Ruby woke at three AM to the call of duty. Or maybe the 'call of doody', depending on what Phoenix was crying over now. She sat up and yawned deeply, making her way to her baby's room. Okay, room smells okay. No puking, no diaper changes… I fed him… There's Beo… wait. Ruby looked up and realized she forgot to turn off the mobile. With a frown, she hit the switch and picked Phoenix up, rocking him slowly.

"Shhh… Shhh… Everything's fine, Nix… Maybe tomorrow mommy will go and pick up a new mobile that doesn't jingle in the night…" Ruby thought to herself.

Phoenix was almost asleep when her scroll went off in her pocket, waking him up again and making him resume crying. Ruby whipped out her scroll.

"Yang? What the hell do you want at this hour?" Ruby grumbled. "Phoenix was almost down…" Ruby almost hit send, but froze. Phoenix was still crying, and Yang would hear. With a sigh, she set the scroll down on silent and finished easing her child back to sleep. She slipped onto the kitchen balcony her apartment had soon after to make the call without disturbing Phoenix again. She dialed and waited. "Hello, Yang."

"Ruby! You sound sleepy… Did I wake you…? Is it night where you are?" Yang asked.

"I was already up…" Ruby told her. "Just in the middle of something."

"You won't tell me what that something is, will you?" Yang deduced.

"How is everybody…?" Ruby countered. "I bet they aren't taking my leaving well…"

"You could have at least said goodbye…" Yang lamented. "When's the next time I get to see you?"

Ruby looked toward her home, thinking of the baby within. "I don't know, Yang. I'm pretty busy right now."

"Doing what?" Yang asked.

Ruby thought hard on how to answer. She was tired of avoiding questions outright, be she didn't want to lie through her teeth either. "I work at a small clinic right now." Ruby told her, not needing to tell her she was off shift. "I just didn't want to go back out and fight right away. And right now, I'm kinda stuck there."

"Oh. That's cool." Yang was slightly happier. Ruby talking about her life was more progress than Yang had seen in a year. "You making any friends?"

"There's a nurse there, Flora Nightgale." Ruby answered. "Closest thing I have to a friend out here."

"You ever going to start hunting?" Yang asked cautiously.

"Maybe in a few years… Little busy at the moment, like I said." Ruby told her. It was in fact something she was seriously thinking about. "Hey Yang… How is Blake?"

"Blake? Ummm…" Yang sounded nervous. "She's… not good. Truth is, some of us were readying ourselves to argue for you to stay. She's one of the ones who was convinced it wasn't necessary."

Ruby fell quiet. She had thought she had gotten over her feelings for her faunus friend. But seeing her in person only made those feelings return in force.

"I'm going to let you get back to work. I'll talk to you soon, Ruby." Yang told her. After a short pause, she added, "If you are ever ready to come home, you know where we live."

"Thank you, Yang…" Ruby nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The pair hung up, and Ruby decided to try and finish a night's rest.


There was another person who couldn't get sleep so easily. Fidgeting in her bed at an Atlesian motel, Blake Belladonna fought for sleep. It didn't come, and her night time failures were interrupted by a knock at the door. She argued silently with herself about whether to go and answer or not. After nearly five minutes, she decided to see if the person was still there. She opened the door to a familiar face. "Sun?"

"Hey, Blake." Sun greeted. "Just wanted to check on you."

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I just told you…?" Sun answered.

"But why?" Blake pressed.

The monkey boy sighed. "Blake… I respect yours and Ruby's space, but after what happened the other day… I'm just worried about you."

"What are you saying?" Amber eyes searched Sun up and down. If this is what I think it is…

"Nothing…" Sun brushed off. "I'm just checking up on you."

Maybe Blake was pissed at Ruby. Maybe part of her wanted to forget. And maybe part of her wanted Sun. The only thing she knew was that she wasn't sure if Ruby liked her anymore. And that hurt. Maybe if I can make the hurt go away, I can sleep…

"What if I told you… Me and Ruby don't have space anymore?" Blake asked him.

