A/N: For anyone who is wondering, Breath of the Wild is amazing, and I may or may not be slightly addicted.

Also, Ruby is amazing and I cannot handle how sweet and pure she is aGH my heart.

HUGS,
D

The slide from snow and soft breathing into something darker happened like it had been happening since Blake and Yang had left.

Suddenly, Ruby's chest would seize. It was hard to breathe, and everyone was gone. Almost everyone—she saw a flash of green turn a corner. It wanted her to follow.

"Wait!" She shouted. She was standing in the street, or trying. The ground shook or her legs wouldn't hold her—the panic was too strong for her to tell which. "Wait!"

Either way, she couldn't run, and she was too late anyway. With a deafening crack the asphalt split, the buildings around her started to crumble. Broken rock roared in her ears and dust choked her and got in her eyes till she found herself pinned in the pitch black underground. The panic in her chest ratcheted up a notch, two notches, three, as tiny red pinpricks filled her vision.

A fluttering sound grew in the dark, and the cold, rotten ash smell of Grimm filled her mouth and nose.

Ruby started awake, heart thudding in her chest and hands grabbing for Crescent Rose.

Dawn had turned the sky platinum. It seemed to lean close, almost resting on the mountaintops, threatening to sift down another few feet of snow at any time.

Ruby made herself relax for a minute, clutching her weapon against her chest and running her fingers over its very cold, very real bolts and edges to undo the nightmare. She wasn't going to go back to sleep after that, so she got up and scooped a pot of snow to melt over the remaining embers.

Weiss was awake by the low fire. She watched as Ruby used her bare hands to scoop snow into the pot and kept her voice low, "Bad dreams again?"

"Yeah," Ruby carried the pot over and shook her freezing hands out, rubbing them together by the fire. Nothing made you feel awake like the cold bite of snow.

Weiss waited a handful of seconds in case Ruby wanted to elaborate. When she didn't, she stood and brushed snow off of coat, "I'll collect some more firewood."

Branches snapped and whipped back into place as she trekked through the snow, not bothering to be quiet at all- a passive-aggressive wake-up call if Ruby had ever heard one. She grinned past that sick, post-nightmare feeling she'd just about shaken off and stirred the melting snow. Despite the yelling and cold shoulders, it was really good to see Weiss back to her old self. Especially now that the team was together again.

A particularly loud crack from a slightly larger branch startled Blake into the land of the living, throwing her into a fit of confusion for the seconds it took her memories of last night to catch up. She wasn't trapped, she was in a sleeping bag, they hadn't fallen from their perch in a tree, they'd slept on the ground purposefully, and that sound wasn't a Grimm failing to sneak up on them, it was probably Ruby or Weiss. As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, her mood dropped, unsure whether to feel thankful or disappointed that no one had woken her for a turn at watch.

Carefully, so as not to disturb Yang beneath her, who she noted hadn't moved an inch, Blake started to unzip their sleeping bag. Cold seeped into the warmed space, and she just barely suppressed a squeak of surprise when the brawler's arms tightened around her middle.

"Five more minutes..."

Weiss returned and, noticing the pair's movement, dumped her armload of branches right next to their heads and glared at them while she called to Ruby, "I'll go see what we need to do to fix the sled while you talk to Blake. Unless you want to switch jobs?"

Ruby blanched, setting the pot down to run a hand over her face. Being together again was a good thing… even if it came with a few speed bumps. "No, you go ahead and look. The repair stuff is-"

"It's in the back. I know," Weiss turned, marching through the thick-grown branches to the sled a little farther up the hill. She threw her arms up, "Just hurry up so we can get back on track."

Blake tried her best to ignore Weiss's thinly veiled anger, focusing instead on Yang's sleepy murmuring. The brawler was crushing her in a hug that the Faunus happily noted was two-armed, but as warm and comforting as it was to know her partner was awake and at least somewhat well, it certainly made breathing difficult. "Yang," she whispered, unable to do much other than squirm with her arms pinned to her sides as they were, "Wake up."

Yang sat up without much warning, dragging Blake up along with her in an awkward backbend that fortunately the Faunus's spine was flexible enough to handle. The brawler's head hung forward a bit, bleary eyes struggling to stay open against the sheer exhaustion trying to drag them back shut. "'Kay... 'm up..."

"Yang!" Ruby abandoned the pot over the coals. She put her hand on her sister's forehead, checking to see if her temperature was back up to normal. "Yang, are you alright? Maybe you should lie down again. We'll have breakfast soon."

Yang stared, clearly unfocused and uncomprehending as she looked up at Ruby. Still struggling a bit to free herself, Blake paused when she felt one of the brawler's arms cease squeezing her, leaving the warmth of the sleeping bag through what small portion she'd managed to unzip, seeking out a new target. She watched Yang's arm casually slip around her little sister's waist.

