Ruby started awake in a cold sweat. She lay still, just breathing for a few seconds, and then rolled onto her back and wriggled up a couple of inches to see past the top of the sleeping bag.
The pewter sky lay close over the peaks. The clouds were lighter in the east, behind the peaks. She had snowflakes in her hair, she found. A few more were sifting down around them.
A quick glance found Yang at the low campfire, poking the coals with a piece of broken chair. She could see the top of Blake's bow in the sleeping bag nearby, and she felt Weiss breathing deep and slow next to her. Some fragment of her dream left her with a bad taste in her mouth, but being awake and seeing her teammates all here together, all safe for now... Ruby relaxed for a minute.
Judging by the light it was barely after dawn. They didn't have to get up quite yet. She looked down at the white head of hair showing just past the covers. Determination rose in her chest. They would get back to Beacon and send help for James Point. That was the best they could do.
Ruby started to push herself up on her elbows, but Weiss stirred. And... she really did need the sleep. Ruby settled back down, fishing her map from her coat pocket and unfolding it as quietly as she could to look over the day's route.
Coals properly settled, Yang stood and stretched, leaving the pot of supremely basic meat stew to continue its slow simmer as she surveyed the camp. Blake and the little Faunus were still buried deep in their sleeping bag, looking so peaceful and serene that Yang couldn't help but smile. Beside the pair, Drei had wedged himself between the side of their sleeping bag and the low burning coals. He was awake, but apparently had no intentions of moving from his spot, though he did lazily wag his tail when Yang looked his way.
Looking over to Ruby and Weiss's side of camp, Yang realized Drei wasn't the only one awake. If Ruby was up, that meant Weiss would probably wake soon too... well, maybe. Either way, she was not going to miss the fireworks.
Treading lightly, she made her way to Ruby's side of the sleeping bag and settled down beside her, leaning over her shoulder to look at the map as well.
Ruby looked up at her and tipped her head to give Yang's arm an affectionate bump. She miscalculated and hit too hard, though, right on her elbow. Bone hit bone and she ducked, rubbing her head, "Ouch!"
Beside her, Weiss groaned and shifted closer under the covers, snuggling against Ruby's side. Ruby couldn't help giggling through her pain, "That tickles, Weiss."
Hearing her name, the heiress blinked awake. It took her a second to place where she was, and then realized she was in a sleeping bag with Ruby, both hands buried in the younger girl's cloak. Yang hovered over her sister's shoulder. Weiss blanched and shoved at Ruby, struggling to get up and away, "What are you doing?! Ugh! Get off me!"
"Ow, hey!" Ruby shielded herself with her arms, "I wasn't even on you!"
"Yeah princess," Yang's grin was brighter than the sun itself, "Don't think I don't see you over there, gettin' all friendly with my little sis."
In point two seconds Weiss was out of and fifteen feet away from the sleeping bag. She yanked her boots the rest of the way on, still yelling, "I was asleep! It's not my fault that your delusional mind sees two teammates trying not to freeze to death and immediately jumps to the conclusion that they're being 'friendly'!"
Ruby struggled out of the tangle of her cloak and the sleeping bag. She blew hair out of her face, plucking the map out of the snow and brushing it off.
Even while snickering at Weiss's marvelous song and dance of denial, Yang couldn't help but instinctively try to smooth down some of Ruby's wild bedhead, but when it proved to be an exercise in futility as always she gave up, throwing her arms around Ruby's shoulders and resting her head atop Ruby's in defeat. At least teasing Weiss was turning out to be a complete success. Relentless, Yang winked at the fuming heiress. "Oh Weiss, don't be shy, it's okay, I know my sister is irresistibly cuddly~"
"Cut it out, Yang," Ruby grumbled, still straightening out the map. Messing with Weiss could be fun, but it didn't feel very nice to have somebody throw themselves away from you so fast. It wasn't like she was dirty or anything. At least, she wasn't any more dirty than yesterday when they went to sleep. Ruby shoved the map back into her pocket, noting that the sky had gotten darker, not lighter. The clouds hung heavy and gray overhead, "Guess we'd better get going early if we're going to beat the snow."
"Finally, some sense," Weiss huffed, storming to the fire in search of coffee.
Still giggling, Yang pressed an apologetic kiss to the top of Ruby's head and released her, pushing herself to her feet and jogging over to the campfire to pour Weiss a hot, caffeinated peace offering.
Not too long after, Blake forced herself to get up. She'd been roused by Weiss's blustering at first, and when she eventually realized she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, she very reluctantly dragged herself and an equally sleepy Robin over to the campfire - which had been stoked back into an actual fire.
