Their class packets were thicker than usual. Though none of them said it out loud, every fourth year student understood the implication. For team RWBY, the heavy workload towered over them like an omen.

Before they knew it, they were swept up in the tornado of homework and mission requests. If that had been the only thing to come between the team, it would have been just another year at Beacon. Yet this wasn't just any year, it was their final one. The classes were harder, the training lasted longer, and the learning curve had ruthlessly increased as well. Just that afternoon, Professor Port released several alpha beowolves into his classroom without warning. He expected the early arrivals to dispatch the Grimm without help. The late arrivals had received almost double the Grimm, a grueling punishment indeed.

That wasn't all, though.

As much as they were a team, they were also learning to be individuals for the first time. Not every foursome stayed together after Beacon, and this final year tested the bonds that had been built over time. They had a few separate classes now. What used to be a fairly relaxed timetable suddenly found itself regimented five days out of the week. Weiss had piled on a few extra classes. It made her schedule even more ludicrous than the rest of her team. No one bothered to stop her, knowing the effort to be futile.

Weiss could only hope her decision hadn't been a poor one.

She could already feel the fatigue as she pushed herself through the dorm room well after nightfall. She grit her teeth as she shifted her mission satchel, weapon case, and a small bag of groceries in her hands. The entire juggling act only serving to annoy her. With great effort, she edged the door closed behind her. Her gaze met the makeshift bunkbed close to the door. It was empty, but the dim light from beyond the bathroom door told of where Yang had gone. Then her eyes drifted to the two women bundled up under the blankets. Both of them were sound asleep and accounted for as well.

Weiss still wasn't used to the sight, and deep down, she wondered if she ever would be. It felt odd, looking at them, knowing they were lovers. It was as if she was ruining a special moment made for only the two of them. Blake and Ruby certainly didn't seem to mind, but, that didn't make Weiss feel any less unclean. Something so precious shouldn't be for anyone else to see.

With a soft breath, Weiss set all of her belongings down on her desk as quietly as possible. She slipped off her shoes and set them aside. Then she began tiptoeing around the room, gathering her nightgown and pulling her hair out from the tiara it sat in. Her finger knocked on the bathroom door with gentle insistence. "Yang…" Weiss whispered as loudly as she dared. "Are you going to be in there for very long?"

The door cracked open a moment later. "Come on in." Yang said as she held the door open for Weiss to enter. Yang gestured to her bandages. "I'm almost done. I'm just taking these off."

Weiss took a closer look. The red patches were gone, and Yang's arms were blemish free. "I guess they've finally healed."

"More or less." Yang shrugged.

"Hopefully you've learned a lesson in all of this." Weiss said, closing the door behind her so that she wouldn't wake her teammates in the next room. "Although, your knuckles hardly look healed to me."

"I went a few rounds with a punching bag." Yang said as though it were nothing of concern. "It didn't go very well. It doesn't matter though, they'll heal up by morning."

"Your aura has come back, hasn't it?" Weiss asked with an upraised eyebrow. "These bruises shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, it has, come back. At least, that's what my scroll says. For some reason it didn't activate innately like it usually does." Lilac eyes gazed at the bruises, a frown ghosting across her face. It was gone in the same instant that it had arrived. Yang's careless smirk replaced it. Still, the supposedly happy emotion didn't reach her eyes. "It's probably just because of the Grimm ivy. Maybe it wasn't all out of my system like I thought."

"Maybe." Weiss said slowly, giving the notion due consideration. "Although if your aura has returned to full capacity, then I'd doubt that's the case. You might want to check with a nurse."

"It's not a big deal, these are just bruises. It was probably just a fluke." When the final white bandage hit the trash, Yang stopped studying her hands. "I'm stronger than I look. Besides, it doesn't even hurt."

"I know you're strong and you always bounce back. I don't think anyone in this school doubts that." Weiss conceded, though she wasn't quite sure she believed her own words. "Regardless, I would have preferred if you hadn't been so rough. You could have done actual damage."

