…

Ruby sat back from the screen and groaned. Again. She'd been sitting there for an hour with no luck.

This wasn't supposed to be this hard.

As leader of team RWBY, the young redhead had quite a lot of responsibilities; the main one being to lead her team, as the term 'leader' would imply. She also had lots of studying to do, as she was still technically a student at Beacon Academy and that meant both practical and academic knowledge was needed. She had a lot to do.

Yet no one expected that she would find an escape in writing. Herself least of all.

It had started as simply a way to take her mind off of things – immerse herself in a little story, get lost in an imaginary world, and just… have fun again. She wasn't very good at it (at least, not by her own standards), but that wasn't the point. It was fun, and that's all she needed.

Now, two years later, the fun had faded.

Team RWBY was currently in its third year at Beacon, meaning their schedules were busier than ever… yet Ruby had gradually started to devote more and more time to writing her stories. Time she really should have been spending with her team and her friends. Thing is, she was fully aware of this and had taken steps to change it over the past year. None of them worked. What had started as a hobby had soon become an obsession.

And now, sitting before a blank document, Ruby wondered if any of it was worthwhile.

Nothing was coming out anymore.

Nothing but a headache.

Truth be told, none of her stories had been fun for the last few months. The site she posted them to, Fanfic-dot-shun, was the biggest site for stories in all of Vale – even attracting readers from other kingdoms – and the reviews they always left had become… well… like a drug. There was no other word for it. Ruby had become addicted to the opinions of other people, especially when they fawned over how fun the stories were or how much they loved this or that character.

And like a drug, the effects were starting to bleed into her normal life. It didn't take long for Ruby to 'officially' delegate some of her responsibilities out to Weiss and the others. As long as she had time to indulge in her stories, it would all be worth it. They tried to call her out on it, but it did no good – in fact, the one time they tried to stage an intervention was when Ruby was at the height of her writing binge and far more creative than anyone dared to imagine; Ruby gave a perfectly good summary of how and why she wrote, speaking with an eloquence that left the others quite speechless. At the time, it had been one of her proudest moments.

But it was all bullcrap. All of it. She'd become dependent on her stories even then, and no amount of excuses would change that.

And now… it seemed like it was over. Her creative juices had well and truly run out. No matter which of her half-dozen stories she tried to focus on, nothing came. Nothing. Nothing!

"…"

Ruby took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, then closed the screen and stood up. She needed some fresh air.

…
…

It was the weekend, so Beacon was quiet and still in the evening light – most of the students were either in town or hunkered down to work on homework (oddly enough, the latter did not include Weiss anymore). Ruby sat on a bench outside the dorm building, looking up at the darkening sky and wondering when the first stars would come out to greet her.

Then again, maybe they were already gone… like her motivation.

At this point it wouldn't surprise her.

Seriously, when did she get so… depressed over something like this? She was Ruby Rose, for crying out loud!

Because she was also 'RRHood15' online. 17 stories, 5 of those complete and 12 ongoing. Hundreds of followers. Thousands of views. She was by no means the most popular writer on the site, but those were not bad numbers. Not bad at all.

They should have been enough to lift her spirits; instead they served as an anchor to weigh down her mood.

Why? Because by not writing anything for so long… she felt like she was letting them down.

And that felt worse than ignoring her team.

"Maybe I should just delete my account…" she muttered to herself as she continued staring upwards. Still no stars yet. "It's draining me so much… how can anyone deal with this?"

Yeah… maybe it was time to quit.

… … …But then what would happen to Rouge? To Azure Skye? How would Captain Cobalt get out of the mess he was in?

Ruby groaned once again, leaning forward and putting her fingers to her temples. "Dang it… I can't quit. I can't leave so much unfinished."

"Yeah…" said a new voice from next to her, "That sounds like you."

Ruby looked up to find Blake Belladonna holding a couple of new books. Apparently she'd just gotten back from town… and just in time to hear her team leader talking to herself. Wonderful. What else could go wrong?

Blake studied her leader for a full minute before quietly taking a seat next to her on the bench. The sky was growing darker, but clouds obscured any stars that might have decided to start shining. A cool breeze blew by.

"You have a lot on your mind," she stated. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," Ruby sighed. "I… I can't seem to write anything right now. And I hate it."

"The word for that is 'burnout.'"

Ruby flinched. She'd heard that term before, but was confident that she would never push herself too far. Now it was far too accurate to describe her state of mind – her brain felt like a used matchstick, all shriveled and black.

Blake thought for a moment, then said, "I've been there before, actually. Where you are."

"You write? I thought you just read books…"

"I do," the Faunus nodded, "But I also tried my hand at writing a few stories. That was before I came to Beacon, and I only dabbled in it afterwards. And yes, I burned out a few times – it's one of the worst feelings in the world, I know."

"Tell me about it," Ruby groaned. "I'd rather face down an entire pack of Beowolves without any spare ammo. Or Aura. Naked. With a clown wig."

