October 9, 2020

"Fucking sick," Weiss said as she read a military newspaper in the morning at the firebase. "The news is getting worse and worse by the day."

Yang replied, "You got that right. What kind of sick fuck would run over firefighters intentionally?"

The story being mentioned was news from Sparta, the third-largest city in Vale, right next to Apamea. There, a member of the White Fang had taken his car and ran over 7 volunteer firefighters doing a boot drive in the city, killing 3 of them, before crashing into the station, also killing the terrorist and destroying a ladder truck.

"He left a really screwed up note in the truck," Weiss said as she read further. "I can't read it. It's too... Wow..." Weiss then threw the newspaper in the trash can behind her. "Let's just say that we are now explicitly labeled as targets by the White Fang for being firefighters."

"I've been to Sparta before with Nora to visit her sister there last year," Ren said. "I actually visited the firehouse where that happened. They have a volunteer hose company, a volunteer truck company, and a paid medic company there. I'm still shocked."

"How does Sparta work?"

"They have like 80-something stations with volunteer hose companies, truck companies, engine companies, chemical companies, rescue companies, and salvage companies. There's like 174 different single-truck companies that are volunteer. They also have 24 paid engines, 10 paid trucks, and 56 paid medic companies. They're crazy good down there."

"Single-truck? How do they fit all the firefighters that show up?"

"They limit volunteer companies to 30 members per company." Ren then got a phone call. "Hello? Wait, woah woah woah, slow down. Huh? Nora's what? Oh my God... I don't know if I should be excited or worried! I'm on a hunting mission, so I'll be there as soon as I'm released. Bye. Tell her I love her." Ren then hung up.

Jaune said, "What was that?"

"Nora went into labour a few days early. When will we be released?"

"We'll get released at 19:00 hours," Jaune replied, looking at schedule.

Weiss said, "Nora's giving birth?"

Pyrrha's ghost then tapped Weiss on the shoulder, saying, "Hey there, Weiss."

Weiss jumped and yelped, confusing the others. "Uhhh..."

Ruby said, "Weiss... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Weiss quickly replied. "I just... I just felt something crawl on my leg." She then got up and went outside.

Pyrrha's ghost said to her, "Nice excuse. Soooo... Nora's in labour."

"Yep. A bit early, but oh well."

"I wish I could have had children with Jaune."

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Why did you say that now?"

"Uhhh... No reason."

"Are you trying to guilt trip me into getting knocked up by Jaune, because if you are, it isn't working, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha's ghost worriedly chuckled and said, "No I'm not. Why would I be? I have no motivation to do that."

Weiss could tell Pyrrha was lying. "Look, I'm not having kids until I'm older and married, and that will be when I'm 25 at the earliest. Right now, I don't know if things between me and Jaune will get that serious, so don't get your hopes up, especially about kids."

Pyrrha sighed and said, "I understand. You know, I never even thought about having any children until Jaune came along. He... He made me feel all these things that felt... Well... Good. Very good. I went to bed many nights having dreams about us in the future, with a wedding, and kids, and a house somewhere, not to mention kicking Grimm ass." Pyrrha then wiped her eyes, smearing part of her face with blood from her ghost wounds. "I miss him every single day, Weiss. I'm sorry I let my feelings get in the way of you and Jaune after I died. It's just... It's just that I kinda see a part of me in you whenever you're around him."

"Really? You see yourself in me? That's... Odd..."

"Jaune deserves a woman who will treat him right and make him happy. Can you do that for me, Weiss?" Pyrrha then walked over to Weiss and hugged her. She also began crying to herself.

"Sure... I will..." Weiss ignored the bones sticking out of Pyrrha's arms as she returned the hug. "We all miss you, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha then split from Weiss and said, "Thank you. Don't worry. I will return from time to time." She then disappeared.

Weiss reached her right arm out to where Pyrrha was for a few seconds before she sat down on a log nearby. As she buried her head in her arms, she began to quietly sob to herself. "Pyrrha... Pyrrha..."

