Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. This is a nonprofit, fan-based story. Please support the official release.

Chapter 2

Weiss Schnee was not particularly fond of children, and being tasked with babysitting Remnant's biggest child was not likely to change that.

Not that she was about to walk away from the task that had been presented to her. In all honesty, Weiss was more concerned about how easily she had been convinced to take it. All Oscar had really had to say was that Ruby needed her help, and within the hour she was at the local police precinct signing for her former leader's release. A cynical voice in her head said that she would come to regret this decision later.

To be fair, Ruby was only her usual amount of trouble during the trip back to Weiss' apartment. Ruby had been a bit confrontational with the officer that returned Crescent Rose to her, but Ruby's unhealthy attachment to her scythe had been the norm since the day they met.

"Why can't I just go back to my apartment again?" Ruby whined as they waited for their elevator to reach its destination.

"Because I'm supposed to supervise you," Weiss replied without turning to face her charge.

"I can look after myself," Ruby pouted.

"You're still drunk."

"I am not! Accelerated metabolism, remember?"

Weiss rolled her eyes as the elevator doors opened in front of them. As they exited and moved down the hall, she finally turned to face Ruby. "It's just for tonight. I just don't want you running off and getting into trouble."

The protest on Ruby's face quickly turned into a smirk. "So you're doing this because you care?"

"I care about my reputation," Weiss clarified. "I can't imagine I'd have an easy time finding work if I let you choke on your own vomit."

"I've missed you too, Princess." Ruby looked right at her with a big smile and wide, silver eyes, which kept Weiss from coming up with a retort. She was more than aware of the difficulties Ruby was having since the war ended, so seeing her in any mood that remotely resembled happiness was worth taking a few jabs.

Weiss had also missed Ruby as well, though she wasn't about to admit it out loud.

At that point they had reached her apartment, and Weiss didn't waste a second before unlocking the door and allowing them to enter. The apartment was small, with just a single bedroom, bathroom, and a living room and kitchen that could hardly be considered two separate rooms. The size of her dwelling, however, didn't bother Weiss in the slightest. This space belonged to her.

Severing ties with her father and the rest of her family had had immediate consequences. Weiss was disowned in every sense of the word, left with only Myrtenaster to call her own. Turned out, though, that those conditions suited her just fine. She had spent years training to become a huntress, and by the end of the war she knew her craft quite well. It took some time, but working full time as a huntress allowed her to achieve a sense of stability.

Of course, Ruby had been in her apartment for all of ten seconds and was already looking to destroy that stability. She had made a beeline for the coffee table, picking up and opening a vile of fire dust from a set Weiss had been organizing when she received Oscar's call.

"Put that down!" Weiss demanded, marching over to the girl and attempting to snatch the vile away.

Ruby held the vile out of Weiss' reach. "Oh, what's the worst that could happen?" she asked playfully.

"Maybe you've forgotten our first meeting but I haven't!"

"How could I forget the fireworks between us?" Ruby managed to end her own fun by letting some of the dust fall from the vile and onto the couch behind her. It quickly ignited a small flame. "Oh god, it's happening again!"

Weiss could only watch in disbelief as Ruby patted down the smoking piece of furniture with her cloak. The cynical voice in her head was certain Ruby would kill her in her sleep.

Eventually, Ruby succeeded in preventing the apartment from burning down, which she followed up by plopping herself down on the singed couch. Seeing that Ruby had seemed to mellow out, Weiss sat down next to her.

"Are you alright?" Weiss asked after a couple seconds.

"Yeah..." Ruby lied as she stared at what seemed like nothing at all. "I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do about this mission."

"Well, let me know if you need help. We can't blindly rush into this one."

"We?" Ruby turned to Weiss, curiosity piqued.

"I have to go with you, remember?" Weiss regretted the words the second they left her mouth.

"Right..." Ruby's curiosity gave way to disappointment, making Weiss even more mad at herself. With one sentence, she had managed to make her partner feel like an obligation.

Of course, it wasn't that long ago that Weiss wouldn't have thought twice about intentionally doing so. That had always been their dynamic. Ruby would go out of her way to impress Weiss, and Weiss would pretend Ruby's gestures were meaningless to her. This wasn't entirely the case anymore, especially considering that Ruby had taken the disbanding of Team RWBY harder than anyone.

It hadn't really been any one person's fault. Blake had been the first to leave, understandably wanting to take some time away from being a huntress. Yang followed, having had a particularly difficult time accepting Blake's departure. To Weiss' understanding, Yang rarely accepted missions as of late.

Weiss felt a pang of guilt as she recalled her own reasons for leaving, now feeling like she had been selfish then. She had said she simply wanted to prove that she could stand on her own two feet, something all the more important to her now that she could no longer fall back on her family's wealth and influence. While all this had been true to some degree, they had not been the extent of her concerns.

Things had changed for all of them during the war, as well as afterwards. Watching the connection between Blake and Yang basically disintegrate after the fighting ended placed more than a few doubts in Weiss' mind pertaining to her bond with her own partner and whether or not they would end up any differently. Unfortunately, she let those doubts get the better of her, a choice she could clearly see was a mistake.