"What do you mean…?" Sun asked, not daring to sound hopeful.

"She never even messaged me, for a whole year." Blake pointed out. "And when she did come back, it was just for one day. And she told me I couldn't follow her to wherever she was going…"

"Blake…?"

"Just tell me, Sun… What is this?" Blake trapped his gaze with her own.

"I… I like you Blake. I have for a long time. And I was sure you did, once upon a time… before Ruby…" Sun explained.

"I see." Blake nodded, and smiled.

Whatever the result would be, Blake wasn't worried. She didn't even believe she was cheating on anybody, because I'd have to be in a relationship for that. She just pulled Sun into the room and crushed their lips together. Sun was on cloud nine, all of his dreams coming true. And Blake just wanted to dream…


The next morning Blake woke up to the inviting smell of tea, and opened her eyes slowly. She had finally managed to get to sleep, and even avoided dreaming of Ruby. She smiled when she saw Sun holding out a paper cup for her. "Where did you get this?" Blake asked him.

"Café up front." Sun answered.

"They sell to faunus?" Blake was surprised.

"Weiss has already undone a lot of damage in a year." Sun informed her. "Maybe if you stuck around, you would learn a lot…"

Blake was immediately defensive. "What does that mean?"

Sun tensed up, and sighed. "Blake… last night was great… but I need to ask… it wasn't a one night thing, was it?"

Blake looked at the cup in her hands, thinking. She knew she still loved Ruby. But she didn't know if Ruby loved her… when was the next time she was even going to see her? Another whole year? She looked back to Sun with her mind open to the possibility… "I'll give you a chance, Sun… I owe you that much." Blake nodded, feeling the ashes of the ancient flame from the first time she met him start to glow again. At the very least, I could forget Ruby…

Sun smiled. "Thank you."

"Just know… we begin now. Last night was something I really needed, but it won't happen again until you earn it." Blake reminded him.

"I figured. So let's start tonight? Dinner?" Sun asked her.

"Sure." Blake nodded. "I'll see you then."

Sun left, and Blake laid back down to get a few more winks of sleep. Again, it was peacefully dream-less.


Yang was waiting patiently. She had discovered a sort of schedule of when Ruby called her. Whether the redhead knew it or not, Yang could more or less anticipate when her sister would call, and it was nearing the end of that cycle. Her scroll buzzed, and she answered quickly. "Heya, Rubes!"

"Hi Yang! Sorry I meant to call sooner…" Ruby greeted.

"It's fine." Yang smiled. "Things busy at the clinic?"

"Yeah… We got swamped today. A car hit a cyclist just outside." Ruby vented. "The car was only going 5, but the cyclist was still injured. Thank god it wasn't life threatening…"

"Sounds tough… so do you actually like, work on people?" Yang asked.

"I'm in the rooms more and more for minor stuff, but I'm mostly behind a desk." Yang told her.

"You? Behind a desk?" Yang was amazed. "How the hell do you let all your energy out?"

Phoenix has been draining me of most my energy… "After work, I do runs with Flora and stuff like that." Ruby told her.

"I see… So, what is it with Flora?" Yang asked.

"What do you mean?" Ruby pouted.

"I mean… Ruby, are things okay between you and Blake?" Yang asked.

Ruby was quiet for a long time. "I don't think there is anything going on between me and Blake right now…"

"Oh… Alright…" Yang sounded thoughtful.

"Why do you ask?" Ruby caught that there must have been a reason for the out-of-the-blue question.

The blonde sighed. "I saw her with Sun the other day. She looked happy. I was just making sure she wasn't… y'know… but if nothing is going on between you two, then I guess we can't say anything."

"She's with Sun…?" Ruby asked, feeling her heart sink. "She's happy…?"

"Yeah…" Yang didn't miss the tone of her sister's voice.

"I see…" Ruby thought to her child in the next room. Maybe this is for the best… "Good for her." She tried to sound happy.

"So, when are you coming out next?" Yang asked, as she always did.

"I don't know Yang…" Ruby answered the same as she always did.