"Nah, it's nothing. Besides, I need the extra hours training works towards extra credit in one of my classes." Yang said, pulling a small vial of aura oil from just behind the sink, letting a few drops spill into her palm before she rubbed her hands together vigorously.

"Which one?" Weiss asked.

"Advanced combat studies." As if it dawned on the blonde, she laughed. "Oh, man, I totally forgot to tell you. I decided to drop Peach's field medicine course. Professor Goodwitch suggested I enter into her class instead, and I thought it was a good idea…"

"What?" Weiss couldn't believe her ears. "Why would you do that? You're only a handful of credits away from being a certified medical dust practitioner. You've worked so hard for that."

"Was I?" Yang asked.

"You know you were. Why would you drop her class now?" Weiss scowled in confusion.

"Weiss, look at me. Look at what I am." Yang said as she flexed. Her muscles rippled, a testament to the years of effort she'd put into sculpting her body into a lethal force of brute strength. "I've been riding steady on your grades for the past three years. If it wasn't for you, I never would have passed any of Peach's classes."

"How could you say that? You put in the hours. You wrote those term papers. You passed your tests." Weiss shot back, an edge of hurt in her voice. "You earned your own grades, I had nothing to do with it."

"Yeah…" Yang said as she backed away. "You keep thinking that."

"Alright, I will. I believe it to be the truth." Weiss said softly. "Either way, you mustn't forget that we're a team. None of us would have made this far on our own."

"And some of us would have made it way further than others." Yang pointed out. "You don't have to sugar coat it. I know I'm a weak link."

"Beacon was never made to be an exclusively solitary experience." Weiss told her. She knew it was going to fall on deaf ears.

Yang was already looking away, her hands clenching into loose fists. "It was never really made for people like me, either. At least not Peach's classes, that's for damn sure."

"What a completely foolish thing to say." Weiss swallowed back her annoyance. "I understand that combat is your forte. Just be careful, Yang, and don't forget to ask for help."

"Yeah, I will." Yang said sincerely. "Anyway I'm going to go crash out. It's been a long day."

"Sleep well." Weiss said to Yang's retreating form. The blonde murmuring something back as she closed the door behind her. The white haired woman clicked the lock into place before she began to undress. She desperately needed to wash away the mental fatigue and go to sleep soon as well. "She'll be alright. It was probably just a rough day…"

Weiss felt like she had to believe that, for her own sake.

Weiss didn't just end her normal day last, she started her morning early. An entire two hours earlier than the rest of her team, in fact.

She had already survived her first lecture of the day as she sat down to take breakfast with her teammates. Her morning meals were always light. Today she had an orange, oatmeal topped ever so lightly with cinnamon, and imported atlesian coffee. She set her metal try down onto the table before going back to retrieve some napkins and a single packet of sugar. Sitting down, she properly regarded her teammates for the first time.

Ruby and Blake looked to have just woke up. The Faunus sported damp hair, as though she had just showered not long before. Ruby was barely propped up on the table. Weiss rolled her eyes fondly. The sight never ceased to amaze her. Blake took pity on Ruby, lovingly supplying the sleepy leader with hot chocolate.

"Let me guess, you practically carried her here." Weiss accused knowingly. It wasn't a difficult thing to guess. Ruby hardly moved when Weiss sat down.

"Guilty as charged." Blake said around her own warm drink. Although, her cup was filled with tea. "Honestly, with all of the work she did last night, I'm not surprised."

"I hope you woke Yang, too." Weiss said. She opened her timetable, sure enough, the blonde's first class was supposed to be soon. "She's not still sleeping, is she?"

"She wasn't there." Ruby said, perking up enough to give Weiss a confused look. "I thought she was with you."

"We both did." Blake admitted.

"I haven't seen her all morning." Weiss said with a shake of her head. "Mind you, I'm the only one of us that's taking Port's 'Village Trade, and Commerce' class. I wouldn't have crossed paths with her. My morning classes are in entirely different sections of the building."

