Star light, star bright,
There is one I must see tonight.
I wish away, with all my might
That Summer Rose will hear my plight.
The alarm buzzed. Seven in the morning. Weiss was instantly awake. She'd trained her body to sleep for a full eight hours, so she was always awake with the clock's first chime. And, with that, she started her daily ritual. She stretched her arms broad in the morning sunlight, and could feel the stiffened muscles in her back from sleeping with tight posture fade. Of course, her night hadn't been dream free, but for some reason, the only thing she could recall from her dream was a colour. Pink. She shrugged out the last of her tension, and started to collect up her hair for her pigtail. Her silk nightie was cool against her skin, and she snorted at the idea that Ruby could have mistaken a light hospital dress for a piece of her designer wardrobe. There was no way the girl was that stupid.
She paused just long enough to grab her bathrobe off the end of her bed. A fluffy, monogrammed affair, which was white. Of course. She left the room for the communal kitchen, the one shared by the three teams in this wing of the dormitories – teams RWBY, SNTL and JNPR. With so many hunters out on duty, those assigned to Beacon basically had a room to themselves, and Weiss adored it. No more sharing with the loudmouth who took hours in the bathroom. The silent cat with her massive bookcases of questionable material. And, above all, the hyperactive girl with an addiction to cookies. No, Weiss could go to sleep whenever she wanted, wake up when she wanted, and do whatever she wanted. Even if she spent the day with her teammates, she still had control over her room, the way it should be.
The kitchen was quiet at this time of day, not that it surprised the heiress. Blake would come out whenever Sun did, considering she rarely stayed in her own room, while Yang… well, she typically slept late, because she had a quite unfortunate habit of picking fights with unsavoury groups. No, early mornings were Weiss's favourite time at the moment, because the cream walls and quiet room reminded her of home, back before she came to this school. She opened one cupboard to grab a bowl, then a drawer for a spoon. Then, there was the thing she was looking forward to above all – her cereal. Her precious mix, made for her especially by her family's chef, and sent to her every week via train, alongside the dust shipments. Even with a war on, her cereal would always be there. With it and a mug of fresh tea, she could begin the day properly, unlike those years following Ruby's commands. She opened the door to the cabinet where she'd placed it. Peeked within.
Her cereal wasn't there.
Instead, there was a box of Marshmallow Flakes. Surprised, she stared at the junk for a few moments, questioning what that was doing where her cereal belonged. She pushed it to the side, but all that sat behind the box of sugary garbage was pancake mix.
Weiss wanted to cry. The most important meal of the day, and if she couldn't find her cereal, then there was only the unhealthy crap Ruby and Jaune adored, or Nora's pancake mix. Maybe, if she was lucky, there'd be fruit, which was still not what she wanted. And so, forgetting her morning traditions and her regal manner, Weiss began to tear into the cupboards, hunting for her cereal. Someone had to have moved it. But that wasn't right, because the tub had arrived only the night before. She tried the cupboard beneath the sink, but there was only dishwashing liquid. The fridge yielded two half-drunk bottles of milk, a small plastic container filled with chocolates, Langford's not-so-well-hidden alcohol supply, and for reasons Weiss didn't really want to know, one of Nora's grenade canisters. Under the stove? Cooking appliances. Above the microwave? Cookbooks. The middle of the table? A bowl of fruit, sporting a rather big bunch of bananas, the one fruit Weiss refused to eat. It wasn't that she didn't like the taste, as she liked banana bread and other foods with the fruit within. No, it was the way it had to be eaten. It wasn't…proper. Clearly, her cereal wasn't in the kitchen.
"Weiss, have you seen Ruby?" Yang asked as she walked in, fully dressed for the day.
"Have you seen my cereal?" Ruby was the last thing she wanted to think about. What she wanted to be thinking about was how nice the quiet mornings were. Yang's face was blank as she processed this question. Her voice was softer than normal, and a lot more concerned.
"She wasn't in the hospital this morning, and when I just looked, her bed hadn't been slept in, plus Crescent Rose was missing."
"Really? Maybe when you find her, you could ask why she moved my breakfast!" Weiss could feel her cheeks burn, but passed it off as anger. Yang blinked, stunned, but that didn't last. Around her, flames flickered into existence, and her eyes shifted from lilac to red.
"Weiss, can you just listen for a second? Ruby isn't here, and I can't find her! I don't even think she's on the school grounds! Can you just stop talking about your damn cereal and show some concern for your friend?!" Weiss froze in place. Yang's semblance was intimidating, even without the concern for her sister added in there. With it, she was terrifying.
"What's with all the shouting?" The flames subsided as the blonde looked over her shoulder. Out from every single doorway on the corridor, the other hunters had their gazes locked on the two girls. Weiss was red in the face, and now that everyone was awake so early, her morning was officially ruined.
