Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Co-Authored with ToxicExotic

Fear

Ruby had always thought Vale looked really pretty at night. Surrounded by an ever encroaching darkness, the kingdom stood alone as the only source of light on the horizon. In that light, people sought safety and security, something they quite frequently found. Though it would be wrong to say they lived carefree, as even the city had its issues, it was at least a life away from the harsh horrors that laid beyond the city walls. Free of the darkness and protected by walls and mountains, they were able to start families and live out their dreams; whatever those dreams were.

Each light that she saw represented one such person. Each light was someone who was happy, or at least safe. Each light was someone who wouldn't be sleeping with one eye open, with a weapon beside them that would be raised to defend oneself at a moments notice. And as a Huntress, each light filled her with pride. Pride towards every hunter that came before her and protected that light, pride towards herself for one day protecting it herself. Not just for the city down below, but every city like it across Remnant.

However, while normally that thought would comfort and reassure her, Ruby was in too dour a mood to appreciate it as she normally would. Sat atop the dormitory building, the cool breeze blowing through her hair, Ruby couldn't help but acknowledge that the day had been a mess. While it had started off well with a nice team bonding session and Weiss finally accepting that her summons were acting alone, it had taken a sharp turn during, and after, their mission to clear the blockage.

She had known Blake was in a rough mood. She had been for nearly a week, but Blake was refusing to open up to her properly. It was very reminiscent of when they had first been placed on a team together. The girl was grouchy, untalkative, and a little snappy. But Ruby knew that was only because the faunus was worried about her parents' visit, and just wished the girl would talk to them about it.

When they had got back from the mission though, Blake had still been angry and had immediately stormed off to the library, leaving Ruby a little unsure as to what she had actually done wrong. She had seen Blake downed and rushed to help, just as she had with any member of her team in the past. None of them had ever been mad at her before. Unfortunately, since Blake had stormed off, she couldn't exactly ask. So instead, after getting some of her coursework done, she had left the dorm herself and slumped her way up to the roof to get some air.

And that was where she had been sitting for an hour. Her legs resting over the edge as she slowly thought over the day and how she would fix things with Blake. Before she could think any further though, the loud sound of metal against stone caught her ear and she turned to see Yang pushing her way through the door with a bottle in her hand. The blonde has also not been seen since they had returned from their mission, having hurried off after Blake.

"Hey, Rubles." She said, kicking the door shut behind her and walking over. "Weiss said I'd find you up here." With the grace of a Huntress, she jumped up onto the ledge and sat down. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Ruby replied. "Just thinking about stuff. How's Blake?"

"Still a little angry." The girl hummed and took a sip of her drink. "But she'll calm down."

"I hope so." Ruby sighed and reached out to take the drink from her sister, who handed it to her.

Taking a sip, she immediately spat it back out and began to cough as a nasty taste filled her mouth. She couldn't quite describe what it tasted like, but she knew it was definitely something she never wanted to try again. Yang on the other hand, simply laughed and pulled the drink back.

"I-Is that b-beer?" Ruby coughed, trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Yup. You'll like it when you get older."

"No I won't." Ruby said with absolute certainty.

Lilac eyes looked at her in amusement, before the brawler's lips settled on a wide grin. Shaking her head, Yang reached into her pocket and pulled out a chocolate milkshake, which she quickly handed over. Giving it a firm shake, Ruby ripped the cap off and guzzled down a few mouthfuls, letting out a happy sigh as the horrible taste of beer was replaced with the pleasant aftertaste of chocolate.

"Better?" Yang chuckled.

"Much better." She breathed and gave the beer in Yang's hand a nasty look. "How do you drink that stuff?"

"It's an acquired taste." Yang laughed and took a sip. "But if any of the teachers ask, it's just apple juice."

"Got it." Ruby nodded and turned back to look out over the city.

For a couple of minutes, they sat there in silence and simply sipped away at their drinks. Normally, after a mistake like that, Yang would tease her mercilessly, so the fact that she was quiet told Ruby that there was something on the girl's mind. Not wanting to rush her sister, as anything that had her held up was usually something she was unsure how to discuss, she waited patiently for whatever was going to be said. However, the words that came out of the girl's mouth were definitely not what Ruby expected.

"I get why she's mad, you know." The blonde sighed, taking another sip of her drink. "I don't like that she shouted at you, but I can't say I haven't felt the same way as she does."

"You're mad that I saved her too?" Ruby asked, looking down at her knees.

