A little over two months passed since Ruby started to go to Weiss' house regularly and she was glad to hear her sing from her heart, though she was still worried about how lonely the lyrics sounded.

Today, Ruby went to Weiss' house to just hang out. She did ask if she could from time to time after the second week and she needed to make sure that Weiss was eating properly. Every time she visited, it didn't seem like Weiss was eating anything and she had to make sure that she was doing all right.

Humming to herself, she rang the doorbell and smiled when Weiss opened it, letting her in.

"Are you alone today, Ruby?"

"Yeah, Yang and Blake are at their part time jobs and won't be out until later in the afternoon." Ruby grinned at Weiss. "Besides, I want to know if I improved or not on my own!"

That brought a faint smile on Weiss' lips. "We'll see about that."

"Oh! Before I practice…" Ruby looked at the other woman seriously, crossing her arms. "We need to do some shopping. I know that your fridge is empty, and I don't even have to look."

"Ruby… there's still some things in there from the last time you were here." Weiss shook her head. She was thankful that Ruby was looking out for her, but sometimes she had more things in the fridge than she knew what to do with.

Sometimes it seemed like Ruby was buying some things and putting them into her fridge so that Yang wouldn't know about what she was eating over here.

"And you didn't just throw them out?" Ruby was curious. The first few times, she always came back to an empty fridge.

"Check for yourself." Weiss walked towards the fridge and opened it, revealing half a carton of milk, some vegetables, a cup of yogurt, and a few apples.

Ruby looked over the contents of the fridge then gave a small smile. "So you ate all the eggs and half the yogurt we bought last time?" This was good. Weiss was eating a bit more now.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Are you thinking that I won't eat anything in the fridge? Ruby, I do eat something other than toast, fruits, and salad, believe it or not." She paused for a second and sighed. "And you're not going to believe me now, aren't you?"

"I haven't seen you eat anything other than a plate of salad so of course not." She grinned, glad that Weiss understands, and thought about it. "Though I would like to get some more yogurt for you before we practice. Maybe some more fruits and eggs."

Knowing that she'll be fighting a losing battle, Weiss just sighed and shook her head. "Come on, let's go while we still have time then."

"You going somewhere?" Ruby raised a brow. She didn't know that Weiss went out. Well she did, but it wasn't that often.

"I doubt that you'd want to go on a walk with me for a few hours while I think of new songs."

"Oooh! You come up with the lyrics yourself?! Of course I want to go!" Ruby paused for a moment then tried to calm down a bit. "I-I mean, if you want me to come with you. I'd like to see how you come up with the lyrics." And maybe it'll be a hint on why her lyrics sounded so sad.

Weiss blinked. She didn't think that Ruby would want to go with her. Giving her a soft smile, she started to walk towards the door.

"Alright, just don't expect too much."

"But I like to listen to you sing. You have a beautiful voice!"

"Ruby, I'm not going to be singing. I'll just be thinking about the lyrics for the next song." Weiss tried to hide her blush, but she was thankful for Ruby and Yang playing the piano. She forgot how fun it was singing, and already thought of some lyrics for a new song.

"Oh! Even better! I get to see where you get your inspiration!" Ruby grinned brightly, glad to see Weiss loosening up a bit.

"You're such a—" Weiss stopped talking as she checked her phone. "Winter?"

Ruby tilted her head as she was about to leave the house. "Who?"

"My sister is calling. I'm sorry, can you wait a bit before we go shopping?" Weiss turned away before she heard Ruby's reply and answered the phone.

"Weiss, where are you? Are you ok?" Winter sounded concerned when Weiss finally picked up her call. "I know that I shouldn't be too worried, but you usually call me around this time and you haven't yet."

"Winter, I'm fine! I just… someone from high school… came over and we're about to go shopping for ingredients to fill up my fridge."

There was a silent pause for a minute before Winter spoke again. "You're going shopping…. with someone from your former school…?" she repeated, not believing what she just heard.

