"Pssst Weiss! We're here to rescue you!" Yang whisper yelled.

Weiss looked at her aghast and opened her window.

"Wh-what are you doing here? We have guards here that will shoot you on sight!"

"Blake's keeping a lookout."

"Blake? She's here too?" Weiss asked, looking around for the faunus.

Yang nodded. "Jump, I'll catch you."

Weiss eyed the three story drop to the blonde below. "I am not jumping. Er, stay there, I'll be right back."

She heard Yang's frustrated cry of her name as she ran to her closet, stuffing clothes and jewelry into a suitcase. Just as she was about to leave, Weiss grabbed a page from her letterhead and started scribbling a note:

Father,

I'm leaving. Don't try to find me. I don't want to go board meetings, I want to be a huntress.

Sincerely,

Weiss

She went back to the window and tossed down her suit case. "Here, catch."

"What the-" Yang muttered, barely catching it.

With Myrtenaster in her hand, she set up a number of glyphs in a descending pattern and then jauntily hopped down them like they were a staircase.

"Show off, what was wrong with my way?" Yang asked.

Weiss feigned deep thought with a finger on her chin. "Hmm, I don't know, a broken neck?"

"C'mere you grouchy princess," Yang surprising her with a hug. "Man you're skinny, what did they feed you here?"

"There was a regimented diet prepared by the cooks... Anyways where's Blake?"

"She outside the gate in the back," Yang gesturing with her hand.

That's when Weiss noticed the silver glint from her fingers. She had almost forgotten.

Yang must have caught the realization on her face because she looked away quickly, avoiding her eyes.

A high pitched whistle rang through the air.

"We have to get going."

"Right."

They ran to the gate and slipped through the opening Yang had made by bending the bars. Blake slipped down from a nearby tree. Amber met light blue for a moment, and a nod was exchanged before Blake took off running into the woods.

"Come on Weiss, keep up!" Yang said.

They ran past the trees that were still bare and grey from winter, and made it to a hidden trail in the middle of the forest. The three of them stopped to catch their breath.

Hunched over with her hands on her thighs, Weiss asked, "Where's Ruby?"

Blake and Yang looked away at the same moment.

"Where's Ruby?" Weiss asked more pointedly.

"She's gone…" Yang whispered.

"What!" Weiss' heart suddenly leapt into her throat.

"No, not that way!" Yang yelled indignantly. "My dad thinks she went to Haven… To go after Cinder…"

Weiss couldn't believe what she was hearing, Cinder beat Ozpin and Pyrrha, and Ruby went after her alone? "And you just let her go?"

Yang, once the boisterous cheerful brawler, wilted, clearly ashamed. "I wasn't in the best frame of mind at the time…"

Weiss glared daggers at Blake and saw guilt in her eyes. She walked up and slapped her upside the head.

"Ow!"

"How could you do that to her?" she asked accusingly, and for a moment Blake thought she meant causing Yang to lose her arm but she quickly clarified, "How could you leave her like that?"

Blake had no answer. There was nothing she could say that could justify what she did.

"You broke her, you know. I could tell by the letters she sent me."

Blake shrank away with each word, physically pained by each syllable.

"Weiss stop… We've hashed things out already…" Yang hesitated. "We're okay now…"

"But she abandoned you in your time of need!"

Blake narrowed her eyes at her, anger spilling over. "What I did was wrong, but I'm not going to stand here and be judged by you. I didn't see you staying to help," she said coolly.

Weiss recoiled like a snake bit her. "I had no choice!" she said indignantly. "My father… He made me go with him… He said it wasn't safe… He made me go back to Atlas…" Weiss said in an increasingly small voice.

"Right, and you have no will of your own."

Weiss opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Yang.

"Guys stop! We don't have time for this right now, we have to find Ruby!" Yang walked a few paces and stretched her arms behind her head, blowing out a deep breath. "We have to find her, we have to… Oh man, the last time I saw her, she said 'I love you' and I didn't say it back… What kind of a sister am I?"

Blake and Weiss glanced at each other in surprise, temporarily forgetting that they were mad at each other.

Yang continued on, "What if she's in danger, what if I never see her again!" She balled her left fist and slammed it into a tree, looking down.