At 10, Team RWBY, Ren, Sun, George, and Jaune all went down to the hospital where Nora had given birth. Ren went into the room first. There, Nora, dressed in a hospital gown and laying on a bed, was cradling her child. She said, "Hello, my lovely husband."

Ren walked over and gave her a kiss before saying, "The child is beautiful. Boy or girl?"

"Girl, just as we predicted." Nora smiled. "She has your eye colour and my eye shape."

Ren chuckled and said, "I think she has your hair colour. Can I hold her for a sec?" Nora nodded and handed the baby over to Ren.

The baby, awake, looked at Ren in interest and babbled some nonsense at him.

"I'm your father. I love you so much already, Leona." Ren and Nora had earlier agreed upon the name of Nora's grandmother if it was a girl. He then pointed at Nora and said, "That's your mother. Obviously, you've seen her a lot already, inside and out."

Nora laughed. "That is true."

"Say, have you breastfed her yet?"

"Well, I gave birth about 3 hours ago. Shit, I should." Nora then realised her language. "Pardon my profanity."

Ren then handed Nora the baby and said, "Want me to bring the others in?"

"Of course. We've been family since Beacon." She then uncovered one of her breasts to begin feeding Leona.

Team RWBY, Sun, George, and Jaune then walked in. Yang said, "Feeding the baby, I assume?"

"Yep. Everybody's here." Nora then smiled as Leona began feeding off of Nora.

Weiss looked around to see if Pyrrha's ghost was around. She then saw her looking at the scene from the corner, smiling. Pyrrha looked up at Weiss and nodded. Weiss nodded back and put her left arm around Jaune's shoulder.

Ren decided to stay overnight at the hospital, leaving the rest of the group to go home at midnight.

Ruby checked her phone in her apartment alone, as Yang had headed over to George's apartment for 'fun.' She said to herself, "Seems like couples being in the presence of another couple's baby for a time leads to sex afterwards. Meh, I can see why with the whole 'sex is why babies exist' thing."

She decided to go up to the wall between her apartment and Weiss's to hear if she and Jaune were having sex as well. She placed her right ear on the kitchen wall, which she knew was also the bedroom wall in Weiss's apartment, and listened in.

As she kept listening, she heard grunts and moans. "As expected. I hope they're not actually aiming for a child tonight." She then got a call on her cellphone. "Hello?"

"Hey Ruby, it's Gwen."

"Oh, hi Gwen. How's it hanging?"

"Uhh... Listen... We need to talk..."

Ruby suddenly got a bad feeling. "What happened, Gwen?"

"Listen, Ruby... I need to come over, hold on." Gwen then hung up.

"Oh no..." Ruby then began pacing across her apartment, pondering what Gwen was going to talk to her about. "Please don't be a breakup, please don't be a breakup, please don't be a breakup..."

10 minutes later, Gwen knocked on the door. Ruby let her in. Gwen said, "Thank you."

The 2 of them sat down at a kitchen table. Ruby said, "What happened?"

Gwen grabbed Ruby's hands on the table and said, "Ruby... I... I can't be with you anymore."

Tears instantly formed in Ruby's eyes as she said, "Why..."

"I got hired by the Vale Manorial Constabulary, and I have to move to a new town. The distance is just gonna be too great. I tried an LDR once, and it ended very ugly, so I don't want to take any chances." Gwen then wiped some tears of her own away from her eyes. "This is my dream job. My dad was a constable. They get paid twice as much as city cops." She then got up.

Ruby got up as well and said, "So that's it?"

Gwen walked over to her and gave her a final kiss, this one lasting for over 15 seconds. Ruby held Gwen as their tongues met and mixed together in their mouths before they split. "That is the end. Today was my last day on the job here. I want you to keep my badge."

Ruby held Gwen's badge and said, "I... I... Began to... Love... You..." She then broke down, crying her eyes out in front of Gwen.

