Ruby stared up at her uncle, her face overcome with happiness. "Uncle Qrow! It's so good to see you!" She tightened her grip around the hunter and buried her face in his chest before bringing it back and locking eyes with the tall man. "What are you doing here?"

Qrow wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulder and brought a metal flask to his lips. He took a drink, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve and looked back to his niece. "Well, I was on a mission, but I managed to finish it early. I was in the area, so I decided to pay a visit to my two favorite people." He smirked then looked to Yang, who was standing a few feet away from him. "But Oz and Glynda were busy, so I decided to come see you two instead."

The sarcastic comment earned Qrow an elbow in his ribs, courtesy of the scythe-wielding brunette at his side. He rubbed the area that Ruby had hit and looked down at the girl, who was now pouting with her arms crossed. "Not. Funny."

Raspy laughter escaped from Qrow's mouth. "It was only a joke." He then noticed just how hard Ruby had struck him. "You know, I miss the days when you could hit me as hard as you could and it wouldn't hurt more than a fly." He ruffled Ruby's hair and noticed just how much taller she had grown. "And you need to stop growing up. You're makin' me feel old."

Yang walked over and lightly punched Qrow in the arm and smiled. "Hey, that's not our fault. You only feel old because you are old."

Qrow glared at the blonde girl, then grinned and shook his head while chuckling softly. "I guess I am getting old, because I don't have it in me to argue with you about that." He took a drink of his flask, then made sure the cap was on it tightly and placed it into his pocket. "Well, I don't want to keep you from that girlfriend of yours. She seemed like a nice girl, treat her right."

Nodding, Yang said goodbye and started to make her way back to the dorm. When the last traces of her blonde hair disappeared around a corner, Ruby tugged on her uncle's sleeve, catching his attention. "So, since Yang willingly ran off like that and it sounds like you've met Blake… how long have you been here?"

"A little while. I came by your dorm, but you weren't there. Yang said that you were at the cafeteria, so I decided to hang around until you showed up, but the two of you took to long, so I decided to find you myself."

"Sorry, Weiss and I got held up at the cafeteria. Ya see, they have a chocolate fountain there now, so I wanted t-"

Qrow cut her off by raising his hand and nodding. "Say no more. Now I get why you two were gone so long." He then directed his attention to the white-haired girl that had followed Ruby and Yang. "And since you brought her up," the hunter began as he made his way towards the heiress. "You must be Weiss Schnee. I'm Qrow, Ruby and Yang's uncle."

The sight of the man towering over her intimidated Weiss. While Yang and Blake were still taller than her and Ruby, the two of them had grown a decent amount since they started at Beacon, and having someone so much taller than her in such close proximity put her on edge. He was about the same height as Ozpin, but he gave Weiss an empty feeling in her gut. He had a smile on his face, but he almost seemed… sinister. "Y-Yes, I'm Weiss. It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Not sir. Just Qrow."

"Yes, si- Qrow. I apologize."

"Nothin' to apologize for. It just makes me feel older than I would like." Qrow smiled wider at the sight of a Schnee nervously fidgeting beneath his gaze. It wasn't something that had happened for a very long time. The smile brought Weiss some small amount of comfort, but she was still on guard, though she wasn't sure why. Qrow walked closer to Weiss and scanned her from head to toe. "So, you're Weiss. You know, when Ruby came back to Patch over summer break, she talked about you a lot. I didn't think she was ever gonna shut up. I almost feel like I've met you already."

"B-But… I don't… He didn't mean… That's," Ruby stuttered. "Uncle Qrow!" The hooded girl groaned and smacked her uncle in the back. "Don't just say things like that!" She then turned to Weiss, blushing. "Sorry… I was just really happy that I could tell people about my best friend. I may have gone a little overboard, I guess."

Weiss couldn't fight the unseen powers tugging at the corners of her mouth, and eventually gave into them as a small grin formed on her face. "It's fine. I think I may have even done the same thing the last time I spoke to Winter."

The words seemed to put Ruby at ease. "Really? That's cool." She crossed her arms behind her back and laced her fingers together as her gaze fell to her feet. "At least that doesn't make me seem weird, I guess." In an attempt to clear her mind and change the subject, Ruby entwined her arm with Qrow's and started to pull him toward the direction that she and Weiss had just came from. "Come on, I'll show you around the school. There's some more people I would like you to meet, too."

Qrow didn't fight it and he gladly followed his niece through the hall. "Alright, I'm comin', but you don't have to pull me like I'm a dog on a leash."

