Randal Stulskin was a boy Ruby remembered from Signal. Not a close friend, just one of her first crushes, but what really stuck in her mind was how she ended up tripping and falling into a rubbish bin when she tried to confess to him back then. Yang and her dad spent an hour cleaning discarded lunches out of her hair. Now the boy of her memories skulked about outside the window, looking for something he dropped on the ground.

Pepper Perkins was the owner of the closest thing Patch had to a general store. You didn't get the good expensive stuff there, you had to venture out to Vale for that, but everything you'd find there was handmade by her and her kids. She baked the best strawberry pie bar none. Ruby remembered how the woman practically shoved a basket of goods into Ruby's hands as a congratulations gift on getting into Beacon. She still laughed at Pepper's joke about her pies being a down payment for Huntsman protection now and then. Pepper was fighting against the morning commute crowds in a rush to the other side of the street.

Her Signal history teacher was on the street corner begging for money. The Old Man who ran Dust 'Till Dawn was sweating at the crosswalk, frozen in fear as he squinted up at the dim lights that were supposed to tell him when it was safe to go. Ruby spotted two Beacon students who bumped into her one time now arguing over a broken scroll. A famous singer is now just a random teen sleeping on a bench.

Ruby felt like she could look at each and every person in this crowd and find a shred of familiarity with every one of them. Everyone she'd glanced at, everyone she'd slightly acknowledged, everyone she'd so much as been in the same room as once; everyone was there. Everyone except Yang. Everyone except her dad. Everyone except everyone she was hoping for. The people who mattered to her most were a fantasy. What did that say about Audry's life? Were these faceless strangers offering only a split-second snapshot of their lives the only prominent memories of 'companionship' that she had?

It was Blake who brought Ruby back through the window of the diner. More specifically, it was Blake blowing the overpowering odour of her black-as-a-Grimm coffee in Ruby's direction, the scent taking to the girl's nose as well as a smack across the jaw, that broke Ruby from her idle people-watching session. "I hate to say it, but this is starting to make sense."

Ruby watched Jaune peer at Blake over the rim of his milkshake glass, one brow raised in indignation. If their lives were a jigsaw puzzle, he'd make a sweeping gesture to all the discarded and malformed pieces that didn't fit anywhere. "Really?"

It was certainly an odd day when Blake was the optimistic one having her silver lining brought into question. For a moment, she narrowed her eyes but relented with a soft sigh of defeat. "Okay, only a little." Honestly, since Blake returned from her SDC Database investigation she looked similar to a student on the final night before the big test. The area around her eyes was splattered with an unflattering dark shade, her usually graceful and calculated movements now bordered on a slapstick routine and she hadn't made one attempt at picking at her food. And Ruby was sure the number of times Blake rubbed her eyes was not healthy.

Blake assured them that she would be fine after the third cup of coffee.

Despite appearances, it was almost alleviating for Ruby. Someone being tired from studying late? There was something so comfortably mundane to it, bringing up memories of simpler times when the biggest issue was whether or not they'd finished their homework on time. Sipping on her bendy straw, Ruby quickly found that this feeling was only elevated by the sensation of fresh strawberry milk in the morning.

She stifled an early morning yawn and concerned herself with scooping up a spoonful of baked beans before they went cold. "Only thing I'm clear on is that this whole situation is shadier than Cinder offering free apples." Ruby immediately felt the dead air following her joke in stark contrast to the goofy grin she sported. She downed her beans, eyes awkwardly shifted over the faces of her 'audience', who were still deciding whether her joke landed or not. "Because… Like… She'd poison them or something." She paused. She shrugged. She decided to replace the foot in her mouth with more beans.

Ren didn't laugh.

Jaune gave a pity giggle.

Blake actually cracked a smile and finally took a bite of her diner-quality toast. It gave her enough energy to continue. "What's clear is that we didn't just so happen to bump into each other. There was no Schnee vacation."

"Something happened." Ren said, pausing to glance at Jaune when the man uttered an almost silent 'duh' at their conclusion.

