Ruby sat in the food hall with her teammates as she started to make quick work of her 2nd lunch of the day following the surprisingly friendly open debate she just witnessed.

"Hey, they just brought in some extra tuna." Yang returned to the rest of her team and passed a plateful of tuna to her partner before sitting next to her.

"Yang, you really didn't have to."

"Nonsense." Yang swiftly dismissed Blake's protests. "After how awesome you have been for the past few weeks, it's the least I could do for the best partner I could have hoped for." The brawler and Faunus leaned their heads a little closer to one another as they shared a warm smile, an event which did not go unnoticed by the team leader.

Ruby suddenly felt conflicted. While she was happy that Blake and Yang have become so close, she could not help but feel a little low that she did not seem as close to her own partner who was currently occupied with whatever was on her scroll which continued to keep the heiress' attention for the rest of the lunch break. As the time for the afternoon classes approached and the rest of the team began to leave the food hall, Ruby addressed her sister: "Hey, Yang, can I talk to you for a bit?" The serious tone in which she delivered her question to Yang made it clear this intended to be a private conversation.

"Sure, Rubes." After saying a brief goodbye to her other teammates, Yang turned her attention back to her little sister. "What's up?"

"It's just... Weiss," Ruby hesitated, not quite knowing how to word what she wanted to say. Yang waited patiently for her younger sister to continue. "You know how I feel about Weiss."

Yang laughed lightly. "Ruby, I know you've had a thing for Weiss since the start of the 2nd year."

"It's not just that, it's just, well, I've asked her out a few times but each time she keeps finding some sort of reason not to go, she doesn't outright reject me, she always says something like 'I'm busy, maybe another time' but... I don't know if she doesn't want to hurt my feelings or if she is actually interested." Ruby's voice was low and strained as she contorted her face.

Yang instantly stopped laughing after seeing her sister spill her heart out and took on a more serious manner."Well, have you asked her if she's interested?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I guess it's... It's just that, with Weiss it's like," Ruby stopped speaking then groaned at her inability to spit out what she wanted to say before taking a deep breath to calm down. "There are times where it feels like maybe she does see me in a similar way but then there are other times where she can feel so distant. I don't know."

Yang gave her sister a small smile. "Well, you're going to have to ask her, this is Weiss we're talking about, it's no coincidence she keeps finding a reason to not go out with you but that doesn't necessarily mean she isn't interested. You definitely need to be direct to her and don't let her change the subject, get a firm yes or no from her, at least then you'll know where you two stand and can go from there. You owe it to yourself, Ruby."

Ruby started frowning at the floor for a few seconds after hearing her sister's advice but then quickly looked up with a determined expression on her face. "Okay, I'll do it!"

"That's what I like to hear." Yang grinned.

"Oh do you mind if I ask you one more question?"

"What is it?"

"Are you and Blake now a thing?"

Yang's eyebrows rose as she turned away from her sister and quickly took out her scroll. "Huh, well would you look at the time; I'm going to be late for my next class." Yang got up from her seat and began quickly walking to the exit. "Talk to you later, sis!"

Following her older sister's abrupt exit, Ruby let out a small sigh before quietly picking up her bag and heading towards her next class. Ruby knew everything Yang said was true, the last year she spent being interested in her partner only to either repress those feelings or be let down each time she expressed them had been beyond frustrating. Ruby was not sure if she'd be able to keep this up for the next two years; to be outright rejected by her partner would hurt but the sooner she'd find out, the sooner she'd be able to move on, but what if she didn't want to move on? Ruby proceeded to scold herself for trying to find excuses not to talk to Weiss. Alright, I'll just be direct to Weiss about it first thing tomorrow morning. Her mind made up, Ruby went about the rest of her daily routine while also internally trying to come up with the right words to say for tomorrow morning.

As the day of voting arrived, Ruby slowly stretched and rubbed the tiredness from her eyes as she got out of bed only to find no sign of Weiss in the bottom bunk or anywhere else in the room. Ruby scowled at the empty bed for a few seconds until she remembered her class schedule. I'm in the same first class as Weiss today, it may not be ideal but I can ask her then. After getting ready for the day ahead, Ruby picked up a quick breakfast from the food hall then restlessly headed towards her first class of the day. Entering the classroom, Ruby felt some of the built up tension leave her as she saw her partner looking cheerful as ever looking over some notes.

"Hi, Weiss. Where were you this morning?"

"Hi, Ruby. Oh, I was just doing a bit of extra studying at the library then decided to go cast my vote in the election early."

"Oh, but I thought the polls open at 9 and it's only just," Ruby looked to the clock on the front wall of the classroom before remembering a key detail of her partner's semblance. "Oh, right, time glyphs, got it."