"Yeah, my bad. I'm just excited that you're here." Before they turned down another hallway, Ruby looked behind her at her ivory-haired partner. "Weiss, do you want to come with us?"

Weiss shook her head. "No, I would feel like I was intruding. Besides, there's actually something I would like to talk to your sister about. I'll see you later, Ruby." She waved as she spun on her heel and began to make her way back to team RWBY's dorm. "Stay out of trouble."

As the image of Weiss grew smaller and smaller, Qrow leaned down to Ruby. "Was that directed at you or me?"

Ruby shrugged and sighed slowly. "Let's just say it was for both of us."

Qrow chuckled and pulled out his flask. "Fair enough."

Arm in arm, Qrow and Ruby walked slowly through the hallways of Beacon. Every couple of minutes, Ruby would point out something to her uncle in excitement, and Qrow would look at it and nod, then take a drink from his flask. The cycle continued for a while, until they reached the first "stop" that Ruby had in mind. "Alright, we're here. These guys are some of my best friends, so please don't embarrass me, okay?"

"Please," Qrow scoffed. "I do have some amount of control. I won't say anything too embarrassing if you don't give me anything to go off of."

"I'll be sure to remember that."

The door to team RWBY's dorm creaked as Weiss opened it slowly, giving the two members inside ample time to become… decent, if the situation required such. However, as she poked her head through the door, Weiss noticed that Yang was the only person inside. She stepped into the room, then walked over to her bed and sat down. "Where's Blake?"

Yang looked up from her scroll, which was currently in her lap with a now-paused video displayed on it. "She went to go talk to professor Peach about one of the field trips we have coming up – the one to the museum in town. Something about a 'faunus heritage exhibit', or something. I didn't quite catch all of it before she was gone. She might be gone for a while."

"Oh, well, maybe that's for the best." Weiss straightened her skirt and placed her hands in her lap. "Yang, I have a couple of questions for you, and I would like to have them answered seriously." She took a deep breath as Yang sat up on her bed, now worried that something serious had happened. "Yang Xiao Long..."

"Uh," Yang nervously breathed. It wasn't often Weiss said her full name without yelling at her, so hearing her say it in such a calm tone made her very uneasy. "Is there something wrong? You're not yelling at me… It's kinda freaking me out."

Weiss pulled out her scroll and stared at Beacon Chat's icon, then locked eyes with her blonde teammate. "Yang, does Ruby have Beacon Chat?" Weiss asked while narrowing her gaze at Yang, whose expression answered the question before she even opened her mouth.

The blonde brawler nervously glanced from side to side, then up and down, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with the heiress sitting across the room from her. But she could only hold out for so long. She could feel Weiss' eyes on her, and the fact that she hadn't said anything for a few moments only added to her uneasiness. Slowly, she looked up until she saw piercing, blue eyes. "Yeah, Ruby has it."

"Why?"

Yang blinked several times at the question. "Um… what do you mean 'why'?"

"Beacon Chat. Why does she have it?"

Breathing heavily, Yang threw her legs over the side of her bed and stared at the floor. "Look," she started. "Ruby has been down lately. She doesn't talk about it that much, but I know why. She's been lonely. Honestly, if I wasn't her sister I probably wouldn't have even noticed. But I couldn't help it. I noticed her moping around and decided that if there was any way I could make her feel better, then I would do it."

Weiss' expression changed into one of curiosity. "And you thought that the best way to do that was to talk her into downloading an app that pairs her with strangers? Why didn't you just try to talk to her about it? You shouldn't try to decide things for her. She is almost an adult, Yang. She can make her own decisions. For that matter, so can I. Why did you talk me into getting it?"

"Well, kinda the same reasons I did it for Ruby, I guess. Don't sit there and tell me you haven't been feeling down in the dumps. You definitely look like you have been."

Weiss gritted her teeth and leaned forward. "Don't you sta-"

Yang interrupted her teammate by holding up a finger over her mouth. "But you've been looking a lot happier lately. You and Ruby both. If you wanna be mad at me, fine- I get it. But I don't think you can sit there and say that you're unhappy that you have that thing on your scroll now. I think I've even seen you smile a few times since you've got it," she said with a laugh.

The heiress had no clever retort for Yang's words, because she knew that she was right. Though she didn't admit it to anyone, she had been feeling somewhat "down in the dumps", as Yang so eloquently put it. The simple fact is that she was happier lately and the chat app had provided her the feeling of a relationship that felt deeper than what she had with her friends, though she didn't know why. After all, Red was just her friend, the same as her teammates and team JNPR. Right?