Blake either didn't notice or didn't take offence to Jaune's comment, more focused on wiping off the buttery crumbs sprinkled across her lips. "Something to do with Robyn Hill, I'm thinking." It was times like these when Blake really embraced the role of a literary detective, with the dramatic shadows of the dreary morning highlighting her inquisitive eyes in bright splotches of light. Hell, the way her thumb and index finger idly clawed at the air in front of her lips, Ruby could swear Blake was mimicking one of the old fancy smoking pipes. Not the ones that blow bubbles, Ruby reminded herself.

Ren seemed to join Blake in the detective role, clicking his fingers to signal that he too had a revelation. Ruby was sure Blake would glare at her if she said it out loud, but it was cute to see them add their own dramatic flair. "Klein mentioned something about Robyn Hill trying to sabotage an election just before you went on 'vacation', didn't he?"

"We were all involved in some way." Ruby was at a crossroads as she downed her creamy liquid treat, on one hand, there was the growing dread at the prospect of this ever-deepening web of conspiracy and her possible role in it. On the other hand, there was the child within her sitting on the edge of her seat with a thrilling theme song blaring in her head that saw this as one big spy movie and silently mouthed 'oohs with every small revelation.

With the ferocity of a hunter pouncing on its prey, Blake skewered her defenceless sausage with her fork. "An SCD operation. One so dripping with mud that it's been completely stricken from the record." She locked the sausage with an intense gaze, her brain kicking into high gear as deductions and reasoning went and gone from her like the bloody ketchup that splattered the wounded food. "I was in charge, Ren was my enforcer and Larry… Larry, I think might have been some sort of middle-man, a connection to Respite's criminal underworld." In one swift movement, Blake lunged forward and devoured her revelation sausage, eyes flickering back to their normal dullness as she finished her conclusion. "Things went wrong. We ran."

Ruby elected to ignore the blood-red ketchup stain running down Blake's chin (which only made Blake look more intense) and stick with pondering the obvious gaps in the story. She drilled her index finger into her forehead, hoping the pressure would improve her thinking power somehow. "But how did we end up hooking into the game?"

"And how does 'Audry' fit in with the group?" Ren spoke softly, not even looking at the group as he added his two cents, content with staring at the bottom of his glass through half-lidded eyes.

"I'm starting to think…" Blake leaned back in her seat, eyes subtly shifting to look over the rest of the diner, as if fearful that someone else would hear her. "Maybe our 'vacation' wasn't something we chose."

The foul gargling cry of air rushing up an empty straw alerted Ruby to her now empty glass, prompting her to frown as the cream-induced sugar high dripped away. And just as the conversation was getting tenser too. "What are you saying?" She asked.

"I'm wondering if this incident had us learning something we shouldn't." Blake assessed the reaction of the trio. Ruby was leaning closer with child-like curiosity plastered on her face, Ren was nodding along with her train of logic and Jaune… Jaune made Blake's gaze linger, noting that he didn't register any reaction at all, he just looked away with a distant look in his eye, separating himself from the conversation. "If you needed someone to forget something without arousing suspicion, what better way than the virtual reality machines that regularly run the risk of player amnesia?" She ran a tissue across her stained lips, harshly dabbing at the evidence until it was spotless. "Someone is going out of their way to cover up our disappearance and our involvements for a reason."

"Oh, well that's just great." Ren managed to grumble through his drink, the prospect of more sleepless nights of sifting through information already weighing down his eyelids with fatigue.

With no mind for manners, Ruby chomped down on a loose slab of bacon she'd swiped from a distracted Jaune's plate, instinctively speaking her question in between bites. "But what does this have to do with Cinder's school?"