"Mine too." Blake said, sliding the hot chocolate under Ruby's nose once more to keep her from falling asleep again. "Drink it, Ruby, it's triple chocolate."

The leader took a sip before yawning and taking another. "It's not like I see Yang before team classes. I have to sit in on a bunch of debriefings for a solid five hours." Ruby deflated just thinking about it. "I don't even know why I have to sit through them, it's not like I've learned anything."

"Someone has to do it." Weiss merely sighed, her voice carrying sympathy and annoyance in equal measure. "You're the one that said you wanted to help people."

"I do, and that hasn't changed." Ruby said, as she rubbed at her tied eyes. "I just don't see why all of the team leaders have to sit and listen to every hunter that comes through the headmaster's office."

"Not every hunter, Ruby…" Weiss interjected knowingly. "Only the ones issuing basic Grimm complaints and small village disputes. You don't sit in on anything that might be considered confidential."

"Most of them are just plain dumb." Ruby shot back, somewhat grumpy from her sleepy state. "I know they're trying to teach us how to deal with real world problems. I just wish it was more interesting. Sometimes the complaints seem to just mix up in my head like a big sloppy mess."

"That's probably the point." Blake told her. "It's the same in the White Fang."

"How?" Ruby clipped, her mouth hiding behind her mug once more.

Blake smiled softly, as her hand slid under the table. It was probably resting on Ruby's knee, if the way the leader settled down was any indication. "It's a matter of soothing the public." Blake said mildly. "Faunus will bring my father all sorts of grievances. Like you say, sometimes it does become a mess. However, my dad told me something once. He said that if I lose my sense of empathy, then I'm in no position to help anyone."

"Uh, I hate it." Ruby muttered. "Can't I just go back to listening to Professor Port babble about his adventures some more?"

"Afraid not." Weiss said.

"Crap." Ruby muttered.

"At least we have our dust theory class later. We'll round out the evening with team sparring with Professor Goodwitch at the end of the day." Weiss said, as both Ruby and Blake balked at the idea.

"Double crap." The red caped leader remarked as she planted her head onto the table.

"Don't worry, Ruby. I'm stuck with Oobleck for civil studies, and Weiss will be bogged down with more homework from Peach than she'll know what to do with." Blake said, her hand gently patting Ruby's back consolingly. "Yang has Peach's field medicine class too, right?"

"Actually, Yang dropped the class." Weiss said as she tore open her sugar packet and upended it into her oatmeal. "Now, she's taking advanced combat studies with Professor Goodwitch."

"She's insane." Blake deadpanned. "Absolutely insane…"

"It can't be that bad." Ruby laughed tiredly. Her hand reached for one of the small squares of coffee cake that was on Blake's plate. The Faunus batting it away gently.

"Coco broke her glasses in that class." Blake explained as she slid a different plate in front of Ruby. This one containing a healthier breakfast of ham and eggs. "They've been graduated for an entire year, and there's still shards of her glasses embedded in the wall."

Weiss dropped the spoon she was holding. Milk and oats sloshing onto her tray. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Blake grumbled, batting at Ruby's hand again. She once again offered the healthier alternative, and slid the cake well out of Ruby's reach.

"Coco Adel does not just break her glasses, Blake." Weiss said as she grabbed a napkin to blot away the spilled milk her spoon had left behind. "What actually happened?"

"Coco impacted one of the arena walls face first. She completely busted her aura." Blake said, one fist slowly slapping into her palm for visual effect before she shrugged. "It wasn't just in the red by the time Professor Goodwitch was done with her. It was completely gone. Shattered completely. She's lucky she didn't break any bones."

"That's…" Weiss didn't even have words.

"Advanced combat..." Ruby rolled that around in her head as she unhappily poked at a piece of ham. "I think that's for a special operations license, right?"

"It is." Weiss replied.

"Uncle Qrow has that license..." Ruby said darkly.

"As does my sister." Weiss replied. "It's a common specialization on Atlas for those enlisting in the military.

