Disclaimer: I like penguins.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"What about now?"

"The answer is still no, just like the last dozen times you asked, Ruby." Blacked stated, deadpan evident in her voice. "Stop asking already."

"Oh come on B, you know it's funny annoying people." Ruby stated, having suggested prior to use her Semblance again, but Blake vehemently told her no again. "Besides it's boring, Grimm have not attacked us yet."

Blake's ears twitched, with her simply shrugging in response. "They likely sensed the most powerful Silver-Eyed Warrior on Remnant is walking this place and are keen not to die."

Ruby stopped for a moment, then punched the nearby tree. "Fuck!" The trunk not only had a good chunk torn out of it, but the tree fell seconds later. "I wish I knew how to turn these things off."

The cat faunus simply smirked in amusement. "Oh no, the Silver-Eyed Warrior of legend is mad, whatever shall the Grimm do?"

"You wanna get punched?"

"No thanks, I'm not a masochist." Blake chuckled, walking ahead and spotting the mansion ahead. "Ah there it is. See, patience is the key, Ruby."

"Fockin' hate you." Ruby grumbled, taking out Crescent Rose in its Scythe form and slashing off the chains that locked the door. "Why am I stuck with you through all these Iterations again?"

The Belladonna shrugged in response. "Because neither of us had a choice and are stuck with each other. Now suck it up and help me find the documents for estate ownership."

Minutes later, and a lot of Ruby complaining later, they found the documents.

"Hmph, it took us a bit longer to find this time, because you kept playing around." Blake commented, dusting them off and checking over the documents.

"What do you mean playing around?!" Ruby pointed her finger at Blake, glaring at the cat faunus. "A damn book-shelf just fell on me!"

"Only because you kept searching the wrong places!" Blake snapped back, her patience still worn thin from Ruby's questions from earlier. "Now shut up and take us to Vale with your Semblance."

"But I thought you didn't lik-"

"It's necessary. We're a bit short on time and the daylight is burning away." Blake cut Ruby off and crossed her arms.

Ruby frowned, but understood. "Fine, but remember, we're not dealing with our teammates, the teachers, or anything like that in this Iteration." The Rose added then. "Especially not Salem or her lackeys. They don't know we exist and that's for the best."

Blake only raised an eyebrow in response. "We know how to defeat her. She won't be any trouble if it comes down to it."

Ruby only put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "The point being, this is a vacation." Ruby put some emphasis on that word. "I'd rather not put in any effort if I have to."

"Fine fine, just get us to Vale."

"Already on it."

"So...thanks again." Ruby spoke, looking a bit awkward.

"Don't mention it." Blake replied, patting Ruby on the head, looking rather smug.

"It really cost us a lot, so I guess I gotta thank your parents later for their patronage." Ruby stated, feeling her pride take a rather big blow there.

"As I said, don't worry about it. Calling the mansion anything else, but the Rose Mansion, just feels wrong." They had done it nearly every Iteration, so of course they would be continuing that tradition.

"I really should think of a way to make quick-buck, instead of always relying on you for this." Ruby stated, mostly to herself, while ignoring the Faunus' smug chuckling.

"But that would rob me of my entertainment, so let's not do that."

"Since when did my suffering become your amusement?"

"After we started all these Iterations, something has to stay constant." Blake repeated the phrase from ages ago. "Consistent enough that both you and I stay sane."

"What is it for you though?" Ruby wondered, looking a bit more serious this time. "My suffering ain't it. You're not that sadistic." Ignoring the look she got from the cat faunus, Ruby carried on. "For me it's our bickering. You help me stay grounded, not let my confidence turn into arrogance."

Blake nodded, deciding to return the sentiment and be serious about it as well. Knowing Ruby and herself, they'd return to being casual moments later. "For me it's you." Seeing the raised eyebrow, she clarified. "Whether I have romantic feelings doesn't matter now, but I'm honest. Your presence is what helps me keep myself grounded to reality. To not go insane from all these hundreds of Loops we went through."

"I think we're nearing a thousand actually." Ruby pointed out, still smiling at Blake. "We really should do something special for the 1'000th Iteration, but we'll think about that when we get to it."