Weiss breathed sharply out of her nose and looked at the bright screen of her scroll, focusing on Beacon Chat's icon. "… I suppose you're right."

Yang snorted and slapped her hands on her thighs. "Whoa. Did you just say that I was right? Can I get that in writing? I don't think it will happen again." The blonde started to fumble with her scroll, then hopped off her bed and made her way over to Weiss while holding her scroll out toward her teammate. "Here, say it again so I can have this on record."

Instead of repeating herself, Weiss gently slapped Yang's arm away. "Don't be a pest. I said it once and that's all you're going to get. And even though I did say you were right, that doesn't mean that I appreciate being manipulated like this."

"I'm sorry, alright? I was just trying to look out for you two and help," Yang begrudgingly said while rolling her eyes. "It won't happen again."

Mimicking Yang's behavior, Weiss went wide-eyed and held her scroll out toward the blonde. "What's that? You're sorry? Here, say it again so I have it on record."

"Alright, I see your point." Yang walked back across the room and plopped down onto Blake's bed, then hunched over so she could place her elbows on her knees. She laced her fingers together and placed them under her chin, then stared at Weiss' scroll. "So, what now? Are you still gonna talk to that person?"

"Of course. I don't really see any reason to stop, though I haven't heard from them today." Weiss opened Beacon Chat and stared at the messages she had sent throughout the day. "I messaged them a few times, but they never replied. I stopped so I wouldn't make them angry."

"Welp, you could always try messaging them one more time. I mean, it's getting close to evening now. I bet they would have time to talk right now. Besides, one more message couldn't hurt. I know that if I was mad at someone, I would tell them."

Weiss let her thoughts dwell on Yang's words. She really didn't want to cause her friend to be angry with her, but Yang was right again. If they were upset with her, they should just tell her instead of letting her wonder whether or not she had made them mad. "It's worth a shot, I guess." Weiss quickly typed out a message, then sent it.

W: Hi, it's me… again. I just wanted to know if I had done something to upset you at all, seeing as how you haven't got back in touch with me today. If so, I would appreciate it if you would just tell me. If you aren't upset, then I'm sorry for bothering you.

"Alright, I sent another one."

Yang nodded. "Now you just have to wait for them to text you back, huh?"

"Yes, that's the plan." Weiss' eyes drifted to her dresser, then to the small desk in the corner of the room. "Until then, I suppose I'll study and wait for Ruby to get back." She stood up, walked to her dresser, then pulled out a textbook and a notebook. She tucked them under her arm, then made her way to the desk and set the materials down.

Once Weiss sat down in the chair by the desk, Yang stood up and clapped her hands together. "Well, since I know you like things to be quiet when you study, I guess I'm gonna go try to find Blake and see how her talk with professor Peach is going." Yang walked to the door, opened it, then waved to Weiss as she closed it. "Don't wait up."

"Alright, I think we're gonna get out of here for now. I'll see you guys around. Sorry about the whole, well… sorry your bookshelf is in half now."

"Don't apologize! That was awesome!"

"Um… yeah. Later, guys." Ruby waved goodbye to team JNPR as she closed the door that led into their dorm, then closed her eyes and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding once she heard the door latch. Her head then shot to her side as she glared daggers at the man beside her. "Uncle Qrow! Why would you do something like that?! That was their bookshelf!"

Qrow shrugged as he pulled out his flask and took a swig of its contents. "Hey, don't blame me for that, it wasn't even my idea. It was that redhead with the pink skirt who told me to do it once she saw my weapon. I like her, she's spunky."

"Uncle Qrooow," Ruby groaned. "I don't care who asked you to do something like that. That's school property! What do you think Ozpin would do if he found out what you did?" Ruby placed her hands on her hips and stared disapprovingly at the hunter.

"Look at you, being responsible. You really have grown up. And to answer your question - Honestly? Probably nothing. I've gotten away with way worse, believe me. Oz is a good friend of mine. He wouldn't be mad at me for having a little 'weapon demonstration'."

Ruby raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Is that right? And what do you think professor Goodwitch would do if she found out?"

Qrow grew stiff and nearly choked on his drink at Ruby's question. Seeing Glynda mad was something he used to find hilarious, until the one time that he was the subject of her anger. It had been over a decade, but the memory was still very vivid in his mind. After he was done sputtering over himself, he grew more composed and cleared his throat. "Yeah… How about we just keep this between us? It could be our little secret."

