if she can throw Uncle Jaune with her Semblance, and he went super, super fast… what if she was throwing something lighter?" Luna's eyes took on the same gleam as Ruby's did whenever she found out a new way to improve Crescent Rose. "She's… she's like a rail gun!"

Crap. Weiss wasn't normally one to resort to vulgarity, but this was bad.

"I bet she could shoot spears and stuff right through buildings. I bet it's awesome." Luna paced back and forth, mind spinning with all the possibilities. "I bet she could even make me fly if I was wearing enough metal! Maybe she could even cut a building in half if we gave her a big chain and –"

"No." Weiss put her proverbial foot down. "Luna, you are not going to ask your Aunt Pyrrha to be your rail gun, and you are definitely not going to wear metal and ask her to fly you around."

"But –"

"It is very dangerous." Weiss's voice softened. "I don't mind you ask your aunt to do tricks for you – I know she loves showing you kids what she can do. But you have to ask nicely, and you should never ask her to do anything dangerous. Your Aunt Pyrrha's Semblance is very powerful, and it is not something you should treat as a toy. Even your mommy's Semblance can be dangerous. She once ran face-first into a wall."

"Ouch."

"Your Aunt Yang nearly set her hair on fire once, and you know how much she loves her hair. And your Aunt Blake ended up in hospital after making too many clones."

"Did she break her brain?" Luna asked. Her Aunt Blake could make special clones that were all connected to her mind. It sounded pretty cool – except for stuff like that.

"Almost."

"I guess I should be more careful." Luna settled back onto the couch. "Oh, mom, do you want to know what else happened at school today?" She fumbled around in her pockets and pulled out a piece of paper. "We're going on an excursion! They say that we can go to Beacon. You just have to sign. Please, mom, please!"

"Beacon?" Weiss skimmed through the consent form. Somehow, the school had managed to convince people that taking a bunch of kindergarteners to Beacon was a good idea. "I suppose you can go. But there is to be no troublemaking." Weiss drew out the words. "No troublemaking whatsoever – and you are absolutely not allowed to call Professor Goodwitch 'grandma'. If you do, not even your mommy or I can save you. Understood?"

Luna gulped and nodded. "Yes."

"Good." Weiss smiled. "Now tell me more about how things went at school. Did you learn anything about geography?"

X X X

Rose petals fluttered through the clearing, and Ruby exploded into sudden, violent motion. Her scythe sliced through monster after monster, the finely forged blade cutting through flesh and bone like paper. One of the beasts leapt at her from behind, and Crescent Rose transformed. Ruby put an armour-piercing round right through the middle of its forehead and then leapt back, picking off another four monsters as they scrambled to try and close the gap.

She'd killed what felt like a million monsters over the past two days, but this was the last group that Blake had been able to locate with her clones. Once this was done, all they had to do was clean up, double-check that all the monsters in the area were dead, and then they could go home. But for now, she needed to focus. She couldn't think of anything except for the enemies in front of her.

Ruby vanished and reappeared next to another one of the monsters. She cut its head off and then shot another handful of its fellows before vanishing again, only to reappear on the other side of the clearing, her scythe buried in the chest of yet another monster. These things weren't particularly tough, but there were a lot of them, and that counted for something. She'd almost run out of ammunition for Crescent Rose.

Not far away, Blake was also making short work of her adversaries. The years had turned Ruby's Semblance from something that increased her speed to something that allowed actual teleportation when used properly. In Blake's case, the years had allowed her to make more and more advanced clones – clones that lasted longer, could think better, and were more durable.

Blake had two of her clones fighting alongside her now, and the mental link between her and them allowed them to form a perfect team. One of them had its copy of Gambol Shroud in its chain scythe form and was busy cutting a swathe through the monsters that were trying to pour into the clearing from behind her and Ruby. Her second clone was using Gambol Shroud in its pistol form to pick off any monsters that tried to sneak up on Ruby. As for Blake herself, she'd opted to wade into the battle with her weapon and its sheath. It wouldn't do to let herself get rusty.

It was tricky managing multiple viewpoints at once. The first time she'd created a clone that could link to her mind, she'd been forced to take headache tablets for two days. But she'd adapted, which was probably part of her Semblance – much like Ruby's Semblance provided her with increased perceptual speed and increased physical speed. Now, Blake barely even noticed the additional presences in her mind unless one of her clones made an effort to bring something to her attention.