"Maybe take over the world?" Blake suggested in a faux-serious manner.

"No, we did that ages ago and I was driven mad with power." Ruby pointed out, having a haunted look in her eyes.

"Ah yes I remember. They called you the Scarlet King and me the Shadow Monarch, that was quite troublesome." Blake shared the haunted look, before they were snapped out of it by one of her Shadow Clones popping. "Oh, they finished cleaning up the mansion for us."

"That reminds me, what is your current limit?" Ruby questioned, always appreciating how Blake's Semblance Evolution or Evolved Semblance as some called it, came in handy.

"68 is my current limit, but as this body grows, that number should more than double." Blake shrugged. "No worries, this is the only thing that allows me to keep up with you, miss prodigy."

"Blame my Silver-Eyes or genes for picking things up after seeing them only once." Ruby didn't feel any shame in that whatsoever. "Ya know, I'm just born to be a warrior 'n shit."

"Is cursing included in that package?"

"No, but me kicking your ass is." Ruby chuckled, with her adding. "Think they finished my attire yet?"

"Let me check." Spacing out for a bit, Blake tuned back in and told Ruby. "Yeah, they just about finished. Giving them instructions and detailed plans really cut down the time a lot."

"Don't forget materials, like cloth and such." The Rose poked at the other, then asked. "Uh, which direction is it again?"

"You're really in the mood to have that outfit again, aren't you?" Blake did pull Ruby along, on track to the Custom-Tailoring shop.

"You don't have an excuse, miss 'My hair faded to gray from all the stress, so I'm rocking that look.'" Ruby did blink a bit. "Huh, reminds me of a video game character."

Blake had a vague clue of whom Ruby was talking about. "From Arknights I presume? You always played that game way too much."

"Not my fault they took inspiration from you, me 'n some others." Upcoming Huntsman that would sell well. "Yeah, you reminded me of Schwarz, ya just need to get aller and your hair faded to gray within the next couple of months and that's pretty much it."

"I should sue that company." Blake sighed, and once they arrived at the shop, she paid the fee and waited until Ruby was done switching attires.

"Lovin' it." Ruby pointed out, the outfit being extremely similar to the one she had from the Atlas days, just modified to be her current size. As she grew, she would adjust it every now and then. "I really should stop the accent stuff. I only picked it up because we spent close to a decade in Vacuo that one time."

"Don't remind me." Blake shook her head, grumbling. "I still feel like I have sand in places that I didn't know I had."

"That does remind me, what's the next thing on the to-do list?" Ruby questioned, while looking ahead as Blake took out the note-pad.

"According to what you wrote, we should be finishing the mansion by tomorrow and then book a flight to Menagerie and thank my parents, then find Adam and kill him." Blake raised an eyebrow at that last point, then looked at Ruby.

"I wanted to try a new way of killing him." Ruby held up her hands, making up an excuse. "Remember the technique I used on Cardin?"

Blake grimaced, but did remember it. "Yeah, what about it?"

"You know how it's basically Aura compression and then unleashing all of the amplified force in one point? I thought that we could get your clones to learn it and then make them go boom!" Ruby still had a love for explosions.

"Huh, that sounds funny." Blake already imagined Adam running away from dozens of exploding Shadow Clones. "Yeah, we can do that on the way, I can pick up the technique you developed in a couple of days with my training method."

"Oh right, we can plan what we do in Menagerie after that." Ruby did grimace again. "Oh right, I should use that extensive Aura technique and make myself a temporary Faunus again, shouldn't I?"

Blake nodded, not minding it much. "Don't worry, I'll help you. Although you really should pick something other than Wolf Faunus all the time." A roll of her eyes, as she recalled a memory. "My father and mother kept teasing me about dating the Big Bad Wolf."

"How about a Wyvern then?" Ruby suggested.

"Why that specifically?" Now it was Blake's turn to inquire again.

"Dunno, I feel like having horns for some reason. That aside, we can do it on the way there, the flight itself is gonna take several days, much like the Extensive Aura technique will."

