Ruby Rose stared into the endless blue abyss, and it stared right back.

The view out the window the the airship was pretty okay too, she guessed.

But really, what kind of wife would Ruby be if she didn't take the time every once in a while to lose herself in the eyes of one of the women she had promised to be with forever? A pretty oblivious one, probably. But in her defence, Weiss had been pretty clueless to the possibility for the first several years too.

Weiss "And Just What Is That Supposed To Mean?" Rose-Schnee. Quite possibly the most beautiful person Ruby had ever met, outside the other members of her family. Her sister Yang, and… what did Blake count as? It was a common enough question from those unfamiliar with their situation; but to Ruby, Blake was just 'wife.' Certainly not 'second wife,' that implied a lesser relationship; or that Weiss had left the equation. To the legal system (and the VRS; someone had to keep track of taxes, after all) Blake was a sister in-law. Married to Ruby's half-sister, under the authority of the Menagerian—Gah! This rabbit hole just keeps going down, doesn't it? I know they elect a leader, but their head of state is a chief, so is it a monarchy? I think they have their own council… —

"Ruby, do you remember our wedding?"

Well, that was a dumb question. A welcome, dumb question though, since it saved Ruby from trying to figure out the political system of a country she was maybe-almost royalty in. Of course she remembered their wedding, all three of them.

"Which one?" Ruby turned her seat towards her once-and-future partner, and asked with a lovingly mocking tone, "Because my memory may be a bit fuzzy around the one in Atlas, all the alcohol will do that to a young lady."

Weiss gave a textbook-perfect example of an unamused smile. "The important one, Dolt. Specifically the vows," she said, muttering afterwards, "and you don't drink." The insult had no venom behind it, at this point it was just a pet name on the same level as Ruby calling her 'Snowflake.' That pout of hers was still the cutest thing Ruby had possibly ever seen though, even trumping their daughter's most days.

'Important' did narrow it down, actually. The fancy-pants hullabaloo which had been insisted upon by Atlesian noble tradition wasn't really a wedding so much as a fashion show and poetry recital, there wasn't even an Officiant at that one. There was the legal wedding they had in a countryside courtroom with only Yang, Nora, and Winter in attendance as witnesses. Finally, the Hunter (or in this particular case Huntress) wedding in the woods of Patch; with all their friends and most of their families invited and dressed up, but not fancy. That had been the best one, in Ruby's opinion.

All three of them were "important" in her eyes, but Weiss knew that. Of course, that didn't mean Ruby couldn't poke fun at her a bit for asking.

So, Ruby began reciting her "traditional" Atlesian vows, prepared to fill in for Weiss' lines as needed:

"As now our Houses join, may we prosper to greater heights together than apar—"

Weiss' glare could probably melt its way into a Relic's Vault. "You know that's not what I meant. The real ones, Ruby. Not whatever 'traditional'—" Weiss punctuated the word with actual finger quotes, "poem that was commissioned less than a decade before, by some snobby investor to flaunt their money."

Ruby gave her best over-the-top pout -with fully articulated hand-on-heart action! Buy your Ruby Rose homestyle doll today!—"They're all real. I meant every word of every one of my vows. Even the dumb ones." Ruby paused for a second, before pointing her finger in the direction of Weiss. "Actually. Scratch that. Especially the dumb ones."

That got a genuine smile out of Weiss. "And I wouldn't have it any other way." she leaned across the small gap between them and gave Ruby a peck on the lips. Mission: Snowflake Kisses is a success. I repeat: Snowflake Kisses is a success. As Ruby continued to grin like an idiot at the display of affection, Weiss waited patiently for the woman's brain activity to resume normal function.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Even imaginary, celebratory brain-champaign. Ruby might not indulge in the bottle, but that didn't mean she didn't get a little drunk on the rush that came from every bit of contact with her loved ones. And it was a bad idea to quit anything cold-turkey for a reason. Unfortunately that meant Ruby would have to survive more kisses, hugs, snuggles, and handholding. What a terrible fate.