A few, frantic, minutes later, it was over. Blake dismissed her clones and glanced over at Ruby. The younger woman had her scythe slung over one shoulder as she wandered across the battlefield, whistling a merry tune and checking that all of the monsters were dead. One of the monsters twitched, and Crescent Rose flashed down to sever its head. Then Ruby continued on her way, stepping neatly over the corpse of another monster.

Blake shook her head. Only Ruby could be so cheerful on a battlefield. Well, there was Yang, but Yang was more gleefully than cheerful. Ruby enjoyed fighting – she lived for it – but Yang enjoyed tearing things limb from limb in a way that none of them could completely understand. That didn't stop Blake from finding it fascinating – and oddly arousing. There was something so… alluring about Yang when she was covered in the blood of her enemies and just bursting with barely controlled energy. It wasn't a coincidence that some of their most… fiery encounters had occurred in the aftermath of a mission.

The Faunus's lips curved up at the edges. Yes, she'd definitely have to ask for Yang to accompany her on her next mission.

"Are we all done here?" Ruby asked. Another monster got up and tried to crawl away, and Ruby flicked Crescent Rose into its gun form before putting a bullet in its brain.

"In a hurry to get home?" Blake allowed her mind to reach out to the other clones she'd made – the ones she'd sent to scour the forest for any further sign of monsters. None of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

"Of course, I am." Ruby tucked Crescent Rose away. "Home is…" She waved her hands around. "Home." Blake raised one eyebrow. "Oh, come on. You know what I mean. Home is special."

"I understand." Blake smiled. She could picture it now: Yang would be awake in their bed grading papers from the student's latest assignment while the twins slept on either side of her. Yang liked to claim that she was a disciplinarian, but she could never say no to their little girls. Hopefully, the twins hadn't talked Yang into letting them eat pizza every night. It was easy for Blake to imagine walking into the bedroom and slipping into bed beside her family, warm and safe in a way that she'd never imagined she could be. "So… how is Weiss doing? I haven't heard of any employees being thrown out of windows, so she can't be that bad, right?"

"She hasn't gotten any crankier than usual, and she's kind of always cranky anyway." Ruby laughed. "But she has been making me get her stuff – weird stuff. Last time it was fried chicken and a donut in the middle of the night."

"Weiss doesn't like friend chicken, and I can't remember the last time I saw her eat a donut." Blake put on her best posh accent. "Such foods are beneath her."

"Well, that's what she wanted. And the thing is, I can't actually say no. We both know that if it's possible to get it in Vale, I can get it faster than almost anyone else." Ruby zipped over to Blake's side. "My Semblance makes me the ideal delivery girl. Luna thought it was hilarious though, and she's made a game of guessing what Weiss will send me to get next."

"Luna is a kid." Blake nodded and cut the connection to her remaining clones, allowing them to dismiss themselves. "We're in the clear. As far as I can tell, there are no monsters left. Shall we head back to town? We can radio in for a transport and be on our way home in a few hours, tomorrow morning at the latest."

"I don't think I can wait that long. It's movie night, and I promised Luna I wouldn't miss it." Ruby bit her lip. "I know it's not exactly pleasant… but you wouldn't mind if I got us home the fast way, would you?"

"Movie night, huh?" Blake took a second to think the offer over. "Sure, why not. The kids and Yang will be happy to have me back earlier."

"Great." Ruby took a deep breath. "Just give me a second to get ready."

Ruby steadied herself. Her Semblance gave her greater speed, but she'd continued to push it over the years. Shortly before she and Weiss married, she'd made a breakthrough: actual teleportation, which was quite possibly the coolest thing in the history of forever. Of course, she hadn't been able to teleport more than a few yards, and it took too long to actually be useful, but it was the principle of the thing. She could teleport, and it was awesome.

Through trial and error, she'd learned how to improve her short-range teleportation until it was something she could use in combat. If she used the rose petals scattered by her Semblance to help navigate – since teleportation did really weird things to her brain – she could teleport with little more than a thought. If she wanted to be somewhere and one of her rose petals was there, she could be there. Just. Like. That.

But teleporting somewhere farther way was much, much more difficult. When she used her Semblance to teleport, the whole world fell away. Everything became a jumbled mass of sensations and impressions. It wasn't visual – it was like everything in the entire world was trying to cram its way into her head. That was why it was so hard to teleport without her rose petals – the rose petals were a part of her, something she couldn't lose track of. Without them, she couldn't aim, and if she couldn't aim, then it was impossible to launch herself through the morass of sensations and impressions and still end up in the right place.