Weiss simply gave her partner a cute grin in response.

"You seem very upbeat today," Ruby noted. "Not at all nervous?"

Weiss shrugged. "Well, we won't actually find anything out until tomorrow and I don't plan on spending all my time today just asking people who they voted for. You actually seem a little more nervous than me to be honest." Weiss pointed her hand to Ruby's own under the desk which was visibly shaking. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?!" Ruby inadvertently raised her voice, caught off-guard that the person to unwittingly start this dreaded conversation was her partner. Calm down, Ruby, you can do this, come on. "It's just that—"

"Good morning, students!" Professor Oobleck suddenly zoomed into the classroom. "Sorry, I'm a little late. Now as I'm sure you all remember today is the day where you are to take your first practice exam paper of the year."

Ruby's eyes widened. What?!

Oobleck swiftly started handing out the exam booklets to students, took a quick sip of coffee then continued explaining the standard test procedure: "Now with you all being in the 3rd year I don't think I need to remind you that although this is a practice exam, this is still to be taken under exam conditions so under no circumstances are you allowed to look at any notes you have written down on pieces of paper or any information you have on your scroll or any other device nor are you allowed to communicate with any other students in any form until after this practice exam is over. Is that all clear?" After no students in the room appeared to have any questions, Oobleck looked to the clock in the classroom. "Okay, you have until the end of this class at 10:30am, you may now begin!"

Despite not being prepared for this practice exam at all, Ruby actually found most of the questions in the booklet manageable, what frustrated her more was the person of her affections being right next to her yet the information she longed for remained as far away from her as ever. After double-checking her answers, Ruby looked at the clock once more and sighed upon seeing that there were still 10 minutes of painful silence to sit through, unable to do anything interesting. As the class mercifully reached its end, Ruby along with the rest of the students handed in their booklets to Oobleck and left the classroom.

"Hey, Weiss, about what I was saying earlier," Ruby caught up to her partner who was already briskly walking to her next class that Ruby was not a part of.

The heiress stopped and turned around to face her partner. "Hmm? Oh, don't worry about the practice exam, Ruby, you're one of the smartest students in there and you always do well when it matters, even when you forget to practice for it beforehand." Weiss appeared to maintain her playful mood from earlier even after the long, dull class she just had.

Ruby probably would have been taken aback by the compliment if she wasn't so focused on asking the heiress for answers. "Oh, no. It's not that, Weiss."

"It's not?"

"No, what I wanted to say is that—"Ruby stopped herself once more. Is this really the best place to talk about this? In the middle of a corridor between classes. We won't be able to address this properly with only 30 seconds to talk. "Actually, don't worry about it. See you at lunch." After saying goodbye to her partner, Ruby turned and started to walk to her next class hoping she didn't forget about another practice exam. Just ask her at lunch, you'll have plenty of time to do it at lunch.

Finishing the last of her morning classes which thankfully did not have any practice exams, Ruby rushed to the food hall with the hope of getting a quick lunch which would leave her with ample time to talk to and finally get an answer from Weiss. Ruby quickly picked up a small bowl of noodles, sat by the nearest empty seat to her and immediately gobbled the contents of the bowl, thankful none of her teammates or other friends were around to witness that. As Ruby was just about to leave the food hall, she noticed the person she was looking for right ahead of her.

"Hey, Weiss."

"Hi, Ruby, have you voted yet?"

"Not yet, I just—"

"You might want to do that now, the queue is rather long."

"Huh? Oh I'll just do that after classes finish, it won't take much time."

"I don't know; the queue might stay as long as it is now."

"You only have to put an x in a box, Weiss, how long can that take?"

Weiss initially looked confused before a grin appeared on her face. "You've never voted in one of these elections before, have you?"

"Um..."

"You do a few more things than just putting an x in a box."

Ruby gulped knowing exactly where this was going. "Okay," the team leader sighed, "I guess I'll see you later." Ruby started sullenly walking towards the assembly hall.

Weiss' amused expression changed to one of concern. "Ruby, is everything alright?" It seemed Ruby did not hear the question as she was already halfway across the corridor and soon out of the heiress' sight.

Ruby approached her dorm tired from spending most of her lunch break standing in a queue to receive some dumb form to fill out only to then stand in another queue to get the dumb form checked and verified and only then did she actually get to join the queue to vote. If she had not have been so involved in this election she would not have bothered with all the hassle. The afternoon classes that followed did not help improve Ruby's mood, there was nothing particularly bad about them but after the rather irritating morning and lunch break she had, it would not take much to increase the stress of the young leader. Ruby was still set on getting an answer out of her partner though and felt a new burst of determination rise within her as she reached the door to her team room. Ruby opened the door to find Blake, Yang but no Weiss. The team leader's determination began to dissipate until it was as absent as her partner but she still felt inclined to ask her other teammates about it: "Hey, any idea where Weiss is?"

