Author's Note: Every few chapters of this story are going to be their own separate tale of woe and drama, or friendship and love, or maybe just murderous rage. Probably, for the most part, you're just going to get to see me torturing these characters over and over again. I do promise some happier story arcs. I really do. Anyways... read on.

Cry For Help: A Bond In Question

Blake closed her book, having finished it. That was it. That was all of them. She had read every book she'd brought with her three times each. She still loved her books and would read through them all again without a second thought, but she was starting to wish she had some new material to read.

She thought about borrowing books from her teammates or other students. Yang wouldn't have any books, and all she had seen Weiss with was that Dust For Dummies book. She thought about JNPR briefly before realizing she had no idea if any of them read often.

Then there was Ruby. Blake remembered Ruby had mentioned that she liked reading, so she might have books. The younger girl was currently in her bunk, suspended over Weiss' bed, going over her homework. Weiss was also in her bed, listening to some music with headphones that looked like she had borrowed them from Ruby.

Blake stood up and walked over to Ruby's bed, waving to her. "Hey, Ruby."

Ruby looked up at her. "Oh, hi Blake. What's up?" It was obvious that Ruby was glad for the distraction from her homework.

Blake smiled gently. "I was just wondering if you might have any books I could read. My books are great, but I wouldn't mind something new."

Ruby just stared into Blake's eyes for a few seconds, stopping just as it was starting to creep Blake out. She looked around Blake's head, then turned around and started shuffling through her various belongings. "Just a sec. I got something perfect."

Blake glanced behind her where Ruby had been looking. All that she could see was her own bed and Yang's bed stacked on top of it. Yang was in town, so her bed was empty. Blake couldn't help but wonder if Ruby was checking to make sure Yang was out. Might she have something lewd that Yang wouldn't approve of? What sorts of naughty books might Ruby be hiding from her sister?

"Here it is! This is a good one." Ruby produced a small hardcover book with handwriting on the front. Blake stared at it for a while, trying to figure out why it looked more like a diary than a novel. Ruby shoved it towards her. "You have to read this one. It's very important."

Blake accepted the book cautiously. "Okay. Why is it important?"

Ruby leaned closer and whispered to her. "Because it holds the secret to defeating the evil mastermind behind it all."

"...Okay..." Blake wasn't sure how to respond to that. Mastermind behind what all?

Ruby squinted at her, looking closer than Blake was comfortable with. "I can trust you, right? You're not a double agent, are you?"

Blake backed away a bit before thinking about Ruby's question. She rolled her eyes. "Sure. You can trust me."

Ruby sighed a breath of relief. "Okay. You can't breathe a word of what you see in there to anyone, lest the evil mastermind's spies hear of it. Got it?"

Blake shrugged, then nodded. "Got it." Whatever game Ruby was playing at, Blake would play by the rules. It wasn't too much to ask for a new book to read.

She stepped back to her bed and rolled back into place, shuffling around until she found a comfortable position, and opened the book. As she had been starting to expect, it was all written in Ruby's handwriting. Blake closed the book and looked up at Ruby's bunk. Ruby's silver eyes were wide, peeking over the edge of the bed to watch Blake read.

Blake sighed. "Ruby... is this a diary?" Ruby didn't move at all. She didn't even blink. Once it became apparent she wouldn't answer, Blake went back to the book. Maybe Ruby wrote a story in here. That could be interesting.

About a page into it, Blake realized that it really was a diary. It just covered Ruby's daily life. She was about to give it back when it came to her that reading this might get her some insight into Ruby's life that she wouldn't get any other way.

Turning the page, Blake noticed something that it bothered her to have missed up until this point. The dates on the entries placed the first pages of the diary around four years ago. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of an eleven year-old Ruby. The mental image it gave her was cute, so she stuck with it.