Eventually, however, she'd found a way around that problem. If a place was familiar enough – if her connection to it was strong enough – she could make the jump. She could find that place and recognise it through all the haze and clutter, guided to it by her memories and all the feelings associated with it. But even so, her range was still limited. The farther she wanted to go, the more power it took. And it wasn't a simple case of multiplying the energy required. Going twice as far in one teleport took more than twice the power. She'd learned the hard way that travelling long distances was best done through a series of shorter teleports.

The farthest she'd ever gone was halfway across Vytal. She shivered. She had almost died from the resulting physical and mental backlash of teleporting that far in a single teleport, and she'd only managed it for two reasons. First, she was teleporting to Beacon Academy, somewhere that held a special place in her heart, a place that she knew better than the back of her own hand. And second – and most importantly – Weiss would have died if Ruby hadn't gotten her to expert medical care fast enough, and no one knew how to treat injuries better than Beacon. Faced with that simple choice, Ruby had thrown caution and her own safety to the wind and shoved all of her power into teleporting.

She'd never managed to go anywhere near that far again, and she doubted she ever would. Some things… some things were special.

Still, she did like to practice, and Ruby had promised to make it to movie night. She had a map of Vytal etched firmly in her mind, along with all the places she knew well enough to teleport to. It was a good thing that she had such vivid memories of most of her missions – it made teleporting around much easier. There was a town a few towns over that she could teleport to, and she was certain that she could make it all the way back to Vale by teleporting from one familiar place to the next. It would be tough with Blake along for the ride, but she had enough power to manage the trip, and she could always sleep it off later.

"Can you make it?" Blake asked, well used to Ruby's silence while she was planning out a longer trip.

"I think so." Ruby turned and patted her back. "Hop on."

Ruby could only teleport with things that she was in close physical contact with. That was why her clothes always made the trip with her. But just touching people wasn't enough. Trial and error had shown her that the best way to take people with her was on her back or in her arms.

Blake climbed onto Ruby's back. "It always feels weird doing this."

"You should have seen Yang's face the first time I asked her to climb onto my back." Ruby smirked. "And you do handle teleporting better than the others. Weiss always throws up, and Yang staggers around like she's drunk for a few minutes."

"It's because of how strange it is." Blake tightened her hold on Ruby. When someone teleported with Ruby, they experienced a lot of what the other woman did, but with none of the mental shielding against the influx of sensations and impressions that Ruby's Semblance offered. The two of them suspected that Blake handled teleporting better because her mind was already used to being pushed beyond the normal due to her clones.

It was a reasonable suggestion. Blake could handle dozens of solid clones now, all of them sharing one mind and acting independently but cooperatively. So Blake had a lot of experience with coping with mental overload – experience that Yang and Weiss didn't have. It was for similar reasons that Yang never had to use a thermometer – she always knew exactly how hot things were. And it was why Pyrrha never lost her car keys – she could feel their distinctive metal shape with her Semblance.

"Okay, Ruby. Let's go."

Ruby nodded. "Right."

Teleporting long distances required a few second to work – making it largely impractical in combat – along with a lot of power. Her aura flared, and the world around her exploded apart into a billion, billion separate sensations and impressions. Touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight all melted together, and even the feeling of her own body – of her own self – was almost lost in the mix.

For a split-second Ruby almost lost herself as the tiny, infinitesimally small thing called Ruby was swamped by the rest of the world. Her sense of self strained against the pressure, and she searched for the sensations and impressions that made up the town she wanted, sifting through a seemingly endless stream of information, all of it ripping past her so fast and in such volume that it was impossible to keep track of. She latched onto a memory she had of the town, one that was burned into her mind – it was where she and Weiss had first kissed, both of them too glad to still be alive after a difficult mission to care about holding anything back.

And then she and Blake were gone, rose petals drifting to the ground and the sound of thunder ripping through the air.

They reappeared in the middle of a town beside a fountain, garnering a host of startled looks before a few of the people recognised them. Then they were gone again, Ruby latching onto her memories of her next destination. It was a tactic she repeated over and over again until she and Blake reappeared in the main courtyard of Beacon Academy.

