A/N: This chapter was hard to write.
Mainly because I'm trying to figure out the fine line between which canon elements go in the game and which get inserted into real life. At the moment, it will be set in a fictional location, though they may move to a city like NYC to represent their movement to Beacon.
At the moment, I'm going to do Game chapter, RL chapter, Game chapter, RL, Etcetera. Because there's a ton I can do IRL, but I want to keep it with what the AU was based on.
Thank you all for your positive reviews!

Ruby bounded out of her bed the next day, filled with excitement. She practically flew down the stairs into the kitchen where her father waited, passing her a plate of toast which she quickly inhaled. He chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Excited? I don't understand why. School doesn't start for six days." She shook her head through a mouthful of toast and spoke, spewing crumbs everywhere. "Not school. Weiss is getting back."

Taiyang chuckled. He wasn't sure what the specific relationship between his daughter and her friend was, but he knew that Ruby both intensely admired and cared for Weiss, and Weiss, fortunately, at least tolerated her. He gave her a wink as he took her plate. "Don't forget your shoes, princess."

She vigorously nodded and tore out the door, sprinting down the street. Their house was located in the suburbs only a few minutes drive from the city, and the airport was about a ten minute run in the other direction. The city of Patch, named after the island it resided on, had a very straightforward layout, the city in the centre and the suburbs spreading out in a circle around it for hundreds of miles. Ruby would have loved to live in the city, where Weiss' house was, but as it was their house was located only a few blocks away from Signal, where Taiyang taught.

As she ran, she started daydreaming. Mainly about how easy it would be to run if she had her ingame semblance, but also about Weiss. Weiss was so cool and smart and stuff… Ruby had no idea why she had actually bothered to ever talk to Ruby. It was… no, not through the game. Before the game.

Oh. Right.

They had met when Ruby had accidentally infiltrated her bedroom.

She was twelve, and the door to the hotel room was unlocked, and she misread the 459 as 456, and before she knew it she was standing in the wrong room. She was going to leave but… she got distracted, as usual. Weiss had her laptop open, and the background was a boyband she liked…
And the next moment, she was being yelled at and called a thief.

It took at least half an hour to explain the situation, much to Ruby's embarrassment, but Weiss finally cooled down and apologised. Ruby had asked about the wallpaper, told her she was staying across the hall, and they had become friends. Easy as that.

Lost in her memories, she nearly flew past the airport, before checking herself and skidding to a stop. She turned and sprinted through the gates, past startled officials all the way to the arrivals terminal.

She was just on time, as the people had just started to stream in, but no Weiss. Not yet.

The first Schnee to step through the gate was young and male. Obviously related. Nobody else had hair that white. That must be her brother… Whitney? Whitley. That was it. Straight after him was an elder woman, most likely the Schnee matriarch.
Next, the father. Jacques Schnee. Even from this distance, he was intimidating, and Ruby shuddered slightly. Next to him was Winter, Weiss' older sister, and behind her…
"Weiss!"

Ruby's first instinct was to run and hug her, but she attempted to restrain herself in front of her family, instead waving excitedly.
Weiss' eyes lifted and she paused slightly, before speeding up and hurrying over to where Ruby waited.
"What are you doing here, dolt!?"

Ruby didn't answer, instead giving her a tight hug.
"I missed you, Weiss! You've been gone for like, a year!"
Weiss sighed and the corners of her mouth tilted into a smile as Ruby hugged her, and she slowly lifted her arms and hugged her back.
"It's only been two months, silly. I missed you too."

Aware that Weiss' family was approaching, Ruby quickly released her and stepped back, grinning.
Weiss turned as her family approached and calmly said, "Mother? May I travel back to Ruby's house with her instead?"
Her father's eyes narrowed, but her mother smiled. "Of course, Weiss. Stay in contact, okay? And don't miss that meeting later, honey."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Please, Mother. I'm going to that meeting with Ruby. We shouldn't miss it."