Blake's lip tightened to hold back a tired sigh. Another night sitting on her ass in front of the SDC database. I'm going to become a slob if I don't work in some exercise soon. "I'll have to see what I can find in the SDC records." Her eyes shifted over to the sole remaining blond of their party. The one who seemed to have separated himself from them and stared glumly across at the other customers. Was that jealousy in his eyes? "Jaune," She raised her voice slightly, pausing to make sure Jaune could give her any sign that he heard her. There was no reaction or recognition. He just sat there, stiff as a board. "I almost don't want to suggest this, but…"

"Pyrrha." It almost made Blake jump. He didn't so much as turn to her as just suddenly switch into position in between blinks, unable to hide his deflated body language and drooping tired eyes. He sighed. "Yeah, first person I thought of to ask."

Immediately, that guilt stirred in her stomach. It had always been difficult to talk to Jaune for her, always that edge to every comment that left her worrying she didn't express herself well enough and accidentally put too much force behind her words. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up." Pyrrha was their only solid lead so far on finding any information that 'Larry' might have known.

"No, it's alright." Jaune ran his fingers over his face, pulling his features tightly together to form an almost hopeful look. It didn't eradicate the drowsiness weighing on his eyes, but it was enough to tide him over. "I… I want to see her anyway." His knuckles whined as his grip on the table tensed up, a determined spark lighting up his sad blues. He'd been practically catatonic throughout the conversation, but this one topic, while hurting, immediately seemed to bring him to life. "Larry might have screwed everything up, but there's a kid out there, my kid, and I'm at least going to make the effort that Larry never did."

When Ren's cup collapsed on its side, sending a violent burst of boiling hot coffee soaring into Jaune's lap; Jaune realised he was gripping the table too hard and let go. Luckily, he managed to stop himself from screaming. Luckily, the splash damage didn't hit the happy sacks.

Unluckily, everyone around the table utterly failed to hide their childish grins at the scene before them. Blake had the courtesy of covering her mouth with her fork, failing to meet Jaune's pouting eyes as she coughed out "That's great to hear. Really."

Ren, on the other hand, definitely let a snigger or two slip out. "You already have the Fatherly urges for a kid you don't even remember." He didn't spare one thought to the drink he'd just lost, eyes furrowing in concentration as he dabbed at the coffee stains with a tissue, strategically hiding his grinning face as his whole upper body leaned over the table. "It's cute."

That Arc luck lives on, I guess. Jaune groaned in his head, snatching a bundle of tissues out of Ren's hands to work on lessening the new steaming wet patch that made it look like Jaune had pissed himself. However, as he scrubbed away, his thoughts reflecting on Ren's teasing, he found himself chuckling a bit. "Heh, I guess." He'd never even met the damn kid, and yet he already felt like he was ready to do anything to make up for Larry's failures.

Just mentioning the little tyke drew out that instinctual jolt of adrenaline. Made him imagine his little sister, the youngest Arc, back in the simulation. Oh, that gave him enough warmth to give his a small smile. He had those protective urges before he met her too. Once upon a time, he was just a kid learning he was gonna be a big brother in a few months. He didn't know anything about what his little sister would be, what her name was, or even that she was gonna be a girl. He just knew that he was going to be her big brother and he'd never let anyone take that away from him.

God, he thought to himself, it had been so long since he last saw her, never had the time to visit after leaving for Beacon. I guess I'll never get the chance to visit now… The thought burned him, but it didn't deter him. He had a son. A real damn son. He still had time to visit. Whatever it took. "Though uh… Unlike Blake, I ain't confident enough to go alone." He found himself shaking his head, his nerves winning out in the end over his determination. He wasn't afraid to admit that he needed someone to lean on, nor that he trusted each and every one of his friends with doing so.

"Rubes?" Blake and Ren were obviously going to be busy. That was the reason Ruby was the first person he asked and nothing else.

Ruby's grins were so bright, Jaune could still see it even through her hand as she wiped cream off her lips. "Like you even need to ask."

There was an uncomfortable and throaty cough. "I can't help but notice that you didn't even consider me." All eyes fell on Ren.