Oh boy, she knew that she was in trouble. "Yes, we were about to leave."

"I did not know that you still kept in contact with someone from school." She sounded suspicious but as long as her sister was safe and happy, then she didn't mind. "Did you inform them about… that?"

"I didn't. They don't know about that. We're not that close." Weiss bit her lip, not wanting to go into too much detail.

"Yet you are close enough to go shopping with them…" she paused for a moment. "Have they seen what fath—"

"Winter!" Weiss closed her eyes tightly. "Please… don't… continue."

The older Schnee sighed. "Weiss, I know that you want to take care of this yourself and I can't be there to help you physically… but you have your schoolmates. They can help you mentally, or at least in ways that I am unable to. You can rely on other people… though I'm surprised that no one noticed this entire time. You must've gotten better at hiding it."

"Winter… please…" she was trying her hardest not to break down, not when Ruby's in her house. "I don't know if I ca-"

"Weiss." Winter interrupted her. "I'll try to find some time off, but until then, I need you to stay strong."

"I… I'm trying, Winter." Tears started to fall from her eyes as she hastily rubbed them away.

"I know, and that's all I ask. Just hold on for a little while longer and I'll be with you." She paused for a moment. "Though I don't think that I can get more than a day or two off…"

Weiss continued to rub her face to stop the tears from falling. "It's still something, Winter. It's been a while since we saw each other in person."

"I'm sorry, Weiss. I love you."

"I… I love you too." She sniffed, then thought of Ruby before deciding to talk about it. "Winter?"

"Yes, Weiss? Is there anything else?"

The younger sister took a deep breath. "I… one of them… she saw the scars and…" she didn't know if she could continue, feeling dizzy as she talked about it.

"What did she say?"

"She… just said we needed to go to the hospital… When I refused, she offered to help me bandage the bruises… That was a two months ago…"

"Weiss…"

Oh wait. "Y-Yes, Winter?"

"Is that all she did?" Winter questioned.

Weiss was having a hard time figuring out her intentions but she was the only one she could trust, besides Ruby. "That's all. Well she… gave me some dinner after, and let me stay in her room for the night. She walked me home in the morning… We've uh… 'hung out' a few times as well. She played the piano while I sang a few of my old songs."

They were silent for a while before the older Schnee spoke again.

"That's good."

What?

"W-What…?"

"Weiss, you need someone to trust. I am still skeptical about her trusting you so easily, and vice versa; but if she's taking care of you and not pushing you to say anything, I believe that you can trust her. You said that you two have 'hung out' together, correct?"

"I… yes." She was confused. What was her sister getting at?

"When I have time off, I'd like to meet her."

Was she serious?

"W-What…?" Weiss was unsure of what her sister was thinking about. "Why do you want to meet with Ruby?"

"So her name's Ruby? Are you sure that you're not that close? You're on a first name basis with her, after all." Winter smirked, knowing that her little sister wouldn't call just anyone by their first name.

"S-She wanted me to call her 'Ruby'! She wouldn't listen to me otherwise." She blushed as she said that. "…But she is the one that I've been 'hanging out' with lately."

Winter thought about it then chuckled. "I'll get all the details when I see you personally, Weiss. Take care of yourself. I'll let you know when I'll be visiting you."

"I… Alright, thanks Winter." Weiss smiled gently. "See you soon. I love you."

"See you soon, Weiss. I love you too."

Ruby looked up when Weiss walked out of the house. "Hey, Weiss! Are you done with that phone call?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I hadn't called my sister in a while. She was just checking up on me." Weiss apologized to her and bit her lip, unsure of how to tell Ruby that Winter wanted to meet her.

"Weiss? What's wrong? Did the call not go well?" The younger woman frowned.

"N-No. The call went fine." She waved her hand. "She… she wanted to meet with you when she visits me."

