Slightly shorter chapter this week, but I'll be posting another short one in a couple of days. Hopefully that makes up for it! Just some feels in this chapter before more action next week :)

Yang rolled over one more time in her bed, trying in vain to get comfortable enough so that her brain would shut down and let her even attempt to sleep.

She was trying to get some rest, as Professor Ozpin had recommended before they go on their rescue mission tomorrow, but she found that she was far too wound up to fall asleep. No matter what she did, she could not slow her down her mind as a thousand different thoughts fought for her full attention. And each new thought seemed to be progressively worse than the previous one as her mind flitted to it for a half second.

So she lay in her bed, staring upwards and finding no comfort in the red hue her usually white ceiling was now shaded in. She could actually feel her insides blazing with unreleased anger as she tried to glare holes into the roof above her head. She actually had to consciously calm herself down several times before she became too heated.

She couldn't stop thinking about Ruby. Who had her, what were they doing with her, was she ok? All of these questions kept swirling in her head as she struggled to come up with answers. Answers that no one seemed to have.

Yang could feel sparks buzzing around in her chest as she thought of her little sister. She was struggling to keep those sparks far enough away from her internal flame so that she wouldn't explode. But the more she thought, the closer they crept.

She hated waiting. The wait before a battle on the horizon had always been one of the hardest things to suffer through. Her muscles were already tense in anticipation of being called upon in the morning. A hundred different situations and battle strategies were zooming through her head along with all of her other thoughts. She was also spending a great amount of time imagining what she would do to whoever had been stupid enough to touch her sister.

What she hated about waiting, above all else, was this feeling of…helplessness. In this period of time, she could do absolutely nothing but sit here and try to get some rest. Ruby needed her now, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. She had to rest. Even though she knew that whoever had Ruby was probably not waiting to torture her, or beat her, or…

They just weren't waiting like Yang was forced to do.

At least Ruby was much stronger than most people gave her credit for. Ruby was her sister, after all, and Yang liked to believe that Ruby had inherited just a bit of her toughness. Even though the brunette appeared more fragile in stature, Yang had seen the girl take hits that would crush an average hunter or huntress, but Ruby just bounced right back up.

Plus, Ruby knew that she and Weiss would be coming for her. And that when they got there, they would show no mercy for those that had been stupid enough to take someone so precious from them. Hopefully, Ruby could find some comfort knowing that she and Weiss would search every inch of the globe if they had to.

Yang grinned as she thought about how satisfying it would be to burn the entire enemy operation to the ground.

With that thought, she felt a small spark slip through, flying into the flame and setting off a small wave of heat that made her covers feel slightly less comfortable.

And then…there was Blake.

Yang was somewhat relieved that her partner had not finished what she might have been about to say in the study. On top of everything else, Yang didn't know if she was strong enough to deal with those emotions right now.

Deep down, she knew that she craved to hear those words fall from Blake's mouth. But she just couldn't. Not right now. Not with Ruby's life in danger.

The reality of just how much danger Ruby was in increased her body temperature several more levels. It wasn't as if Ruby were out on a hunt with Crescent Rose. No…Crescent Rose was still carefully stashed in the closet downstairs. Ruby had no real means to defend herself. And whoever had her would have to know not to let Ruby loose or the girl would speed away…that meant that they would be keeping her strapped up as tightly as possible…

A few more sparks made it through her defenses, causing her to kick off the covers in discomfort. With a frustrated sigh, she finally rolled out of bed and exited her room. She hopped the railing to the first floor and strode through the kitchen, feeling her internal fire slowly beginning to leak out. The red tint of the world around her was a constant reminder of just how close she was to losing control.

As she ripped open the door of the simulation room, she could see the flames starting to flicker around her fingers as her vision took on an even deeper red hue. Even though she would have liked to summon the biggest, baddest Grimm possible to pound into oblivion, she didn't dare try to use the control panel in this state, knowing that she would only turn it into a pile of broken metal.

Walking to the very center of the room, she released all of the sparks she had been holding at bay. One by one, they flew into the flame as if drawn by a magnet.

Ruby missing.

The White Fang.

Adam.

An explosion of raw energy coursed through her system as she pushed through one mental image to the next. She saw the flames build around her as she unleashed all of her power in the form of a fireball that appeared to be consuming her.

She immediately felt some relief at the release of energy, but it wasn't enough. It was merely the pressure relief valve allowing a thin line of steam to whistle through, leaving her feeling pent up and unsatisfied. She needed to explode.

Someone had kidnapped her little sister. Someone was trying to hurt her family.

The valve finally broke off.

Rage couldn't escape from her quick enough as an inferno enveloped her. Every inch of her body was covered in fire as her frustration and anger were finally released.

She vaguely heard the sound of an alarm going off over the sound of flames roaring in her ears. She watched as sprinklers popped out of the ground and ceiling, unleashing streams of water of the room. She couldn't help but let out a cold laugh of amusement as she watched the water droplets sizzle and turn to steam before they even came near her.

Finally having found something to focus her energy towards, she channeled her wrath towards the jets of water that were threatening to douse her. She directed every bit of power she had towards pushing her flames outward, feeling satisfaction as the drops of water evaporated further and further away from her.

She was going to make whoever was behind this pay very dearly. And if something happened to her sister…if one strand of short, brunette hair was out of place, Yang would make it her personal mission to ensure that this person never felt a shred of happiness again for the rest of their life. There would be no end to the pain she would cause…

Finally beginning to feel weary from the outflow of energy and the emotions that were haunting her, she felt her aura begin to fade. The sound of sizzling water grew closer and closer as the sprinklers finally began to make headway in putting out the fire.