"Huh?" It took way longer than it should have for the obvious elephant in the room to dawn on Jaune. Even when it did, causing a jolt that had Jaune leaping to his feet with a guilt-riddled gasp, Jaune still managed to get wrong about what exactly the problem was. "Crap, I didn't mean to- No offence, Ren!" He felt like slapping himself across the face. How could he be so inconsiderate? "I just thought you'd be busy with your stuff. And Ruby's, y'know, so lovable and stuff, perfect to be a middleman for a divorced couple. It's not like I didn't want you there or anything." You're still my best bro, Ren! Jaune wanted to add, but he felt like that would only embarrass Ren.

"Uh, Jaune?" Ruby leaned over to Jaune, sensing that the boy still failed to grasp what even her poor social skills picked up on. "Maybe Ren would have liked to see Pyrrha too?"

Oh. This time, Jaune did slap himself across the face, before sinking back into his seat with his lips wriggling like he was about to vomit. "Oh crap, I didn't even think about that." He laid his torso on the table, squeezing his head between his elbows as he made a begging motion, pleading for forgiveness. "I'm so sorry, Ren. If you want to come, just say the word."

Ren's eyes went wide for a good minute, probably the first time any of the group had seen such an expression on the man. It was a little inconsiderate, but it wasn't that bad, was it? "No, no, it's fine." His wavered between awkward 'uh's and awkward 'heh's, followed by his hand making a limp-wristed wave. "Ruby's a good choice." He managed to clear his throat, the surprise subsiding and creeping amusement taking its place as he observed how Jaune's cheeks looked like they were choking his face.

"And considering what you told us, I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to see Pyrrha like that." Ren firmly grasped the handle of his mug, gaze losing its lustre as he found himself staring into the abyss of his coffee. It was hard imagining Pyrrha as 'mundane' as Jaune and Ruby described her. He knew it was something the Pyrrha of the simulation hated, but Ren had so firmly engraved her in his memory as that larger-than-life hero.

It wasn't because of Pyrrha's background or how her skills were on another level than the rest of Beacon's students, it was just the way Pyrrha held herself. The way she walked. The way she worked. Every action heavy with purpose even when it was mindless. She was just someone you looked at and you could feel a great destiny ahead of her. Well, a great destiny that should have been ahead of her. "It's okay, really. See your son, make him happy." He was also still grappling with the idea that, mother of god, Jaune was a father. Ren did not think he could survive the possibility of the kid calling him 'Uncle'. "Who knows? Maybe it'll make Pyrrha happy too."

Blake's sigh cut through the atmosphere once more as she acknowledged another round of work that seemed specifically designed to separate her from her friends. "And I'm sure I'll be busy picking up a few leads somewhere." Sympathetic gazes were cast across the table.

"Yeah!" Ruby changed the subject with as much grace and smoothness as one could get from the social hand grenade that was Ruby, pounding her fist into the table like it was a gavel calling for order. "I mean, if Cinder, Mercury and Emerald are all still real and still working together for a shady group; then that means the rest of Salem's goons probably exist, right? We should look for them."

"Possibly. We had to have imagined them as villains for a reason." Ren spoke dryly between sips of coffee, only to pause when a stray thought made him shiver. "Let's hope we don't end up being cornered by Tyrian again…"

Ruby loudly blew into nothing, her cheeks deflating like a sagging balloon. "Tyrian… Or Hazel… Or Watts… And Adam was technically with Cinder's group back at Beacon too." She counted each name off on her fingers, straining her brain to unravel that web of connections that started and ended with the immortal witch. Did Raven count? Well, she wasn't working for Salem, just briefly didn't get in Cinder's way. Torchwick worked for Cinder, who in turn worked for Salem; he had to count, right? Eventually, she determined that she'd either gotten all of the names down, or her brain hurt too much from the effort to continue any further.

"I wouldn't want to face any of them, really." She trailed off near the end as her eyes passed over Blake, her friend now hunched over in her seat, burning holes into the space in front of her with how intense her gaze was. It didn't take long for Ruby to figure out who Blake was thinking about.

