[Characters: Ruby and Weiss.]

[Friendship, romance (?)]

[Summary: Ruby leaves her room in the middle of the night, Weiss wishes to know why.]

Weiss hid behind a column, she was beginning to fall asleep when her reckless and brave leader decided to take a stroll under the light of the moon. That better worthed it, they had a history exam in the morning; her desire to write an essay about the civil wars was non-existent.

To be honest, she preferred combat training to that. Maybe Ruby ended up influencing her.

Speaking of the devil or rose in this case, there was she.

Ruby Rose, the leader of Team RWBY, and her friend.

A few months ago, Weiss Schnee would never have considered the idea of being the friend of someone like Ruby but after what happened in the initiation, the mission of the team in the ruins, and more. It was hard not to be Ruby's friend.

She always was cheerful, happy, full of excitement for the world around her, no matter the situation, Ruby was always energic. But now, Weiss was worried.

Ruby was hugging her legs on the grass, her hood concealed her face but Weiss just needed a glimpse to recognize her.

At that moment, Weiss was tempted to just turn around and head to the room but she couldn't just leave her in the middle of the gardens.

With her usual elegant walk, Weiss got closer to Ruby.

Weiss couldn't avoid complaining internally about her own clothes. Her ashen blue thigh-length dress almost shone in the darkness of the night and each time that her bare feet touched the cold ground her entire body shivered.

Now that she was close, she could hear that her leader was crying.

She definitely couldn't leave her like that.

"Ruby, are you alright?"

The mentioned retired her hood and greeted Weiss with a smile, she quickly wiped her tears from her face with the sleeves of her blouse. Just then, the heiress of SDC paid attention to Ruby's clothes.

She wasn't wearing her sleeping wear, she was wearing the clothes that she wore the day when they went to try to apprehend Torchwick.

"Where were you going?"

Ruby blushed clearly ashamed by her situation, she wasn't expecting anyone to find her. Well, she hadn't planned to succumb to her sadness in the middle of the gardens.

"Well, I...Why are you in your pajamas?"

This time was Weiss' turn to blush, she didn't have time to change to a more decent outfit.

"Don't try to avert the question."

Ruby sighed, she didn't like to talk about it, she and Yang had made an unspoken rule of not speaking about the topic.

She had seen the pain in the eyes of her sister and father. A pain that she wasn't comfortable causing on her loved ones.

But she could talk about it with Weiss, right?

"It's nothing, I-"

"Don't lie to me, it was important enough to make you cry in the middle of the night. Are we friends, aren't we?"

Ruby lowered her head, there was no use in denying the truth and Weiss seemed to care enough to make her spill the beans.

"Yes, you are my friend."

Weiss sat legged-crossed, Ruby didn't need her to say anything; she wanted an answer.

Each time she wanted to talk or if she even thought about it, she felt pressure on her chest and ended up crying.

"Tomorrow is...the day my mother died."

Weiss placed a hand on her leader's shoulder, she couldn't really say that she understood the feeling. Of course not, her mother was an alcoholic, and even if it was almost equal to not having her, she was alive.

"I know that is childish but-"

"No, it's okay, Ruby. You can cry if you need it."

Ruby didn't say anything but Weiss could swear that she felt gratitude in her silver eyes. Having someone there to comfort her was nice.

"May I ask you a question?" Weiss inquired.

Ruby cleared her throat but her voice trembled anyways. "Y-Yes."

"Why don't you go with Yang when you feel like this?"

"Huh?"

Weiss smirked briefly when the memories of Winter, her sister, played in her mind. Winter always was there when she felt down.

"I know that Yang loves you and she wouldn't care if she has to comfort you."

Ruby sighed, she wasn't a little girl anymore, she knew that she had to face and accept what happened to her mother but she couldn't bear the pain behind Yang's lilac eyes.

"I don't want Yang to get sad too. I think that she's more affected than me."

Weiss remained silent, she didn't know exactly what to say. Ruby shouldn't bear with her sadness alone and less on a cold night like that.

"I'm here, you can talk about it if you want."

Ruby wiped out the tears running on her cheeks and got closer to her friend.

"I don't feel like I have the right to feel like this, at least not as much as Yang."

"Why?"

For Weiss that didn't make sense, Ruby lost her mother and it was perfectly normal to feel sadness.

"I never get to know her, I was too young to remember her clearly. I felt bad for not being able to understand their pain but when I grow up I felt it."

Weiss remained silent, she knew that her leader needed to blow off steam.

"I felt sad for not knowing my mother, I felt abandoned. Each time I saw other kids hugging their mothers I felt pain."

Ruby couldn't hold back her tears anymore and began to cry, looking at her so disconsolate; it broke Weiss' heart.

