Ruby tucked the other half of her cloak over Yang to try to keep her at least a little bit warm. Weiss would be back with the sled and blankets and stuff soon. She glanced at Blake, who was hiding her face in her hands, her ears pinned back against her hair. In the dark, she was a shadow against the thin dusting of snow. Ruby's heart dropped to her boots.
Swallowing thickly, she mirrored her teammate, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Hey, Blake?"
The urge to run came rushing right back, but Blake fought it tooth and nail, refusing to move even her hands from her face. Besides, what was the point in running from someone whose semblance was speed itself? "Yes, Ruby?"
"I'm just... really sorry," Ruby hugged her knees a little closer. The night air was cold on the back of her neck without her cloak. "I wasn't doing a great job of being team leader. Weiss yelled at me a lot, and we talked to the villagers- it turns out they… they picked a new guardian while we were all snowed in and fighting robots, so they might be okay while we go get help, just… I messed things up, trying to make us figure it all out ahead of time."
Brows knit in confusion, Blake cautiously lifted her head to examine her team leader. There were plenty of questions she could have asked - about the state of the villagers, or about this new guardian, but she found everything overshadowed by her leader's very first sentence. Ruby Rose, unpredictable as the shifting breeze she personified - fully within her rights to chastise her, get angry, threaten expulsion from the team for desertion... instead here she was, apologizing.
It was wholly unsettling. The entire point of her trip was to find help in a way that kept the blame and guilt out of Ruby's hands, but for some reason the younger girl had freely accepted both on her own terms. Blake lowered her head once more. She'd failed on both accounts, it had all been for nothing, and she couldn't accept an apology she didn't deserve.
"There were no good options," Blake offered quietly, feeling unbidden tears creep up on her.
"Yeah, maybe," Ruby watched the dark where Yang rested instead of meeting Blake's eyes. Her breath misted as she let out a sigh, "but if we'd waited to talk about it, we could have picked one that didn't make you feel like you had to leave. So I'm really, really sorry, Blake."
"Ruby stop, this isn't right," Blake snapped, dropping her hands in utter frustration to better throw a pleading look her leader's way. Those bright silver eyes, nearly identical in shade to the silver rose insignia clasped to her ammunition belt. How was it that all of her leaders followed the theme of roses? Adam would have struck her down in a heartbeat for a betrayal like this. Adam would have killed her.
"You're not supposed to apologize, that's my responsibility, you can't be held accountable for my choices-" you're supposed to hate me - Blake stopped herself just short of shouting, realizing her voice had been steadily rising with each word.
Taking a deep breath did not help clear her head, but she got up anyway, unable to shake the pointless urge to run. Her feet seemed to move on their own, taking a small step back that she wouldn't have even noticed if she weren't staring holes into the ground. "I thought I could do this for you..."
"Blake, I-" Ruby had scrambled up at the end of Blake's outburst and stood, hands partly raised to try and calm her down. Blake looked like she was ready to bolt.
"You thought you could do what for her exactly?" Weiss asked as she ducked through the thick trees with an armload of broken branches. Her coat and hair showed white in the scraps of waning moonlight that got through the pine branches. Her tone had lost most of its bite from earlier. She stopped just inside the edge of the clearing, brow furrowed.
Blake's eyes snapped up to meet Weiss's, answers running a mile a minute through her head.
She thought she could take the brunt of the guilt for an impossible decision, keep Ruby from the harshness of the real world. So many of her own decisions had turned out badly anyway, what was one more if it kept Ruby's spark alive and well - kept the younger girl from becoming jaded as she had?
The more she tried to word things, the worse it sounded in her head, and she couldn't help but think Weiss would ridicule her until the end of time if she said anything so dramatic. Blake took another step back, finding no good way to explain herself. Yang probably would have been able to make things sound reasonable, but she was... Blake's gaze flickered to the downed brawler, wondering at how blurry her image had become.
Furious at herself for the tears she now realized were running down her face, Blake faced Weiss once more and forced herself to answer, hating the way her voice wavered, "I thought I could get help."
Weiss seemed to search Blake's face in the dim starlight, then crossed in front of her to dump her small load of branches on the bare patch of ground near Yang. "Next time at least tell us you're going."
"You brought the sled, right?" Ruby's boot soles crunched over the ice in the pine needles to Blake's side, touching her shoulder gently, "Want to come get the sleeping bags and stuff?"
Wind whispered through the trees. Behind them, wood clacked together, probably Weiss setting up a fire pit, but Blake said nothing. A chunk of snow slipped from a branch overhead, landing right beside her foot. Finally, the Faunus breathed a bone-deep sigh. She still couldn't meet Ruby's gaze, but she nodded anyway, quietly following along as the younger girl led her to the sled.