Silence fell, but it wasn't the awkward kind. No, for Ruby it was dead serious tension. She reached over the table, pale fingers brushing up against Blake's gloved hand. Whether it was from the coldness of Ruby's fingertips or just surprise in general, it was enough to send a jolt through Blake's body, ripping her from her vacant staring. "Do you know when he's getting here?"

"Soon." Blake's curt and quiet response, eyes flickering away from Ruby's gaze as she answered, didn't satisfy Ruby.

"We're gonna need a better timeframe than that, Blake." Her voice wasn't forceful, it was, however, reaching octaves that made it sound scratchier than a boy hitting puberty. "Gotta make sure we have enough time to rig your office to ambush that jerk!" For emphasis, Ruby slammed a raging fist into her open palm. She imagined that clown trying to pull off his 'You're already dead' moves when he had a… Uh… Desk lamp slammed upside his… Head? Her imagination wasn't good on the details, but the important thing was that he'd be in pain. "I mean, my leg may be busted, but I'm sure I can throw something at the back of his greasy little head. If I find the perfect position."

From an outsider's perspective, it must have looked rather bizarre to see Blake holding up her hands defensively with a sheepish look while Ruby mimed violently swinging an invisible bat across the air. "Ruby, really, there's no need to be so drastic."

Ruby froze in place, one foot now on the table, looking like a kid who had just gotten told she couldn't go out and play. "Whadaya mean?" The complete dissolution of the energy that was pumping her up only moments before was enough to give Blake pause. Blake never expected Ruby to be this ready to square up to somebody she hadn't even met.

"This guy's supposed to be a grade A scumbag, right?" Jaune chipped in, eyes awkwardly looking around the table in hopes of finding someone who could confirm what little he knew about the situation. When he spotted Ruby vigorously nodding in solidarity he kicked up his tone. "I don't know the whole story, yeah, but if I'm not getting the wrong impression, he deserves a good old Nora brand leg-breaking!"

Ruby's hand clasped her brother-in-aggression's shoulder, pumping her fist into the air with a quiet roar. "Exactly! We shouldn't give him a chance to jump us first."

Blake squeezed the ridge of her nose between her fingers, sighing. "He won't be jumping you; you won't even be there."

"Wha-" Ruby gasped, accidentally adding enough pressure to her grip to make Jaune grunt out her name. "Come on, you can't be thinking about facing this guy without backup." Her eyes met Blake's, silently pleading with her teammate. Hadn't they already been through this? Didn't Blake already understand that she has a team of friends who'll back her up no matter what? "If this is about me not fitting in with the SCD wallpaper, you can just sneak me in."

"I have to agree with Ruby," Ren was cautious about entering the conversation, he knew as much about this Adam character as Jaune did, just a killer who cut off Yang's arm and hunted Blake down across Remnant, he wasn't in much of a position to tell her about her own situation. However, he'd rather be insensitive than let her endanger herself like this. "by all accounts it doesn't make sense to do this alone."

There was a mouthed 'thank you' between Ruby and Ren before all turned to give Blake the most encouraging looks they could. Ruby reached for Blake's hand. "We're still here for you, Blake. Against villains and jerks."

Blake had to be honest. After a whole week of locking herself in that cold, dead, claustrophobic coffin of an office, with barely any time to meet her friends in person; their warm support almost overwhelmed her. "I-… I know, and I appreciate the sentiment; really, I do." Her face broke out into a smile, taking Ruby's offered hand and squeezing it tightly. "I need you guys focusing on the investigation." She sucked it in, all the air, all the nerves, all the memories, she took it all into her lungs. Then she exhaled with ease, knowing they no longer held the same pressure. "Besides, I'm… I'm not the same girl I was before. Hell, we don't even know if Adam's the same man he was before. I can handle him. I want to know what he is before anything else is done."

Ruby tried to resist, but she could feel Blake's determination practically radiating. "And if you suddenly feel like you could use a hand?"

Blake giggled. "Then you can jump him."

