"Master Schnee, are you sure-"

"Move aside!"

Angry, Jacques shoved the dog faunus out of his way. In defeat, the slave's dog ears folded on top of his head. Despite being told to move, he continued to follow the fuming man.

While the two speed-walked, the white marble floors glistened in the vast hallway. Dozens of windows were stormed by. Every single footstep thundered as they neared their destination.

Jacques hadn't spoken or heard from his daughter in quite a while. Normally, she would put up more of a fight. Maybe locking her away finally taught her a lesson. Enjoying the thought, Jacques finally arrived outside his daughter's room.

Tons of plates full of food surrounded the door. High-quality, gourmet meals lingered and emitted an unpleasant smell. Some of the food was an ugly brown and rotting.

"What is the meaning of this?" Jacques asked, annoyance in his tone.

"She never answered the door, master," the slave answered, which earned a skeptical look. "You said to leave the food outside in case she changed her mind-"

"Silence!" Jacques shouted, which caused the dog faunus to flinch. "Don't just stand there, unlock the door!"

"R-right, sorry master," the slave hurried and gave the knob a few jiggles with the key.

At last, the door opened. The second it was cracked open, Jacques stormed inside.

The bed was neatly made. The floor shimmered under the rays that peaked through the window. The room looked untouched. Like nobody had ever lived in there.

"Weiss?"

When there was no answer, something inside him snapped. Instantly, he ran over to the closest. It was almost completely empty. This whole time, Jacques was like a volcano. From the realization that his daughter had ran away, the lava overflowed and he exploded.

"The insolent brat!"

Frustrated, Jacques slammed the closet door shut.

"She has disobeyed me again! Time and time again!"

While he yelled, the dog faunus remained outside the room. If he could avoid one of his tirades, he would.

"When I find her, she's going to wish she had never been born!"


A shiver shot up her spine. Weiss found that odd, but brushed it off.

"We won't be here for long, so enjoy yourselves. Don't be stupid and wreak havoc like last time, got it?"

Jokingly, Yang replied. "Got it, mom."

"I'm serious," Qrow said with a playful eye roll. "Don't draw attention to yourselves."

All they had to do was get more food and other items. Then they'd be on their merry way. The short pit stop was to merely run errands. Causing a commotion was the last thing the pirates needed.

Together, the crew walked through the town called Carnation. It was strange for Weiss to feel land after being on the ship for so long.

The ground was so stable. She'd grown used to the swaying. Her other crewmates didn't seem affected by this. Probably because they were used to it. On occasion, there were some horses with riders trotting through. Instead of concrete, the sidewalks were gravel.

"You have our word, uncle Qrow," Ruby mocked a salute. "We'll behave like angels."

"Says the troublemaker," Qrow pointed out with a smirk. "I'll find ya when I'm done getting enough food."

"Seeya later," Yang waved.

With that, the older huntsman separated from the group and went ahead. The sooner he could find food, the sooner they could leave.

Thankfully, they had plenty of money on them thanks to Weiss. Since she insisted they used it, they were going to. It was now "everyone's" money.

"What're we going to do first, Thorns?" Ruby asked.

In boredom, Yang kicked a stray pebble. "Let's blow somethin' up. That'll get Qrow piiiiissed."

Not amused, Blake crossed her arms. "How about no."

In the corner of her vision, Ruby noticed a white strand was poking out of the red hood that Weiss was borrowing.

Since her crewmate didn't want to be recognized, Ruby tucked the white strand behind her ear and gave the red hood a light tug.

From her thoughtfulness, Weiss blushed as she met her captain's gaze.

Woah, Ruby thought as she stared at her face. Her eye is sparkling! she figured her other eye would be if it wasn't covered by an eye patch. Wait, is she blushing? Her cheeks are redder than my cape!

"I- I figured people might know your hair color since it's not common," the captain hastily explained, trying to break the silence. "Like you said, people might be looking for you."

