The wind sliced through Weiss's jacket as she approached her partner, snow crunching under foot with each step. The shattered moon bathed the entire plateau in an eerie light, with Ruby's red cape whipping around her in a fury. Weiss shivered and hugged her arms to her chest as she came to a stop next to her teammate.

"Ruby, you can't stay out here, you'll freeze." Weiss's mind was still swimming with the information Blake and Yang had just told her. Does she really feel that way? Her eyes shot from the cold stone marker in front of her to the short haired girl on the ground before it.

Ruby was slumped down with her legs crossed beneath her and her head tilted to the ground. She looked broken, but not defeated. Strong and beautiful, but delicate in this moment. Ruby turned her head to look up at Weiss, but the heiress averted her eyes immediately.

"Why won't you look at me?"

The question caught her off guard. "Ruby, I…" For once Weiss was at a loss for words. Her eyes strayed back to her partner as she continued. "I'm sorry this happened to you, I really am." She wanted to say more, but everything inside her was telling her that it couldn't happen, that it would never work.

"I don't want to talk about it."

A small feeling of relief washed over Weiss at the remark, followed by guilt at the feeling. Still, she pressed on, intent to do what was best for her partner. "Alright, then let's go back-"

"No, I've got to tell you something first."

Oh no. Weiss's jaw clenched, and her mind began racing at the thought of what was to come. What Ruby was about to say, but she couldn't. Her heart was a battleground, both sides warring for control of what her lips would say.

"Weiss, I need you. I need you to hold me and tell me everything is ok, that we can make it better, that I'm loved. That you're not going to leave me, that this world isn't so dark, that there is some light ahead of us. I need you." Weiss felt the blood drain from her face and her stomach drop as she listened. Her head spun, and she fought to hold onto any semblance of normality that she had before the past week.

I know she feels this way, but I can't. One side of her heart roared in protest. I can't feel that way, I like Neptune and… and Father would never permit it. Her thoughts were drowned out as the sides clashed once again, sending the white haired girl into a panic. "Ruby, I-I can't. I know what you're asking of me, but I can't give that to you."

"What does that mean?"

That simple question was tearing Weiss apart at every moment, stripping the icy walls she had built around her heart and exposing her to love and all its beautiful tragedy. She had to respond though, Ruby deserved that much.

And so she chose to protect herself. She rebuilt her walls, safe with the boy from Mistral, ever-fearful of her father's wrath. "I don't, I can't feel that way about you. We're friends and we're partners. That's it. You're just confused about our relationship, and I'm not interested in other girls anyway." She tried to believe herself as the words forced their way out of her.

"You're not going to even give me a chance?" Ruby's voice spurred on the battle inside of Weiss, fueling the fires that tried to breach the icy walls.

Weiss panicked, logic fleeing her as her emotions warred against each other. She desperately searched for words to make the feeling stop, not thinking at what damage they could do. "You don't really feel that way, Ruby. You just think that's what-"

"I know how I feel!" The short haired girl had risen to her feet and was now standing defiantly in front of her partner. "This isn't just some crush, I love you!"

It was too much for Weiss, she needed to escape, but her legs were frozen in place. Her heart froze, and the words tumbled out before she could stop them. "You're too young to know what love is!"

The look Ruby returned her was all she needed to know what she had done, but her leader's whispered words twisted the knife that Weiss had impaled herself with. "Because I'm a child? That's what you said before."

Weiss's entire body locked up, unable to respond, even if Ruby had given her the chance. Rose petals were all that remained as Ruby fled her team.

What have I done?

"What the hell happened?!" Yang's voice shook her from her stupor as the blonde and her partner sprinted up to the heiress. Yang's eyes blazed red through the storm, burning into Weiss as she searched for answers.

"I… I… I didn't know what to say."

Blake took over as Yang turned to search for Ruby. "Did she say where she was going?"

Weiss could only shake her head.

Yang immediately sprinted off to find her sister, the events from a few days prior still fresh on all of their minds.

Weiss's body took over as her brain still tried to recover, and she almost mechanically took control of the situation. "We have to find Ruby." She grabbed the Faunus's hand and pulled her after Yang, but her mind was elsewhere as they raced into the storm. What have I done?