Gwen said, "Ruby, promise me that no matter what happens, you won't do anything rash because of this." Tears began to fall from Gwen's eyes. "When I was 16, I had an ex-girlfriend who killed herself half a year after we broke up because of what happened. I don't want that happening to you. Promise me that you'll move on in some way, Ruby... Please..."

Ruby nodded tearfully.

Gwen said, "Thank you..." She then quietly walked out of the apartment and closed the door.

Ruby locked the front door and collapsed onto the floor, devoid of energy. She screamed in pain, emotional and physical, as she felt searing pain across her right arm from falling on it. She then weeped to herself, screaming, "GWEN! NO! DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!"

After a few minutes, she tried to get up using her right arm, but when she tried to apply weight to it, she screamed in pain again, causing her to fall to the floor again and cry. This time, though, someone heard her.

Weiss and Jaune ran in, barely dressed, about 5 minutes after Gwen had left, having just finished their sex session and hearing Ruby crying. Weiss said, "Ruby! What's wrong?!" She then turned to Jaune. "Get my EMT bag from my apartment now!"

"Gwen... Gwen broke up with me... I fell on my right arm..." She then cried again, sobbing into Weiss's shoulder.

"Where's the physical pain in your right arm, Ruby?"

"My... My wrist and lower arm..."

Jaune then ran in with the EMT bag. "I got the bag right here! What happened?"

Weiss replied, "Gwen broke up with Ruby, so she fell to the floor and injured her wrist."

October 10, 2020

The next day, Ruby was discharged from the hospital with an active healing cast on her lower right arm. She would be out of service until late October for fire calls until the cast was able to heal her injuries. She had broken her wrist and had a greenstick fracture in her radius.

Yang talked to Ruby at home about Gwen. "Should we contact her about the injuries?"

"No," Ruby replied sternly. "She doesn't need to know."

"She does, Ruby. Even if you broke up, she needs to be notified if anything bad happened afterwards. Listen, I called Gwen and told her about it. She said she couldn't visit you because she was packing up her apartment, but she sent you 2,000 Lien."

Ruby looked at Yang for a few seconds and said, "You keep it. In fact, take Gwen's old badge too." She then reached into her pocket with her left arm and gave Yang Gwen's old badge. "I don't want anything to do with her."

"Ruby, calm down. I understand you're still hurt, but you need to be a mature adult about this-"

"I don't care!" Ruby then stood up. "I said I don't want ANYTHING to do with her, Yang! Damn it, won't you listen?!"

Yang's eyes turned red as she stood up. "Take it from me, alright?! I've been through breakups on the giving and receiving ends! You're only gonna make the pain worse if you keep acting like this, especially with your arm!"

"Which she caused. If she hadn't broken up with me because she 'couldn't handle long distances', none of this would have happened!"

"She has every God damn right to break up with you or anyone else for any reason, Ruby!" By now, Yang began to grit her teeth in rage. "She doesn't belong to anybody. Not you, not her other exes, and no one else she'll date from now on! Either accept that or face the fact that you can't handle a relationship with someone, alright?! At least she didn't cheat on you like 2 of mine did! At least she had the common fucking decency to formally break up with you without it devolving into an argument like with me and Blake! You're a huntress, a team leader, and a firefighter, Ruby! You're supposed to handle simple shit like this with ease compared to seeing death and destruction every single day! What happened to you?!"

Ruby tried to counter Yang's point, but as she tried to open her mouth, Ruby began crying.

Yang realised she had pushed her sister too far and calmed down, saying, "Sis?"

Ruby turned away from Yang and said, "No... Don't touch me..."

"Ruby... I... I didn't mean to blow up at you like that..."

Yang tried to approach Ruby, but Ruby looked at her with menacing eyes and told her, "Go. Away."

"What have I done? I made my own sister turn against me. My arrogance cost me my relationship with my own sister. I feel worthless." Yang simply walked out of the apartment and shut the door. She then pressed her back against the door, slid down to the ground, and placed her head between her legs. She then began to sob to herself. "Why did I explode at her like that? Why?"