Ruby pouted. "Well, as your friend; I hate this." She crossed her arms tightly over her heart, eyes narrowing in utter discontent. "As your leader… I still hate this." Ruby dropped back into her seat, completely deflated. "But I guess I have to respect your decision. Under protest."

Knowing that Blake's gaze would weaken the young girl's resolve, Ruby sought to avoid it, but the dastardly manipulator she called a friend was prepared for this. "Would it be easier if I bought you another milkshake?"

"Hey, my worry for my friends can't be bought!" She tried to deny it, but even as she spluttered out her defiance, she knew the secret weapon had struck true. "But that would help numb the pain."

Blake's laugh sounded so happy, so carefree as she slipped out of the table to find a waitress. The nerve. The absolute audacity. If Ruby wasn't such a kind-hearted and loving person, she would consider this mockery an act of war. For now, however, she would stall her deep-seated worry for her friend with the amazing emotionally-satisfying taste of an extra fresh milkshake.

"It's Blake," Ren spoke up, shooting Ruby a firm, encouraging nod from across the table. "I'm sure she knows what she's doing."

At this, Ruby sunk into her chair, resting her chin on the table with an overly dramatic sniffle. "Is this how a parent feels when their kid grows up?"

Jaune snorted. "…Ruby, she's maybe two years older than you."

"I'm not too young to care, damn it!" Ruby moaned.

For a moment, it almost felt like things were back to normal for Ruby. There she sat, side-by-side with Jaune after a busy day, unwinding with a video game controller in a scene that felt like she hadn't seen since Haven. Just two friends aggressively mashing random buttons and constantly meeting the game over scene. No pressure, no big mission, no awkward revelations hanging over them, just some time to themselves.

Sure, Jaune's grimy apartment had nothing on the warm nostalgia of their Beacon dorms or the simple comfort of their Haven house; but when you were yelling obscenities at the difficulty of a video game, the location was just a backdrop.

"You're cheating." Jaune asserted with the confidence and seriousness of a police officer telling a suspect that they've already found the body in their basement.

In her old, less wise days, Ruby might have been tempted to take her eyes off the screen to address him. She'd lost many battles to him and Yang on 'Remnant: Armada' to this very mistake. Now all it dragged out of her was a light chuckle and playfully nudging Jaune with her elbow. "How?"

There was a loud bit crushed soundbite of anguished screams as Jaune's character was completely knocked out of his big flashy combo by one asshole with a gun and infinite ammo on the other side of the screen. "I'm not winning, so you must be cheating. Simple."

She couldn't help but snicker at the almost childish whine to Jaune's voice. "Jaune, this isn't even a competitive game. We're on co-op."

Ruby's character tackled the boss into a crowd of minions, bringing the game to a halt as it switched to a close-up of the character grabbing the boss by the leg and slamming him into the sea of enemies like a living hammer. "And you're totally smashing more guys than me!" Her Player 2 pursed his lips, jabbing his finger into the screen with an exasperated sigh. "Look, right there, I can't do that move and it does so much damage."

"That's because you're playing a different character." She shrugged, moving her walking tank of a character to stand beside his, making the design difference clear when his character only reached her's hips. "And you'd have your legendary special abilities if you bought your character's upgrades."

Jaune leaned his head back, groaning like he'd just been told to do chores. "But they're so expensive, where am I supposed to get all that money without grinding?"

"From the real-estate side-jobs you skipped?"

"Those are so boring!" He whined, slipping down his seat during his energetic rut and staking his new position on the floor. "I came here to be a crime lord beating up other crime families, not manage security and real estate agents for local businesses." Besides, it wasn't like he had any of the good agent NPCs to send on those money-fetch quests. He still didn't get how a chicken was going to help him secure real estate ventures.

"Hey, you loved the karaoke mini-game." She teased, casting her mind back not forty minutes ago when he'd started destroying her eardrums with his rendition of '4-Day Cinderella'. She loved him to bits, but his singing voice could be mistaken for a weapon. "It adds to the character of the city, Jaune!" She pulled her character back away from the bulk of the fighting, her meter spent and health running low. She trusted Jaune to watch her back while her character chowed down on some healing dumpster chicken.

