Soft. Weiss felt something very soft, and warm. It was so nice, she hugged it tightly and buried her face in it. What could it be? It was what she Imagined a cloud would feel like, if you could pluck one out of the sky. It smelled familiar... Weiss opened her eyes, and a flood of memories came back. The cave? Kid napping? Yang hated her now? Weiss saw that the soft thing she'd been cuddling had been Ruby, and she'd been smelling her hair in particular. Ruby glanced over "Oh, you're awake Weiss?"

Weiss squeaked embarrassedly and pushed herself away from Ruby, falling out of the bed they were in. She banged her head, curling up into a ball while clutching it from momentary pain. Bed? Room? Weiss sat up, seeing they were back at the inn. Had all that stuff before just been a dream?

She wised it could have been, but Blake sitting in a chair in the corner of the room told her otherwise. Yang was next to Blake, and It looked like they'd both been reading a book together, but were disturbed by Weiss flinging herself out of the bed. "About time you got up." Yang said in an amused voice. Weiss felt her head, wincing at how bad her bed head was. She tried to tame it with her hands for a few seconds, but gave up.

"We talked while you were sleeping." Ruby said, scooting to the edge of the bed and peering down at Weiss.

"I see." Weiss looked at her foot. It seemed mostly better. It would make sense that a healing potion needed a few hours to take full effect, and it probably helped that she'd slept. And had also stopped walking around an uneven forest on said foot.

"Did you really steal half your family's fortune and run off with it?" Ruby asked bluntly. Blunt, in a curious way, as if she didn't care weather Weiss had or hadn't.

What? Where on earth had they heard that? Maybe from whoever had posed as her mother? She needed to ask Blake about that in more depth... "The only thing I 'stole' was a bit of my fathers pride since he couldn't marry me off the next day." Weiss scoffed. "I didn't take any money, why do you think we went to the guild? I was going to tell you before, but I completed a quest while you were gone." Weiss motioned to her pack, which she'd stored her earnings from yesterday in.

Ruby was silent. She turned and shot Yang and Blake an unamused stare, as if to say 'I told you so'. "Reeeealy? Isn't that INTERESTING?"

Yang folded her arms and raised an eyebrow playfully. "She could be lying you know!"

"And why would she do that? You looked through her stuff yourself, and said she doesn't have anything bad!" Ruby huffed. Uh. Yang had gone through her pack? Weiss glanced over at it. She couldn't tell. If Ruby hadn't mentioned it, she probably wouldn't have noticed at all. Although, she was sure if Yang had taken anything out she wouldn't have been able to put it back in the exact same place. But then again, Weiss wearing her pack and jostling it around messed up her organization in the pack so much anyways maybe she wouldn't have noticed. Who knows. Weiss was to stressed to think straight.

Blake returned to the book she was reading before, while Ruby and Yang glared at each other. It only took them about 10 seconds to break into a fit of giggles. Ruby was so cute when she laughed. "You know, I bet we could get Blake to do a more through background check." Yang joked.

"Hey! You said you were done!" Ruby piped up.

Yang and Ruby bickered a little more. But it was in a light hearted way, somehow, as if each girl knew what the outcome of the argument would end up being but wanted to drag it out just for the sake if it. Weiss just sat on the floor. This was it huh? Even with Ruby defending her, she was sure Yang wouldn't want Ruby hanging around her anymore. Weiss didn't know Yang too well, but.. She thought of her own sister, Winter. If Weiss had started seeing and wanting to date some, some supposed criminal, there's no way Winter would stand for that! That was what it meant to be a big sister, protecting the little one from their own stupid decisions. And Yang was Ruby's big sister. She would definitely think like Winter. They were practically the same person.

And besides, Ruby would be better off without her, if Weiss was going to face off with assassins and kidnappers thinking she had her family's fortune. Dragon or not, Ruby somehow seemed so fragile while in human form. And surely, Yang could protect her better then Weiss ever could. She was her big sister, and a dragon! Those two things combined already made her the most qualified person for the job.

Weiss looked around the room. Her pack was sitting by the door, ready to be picked up and left with at a moments notice. And her sword was next to it, Yang had brought it back thankfully. All she had to do, was grab the pack and sword, and just disappear. She hugged her knees tightly. She didn't really want to leave. Ruby calmed her down, and she felt comfortable around her. Weiss had originally regarded Ruby as a responsibility or obligation, like one would think of taking care of a dog they didn't like. But she'd begun to see past that, and had genuinely started enjoying the time they spent together while trekking through the woods and wandering about the town. But, there was no going against a golden dragon. She needed an excuse to leave.

"I need to use the toilet, can I leave for a bit..?" Weiss spoke up.