Weiss leaned back into her seat before refreshing the subject. "So I take it you probably have the entire Schnee family tree memorized still?"

Ruby had to think for a moment about her answer. She had a pretty good memory when it came to important things, but the dry listing of a lineage was among the most boring things she had ever experienced in her life. "If you need me to remember it, you know I'll do my best." Ruby began tracing the snowflake buckle of her belt as she nervously started listing a series of names to an old nursery rhyme,

"Whitley, Winter, Weiss, and Willow, Jacques who married in~. Nicholas, his wife Bianca, then her mom named Lynn—"

Weiss gently stopped the mnemonic with a hand to Ruby's shoulder, and a smile full of mirth. "That was a joke, Ruby. I do appreciate the attempt, but no, I don't need you to sing my family line for me."

Ruby sighed in relief at the news. "Good. Because I forgot the next verse. I was just about to start making up names and hope they were close." That, of course, got Weiss to smile for real again. Worth it.

"Well, I was wondering about a specific part, but now I think I'd like to hear you say the entirety of the vows you wrote." Weiss put on her full Heiress posture—face neutral, back perfectly arched, legs crossed, hands folded in her lap except to motion Ruby into action. "Entertain me, plebeian." To anyone not familiar with the dynamic, it looked like Weiss really was a royal holding court with Ruby as her minstrel. But to the two of them it was a familiar back and forth. Ruby grinned as she gave a deep bow —or as deep a bow as she could while remaining in her seat anyway. "As My Lady wishes.

I, Ruby Rose,
Accept this bond in all its forms
I swear not 'till the end of the world.' for we have surpassed it
I swear not 'till the return of the brother gods.' for we have met them
I swear by the strength of my soul, and the power of my spirit.
By the heart of my blade, and of my body.
Though they may break or change across the years; they will be forged anew.
As our Aura joins, so too shall our lives.
As our Colors join, so too does our time.
Thus it is in accepting this bond we achieve unity.
Its meaning is personal, but it's purpose is clear:
Ever on we will move forward, hand-in-hand.
We will slip, stumble, and fall.
Just as we will support, catch, and lift in answer.
Thus Eternally We Venture.

Owning a private airship was really one of those luxuries you could never quite wrap your head around until you lived it. There was the issue of upkeep but once you had the ability to have anything that complex custom-built, that was less than pocket change. The RWBY-family Airship, christened The Corvid, was one such custom made monstrosity.

It had a fully functional cockpit, but was most often operated by a fork of the Polendina Electronic Navigation Artificial Intelligence (PEN-AI, for short), "hand" crafted by Doctor (Penny) Polendina herself for exactly the range of operations needed for Hunter operations; team RWBY's personalized seed preferred to be called Cash. The Corvid, with the addition of Cash, could takeoff, land, evade most airborne threats, and even navigate international customs near-autonomously if the situation required. Using its four top of the line, Monsoon-3 dust engines, the ship could theoretically carry the weight of a small Goliath through anything short of a category 4 tornado. Mostly Cash was used for quick flights to and from mission locations, as Blake's primary mode of transportation for her consultation practices, or in the case of today: to make a three hour trip to patch in under forty minutes to allow maximum time with family.

The seats even had two cup holders apiece.

As Ruby stepped off the ramp and into the slightly muggy late morning air of mid-autumn Patch, she took a deep breath of her childhood home. The house in the woods had been added onto a bit, but outwardly it still looked the same. The area encircling it, on the other hand, was greatly enlarged since her years attending beacon as a student. It held a small private landing pad, a large guesthouse, and a fully equipped yard intended for pre-combat school training and medically-required "downtime" practice. There wasn't a Hunter alive who actually listened to doctor-recommended 'bed rest' or 'taking it slow for a few days while you heal' retired or otherwise. Strangely enough, there also weren't that many Hunters who lived to see old age.