There were still a few students out and about, and they immediately began to point and whisper. Blake climbed off Ruby's back and gave the students her patented look of mild displeasure. It was enough to have them scampering away, no doubt off to tell their friends about who they'd seen. Ruby gave them a tired wave and an even tireder smile.

"I guess this is where we go our separate ways." Ruby sighed and stretched. Doing that always left her with a crick in her neck. "See you, Yang, and the twins for lunch tomorrow at the manor?"

"Sure." Blake sighed. "But we're not going our separate ways just yet." She gave Ruby a small push on the shoulder, and the other woman barely managed to keep on her feet. "You're in no condition to be running around on rooftops on your own."

"Blake…" Ruby whined. "I can make it back on my own. You don't have to – gah!"

Blake rolled her eyes as one of her clones lifted Ruby up into its arms. "Weiss would strange me if I let you wander off on your own and then you fell off a roof because you were too tired to make the jump. Besides, what would Luna think if her legendary mother had to go to the hospital for exhaustion?"

"Fine." Ruby sighed. "You can carry me back." She had to fight to keep her eyes open. Blake was right – that had taken a lot out of her. "But no telling Yang. I don't want her to worry about me."

"Silly." Blake leapt up onto a nearby rooftop, her clone tightening its hold on Ruby before following her. "Yang will always worry about you. You're her little sister." She paused. "And I guess you're my little sister too – well, little sister-in-law."

X X X

Weiss didn't so much as bat an eye when Blake leapt through her living room window. She did, however, get up and glare when a clone of the Faunus leapt in carrying Ruby in its arms.

"Mommy!" Luna leapt off the couch and ran straight for Ruby, giving the huntress just enough time to get her feet on the ground before Luna leapt into her arms. "You made it back in time for movie night!"

"I trust everything went well," Weiss said, walking over to Ruby, gaze skimming quickly over the other woman. Ruby didn't seem to be hurt, but she could always have stopped off at Beacon to get patched up first. She turned her attention to the Faunus as Blake's clone vanished. "How was it, Blake?"

"Relax." Blake shrugged. "It went fine. The only reason Ruby is tired is because she teleported us home."

"All the way here?" Weiss stomped forward and grabbed Ruby, pulling her into a headlock. "Did you really teleport all the way home?"

"Gah!" Ruby squirmed out of Weiss's grip as Luna giggled. Her mom wasn't really mad – she was worried. When her mom got mad – and that didn't happen often – she got quiet instead, like the time one of her mom's relatives had said something mean to her mommy. Her mom was funny when she was like this. She was super scary when she was quiet. "No killing me in front of Luna. And I didn't teleport all the way here, I did a lot of smaller teleports."

"That's not much better."

"Weiss." Blake put one hand on Weiss's shoulder. "She wanted to get home in time for movie night. Cut her some slack."

Weiss's brows furrowed, and she sighed. "I see. Well, in that case, I guess I can forgive you." She pulled Ruby into a kiss and sighed. "I'm glad that your mission went well and that you're back safe." She nodded at Luna. "We weren't sure you'd make it back in time, but Luna was adamant you'd come."

"Mommy promised," Luna said. "And mommy always keeps her promises."

"I do." Ruby grinned and patted Luna on the head. "Why don't you ask the kitchen to make some popcorn?"

"Cool, popcorn!"

As Luna ran off to tell the kitchen staff to make some popcorn, Ruby slumped onto the couch. Weiss sighed and gave Ruby a playful bonk over the head.

"Idiot. You know how much teleporting long distances takes out of you."

"I wanted to get home." Ruby leaned forward, well aware of the fact that they only had a few minutes before Luna returned with the popcorn – the girl liked to watch it being made. She cupped Weiss's cheek with one hand and leaned forward until their foreheads were touching. "I don't like going even a day without seeing you and Luna. You know how much you mean to me."

"I do."

"Good." Ruby eased Weiss into another kiss, a much longer, more passionate one than they'd exchanged when Luna had been present. Weiss melted against her, shifting to sit on her lap as Ruby deepened the kiss, wanting, needing more of the other woman. It was so good to be home, so good to have Weiss in her arms, so good –

"Ahem."

Ruby jerked back and met the unamused gaze of her daughter and the very amused gaze of her friend.

"Kissing is icky." Luna had a bowl of popcorn in her arms. "It's like you're eating each other."