It almost seemed like there was something else at work here, but Ruby couldn't place it. All that mattered was that Weiss was allowed to come with her! Maybe what felt off was the formality. Ruby had always thought that was weird.
She didn't bother asking, though, instead skipping slightly backwards and waiting for Weiss to come.

~-I-~

Weiss was practically fuming as she followed Ruby out of the airport. Her father had nearly stepped in there to stop her. Bastard. She had made it clear that she would do this, and he better not embarrass her in front of her friend. Thank God her mother had sensed what was about to happen and interfered.

No doubt she would get yelled at later for having the audacity to actually do something of her own free will.

Her relationship with her father was… patchy, at best. The patriarch of the Schnee family was a cold, calculating and barely caring man, interested more in making money than, say, attending any of his daughter's concerts. Ever.
She couldn't stand the man. But, you know what they say. Blood is thicker than water. At least, that was what she had been told, until she found out that the full saying was 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb'. So she had gone out of her way to try make friends, just so she could prioritise them over her father.

Somehow, nobody wanted to be friends with her. Her family had a reputation of being cold and heartless, and nobody gave her a chance.
Until she met Ruby.
Ruby had walked into her hotel room, and Weiss first thought was she was a thief.
After a minute of yelling, Ruby had convinced her that she was just a distracted girl.
Ruby started blabbering about her wallpaper, ignoring every pointed comment to GET OUT OF HER ROOM, until eventually Weiss took pity on her and begrudgingly agreed that yes, the band was pretty cool.

Ruby started following her around like a lost puppy, but Weiss didn't mind. Ruby didn't care about Weiss' family, she just judged for who she was. Far too innocent for prejudice.
It felt nice, to finally have a friend.

Which is why Weiss was now purposely leaving her family to spend time with her… friend. They were just friends, she told herself. Ruby was two whole years younger than her.
It wasn't her fault she was so cute.

Weiss walked after Ruby, arms crossed, and followed her out of the airport. Once outside, Ruby grabbed her hand and grinned.
"Let's run."

Before Weiss could protest, Ruby was tearing down the street, dragging Weiss behind her.
Weiss, unfortunately, was wearing heels, but still somehow managed to keep up.
By the time they arrived at Ruby's house, Weiss was out of breath, and barely holding in her laughter.
"Ruby, I- You can't just- Heels-"
She was trying to keep a stern face. Honestly, she was.

But as soon as she saw Ruby's innocent expression, as if she had no idea, she was sent over the edge.

Weiss didn't think she had laughed that much over the entire holiday.
"Come on, dolt. Let's get inside. I want to look around before we go to that meeting."

~-I-~

It was twelve when Yang woke up, her girlfriend long missing from the bed next to her. From the clanging around in the kitchen, she hadn't left.
That meant she could make Yang coffee.
"Blaaaaake?" Yang called, her voice dry.

A few moments later, Blake walked into the room, a cup of steaming coffee in her hand. "No sugar. Milk. You should really sleep more."
Yang gave a crooked grin, placing the coffee on the bedside table. "You know me too well. I didn't even have to ask."
Blake smiled back and turned to leave, only to be stopped by a tug at her shirt as Yang lazily grabbed it, pulling Blake back.
"Don't go yet! I only just woke up!"
Blake rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed next to Yang. "I was going to go back into the kitchen, Yang. I wasn't leaving."

Yang frowned and sat up, pulling her into a kiss. "Why be in the kitchen when you could be with me?" she asked, winking.
Blake's response was simply a raised eyebrow. "Just drink the coffee, Yang. We're out of here in two and a half hours. Did you forget about that meeting with your sister?"

To be honest?
Yes. Yes she had.
But that was excusable! She hadn't even been awake five minutes.
"No way! But fine. I'm getting up. Is there breakfast?"
"Leftover pizza. It's late enough to be lunch."
"It's called Brunch. Ever heard of it?"
"For that, you can reheat it yourself. I'm gonna go take a shower."