She hadn't gotten the chance to get a good look at it in the rush of trying to not die at the hands- feet? -of the Goliath, so it took her a second to appreciate just how efficiently it had been packed. Weiss's hand was evident in the perfectly symmetrical ropes securely tying down rations of dried meats, crackers, ammunition, perfectly folded sleeping bags... and was that a pot?
The sheer volume of things baffled her. It seemed like so much to bring when nature already supplied everything anyone could need for a journey.
She really couldn't deny the convenience, though, already wishing she could wrap herself in one of the blankets Ruby was piling into her arms. Still searching for something to look at other than those twin pools of mercury threatening to drown her, Blake settled on watching Drei dig in the loose snowpile that had spilled out of the canyon.
"Don't worry," Ruby said when she'd noticed Blake watching Drei. She hefted the pot, which appeared to have something inside. "If he digs up a beowolf he'll probably eat it."
Belatedly she realized it wasn't a great time for jokes. She bit her lip, propping the pot on one hip while she snugged up the tarp over the things they weren't bringing into the cramped circle of trees.
By the time they got back, Weiss had a modest fire going. The warm light cast flickering shadows among the trees while the wood hissed and popped, full of sap and melting snow. Weiss was busy hunting for more fuel around the clearing, within sight of Yang.
And what a sight she was. Though part of Blake knew it could just be her night vision playing tricks on her, stripped of her usual energetic smile, her partner looked positively gaunt in the firelight, deep shadows dancing across her face. Had she really taken that poorly to the wild diet they'd kept of fish and foraged greens? Granted, it could also very well be the effects of stress. Stress she couldn't hide with a grin when she was out cold.
"I'm sorry," Blake whispered, addressing Ruby even though her eyes never left Yang, "I'm sorry I couldn't keep her from coming with me."
Ruby avoided looking at either Blake or Yang. She set down the pot and armload of gear and pretended to be distracted, digging for a pair of fingerless gloves in her pockets. She hadn't figured out how to feel about Yang leaving her behind- part terrified, part betrayed, part glad Blake wasn't alone but also afraid she'd never get her sister back. Now that she was back, maybe she didn't need to figure it out. The wind sighed through the pine branches overhead and Ruby refocused on getting everyone warm.
"We only brought three sleeping bags 'cause we needed the space and thought we'd just switch out while we were on watch at night, you know? But the waterproof shell on one got kind of ripped up and isn't really any good," it was a good thing she'd slept in her boots- their first night out she'd woken up crusted in ice up to her shins. Ruby pulled one of the compact rolls of material from the bundle of things in Blake's arms, grimacing at how small it seemed as she got it unrolled, "Anyway, we'll just have to share the others."
"I am not sleeping with Yang, by the way," Weiss contributed from the other side of the clearing.
Blake hadn't been paying attention, only catching the tail end of Weiss's declaration. The situation was easy enough to surmise from Ruby's grimace at their two distinctly one-person sized sleeping bags, and the cold winds biting straight through her clothes. The prospect of a night in the snow without Yang's natural warmth surrounding her was not at all appealing, but the last thing she wanted was to appear even more selfish than she already felt.
"I can just use blankets," she offered, trying to look Ruby in the eyes, but only getting as far as her shoulder.
"We... didn't bring any," Ruby pointed to the folded cloth Blake was referring to, "That's the ripped one. We didn't pack any since these are supposed to be good for temperatures below freezing, and they are!... unless they um..."
"Get sliced open by someone's very large, very sharp scythe," Weiss finished for Ruby, dumping her meager collection of sticks and broken branches next to the fire. She held her hands up in a gesture of peace, rolling her eyes, "It was an accident. I know. But it was your accident. So you share."
Ruby shrugged, dispirited after the long day, "Well, I'll take first watch," she glanced at Blake again, "Do you mind sharing with Yang?"
Blake shook her head - she didn't mind in the slightest. She opened her mouth to say as much, but what came out was much closer to a startled shriek as something freezing cold and sharp pressed against the small of her back. Whipping around fast enough to leave an afterimage, Blake dropped everything she was holding and went for her weapon, feeling a brief flash of panic at finding only Shroud. That is, until she got a good look at her cheerful "assailant".
Drei stared up at her, eyes bright, tail wagging, proudly holding Gambol's contracted form in his teeth, its long bedraggled ribbon trailing behind him. Temporarily rendered speechless, Blake took the other half of her weapon back, noting that while it was now covered in a fine layer of slobber, it was otherwise no worse for wear. It must have gotten stripped from her during the sled ride. She hadn't even noticed.