"Ruby," Blake tried to warn her, "I don't think she's-" She was too late - Yang flopped back to the ground, dragging Ruby down with them as she mumbled something incoherent about hugs.

"Rrrg, Yaaang," Ruby's growl was half whine, and it quickly dissolved to breathless laughing against her big, strong, sleepy sister's collar. Eventually, when she was done flailing and kicking snow around (which was about the only thing she could do while trapped in this vice-like grip), she propped herself up on her elbows, practically smashed on top of Blake. "Well, I guess we should go ahead and talk."

Blake stiffened at the subject she'd been most hoping to avoid, but oddly enough, being so thoroughly pressed against both sisters quieted the small voice urging her to run, leaving her instead with a strange sense of quiet resignation. She nodded, waiting for Ruby to speak first.

Ruby took a deep breath.

"Blake, do you still want me to be team leader?" she held up a hand before the dark-haired Faunus under her could respond, "If you say yes, that means you won't leave and go off on your own unless you talk to me first."

"Ruby..." At this proximity there was simply no avoiding staring up into those bright silver eyes. That was it. That was the positive spark she'd been trying to preserve. Caught in Ruby's searching gaze, Blake could feel her reticence to explain slipping inch by inch - there was something about this girl that made it almost impossible not to come clean.

"It's not like that," she started, Faunus ears lowering a notch, "I've never had a problem with you being team leader. I just... I've seen what the burden of that position has done to people." Blake shut her eyes hard against unbidden thoughts of Adam. She'd never be able to handle a change like that in Ruby.

Ruby poked Blake gently between the eyes, "That's why I need you. You think it'll be easier being the leader if I can't count on you guys all the time?"

Amber eyes flew open at the light touch, shining with something distant and fearful as the slow slide of an entire organization into darkness played like a worn out record in her head. "I've never been able to help anyone."

Ruby watched the hurt behind Blake's eyes. She gave her a good-natured nudge, "Well you're going to be able to this time. For starters, Cooking… isn't really a thing that we're good at. At all," Ruby mumbled sheepishly, "Weiss and I have kind of been living off canned baked beans for six days."

Shock flashed across Blake's features, and she simply stared.

Beans?

For a week?

She didn't know whether to laugh at the absurdity of it, or cry at having caused it. So, of course, she did both.

"You're ridiculous," she snickered, wiping away the hot tears that refused to stop falling. She knew she probably looked crazy, but at this point it seemed a fair assessment of how she felt. "I knew I should have found a way to sneak past Yang," she leaned back against the brawler's chest, staring off into space, "Then at least you two wouldn't have tortured yourselves coming all the way out here to find her."

"You would rather have all three of us torture ourselves trying to catch up with just you?" Ruby crossed her arms, perching almost on Blake's collarbone and looking very incredulous. She made a face, like she was eating baked beans all over again, "Well, maybe it wasn't quite torture, but it was kind of bland."

Weiss shoved her way back into the clearing through the pine branches. She stared at her trio of teammates, "Are you done yet? Why are you all lying on the ground?"

"We're trapped," Ruby nodded to Yang's encircling arms. "And we're staying trapped till Blake decides whether to stay on the team and make us breakfast or not."

The Faunus in question shut her eyes, both to avoid the heiress's scrutiny and to simply let everything sink in. Slowly and surely, like a small crack spidering its way through towering walls of stone, warmth encompassed her from above and below, as if both sisters were trying to soothe away a lifetime of negativity with their own relentless reassurance. And though it was a frightening prospect to lose the edge that had kept her safe in harsher surroundings, Blake could feel herself relaxing, defenses lowering in the presence of people that actually wanted her around.

Even after such a dire breach of trust, Ruby had chased her down, not to mete out punishment, but to ask her to stay. It was baffling... but she saw no choice other than to accept it. She was tired of running. Anyway, who was she to deny her leader's request?

Tentatively, Blake took hold of Ruby's hand, ears flattening as she tried to find a good way to express her intent to make amends. Her eyes cracked open, daring to glance up at the younger girl. "...I'll make you all the very the best breakfast I can."

"Yes!" Ruby cheered, throwing her free arm around Blake for a super awkward on the ground hug, after which, she pulled back, assuming a solemn expression (at least it would have been solemn if she could have successfully suppressed her grin), "Remember, by making this breakfast, you're agreeing not to leave, especially without telling the rest of the team. Also, er, Weiss, could you help us get up?"

The icy heiress gave Blake a cold glare and crossed her arms, speaking to her team leader, "Did she apologize?"

Blake's tentative grasp on positivity crumbled, and she shot a far more heated glare right back at Weiss, feeling her hackles rise despite her best efforts to keep her cool. "I'm right here, Weiss. Do you have something to say to me?"

