a/n: Ah. Here we are. The epilogue that wasn't supposed to happen. It came to my attention that many of you were concerned about what happened to Ruby, and that you felt the story was unfinished. And looking back on it now, I will be the first to tell you that the ending was a little... lacking. I meant for the reader to go ahead and imagine that Ruby would have been saved by her friends, or maybe if you wanted her to die right there, then.. well, she would die right there. An uncomfortable ending, to an admittedly uncomfortable story.

But I know how it feels to read a story, enjoy it, and be disappointed by the ending, or lack thereof. And I swore that I'd strive to never let my readers feel that way. (Because it really sucks, there's an awesome TyZula fic that I know will never be finished and I'm absolutely heartbroken by it).

And so that brings us here. I present you with the epilogue, and definitely the final part of the story of the midnight tryst between Ruby and Cinder. I hope that my presumption of what happened afterward gives you the sense that Ruby got the happy ending she deserved.

And if you feel that it was just fine ending with her standing in the hallway, feel free to skip this part.


When I woke up, I could recognize the ceiling.

This was…

This was the hospital wing at Beacon. I look around me, and I'm hooked up to an IV drip. I look down at my left arm to see remnants of scarred tissue. I look to my right, and someone..

Someone was holding my hand.

She was sleeping next to me, her head resting on her folded arms, with one hand squeezing mine.

"Weiss?"

It takes a moment, but she lifts her head up groggily to look at me. For a second it looks like she wants to go back to sleep, but the fact that I was awake registered in her tired mind.

She jolts up, "Ruby!" She gets up to wrap her arms around my neck, and I respond by hugging her waist. How long has it been since she's hugged me?

I yawn. "Heh. What's for breakfast?"

"You dolt," she teases, pushing on my shoulder. Though she immediately regrets the action, repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" to me.

I stare into her ice blue eyes. Her gaze was filled with concern, probably wanting to ask me a million questions about what happened. I ask her first, "What… um, what happened last night?"

Her brow furrowed, and she shook her head slightly. "I should be asking you that. Blake heard—and smelled—something right outside our door, she woke us up and we noticed you were gone. Ruby, you were.. you were collapsed in the hall, wrapped up in a bloody sheet, burn scars all over your body and who KNOWS where else. It was awful. It was so awful to see. I had Yang carry you here. What is wrong with you?! I'm so fucking mad at you, I can't.. I don't. I'm just speechless. We didn't know whether or not you were kidnapped or if you kidnapped someone else… "

I flinch at her outburst, but I could see tears welling up in her eyes. She was furious, and I don't blame her.

"I, I mean.." She tried to wipe away her tears, but they kept flowing, "I didn't know what to do. Your aura was only able to take care of the minor burns, Ruby I was so scared, and confused, and I just," she sighed, "I don't understand. How did you end up like that? How could you let this happen to yourself? We were worried sick. I should have realized you snuck out, I should have realized you were lying about your wrists two nights ago."

I drew in a large breath, and let it out. "Weiss, I really don't know what happened to me. I mean, I know what happened, but I'm not ready to talk about it.. yet. But I promise that I'll tell you, when I'm ready. All I want you to know now is that I'm fine, and I know where I belong. With you guys. With... you." I felt my face heat up at the implication.

"Where you belong? Well of course you belong with us, Miss Leader." She places both her hands on mine now. "You need to take care of yourself. Be responsible, you don't just belong to you, you know." She looks away and clears her throat. Sooo adorable.

"If something's bothering you, you know you can come to us, right? We're your team. You're my—I mean. You're. I'm. We.. uughhh, RUBY ROSE!" She just yelled at me out of frustration over her own word choice. Such a charmer.

I simply give her a warm, reassuring smile. "I know, Weiss. I'm sorry, and I know I can count on you. And Yang and Blake. But you especially." I play with her fingers a bit.

She looks down at my hands and wrists. They're scarred, but they won't be forever. I can see in her eyes the worry, confusion, all the sadness. I can't let her feel like this, not with me. I don't want that. I sit up in the hospital bed and tuck some of my hair behind my ear.

"You know, Weiss." She perks her head up to look at me. "I love you."

Her cheeks gain a rosy color. She looks from left to right, probably feeling embarrassed as heck. I don't know what she has to worry about, I mean, I sort of just confessed to her, all beat up in a hospital gown. She doesn't say anything, but she moves from her chair and onto the bed, sitting right beside me. She brings her fingers up to my jaw first, but moves them down to my neck. She's running them across the burn marks left by Cinder, trying to somehow heal them faster with her will. I have no doubt in my mind that she tried to use her own aura to heal me earlier. She brings them back up to my cheeks and I can see her moving closer.

Our lips almost touch, but she stops. I know why. She doesn't want to hurt me.

"Is it okay?"

I close my eyes and bring my hands up to hold her wrists lightly, and I answer, "mhm."

The feeling of her lips on mine was heavenly. It was familiar, loving, warm and full of the intent to protect. We connect and reconnect several times, softly and slowly. I can feel her smiling. I can feel how much she cares for me, how much she wished I didn't have to go through this. I can feel the regret she must have dealt with while waiting for me to wake up. I feel the tears from earlier stream down her cheeks again, and I break off from her to kiss them away. She buried her neck into my shoulder, holding me close. I hear her repeating those words in a whisper, "I love you, I love you, I love you…"

Yes, this is what I wanted.

Truthfully, the entire time I was talking with Weiss, I did know the answer to her question. It's hard to explain, but I fell. I feel like I fell into a weird, really dark place. I thought that I wasn't able to match up with my team. I thought that I needed to feel something different. Something that only I felt, so that maybe I'd have something special to bring to our team. Something spectacular, something wild. I don't know why I thought I could find that in Cinder, maybe I was swept up in the moment? It was honestly… a little stupid. Actually, it was really, really stupid. But somehow, I'm glad it happened. It took that entire experience to shake me back to reality.

After Weiss finally pushed me off of her—but really, who can blame me? The girl has amazingly soft lips—she stayed by my side to chat, though it was mostly her fussing over my wounds and trying to fix my hair. Yang busted in through the door a few moments later and basically tackled me, with Blake following close behind. She didn't say anything at first.

She just held me. Right there in that room, the gross smell of disinfectant everywhere, creepy white walls, white everything surrounding us.. Yang held me.

It was the tightest she'd ever hugged me before, and I could feel her shaking. I latched onto her blazer while she pressed her cheek against mine. I know I worried her. I know I worried her the most, my dear sister.

After a long while, she whispered, "don't scare me like that." I can only nod into her shoulder. Blake ruffles my hair and greets me with a silent smile, I think she already knows what happened to me. She breathed a low, "Yang," signaling for her girlfriend to leave me alone a little while longer with Weiss, and that we'd have plenty of time to talk once I was released. It's funny how she can communicate so much with just one word. That was Blake for you, I guess.

Blake guided Yang to the door, but Yang was steadfast in that moment, turning to take another look at me. I could see it in her eyes. She would go to the ends of the earth to find out what happened to me if I didn't tell her myself. And I would. I will tell them. I trust my teammates, after all.

I was finally pulled back to my senses. My lapse in judgment, that incident in the CCT Tower that clouded my mind, that woman who made me feel… something. I am out of that place now. I'm out of that scary, depressing area of my mind that thought it knew what was best for me. I'm finally back here, to that which I know, and to those who I love.

Her hand gives mine a light squeeze.

…Yes, this is what I wanted.