Next to Luna, Blake bit back a laugh. The twins said much the same thing whenever they saw her and Yang kissing. "As much as I love you two, I don't need to see you two expressing your love for each other." She stepped toward the window.

"You're not staying, Aunt Blake?" Luna asked.

Blake gave Luna a gentle smile. "Not tonight. I've got to go home to your Aunt Yang and the twins. Look after your parents for me." She smirked. "Don't let them do too much kissing."

Luna nodded seriously. "I won't, Aunt Blake. I'll watch them super closely."

"That woman…" Weiss growled, curling up against Ruby. "One of these days…"

"Hush." Ruby chuckled. "You like her when she isn't turning our daughter against us." She leaned toward Weiss –

"No kissing!" Luna leapt onto the couch. "We're supposed to be watching a movie!"

X X X

Ruby somehow managed to make it through the movie – some movie about a dog that got separated from its family while they were on holiday before finding its way back to them while having a lot of adventures along the way – but she was barely able to keep her eyes open as the credits finally began to roll.

"Right," Ruby said. "It's time for you to head to bed, Luna."

The little girl shook her head. "But it's not a school day tomorrow, mommy. I can still stay awake –" A yawn cut her off mid-sentence, and she covered her mouth with her hands. "Um…"

"Your Aunt Blake, your Aunt Yang, and the twins are coming over tomorrow. You're going to need your energy to play with them."

Luna sighed. "Okay, mommy."

Ruby got up. "Come on, I'll take you up to bed. You need to have a bath before I can tuck you in."

"What about mom?"

Ruby glanced back at Weiss. The other woman had fallen asleep at some point during the movie. She'd have to ask some of their staff members how much work she'd done while Ruby was gone. No one in the world could make Weiss Schnee cut back on her workload if she didn't want to, but Ruby had a few tricks up her sleeve when it came to convincing the heiress to change her mind. "It's okay. I'll take her up to our bedroom once we've got you tucked in."

After getting Luna bathed and tucked in, Ruby headed back to the living room. It was a good thing that Luna had also been quite tired, or Ruby might have been stuck talking about her mission for hours. That would probably happen tomorrow night, unless Luna decided to ask about the mission during the day.

Ruby lingered beside the couch for a few moments, watching Weiss sleep. When they'd first met, Weiss had already been beautiful. But she was perfect now, a woman in the very prime of her life. Even the changes to her physique brought on by her pregnancy only made her more perfect in Ruby's eyes. It was their daughter growing inside Weiss. Just thinking those words brought a silly smile to Ruby's face.

"Are you going to stand there watching me like some kind of creepy stalker, or are you going to carry me upstairs?" Weiss opened one eye. "Because I do not want to spend my night on this couch."

Ruby chuckled. "Your wish is my command." She lifted Weiss up into her arms and headed for the stairs. "You know… it would be quicker if I –"

"You are not teleporting us to our bedroom. If you do, I promise that I will vomit all over you. Am I clear?"

Ruby's chuckle turned into full-blown laughter. It was only her excellent sense of balance that kept her on her feet. "Weiss, we both know that you're too refined to actually vomit on me. But I was only joking. I know your stomach doesn't like teleporting. We can do this the usual way: I can carry you up to our bedroom and regale you with stories of my coolness."

"Ruby…" Weiss smiled. "Fine, regale me with stories of your coolness. But save some of your coolness for tomorrow. I'm sure Luna is going to get into another argument with the twins about whose parents are better."

X X X

Omake: Bill the Bogeyman Meets His Match

A common misconception about the bogeyman is that there is only one bogeyman and that he singlehandedly terrorises the children of the world. Of course, that isn't true. In fact, it's completely impossible. Bogeymen might be magical, but there's only so much that even magic can do. The truth is that there isn't just one bogeyman – there are bogeymen, all of them members of an exotic species of monster that can teleport through shadows and derives an inordinate amount of joy from scaring little children. They've been around a long, long time – since before the days of Dust and the coming of the Grimm.

On this particular night, however, a certain bogeyman had picked the wrong house – and the wrong child – to terrify. Bogeymen don't have names in any language that a human can pronounce, so let's call him Bill.

Bill the Bogeyman had a long and distinguished history of frightening children. His favourite method was to make his eyes glow deep red as he crept out of their closet doors before advancing on them, one menacing step at a time. Of course, he didn't actually do anything else to the children – fear was all a bogeyman needed, and actually harming children was bad for business. The bogeymen had seen the vicious conflict between the humans and the Grimm, and they were quite happy staying out of it.