"You don't need to ask permission." Ruby waved a hand nonchalantly. Weiss calmly walked to the door, silently picked up her pack and sword, and left without a word. "Bye." She said softly, as soon as the door had closed. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks, psyching herself up. She was going to have to be quick about this, leaving and such. Yang would stop Ruby from following her, she was sure. Just like Winter would have. And then Weiss would be alone again. Alone again, naturally.

Weiss went to the restrooms to change first, as she was in her nightwear. She wondered who'd dressed her. Surely Yang or Blake wouldn't have? But Weiss wasn't even sure if Ruby could manage to get her OWN clothes off without ripping them anymore. She remembered the first time Ruby had tried to take off her dress to wash it herself. Uhg. That'd been a nightmare. Luckily, Weiss had brought a small sewing kit along with her on her journey. You could never be too prepared... So who was it then? While changing, Weiss blushed heavily to herself as she realized she was wearing clean fresh underwear. "Dolt..!" She hissed under her breath as she buried her face in her hands and stewed in self embarrassment for a few moments.

Leaving the inn was fine. She walked out without a problem, and began her trek to the gates. She passed a familiar store on her way, that gave her a crushing sense of guilt. That one store, with the red cloak perfect for Ruby. Weiss checked how much money she had. She could buy it...

Weiss went into the store, eyeing the cloak. The store owner called out to her. "Hey there missy, lookin to buy something?"

"No, I.. um.." Weiss stared at the cloak. She wasn't going to see Ruby again, so why buy it? It would just be a reminder that Weiss had to leave the first friend she'd ever made outside her family. But, maybe she could buy it and sell it somewhere else.. Or she could turn it into a scarf, a red scarf for when it got colder? But she could just but an already made scarf for that.. She tried to rationalize buying it, and eventually settled on the reasoning of 'because father wouldn't want me to buy something this color'. It had taken her years to figure out how to incorporate red into her outfit back home, and even then it was barely there under her dresses collar. She'd didn't want to admit it to Ruby, but she really loved the red color of her dragon scales. This cloak reminded her of them.

After purchasing the cloak and leaving the store, that was when Weiss came back to her senses. Why? Why had she done that? She'd have no use for it! And it was hard enough to carry around what little she had in her pack as it was! Weiss pushed the red cloak down into the bottom of her pack, and grumbled to herself about avoiding impulse purchases from now on.

She set off again, and had almost made it to the city gates, before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Blake. "Can you wait until I leave before you track me down and kidnap me again please?" Weiss said coldly.

It looked like that statement really bothered Blake. "I don't kidnap people. That was a one time thing. And where do you think you're going?" She asked harshly.

"Away. Like I should be." Weiss started walking again, and Blake followed. Go away... Go away...!

"So you're just leaving her?" Blake knew just what to say to jab at Weiss heart.

"She's got Yang, she doesn't need me. And I don't think Yang would want me hanging out with her sister anyways. That look in the cave was all I needed to get the message." Weiss remembered how it took less then 5 words from Blake to turn Yang's gaze towards her from a playful sisterly feeling, to someone who thought Weiss was a loaded bomb.

"Yang wouldn't say that, she isn't that kind of perso–"

"I know she looked at me like I was going to kill her sister, so yes, I think she would. And besides, I've only known her a day, I don't have much to go off of!" Weiss sped up her pace.

"I'm sorry." Blake said from behind Weiss.

Weiss stopped. "What?"

"I'm, sorry. Last night I wasn't very.. Nice." Blake shuffled her feet awkwardly. Why was she even here? "And taking your girlfriend as a hostage probably wasn't the best idea for a good first impression."

She's not my girlfriend! Weiss yelled in her head. But her lips stayed shut. What did this matter now? Weiss was still leaving. "So you're NOT going to kidnap me and take me back to my family." Blake nodded. "Then leave me alone." Weiss sped walked away again, yet Blake still followed.

"You don't have to leav–"

"If people like you are going to be coming after me, then that's all the more reason to get as far away from Ruby as possible. For her own sake." Weiss was almost to the gate.

Weiss could see the pain in Blake's eyes, as if she were watching someone make a mistake she had made in her past and knew how to help them avoid, if they'd just listen. It was as if she was trying to transmit the phrase 'please don't make the same mistake I did' Directly into Weiss's brain. But Blake couldn't do that. Weiss knew exactly how telepethy felt from Ruby using on her when she was in dragon form. A second later, that pain was replaced with determination. "No!" Blake yelled at her. "I'm not letting you do that!" She grabbed Weiss's arm and pulled.

Why did she care?! just go away! "Back off!" Weiss flailed her arms, her finger accidentally catching Blake's bow and pulling it off. Pulling it off to reveal, a pair of cat ears. Blake was a faunus?! Blake hurriedly redid her bow, looking around to make sure no one had seen. She met eyes with Weiss, and her expression went blank.

"You saw."