A/N: Oh, yea, sure muse. I should be sleeping but lets write. Okay..

She had been oddly quiet today, a fact which had Jaune quite worried. Ren and Nora were feeling the same way Jaune knew them well enough to see the signs. The three of them had taken turns all day trying to bring Ruby out of her mood with varying levels of temporary success. Team Ranger had been travelling for just under three months now the last two days being some of the quietest they'd had. They all pretty much knew the reason, they had crossed paths with a deathstalker. It was during the course of the battle Jaune's brain had gone into autopilot. He had yelled for Ruby to lookout only he had called Pyrrha's name instead. The four of them all flinched but there hadn't been time to process the slipup with a giant death bug on the attack.

There was something that three former members of Team Juniper knew about their new leader. She almost always had to hold herself back in combat. Ozpin had not been kidding when he described Crescent Rose as one of the worlds most dangerous weapons. The scythe paired with her speed one misstep could cause injury or death to her companions. The startling discrepancy between her tiny size and her strength had been something they admired about her at Beacon. Traveling with her in the wilds, their respect for her control and situational awareness grew by the day. They weren't prepared for how humbled they'd be when Ruby's eyes darkened, her stance and posture shifted, Nora would swear she had seen the tiny reapers eyes nearly shine with well, magic was about the closest thing she could call it.

The scorpion grimm didn't know what hit it. The fact that they, as a team had partially worn the thing down did nothing to stop them from being awed, impressed and, honestly a little bit frightened. In a blur of petals the beast was cleanly sliced in half. They had seen her basically one shot the nevermore on initiation day, the help from her soon to be team was arguably negligible from their standpoint, so they honestly shouldn't have been surprised. The sudden shift in her was something that impressed and worried Jaune. The way she fought, he'd honestly only ever seen in videos of professional huntsmen and huntresses yet she rarely fought at full capacity. She held back for the benefit of those around her, his already fragile ego bruised, another reminder of how far behind he was.

That wasn't the issue right now, he knew that even with it being accidental, his calling out Pyrrha had wounded Ruby. On calm quiet nights she would sometimes work up the courage to try an talk about the fall of Beacon. She would always stop short once she mentions Cinder it was all over, she would apologize over an over. The three of them always reassured her it wasn't her fault, Ruby and Jaune had even had a bit of a "lovers spat" as Nora had felt the need to call it over the way she blamed herself and how Jaune blamed himself. Their argument was exactly the same, each telling the other t hf at there was nothing anyone could have done differently so stop carrying the blame for something out of your control. Nora would have laughed at the irony of the twos argument ha the subject been different.

The two really tended to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. She admired them both for it, their strength and selflessness. She also found it to be a trait she almost wished neither had. They should share their worries with their team instead of getting bogged down in self blame. It was with all of this in mind that Nora fnot being able to take the awkward silence around the camp snapped. The redhead clapped her hands together once, loudly, ensuring she had every one's attention.

"Ruby Rose, out with whatever it is that's on your mind, now young lady!" Nora demanded with all the grace and charm of a drill instructor. The way she stood with on e hand on her hip and the other pointing added to the effect. Ren scolded her, Jaune stared at her mouth agape and Ruby blinked at her owlishly for several seconds. "It'll help, I promise." The redhead softened her tone and offered a small gentle smile.

The tiny reaper sighed looking down at her hands, it took several long seconds for her to organize her thoughts. "I'm sorry about the way I acted with the deathstalker." She begins, hands now fiddling with the corner of her cape.

"I don't understand.. you were amazing!" Jaune is so very confused.

Nora looked to Ren having uncharacteristically been rendered speechless. She found no help in the ninja, he was just as confused, he does finally think of a question to hopefully gain clarification. "We.. were definitely thinking something else was bothering you, care to explain?"

"Um, well.. when Jaune accidentally called out for Pyrrha.. I kinda panicked, the thing was really close to overtaking us… I forgot my training and went all out on it. I was lucky this time and didn't hurt any one. I've been mad at myself ever since." She laughs a bit rubbing the back of her head. "Uncle Qrow confiscated my baby for two weeks when I did that back at signal." The caw of a blackbird nearby seems to oddly sound like it was chiming in. "Sorry I worried everyone."

"I'm sorry, about.. you know?" Jaune bumbles, not sure how he really wants to phrase things.

Ruby waves her hand dismissively. "Pfft, don't be, you wanna know how many times I accidentally called dad Yang when he was scolding me? I think I've even called Qrow dad.. at school, during training.. didn't live it down for a month!" The blackbird caws again. "In battle our mouths and brains don't always sync up." She points to her head for emphasis.

"You called your uncle, dad?" Nora asks incredulously.

Ruby shrugs "Yea, and I swear within hours the entire school was too.. I think even the headmaster called him dad for a week." She smirks at the memory.

"Let us know when something, anything is bothering you okay? We're a team, a family, it's what we're here for." The knight smiles at her, she nods smiling back, Ren and Nora smile in agreement. The moment is sweet and sentimental.

"Plus, next time we don't want to wonder for two days if you're mad at Jaune!" The redhead announces. Jaune's "HEY" and Ren's "NORA" are all but drowned out by Ruby's laughter.

A/N: I have a partial chapter for Unexpected Arrivals done, a good idea what the next chapter of The Knight and The Griffon will be, but nooo says the muse. Write a. silly one shot before bed, she says. Heh, oh well, this will now be my one shot stories home, unless they are something special. On that note, gnight folks.