That deep breath was then immediately tested as she took Weiss' hand and launched the two of them out into the space and around several obstacles that weren't, strictly speaking, in the most direct line of travel between the Corvid and the front door of the Xiao Long residence. Weiss was, of course, used to the sudden jumps from standstill to semblance-enhanced "petal-to-the-metal" speeds.

Once upon a time it had been hard for Ruby to propel herself for longer than a second or two, even without Crescent Rose, but that had been when she was first learning the ins and outs. Like all semblances, training and practice allowed for both an increased reservoir of energy to utilize, and new tricks and intricacies to be found within the range of the ability.

Yang, for instance, could channel her semblance's output into just about anything she could touch these days; a skill which greatly increased her range of available weaponry and allowed for her to "share" a sliver of her increased strength to others. It had opened up several new combinations and possibilities for the team, and been instrumental in the success of several missions. Blake and Weiss had improved similarly, in both range and scope of application.

Blake's shadow clones, where once they were mostly one-and-done copies with a limited physical existence, now the woman could hold a small handful for extended periods of time. They also were solid enough to perform all sorts of relatively long-term tasks—from washing dishes or folding laundry, to defusing bombs and picking locks; Blake could probably crew a large boat on her own if she wanted. They also had more personal applications when the need called for it.

Weiss had always had a well-trained semblance, her glyphs were already an evolution of her base semblance, and her summons were a major hurdle to overcome in her younger years. Her list of applications had grown alongside her capacity to use them. That slow, methodical growth fit her personality well though.

Ruby, honestly hadn't put much time into increasing what she could do, but instead poured her energy into how well she could do it. She could carry a small handful of people along for the ride, or produce a storm of her signature petals without running in circles for several minutes, but for the most part she was just fast. So fast, in fact, that her passengers often had trouble breathing. Which came back to her speed-addled mind in the form of Weiss tapping Ruby on the neck to remind her.

Oops.

The rush of having the space to just go was addicting, but not to the point of endangering the chances of kisses later. So Ruby landed the two of them near to the front door of the main residence as quickly as she dared. Kicking up a small cloud of dust in the process, and nearly landing face first into the ground. Luckily, as always, Weiss was there in Ruby's time of need and caught her with a glyph before any actual impact occurred. Somehow she had managed a poise-perfect landing in wedges while Ruby was trying her hardest to belly flop.

"Saved your life," the guardian angel of Ruby's beautiful face declared with humor apparent in her voice, "but next time maybe don't try to stick the landing with your face."

"Are you sayin—" Ruby grinned as she twisted in the hold of the spinning snowflake to look at her Snowflake, "that you just like me for my good looks?"

"Yes." Ruby could swear the woman's poker face was actually chiseled from a block of ice. Her voice so perfect in its delivery that it could be a mail service. Her eyes so beautiful they could b—

Weiss dropped her the remaining distance to the ground.

"Oof"

The door to the home then opened to reveal a man who had clearly never quite heard that old men were supposed to lose their youthful good looks. "Hey, there's my girls!" a beaming grin splitting Taiyang Xiao Long's wizened face "Or, half of you anyway. Hope Blake feels better soon."

Ruby, having successfully risen from her dirt bed, was the first to leap into action. "Dad!" she yelled as she tackled him as fast as her semblance would allow in such a short distance.

Weiss, on the other hand, was much more reserved in her approach. She still practically lept into a hug, just not without the velocity of her soul to assist. "Hey dad."

Tai's smile had only been larger five times in his life. The day team STRQ had been bound together, the days Yang and Ruby had been born, the day team RWBY had been bound together, and the day he had married—

"Honey, come outside. The girls are here."

A/N:

Oh hey. it's been a while. my bad

Heads up, expect a decent break before my next chapter, I'm moving next week and have no idea when I'll get my writing couch back.

as always, I live for feedback, please give.