Perhaps the team coming apart would have been easier on all of them if they stayed in touch more often, but that had not been the case. Blake had returned to Menagerie, Yang was essentially wandering around the kingdom trying to find herself, and Ruby and Weiss each accepted enough missions to keep themselves busy.

Ultimately, Ruby had had no support structure when she started to spiral, and Weiss now wanted to course correct on that regard. It was the least she could do for the first real friend she had ever had.

"Let's start with the facts," Weiss began as she pulled out her scroll. Oscar had already sent all relevant information on the mission to her. "Two weeks ago, an airship carrying Atlas Tech out of Vacuo disappeared from its flight path." A map appeared on the scroll, which had the location of the robbery marked.

"What was on board?" Ruby asked as she leaned closer to Weiss to read over her shoulder.

Weiss tried to pull up a manifest. "A lot of the contents are redacted. I'll have to contact Winter to see if she can release a complete list. Right now it just looks like weapons and dust."

"I guess Hazel would want those things."

"Your father seemed to think so as well." A new marker appeared on the map. "He last checked in when he was in this area."

"So I guess we'll head there first and start looking for clues." Ruby leaned back.

"I concur." Weiss looked away from her scroll. "Do we have everything we'll need?"

"It'd be nice to have a master scout and a blonde brawler," Ruby mumbled, probably having not meant it as a serious suggestion.

Weiss was going to retort, but an idea clicked in her had first. She returned to her scroll. "I'll email Blake."

"I was joking."

"And I wasn't." Weiss typed as she spoke. "If we are going after Rainart, then we need the best team."

"Would she even want to get involved?"

"Probably not, but I know her and she won't turn us down once she knows the details." Weiss paused to proof read her message. Satisfied, she hit send. "I assume you'll talk to Yang tomorrow."

"Yeah, she promised she wouldn't flake out on Dad and me this time." Ruby shook her head wearily. "Honestly, I'm not sure if it would be better or worse for Blake to say no."

"I guess we'll find out." Weiss finally clicked her scroll off and stood up. "I'm getting changed and going to bed. Bathroom's right there if you need it."

"Wait, where am I sleeping?" Ruby asked quickly before Weiss could take her first step.

"Here," Weiss answered with a raised eyebrow. She thought that had been obvious.

"But this couch is all... burnt."

"Whose fault is that?" Weiss sighed and shook her head. "Are you implying that I should sleep here instead?"

"No..." A mostly innocent smile found its way to Ruby's face. "I'm implying that we should just share your bed."

"Absolutely not," Weiss replied instantly.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not listening to you snore all night."

"I don't snore," Ruby said confidently, though said confidence seemed to blink away a second later. "Wait, do I snore?"

"Goodnight, Ruby," Weiss snapped. She turned away before Ruby could continue, heading to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

You can handle one night, Weiss told herself, mainly to drown out the voice in her head.

Blake Belladonna had always hated politics.

It was one of the reasons she had joined the White Fang so long ago. A bunch of people in a room talking at each other never seemed to accomplish anything. More often than not, change required action.

That was years ago, though, and Blake was willing to try changing with the times. Her method of doing so was sitting in a room with her parents and a bunch of people she barely knew while they all talked at each other.

The irony of this situation was not lost on her.

Still, her current position on the Menagerie council wasn't all bad. Based on her parents' moods as they walked home from their most recent meetings, things had gone well today. Blake assumed so anyway, as she had been having trouble focusing during the day's proceedings. She could only vaguely recall what was meant to be the topic of discussion.

"All I'm saying is it's only a matter of time!" Blake's father, Ghira, bellowed without regard for anyone nearby. Not that anyone seemed to mind the noise. Again, he was more excited than anything else.

"Well, we can hope so," Kali replied calmly. Blake had always known her mother to be the more reasonable of her parents, making sure to balance out her father's personality.

"Hope? It's basically guaranteed!" Ghira paused for a second before looking at his wife and calming down. "Oh, I see what you're doing."

"You always figure it eventually." Kali looked to Blake and winked. Being calm and supportive didn't mean that she didn't like to have her own fun every so often.

"What do you think, Blake?" Ghira asked just as they reached the front of their home.

"I-" Blake began before a notification on her scroll cut her off. Somewhat relieved that she wouldn't have to make up an answer to appease her father, she checked the device immediately and was surprised to see Weiss' name on the screen.

"Is everything alright?" Kali asked, causing Blake to realize how still and quiet she had been for the last few seconds.

"I'm not sure," Blake answered slowly. While this wasn't the first message she had received from Weiss since returning to Menagerie, communication from the former Schnee heiress was still rare.

"Then you should open it and see what's up," a loud and cocky voice called out from above the three of them.

Blake and her parents looked upwards, none of them all that surprised to see Sun Wukong hanging from the tree above them. The monkey faunus released his grip and fell downwards, landing on his feet right in front of them.