"Isn't that the class where you train with weapons that aren't your own, and fight until first blood?" Ruby asked, cringing. It was one of the reasons she had chosen not to take it. She loved looking at other weapons, but she could never imagine doing battle with anything other than her own.

"Other professors and certified huntsmen step into the ring too. Sometimes, even Ozpin." Blake said with a nod. "It's only a fourth year class, but for Velvet they made accommodations. She took the class all four years because of the way she fights. Her semblance and weapon was well suited to the course. Every year, she would tell me not to take the class. She said that was too brutal. Coco was sure that she could handle it. She completely underestimated what a round with a real professor was really like. Apparently Goodwitch really doesn't hold back."

The implication hung heavily in the air, and suddenly, Weiss wasn't hungry anymore.

Blake was worried about Yang.

In their first year together, they'd been inseparable. As partners they were unquestionably close. Time had soured that bond slightly. Blake couldn't deny the strange divide she felt between them. Ever since she began dating Ruby, Yang had begun to act differently. It wasn't bad, in fact, Blake had assumed everything had been changing for the better. Now, she wasn't so sure.

"Now you're just being paranoid, Blakey." Yang said as she sent several jabs at a punching bag. "Nothing's up with me. I just got to focus on my training."

"I'd believe that, if only you'd take that stupid plastered on grin off of your face." Blake said dryly. "You look like one of those idiotic paint by numbers clowns…without the paint."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment." Yang said with a huff as she sent another barrage of jabs towards the bag. "If I was in a pissy mood, I think you'd know. My hair glows. I mean, it is kind of hard to miss."

"I never asked if you were pissed. I asked if you were alright. When I did, you brushed off the question." Golden eyes studied Yang as the girl continued to practice. "Is it me? Did I do something wrong?"

Yang stopped her punches, dropped her guard, and sighed. "Why would I be mad at you, huh?"

"Ruby, I suppose…why else?" Blake shrugged, not entirely sure why Yang was acting so strangely. She intended to get to the bottom of it. "I can't think of anything else that would get under your skin this way. Again, I reiterate, I didn't ask if you were mad. I asked you if something was wrong…"

"Should I be mad?" Yang asked then, getting back into a fighting position. She began pummeling the bag once more. "Did you do something that I should get pissed about?"

"Yang, damn it, stop deflecting." Blake hollered, sending a fist directly into Yang's extended shoulder. The blonde reeled from the impact, whirling on Blake as she pulled off her gloves, ready for a real boxing match. The Faunus wasn't at all in the mood. "You may be my partner, Yang, but I can and will beat the crap out of you."

"There's the feisty kitty-in-law." Yang smirked again. "You know I love it when we play rough."

"Cut the bullshit." Blake sighed with a shake of her head. "Weiss is mildly concerned, Ruby's not sure what got into you, and I am worried. I need you to talk to me and tell me what's wrong."

"I can't do that, not yet." Yang said.

"Why not?"

"Cause I can't." Yang told her. "Don't make a liar out of me."

"So something is wrong, then…" The Faunus sighed. "What is it? Did you get put on academic probation? Are you sick?"

"Leave it alone, Blake." Yang told her.

"Yang, I can't."

"Yeah, you can, and you will." Yang said, her fists back on the bag. "It's my personal stuff, not yours. Back off, Blake. I mean it."

Blake frowned, her ears drooping as she sighed. "Don't you trust me at all?"

Yang cleared her throat and sighed. Her fists dropping once more. She tried to run a hand through her hair, but it got caught in a group of tangles. When the Faunus looked so sad, it was hard not to feel guilty. Yang was quiet for a short while, unsure of what to say. Finally, her uneasy voice found the air. "Blake, look, it's not about trust."

"What is it about then?"

That was a whole lot harder to answer. There were a list of confessions Yang could have come up with, but none of them felt entirely right. She didn't feel entirely right. It felt like her whole life, the center of her world, had been tilted askew. "This is about me, about who I am…"

"And you can't talk about that?" Bake asked.