"That reminds me, where did you pick that up again?"

"Oh I learned it from Oz. He taught me magic in that one Iteration, and converting Aura to magic is a bit more exhausting than I want it to be, but it works." As Ruby spoke, she made sure to jump up on the rooftops, with Blake following suit. "Less passersby to bump into."

"Good point, but why did he teach you magic in that one?" Blake wasn't able to recall this memory, mostly because Ruby and her were on opposite ends of the world at that time.

"Oh I became the Fall Maiden at the time...or half of it at least. Still dunno how that whole stuff with Amber worked out." Not that she cared much about it now. "But yeah, I can teach you some of it in the next Iteration."

"Why not this one-Oh right, we're taking it easy." Blake grinned, while poking Ruby again. "Race you to the mansion?"

Ruby only gave Blake a look that could be described as 'Are you serious.' "Fine, I'm not using my Semblance then. Ready, go!"

With that, the two became a blur of black and crimson, rushing ahead of one another all the time and off into the distance.

Meanwhile in Beacon, Glynda had reported to the Headmaster, who was visibly frowning, but still remained calm. "Is that all, Glynda?"

"Yes. They did leave through an open window, so I suppose that once the suspension is over, we'll be able to retrieve them." Glynda spoke, still frowning. "What will we do about the other two?"

"Nothing. They're not at fault for their partners acting weird and leaving Beacon all of a sudden." Ozpin grimaced now. "Miss Belladonna revealing that she is a Cat Faunus must be a shock to them, especially miss Schnee."

Glynda had already known, so she wasn't all too surprised. "I did expect her to reveal it at a later date, but nevermind that. Have you seen Miss Rose's hairstyle? Doesn't it remind you of-"

"Of Qrow, yes." Ozpin pointed out, taking a swig of his coffee. "It seems he's been more of an influence on Miss Rose than we thought. Now let us hope that only extends to appearances and not behaviour."

"She is young and impressionable, it is best if we don't have a second Qrow on our hands." Glynda didn't want to deal with another drunkard.

"Yet she is one of the best combatants of the year and still has a lot of potential to unlock." Ozpin played a recording of the Ruby versus Cardin fight. "I still wonder where she learned that Palm Thrust technique from."

It was especially baffling how Ruby had taken down Cardin in one mere strike. The most implausible thing was that she had done so practiced years, as if she's been doing this for years.

"According to Miss Rose herself, she learned it from Qrow and practiced it on the side a lot." Then Glynda remembered. "Although her sister did mention that she never saw her practice really."

Ozpin furrowed his brows, thinking a bit harder now. "Qrow isn't able to do such a feat. In-fact, even I won't be able to really replicate it, without trying really hard or using my magic."

"Are you saying that-"

Ozpin held up his hand, cutting Glynda short. "I'm saying that Miss Rose and Miss Belladonna have been hiding a lot of things from their friends and us. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet and give them the benefit of doubt."

The professore frowned, but obliged as Ozpin said. "Fine, but you're being too soft on them Ozpin."

"I owe it to Summer, this is the least I can do for her sacrifice and legacy." A saddened look on the headmaster's face and Glynda understood.

"I will be gone then, thank you for your time." The Goodwitch left the room now, with Ozpin being left all by himself.

"I do hope you two know what you're doing." Ozpin muttered to himself, hoping he was making the right decision in giving them the whole suspension leave and not sending any of the staff to retrieve them.

"Now to hope that the rest of team RWBY will not be doing something ridiculous like Miss Rose and Miss Belladonna have been doing."

"So, what do you think is wrong with our partners?" Yang questioned, staring at the ceiling, while interacting with Weiss. It was pretty much the only thing they could do, as it was evening now.

"Maybe they're having their rebellious phase?" Weiss suggested, failing to think of any plausible reason for Ruby and Blake to be acting like that.

"At the same time? Blake is also the same age as us." The brawler did have a point.

In return, Weiss shrugged, now in her night-gown and deciding to lay down as well. "Today has been hectic and weird." Hence why the heiress suggested. "Team JNPR is in the same situation as us, so we'll be asking them for assistance tomorrow and search for them."