Ruby blinked. "Your sister… wants to meet me?" she tilted her head in confusion. Part of her was excited that someone from her family wanted to meet her, but at the same time, she was worried. If this sister was like Yang, then she's in for trouble.

"That is… correct…" Weiss bit the inside of her lip, still confused as to why her sister would want to meet Ruby though.

"Hey, Weiss. It'll be alright." Ruby placed a gentle hand onto her shoulder. "If she's like Yang, she's just worried about what kind of people you're hanging out with." She grinned, trying to lighten the mood as much as she could.

The thought of an older Weiss with Yang's personality came into her mind and she started laughing, holding her sides from the pain.

"R-Ruby? Are you ok?" Weiss was worried about her, why was she suddenly laughing?

"I-I'm sorry. I know that your sister is nothing like Yang, but… AHAHAH!" Ruby continued laughing.

Weiss blinked then frowned. Here she thought that Ruby was worried about what kind of person Winter was and she was just imagining her like Yang?! She was worried for nothing! "Ugh, you're insufferable!" she grumbled then started to walk away.

"Ah! Weiss! I'm sorry!" Ruby apologized and quickly ran over towards her, wiping a tear from her eye. "Really! I'm really sorry!"

Weiss merely rolled her eyes as she continued walking towards the store then stopped when she saw a familiar figure.

"Weiss?" Ruby stopped next to her then looked ahead before looking back at the other woman. "Do you know that person?"

"I…" she hesitated. He wanted to see her already?

"Ms. Schnee. It's time to come home." The older man said sternly as he walked over towards them.

"I was going to visit later this week." Weiss held her hand to stop it from shaking and hoped that Ruby didn't notice.

Unfortunately, she did.

"Weiss, what's going on?" Ruby frowned as she placed a hand onto her shoulder and was quickly shoved aside by Weiss before the man punched her in the stomach.

"WEISS!"

"Ngh… I'm fine Ruby." Weiss coughed as she held up a hand to keep her away and used her other hand to hold her stomach.

"Ms. Schnee, you can't just have anyone touching you." The man frowned, not apologetic at all that he missed his original target.

"Says the one that just punched me." Weiss stood straight.

"Only because you protected a commoner. I'm sure that your father would agree with my decision to protect you when this… filth touched you."

Weiss frowned. "She is not filth. She is… someone I went to school with."

Ruby looked at her worriedly. What the heck was going on? Why did it seem like they knew each other? Why did he attack them just because she put a hand onto Weiss' shoulder? Why wasn't he apologizing to them? To Weiss?! And why would her father agree that protecting a friend was a horrible thing?

"W-Weiss…?"

"I-I'm sorry Rose, but go home for today. We'll study later." Weiss sounded cold as she started walking towards the man.

Ruby stood there, shocked that Weiss was calling her by her last name again. Just when she thought that she had some progress in their friendship too. And study? What were they studying? Or was that some code?

"I…" She was about to protest but saw how Weiss was looking at her, almost pleading her not to argue and just leave, then frowned. "A-Alright, I'll see you later."

Every part of her being was screaming at her to not leave her alone, but she didn't know why as she watched Weiss leave with the man. It wasn't until she was out of sight that she started walking home.

"Ruby? What are you doing home? I thought you were going to hang out with Weiss all day?" Yang looked up from the couch when she saw the door open and watched her sister walk in.

The young woman was quiet, causing the blonde to frown and get up, walking over towards her. "Hey. Remnant to Ruby? Are you lost in cookie land?" Yang asked as she placed a hand onto her shoulder, giving her a light shake.

"Yang…?" Ruby looked up to her. Oh right, she's home now. She was so lost in thought about what happened earlier, tears started to fall from her eyes.

"H-Hey! What's wrong?! Did Weiss do something to you?!" Yang pulled Ruby into a close hug, wondering why she was suddenly crying like this.

"N-No! She didn't do anything! We were about to go shopping, then there was this guy that showed up and she took a punch for me when I touched her shoulder and asked her what's wrong." Ruby sobbed, still feeling guilty about it.