It was in that moment of weakness that betrayal struck hard and true. Ruby could not believe her eyes as Jaune's character legged it to the other side of the map, allowing the latest cheap-shotting enemy to come charging in and slam her into a wall. In a blink of an eye, her life was taken away and the 'Game Over' screen taunted her evermore.

She turned to the betrayer, her most trusted comrade who broke the most sacred of oaths, with her cheeks puffed up and steam bursting out of her nose like a bull getting ready to charge. "Did you just let that guy hit me?"

He didn't even attempt the lie. Oh no, the bastard crossed his arms and took on that holier-than-thou tone as he confessed to his dastardly deeds. "You needed to be taken down a notch."

"Traitor!" She jumped to her feet, finger cutting through the air to point out the sinner for the world to see.

"Hey, what do you want from me?" Jaune pulled his hands up defensively. "My guy invented taxes, you should have known you couldn't trust him."

Ruby plopped herself down beside Jaune with a sigh, a glance up at the clock telling her that there's been at this for a while (give or take considering the clock was five ticks too slow). "Come on, Jaune, if we don't beat this guy, we're never gonna find out who's behind the conspiracy to wipe out our crime family!"

One word. One little word and Jaune deflated like a balloon, dropping his controller onto the floor. "What's so interesting about conspiracies anyway?" He slid back, pushing his chair aside to drop fully limp on the crappy carpet. "It's not like finding out 'who' screwed us over is gonna change anything. It's not even their business anymore, they left their family."

"Because the conspiracy framed them?" It took a good second for Ruby to cast her gaze back over to him, recognising the same dower energy he was giving off back at the diner. Before, she'd dismissed it as simply him being tired or out of it, but it looked like something was bubbling to the surface. She just had to hold out hope she could handle it better than the last time he got 'heated'. "…Oh, you're not talking about the game. Are you?"

He pulled his arms back, clawing at his hair with a muffled groan. It was one of the many small ticks Ruby had picked up on; some story about his little sister accidentally setting his hair on fire once and forever cursing him with an itchy scalp when he got hot-headed. "It's just surreal, y'know? Watching all of you guys get all revved up to solve the SDC mystery. It just confuses me, I guess."

Ruby found it best to converse on the same level when it came to these sorts of talks, so she was quick to drag her chair aside and join her ex-boyfriend on the floor. Just two dorks, slumming it. "What do you mean?"

"Honestly? I don't get why we care, why we're going through all the effort to investigate." His arms tightened, whipping up his forearms to further bring attention to his invisible point. It reminded Ruby of stargazing. That close, personal sorta feel, just two people under dim lighting, dishing it out about light and pointing to the answers above. Just replace 'stars' with 'new cracks in the ceiling's gaudy yellow paint job'. "Spoiler Alert: The corrupt, morally bankrupt corporation is probably doing illegal stuff. Mystery solved. Why does it matter exactly what it is or how they're doing it?" One moment his bitterness is stoking a burning passion, and yet the next his body loses all effort, all point once more and his arms collapse in a tangled mess on his chest. She could see the temptation to murmur so many swear words under his breath. "It's not like we can do anything about it. We can't even remember which way is up, let alone burn it all down."

It was hard to hear. Not just because she couldn't stand the sting of distress from any of her friends, but because, on some level, she knew they were all thinking it. She herself had looked in the mirror and wondered if she was only going along with this because she knew that, if they simply moved on, she would have less reason to get up in the morning. Was it a desire? Was it an obligation?

She clasped her hands over her belly, fingers idly tapping against each other's knuckles as every thought lashed out at her skin like an annoying itch. "Because we were a part of it, Jaune." She reasoned, eyes narrowing to form an intense gaze that burned into the ceiling like it was hiding all the answers she needed. Honestly, at first, this was just the answer that immediately came to mind, one she initially decried as too simple-minded; but after some thought, she became more and more confident that the answer didn't need to be complicated. "No matter how little or how big, our past is wrapped up in whatever the SDC has been doing, a part of us lies in the answer." Her body shifted onto her side, propping herself up on her arm to watch Jaune's chest rise and fall in such a peaceful state. "It's the reason why we're here, why we were in the game."