"Convenient timing that it's the weekend, huh?" Yang chuckled, but closed her eyes soon after. "I just hope Blake and Rubes haven't gotten into any trouble yet." Yang mumbled.

"We both know they likely have. Ruby is known for being a trouble-magnet."

"She isn-You know what, yes she is. Even during Signal she always got in trouble with a plethora of Grimm." Yang couldn't deny that.

"That reminds me Yang, you said that you've never seen Ruby practice that kind of technique before, right?" Weiss questioned, leaning up and meeting eyes with Yang, who had mirrored her as well.

"No. That wasn't the only strange thing though." Yang pointed out. "I don't know if my senses were tricking me, or I was sleep-deprived, but it feels like their Aura reserves have become much bigger."

"I can't tell, unlike you, I'm not a sensor type, so mind explaining it?" Weiss hoped Yang knew what she meant.

"You know how Jaune and I have the biggest Auras? Ruby and Blake ranked somewhere on the lower end, but now."

"Now what?" Weiss wanted to know now.

"Individually they have huge Aura pools. It's bigger than all of us put together." Yang was still at a loss of words. "I didn't mention it because I didn't think much of it at the time, but I really should have asked them about it."

As for Weiss, she looked paler than usual. "T-That large? Where did they get it? Were they able to suppress it? You don't think they're imposters, do you?"

Yang frowned, but didn't shake her head. "There are some Semblances out there that allow you to take the appearances of others. I would know, had to deal with those in the past."

"I won't question how, but it would explain a few inconsistencies we've been facing, no?" Weiss really didn't want to believe it. Especially as Ruby and Blake, while acting different, still felt genuinely like themselves, just more snarky and dry-sarcasm worthy.

"I don't want to believe it either, but we'll find out once we've found them." That was all that Yang said on that topic. "They couldn't really have gotten far, so if we start early tomorrow, we should find them in a jiffy."

"Let's hope." Weiss laid down again, as did Yang. "Good night Yang."

"Good night, Ice Queen."

"Hey!"

At least some things would never change.

"Feels like someone is talking about us." Ruby stated, wearing the pajamas she found in the closet. They were there in every Iteration and while a bit oversized for her current frame, still did the job. "I've been sneezing for a while now."

"Likely the Headmaster, Glynda and our friends talking about why we're acting this way." Blake stated, still going through several files, as did some of her doppelgangers.

"You only know because you had some of your Shadow Clones spy on them." The Rose dryly pointed out, while looking over Blake's shoulder.

"You guessed correctly. Now, do you want to sleep early, or help me sort out the documents?" Blake suggested, already knowing the answer.

"Nah thanks, the many numbers are going to hurt my head. Besides, you're smarter than I when it comes to stuff like this." Ruby pointed out and stared around again. "We're pretty lucky this mansion is here, no?"

"The Rose Mansion." Blake corrected, while nodding. "But yes, we're rather fortunate. It's well hidden deep within the Forever Falls and your mere presence scares Grimm away, so it's a safe-ground."

"I guess they do have their perk after all." Ruby glanced at the mirror, noting that her eyes were glowing in the dark. A rather ethereal look, like a phantom. "Still a pity I can't turn them off."

"It's for the best. Short form having your eyes sliced out, they're permanent." Blake yawned, getting tired. Mentally communicating with her Shadow Clones, she decided to get up and change into her sleeping attire as well. "Come on, we should go sleep."

"Ya sure?" Ruby didn't protest, as she decided to get on the size of the Queen-Sized bed. "We should buy a couple of beds tomorrow, unless you don't mind sleeping with me?"

"You do realize how that sounded right?" A bit of teasing was in order. "But no, I don't mind, let's just sleep now." With that said, she laid down, covering herself with her blanket and closed her eyes.

"Aye aye, don't blame me though if I accidentally hit you in my sleep." Ruby put on her sleeping mask and was sleeping rather quickly, but managed to say. "Night yo, B."

"Night Rose, let's hope this vacation won't be too hard to enjoy."

With that, the duo of Black and Red drifted off into sleep.