Unfortunately for Bill, the child in front of him didn't look the least bit afraid. If anything, she looked mildly concerned – for him.

"You shouldn't be here," the little girl with silver eyes and white hair said. "You're going to get into lots of trouble. My parents are both huntresses, and they kill monsters for a living."

Bill couldn't speak human – the anatomy of bogeymen precluded that – so he laughed instead. No huntress or huntsman had ever managed to kill a bogeyman. Few even believed that his kind existed. However, the girl was equally unimpressed with his cackling.

"My Aunt Yang and my Aunt Nora can both cackle way better than that."

Well, that wasn't the reaction he was hoping for. But that was okay. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve –

The door opened.

"I heard you talking, Luna. Is everything –"

Bill froze as the coldest pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen locked onto him. He barely even had time to think before a blast of energy hurled him away from the girl and into a wall. He found himself staring up the long – extremely pointy – length of a rapier. Several strange, glowing circles held him in place.

To make matters even worse, another woman barged into the room. She had a scythe that just screamed horrible, bloody death to anything even vaguely monster-like.

"What's going on, Weiss? And what is that… thing?"

"That thing was cackling at our daughter, Ruby."

On the bed, the little girl sighed and shook her head at Bill. She had tried to warn him. Perhaps he should have listened.

"I think he's a bogeyman," the little girl said. "I told him he should go, but he wouldn't listen."

"A bogeyman in our house?" The light-haired woman's lips curled. She scowled. "We'll see about that."

Bill cringed. He was about to become the first bogeyman in centuries to get killed. There would be books written about him – none of them complimentary. He might even end up on display in some horrible human museum. Why, oh why, couldn't he have picked a different house?

"Wait, mom!" The girl put herself between Bill and the woman with a rapier. "I don't think you should kill him."

Bill gave a mental cheer. Yes, adult human, listen to the child!

"Look at him, mom." The girl pointed at Bill. "Bogeymen don't really hurt kids – they just scare them a bit. And he's trembling and everything. I think he's scared. He doesn't seem like the Grimm."

Bill nodded what passed for his head as hard as he could. The bogeymen weren't out to obliterate humanity like the Grimm. They just wanted to cause some fear and horror. That wasn't that bad was it?

The dark-haired woman leaned forward and gave him a poke with the blunt part of her scythe. Bill twitched. "Well, he does look afraid, but he did break into our house, Luna. This isn't like that time you brought a mouse home – we can't have bogeymen sneaking into your room."

"If he promises to never come back again, will you let him go?" Luna asked.

"I suppose." The light-haired woman smirked evilly. It was terrifying, even for Bill. "But he needs to do something for us." She rattled off a few names. "Do you recognise those names?" Bill nodded. The bogeymen kept tabs on everyone – everyone. "I want you to pay them a visit. Understand?"

Bill nodded again. He got to scare people and live. It was win-win.

As he vanished back into the shadows, he heard the dark-haired woman speak to the light-haired one.

"Who were those people, Weiss?"

"Oh, nobody you should be worried about, Ruby. Although if you must know, they were the competition."

The little girl just waved at Bill. "Bye, Mr Bogeyman."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I don't own RWBY, and I'm not making any money off this.

I hope you enjoyed the story. I've read a lot of RWBY stories set in the future, and many of them are very good. But most of them are focused on action and intrigue, and quite a few of them are rather dark. What I wanted to write was a story that focused more on the family life of our favourite heroes in the future, a story that was kind of the opposite of dark – all sunshine, rainbows, and the occasional sparkly unicorn (okay, I can't promise that any sparkly unicorns will actually appear in this story).

Of course, there will still be conflict and challenges. But the conflict will be the kind that comes from raising kids when you have a demanding job (conquering the corporate world and slaying monsters are both quite demanding occupations), and the challenges will have a lot in common with those faced by parents every day – albeit, with a twist since Teams RWBY and JNPR are hardly normal parents. There is room out there for lots of different stories, so I'm hoping there's room out there for a story like this that is all about warm and fuzzy feelings and the quirkiness that comes with every family.

You can expect the chapters of this story to contain explosions (this is RWBY), warmth, humour, general craziness, and, yes, maybe even a little smut here and there.