At least that took some of the tension out of their talk; Blake actually snorted a laugh, and even Ruby cracked a smile. That was a rather… worrisome mental image, even if it was funny.

The conversation paused as the teammates gazed upwards again, but there were still no stars. In fact, the clouds were getting thicker – it looked like rain was coming. Dang.

"I've been keeping up with a couple of your stories," Blake suddenly said.

"Really?" This got Ruby to perk up a little, but then she shrank back with a slight whine. "…Which ones?"

"Um… 'Color The Sky' and 'Fall of the Fountain World.'"

Ruby cringed. 'Color The Sky' was almost two months overdue for an update and 'Fountain World' was the very story she was completely stuck on. She'd really put Captain Cobalt in a pickle, one that even the writer herself couldn't think of a way out of.

"If I may be honest, though… they were a lot more fun to read at the beginning." Blake shuffled her books as she considered her words. "The last several chapters all felt… rushed. More like something you had to write, and it shows."

Ruby's face fell. Most of the reviews she'd been getting were still positive, but she could tell most of her readers felt the same way. She'd been forcing herself to put out something she wasn't happy with, and it had become so obvious that Ruby herself had quit re-reading any of her work.

"You need a break."

A dozen angry replies all jumped out of Ruby's brain all at once, but somehow she caught everyone of them and beat them back with a stick before they reached her mouth. The one that made its way out was: "I know."

"Do you, though? Don't think I haven't noticed how dead you look during the day, Ruby… you're pushing yourself too hard. This isn't even a hobby for you anymore, is it? It's become a job, and it doesn't even pay all that well!"

"Yeah," Ruby sighed, but with half a grin. "I need a raise."

"No, you need to use your vacation time," Blake countered with a grin of her own. "I'll have a talk with your boss about it. Heck, we might as well form a union and go on strike."

Both girls chuckled quietly to themselves as the conversation died down once again. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but neither of them felt the urge to stand up and go inside. Not yet.

Ruby stared at the ground as she said, "I'm scared… that if I stop, I may never finish. I don't want that."

Blake said nothing, waiting for her friend to continue.

"And it's not what you think – I don't want to let the readers down, but it's mostly me. I want to get to the end. I want to see how things resolve. And the idea that I've created a world that never reaches that conclusion… it scares me. If I can't reach a happy ending in my imaginary world… how can I possibly do it in the real one?"

That was it. That was the real problem.

It was shocking to hear out loud, but that was the true depth of her depression and the reason for her melancholy. There was no point in denying it anymore.

Blake reached over and put her arm around Ruby's shoulder, holding the younger girl close. "That's not something I can just tell you, Ruby. The answer that works for me wouldn't work for you. All I can say is this; take a step back, look at the big picture and just… take your time. Relax. Trying to force yourself will only lead to more pain."

Ruby nodded, feeling the tears welling up within her. Not even Yang could have given her emotional support like this, and it was finally soothing a pain that had become all too familiar. The relief was almost overwhelming.

Blake added, "My Dad told me a few years ago that ideas are kinda like farts – if you have to force it out, it's probably crap."

"Heh… heh heh… *snort* Ha-ha-ha!"

Laughter came rolling out of Ruby until she was gasping for breath. Even Blake joined in the chuckling as the built-up tension found a release in the most unexpected way possible.

For the first time in months, Ruby was finally able to get her mind off of her chronic writer's block and just… laugh.

"…"

"…"

They both sat there for a few more minutes while they tried to catch their breath. Blake stood up first, stretched her arms over her head, then reached down and offered her hand to Ruby. The redhead took it and stood up as well, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.

"I've also heard," Blake said as they walked inside, "that it helps to talk with someone about it. Have someone you can just… chat with. Better than keeping everything bottled up inside, and a fresh perspective can sometimes get the creative juices flowing again."

Ruby raised one eyebrow. "That sounded an awful lot like 'I want to know how 'Fall of the Fountain World' ends, Ruby.'"

Blake put on her most innocent face, but she couldn't hide her smirk.

Ruby Rose gave the back of her head a scratch and said, "Eh, why not? At least I know you have an interest. I tried talking to Yang about this stuff once or twice and I could see her physically leaving her body."

Blake Belladonna gave a happy squeak before she could stop herself. They both stared for a moment as Blake's face turned bright red. "You heard nothing," the cat Faunus growled, her ribbon flat on her head.

Ruby raised her hands in a pose of surrender, then started for the door. "So you know Captain Cobalt, right? I'm kinda stuck on what to do with him. After having half of his crew turn against him, I ended up sending his ship through a really dangerous passage and…"

The door to the building closed behind them, cutting off the conversation.

Above, the clouds had parted without either teen noticing. The night sky was absolutely filled with stars – in fact, there were more stars out tonight then there had been for the last several months.

Author's Note: …

=^..^=