The ice queen (the nickname that her fellow students gave her), enveloped Ruby with her arms in an attempt to comfort her.

Ruby clung to her, she clearly needed the hug.

Weiss thought about her own life.

Her sister, Winter, was absent; since she joined Atlas Academy and later the army, she had no time left to spend with her family. This affected Weiss, the only member of her family that she respected and genuinely loved had left her at her father's mercy.

Whitley, her brother, her father had put so much weight on his shoulders just like her. After Winter left, she was the one chosen to be the heiress of the company, and that hurt Whitley. She was certain that her brother didn't hate her but he was too cold to her and didn't miss the chance to laugh at her mistakes.

Her mother spent her days drown in alcohol and didn't do anything to protect her from her father's whims.

She despised her father but was unable to bring herself to hate him completely; she loved him too.

Weiss came back to reality when she felt Ruby separating from her.

"Sorry for wetting your dress."

"It's not a problem, are you feeling better?"

Ruby nodded and smiled, at least she had returned to her usual behavior.

"I am. Thank you, Weiss."

"I'm glad to hear that."

They both shared a moment of half-awkward silence, talking wasn't necessary to know that they didn't wish to go to their assigned room. Even the sleep that Weiss had vanished.

Ruby looked at her surroundings trying to find something to break the silence, it was when she was aware of how cold her friend should be feeling. So she took off her cape to keep her warm.

"Use this, you must be freezing."

Weiss nodded and enveloped her body with the cape. To be honest, the night wasn't as cold as the regular weather of Atlas.

She looked at Ruby again, that's right, she never answered her question.

"Where were you going?" the white-haired turned her face to Ruby. "Answer this time."

Ruby scratched her head in an attempt to find a place, she had one in mind but disappeared when she started to cry. She could remember associating the place with Torchwick but couldn't really put her finger on it.

"I don't really remember. I just run for a while or kill some Grimms to feel better."

"Were you planning to go to Vale?"

"Maybe, I know that there's a bullhead that is ready the whole day."

"Do you know that it is reserved only for teachers?"

"..."

"..."

"So...What do we do now?" Ruby questioned with her hands on her thighs.

"What do you mean?"

Weiss didn't need to ask, she didn't feel like heading to bed and she could guess that Ruby neither.

"Well, I don't feel sleepy."

"What about studying for the exam we have in a few hours?"

"Nah, I'm not feeling like studying right now."

"I don't know, what can we do?"

Ruby put her hand on her chin; the rest of her friends were sleeping so having a movie night was out of the list of potential activities.

Suddenly, Ruby's eyes shone like stars, that was her chance!

"Weiss, there is a new videogame that Yang and I play."

"Uh-huh."

"Would you like to play it?"

Yang and Blake looked at their teammates with surprise, mostly for the heiress.

The exam had started, the team was determined to get a good score but half of them were suffering from sleep deprivation which naturally had negative effects.

But they all had success, not with the desired scores though.

"It could have been worse, don't you think?"

"We should have sleep."

The blonde and the faunus' first surprise was in the morning, finding Ruby and Weiss asleep on the bed of the latter. The scrolls in their hands suggested a classic case of "play till dawn".

Ruby could be too relaxed and kind of lazy, but she was responsible and committed to her studies.

Weiss was way too strict and responsible with her studies.

Very suspicious.

And now, Ruby and Weiss' lack of sleep passed toll on them resulting in decent scores instead of high ones.

"And I had studied the whole week," lamented the white-haired. "Unacceptable."

"Next time we will have better scores."

Yang decided to express her inner thoughts. "So, are you two BFFs now?"

Weiss crossed her arms, Yang wouldn't mess with her again. She "delicately" kicked Ruby's shin and pointed at the blonde with her eyes.

"Yang, can I talk with you for a minute?"

The brawler blinked twice, that kind of seriousness was very rare in her baby sister. Was Weiss influencing her?!

"Of course, Rubes, what do you want to talk about?"

"Let's have our conversation in a private space."

Yang's mouth dropped to the floor, her baby sister sounded like the Ice Queen, she was turning her sister into a second Weiss!

Regardless, if her sister was serious the matter was serious.

"Okay, let's talk somewhere else," the blonde said

Both sisters said goodbye and started walking; eventually, they disappeared into the corner of the hallway.

"What happened yesterday?" Blake questioned.

"It's not something that I have the right to say. Ruby is the only one who can give you answers."

"I see. Good work, Weiss."

"Thank you. Why are you praising me?"

Blake crossed her arms and smirked. "For being a good friend."

Well, this was my first one-shot ever. A little short to be honest.

I apologize if there are typos or grammar mistakes, English is not my mother language.

The next "chapter" will be about Yang and Blake.

Be safe, have a nice day. Read you all later.