Ruby woke too two familiar voices murmuring nearby. "I'm giving you guys some leave time, not too long, your too valuable. However you guys kicked some major ass up on the pass, that's bought us some essential ground. It's also kinda an apology, I really should have sent some back up with you"

"Jaune, you got nothing to be sorry for, you didn't know they had moved up that far, and we made the decision to fight rather than get backup". The first was obviously Jaune and the second sounded like Blake, the smooth deep voice giving it away. Then a third chimed in, "Ruby and Weiss need the break, but I'm itchin to give those Grimm a beating after what they did to Ruby". Yang was putting on her usual bravado, but it lacked her characteristic enthusiasm, she was just as tired as the rest of them. "I have a feeling when you guys are recovered there are going to be plenty of Grimm for you to, ah, beat". Ruby smiled as her eyes creaked open, Jaune may be a commander but he still had the slight hint of awkwardness that made him who he was. Ruby saw Jaune leave and slowly positioned herself upright.

Yang rushed to her sisters side as she saw her rise, "Sis, your awake how are you doing" Yang questioned intently. Ruby took a moment to asses herself, her shoulder no longer hurt, instead it was just stiff, and her arm was in a sling, other than that she felt ok. "I'm fine Yang, just a little stiff, how's Weiss, where is she", Yang visibly calming at this. Ruby examined her surroundings looking for Weiss. She was in the medical tent in the camp at the bottom of the mountain. She was in a smaller wing of the large tent; it gave her some privacy, however there was no Weiss. "She left a few hours ago, they patched her up quick" Blake chimed in from her sitting position on one of the far beds. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief; the blow had looked very bad at the time, Weiss having left the hospital first meant that she was probably in better shape than Ruby.

"Doctor said you were good to go when you woke up, all he said was to not overuse the shoulder for a while. If you feel and pain you should come back and talk to him. In better news you will have time to rest, Jaune gave us some time off, if you need anything just give me a call" Yang hugged Ruby tightly, causing Ruby to grimace slightly as her shoulder ache with the pressure. "Come on Blake lets grab some food", with that Yang left with Blake in tow, Blake giving Ruby a smile and shrug on the way out.

Ruby took a while to wake up, stretching slightly before heading out into the camp. Arm in sling she headed towards her tent, picking her way carefully through the bustling military camp. It was still weird being part of the expansion operation, it was something that most people had thought was impossible. Years of internal problems in the kingdoms had focused everyone's attention inwards. The White fang, Torchwick and Cinder had caused many problems over the years, but when they finally were stopped, there still existed a multitude of problems. Ten years after they had been stopped, you could still feel the effect of what they had done. Even now looking around the camp, the lack of the automated troops, the Altesian Kinght's hacking had sent them AWOL and had caused a lot of damage. So after the Huntsman and Huntresses were sent in to deal with them, the robots were banned. Ruby fondly remembered one particular robot that was more human than most people she knew, Penny having given her life to stop Torchwick and Cinder in the hacking incident. In ten years, a lot had changed; Ruby had lost friends and made new ones.

Whilst all these problems had been occupying everyone, the lands outside the cities became more dangerous. Something had begun to change in the Grimm; they became more aggressive, grew in numbers and for the first time in a while, posed a significant threat to the secure cities of Remnant. So Faunus and human alike were sent forth to expand the kingdoms and beat back the Grimm. Vale had sent forth two separate forces, the second of which command had been given to Jaune and team JNPR. They were sent far south, team RWBY in tow, having been personally requested by Jaune. So here she was, leading her team against the hordes of Grimm, for the good of Human and Faunus kind.

Ruby found her tent, it was a medium sized tent with two cots, and other than some personal effects it was fairly plain. Ruby changed into some more casual clothes, less torn up and bloody clothes. She looked over to Weiss' half of the room. Myrtenaster lay against the bed and her case of dust lay locked next to it. Ruby had hoped to find her in here but it was obvious she had gone elsewhere, so Ruby now endeavoured to find her.

Setting out she thought of where she would most likely find her partner. It was unlikely that she would have gone to Yang or Blake, or anyone in team JNPR. So Ruby went to the most likely place, a fairly popular place with the soldiers, Huntsman and Huntresses alike, the bar. Of all places it was initially surprising that a bar would pop up in a military camp, yet someone had set up a bar, serving all sorts of alcohol. The man who ran it however was very interesting. His name was Jeb; he was a Huntsman who had a miraculous ability to make friends. He was known camp wide and was one of the few Huntsmen that were well liked by the soldiers. There was a separation between the two groups, the fact that Huntsmen were significantly more proficient at killing Grimm made the soldiers somewhat envious, we were simply better at their job than they were. However a well-trained group of soldiers who followed orders were as useful as a group of Huntresses, this being due to the simple fact that while Huntsmen and Huntresses were good, they tended to be a bit eccentric and chaotic, good for a fight rather than a large scale battle. That and Ruby couldn't imagine Weiss ever do any manual work like digging a latrine.