"Hmm?" Yang looked up from her scroll. "Oh, sorry, I haven't got any idea, sis. Do you know, Blake?"

"I don't. Sorry, Ruby."

Ruby let out a long exasperated sigh only for another idea to enter her mind. Wait, I should be able to find her and if she's alone it'll be a little less humiliating if she rejects me.

The young leader left the team room, closing the door behind her and started to make her way towards the first possible location the heiress could be. Arriving at the assembly hall, Ruby found that there was still in fact, as her partner predicted a long queue at the voting polls. Ruby quickly made her way down the queue until she scolded her poor memory. Weiss voted in the morning, remember?! She also said she had no plans to ask people who they voted for. Ruby briskly walked towards the food hall only to find no sign of the heiress there either. No, wait, where was she this morning, again?

Finally remembering where Weiss was earlier in the day, Ruby rushed towards the library but was unable to find her partner by any of the desks or bookcases. Low on energy and running out of ideas, Ruby decided to check if Weiss was at the open field behind the academy where they had their recent talk after the party.

Reaching the open field, Ruby looked around every single spot behind the academy only to find that she was completely alone. Exhausted from the failed search, Ruby flopped onto the field, landing softly on her back then absentmindedly stared at the sky for a few seconds. Slowly getting back up, Ruby eventually returned to her team room only to find the person she was looking for sitting on her bed writing some notes.

Weiss quickly looked up from her notes to her partner who just entered the room. "Oh, hi, Ruby, I was told you were looking for me, anything you want to talk about?"

"Where were you?"

"Oh, I was at the library for a little while but then headed back here." The heiress noticed Ruby frowning at her answer before she continued. "I guess I must have been gone by the time you checked there. Anyway, what do you want to talk about?"

As tempting as it was for Ruby to say everything there and then, she's not sure if she wanted her long, irritating day further ruined with the knowledge that Weiss would never be interested in her. "Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it."

Ruby did not respond to Weiss' look of concern as she climbed up to her bed and reached for her scroll in her pocket. Yang better have a good reason for not telling me when she got back. Ruby pulled out her scroll to find that it had been turned off the entire time, she turned it on to find that her older sister did in fact send her a message about Weiss, half an hour ago. Ruby let out a small groan. I'm so dumb, why do I have to be so stupid? I could have just stayed here for a few more minutes instead of randomly looking around the academy or I could have just sent Weiss a message on my scroll asking where she was! Nice job, Ruby, you realised what a normal person would do in your scenario, half an hour too late. Ruby's self-deprecating thoughts were put on hold as she noticed a new message on her scroll from her older sister. Ruby turned to look at Yang who just nodded towards her scroll. Ruby opened the message which read:

"Are you okay? I could just leave with Blake and give you two some time alone to talk if you want?"

Ruby quickly replied to the message: "No, it's okay. I'm no longer up for it; luck just hasn't been on my side today."

Yang frowned a little before she sent her sister another message: "The circumstances may not ever be ideal but you still should ask her!"

Ruby replied one more time: "I will."

The announcement of the new Student Council President was now only a few moments away as Goodwitch stood in the middle of the stage and began addressing the large crowd of students waiting to see who won. Behind the stage curtains awaiting Goodwitch's speech to end stood the two candidates accompanied by their partners on each side of the stage. The thickness of the stage curtains separating the team from the front half of the stage and blocking nearly all light from coming through made each half of the team feel like they were alone in a pitch-black room.

Yang silently stood on one half of the stage next to her partner, staring straight ahead at the curtains. The brawler felt her heart racing and arms beginning to shiver, when did she start caring about this election so much? Yang was unable to figure out how to stop her inadvertent fidgeting as she felt one of her trembling hands brush up against Blake. Before she was given time to apologise, Yang felt her partner's hand now gently holding onto her own. Yang turned to look at Blake's face and was met by a look of pure adoration. While the brawler was able to stop her fidgeting, she was confident that if anything her heart rate had now increased; Yang beamed at her partner and laced her fingers between Blake's own as they waited for the curtains to be drawn.

While no words felt necessary for one half of Team RWBY during this moment, on the opposite side of the stage, the other half of Team RWBY were about to engage in a conversation which someone had been anticipating for over a year.

"Weiss, I really need to ask you something." Ruby kept her voice low but made sure she had enough volume to put her level of seriousness across.

"Can it wait a little while, Ruby? I'm pretty sure Goodwitch is about to finish her speech any minute now."