"That depends," Weiss lifted her chin, "You owe Ruby an apology. If you've already given it, then fine. Have you?"

Ruby tried to lever herself out of Yang's grasp, but it didn't work. She'd already seen the regret Blake was holding onto and really didn't want to have to deal with a fight all over again, "Weiss, she doesn't need to say it."

"Yes she does," the heiress's temper flared, "She ignored your decision to wait till morning before taking any drastic action and almost got half the team killed. Plus-" she scowled at Blake, and turned away to manhandle the pot of melting snow, "plus you promised you'd talk to us. That was a long time ago," back when their biggest worry was Torchwick and a ragtag bunch of White Fang members, "and I know you made an attempt at the cabin, but if you're going to go off and do something dangerous despite everyone's better judgment, at least have the decency to tell someone who's staying behind."

"I made several attempts, actually," Blake retorted, her tone having lost most of its ire but none of its edge. "I... didn't see the point of making one more." Looking away again, Blake released Ruby's hand and shifted as best she could to run her fingers across a very specific section of Yang's rib cage, allowing herself a small smile when the brawler's arm instinctively jerked back to protect her side, leaving the Faunus a wide opening to slip from her grasp.

In a flash, Blake was standing behind Yang and Ruby, silently watching her partner crush a shadow clone into wisps of smoke as she muttered something completely unintelligible and turned to wrap both arms around her sister. After an apologetic glance at Ruby, Blake returned her gaze to Weiss, cautiously crossing her arms. "Anyway what would you have wanted me to say? 'I'm leaving?' It's not like you would have just let me go."

"Well it's too late to find out one way or the other, isn't it?" Weiss ground the pot into the coals and stood up, "We've been worried sick and practically driving ourselves into the ground to catch up with you, so apologize."

A few smooth strides brought Blake standing face to face with Weiss. From her new position, it was much easier to search the heiress's eyes, to see the hurt hiding behind the anger and ice. Caught off guard, Blake uncrossed her arms. "I thought... you two might try to follow us if we left a message..." She glanced back at Ruby, still struggling to free herself from Yang's grasp. "But it looks like you would have tracked us down either way."

"Obviously," Weiss said, her tone guarded and her shoulders square. "Are you going to apologize or not?"

Turning her gaze back to Yang, Blake stubbornly held her silence. Before too long, her ears flattened and she regarded Weiss with caution. "If I apologize... will you forgive us?"

The heiress's defenses wavered as her glance followed Blake's to Yang and back. She picked bits of snow from her sleeve, scowling to mask her surprise, "... you want me to?"

Blake squared her shoulders to match Weiss's poise. "Yes."

Ruby, still crushed in her sister's sleeping embrace, held her breath while she watched Weiss weigh the cost of forgiving her teammate. Probably she didn't get asked for it often, and there'd been a lot of ice in her tone all week whenever they talked about Blake and Yang.

Finally, Weiss crossed her arms, still glaring at Blake, "Then apologize to us and promise to never do this again."

It burned, it stung, and it tasted bitter, but for the sake of harmony within the team, Blake swallowed her pride and accepted that her actions, while well-intentioned, had ultimately been a mistake. She would do whatever it took to begin repairing the bonds she'd broken.

Head held high and Faunus ears standing at full attention, she met Weiss's glare, taking a moment to compose herself with a deep breath. "I promise this will never happen again. I'm... I'm sorry I hurt you," she glanced back at Ruby, "both of you."

"Blake..." Ruby sounded halfway between touched and strangled. Weiss ignored her.

"You're an idiot sometimes," her expression towards Blake softened a little, "but welcome back. Also, you're still making breakfast, right?"

Blake nodded once, clearly hesitant in her move to lay a tentative hand on Weiss's shoulder. "I'll need help foraging." She didn't really need help. "Come with me?"

Weiss looked at Blake like she was speaking a different language, "I can show you where the supplies are in the sled?"

Ruby, meanwhile, had finally managed to wriggle free of Yang's grasp by leaving her cloak behind.

"Yaaaaang..." she watched her sister, who was very warm, snuggle her cloak, which was also very warm. A cutting wind sighed through the trees. She shivered, rubbing her arms, "I'll build up the fire and plan the route while you're gone."

"That sounds good," Blake half-smiled at Ruby, then proceeded to gently tug at Weiss's arm, walking past her and beckoning her deeper into the forest. "Come on. I'll show you where nature keeps her supplies."

Ruby waved as Blake took an extremely skeptical Weiss off to search for food in the snow.

"Guess it's just the two of us for a little while," she said to Yang and crouched to start building up the fire. Drei was at her side immediately, breathing hot dog breath in her face. Ruby shoved him back, laughing a little, "Bleah! Alright, three of us."

She scratched Drie's ears absently as she watched Yang's easy breathing, "Feel better soon, big sis."