A long silence passed between the three of them before Blake placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure she knows you love her, Yang."

Weiss tentatively placed a hand on the other shoulder. "Yes, I mean how could she not? With all those god awful embraces that you subject her to."

"We'll find her, Yang," Blake promised.

Weiss nodded in agreement.

After a long moment, Yang felt a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "You guys are right…" She extended her arms out and in one quick movement, she captured Blake and Weiss in modified head lock, pulling them close. "Let's go Team WBY!"

"Team Wooby?" Weiss asked. She had to admit that it didn't have the same ring as Team RWBY.

"Yes," Yang answered. She lowered her voice and whispered suggestively into their ears, "Now kiss and make up…"

Their eyes widened, and a blush crept on to their faces. Blake and Weiss shoved Yang back hard.

"That's obscene you oaf!" Weiss cried shrilly, stomping away.

Blake gave her a disgusted look and started walking ahead, catching up to Weiss.

"What'd I say?" Yang asked innocently. She smiled to herself, her plan worked. They were united in mutual annoyance.


"Ice flower!"

Nora Valkyrie looked at her confused, wielding her hammer Magnhild. "Wha?"

"I mean, lightning flower?" Ruby said, sounding unsure. "Um, let's just kill that thing!"

"Yeah!"

Together Ruby and Nora sent off sniper rounds laced with lightning bolts at a large Death Stalker that was coming towards them. The Death Stalker reared back one final time and fell over dead.

Nora and Ruby high fived and cleared the chambers of their weapons.

"Nice job, you two."

"Ooo Ren did you see, did you see? Me and Ruby did this awesome new move! What did you call it again?"

"Lightning flower," Ruby mumbled.

Ren smiled serenely at the excited ginger jumping up and down in front of him. "It certainly looked effective."

He sent a knowing glance to Ruby who was looking down at her feet, drawing circles in the dirt. "Er, Nora why don't we go to the field and you can give me a demonstration," he said, dragging her away.

"Eh, but it's a team move…" Nora argued, her voice getting quieter with the distance.

After they had left, Ruby sat down on a rotted log and opened her scroll. There was no reception due to the tower being down, but she didn't need reception to look at the photos she had saved on her scroll. The photos might as well have been from another lifetime, a various assortment of Team RWBY and Team JNPR, all smiles and laughs. She paused at a picture of her and Weiss; her arm around Weiss' shoulder, the other hand making a peace sign, grinning while Weiss was in the middle of an eye roll. The picture made Ruby happy and sad at the same time.

"Seems like so long ago, huh?"

Ruby looked up in surprise, quickly putting her scroll away. "Yeah it does…"

Jaune took a seat next to her, and they sat together in silence for a moment.

"Do you miss them?" he asked.

Ruby laughed nervously. "Nah, why would I? I bet they're all doing fine!" A lie and she knew it. "Anyways it doesn't matter how I feel because we have an important mission to do!" Ruby tried to say in a chipper tone.

He smiled gently at her. "It's okay if you do, Ruby. I, uh, really want to thank you for letting us tag along…"

Ruby felt a dull ache in her chest, a vortex of guilt and sadness swirling in her heart. "Aw Jaune, come on, you don't have to thank me..." I'm a failure, I couldn't save her. "You don't have to thank me for anything… I'm just… I'm so sorry..." The words came out raw like there was sand in throat.

She didn't have to say what she was sorry for, he already knew what she meant.

"It's not your fault," he answered quickly. "It was that… Monster Cinder…" His fists shook in anger, and his blue eyes darkened.

"Jaune…" Ruby tentatively placed a hand on his back to calm him. It made her nervous when he got like this.

Jaune took a deep breath and he managed to replace the soft smile on his face, although it didn't reach his eyes. "If we keep this pace up, I think we can make it to Haven by next week."

Ruby stood up slinging Crescent Rose over her shoulder and nodded. Here we go.


A/N I hope you guys enjoyed the Freezerburn friendship and Bee's Schnees tease. I might write a Bee's Schnees fic one of these days... Anyways if you have a couple of seconds, comments or reviews are always appreciated. Thanks!