"Not that you saved her, Ruby." Yang groaned. "That you thought you needed to."

Silence filled the space again as Yang placed down the drink and looked out over the city of Vale. Daring to glance at her sister, Ruby saw there was sadness in her lilac eyes. It was unusual to see such a thing, since the girl usually bottled everything up, and Ruby felt horrible for seemingly being the one who put it there.

"Do you know what the most terrifying moment of my life has been, Rubes?" Yang asked quietly, not pulling her gaze from the city.

"No?" Ruby replied. There had only been a few times that she had seen her sister scared after all. "When?"

"It was the day Qrow agreed to train you." That was an answer she had definitely not been expecting, but Yang elaborated further. "I asked him to say no, I tried begging him to keep you away from this because I knew, I knew, who you'd become."

As Ruby processed that unknown fact, she heard a slight grinding and looked down to see Yang hands were gripping the stone ledge with enough force that small parts were beginning to crumble away.

"I watched you grow up, hell I practically raised you. I remember every question you asked me, I remember every story that you loved more than the others; and I always answered them honestly because I never wanted to lie to you. But the more you grew, the more you trained and how you spoke of being a Huntress, the more I saw that you were becoming like Mom."

Yang shook her head.

"And I know that, just like Mom, there will come a day when I'll lose you. That one day you'll go on a mission and never come back. And as proud as I am of you Ruby, the fact that you will put your life at risk so easily, for anyone, is something that has always terrified me. But every day I push it aside. I support you and try to make sure you're as ready as possible."

The blonde gave a small sniffle, and Ruby looked up to see tears in the girl's eyes.

"And then you do shit like this and I'm reminded all over again." she croaked. "Coming to terms with this isn't easy, Ruby, and I don't want an apology; but for anyone who knows you, the thought of losing you is like being stabbed in the heart. So yes, I get why Blake was angry. You knew she didn't need help, yet you jumped in to protect her. You put her life over yours, and the last time you did that, you almost died."

Looking away as a tear dropped down Yang's cheek, Ruby felt a mix of emotions. She definitely remembered the hit she had taken against the Hellk, and remembered Blake hadn't been very happy about it during the recovery; but she thought that had been put behind them after they'd talked about it. Apparently that wasn't the case. But Ruby had no idea what she could do to change that.

The willingness to sacrifice herself was never a choice. For her, it had always just been what was right. Yang was right that it had always been an innate part of her personality, something that had always been her. It was never that she wanted to die, only that she was ready whenever that moment came. And that wasn't going to change. Or at least, it never had so far.

"So what do I do?" Ruby mumbled. "I don't want to change who I am."

"We're not asking you to do that." Yang breathed, picking her drink back up and taking a sip as she wiped her eyes. "Neither of us want you to change who you are, we just want you to remember that we don't need you saving us from the little things. We can handle ourselves."

"I know you can." Ruby pouted, taking a sip of her milkshake. "I just… reacted."

"Well," Yang sighed and looked at her. "Maybe that's what we work on. Making sure you don't throw yourself into danger for something minor."

Knowing that was definitely something she could work on, Ruby gave her sister a small nod. "Maybe we could start practising hand to hand again too?" She offered.

"We can definitely pick up where we left off." Yang smiled, pulling Ruby into a hug. A kiss was pressed against the side of her head. "You do know I'm really proud of you though. Right?"

"I do." Ruby sighed happily, leaning into her sister's warm aura.

"Good."

Yang took another sip of her drink, and so did Ruby. She really wasn't sure what had caused her sister to become more open recently, maybe it was what had happened over the break, but she was really liking it. Even if the honesty was sometimes not exactly what she wanted to hear.

Placing her pen down and stretching her arms above her head, Ruby glanced into the small mirror that sat on her partner's desk to see Blake was sat curled up under her blanket reading a book. It had been a whole twenty-four hours since their argument, and the two of them had still yet to talk about it and it was really starting to bug her.

For the first time in weeks, the two had not shared a bed for the night and Ruby still remembered how lonely she had felt the night before. It was an odd feeling, since she had slept alone for years, but waking up without Blake beside her had left her feeling a little off for the entire day. It had even been hard to focus on the coursework she had spent the last hour trying to complete, though unfortunately had not despite it being due the next day.

So rather tired from the silence and the mountain of coursework that she still had left, Ruby decided it was finally time for them to talk and stood up from her seat and turned to look at her sister. Catching the blonde's eyes, she motioned towards Weiss. Thankfully the girl understood.