The duo sprinted hand in hand, careful not to become separated as they hastily followed Yang's footsteps before they were lost in the snow.

"Call the Bullhead, we can catch up to them easier through the air!" Weiss's words were barely audible over the winds of the snowstorm.

Blake produced her scroll from her pocket and attempted to ping the pilot with no luck. "We can't get a message through the storm! We have to keep going!"

Weiss nodded, and they continued their trek down the path, forging ahead through the cold and the wet, their bond unbreakable.

As they moved further and further down the slope of the cliff, the storm tapered off, and trees began to pop up around them as the pair entered a forest.

When they had reached level ground, the storm had all but died, the snowfall almost hanging in place, and an eerie quiet had set around them. The sky was clear, and the shattered moon hung above them as they slowed to follow Yang's tracks through the trees.

The pair had let go of each other's hands, but still remained shoulder to shoulder as they moved into a large clearing. Yang's golden locks and Ruby's red hood waited for them in the center of the snow covered field, squeezing each other silently.

Weiss retrieved her scroll from her pocket and pinged the Bullhead pilot with their coordinates, unsure of what to do after that.

"Something doesn't feel right…" Blake was looking around the clearing, as if she could sense something about to happen.

"I know, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have said what I did to Ruby."

"It's not that… I've got a bad feeling about this," Blake's ominous statement made Weiss shiver. "We should go to the others."

As they half walked, half jogged to the sisters, a shadow began to spread from the edge of the forest, crossing the tree line and racing toward them.

Once Weiss and Blake made it to their teammates, the shadow caught their eyes. The team turned to see what was causing it.

Oh the horizon was an enormous silhouette, standing taller than the CCT back in Vale. Tall enough to block out the shattered moon, plunging the clearing into darkness. The silhouette had a vaguely human shape for its body, but its head resembled that of a Boarbatusk crossed with an Ursa. The blood red eyes that blazed deep in the skull told the team that it was a Grimm, but nothing that they had ever heard of, much less seen.

The ground shook as the colossal Grimm took a step toward the team. Howling and roars from the forest echoed around them as more Grimm closed in on the fractured team.

Not a word was spoken as they all stood in fearful awe at the monstrosity rising before them.

"We have to move." The words came out without a thought as muscle memory kicked in, intent on preserving her team's safety. The group turned and began sprinting away from the Grimm blocking out the moon.

What is that thing? Her mind raced while her slender muscles pumped, carrying her further away from the titan on the horizon. However, the Grimm were not to be escaped so easily.

Beowolves and Ursai emerged from the snowy forest, closing in on all sides like a noose.

"Where is our pilot?!" Yang had voiced the thought that was on everyone's mind, but to no effect as the Bullhead was still missing. The blonde was glued to her sister's hip as they ran, keeping her body in between Weiss and Ruby.

As they closed in on the wall of Grimm around them, RWBY drew their weapons. Weiss's ears strained for an attack move, but none came. Instead, Ruby simply leapt into the fray, slashing through wave after wave of the monsters. The other two followed suit, attacking without discipline and pushing the boundaries of how well they could fight as individuals, too often leaving themselves open for an attack.

We'll get overwhelmed if we keep this up, the heiress thought. She swiveled the dust chamber in her rapier to red and slammed the blade into an Ursa that had lunged at her. The violent dust infused strike sent a fiery blast through the beast and scorched the Grimm behind it as Weiss turned to sprint toward her teammates.

The constant exertion and the bitter cold had caused her breathing to turn ragged and her technique sloppy, but her mind was running at 110%, and she used it to figure out a plan.

A quick glance at the colossal Grimm in the distance told her that they had maybe a minute before it reached them, its enormous size slowing its massive steps enough to buy the team some time.

We need to get out of here.

She summoned a glyph and leapt on it, quickly triggering it to launch her toward Ruby.

Weiss sailed over the crowds of Grimm, using Myrtenaster's ice dust to freeze the Grimm below her, forming a makeshift barrier for them to put their backs to. She landed, and immediately called to her team.

