A/N: Sssoooo, I'm taking the blame for this chapter being so late because homework and work and school projects and the usual lame excuses and I'm so sorry guys, but hey ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT OF CLASS WOOHOO!

Once class is done I'll be able to just come straight home from work again (I mean, after the gym of course) ah man that's gonna be so niceeee. And so yeah, then these chapters will totally be back to their regularly scheduled RWBY Tuesday slot. Goodness.

Until then, thanks so much for your patience x.x

HUGS,
Defenestrator

The pair was fast asleep by the time Blake emerged from the kitchen. She stopped short, Yang nearly crashing into her with a glass dish of burning hot macaroni casserole straight from the oven.

"Blake, what-" Yang stopped as well at the sight of Ruby and Weiss resting with their foreheads pressed together. There was a peaceful air about the two, something calming, and the brawler who hadn't said as much as a word during her entire time in the kitchen finally felt herself crack a small smile. She whispered to Blake, "If they think looking cute is going to save them from eating dinner..."

As happy as Blake was to see her partner in better spirits, she blocked Yang's attempt to step forward with an arm across her chest, whispering back, "We should let them sleep." Seeing Yang's incredulous lifted brow, she continued, "The body knows what it wants." She removed her arm to rest her hand on Yang's shoulder. "They'll wake up if they get hungry."

Yang didn't look entirely convinced, but she did look tired, and the prospect of sleep was sounding better and better with each waking moment. Still, eating was important, necessary for keeping up strength, but when she opened her mouth to say as much, all that came out was an enormous yawn.

Too tired to be embarrassed, Yang simply spaced out for a solid minute, making a show of thinking hard when actually she had already reached her decision. Finally, her eyes traveled to meet Blake's. "...Okay, you can wipe that smug look off your face, Belladonna," the brawler muttered through a sleepy smile, tossing in an exaggerated sigh for dramatic effect when she shrugged off Blake's hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Blake retorted, sporting a genuine smile as she watched Yang stalk back into the kitchen. It was good to have her partner back in one piece. Though, if she was honest with herself, pieces might be the better descriptor where the brawler's once-indomitable spirit was concerned.

Despite how badly she wanted to keep her spirits up for everyone around her, Blake could feel her thoughts wandering down darker avenues as they so often did in times of stress. Her smile slipped upon recalling the cavern, the fear she'd felt at witnessing the absolute fury Yang had radiated squarely in the face of absolute defeat. Her smile vanished entirely at the thought that in a sad, twisted way, she and her partner had more in common now - branded for life with the blood of the innocent.

No one should have to suffer that burden. Least of all someone as bright and positive as Yang... who, Blake realized with a start, was standing right in front of her, sans tray of food.

"I see you're back from outer space."

Blake didn't even have the chance to react before Yang took her hand and dragged her towards the couch, taking care to avoid stepping on the bright red cloak pooled around Ruby's still, slumbering form, as the brawler settled down next to her sister, pulling Blake down as well to sit beside her on the floor. All the tension from the day seemed to melt into something manageable as the Faunus relaxed into the familiar arm wrapping around her shoulders.

Throwing any notion of hesitation to the wind, Blake leaned heavily into her partner's warm embrace, stealing a quick glance at Ruby as she did. The younger girl's position hunched over half-on half-off the couch looked... uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Shouldn't we..."

"Nah," Yang's eyes didn't open as she casually threaded her hand through Blake's dark locks, fingertips resting just shy of her perked Faunus ears, "she's slept in weirder positions and been fine."

With a nonchalant shrug, Blake closed her eyes as well, keeping her practiced cool exterior even as she violently stamped down the completely ill-timed thought that she really wanted those fingers just a few inches higher.

A small drop of wetness on the top of her head cleared her mind entirely. She didn't need to look to know what it was, or to know that she wanted it to stop. Blake curled both arms around Yang's waist and held fast, trying to mimic the hug she'd seen Ruby give earlier.