Weiss was sipping coffee with a scowl, no surprises there, Ruby was examining the sky, and Yang was walking towards them with a smile. The brawler stopped just long enough to snag Blake in a quick side hug and ruffle Robin's hair before leaving to roll up their sleeping bag.
Smirking at the sight of Yang trying (and failing) to forcibly remove Drei from the abandoned sleeping bag, Blake led Robin to take a seat with her beside Ruby. She followed her team leader's gaze up to the darkening clouds. "Worried about the weather?"
"Yeah. Snow could help keep the Grimm out of James Point, though," she gave Blake a half-smile, "Think it'll be anything major?"
Robin climbed her way up into Blake's lap, ears down flat.
Blake ran a hand through the little girl's hair, tucking a few strands behind on of her human ears as she looked to the sky, ears flattening in kind. "...We should move quickly."
With the threat of heavy snow looming, the team decided to forego the detour to the village marked on the map. Ruby hooked Drei to the sled while Weiss made sure the supplies were secure, and they were on the move in record time.
Once they got out of the higher ranges, it would be almost a straight shot through the hills to the Emerald Forest, and then up the familiar cliffs to Beacon. Ruby studied the maps and charts till she went nearly cross-eyed, but the effort kept them more or less clear of Grimm and on the wide, broken roads leftover from times past. Occasionally they passed ruins- crumbling vestiges of cities that had succumbed to the darkness and now served as lairs to Beowolves and Ursai. Fortunately, the larger creatures had a tendency to hibernate- though she thought once she saw the glow of a Death stalker's tail through the icicles hanging off an archway set into one of the low hills.
Weiss had just kept her grip on the sled as she and Ruby took their turn running beside it. There was no way it could have been a death stalker's stinger. "It would have to be the size of a van."
Ruby just swallowed uneasily and kept running. A stinger the size of a van would mean a stalker the size of a bulkhead. Even though they avoided whatever fights they could, they were low on ammunition.
Robin continued to cling to Blake, crying sometimes, and whimpering. She wanted to stop and she wanted her mom. They only stopped long enough to thaw some of Blake's catch, though, or occasionally sleep when the clouds blocked out the moon and they often woke up covered in snow.
The weather didn't turn blizzard, though. And temperatures rose slightly as they reached the forests.
"It's not so 'emerald' in the winter," Ruby said as they reached another landmark- a massive gear embedded in the earth amid the trees. Its highest teeth competed with the bare branches far above their heads. She flexed her fingers to warm them up a bit and pulled the fold of her cloak up over her mouth and nose, breathing warm air into it to thaw out her face.
Blake was taking a turn walking beside the sled, and Robin had somehow been transferred to Weiss. The heiress furiously ignored the tiny Faunus huddled in her lap, one arm gingerly across the little one's middle like a seatbelt and the other at an awkward angle gripping the side of the sled. "Are you sure this is the right forest? I thought they were supposed to be evergreen."
"Lookin' more like nevergreen trees at this point," Yang commented from her spot behind the sled, watching the forest with grim curiosity as she helped push while Drei pulled.
One of Blake's ears flattened at the wordplay, but her senses were otherwise on high alert. The forest wasn't right. In all the years the White Fang has used this forest as camping grounds during Vale's winters, she had never seen it anything other than the vibrant emerald green for which it had been named. But now... it was difficult to tell the grayish-white barren trees from the grayish-white stone of the occasional pile of ruins.
Aiming to test a theory, Blake unsheathed Gambol Shroud and slashed the next branch they passed. It fell, landing with a soft thud in the snow. Not a single speck of green graced the branch's center. Frowning, she handed the branch to Ruby. "I think the trees are dead."
Ruby took it, letting the twigs at the end drag in the snow while she examined the dead wood. She turned, speaking in a hushed voice, "Hey, Weiss-"
"I swear, if you mention me setting the forest on fire one more time," Weiss growled, causing Robin's ears to go back.
"No, no, I was going to say- what do you think could make them like this?" Ruby swallowed as she motioned to the skeletal trees all around them. They hadn't been gone that long. A month? Five weeks, tops. Ruby looked down at her worn gloves. Her cape had started to fray at the edges.
"Maybe it's just... this part," the fencer gripped the edge of the sled with one hand as she leaned, trying to gaze ahead through the trees. The only sounds in the forest besides RWBY's voices were the shush of the sled over the snow and the whisper of the wind stirring the bare branches overhead. "Maybe they'll be normal closer to Beacon."
A/N: Sorry this chapter ended up a little short, breaking it in any other place came out really bizarre, but AaaaAAAHH they're nearly THERE I'm excited for themmmmm~!
Hugs!
D