Several seconds later, only her internal flame remained steadily flickering, tucked safely inside her heart.

She stood there for several minutes, chest heaving from exertion and adrenaline as torrents of water pelted her from every direction. The cool liquid was providing relief to her still heated skin, drenching her clothing and hair in a matter of seconds. She stared down at her hands, watching as they slowly lost their orange glow and returned to their normal appearance. The crimson tinge to her vision finally cleared up, burning away like a light morning fog.

Once the system sensed that the fire had finally been put out, the sprinklers abruptly shut off and disappeared from sight. Yang stood there in the eerie silence, hearing nothing but the sound of water dripping from her drenched form.

Slowly turning around, she walked gingerly towards the exit, feeling charred and raw from allowing her aura take over. She hadn't given in to her semblance like that in a long, long time, but apparently she had had a lot of pent up feelings from the last few days. Ruby disappearing had been the tipping point that sent her over the edge.

Thankfully, she felt more in control now.

Padding back up to her room, she sluggishly shed her wet clothing, tossing the items on the bathroom floor as she found a towel to dry herself off. Satisfied that her hair was dry enough for her aura to finish up the job in a few seconds, she pulled on her second pair of pajamas and collapsed back into her bed.

She finally felt like she might be able to fall asleep.

Suddenly hearing her bedroom door click open, she stiffened as light from the hallway fell inside. Worried that it might be Blake, Yang tried to see who it was while hardly moving a muscle. She was surprised to find Weiss' silhouette framed in her doorway.

"Yang…are you awake?" the heiress called out quietly.

"Weiss?" Yang responded as she sat up in her bed.

The heiress closed the door and crept closer to the side of Yang's bed.

"I…I couldn't…I just couldn't…" Weiss began, her voice wavering with emotion as she struggled not to cry.

Yang didn't bother letting her finish. She pulled down the covers on the other side of her bed, patting the space beside her. The heiress hesitated only for a second before she slipped into the bed beside Yang.

The first thing Yang noticed was that Weiss was unusually cold, chilling the covers on Yang's side of the bed. The heiress was shivering, as if her own semblance was failing to protect her from the cold it was releasing.

Yang bit her lip as she struggled to keep her own emotions at bay; it would be no use having both of them crying like babies right now.

Laying her head back down on her pillow, Yang faced Weiss as she heated up her semblance in an effort to still the poor girl's shudders.

Fire provided relief and calm to Yang, but she often forgot that other people did not have such an easy release. Weiss couldn't just explode into flames and then feel mildly more relaxed. Maybe she could turn into an ice cube, but Yang wasn't quite sure how much relief that would provide…

"Can't sleep without Ruby, huh?" she asked lightly, smirking at the surprise that registered on Weiss' face.

"How…how did you know?"

Yang scoffed in response to the question.

"Please. I'm her big sister. I know everything," she stated, trying to sound intimidating, but likely failing with the little giggle she let escape from her mouth.

"Plus, Ruby's bed has been immaculately made every day for the past week. And since Ruby never makes her bed, I figured that you had made it for her once and then she wasn't even disturbing it."

Weiss sighed, looking away from Yang momentarily.

"She can be quite a slob sometimes…" she replied quietly, adoration sneaking into her voice. She looked down at her hands, fiddling with that ring once again.

"Hey, where'd you get the ring?" Yang finally asked, having noticed the heiress playing with it intermittently all night.

"Ruby made it for me…" Weiss responded softly, holding up her hand for Yang to better see. Yang smiled as she looked at the craftsmanship – it had Ruby's handiwork written all over it. Even with subpar materials, Ruby had managed to create something quite exquisite.

"So…what's it do?" she asked curiously, causing Weiss to scoff at her.

"What is it with you two and needing the simplest of things to have alternate uses? Why can't a ring be just a ring?"

Another giggle escaped her lips at Weiss' exasperation.

"Because…we both know how much Ruby loves her gadgets," she replied, earning a small smile of agreement from Weiss.

"So…what did she want it to do?"

Weiss let out a small snort of laughter at Yang's persistence before answering.

"She wanted it to be a taser with poison darts and a tracking device…the tracking device might not be such a bad idea now…"

The heiress became somber once again, no doubt thinking about how easy their quest would be right now if she had only had the foresight to have a tracking device built into Ruby's ring.

"Hey," Yang said, breaking the girl out of her thoughts, "don't be hard on yourself. There's no way you could have known this would happen. Plus, under her own free will, Ruby would gladly glue herself to your side so that you'd never be apart."

Weiss smiled vaguely at Yang's words as silent tears began spilling from her eyes.

"I'm scared, Yang," she admitted, voice shaking. "If something happens to her, I d-don't know what I…"

Yang felt her own eyes begin watering as she looked at the girl. She had never seen the heiress look so…small and vulnerable. No matter how much trouble or danger they had found themselves in, Weiss was always the one who stood like a rock, unflinching in the face of the storm.

She reached out and pulled Weiss into her, hugging the girl tightly as she felt her own tears began to fall.

"We'll bring her back…so you don't need to worry about anything, soon-to-be sis…everything will be alright," she mumbled reassuringly, as much to herself as to the shaking girl clutched in her arms.

"B-but what i-if…it's not…" Yang heard the girl murmur into her chest.

Yang watched the room tinge crimson and closed her eyes briefly, trying not to let the thought consume her.

"Then we'll burn down the world together," she answered quietly as she opened her eyes, finding the red still there.

Weiss made a soft hum of approval as the exhausted heiress clutched the front of Yang's shirt securely in her cold hands. She rubbed Weiss' back softly as they both shed their tears over their missing teammate, until they eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.