Jaune joined her in rolling over, resting his head on the palm of his hand as he fixed his gaze on her. Part of him was bitter, feeling like an idiot for seemingly being the sole member of the group who was letting these doubts hit him so hard. It made him feel like he was still a child throwing a tantrum over the tiny injustices that everybody else has already gotten used to. "Why can't we just move on with our lives instead of wallowing in the past? Wasn't finding out we're losers enough?!" He hated this feeling, he hated unloading it on Ruby, but he was also desperate for her warmth, for her to find the right words like she always did.

Ruby's brow furrowed. "How can we ever move on with our lives if we never know why they needed to change?"

Jaune's gaze shifted away, shame welling up in his eyes. He was supposed to be better than this. "I just…"

However, he found himself pulled back in when he felt the warmth of Ruby's small fingers dig into the chilling texture of his shivering hands. "For the record, I'm scared of what we'll find too." Her eyes were so bright in this lighting, her smile pinning him in place and her grip pulling his hands to rest against the space between her lips and her nose, letting her body heat and confidence sweep over his body. "I don't know if we can do anything with that information. Maybe all we'll get is a little closure." Her fingers pried apart his hands, rose-tipped fingertips rubbing into his pliant flesh and easily dissolving the tension underneath. "But I won't let that stop me. Game or not; I still believe in helping and protecting the innocent."

He sighed with a small smile, knowing that his desperate bitterness and pessimism were powerless before her. "And rooting out the corruption of the SDC, even if you don't believe we can make a chink in their armour, fits the bill, right?"

"Wrong."

He froze, eye flickering back and forth in a daze. "What?"

She brought herself close to him, close enough that their foreheads met in the middle and her hot breath was burning the tip of his nose in short bursts. "I totally believe we can blast their armour wide open! Look at us, we're awesome." He felt her hands clasp his, pulling them into a firm and encouraging grip. "We just need to find the right evidence and the right people to show it to, and we'll kick those heartless snobs right in the money bags."

Jaune just didn't get it. He kept telling himself that their game selves and their real selves weren't the same, that anything other than accepting that anything they did in the game was fictitious and meant nothing was flat-out denial. And yet, even at her supposed lowest point, all he could see was Ruby Rose. Not Audrey, not a fellow lost stranger. Just Ruby Rose with all the bells and whistles where it counted. "I gotta believe that, Jaune."

"Well… If you believe it…" He didn't pull away, letting his arms break her grasp and snake around her shoulders. Her breath hitched as they entered an embrace, they'd pulled each other into so many times before. He missed this. "It's gotta be worth doing."

The two exchanged silent glances for the next tension-filled minute. The two had made the mistake of letting their hearts open wide as they invaded each other's personal space, leaving nothing to defend themselves from the temptation bleeding from their thundering hearts.

There was only an inch stopping their lips from joining.

Unfortunately, distance didn't matter to the message notification sound blaring at an unbelievably loud volume from Jaune's pocket.

The noise was like dowsing them in ice-cold water, immediately neutering any mood that pulled the two love-struck dorks together. Quietly, Ruby managed to squeak out a "Hey, is that your scroll?" as she held firm against the temptation to yell obscenities at the offending scroll.

Jaune coughed, hand mindlessly flailing into action and tugging on his pocket while his gaze never left Ruby. "Yeah, I wonder what it's… You know, about. Probably like… Like spam message or something." He realized that, eventually, he'd have to look away if he wanted to see what message dared to ruin the moment. Tearing his gaze away from her felt like coming up for air, a pressure he didn't know was squeezing his lungs now releasing him and allowing him to breathe normally once more.

Honestly, looking down at his scroll finally, he didn't know whether he should see this as good news or bad news. "It's Pyrrha! She texted me back."