"Alright, people." The girl yawned, stretching her arms and jumping down from her top bunk. "I really need a break, and we all need some food. Any complaints about Garlands?"

"Can't you just get something delivered from the food court?" Blake mumbled, not lowering her book. "It'll be quicker."

"Nah. We've been eating rather unhealthy lately." The girl grinned and grabbed her jacket. "And I really want some good mushrooms."

"Fine." Blake sighed and prepared to shuffle from her bed. "Let me just get dre-"

"Me and Weiss have got it." Yang interrupted with a pointed look to the heiress. "Right, Weiss?"

"Yes." The girl nodded quickly and pulled on her boots. "You two can talk while we are out."

"Real subtle, Weiss."

"I don't care for subtleties."

"That is true."

While Ruby watched her teammates get ready to leave, she saw Blake's ears flatten against her head as she shifted back on her bed and resumed her reading. The move not exactly filling with confidence, she slipped her hands into the pockets of her skirt and looked down nervously at her legs. However, a few seconds later, she felt a hand land on her shoulder and a warmth flowed through her. Looking to her side, she saw Weiss giving her a small smile, the bracelet on her wrist glowing a bright red for a moment before she let go and followed Yang out of the room.

Left alone, she felt her nerves grow and moved over to sit on Weiss' bed. Having never really been in an argument like it before, she had no real idea what to do; but she figured the best thing would be to at least make an attempt to talk to her girlfriend. So picking at the lining of her skirt, she gave a small cough.

"Good book?"

"Haven't finished it yet." Blake replied shortly, making no attempt to further the discussion.

"Oh…" Ruby hummed, a little confused. "Do you need to finish it to know if it's good?"

"Bad endings can ruin good build up and ruin the experience." Blake replied dully, not turning her eyes away from the pages. "Good endings can salvage bad build up and save the experience."

"I guess that's true." She mumbled.

Fiddling with her socks, she watched her girlfriend and realised that while they weren't looking up from the book, she wasn't actually reading anything. Her ears were also still flattened against her head, and Ruby knew that meant the girl was upset. With both of those things in mind, a sudden thought ran through her mind and filled her with sadness. So much so that she couldn't help but express her fear.

"Are you breaking up with me?" She muttered quietly.

"What?" The reply was immediate. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know." Ruby shrugged anxiously. "You won't talk to me, and you're mad about something I can't apologise for. What else am I supposed to think?"

"I'm not mad at…" Blake cut herself off with a sigh and sat up straight, dropping her book to the bed. "Okay, I am. You got in the way of my attack. You didn't trust me to handle myself, and that got us both hurt."

"I didn't mean to." Ruby countered sullenly. "I just saw you were down and wanted to-"

"But that's not the only time, Ruby." Blake interrupted. "You acted like I couldn't handle myself against a few Beowolves while you fought the Syren. You almost died trying to sacrifice yourself to get me away from the Hellk, something I told you to stop doing. You jammed your scythe stopping a Wisp that I knew was there. You keep doing it."

"I know. I just don't want to risk losing people when I could save them."

"So you think it's okay for us to lose you instead?" Blake snapped quickly, a little irritation in her voice. "That isn't better for us, you know. Why do you think I've been training so hard with Xanthia? I don't want you sacrificing yourself, especially for me, and am trying my best to make sure that doesn't happen. But none of my training, none of our training as a team, means anything if you don't trust that I can handle myself in the field."

"I do trust you." Ruby scowled. "I've always trusted you.

"Well it doesn't feel like it."

"I do." She repeated and leaned forward. "I really do, I just…" Ruby let out a low breath and pulled her legs up to her chest. "It's not about trust. I just don't want people to potentially get hurt if I can stop it."

"And that's fine." Blake said firmly. "I get that, Ruby, but I'm not just another civilian who's walking on the streets. I'm a Huntress, just like you. You don't need to be constantly looking out for me when we're supposed to be looking out for others. How am I supposed to do my job when I have to look over my shoulder for both you and Grimm getting in my way?"

Ruby could definitely understand that point. It was always difficult enough to fight against an opponent while keeping an eye on your surroundings, but to make sure someone you didn't want to hurt wasn't getting in your way would be even harder. That shouldn't have been an issue since their teamwork was nearly impeccable, but clearly it had happened. Had they fallen off? Were they no longer as aligned as they used to be? Or had it simply been her fault for acting too hastily and letting her impulses get the better of her?

"You're right." Ruby nodded slowly. "You shouldn't have to worry about that. But..."