Having successfully unearthed the buried treasure and returned it to its owner, the mountain dog moved back to Ruby's side, circling around her and pressing his head into her hand.
"Hey," Ruby laughed a little, bending to scratch the dog's ears with both hands, "Gonna stay up with me, huh? Here, let's get Yang fixed up first."
Between the three of them (Ruby, Weiss, and Blake- not Drei), they managed to wrestle Yang's limp form into one of the sleeping bags. Ruby worked in silence while Weiss muttered about Yang being stupid every time she spotted a new injury. A cut here, a bruise there, everything healing slowly as her aura recovered.
Ruby refastened her cloak around her shoulders, shrinking into the residual warmth. She told herself that Yang would be fine. Blake wasn't hurt, and Weiss was still holding up despite the strain of using her glyphs earlier. The firelight flickered as Ruby watched the heiress scoop another handful of snow and scrub the traces of frozen blood from her upper lip. She must be okay if she felt good enough to bother with cleaning up.
She looked up through the trees. The mountains' jagged silhouettes blocked out the stars in places. It would be a long time before she saw Beacon tower again. Her gaze dropped back to Blake, "All set?"
The Faunus nodded, zipping up the last few inches of the sleeping bag around herself and Yang. She was acutely aware of her position laying practically on top of her partner, and even though she'd spent the past week curled against the brawler on a nightly basis, the added presence of Ruby and Weiss made her extremely self conscious.
Her logical side reasoned that the close proximity was necessary for them to both fit inside the bag, and the rest of her helpfully added that this would be the best way to make absolutely sure Yang didn't spend a single second thinking she'd left her when she eventually woke. Not only that, but with how tightly the complete lack of space pressed them together, there would be very little chance of her breaking and making a run for it if she happened to psyche herself out. It was unlikely either of them would be moving much at all in their sleep.
Blake bit back a yawn. It was hard to believe that just hours ago, she'd been about to spend the night with Yang up in a tree, feeling certain that she was doing the right thing, certain they would return triumphant, certain they could save the town and save Ruby. Now, all she felt was exhausted and stupid, certain she'd made the absolute worst possible choice, certain that she'd irreparably destroyed the team's bond (and wrecked a familial bond to boot), and certain the town would be nothing but a pile of nameless gravestones upon their return.
Wishing dearly that she could just melt down into the shadows and never trouble her teammates again, Blake did the next best thing and buried her face in Yang's hair, giving in to the temporary oblivion of sleep.
The embers burned low, and the shattered moon had risen far overhead by the time Ruby nudged Weiss awake for her turn at watch.
The heiress struggled out of her sleeping bag, brushing frozen pine needles from her hair while Ruby waited, crouched under her red cloak in the moonlight.
"You were too easy on her," Weiss said, indicating the bundle that was Blake and Yang with a nod of her head as she re-rapped her scarf and pulled her coat's zipper back up.
Ruby stood up, Crescent Rose a dark arc of steel over her shoulder. She'd been turning things over in her mind since the others had gone to bed and still hadn't come up with anything that could fix the way her team had broken. Her voice came out in a thick mumble, "Maybe."
"'Maybe' isn't enough to get us back to Beacon," Weiss seated herself on her pack near the fire, Myrtenaster glinting almost gold in the light as she rested the blade across her lap. Insubordination was a high crime, especially in a situation as dire as theirs, and she wasn't about to sit back and watch Blake take advantage of Ruby's gentle nature.
"Yeah," Ruby didn't want to talk about this. She just wanted everything to be okay. But it wasn't okay. She needed to be able to count on her team- on Blake- and she couldn't do that if anyone picked up and left whenever they felt like it. Not that she hadn't gone off on her own in the past. Mountain Glen had been a thing, and she'd left Weiss in the belltower. She hadn't meant to be gone long, though. Definitely she hadn't planned to be gone for weeks. Her boots scuffed in the snow and her breath hung in the air, "I'll... I'll talk to her again in the morning."
Weiss watched her expression and let the conversation drop. "See you in a few hours."
"Right," Ruby folded her scythe and worked her way into the already warm sleeping bag, laying her weapon at her side for easy access. Weiss stalked to the fire to add a couple of branches. She could have been born here, Ruby thought, with her hair and her eyes like snow and ice in the pine tree shadows. Thinking about Weiss wouldn't help her decide what to do about Blake, though. She rubbed her wrist across her eyes and settled down, but sleep was still slow in coming.
A/N: Defenestrator got a copy of Breath of the Wild this weekend and has been sending me pictures. It looks amazing, and after editing this all I can think is I'd play a RWBY version of that game in a heartbeat. (Not that I wouldn't play the Zelda version in a heartbeat as well. Because I would.)
Stay tuned folks!
- Fiercesomet