"Ruby's missing." Yang moved around to flop into a chair around the table. She seemed withdrawn, and her voice had dropped back in volume from her shouting fit. "She's vanished and I don't know why or where she's gone." The others filtered out from their rooms, with Pyrrha ducking into Weiss's room on her way. Instantly, the heiress stormed down there, furious at the breach of her privacy.
"Look, Yang, I'm sure she can't be too far away. She made a mistake yesterday, so she's probably out killing Grimm to get rid of her frustration." Tira, the brunette healer from Team SNTL, was the only person willing to speak up at the time, as Ren slid down into his normal spot. The others had formed a line for the kettle. Pyrrha strode back out of Weiss's room, the heiress following timidly.
"We found her cereal." There was nothing else she needed to say as all eyes turned to stare at the white-clad girl.
"Sorry, I guess I forgot to bring it out." Her face was the same colour as Ruby's cloak, but everyone ignored her as they focused on the more important mystery – where the young girl had vanished to.
"Guys, I have something to say." Blake lent against the bench as she waited for the kettle to finish boiling. She was a mess, with her nightshirt buttoned wrong and a pair of Sun's shorts worn in place of her normal pyjama pants, but most of the girls couldn't help but notice her hair. It was sticking out on the left-hand side of her neck, while was smoothed flat on the right. Her ears were only just barely visible over the tousled mess atop her head, and her fringe seemed to be stuck down by sweat. Sun just didn't look awake, considering how his eyes were drooping.
"Looks like someone didn't sleep very well." Yang pointed out. "What, were you two too busy to sleep?" Blake's glare was enough.
"I'm sorry, but being woken by a phone call at two in the morning, then again by a shouting match barely a few hours later really eats into your time to sleep. Can I please just speak?" she growled.
"OH. MY. GOD! You're pregnant, aren't you?" As soon as the words left Nora's mouth, everyone was still and staring. Whispers flickered between Tira, Pyrrha and Yang, while the boys were left staring at the two Faunus, stunned. Sun's face was paler than Weiss's dressing gown. To contrast, if Blake could ever resemble Yang's semblance in any way, it was now. Her messy bed hair created the perfect frame for the deathstare she was shooting Nora.
"No, Nora, I am not." From her pronunciation, it was almost spitting the words at her.
"Aww… I wanted to be the godmother." Nora pouted, and the moment was broken as Yang laughed. Blake's glare softened, although it was clear that she wasn't happy. Finally, the blonde finished laughing and sat with her elbows against the table, leaning in to hear what was going on.
"So, what was it you wanted to tell us, Blake? Or are you just going to growl at us some more?" The Faunus sighed, and started to explain.
"Noir was the one who called me. Or, he called Sun; I just happened to be the one who got the phone. He saw Ruby sneak out of the school grounds, so he followed her to make sure she was OK. After all, she did…"
"Embarrass herself?" Ren supplied.
"Pretty much," she finished.
"So, Ruby has run away, and Noir is watching her. Does he know where they are, so we can go find out if she is ok?" Pyrrha questioned. She was the only person who woke up earlier than Weiss, ever since she started running morning training sessions with Jaune. It was that fact that was the main reason why he'd climbed from a klutz to a seasoned swordsman, and with Pyrrha clearly dressed for a workout; she must have been working out in her room when the shouting started.
"From what Blake told me, he was somewhere to the north. Think he was going to send a Scroll-message with his location around eight." Sun responded as he reached for a third banana. A familiar beeping started inside Yang's pocket. With a second, it started in Pyrrha's too. Confused, both girls pulled out their Scrolls.
"Wait, we've been put off-duty?" Yang's retort was enough to send everyone scrambling for their scrolls. Sure enough, a message sat there from coalition command – due to the 'unforseen circumstances' of Jaune, Noir and Ruby's injuries, all three teams had been assigned one month of rest for recovery.
"Wait, Noir was injured? What's he doing going after Ruby like that? And how was Ruby put on the sick list?" Weiss's eyes darted from person to person, looking for someone to blame.
"Well, Ruby WAS in hospital, Weiss. And she took a fairly harsh hit to the head," Tira pointed out as she helped herself to breakfast. "And Noir has his own demons to battle. He's lucky he can still fight, considering." Yang stared at the girl, but it was clear she wasn't going to say any more as she casually bit into an apple.
"Ugh, why now? I had a trip to the Shnee processing plants scheduled, starting tomorrow! And, since Ruby isn't here, I'm going alone!"
"Not alone, sugar." The heiress's eyes widened as she turned to face the smirking, dark-skinned speaker. "It's going to be like old times, Weiss."
"Kill me now." Langford laughed. Clearly, they both had different memories of their shared childhood. Although, when Lang thought about it, she had always been like this towards him. Blake returned with scroll in hand and smiled at the group.
"Noir just sent in the location, as well. They're in the Snowy Forest."