Blake's eyebrow raised, and Ruby hesitated for a minute. While her girlfriend was right about everything she had said, that had not been the only thing that had caused an issue during their mission. And though she didn't want to risk irritating the faunus any more, she knew it was her duty as team leader to bring it up. So clearing her nerves, she looked into the girl's beautiful eyes and continued.

"But we shouldn't have to worry about you attracting Grimm to us either." She said as clearly as she could.

Though she had expected to see anger flare in Blake's eyes, just as they had when Yang had confronted her after the fight, she was a little surprised to see them filled with shame as they fell to the bed.

"I get you're worried about seeing your parents Blake, but you can't bring that with you on missions."

"I know that." Blake sighed and shook her head. "But I don't know what to do."

"Talk to me." Ruby said quietly, dropping her legs and moving to the edge of the bed. "I've been trying to get you to talk to me all week, but you keep pushing me away. You're not sleeping properly and I know you've skipped some meals. So please, just tell me what's wrong."

Blake was silent for a good few minutes. The irritated aura that had surrounded the girl earlier had quickly faded to one of doubt and uncertainty as her fingers fiddled with the pages of her book. Content not to force Blake into sharing, Ruby simply waited and kept a kind expression on her face in an attempt to make the girl feel comfortable. Thankfully, the girl eventually let out a short breath and leaned back against the wall, pulling her blanket up to cover herself as she shrank into the corner a little.

"My dad always knew everything they did, so he'll know everything I did." She mumbled, wrapping herself tightly in the material. "I know I didn't kill anyone myself, but I still hurt people and left others to Grimm. He might be preaching peace, but a piece of him will still be appalled by me."

"You don't know th-"

"I do." Blake cut her off. "He hates violence."

"He'll forgive you."

"But a part of him will always hate me."

"I don't believe that." Ruby shook her head and stood up. "And even if he does, so what? He'll still be there for you. It's not gunna stop him from accepting you. It didn't stop me."

Walking over to Blake's bed, Ruby knelt down in front of the girl. For the first time in twenty-four hours, Blake didn't pull away, and Ruby considered that a good sign.

"I don't like what you did either. Or that you hurt people. But I still accept you as you are, because that isn't you anymore."

"But all you've ever known is the best of me. I've never let you down like I did him. I learned a long time ago that when you let people down, it's harder for them to stay forgiving." Her voice quietened to a whisper. "They always snap eventually."

"Blake…" Ruby reached out to take her girlfriend's hand, but to her surprise the faunus flinched away slightly, a hint of a shadow trailing behind her. "I don't know what makes you think that, but your dad isn't going to be angry at you."

Shifting her position on the bed, Ruby slipped under the blanket and sat beside her raven-haired teammate. She wasn't quite sure what had caused Blake to believe her dad would do those things, but she was certain they were all a figment of Blake's imagination. Maybe it had something to do with the girl's past, which she had always been very quiet about, but Ruby was determined to show her that there was nothing to be scared of.

So, leaning her head against the girl's shoulder, she let out a low breath and pulled the blanket back over them both.

"You're a good person, Blake." She knew she had said it a hundred times, but clearly Blake needed to hear it again. "You did some bad things, but the most important thing is that you regret doing them. If someone can't see that, then that's their loss."

Reaching out for Blake's hand again, she was glad to see the girl didn't flinch away and quickly linked their fingers while giving her a reassuring smile.

"But thankfully that isn't going to be an issue with your parents."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I have hope." Ruby smiled. "Enough for both of us if I need to."

Blake's head finally looked up from the bed and turned to face her. Her ears were still pinned back on her head and her eyes were brimming with sadness, but she quickly laid her head against Ruby's shoulder. "Thanks." She whispered.

Slipping her free hand around her girlfriend's waist, Ruby relaxed back into the wall and settled in for what would likely be a night of reassuring her girlfriend. Something she was definitely not opposed to doing.

Raalm's Notes

Hello everyone. I'mma be honest, I am incredibly tired and have been awake for the past 48 hours trying to get a PS5 with 0 luck, and all I want to do right now is sleep, so I apologise if these notes are a little short.

For the most part, we wanted to finally address how Ruby's willingness to sacrifice herself affects those around her, and how it makes them feel. The things they are doing to prevents her from having to do so, but also the parts that they don't like. We also wanted to show just how inside her own head Blake is, and how much she is internalizing stuff.

Hopefully it all worked out.

But that's it from me. I hope you all enjoyed.