"I see… Well, I gotta go. I talk to you soon." Yang promised. "Goodbye."

"Talk to you later." Ruby smiled. "Bye…"

Yang hung up and looked across the room to where Weiss was currently on a business call. She strode across the room and waited for her to finish.

She hung up and turned. "What's up? Did Ruby say anything?"

"Weiss, I think we should make the Reunion an annual thing." Yang told her.

Weiss studied her girlfriend. "You think it's the only way to get Ruby back down here?"

"Once a year is better than never." Yang shrugged. "It's all I can think of right now. Until I think of something better…"

"I'm fine with it." Weiss smiled. "Besides, I think it would be good. All our friends have such different lives. I was thinking about doing it anyways."

"Alright." Yang smiled. "Now I wait…"

"She'll be okay, Yang." Weiss assured. "And one day she'll be ready to stay. She can't keep away forever."

"I hope you're right, Weiss." Yang nodded. "I hope you're right."


Ruby spent the next two weeks thinking about nothing but Blake. Even at work or when taking care of Phoenix, the cat-eared cutie was always somewhere in her mind. She supposed she only had herself to blame for losing her to Sun… she hasn't exactly been attentive of the faunus woman. They had spoken one time in over a year, and Ruby was pretty sure she went to her room in Schnee manor that night to engage in some very specific activities.

Flora was taking the news slightly different since she got Ruby to confess. "Oh, I met this wonderful guy at the supermarket the other day! And apparently, he has a thing for redheads."

"Seriously, Flora?" Ruby stared incredulously at quite possibly the only friend she had left. "Please stop."

"I'm just saying… He was rather cute." Flora insisted.

"I have enough to worry about without dating on top of it. Besides, I'm not into guys." The redhead harshly reminded her.

"It was just a suggestion…" Flora mumbled.

Ruby shook her head and let it go. That was the third 'suggestion' this week, and Ruby wasn't looking forward to hearing any others. "How is this afternoon looking?"

Flora frowned, but followed Ruby's lead and dropped the previous conversation. "Not too busy, actually. You've already put in enough extra hours. You should go home and spend time with Phoenix."

"You think so?" Ruby asked her. "I need the extra money though… rent is higher than I thought it would be."

"There is always something else you can do… something that pays way more." Flora suggested.

"And leave Phoenix at home for weeks at a time?" Ruby argued.

"Doing something you love, upholding an oath you swore to protect?" Flora countered.

"Putting myself in constant danger?" The redhead continued resisting.

"Protecting Remnant." Flora stated.

"Chancing that I may not come back home to him?" The woman scolded, thinking on her own mother. "I won't do that to him."

"You'll be protecting the world he'll grow up in." Flora remained steadfast. "I'm sure one day he will be proud of his warrior momma."

"I won't put him through that…" Ruby resisted.

"Ruby…" Flora put her hand on hers. "I know it's what you dreamed of doing your whole life. I know you want to do it now. I know you're worried about your son, and that's natural. But you do need the money, and honestly, you need the adventure. I see you fidgeting behind the desk, you're not for this place. You belong out there, protecting Remnant… Protecting him."

"And if I die protecting Remnant?" Ruby asked her.

"You'll die defending him. And I will make sure he grows up knowing how brave his mother was." Flora assured. "But it won't happen. Because you will struggle through and come home, back to him. I know you, Ruby Rose."

Ruby sighed. "You'll watch him while I'm away?"

"Of course I will." Flora smiled.

The redhead smiled back. "After everything I've done… how do I deserve a friend like you?"

"Everything you've done in the past year has been to protect a child and his innocent soul." Flora told her. "I think the universe forgives a few broken hearts."

"Even mine?" Ruby joked.

"Even yours." The nurse replied. It wasn't a joke.

"Thank you, Flora. For everything." Ruby hugged her. "I better go prepare. I may be a bit rusty…"

"I'll be along after my shift." Flora nodded. "You're doing the right thing Ruby."

"It's all I try to do…" Ruby muttered, thinking once again about a faunus named Blake Belladonna.