"I could, but that won't help." Yang said softly. "I have this really big choice to make right now. It's the most important thing that's ever really come up, and it's gotta be mine."

The Faunus took a step forward. "I could help you sort things out." She tried, grasping at straws and knowing they would fail. "We all could, if you'd only just let us."

"Nah, you can't. I appreciate the fact you want to help, but this doesn't work that way." Yang said with a shake of her head. If anything, it was brutally honest. Perhaps too much so. "You can't help me with what's going on. This time, it's on me. So, until I'm sure I know what I'm going to do, I need you to back off. Okay?"

The Faunus wasn't happy, but the admission was something. She had to accept it. "Okay…"

Weiss knocked her knuckles on the thick tome in front of her with frustration. It brought a whole new meaning to hitting the books. In her other hand, Ruby's incomplete research paper made every conceivable mistake possible. As much as she wanted to lecture her leader, it would do no good. Weiss knew that her own paper would be graded with lackluster results as well.

"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked nervously, twiddling her fingers.

"Well, it's genius in its concept, but also unquestionably suicidal."

"It's that bad?" Ruby asked weakly. "I spent hours on this essay doing research, just like you told me to. I thought it was ironclad."

"No matter how good it sounds on paper, you just can't use that kind of dust mixture on a Faunus in cardiac arrest." Weiss said with a sigh as she handed Ruby back the essay. "Even if you could, it would be too risky."

"Why not?" The girl asked looking down at her notes. "It doesn't say anything in the textbook about yellow dust itself being harmful."

"Because depending on the Faunus, you could make their heart beat too fast and end up killing them." Blake supplied, pointing to Ruby's paper. "Rodent Faunus are especially susceptible to heart problems."

"Not to mention the closed circuit you'd end up making. The feedback would be dangerous too." Weiss went on to explain. "Ruby, you can't discharge dust with the intent for it to cause electricity like that. You would need to somehow control the voltage and protect yourself. If you use dust as described in your essay, the electricity would eventually end up channeling into you."

"Nora helped me come up with explaining it. Maybe we just did it wrong."

Blake shook her head. "No, Ruby, it's her semblance that makes the method possible. It would only work for her, and others like her. That's why it's a very plausible theory, but only for Nora."

"She can absorb electricity…" Ruby muttered after it dawned on her. She quickly erased three paragraphs of hard work. "Well, now what do I do? This paper is due tomorrow and I'm not even half way done with it."

Weiss and Blake shared a look. Neither one of them knew fully what to do. Finally, Weiss bit the bullet and sighed.

"This is a team class, so bank on that." She told Ruby, though her voice was less than encouraging. "Turn your essay in for partial credit and hope the rest of our grades average out. Dust theory has never been your strong suit. There's a reason I've applied to be our field medic and why you're still the team's leader."

"She's right." Blake said, knowing there wasn't any point to shelter Ruby from the harsh reality. "We have too much to focus on this year, we can't get hung up on one poor grade anymore."

"But Blake, I have to know this stuff." Ruby told her. "What if you got hurt, and I was the only one there to help you?"

"You'd keep calm and remember the steps. First, check my aura. If I have any at all, my heart is obviously faintly beating. Second, if you're in range of any towers, send out a distress signal on your scroll. If I have no aura, and I'm not breathing, start CPR and go from there." Blake said, pulling the paper away from Ruby and setting it off to the side. "If you could get my heart beating again, you'd shove a dissolvable aura tablet under my tongue immediately. At that point, you'd keep my aura level above zero until either my heart stabilized, or help arrived."

"Morbid topic aside, we really shouldn't linger over dust theory. Blake and I will pick up the team's grade from being a total failure. We always do. What we really need to worry about is Grimm studies. Professor Port isn't holding back." Weiss trailed off as she closed the book in front of her, setting it off to the side. "Where's Yang? I was waiting for her before we started on our reading."

"She's skipping out." Blake said. "She said something about having a bubble bath and reading it there."