The diary continued to be general daily stuff. Helping Yang with the dishes, because they didn't have a dishwasher growing up. Playing with Autumn, and from the description Blake guessed Autumn was a pet cat. Going to the playground, which Blake thought was a childish thing for an eleven year-old to be so excited about.

She continued reading, although somewhat distracted when Yang entered the room and jumped up to her bunk, promptly falling asleep. Thinking she might not have gotten all the information in the previous paragraph, she read over it again. Finishing it, she was about to turn the page again when her mind pulled her back to the paragraph. It took her a moment to realize what exactly was wrong. She had stopped reading it keeping in mind that it was Ruby's diary, letting the information flow into her mind like it was fiction. She was sure there was something important or notable in the paragraph that she hadn't caught on to because she had forgotten it wasn't fiction.

She read over the paragraph a third time, making sure she kept its reality in mind.

My head still hurts from yesterday. Yang says I'll be fine, but I'm sure there's a bruise. Wish I could see it, but it's on the back of my head. Dad says we're not going back to the playground again any time soon. I'm not sure how it's my fault, but Yang said it was so I must have done something. I wish these things didn't go over my head so much. I wish rocks would just go over my head instead.

Blake lowered the book for a moment, trying to figure out what that was about. She looked back at the previous entry to find that it was full of Ruby being excited about going to the playground. There was no entry in between explaining what had happened, so Blake figured they had gone to the playground and Ruby had hurt her head. She decided that made sense and would be a reasonable cause for a parent to not want to take their kids back to the place again. She still thought it was childish to be so excited about a playground.

Worst case scenario, Blake thought Yang might have thrown a rock at Ruby or something, but she chalked that up to sisters acting like sisters. She'd chucked a rock or two at her own sister's head over the years. Blake found it hard to imagine any siblings that didn't throw things at each other regularly.

At that moment, almost as if to prove the point she had just been thinking, a large fluffy pillow flew across between the two beds overhead. Yang woke up and threw it back. Blake smirked and went back to the book, turning the page and reading the next entry only to have it break her heart.

I don't know where Autumn is. All her stuff is gone and Dad won't talk about it. Did somebody steal her it the night? Why does my precious kitty have to get stolen? Yang says she's gone because I wasn't nice enough to her, but I was always nice and loved her. Why would she go away so suddenly?

Why does everyone I love go away?

Blake had to bight her lip to keep from crying. She couldn't imagine losing a pet so suddenly like that. She read over the last line again, wondering what it meant. Had Ruby lost pets before? Or, considering how old she was when she wrote this, could she have lost a family member somehow? Thinking back over what she had read, she realized there had never been mention of any mother figure. Perhaps her parents were divorced and her mother never came to see her.

Later entries in the diary just made her feel more and more sorry for Ruby. One entry talked about finding Autumn again a few days later when she was taking out the trash. Ruby's pet had died and been bagged with the garbage? Blake had no problem admitting that that made her quite furious. If it's larger than a Goldfish, you give it a proper burial. What really got to her was the fact that Ruby's father hadn't told her that Autumn was dead, so the poor girl had pulled her cat out of the trash only to find out it was deceased. To top things off, Ruby had gotten in trouble for making a mess out of the trash.

Blake stopped reading to look up where Ruby had been watching her. She was only twenty or so pages in and already she felt almost like she had lived through Ruby's terrible childhood experiences alongside her. Did Ruby give her the diary so she could know what Ruby had gone through? Was that the reason behind it? Ruby, up in her bunk, was back to diligently working on her studies. She was normally so happy-go-lucky that Blake had to wonder if the diary's contents were actually fiction.

Further entries, after the whole ordeal with the cat, started to make Blake genuinely worried for Ruby. Something was wrong in that household, and Blake was starting to get a grasp at what it was.

I don't like that I can't tell anyone what really happened. My arms hurt so much, but I can't tell Dad why. Why can't I tell him? What did I do wrong?

It continued two days later.