"It could wait, I suppose," Ruby conceded before reaffirming her stance, not wanting to repeat what happened yesterday, "No, I still want to ask you now. I've been putting this off for way too long."

Weiss turned to look at Ruby face to face. "Okay, what is it?"

Ruby took a deep breath before continuing. "Weiss, do you care about me in the same sort of way I care about you?"

The heiress bit the inside of her cheek for a moment and diverted her focus from her partner before finally answering. "Ruby, now really isn't the best time to talk about this."

"So?"

"So I think that maybe we should discuss this sometime later."

"All I want is a yes or no answer, Weiss." Ruby unintentionally raised her voice out of frustration.

"It's not as simple as that."

"Why isn't it?"

Weiss pouted realising she wasn't going to be able to find a way out of the discussion this time. "Ruby, it's just," Weiss hesitated. "When I think about the future and what could happen—"

"Then don't think about the future." Ruby interrupted.

"What?"

"If there was no future, if there wasn't anything to plan for, if there was no tomorrow, what would you say?"

"I..." Weiss bit her lower lip.

Ruby stopped hiding any of the desperation in her voice and face as she pleaded to her partner: "If all that mattered was what you say right now. Please, Weiss, I just need to know."

Weiss didn't say anything else but instead slowly raised her hand and softly placed her palm against her partner's cheek. Ruby's frustrations appeared to have evaporated as she lightly leaned her face against her partner's hand. The heiress took a couple of small steps closer to her partner, bending her back forward a little so their eyes were level. Ruby's face looked unsteady and anxious though her eyes remained fixated on the heiress's own. Weiss noticed her hand started to lightly quiver as she gazed at her partner, knowing this was her absolute last chance to back out. Her mind made up, Weiss closed her eyes and slowly traced her partner's cheek with her fingers as she pressed Ruby's lips against her own. Weiss felt Ruby push her lips forward in a vain attempt to prolong the kiss as the heiress' fingers came into contact with the warm tears slowly streaming down her partner's face. Weiss was not put off though as she now found herself lost in her partner's touch, expressing her own gratitude for Ruby's endless compassion and kindness, Weiss deepened the kiss as she felt chills travel up her spine, no longer paying attention to anything but the presence of herself and her partner and not noticing the curtain starting to open.

Ruby sensed a sudden change in the brightness of her surroundings against her eyelids but was too caught up with what she also felt on her face to process exactly what that meant. A couple of seconds later, her eyes along with Weiss' sprung open after hearing a collective gasp and a few cheers from the crowd. Breaking the kiss, Ruby's face turned a dark crimson as she looked around the assembly hall. The students sitting in the crowd appeared to be largely pleased by what they just witnessed; Weiss had also turned a bright red colour but seemed to be stuck in place staring blankly at the crowd; Goodwitch surprisingly maintained a neutral look while the other staff members in the hall had mildly amused expressions; Blake was astonished while Yang was looking on with a proud smile on her face.

After giving the crowd enough time to calm down, Goodwitch took out an envelope and addressed everyone else in the hall. "Alright, before I reveal who the next Student Council President is, I would just like to mention that this has been the biggest election in Beacon Academy history in terms of voting, regardless of who wins, both candidates should be proud of themselves." Goodwitch paused as the crowd politely applauded the students on stage who were all smiling except the heiress who still appeared to be frozen in place. Goodwitch continued after the applause ended: "Beacon Academy's new Student Council President is," Goodwitch opened the envelope. "Ms. Yang Xiao Long!"

As the crowd cheered the announcement, Yang, now feeling elated, swooped Blake up in the air with a big hug. Blake reacted by tightly wrapping her arms around her partner, sharing the pride and happiness in their success. As the two teammates celebrated, neither of them noticed their other teammates' reactions to the announcement.

Weiss slowly turned away from her teammates and started to walk off stage, trying to maintain a neutral expression and save any scraps of dignity she might have left following her defeat.

"Weiss?" Ruby quietly called to her partner walking away.

Weiss did not respond but just continued to cautiously walk off the stage then past the cheering crowd.

"Weiss, where are you going?" Ruby called out once more.

The heiress still did not respond as she neared the hall's exit. Finally leaving the room and with no one else to see her, Weiss released some of her emotional restraints as she sobbed into her hands though part of her just wanted to scream as loud as she could, she knew some students would notice and she really didn't want attention from any of them right now. Already wanting to distance herself from what just happened, Weiss proceeded to run away from the hall as fast as she could. Out of all that has happened to her in the past two years, Weiss could not think of a worse moment during her time at the academy than what she just had to experience with one obvious exception happening a few months ago.