"So what does it say?" Sun asked eagerly.

"Probably nothing that concerns you," Ghira growled, making it clear that he didn't approve of Sun's presence.

"Is that what Blake thinks?" Sun countered. He did his best to stand his ground, which was a difficult task given the size difference between himself and the Belladonna patriarch. He ended up turning towards Blake and grinning nervously.

Against her better judgment, Blake smiled back. She had long since given up pretending that she hated Sun's spying and unannounced entrances. While annoying and inappropriate at times, Blake conceded they were also part of his charm.

In his defense, Sun had managed to surprise Blake in ways that didn't involve unexpected appearances. When they had first met, Sun had actually seemed indifferent when it came to faunus discrimination. This changed over time, however, culminating in him moving to Menagerie following Salem's defeat. While Sun had zero interest in joining the council and becoming involved in politics, he was incredibly involved in community outreach and the responsibilities that came with it.

"Maybe we can talk about this inside," Kali suggested as she motioned to the house. "How about you join us for dinner, Sun?"

"Hey, I'm always down for your cooking, Mrs. B," Sun replied, eagerness now back.

Kali smiled, mischievously from what Blake could tell. "Actually, it's Ghira's turn to cook tonight."

"Yes..." Ghira agreed. "And I have a special recipe that I've been saving for one of your visits."

"Can't wait," Sun squeaked before following Blake's parents inside.

Blake herself, however, decided to stay behind for a few minutes. Not really sure what she was nervous about, she opened her scroll and read Weiss' message to herself.

Qrow's missing and Oscar's worried. Apparently, he was following a lead on Hazel Rainart. Ruby and I are going to investigate, and were hoping the rest of Team RWBY could join us. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you the details once I have them.

Blake spaced out a bit, rereading the message as she moved through her front door. Before she could form any complete thoughts on the matter, she collided with a body that was waiting for her on the other side.

"Sun!" Blake yelled. Quick reflexes were all that kept her from falling over or dropping her scroll.

"Don't get mad at me!" Sun said quickly. "I wasn't exactly sneaking around."

"Sorry," Blake conceded. "I was a little distracted."

"What's wrong?"

Rather than answer, Blake simply handed him her scroll and let him read.

"Damn..." Sun said after a few seconds. "The Ice Queen doesn't mince words. Didn't even ask how you were doing."

"Well, that's Weiss for you," Blake replied, actually letting a small, sentimental smile find it's way to her face.

"So..." Sun handed Blake's scroll back to her with one hand and scratched his neck with the other. "When do ya think you'll be leaving?"

"What makes you think I'll be going?"

"The fact that I've met you." Sun grinned and shrugged.

Blake shook her head as she found herself sitting down on the ground. "Is there a limit that I don't about on how long I can go without fighting?"

"Does seem that way sometimes." Sun paused for a second after realizing his joke hadn't landed. He sat down next to her and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. "What's really bothering you?"

There really wasn't any one answer to Sun's question. Blake had been fighting her entire life. Whether it was for or against the White Fang, battling Salem herself, or anyone her and her friends had fought in between, conflict always seemed constant. Her return to Menagerie was meant to be an end to that, not just an intermission.

"I just thought I finally things figured out," Blake explained. She would be the first to admit that her new life could get a bit boring, but she had had enough excitement to last a lifetime. She was fine with Gambol Shroud becoming a memento of her past life. "Going to council meetings with my parents was just starting to feel normal."

"But is feeling normal more important than family?" Sun asked almost without thinking.

Blake instinctively shook her head. The size of her family had grown significantly since the day she arrived at Beacon. It had shrunk sometimes as well, but those instances only made her more determined to protect the people that remained. Even Qrow, who she still didn't really know all that well, fell into this category. His connection to Ruby and Yang ensured his place there as far as Blake was concerned.

Her brain hit a speed bump with that last thought, reminding her of the other reason she was nervous about seeing her old team again.

"Yang will probably be there," Blake stated, making her unsure all over again.

"Maybe that's a good thing," Sun offered. He didn't sound completely convinced, but she appreciated him trying.

"How?" Blake asked anyway.

"Look, I don't know about everything that happened between you two." Sun paused again to look off into space. "And trust me, there are a few details I'd really like to know about..."

"Sun!" Feeling her face start to heat up, Blake hit him the chest hoping to bring them both back to reality.

"Right, sorry!" Sun returned his focus to her. "It's just that you two were inseparable once. Even if you never have that kind of relationship again, wouldn't it be better to end things on better terms?"

"Maybe..." Blake slowly stood up with Sun right behind her.

"You mean definitely!"

"Oh, just shut up already," Blake teased, which she followed up by wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thanks."

"Any time," Sun replied softly as he hugged her back.

They separated after a couple seconds, with Blake quickly pulling out her scroll again to answer Weiss. One final mission wouldn't kill her, or at least wouldn't be more likely to kill her than any other mission she had ever accepted.

Besides, she also had a promise to keep.