Title: Someday (We'll Be Okay Again)
Characters: Ruby Rose + Yang Xiao Long
Summary: The road to Mistral was a difficult one, even for Remnant's most simple, honest souls. Fortunately, the love of a sister is not one to be underestimated.

The mornings in Mistral are what Ruby found herself enjoying the most. The early hours, when the sun just began to peek over the tops of the mountains surrounding the Kingdom, and a gentle fog billowed over the gardens, and the sky was painted in the soft pastels of an invisible artist. The silence that saturated the city was so unlike what she'd grown used to. On the road, silence was unnerving. It meant something was wrong; a lurking Grimm, another destroyed village, a painful memory. These were things Ruby had grown used to but certainly wasn't fond of.

Here, however, the lack of noise was different. It meant safety. Tranquility. A slow sunrise.

"You're up early."

Ruby smiled at the familiar voice, turning away from the beautiful view to watch her sister approach. Yang carried two steaming mugs in hand, but unlike the last time, Weiss didn't join them. She suspected her partner was enjoying a little well-deserved extra sleep. Ruby envied her for that.

"Still having trouble sleeping?" the blonde asked.

"A little," she replied in earnest, a timid shrug rustling the fabric of her cape. Ruby recognized the quirk of Yang's brow as one of concern, but the dark circles under her eyes suggested that she wasn't alone in her streak of sleepless nights.

One of the mugs was lowered in front of her. While she wasn't really in the mood for a dose of caffeine, she accepted it gratefully, only to have her somewhat dejected resignation alleviated a moment later as Yang snorted.

"Don't worry," she said, settling onto the dirt next to her sister. "It's not coffee."

"Oh!" Ruby's smile returned in full, fingers curling tighter around the ceramic mug. "Thanks."

She took a cautious sip, thinking maybe Yang had raided their cupboards for tea but was pleasantly surprised by the simply divine taste that rolled over her tongue. An involuntary shiver ran through her, and her grin broadened.

"Is this…?"

"Hot chocolate?" Yang's smile mirrored hers as she blew on her own beverage. "Yup."

In almost perfect sync, both sisters took a long drink.

"Mmm," Ruby hummed happily and licked a small patch of foam from her above her lip. "Just like dad's."

As children, Ruby could remember many an instance when Tai would come home late, exhausted from a long day of teaching at Signal, only to somehow find the energy to make them all cups of cocoa. Those nights usually ended with the trio passed out on the couch, the theme of a forgotten movie or video game blaring over the TV.

The memory was bittersweet. The last time she had seen her father had been the night before she left for Mistral. She couldn't even recall the last thing she'd said to him. She prayed to whatever deity who might have chosen to watch over her that she had told him she loved him.

Yang watched a shadow cross her sibling's expression, and frowned.

"Ruby?"

Ruby set her drink on the ground, drawing one knee to her chest.

"How is Dad?" she asked, glancing briefly at Yang.

"He's…" Yang took a moment to properly consider it before settling on, "doing okay. Took you leaving pretty hard." A pained sound tumbled from the back of Ruby's throat. Her posture sagged, and she suddenly found the toe of her worn combat boots very interesting. A letter. She had left a letter to tell her own father that she was embarking on a reckless mission that had nearly gotten her, and her friends, killed.

More than actually leaving, she regretted not being brave enough to face him.

Setting her own cup aside, Yang put a hand over her sister's. "Ruby," she began. "It's okay. I'm not mad, and neither is he. Just… really worried. You up and leaving like that… scared him. I think it reminded him of-"

"Mom," Ruby finished, shoulders tensing on a nearly imperceptible wince.

Yang nodded, "Yeah. Both of them."

"I sent you guys letters, you know," said Ruby at length. "Fourteen of them - I counted. I guess none of them made it."

"You gonna tell me what they said?" Yang asked. Her flinch was impossible to miss this time, and instinct had Yang's grasp tightening a fraction. When her sister didn't respond, she gave a sigh.

"Ruby… I know there are things that happened out there. Things that Jaune, and Ren, and Nora haven't told us. Things you're not telling me. And that's okay, you don't have to. But I'm here if you want to."

"Of course I want to," Ruby blurted out not a heartbeat after Yang finished. Glistening silver finally met concerned lilac, and her brow furrowed in frustration. "Of course I want to tell you everything! I just… I don't know how." Momentarily struggling for an even breath, she tried to rub the pinpricks from her eyes. It was a futile effort - her eyes misted anyways.

"Sometimes it felt like we saw something awful every day. Villagers. Huntsmen. Entire towns, just… gone. And even if we didn't, it was so… quiet. All the time."

Ruby's chest constricted further, and she swallowed hard despite the painful pang of dread in her stomach. "It took weeks for Jaune to have a normal conversation with us, Yang. A-and I don't- I didn't know Ren and Nora that well. I-I didn't want to ask because I knew they were all thinking about Pyrrha and what happened, and I-"

"Ruby. Hey."