"What's in it for me? I could just walk up to professor Ozpin's office and let the two of them know right now. Does that sound good to you?"

"Well, I could always take you to that weapon shop in town. You talk about it almost every time I see you. Does that sound like a fair trade?"

If Ruby's eyes could actually turn into nothing but bright, yellow stars, they would have. She jumped up and down several times, then grabbed Qrow's arm and started to pull him toward the exit of the school. "Yes! That's fair! Let's go!" However, she stopped moving once she heard her scroll ring. She stopped abruptly, pulled out her scroll, and was filled with unexpected joy as she saw that she had a new message from Blue.

As she read it, she became confused. "Why would I be mad at them?" She started to scroll through her messages, then slapped herself mentally. Ren told her that she had messages, but she had forgotten to actually look at them. "Ruby, you idiot." She texted a reply, then sent it and placed her scroll in her pocket.

R: Hey there. Sorry I haven't messaged you back today. I've had a few problems with some things and haven't been able to talk. Honestly, now's not the best time either. I'll text you tomorrow though. Is that cool?

Once her scroll was out of sight, she turned back to Qrow and reached out her hand. However, Qrow didn't take her hand and instead stared at her, confused by her sudden behavior. "What the hell was all that about," he asked as he pointed to the pocket that Ruby's scroll was resting in. "You just stopped from a near-full sprint. Well, full sprint for a normal person, anyway."

A very light shade of red spread across Ruby's face as she pulled her scroll back out. "Oh, I got a message on my scroll, so I decided to check it out. I was having some issues with it earlier, so I'm catching up with a friend."

"A friend, huh? You know, I have a few friends myself, but I've never been excited enough to drop whatever I was doing to talk to them. Especially through a text message." One of Qrow's eyebrows raised curiously as he stared at his niece. "Just what kind of 'friend' is this person?"

The blush on Ruby's face deepened. "N-No one special. Just a good friend of mine."

"Hm, it doesn't sound like they're just a friend." Qrow pulled out his flask and took a drink, then placed it in his pocket and snapped his fingers. "Oh, is it… Weiss?"

Ruby's jaw dropped and the shade of red on her face quickly matched that of her cape. "U-Uncle Qrow, what are you trying to say?" Before Qrow could give her an answer, Ruby's scroll rang. Disregarding everything Qrow had just said, she quickly looked at the device and read the message that now adorned its screen.

I see. I'm just relieved that I hadn't upset you somehow. I'll talk to you another time.

Ruby smiled as she read the message. After not talking to Blue for almost an entire day, she felt incredible joy at seeing a new message from her friend pop up on her scroll. Once she put her scroll away, she looked up, only to see her uncle smirking. "Oh, great."

Qrow crossed his arms and chuckled lightly. "So, you gonna tell me more about this friend of yours, or what?"

"Can I go with the 'or what' option?"

"Sure, as long as you don't want to head to the weapon shop." Qrow pulled out his flask and took a drink. He grunted a bit as he took a larger drink than he meant to, but swallowed the liquid quickly and shook his head a couple of times and took in a sharp breath, before returning his attention to Ruby. "So, what's it gonna be?"

Ruby puffed out her cheeks. "… Fine. They're a friend I made a while back. And before you say it again, no, it's not Weiss. I don't even know what made you think that in the first place..." Ruby looked at Qrow, only to see him smile and nod, signaling her to continue with her story. "We've been talking for a while and have gotten to be pretty good friends – and that's all. Friends." She wasn't sure why, but calling Blue her friend felt "off" to her.

"Alright. So, how did you meet them? Do you have classes with them? And Why haven't I met them yet? Not that I minded meeting your teammates and… ah, damn it. What was that other team's name?"

"Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. They're Team JNPR."

Qrow snapped his fingers once Ruby said the name that had escaped him. "Yeah, them, but why haven't you introduced me to this other person yet? You haven't even mentioned them."

"Well, our relationship is kind of, um, different. I met them through an app."

"An app? That doesn't sound suspicious at all," Qrow said sarcastically. "What kind of app is it? You can never be too careful with things like that. A lot of creeps like to get on to those kind of things, you know. Trust me, I've used them before."

"Oh, yeah? Are you one of the creeps you're talking about?" Ruby took great delight at Qrow's reaction to her question. "Anyway, it's called Beacon Chat and Yang told me about it."

"The hell is Beacon Chat?"