Ruby muttered something under her breath, her tone obviously aggravated. Finally she just slumped down onto the table. "I'm not surprised. She had a big bruise under her right eye when I passed her by in the dorms. It looked like it hurt. She had an ice pack held to it and everything."

"What caused that, I wonder?" Weiss murmured.

"She got kicked in the face in combat studies." Blake blurted without hesitation. "Goodwitch sent her to the infirmary. I guess one of the guys there is a hell of a kickboxer."

"So long as she's okay…" Weiss said slowly, skepticism building. "You did verify that, correct?"

"As much as she'd let me." Ruby promised. "Yang's gotten hurt way worse than that and bounced back before. She wouldn't lie to me about something like that."

"I knew it was a stupid idea for her to sign up for that class." Blake bit out. "She knew what happened to Coco. There was no way she didn't know what she was in for…god, what's she thinking?"

"Probably the same thing we are." Ruby said. "That this is our last year in Beacon. We've got to make the most of it. She's probably using the combat class to beef up her final grade. If we graduate will full honors, we'll be just like dad. I know that'd make him proud."

Weiss felt a wave of concern flow through her. The conversation from the night before trickled into her head. Yang was pushing herself, and she seemed to be doing it too hard. "She's been skipping our study sessions more and more." Weiss said with a sigh. "I hope she's not biting off more than she can chew."

"If it makes you feel any better, Yang did this back in Signal too." Ruby admitted, her silver eyes falling to study the wood grain on the table. Her finger traced the swirls in the wood. "She took all of the hardest combat classes, and she got beat up a lot." She glanced up at Weiss, seeing her unease. She had no idea how to comfort her. "We weren't in the same grade then. All I really know are the rumors."

"Patterns like that shouldn't be repeated." Blake growled under her breath.

"I know that, and deep down, I'm sure she knows it too." Ruby said. "Maybe she is in over her head this time, but if she is, I want her to come to me."

"I'm afraid she won't." Blake said. "You know how stubborn she is."

Ruby knew better than anyone else, but all she could do was offer a soft little smirk.

"When we were little, we were always coddled. We were the little girls in a world way too big for us. Even as we got older, dad treated us like we were babies. When we came to Beacon, to him, we were just kids. Not soon-to-be huntresses. For the longest time, Yang treated me like a child too. That was just the way our family was." She looked over to the Faunus, her hand falling over the Blake's. "But then, you and I told Yang about us. I know that really hit her hard."

"Well, at least she didn't freak out or anything." Blake said. "I was expecting an explosion at the time...but I asked her if I was the problem. She told me that I wasn't."

Frankly, I'm surprised you aren't." Weiss muttered dryly. "No offense, but she's always been protective of Ruby."

Ruby just laughed, but the humor had long since faded. "Before I came to Beacon, Yang used to keep an eye on every little thing I did. This summer, she didn't even go on any family trips. That's not like her at all. Uncle Qrow said that she's pulling away from me…that it was a good thing. He said, she doesn't need to protect me anymore." She shrugged. "He's right. So, I'm going to respect her space too. We're sisters, but we don't have to be attached at the hip anymore."

"Personally, I think it goes deeper than that." Weiss said.

"Maybe it does, but I'm right here." Ruby said. "I'm in the same place I've always been. If Yang needs me, all she has to do is ask. I'll always help her if she asks, no matter what."

"And with that our fearless leader has spoken." Weiss grumbled. "Although, let the record show, I don't agree. I think we should press the situation, and find out what's really going on."

"Noted, and if you want to do that, I won't stop you..." Ruby said. "I'm not going to do that, though. I want her to see me as an equal. So, I'm going to wait for her to come to me. I want her to make that choice for herself."

"We should stop wasting time sitting here then. Let's get started on reading." Even with her concern, Weiss reached out and grabbed the thick tome with an assortment of Grimm across the front. Then she grabbed a few note cards and clicked her pen. "Well, we have three chapters to plow through before the pop quiz tomorrow. Someone begin, I'll take the notes."

"Right." Blake said as she push her open textbook between herself and Ruby. "I'll start. Top of page thirty, chapter four…"