The sound made Blake feel sick to her stomach, but the sight was even worse. Ruby was on her knees, pushing herself up. Her nose was oozing blood, covering her upper lip and dripping onto the floor. There was an ugly bruise already starting to show on her right cheekbone, and a short piece of her torn cloak hung limply from her shoulders. Yang was shocked still, eyes wide and pale. Red irises returned to violet, and she rushed over to her sister.

"Ruby! I'msosorry, are you okay?"

The younger girl waved her off. She was completely silent as she stood, a shaking hand wiping at her bloodied face. Ruby's eyes traced over her cloak where it layed discarded on the floor, and her chin quivered out of her control. She shook her head and blinked rapidly, repelling the tears that threatened to fall. Yang was barely holding herself back from embracing her, and she hadn't stopped apologizing. Ruby took a deep breath and held it, exhaling slowly.

"You aren't ready."

Yang was stammering horridly, "W-what?"

Their leader was living up to her title once again, face settling into a firm expression. The drying blood was a nice touch to the image. "You failed."

Weiss had been next to Blake after her elimination, but had walked up to the sisters to join the conversation. "Ruby, we won the fight. That's what you said we had to do."

"No, you were supposed to win by working together. Instead, you didn't even say a word to each other."

Yang hesitated a moment before starting, "We know our communication needs work, but-"

She was cut off. "You're still not getting the point. If you had made a plan, I wouldn't have been able to take out Weiss like that. And you know what the worst part is?"

Ruby leaned in closer ot the blonde, her gaze unflinching. "Grimm don't stop, Yang. She could be dead right now, and you could have prevented it."

Yang looked like she had been slapped. Ruby turned and left the room, leaving her team behind. The tattered cloak layed on the floor, making for a depressing scene.

Blake followed after her partner.

Finding her was easy, she had gone straight to their dorm. Ruby was on Blake's bed, staring at the ground. Her hood was unclipped and laying on the floor. It was quiet, deafeningly so. It was a painful sight, to see someone look so empty. Blake sat next to her, not really sure of what she could do. Luckily, Ruby seemed to. The younger girls head dropped onto her shoulder, and she let out a dreary sigh.

"Why can't I be a good leader, Blake?"

"You are a good leader."

Ruby nudged in a bit closer. "Not really. I should have fixed this so long ago. You're my team- my responsibility. And now what? I just ignore them until I snap. Can barely talk to my own sister. You're the only person I haven't screwed up with, and I don't even know why you tolerate me."

To say Blake was surprised was a severe understatement. Where had she hidden all this doubt?

"Ruby, I don't tolerate you- I actually like spending time with you. Why would you think that?"

"Because I'm just some dumb kid, Blake. You aren't. I can't even imagine how bad I must have been when we met, and now you're stuck with me."

Ruby's head lifted and she scooted away, hands reaching up to wipe away the tears that had started to fall. Blake reached out desperately, trying to offer comfort in any way she could.

"I just want things to stay nice for a while. Every time, something just has to go wrong. I get in to my dream school, but my partner hates me. I'm one of the best in our year, and nobody even cares. I finally get the guts to try for a date, and I get called a creepy dyke. What did I do wrong?"

Blake moved in close, wrapping her arms around her leader and holding tight. What kind of a team were they, when they couldn't even notice their youngest was hurting? Her heart ached, and Ruby was just sobbing. At this rate, she might start crying herself. Blake layed them down, pulling her partner in. She had seen so many people be broken down by the weight of the world, she would not let the same happen to Ruby. Tears slowed until only sniffles remained, and those didn't last. They laid together, finding peace hidden from everything else. It was getting late, the light from the sun couldn't reach them anymore.

"They'll be back soon."

Ruby stiffened, then panicked. She pushed away from Blake and out of the bed, ending up gracelessly falling to the floor.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't trying anything, I swear!"

"Wha- what are you talking about?"

"I told you I was a... Y'know. I'd never try something without asking! D-do you hate me? It's okay if you do..."

She was nearly talking faster than Blake could hear. It took her brain a second to catch up, but when it did?

Just what had people been saying to this girl?

"No, I don't hate you. You can't control who you are. I know that better than anyone."

Ruby looked rather stunned, as if she couldn't imagine hearing something like that.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. You're the only one- besides my family- that didn't... that didn't say I was..."