Giving her hand a gentle tug to get her attention, Yang spread her free arm wide. Ruby needed no other prompting in order to practically throw herself at her older sibling and, likewise, Yang needed no further indication of her sister's need as she wrapped her arms around the trembling teen, drawing her as close as she could without restricting her ability to breathe.

"Shhh," she soothed, carding her fingers through Ruby's short hair in an attempt to help her relax. "It's okay."

"It was all my fault."

"No. No, no, no. Ruby, don't sa-"

"It was!" Ruby cried, breath leaving her in a rattling wheeze. "You were- I-I…" She fought against the memory that shoved its way to the fore of her mind; the arrow protruding from Pyrrha's back, the gargling gasps for breath, the glowing embers that floated away in the wind.

"W-Weiss and I went back for Pyrrha and Jaune, a-and Jaune… h-he called us, and begged us to save her, and I was the only one who could make it up the tower. A-and I-… I wasn't fast enough! Cinder shot her and I couldn't do anything!"

All at once, Ruby began to weep with a force that startled Yang. Hoarse, keening sobs shoved themselves from her chest as she shook with a violence that made it seem as though her fragile frame would simply shatter.

"I couldn't save her," came as a broken whimper, and Yang tightened her hold, feeling her own eyes burn. Ruby buried her face in her sister's shoulder, clinging to her for all she was worth, fingers curling and creasing the fabric of her jacket. Cold tears dripped in a steady river from her cheeks as dizzy nausea took hold, enough to make her want to vomit.

Yang leaned over, her cheek pressed against the warmth of Ruby's hair. A choked apology reached her ears, and the blonde shook her head on another gentle hush. Her hand moved to rub small circles over her sibling's back, uncertain of how much comfort the unforgiving metal could provide but wanting to do whatever she could to calm Ruby nonetheless.

"Breathe, Ruby," she said softly. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Just breathe."

The younger of the pair did as she was told, albeit feeling like an eternity later. Ruby turned her focus to the rise and fall of Yang's chest and strove to match the rhythm, then to the careful hand tracing over her shoulder blades. Her breathing evened out, shallowly at first, and then more relaxed. Gradually, Ruby's hiccuping sobs eased into sniffles. She shifted only to wipe trembling palms across her face, and Yang caught some of her swollen profile - tired, reddened eyes, cheeks shimmering with drying tears - as she did.

Craning back slightly to give her some space, Yang's gaze flitted up to the lightening sky.

"Do you remember… our first big test at Beacon?" she asked, the idea of a smile pulling her lips upward. "In Peach's class? I think it was on survival tactics or something like that, right? You remember how long we all studied for that stupid thing? How even Weiss struggled with it? And then, we get our marks back, and-"

"And even Pyrrha failed it," Ruby finished, sniffling. An airy laugh followed a moment later. "She was so mad."

"What was it she said?" Yang raised an eyebrow, her smile growing as she looked back to her sister. "'If I can survive four years at Sanctum," Ruby shared her smile and spoke with her, "I don't need a test.'"

For a minute, the sister's laughter mixed in the morning air; Yang's half-covered chuckle, and Ruby's higher giggling mingling in an unlikely harmony. When it faded, so did the small light that had leapt to Ruby's gaze. She closed her eyes with a shaking sigh.

"I miss her," she said.

"Me too."

"I miss Penny," Ruby continued after a breath. "And our bunk beds. And waking up ridiculously early for class, and taking trips to Vale on the weekends, and our teachers, and-"

Yang gave her arm a squeeze. "Shhh. I know."

Reaching around her, Yang took Ruby's mug - still half-full with steaming cocoa - and offered it to her. After a hesitant second, it was snatched from her fingers. With a light chuckle, she turned to collect her own. The pair lapsed into a comfortable silence, with Ruby leaning heavily against her sister, and Yang's arm securely around her shoulders.

"Hey. Listen," said the older, her words slow and careful. Ruby peered up at her, but she continued to stare out at the distant mountains. "When you were away… things were pretty rough at home."

Ruby took a breath, intent on apologizing, but Yang beat her to the punch, "And before you say anything, don't you dare think that's because of you."

"This…" Yang drummed the fingers of her prosthetic hand against Ruby's arm to punctuate her point, "wasn't easy to get used to. Wouldn't have been, whether you had stayed home or not. But… it's normal now."

Ruby drew back a bit, and Yang turned to her, her gentle smile tinged with sadness. "As much as it hurts, and I know it does, this," she gestured to their surroundings, "is our normal now too. I wish we could go back, Ruby. I would give anything, just for us to have one more day at Beacon. But we can't."

Ruby's lower lip wavered dangerously. Pressing them together in a firm line, she nodded; once, resolute.

"But I'm here," Yang continued. "So are you. So is Weiss. And Jaune, and Ren, and Nora, and even Uncle Qrow." Yang pulled her back in, and Ruby's head dropped onto her sister's shoulder. "It is what it is, sis."

Ruby lowered her gaze to the dirt, considering her words. Then, she raised her mug to her lips. "It is what it is," she repeated in agreement, voice muffled, and took a sip.

Yes - Ruby decided that she very much enjoyed Mistral's version of silence.