The bruises on my arms still won't go away. Dad isn't happy that I won't tell him where they came from, but I can't. Yang will protect me though, right? She said she would.

On the next page, the next entry was like a bomb being dropped. Blake shuddered in horror when the implications finally set in, trying to ignore the poor writing that was a blatant result of the pain Ruby must have been in at the time.

I don't care any more! I hate her! She said she would protect me, but all she does is hurt me! Go to hell, Yang! Go there and stay there! You think you can replace my Mom but you can't! You're not my Mom! My Mom doesn't hit me! She doesn't. She didn't. No. I'm sorry Yang. I'm so sorry.

The whole picture seemed off. Ruby and Yang never had any problems as far as Blake had seen. There was no indications at all that any of this could be true. That was the only thing keeping Blake from kicking Yang's bed off of her own. Only the simple fact that the whole story seemed like the most far-fetched thing she had ever read was keeping her from tearing into Yang this very second.

But then, Blake thought to herself, why would Ruby give her the book? Why, knowing its contents and the effect they would have, would Ruby hand the book to Blake with the message that it was important? The bond between the sisters was so clear, and yet Ruby had knowingly and willingly handed Blake everything that would shatter her trust in her partner.

Blake's mind eventually managed to separate it into two possibilities. Either it was true and Ruby was desperately reaching out for help, or it was a fabrication. The latter option left Blake with the serious dilemma regarding the purpose. Why would Ruby fabricate such a thing? For her to have legitimate reason, Yang would have had to have done something that Ruby felt required some sort of punishment. Blake couldn't imagine what, outside of what the book already stated, and that would make it not a fabrication.

One thing was certain. Blake would be keeping a far more careful eye on both of the sisters. Whichever one was the innocent in the case, Blake would find out one way or another. It would be easier, Blake realized, if she had someone she could trust with the situation. Her eyes turned across the room and to Weiss. Perfect.

Smart enough to be helpful. Dumb enough to do it. ...okay, that wasn't accurate. Weiss was brilliant and would do it because the thought of such a rift between Ruby and Yang would likely enrage her. The thought was still funny enough to entertain Blake for a moment. She let the moment pass, then shook off the thought and moved on. It was immature, and she couldn't let herself look like that.

Then she remembered what Ruby had said about not telling anyone about it. She needed help, but if she asked Weiss now or tried to get her out of the room Ruby would know. If Ruby was trying to frame Yang for some reason, then Ruby needed to think Blake was recruiting Weiss to help protect her. If Ruby was genuinely asking for help, then she would get it. Blake just needed to think of a way to ask Ruby if Weiss was trustworthy without letting Yang know anything about the situation.

Blake slid the book under her pillow, hiding it from view, then stood up and stretched. Yang and Ruby had now fully acknowledged her. Now she just needed to make her move. Well, that and get Weiss' attention. The heiress was still blocked off from the world by headphones and music. Blake decided it was now or never time.

She looked up at Ruby. "Fearless leader Ruby!" The younger girl snapped to attention. "I have a mission that I am about to set out on, and I may need the assistance of Weiss. Do I have permission to commandeer your partner?"

Ruby just stared at her for a second before answering. "Oh, uh, right... um... Weiss... maybe?" She seemed to suddenly realize what Blake was implying. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, Weiss would probably be great help!"

Behind Blake, Yang grumbled at her. "You're asking for Ruby's partner? You do realize I'm right here, right? I'm supposed to be your partner."

"Yeah, but it has to do with books." It was true, and it would get rid of Yang.

Yang held up her hands in defense. "Okay, geez... you don't have to get all scary like that."

Blake nodded triumphantly, then reached down and grabbed Weiss, pulling her to her feet. "Come on, you. We have a mission."

"Wait, what is... what... but I was just... please don't eat me."

When you see a problem, you fix it. When you're shown a problem, you fix it. When you are told of a problem, you want to be more cautious. Do you have time to be cautious?

Next: Interrogation