When more tears fell, one landing squarely between her Faunus ears, she tried to lift her head, but met resistance from the gloved hand currently holding her in place. Blake relented, recognizing her partner's silent plea for privacy, but the overwhelming desire to help drove her to act on impulse. She pressed as close as she could, nuzzling into the golden hair at Yang's neck. "I've got you," she breathed, barely above a whisper. A light shudder was her only response.

Huddled together this way, the pair eventually slipped into a restless sleep, leaving their worries for tomorrow as they stumbled after their teammates into the temporary respite of dreams.

Ruby sat on the edge of a cliff in her dream. Her crimson cape fluttered in an icy breeze. Her legs hung listless over empty space. Slate gray waves flattened themselves along one of Patch's rocky beaches far below. The faint taste of salt on the air came along with the biting cold, but she didn't get up or pull her cloak tighter. She just watched the waves break, one at a time.

A scratching sound like driftwood on stone reached her, but somehow even the thought of turning to look was a monumental effort.

Somebody sat beside her. She tried to see who, but all she saw was the black and pink sleeve cuffs at the edge of the hand pointing to the horizon. Her silver eyes drifted up.

A cloud as black and thick as tar poured low across the distant shore of the continent, and still she heard that scratching sound... like stone on wood. Sharpened bone on wood.

Grimm.

She started awake, ears full of that sound as she launched herself over the couch, Crescent Rose already locking into its open form in her hands. The fire had died down to nothing, and the moonlight on the snow stairs outside was all the light to see by. Finger on the trigger, she rapidly pieced together what had happened- she'd fallen asleep. Where were the others? Where was that sound coming from? Who was coughing?

"Guys?" she called behind her over the alarm bells in her mind. It was night. Grimm came out at night. Grimm would come straight here at night. Her breath hung in the frigid air.

The sound was coming from the front door.

The racket dragged Yang and Blake from their slumber as well, the former snapping to attention at the sight of Weiss trying to cough her lungs up, while the latter struggled to hold on to sleep as long as she could, Faunus ears flattened in protest. She lasted all of two seconds before blearily getting to her feet.

Muttering something unintelligible, Blake stalked right past Ruby to the front door and threw it open.

A streak of gray fur shot between Blake's legs, making for the kitchen. Ruby sprang to intercept it, pulling up short when she saw the bristling whiskers, the pointed ears pinned back in alarm at the sight of the giant scythe.

"Hey, a kitty!" Ruby glanced at the door. No Grimm after all. She circled Crescent Rose back into compact form and crouched, holding out her hand, which the cat ignored, skirting around her on its quest for the kitchen. Ruby stood up, rubbing the back of her neck, "Ahaha... false alarm, guys."

Weiss struggled upright, swiping hair from her face. She scowled, "Next time, I'd appreciate it if you didn't step on me on your way to address it."

"Oh, uh," Ruby shrank as she slunk back to the couch to sit on the floor by her partner. "Sorry."

Wide awake after the scare, Ruby fetched a handful of kindling and started breaking it up to rebuild the fire.

Once a cursory visual check revealed Ruby and Weiss had suffered no lasting harm, Yang sighed, muscles tensing and relaxing as she stood to stretch. She faltered mid-yawn at the sight of her partner.

Blake hadn't moved from her position at the door, staring intently at what looked like a shaft of moonlight poking through from where the cat had dug a hole through the snow that had piled up to just underneath the eaves of the porch.

"Uh... Blake?"

Blake turned away from whatever had arrested her gaze, not to answer Yang, but to move, leaving the door open in her haste to climb through the window and ascend their handcrafted snowy stairs up to the surface.

"Blake!" Yang carefully slipped between Ruby and Weiss to tail her partner, and it was only the light of the stars and the shattered moon that kept her from crashing into Blake at the top. "What are you..." the brawler's question fell away as she found the answer with her own eyes. The still, cloudless night sky was barred by perfectly straight lines of blackish grey smoke rising from seemingly random points in the town. Yang squinted at the familiar sight. "...Chimney smoke?"

Blake gritted her teeth. "There are still survivors out there."

"What do you see?" Ruby called up anxiously from the doorway. She hung there, caught between running up to join them and staying with Weiss in the cabin.