"Thank you, Ruby," the former heiress said as she tugged a little on the red hoodie. "That's very thoughtful of you."

From the small interaction, Yang grinned widely. She teased them often, but supposed she could back off. For now.

Meanwhile, Blake didn't hear a word. She was too focused on her surroundings. Sometimes, the group walked passed faunus slaves. Quite a few were in cages. Even more were doing hard labor like lifting heavy wood. Definitely for free.

With each faunus, Blake met eyes with them. She tried not to show pity since she would hate that. Instead, she tried smiling at them, only for them to look away. She wished she could save every single one of them, but that wasn't realistic.

When Blake sighed from being unable to do anything, Yang noticed. To take her mind off things, Yang whined.

"Ahh, I wanna horse so bad."

That caused the cat ears under her bow to flicker. "Where would we put it?"

"It would go in your room," the blonde said with a smirk.

"Why my room?" Blake questioned. "It would get rancid. The smell- I don't even want to think about it."

"Which is why it's not going in my room," Yang gave her a smug grin.

"In case you forgot, my sense of smell is ten times more enhanced than yours," the faunus reminded. "It should go in your room."

"We'll shove it in Ruby's room," Yang joked.

"Aw, why me?!" Ruby yelped.

Yang only shrugged. "Your room's a mess, anyways. No one would notice a horse in there."

"No way is it messier than yours!" Ruby fired back. "I found oatmeal over a week-old in there."

It took Ruby a moment to realize what she said. She hastily covered her mouth as Yang processed her words.

"What were you doin' in my room, Rubes?" Yang asked in suspicion.

"N-nothing, okay bye!"

Instantly, Ruby darted away into a nearby shop. For some reason, Weiss felt the urge to chase after her.

"Wait up, dolt!"

While running, Weiss tugged on the red hood to keep her face hidden. In Atlas, she would never get away with this 'unladylike' behavior. It was nice to feel so carefree for once. To do whatever she wanted.

Only a few days ago, the former heiress dreamed of being free in a world that was waiting for her. Now that she was living it, it was so surreal.

When she arrived at the building Ruby bolted into, the former heiress smiled. Of course it was a weapons shop. A bell chimed when the door opened. Only Ruby was inside gawking at the various weapons.

"Ohmygoshlookatallthesethisislikeadreamcometrue!" Ruby gawked from the sheer amount of weapons in one space, bouncing up and down in excitement. "I want to buy them all!"

"Your scythe is more than enough."

"Nothing can replace my sweetheart," Ruby agreed.

Silver eyes twinkled as she stared at all the swords hanging on the wall. One, in particular, glimmered under the dim lighting. There was also a shotgun that was bigger than her entire body.

To resist the urge to grab all of them, Ruby darted over to the display cases that contained hundreds of knives and switchblades.

When Weiss noticed what Ruby was staring at, she glanced away. The swords become much more interesting as a dreadful feeling crept over her. Her thoughts went back to the day she almost ended it.

The switchblade. That friendly blue flare.

"You buyin' anything or what?"

The man behind the counter was growing impatient.

"Uhh, yeah," Ruby confirmed, which surprised Weiss.

She thought her captain only wanted to look around.

"Gimme that one," Ruby pointed to a smaller red blade, thinking it was a perfect choice.

After the man gave her the blade, Ruby handed him the money.

"Are we done here?" Weiss asked.

After seeing all those switchblades, she wanted nothing to do with this place.

"Yeah!" Ruby chirped.

Together, they walked outside. The moment the door shut, Ruby held out the blade to her crewmate.

"Here," the captain said, which earned a skeptical look. "Everyone on the crew has a switchblade or knife on them in case we're separated from our weapons. We hide them under our clothes, see?"

Casually, Ruby lifted her skirt to reveal her legs. Flustered, Weiss looked away with a blush.

"You dunce, we're in public!"

