Ruby hopped off the porch swing with her rucksack greeting the couple as they came up the walk.

"Hope you two had fun on your little date" Ruby joked picking up her sack "I waited months for this and you two almost stood me up"

The mention of the word "date" causing both members of the party to drop each others arms

"We actually went to go see Pyrrha" Weiss said.

"Oh, um my bad" Ruby's demeanor visibly dropped "H-How is she doing"

"She's doing fine, the doctor sa-" Jaunes hand clamped over Weiss's mouth.

"Doctor said she's doing fine but some stuff has come along" Jaune said "You know, patient confidentiality and all that"

"Yeah I understand" The young huntress said mopping "Can I uh, go in now. I'm really tired"

"Yeah sure I'll unlock the door. Just go down this hall and keep following. Your room is next to Weiss's. I'm gonna talk with Weiss about the room arrangements out here for now"

"Thanks Jaune" She whispered, humping the bag onto her shoulder, walking inside.

Jaune closed the door, turning to Weiss who was visibly miffed at his previous actions.

"What was that about?"

"What?" He tried to play it off

"What you did!"

"Fine, I'm sorry. I was just trying to protect Ruby" He said pacing

"Protect her from what?"

Jaune sat down on the swing with his head in his hands, he lent back tossing his arms over the back of the swing.

"She still blames herself for what happened to Pyrrha, the night she was abducted."

Weiss was taken back to that night, the fire, the fights, the scream, and the flash of light atop the tower of Beacon. That was the night Pyrrha had been abducted by Cinder and her crew for use as a Maiden conduit. She knew Ruby had been slow to save Pyrrha but for the girl to hold such a grudge against herself for all these years seemed out of place. There was no way she could have blamed herself for this long. Could she?

"But why?" She said.

"Because in her words 'if she had just been a little bit faster all of this could've been avoided. RWBY would still be together and Pyrrha wouldn't be...like that''

"But everything worked out fine? Why is she so worried?" Weiss said walking over to Jaune and rocked on the swing with him trying to wrap her head around the conversation.

"Because it didn't work out in her head, yes Pyrrha's here and yes, we have her back, but not like how Ruby wanted, not like how Ruby imagined. She blames herself for what happened because she knew she could do better, but never did. If she found out Pyrrha had even the slightest chance of waking up, she would never be able to look her in the eyes."

It all made sense to Weiss. Ruby had always been keen on being a huntress and saving people. Rescuing civilians in a far off village was one thing, but having her academy attacked and one of her best friends abducted seconds before she could save her? That was something that no one should ever have to experience, Hunter or not. No wonder she blamed herself, if she couldn't save her friend, then what was the point of being a Huntress to her?

"How do you know all this? Has she been telling you?" She asked.

"Back when we were still team RNJR looking for Pyrrha, Ruby had nightmares all the time on the road about the event. She would wake up suddenly at night, startled and in a cold sweat. She'd wander off some nights and not come back until morning."

Weiss was all too familiar with the feeling.

"She though Pyrrha was gone for so long and had finally accepted her death like the rest of us a while later. That was, up until the point we found her a few years later. After that Ruby just shut down again. She had already copped with Pyrrha's 'death' once and wasn't wanting to experience that again."

Weiss sat stroking her arm on the swing as it gently rocked back and forth in the setting sun. She felt so bad now, never being told any of this. She never expected something like this to be hiding behind the happy-go-lucky smile of her team leader for so long.

Jaune reached over and squeezed her hand gently.

"Listen, you can't discuss any of this with Ruby. I spent years travelling with her and she still is uncomfortable talking about it with me of all people, i'm not sure how she would react after i spilt all of this to you, especially after what we learned with Pyrrha earlier. I just don't want her shutting down again."

Weiss took her hand on top of his and squeezed back. "Well, its alot to take in suddenly, but i promise. I won't talk to her until she is comfortable." The porch light flickered on in a brilliant white light and Weiss was suddenly reminded of the time.

Jaune stood stretching his arms and taking her hand to help her up.

"We should probably go in and get Ruby acquainted with the place. We don't exactly have any maps to give out to guests do we?" He asked chuckling.

"No." Weiss said before turning back to him. "Not except the one you made" She said before opening the door and walking in.

"Hey i'll have you know i only got lost three times ok! Three!" He said walking in after her and closing the door.