Blake's heart was shattering. How dare they? They looked at one of the most kind hearted people she had ever encountered, and they claimed there was something wrong with her? It was like every horrid childhood memory was coming back.

"Oh, Ruby..."

"I'm okay! Really, I'll be alright."

It wasn't even close to convincing. Blake reached up and tugged of her bow, setting it off to the side. She lifted up her blanket and slid under it, not caring to change out of her combat outfit. She held the blanket open, and beckoned Ruby over.

"Come on, I think we could both use some warmth tonight."

Ruby hesitated, but slowly climbed in next to her. Blake took the girl into her arms, and snuggled in close. She'd be there for her leader, no matter what. Nobody was ever going to make her doubt who she was again.

Sleep came quickly.

The next day, Ruby was avoiding her. Waking up in each others arms was a bit awkward, but Blake thought they would have a chance to talk after. Instead, she was only catching blurs and petals after her partner sped off. It was conflicting, She wanted to just ambush the girl and not let her go until they were okay again. The more she thought of it, the worse it sounded. Ruby would not respond well, and she'd just make it worse. She could just try to wait it out, but it was gnawing at her. There was really only one good option, and it wasn't one she was very excited about.

She'd have to ask Yang about it instead.

While she knew the blonde could be the most mature of them all when it counted, she also knew that when it came to things that troubled Ruby she could be...brash. At best. Though Blake didn't really have much choice, especially considering she was already entering their dorm. Yang was already there, skipping out on grimm studies to finish a late paper. Violet eyes looked to her when she entered, and a grin appeared on the brawlers face.

"Blake, skipping out? I knew I was rubbing off on you!"

The faunas rolled her eyes. "This is important, Yang. I need to talk to you."

The brawler straightened a bit, her face taking a more serious expression. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Blake found herself struggling to find the words. "Well...Ruby and I talked, yesterday. There was...and admission."

Yang looked a lot more shocked than she should with so little information. "What? Really? Is that why you two were cuddling? Man, she works fast."

"...At what, exactly?"

The blondes eyes widened, "Err...maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. What did you two talk about?"

Blake's eye twitched a bit, but she let it slide. "She was pretty upset. I was trying to help, and she said she had been called...some pretty bad things. I don't think she meant to, she was just breaking down."

A pained look spread across Yang's face. "Did she tell you why she was called that stuff?"

"Yeah. I tried to reassure her that there was nothing wrong, but she hasn't talked to me all day. I just don't know how to help."

Yang nodded. "I know how that feels. It's not the first time, but I was always there before. Ruby...lets it build up. Eventually, she just boils over. People on patch were nice enough, but some of the kids were pretty ignorant. Well, that's the nice way of saying it. When I came out, it was mostly just dismissed as experimentation or whatever. I thought that was bad, but when Ruby followed my lead...It was bad.

I never really tried to date back then. Ruby did. She's always had a lot of love to give, I guess. Afterwards, she'd always come home a mess. I nearly killed some of those girls for what they said, I just couldn't believe it. How could they be so cruel to Ruby? She'd come back in tears, with drinks poured on her...It was awful. Those were the only times she really talked about that stuff."

If Blake's heart had broken the night before, the shards were being crushed now.

"Y'know, I thought being here would stop it. Like, if she was away from Patch, she could finally forget about those people. Guess that stuff doesn't just go away. Man, she even forgave me for ripping her cloak. Her cloak! What happened that has her so messed up if she could manage to forgive me for that?"

Blake could think of something.

"You said she only talked about it after...a rejection."

"...Oh, man. I didn't even think she might have a crush I didn't know about. Especially after the last one..."

"Last one?"

"Uh- Well- You can't tell her I said any of this, okay?" Blake nodded. "Well, she's sorta had this on and off thing for a friend. She'll take the chance with people she doesn't know too much, but when it's a friend it terrifies her. I don't know how it doesn't terrify her every time, but she's always been a toughie. Maybe she thought she could meet someone else and not have to risk anything, I dunno."

"Can I do anything for her?"

Yang nodded. "Sure you can. She probably wont talk to you till tomorrow, she needs time to feel like she can without that happening again. When she does talk to you, you just gotta show her you don't think of her any different. I mean, being a bit extra nice wouldn't hurt, but she just wants to know you understand."

Blake could relate. "Should I buy her sweets?"

Yang laughed. "Keep this up, you'll be her favourite in no time."