Tonight was the same as every other night at Beacon, dark; the pail lanterns hanging over the schools main paths illuminating outside. The moon light leaked in from the large window in team RWBY's dorm room, seeping through the red curtains hanging there. It was a normal night, but something didn't feel right. Ruby awoke, uneasy. Something felt off. She propped herself up on her elbows and glanced around the room. Everything was the same. She glanced at her sisters sleeping form on the bed across from her own, then peeked down to look at the sleeping faunus curled up in her blankets. She gave a small smile at her two team mates, then resulted in lying back down.
That's when she heard it. A hiccup from underneath her. She furrowed her brows and listened; there it was again, a hiccup and a sob. She thought for a moment, "Is… Is Weiss crying?" she asked herself. Impossible; Weiss Schnee would never cry. She peered over the side of her bunk silently to look at her partner sat up-right hugging her knees and sobbing. Rubys expression relaxed and her lips parted slightly, looking at the pail girl sympathetically. "Weiss?" she whispered, causing the other girl to snap her head to look at where the sound had come from. Delicate light blue met silver. Ruby caught a glimpse of Weiss' tear stained cheeks before she began violently rubbing at her eyes, "W-what?!" she stammered quietly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Ruby raised a brow and climbed from her bed down beside Weiss'. "Then why are you crying?"
"I'm... I'm not crying!" she protested, "I just have something in my eye!" She buried her face into her knees again. Ruby exhaled deeply and sat at the edge of her partners bed, "W-what do you think you're doing!" Weiss stuttered as she felt the mattress go down slightly. "Weiss, I'm your team mate, what's wrong?" Ruby tilted her head and gave a small smile at the older girl, regardless of the fact that she had hidden her face from view. "I said nothing…" She mumbled, causing the brunette to frown. "Weiss Schnee," in curiosity, Weiss raised her head slightly to look at the younger girl, "tell me why you're crying; if you don't, how am I supposed to make you feel better?" In that instant, Weiss felt her stomach become tighter. She was finding it hard to breath and hid her face again, beginning to tense and tremble. As soon as the first hiccup escaped the heiress, Ruby wrapped her arms around her trembling shoulders and rested her head on top of her partners snowy white hair, stroking it, lulling her.
"Weiss, what is it?" she asked in a delicate whisper, "you can tell me, c'mon..." Weiss sat trembling in her partner's grip, unable to say anything, fearing that her voice would crack and she would break down right then and there. "Weiss, it's okay, I'm here," she kept saying, hugging her partner tighter every time she said it. "I-I said nothing…" the heiress mumbled through sobs. "Weiss, if it was nothing you wouldn't be crying."
That's when it happened. All the memories of that time came flooding back. "R-ruby, I'm fine," she heard Weiss say, but it didn't sound like Weiss. The voice was familiar; painfully so.
"Ruby, everything's fine; I'll be fine and I'll be back home soon." Ruby's mother had said with a smile, ruffling the young brunette's hair. "B-but mommy! Daddy told me this mission is dangerous!" The young Ruby Rose pouted, causing her mother to frown. "Mommy's the best huntress, remember?" she grinned, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Here," she said as she removed the crimson red hooded cloak from her shoulders, "if you have this, you'll be safe, okay?"
"But Mommy, shouldn't you wear it?" Her mother exhaled and smiled, "But if you have that, I'll come back and get it when I'm finished my mission, okay? That's my favourite cloak, and I'm letting you borrow it until I get back."
"Okay, Mommy!" the young Ruby smiled. Her mother never came back.
Ruby tried to swallow the pain as she held the Schnee family heiress' trembling frame. "Weiss, everything is not okay; you're upset and I want you to tell me why." Ruby's usual childlike tone was gone and had been replaced with a dead-set serious one. Weiss swallowed hard before raising her head to look at the young scythe wielder. Teary blue eyes met cold, hard, silver orbs looking deeply into her own. Weiss felt her bottom lip trembling and she looked down again, sniffling. Ruby took hold of Weiss' cheek in one hand, making the rapier user, flinch at the sudden contact. She blushed a light pink, "R-ruby, I…" she began, her breathing becoming unbalanced again. "Shhh, it's okay," Ruby stroked her cheek with her thumb, making the white haired 'Princess' blush an even darker shade of red. "I-it's stupid... It's really stupid…" Weiss had mumbled, "I… had a nightmare…" she looked down again, hiding her face in shame for crying over such a trivial thing. "What happened in it?" Ruby tilted her head slightly, still stroking the other girl's cheek with her thumb; running it over the tip of her scar with a frown. "I… We… It was more like, a flashback sort of thing…" she sobbed again, tears visibly dropping from the girl's eyes onto her silk nightgown. "Well, what happened?" Ruby asked again. "The… The white fang… My father a-and I, w-we just-!" she was cut off by Ruby wrapping her arms around her and allowing her to rest her head in the crook of the brunettes neck. "Shhh, it's fine, there's no white fang here, only you and me, okay?" she rubbed the older girls back. "Try and tell me again, but stay calm, okay? You don't want to wake up Blake and my sister, do you?" She felt Weiss shake her head.
It took a few minutes, but Weiss had calmed down. She was holding onto Ruby's pyjama vest top for dear life; like if she let go, Ruby would disappear forever. She let out a deep, shaky breath before trying to explain again; "Did I ever tell you how I got the scar?..."