"Wasn't that the place that a Grimm hoard was heading for?" Pyrrha pointed out. The colour drained from Yang's face as she put two and two together.
"I know where she is. And, since I'm the only one with transport, looks like I'm on my own."
"Actually…" Sun scratched the back of his head, and a sheepish smile burst across his face. Tira's eyes widened.
"You didn't… Noir's gonna kill you."
"What'd he do now?" Weiss pressed. Sun dashed back to his room, and returned waving a keyring.
"I kinda… helped myself to his motorbike keys." Considering everyone staring at him, he clarified. "Noir and I have a deal. I help him fix a few things, he loans me the bike from time to time, and the last time he… had issues, he gave me the key until he needed the bike again. And, since it's a two-seater, I can bring Blake along with us, since she made the deal with him last night." Yang sighed.
"Fine, but we better get moving. My baby sister is in more trouble than we thought."
"Half an hour. That's all we need to get ready." Blake spun on her heels and headed back to the room the couple shared, with Sun tentatively following behind. Weiss shrugged, and turned back to her room, seemingly disinterested in what happened from here. Pyrrha and Yang walked out of the building, leaving just Nora, Ren and the two from team Sentinel behind.
"What just happened?" Ren asked, while Langford shrugged.
"I dunno."
"So, pancakes. Anyone interested?" Ren sighed, and turned to find Nora holding the box of pancake mix and a frying pan. He could have sworn he'd hidden it, but too late now. He grabbed the pan from the girl, and looked her in the eye.
"Remember last time you cooked?" She blinked.
"Ren, you can do it."
Inside the school garage, Yang manoeuvred Bumblebee towards the exit. She hadn't known that Noir owned a motorcycle. Not that there was very many in there. Hell, the only bikes in there were a big black and blue sports bike, Russel's dirt bike and her Bumblebee. Then, it clicked – she'd never seen anyone use the black bike. It had been there since he'd joined Team SNTL, roughly as long as Weiss's coupe. She'd eyed it up a few times, while getting ready for solo missions or trips with her bike. Now, she'd find out how well this Catria Marauder would keep up with her custom racer. Faint talking caught her ear as she grasped her goggles.
"Look, I'm just saying, is the bike the only reason you wanted leather clothes?"
"Sun…"
Yang snorted as the two walked in. Over a year after first getting together, Sun still could annoy the cat with ease, and while her hidden depths still seemed pretty well hidden, the jokes that the monkey pulled out would paint an entirely different painting of the quiet girl. Something a fair bit less straight-laced and a lot more wild. She made a conscious attempt not to comment, even as the duo walked in. Both wore black leather jackets and had helmets in-hand, and jeans. Yang felt the subtle hints of jealousy for Blake when she noticed the brand. Those were racers jeans. Kevlar-lined in case you came off your motorbike, and reinforced enough to stop a Beowolf's claws. Sun eyed off Bumblebee, before he turned his gaze over to Noir's bike.
"Nice ride. Still, I'm sure Noir's got the Mad Cat set up to give your custom a run for its money." She giggled.
"He named his motorbike, a Catria Marauder, the Mad Cat? And he's a cat Faunus? No imagination." Blake stood to one side as Sun swung a leg over the bike and got comfortable, but very quickly the sly grin came back.
"Race?" he challenged.
"No."
"Yes." Both girls spoke over the top of one another. Blake sighed, overruled by the two riders themselves. Instead, she input the coordinates into Yang's Scroll as she tightened her helmet-straps. With a few deft finger-flicks, the information climbed onto Yang's information readout.
"Thanks. I bet I get there first." Sun pulled on his helmet, and handed his gunchucks to Blake, who slid them into the backpack over her shoulder with Gambol Shroud, amongst other things, before climbing on behind Sun. Her arms wrapped around the monkey, while his tail wrapped itself around her, a novel and cute way to make sure she wasn't going to come off.
"First one there buys dinner when we get back." Yang challenged, her helmet shutting over her head. Sun just nodded and closed the visor on his white racing helmet. Both ignited the engines at once, and with a roar, both bikes tore out from the exit to the garage, and headed around to the Northern Highway. Soon, Yang thought, she'd be sure Ruby was safe.
And then she'd give her an earbashing for running away in the first place.
A/N: Well, that was a thing. Not quite as happy with this chapter as some of the others, it's a lot more domestic, and there was so many characters to juggle... but it set the three story paths in motion. Weiss and Langford are heading to the Schnee Dust Refineries. Blake, Sun and Yang are en route help Noir with Ruby. And the remainder are at Beacon. Expect chapters to jump between these three paths for a bit. Tira and Langford are both barely fleshed out, and I might start a forum on here looking for help finalizing their designs. Let me know which path you're more interested in, as all three plot paths have interesting scenes.
Anyway, stay tuned - tomorrow's chapter returns to Ruby and the action you all crave. Let's just say... it'd be a bloody shame if you didn't read it.