~-I-~

Twenty minutes later, Yang still wasn't out of bed, but that was fine. Blake simply perched on a stool and read until, inevitably, Yang stumbled out of their bedroom. Their apartment was small- one bedroom, bathroom, living area with kitchen- but that still didn't stop a tired Yang from acting like the walk to the kitchen was a marathon.
She finally slumped down at the table, and Blake passed her a slice of microwaved pizza, despite her earlier comment. The caffeine had yet to take effect, and a grunt of thanks was all she'd get.

"Hurry up, babe. We've got two hours, and heaven knows how long it's going to take you."

The answer was, unsurprisingly, just under two hours.

Fortunately, traffic didn't usually apply to Yang.
Blake bustled her out of the building, all the way down to the…
Where was Yang's motorbike?
"Yang. Bumblebee. Where."
Yang shrugged and grinned, motioning between them. "Right here, baby."
One of Blake's best withering looks quickly changed her answer to, "I left it at the bar last night. Don't wanna drink and drive, y'know?"

Blake sighed. "Preferably, don't drink at all. You're not even eighteen. That fake ID can only get you so far."
Patch's laws were… somewhat separate to the rest of the country. Not even technically in a state, many of the laws were based off what had worked for other countries. For instance, the gun ban. And because there were less idiots with guns around, the drinking age had been dropped to eighteen.

"Blakey. It's fine. I never drink that much."
That, at least, was true. Yang never actually got drunk, but she was still smart enough to not drive.
"Fine. Fine. But this means we have to walk. And we've got thirty minutes."
"Right. Didn't think about that. What now?"
"We run."

Blake knew her way around the city far better than Yang, having been raised there rather than in the suburbs. So her improvised route to the cinema took them through several shopping malls, underground carparks, fields and even a preschool.
Her city knowledge didn't fail them, and they made it there just in time, only to find the other two impatiently waiting for them.

~-I-~

The walk into the city was a long one, so they got started straight away, stopping only for Ruby's dad to make them pancakes for lunch.
Armed with a bag of cookies, they set off, Ruby practically floating with energy, while Weiss simply trailed behind her and listened to her chatter.
"So this movie, right? It's a really cool movie, apparently, and it's based off a book, and it's called 'The man with two souls' cause it's about a man with two souls, obviously, but they fight for control and stuff and it's supposed to be really cool, right? But I think it's gonna be super awesome and worth the money cause I'm gonna buy a ton of popcorn…"

Ruby's voice chattered on and Weiss tried to listen to what she was saying, but the words just blended into indistinct noise as she started to get lost in her own thoughts.
It's super cute when she does this. But, like, child cute. Cause she's young. Not, like, actual cute. Obviously. That would be weird.
Hopefully Ruby wouldn't turn around and see the furious blush on her face.

~-I-~

Oh man, this movie was gonna be so great. Like, super cool.
It's not just cause Weiss and Yang are gonna be there too. Wait. Yeah it is.
She grinned slightly, overjoyed at the fact that she got to go see a movie with not only her older sister, who she hadn't seen since she moved out, but her bestest ever friend. Best friend ever. Weiss would correct that grammar. She was, like, so smart and cool and stuff. The best.

The movie cinema was in sight, and Ruby sped up, eager to get there early so they could get good seats. Weiss followed closely behind, but Ruby stopped at the entrance and sighed. "The other two aren't here yet. This sucks."

Especially since there were only five minutes until the movie started.
They were nowhere to be seen, except… was that them? What were they doing in a library?
That didn't matter. The important thing was that they were here in time.

All things considered, by the time the movie was over Ruby had mixed feelings. The acting was good, the soundtrack was good, the plot? Not so much.
Blake, however, loved it, describing it as "One of the best book-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen!"
If Blake liked it, then Yang liked it. And Weiss seemed to enjoy it, too, so… it was currently Ruby's favourite movie.

Afterwards, Yang and Blake took them to a bakery around the corner, and they talked over a plate of cookies. Ruby finally got to reconnect with her sister, spend time with Weiss, and make a new friend.

Best. Day. Ever.