"Regroup!" Blake was the first back, protecting herself with her shadows as she deftly scrambled backwards to protect Weiss's back.

Yang and Ruby slowly fought their way back to their teammates, working in perfect harmony to clear a path. Yang would charge forward to deliver a flurry of punches, then spring back and let Ruby finish the beast off with a few quick strikes before springing back to let Yang bust them up again.

The sisters blazed their trail to the wall of ice and Grimm, finally breaking through the line, but as Yang sprung forward for the next opponent, eyes a blood red and hair a fiery white gold, her next blow connected with Weiss.

The heiress was suddenly on the ground, nearly auraless after the one strike, disoriented and struggling to regain her feet.

What was that?

The rest of the team surrounded her, fighting with their backs to the makeshift barrier. Weiss stumbled as she tried to regain her feet, but collapsed after taking one step. Stars filled her vision, and everything in front of her swirled.

Weiss planted her hand on the ground in an attempt to steady herself, but her hand unexpectedly grasped metal. Her vision steadied enough for her to identify what she had just picked up.

Her scroll. After desperately stealing a glance toward the colossal Grimm a few hundred yards away from them, she desperately pinged the pilot their coordinates in hopes that he would arrive before they were overwhelmed.

A roar came from over the treetops, shaking the snow from the leaves as their Bullhead sped through the air toward them. The deafening noise attracted the attention of several Beowolves, who leapt to drag the airship from the sky. The Bullhead pulled up sharply to avoid the beasts, but maintained its height as it opened the side doors and hovering 30 feet above the team.

Weiss struggled to her feet and shakily took charge. "Team RWBY, on me!"

The three huntress backed towards Weiss, who summoned a large glyph around all four of them. "Ready?"

"Just do it!" Yang replied through gritted teeth.

And with that, Weiss swept down and then upward, sending the team upward toward the airship. Yang and Ruby quickly turned their weapons to propel themselves horizontally and into the ship with ease.

Blake was next, using her semblance to propel herself toward the Bullhead, but the unsteady movements of the airship caused her to misjudge, and she barely caught the side. Yang hurriedly helped pull her partner up and into the interior of airship.

Weiss was the only one unable to reach the ship, her aura being drained completely after the blow from Yang and making the glyph as powerful as she did. The heiress fell back toward the ground, fearful of what waited below.

Her eyes shot to the giant Grimm and her heart immediately began pounding twice as fast. Its arm was extending toward the Bullhead, intent on crushing the disturbance.

Just as Weiss was beginning to concede her fate, Gambol Shroud sailed past her, the ribbon extending back to the Bullhead. Weiss quickly wrapped her arm around the ribbon and pulled back. The Bullhead immediately banked away from the reaching hand, climbing higher and higher to escape the mass of Grimm that had populated the clearing.

Weiss was slowly pulled up and into the Bullhead, Myrtenaster hanging limply at her side, her hand almost frozen around the handle. Blake and Yang had pulled her back up, but once she was inside the airship and the doors sealed off, Blake was the only one looking after her.

"Blake."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for saving me."

The Faunus only nodded in reply.

"We have to tell Professor Ozpin about this."

"I have the feeling he already knows." Blake's voice was distant, and her hands stopped momentarily as if remembering something very important. She shook her head, and resumed taking care of her teammate.

Weiss watched the sisters sit across from her, Yang's arm around Ruby, holding her tightly as she whispered in her ear. The only notice she got from either of them was the occasional dirty look from Yang.

A sinking feeling in her gut accompanied her reflection over the past few hours. Ruby would barely even look at Yang, and couldn't stand Blake. But Weiss was the worst off. She had said terrible things, and pushed her partner and best friend away, afraid of what might happen if she went down that path with Ruby.

She will never forgive me.

The thought brought the tears to the surface, but she quickly suppressed them, intent to stay strong for her team. Ruby was no longer fit to lead the team, as she had demonstrated over the past few days. Weiss had to lead them, or there would be no way that team RWBY could survive.

Weiss sat up and steeled herself for what lay in store for them upon their return.