"Smoke," Yang called back, trying to count just how many individual lines she could see... which, actually wasn't that many. At least, it was the middle of the night, so she couldn't see much at all. She could, however, very easily see Blake's bright, reflective eyes flitting across the landscape, taking careful note of each unwitting beacon.

"Not like fire smoke," Yang added as an afterthought, "more like, fir place smoke. Lots of them."

Fireplace smoke meant other folks had made it, and had stuck it out through the blizzard. Ruby gripped the doorknob, chest suddenly full of hope. But how could they help those people if the miners and others didn't want them? She set her jaw, pondering.

Suddenly something touched her leg. She jumped, but it was just the cat. It meowed piteously, pressing its side against her shins.

"You guys coming in?" Ruby called up, stooping to stroke the cat's long, grey fur.

"Yeah!" Yang was already coming through the window, Blake following close behind. Where the Faunus held a darkened look of unease, her blonde partner was the picture of determination, fists clenched and amethyst eyes shining with her unspoken decision even as she asked aloud, "So, we're going to help them, right?"

"Why should we?" Blake growled, folding her arms across her stomach.

"Blake?" Yang rounded on her partner, eyes flashing with disbelief and something akin to sorrow.

"This town has made it more than clear how they feel about us," Blake shot back, ears flattening as she avoided both Ruby and Yang's gazes by looking to Weiss.

Try as she might to stay alert, the heiress had already slipped back into a heavy sleep as her aura and body recovered. She lay on her side, halfway under the covers, the picture of exhaustion.

"Blake," Ruby said softly after a minute, reaching to touch Blake's arm, "We're huntresses. Huntresses help people."

"Huntresses kill Grimm," Blake stepped back and pulled her arm away, eyes dropping to the floor, "and we are not equipped to deal with the sheer numbers lying in wait beneath these mountains."

Ruby searched Blake's face, her heart sinking. She was right- they couldn't take another attack like that last one. They'd been sent here to gather information and clean things out if they could. Nobody had expected the thousands strong bat colony lurking beneath the base so the mountains. Now, with their scrolls malfunctioning, they couldn't even call for backup.

"We can try the emergency radio. And Chuck could still show up," she glanced towards the window, as if she'd be able to see the threads of smoke rising through the wall of snow obscuring the sky. "It's not like we can just leave them."

"Well, we won't have to if the emergency radio works and we can call for reinforcements, or en evac team, or whatever," Yang offered, speaking low and soft so as not to wake Weiss.

Blake simply scowled, not bothering to lift her head even as Yang came to stand near herself and Ruby, completing their small circle of discussion. "We definitely need backup," she admitted quietly, shaking her head, "But we don't even know where this fabled emergency radio tower is supposed to be."

Yang's expression dimmed momentarily, then lit back up. "Ruby, do we still have that map of the town?"

Ruby started digging in her pockets at once, "Wasn't it supposed to be somewhere in town hall? I bet they've got a super secret radio room or something."

Right around then, her stomach gave a hearty growl.

She cringed, looking down at her middle and back up at the others sheepishly, "Uh. Did we eat dinner?"

At this, Yang smirked, nudging Blake with an elbow, "Told ya we should have made them eat."

Blake sighed, allowing herself a brief smile at her partner's quite literal ribbing, but it fell away as quickly as it appeared when she tried and failed to bring herself to look up at Ruby. "There is macaroni and cheese casserole in the kitchen."

She looked so sad with her kitty ears all drooped down. Ruby bounced one fist off the top of the other in a low-key sort of fidget, wanting to fix everything but not quite sure how. The heavy snow might buy them some time before anymore Grimm attacks, at least. She offered, "Maybe let's eat and we can figure out what to do in the morning. Sound okay?"

Blake nodded even though she'd lost her appetite, and grabbed the arm Yang was snaking towards the couch where Weiss lay. The pair held a brief conversation with their eyes, resulting in Yang relenting and following Blake into the kitchen as she muttered, "Fine, but I'm making that girl eat the biggest breakfast ever."