The pairings for this story (so far) are:

Ruby/Weiss

Blake/Yang

Pyrrha/Jaune

Ren/Nora

As we find out more about RWBY from Season Two, I might add some more pairings to this list.

If you've read my other family-centric story (the Final Fantasy XIII story Ordinary Heroes), you'll know that I have a thing for picking names that I think fit. So, here's a rundown of where all the names for the original characters in this chapter came from.

Luna is Ruby and Weiss's five-year-old daughter. She has silver eyes, white hair, and a pale complexion. In Roman mythology, Luna was the goddess of the moon. Luna's appearance makes this name quite apt. The moon also features prominently in Ruby's trailer. Ruby's trailer also has the whole werewolf thing going on, and the moon is a major part of werewolf mythology. Schnee also means "snow" in German, and Luna's appearance combines the moon (for her silver eyes) with snow (her white hair and fair complexion).

Although he doesn't make a major appearance here, Jason is Pyrrha and Jaune's six-year-old son. Jason was a famous hero in Greek mythology that led the Argonauts. This is a reference to Jaune's position as the leader of Team JNPR. Jason is also derived from the Greek word for "heal", which is fitting since Pyrrha also derives her name from Greek, and one of the first things to happen when she activates Jaune's aura is that Jaune heals.

Like Jason, Xanthia doesn't make a major appearance in this chapter. She is Pyrrha and Jaune's three-year-old daughter. Xanthia is an elaboration of the Greek "Xanthe" meaning yellow or blonde. I chose this name because Pyrrha's name is derived from the Greek for "red", which is the colour of her hair. Xanthia gets her hair colour from Jaune, who has blond hair.

I also make mention of the twins (Yang and Blake's five-year-old twin daughters) throughout this chapter. It shouldn't come as a surprise that they are friends with Luna and that they are rather mischievous. However, I haven't yet settled upon names for them. If you have any suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Anyway, this chapter was written to help set the scene and the tone of the story in general – this is a story about the lives of our favourite heroes in the future and how they cope with raising their own families. I chose to start with Ruby because RWBY starts with Ruby, and I like the symmetry of that. Besides, who doesn't want to know how Ruby and Weiss handle raising a child?

As I get more chapters done, you'll get to see how the others are going. Yes, Nora and Ren do have children. And, yes, at least one of them takes after their mother in a big way. You'll even get to see how Weiss handles giving birth (less gracefully than you'd expect), and how Glynda Goodwitch copes with having to babysit the children of her most troublesome former students. I think it will be fun.

Finally, I also write original fiction, mostly fantasy. I've recently released my newest original story on Amazon. It's called Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf. If you have enjoyed my more light-hearted and humorous stories, you will absolutely love this one. Trust me. It's a fantasy with plenty of humour, warmth, action, and a healthy dose of craziness (the kind you've come to expect from me). You can find links to it in my profile. Here's the blurb:

Two necromancers, a bureaucrat, and an elf – it sounds like the start of a bad joke, only the joke is on Timmy.

Timothy Walter Bolton – better known as Timmy – has spent most of his life as a necromancer. When he isn't terrorising his enemies, he's plotting inside his castle, which is built on top of lightless chasms filled with nameless horrors and beings of a generally malevolent and megalomaniacal nature. But after one of his latest creations, a zombie hydra-dragon-bear, tries to eat him, he decides that maybe it's time to find a new, less dangerous, career.

But that's easier said than done. He's a wanted criminal with no shortage of powerful (and crazy) enemies, and he has a bone or two to pick with the Everton Council of Mages.

Hope arrives in the form of a new law. War is coming to Everton, and the Council is desperate. In exchange for providing some help, Timmy might just earn that pardon he's been looking for. Of course, just because it's possible to earn a pardon doesn't mean that it's going to be easy.

To earn his pardon, Timmy is going to have to take down some of Everton's most dangerous enemies and put together a quirky group of unconventional heroes, most of whom want nothing more than to mangle him and/or the Council in as vicious a way as possible. It's a good thing that he's got some help: an obnoxious ten-year-old apprentice who thinks that pink glasses are appropriate for a budding necromancer and a bumbling bureaucrat who may or may not make it through their first real fight without puking his guts up.

Wonderful.

Still, Timmy's never been one to back down from a challenge even if their first recruit is basically the elf version of the bogeyman.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.