The bar itself was simply a large tent, inside was a large table where a few soldiers shared a drink or two. At the far end was a homemade bar. It had a set of makeshift shelves, all filled with a random assortment of alcohol. The man at the bar was middle aged, with greying hair and a receding hairline, he sat behind the bar mixing different non labelled bottles. Ruby skipped forward towards the bar, and stood awaiting the attention of Jeb. Jeb's head rose as he finished pouring out a bottle, "Hey Red what can I get you today, maybe something a little stronger for that there wound" he nodded towards her shoulder. "I'm fine thanks, I was just wondering if you had seen Weiss" Ruby leant closer to examine the mixing that Jeb was performing. "What are you making?"

"Mixing some new ammo for Darling, trying to make something to help with the smell". Ruby nodded appreciatively but somewhat confused, like her Jeb had a slight obsession with his weapon. However instead of constantly improving and tinkering, he made new liquids to use as ammo for the large flamethrower. This process combined his love for alcohol and flamethrowers. "As for your first question, I have seen the Ice Queen today, she came in an hour or so ago and took a nice bottle of Atlas Ice wine, very good vintage, dam hard to come by", a slight look of displeasure came over his face, he obviously wanted to be the one to drink it, or mix it into fuel. "Do you know where she was headed?" Ruby asked hoping that she hadn't gone too far, "Didn't say, but I reckon she is headed somewhere quiet, she was looking a little down"

"Oh, ok, thanks Jeb, see you around", Ruby was not excited for the search that was about to occur. She turned on her heels and set a brave face, she was tired still, but she needed to talk to Weiss. As She left she heard Jeb shuffle around, "Red hold up, you might want these", Ruby turned back, and quickly snatched the flying objects out of the air. She used her injured arm to catch the second object, eliciting a groan of pain, to which Jeb simply replied "oh, sorry". She looked down at what Jeb and thrown to her, a pair of wineglass. Ruby looked confused for a second but thanked Jeb anyway, Jeb smiling and returning to his work.

It took Ruby an hour to finally find Weiss, she had scoured the camp to no avail, and then upon deciding to find higher ground on one of the nearby hills she found Weiss sitting alone on that very hill. She had dressed out of her combat gear as well, sitting in a simple grey jumper and comfortable jeans. She had a blank look on her face and appeared to be deep in thought, not noticing Ruby's approach. It wasn't until Ruby's shadow loomed over her that she looked up, she had a black eye that highlighted her scar, but other than that she seemed to be unhurt. "Hey there, uh, how are you feeling?" Ruby mumbled through the question, awkwardly itching the back of her neck. "I have a splitting headache, I'm tired and this wine is not doing the job", Weiss complained with a scowl.

"I'm really sorry about what happened up there, I made a mistake, and it like, was really bad, and you could have been hurt, I mean you were, and I want to see if you are alright, and, um, maybe you wanted a glass for the wine". Ruby held out one of the glasses, her rambling coming to a halt. Weiss took a moment to examine the glass, finally after a moment of silence she took it from Ruby. Pouring and drinking from the glass she remained seated, all but ignoring Ruby. Ruby sighed and sat down next to her, "we have been friends for quite a while now, I know how to deal with your grumpy phases", Ruby held out her wineglass expectantly. Weiss gave in and poured her a glass.

"I just want to say thanks; you kinda saved me up there, so, thanks"

"Again", Ruby looked at her, a puzzled look on her face

"What?"

"I saved your life again" Weiss putting extra emphasis on the again. A smile spread across Ruby's face, she took a sip of the wine and lay against Weiss, the afternoon sun sending down rays of warmth as the two sat there. Ruby's smiled stayed fixed upon her face, she could feel Weiss stiffen as she lay against her, she was almost always stiffened when someone would get too close to her. She could picture her face, stone cold with a hint of surprise. Whilst everyone knew that Weiss was not quite a people person, Ruby was happy that she would eventually relax when it was Ruby that was close.

Weiss sat motionless as Ruby nestled in against her, why does she have to be so close. Weiss was not a big fan of public displays of affection, especially form her teammate. Why does she do this, we are friends I know but I don't see Yang and Blake spending time on romantic hills drinking romantic wine. They had spent years fighting together, years of friendship, and yet Weiss doubted she would ever shake her anti-social tendencies, it was simply who she was. She took another sip of her wine, it could be worse; she could be stuck up here with someone she didn't like. Not like-like, just like friends, friends who save each other's lives and do stupid dangerous stuff in order to do so. A friend I would likely sacrifice my life for, god dam it, I'm hopeless. I mean Ruby would do the same, I mean I think she did, at least that's what Yang said, she jumped in front of me after I fell. Does that mean she like-likes me? Oh my god why am I thinking this, seriously I'm rambling like Nora. Enough emotional drama, I've been injured; they said it was only a minor concussion but that might be messing with my head. Weiss sighed and closed her eyes, she was tired, and her head needed time to sort itself out. Next to her she heard soft snoring, Ruby had fallen asleep. Weiss let a smile reach her lips, she relaxed and leant against Ruby.