"Weiss, just look," the captain urged with her own blush.

Shyly, Weiss did as she was told. Just above Ruby's stockings was a switchblade strapped around her thigh. From the sight, Weiss' face heated up.

"P-put your skirt down," the former heiress couldn't stop from stammering. "I- I understand, but I can't accept it."

"Why not?" Ruby asked. "You should never be unarmed."

Now calm, Weiss took a deep breath. No way was she going to tell Ruby the real reason. She didn't want to break her heart like that.

"I just can't."

Why won't she tell me? Ruby asked herself. Why does she look so troubled?

Noting that, Ruby tucked the blade into her boots. She didn't want to pressure her by any means to accept the weapon. She had to have a good reason to reject it.

"It's okay," the captain accepted, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. "Remember, you can always have it if you want it," she assured with a smile.

To lighten the atmosphere, Ruby giddily grabbed her arm.

"I know exactly what to show you!"

"Wha- agh!"

Once again, the captain led them to a nearby store with her semblance. They were red and white blurs for a few moments until they arrived.

"Ruby, if you do that again I swear-"

Weiss trailed off when she got a look at the shop. It sold all kinds of dust. Since dust was expensive, not many people in the town could buy any, which might've been why it was filled to the brim with colorful crystals.

Since the former heiress of Schnee dust was standing outside a dust shop, she tugged down the hood to cover her face.

"Don't you like dust?" Ruby asked. "You brought a whole suitcase full. Do you want to get more?"

While it was true Weiss brought a lot of dust, she only did it to spite her father before she left. It was one last middle finger to him. Besides also stealing his money. Two middle fingers.

For combat, Weiss didn't need the dust, but it certainly made things easier. It was more of a perk.

"I don't need more," the former heiress said. "I haven't used the dust I have yet."

"Good point," Ruby accepted, taking note that she was acting more reserved now. "What do you wanna do now?"

If Ruby let her take the reins, maybe Weiss would spend less time being paranoid and more time to enjoy herself.

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but someone told me you like sweets?" Weiss said asked teasingly.

From the question, Ruby's eyes lit up. "Do I?!"

"A sweets store it is," the former heiress suggested. "There's bound to be one here somewhere. If there's an expensive dust shop, there's a candy shop."

With a wide grin, Ruby asked. "Do you think they'll have cookies?"

"Let's hope so," Weiss said, hoping she wasn't getting her captain's hopes up.

The sight of Ruby so giddy caused Weiss to hook an arm around Ruby's own. The dolt became even happier if that was possible. A blush adorned her cheeks as they walked side-by-side.

She- she grabbed my arm! Ruby thought in excitement. I usually have to initiate physical contact!

"You're in a good mood," Ruby smiled like she was on top of the world, savoring the close contact.

"I get to travel with you," Weiss said in a heartbeat. "Nothing could be better."

To Weiss, it felt odd to say such sweet words, but they rang true. If she wasn't beside Ruby right now, she didn't know what she'd be doing back in Atlas.

If she'd be doing anything...

"Ah!" Ruby chirped happily. "That was so sweet! I like being with you, too. A lot, actually."

"Really?"

"Mhm," the captain hummed. "I don't want to be with anyone else."

Hearing those words caused Weiss' heart to flutter.

To appear normal, Weiss tried to steer the conversation a different route. "What do you think Blake and Yang are up to?"

Ruby took a moment to think.

"I bet they're in a bookstore. Blake's needed to visit one for some time now and Yang usually tags along wherever she goes."

That sounded exactly like something they'd do. Weiss smiled from the thought.

"Yang is probably bothering her while she's trying to read."

"Probably."


The chapter is titled after the song Tabi no Tochuu by Amalee. "There's a world we see in our dreams. Is it out there? Is it waiting?" This references the world Weiss had dreamed of until now. It's thanks to Ruby that she's able to experience it. She is learning to live and not only exist.

Stay dandy,

~Toto