Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Wolf and Reaper. Enjoy the 1200-word chapter. I don't own RWBY, Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth do.

(Mistral.)

Azul slid under Crescent Rose as Ruby demolished a wooden beam behind him. She twirled the scythe, almost smacking Azul in the face with the blunt of the weapon.

"Ok, just keep blowing off steam." Azul said as Ruby pushed her foot back forward. Her eyes narrowed as she rushed forward.

Azul used his own semblance to sidestep the lunge and took a slash at Ruby's back. He was greeted by the sound of metal hitting metal as Ruby brought the shaft up.

"You're a little on edge." Azul said while trying to defuse the tension.

"Hmm..." Ruby said before firing a round and using the momentum to swing at Azul's head. "I wonder why." Ruby stated as Azul brought up his own weapon to parry it.

Azul knew for a fact that Ruby was tense. Her face was twisted into a death glare. It was the same hate he had seen when Beacon was attacked.

Azul backflipped to the side as Ruby tried to bury her weapon near him. Azul spun his own weapon and faced Ruby.

"We cant just talk about this?" Azul questioned which caused Ruby's eyes to narrow while she rushed at Azul.

"We tried talking." Ruby said as she slashed at Azul who parried it with Violet Shadow, sparks flying from their weapons. "Now we try this." Ruby added while she pushed her weapon forward.

"Rubes…" Azul muttered as he pushed his sword back.

He tilted his sword and fired a bullet at Ruby's head which she was forced to backpedal from. He could only question what was going through her head.

Ruby said nothing, but her features softened slightly. She was fighting partly because of her own issues. She could see Azul wasn't trying to hurt her, merely fend her off slightly when it came down to it.

"I'm sorry for trying to fight Tyrian by myself." Azul stated which caused him to shake his head in anger. "But I wasn't going to let Qrow fight him alone. I knew how out of my depth I was trying." Azul added while crossing his arms as he turned to look to the side.

Azul could only ponder what was going on. He was no romantic, he was so busy trying to keep his thoughts between the fate of Remnant and his own thoughts.

"Then why did you do it!?" Ruby hissed as Azul hummed before Ruby lunged towards him. "Because of AMET?" Ruby asked as she brought her scythe down.

Azul was thrown backwards by the force of the strike. Ruby gazed at Azul. His face softened as he gazed at the ground. He sighed as his shoulders went limp.

Ruby's gaze softened as Azul hummed and started to climb to his feet.

"Because I felt like Qrow living on is making up for Beacon." Azul said as he pulled his arms to him. "I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to help them when I needed it…. What kind of team leader dies outliving their team?" Azul questioned as he turned to look to the side.

Ruby sighed and crossed her arms. Azul rose to his feet as he looked at Ruby.

"Everyone has lost something when Beacon fell." Ruby said as Azul hummed and lunged at Ruby.

"Yeah, but I didn't die like a leader should have." Azul said while he shook his head. "RWBY is still together. I didn't lose something; I had my team die without any leadership to begin with…. They died alone, without anyone trying to give them direction. If I cant lead, then what good am I as a Huntsmen?" Azul questioned as he blocked an overhead strike at his head.

Ruby mentally sighed. She knew Azul had been blaming himself for AMET since Beacon had almost fallen. Ruby knew she'd be throwing herself into the wall when it came down to it.

But Ruby knew for a fact that Azul was busy trying to grieve in his own way. Still? This wasn't going to fix anything.

"This isn't what they'd want." Ruby stated as she pressed on her scythe to force Azul downwards. "You know that. What's going to happen when Cinder gets here?" Ruby asked which caused Azul to look to the side.

Azul spun, aiming the barrel of his weapon at Ruby. He fired, forcing her back as she hummed once more.

"I'm a huntsman." Azul pointed out as he and Ruby circled each other. "You know what we do. You know we have enough on our plates… And this is just adding more to point." Azul added which caused him to twirl his weapon as he readied for more combat.

"Your acting like it's on our shoulders." Ruby stated which was greeted by a strike at her side.

"It is, Rubes. That's what Huntsmen and Huntresses deal with." Azul responded as he knocked aside another strike at his ribs. "This is on our shoulders. We had an army of huntsmen, of soldiers and such…"Azul pointed out while flipping his sword into his other hand.

It took him a moment to start speaking up once again. He cleared his throat once more. He sighed and clicked his tongue once more.

"And we got caught off guard by an army of Grimm and those White Fang terrorists." Azul stated while he pointed his sword towards Ruby. "That shouldn't have happened. We were looking for what happened and had been on their trail." Azul pointed out as he cracked his fingers once more.

Azul couldn't understand what was busy happening once more. He was thinking far too much about what came next. He looked at Ruby who was busy thinking to herself. She was conflicted at the moment. But he was quite sure that this talk would keep tearing apart both of them.

Azul was quite curious when about his next step. But he was also set on ending this when it comes down to it.

He sighed and then turned before he sheathed his weapon on his hips once more.

"Theres way more baggage for us to work out." Azul stated as he sighed and rubbed at his temples.

He turned and rushed up the stairs with his semblance. He then turned to look to Ruby. He hung his head once more as he sped away.

Ruby sighed, knowing they'd have a lot of baggage to unpack. This wasn't far from the truth.

Azul sighed and shook his head once more. He couldn't believe what he was thinking again. Still? This was going to be a long day when it came down to it.

He hoped something took it's place soon enough… Because he couldn't wait till it was over once more.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that next chapter will be in June and will be 900-1200 words and will start the end of season 5's arc. Until Then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter will be Monday. Neo 1200 words Tuesday. Yang 1500 words Saturday. Cinder 1500 Friday. Penny 900 words Thursday. Raven 1200 words Tuesday. Tock and such Thursday.