Yang frowned as Blake walked up and placed a hand onto her shoulder.

"He's one of her father's men. He usually comes pick up Weiss when she has to visit her family."

"But Weiss didn't say that she had to visit them. Just that she was going for a walk to come up with some new lyrics." Ruby wiped some tears away with her sleeve, still thinking about it.

The way Weiss was acting and how she looked at her before leaving. Maybe she could talk to her about it the next time they met. For now, she made her way towards the bathroom, but was stopped by Yang.

"Yang, I just wanna wash my face then watch some videos to kill time…"

"I figured that you wanted to know a few things about the Ice Queen from me and Blake." Yang shrugged as she walked back onto the couch.

Blake looked up, raising a brow then saw the look on Yang's face before looking at Ruby, understanding her intentions and sighed, following her and sat next to her.

"We don't know that much, just what we think we know."

"That's way more than what I know." Ruby made her way towards the couch opposite of them. "After listening to her songs, they're all… lonely sounding. And she doesn't really hang out with other people aside from us."

Yang was glad that her sister caught that little detail, now knowing that it wasn't just her that heard it. "She cried a few times when we practiced. Everyone thought that it was an emotional song, and she pretended that it was, but it was probably something more since she practiced with me alone after that." She frowned, remembering how she wouldn't open up about why she was crying while singing. Weiss would always just say something like 'for the impact' or something along those lines.

"After test day, when she wasn't the top of the class or didn't have a perfect score, the next day she'd be wearing long sleeves. Even during the summer." Blake frowned as she remembered asking about it once during a study session with her. Of course Weiss gave her the run around.

Ruby frowned. Singing lonely songs that make her cry and wearing long sleeves when she didn't have a perfect score on a test? Adding how she found her once before and asked to tell her family…

Her eyes widened in surprise when she came to a conclusion. She didn't have concrete evidence, but Ruby needed to hear Weiss confirming it for her. She looked at the time and sighed, Weiss probably wouldn't be back home until tomorrow.

Sighing in defeat, Ruby pulled her knees to her chest, trying to think of what she could do to help Weiss.

Yang wrapped an arm around Blake and rubbed her shoulder. "So… seems like we're all thinking the same thing."

"With how she acts sometimes, you should know." Blake sighed as she nuzzled her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Do you two have to do that when I'm thinking here?" Ruby rolled her eyes as she turned away from them.

"Hey, we don't know what you're thinking about, and this is our home. We're allowed to cuddle like this." Yang grinned.

Ruby groaned and flopped back onto the couch, turning her back towards them. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Be yourself. I'm sure that you're the only one that she'd want to talk to after things like this." Blake looked at Ruby, wanting to give some advice for the younger woman, feeling as if she were her younger sister.

"…are you saying that I should be like what Yang is to you?" Ruby raised a brow as she turned her head to look at her.

"Well… not exactly what I meant." Blake started.

"Do you want to make out with Weiss?" Yang smirked.

Ruby shot up and blushed madly. "YANG!"

"I'm kidding little sis! You're too young for that." The blonde laughed as Blake slapped her shoulder. "Ok, ok, but really. Just be there for her. It'll take some time, but respect her boundaries. Let her know that you'll always be there for her even if she pushes you away."

Blake nodded. "She'll be cold. Constantly pushing you away, but that just means that she's scared. Don't let that fear overpower her and let her know that you'll be there to help her when she needs help."

"Right…" Ruby thought about it. It did seem like Weiss was asking for her help through her body language, but she didn't know how to ask directly. "I'll check on her tomorrow. I don't know when she'll be home."

"Hey." Yang waited for Ruby to look at her. "Don't overdo it ok? It'll be alright. Just remember to take care of yourself."

"Right… thanks, Yang."

But I'm more worried about Weiss…

A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter~ Hoped that you've enjoyed it so far~ See you in the next one!