Ruby pulled out her scroll and opened the app, carefully hiding her messages from her uncle. "It matches you randomly with a stranger to talk to. Once you've talked to somebody, it saves them under a sort of contact list." Ruby up the list and pointed to Blue's name. "See?"

Qrow hastily snatched the device from Ruby's hands before she had time to react. "Blue? I've seen some names in my time, but that one's a little weird. And I'm named after a bird." Ruby tried to take the scroll back, but Qrow was able to hold it just out of her reach. "Let's see what the two of you have been talking about."

However, before he could investigate further, he felt a sharp pain in his shin and dropped the scroll, which Ruby caught, locked, and put away. "Those messages aren't for you to see!"

"Alright, fair enough, but you didn't have to kick me!"

"I'm an adult. I can take care of myself. I don't need you rifling through my scroll to find out stuff. If you want to know something ask me, if I want to tell you, then I will."

Qrow rubbed the upper part of his shin that was briefly introduced to one of Ruby's shoes and nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry. Wow, you've got some force in those kicks of yours." Once the pain had subsided, he pulled out his flask and took a large drink. "Okay, no more questions. I didn't know that this was such a touchy subject, so I'll leave you alone about it for now."

"Thank you."

"Now, let's get to that weapon shop. Whatever you want, it's on me."

Ruby's eyes lit up. "Whatever I want?!"

"Within reason."

Slightly disheartened, but still excited, Ruby began to pull Qrow down a hallway towards the school's exit. "Okay, let's just get going!"

Ruby didn't realize how late it had gotten once she and Qrow left the weapon shop, though the new dust ammunition and scope for Crescent Rose made it all worth it. But, she still needed to get some sleep, so she was forced to say goodbye to her uncle. Although, she was relieved to hear that Qrow would be sticking around for a while. He didn't have any urgent missions and he would like to catch up with Ozpin if he could.

The halls of Beacon Academy were dimly lit as Ruby walked through them. They were always very bright during the day, due, obviously, to the daylight. But the seemingly always bustling student body seemed to breathe life into the structure of the school. When the halls were empty, they just seemed dreary. Ruby hated it. She was normally only in the halls like this after a nightmare. Before long, her destination came into view and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally."

The length of the last few strides was longer than normal as Ruby walked toward her team's dorm, wanting to reach it as quickly as possible. As she approached it, she reached a hand out, ready to open the door, but stopped as she saw a piece of paper taped to it. She yanked the paper off the door and saw that it was a note from her sister.

Hey, Ruby. Went to go see a movie with Blake. Be back late. See ya tomorrow.

"That figures." She crinkled the note into a ball and placed it in her pocket, then started to open the door. She opened the door without much thought, then stood completely still and held her breath as something in the room caught her attention.

Asleep at the desk in the corner of the room, her head resting in a textbook, was Weiss. Ruby cursed herself. "Crap, I forgot that I asked Weiss to help me study. Ruby, you're so stupid!" She wasn't mad at herself for long, though. The sight of Weiss sleeping was somewhat captivating.

The curtains in the room were slightly parted, allowing a thin ray of moonlight to shine into the room and hit Weiss' hair. The way the light shone off the ivory strands almost made it seem to glow. Not to mention her skin. The light of the moon made it look like flawless porcelain, as if she would break if Ruby touched her. She wanted to wake her up and move her, but she quickly decided against it. If she was tired enough to fall asleep studying, Ruby was fine with letting her sleep there for the night.

Although, that didn't stop Ruby from stripping the comforter off Weiss' bed and placing it on the heiress' shoulders. Once the fabric touched her, Weiss mumbled something in her sleep, something that caught Ruby's attention.

"R-Ruby… Ruby… I..."

Ruby leaned over and placed her ear closer to Weiss' lips.

"It w-wouldn't work… we couldn't..."

"What in the hell is she dreaming about?" Ruby was hanging onto her partner's every word and her heart rate increased significantly, though she didn't know why. But Weiss didn't say anything else after her brief mumblings, which left Ruby with an empty feeling that she couldn't explain.

Brushing it off for the moment, yet still not completely throwing it out of her mind, Ruby stood up and made her way to her bed. She was too tired to change into her sleepwear, so she elected to sleep in what she was in. She jumped into bed, threw the blanket over herself and rolled onto her side. She glanced one last time at Weiss before shutting her eyes and drifting into a deep sleep.

Hey there, people. Hey, this chapter isn't a day late!

...

It's a week late.

MY bad, y'all. I'll try to get the next chapter out on time. Hope you guys liked this one.

Later.

:D