A/N: If you have time, I strongly recommend you read the authors note at the bottom of this chapter. It will really give you an explanation as to the scene that I drop in this chapter

Team RWBY's dorm,

Ruby

The thoughts of yesterday's conversation had mixed effects on Ruby. On the one hand, she was happy that her partner had opened up to her. She was happy that there was indeed a side of Weiss that cared about her. But the thoughts of her mother that she had long since drowned out returned, plaguing her dreams like they had years ago. Her dreams were trickled with mixed memories. Some were of them playing happily in the fields together, some were of her mother smiling when she did something silly, some were of the many times she visited her mothers tombstone. Every time she did, it stung like a knife wound. Going to your only parent's tombstone was not something you could do without hurting yourself. But sometimes, she felt like that was all that the she could do. Her mother was the only one who was always truly there for her. She sat upright in her bed, looking to the bunk to her left. Even in the dim light, she could tell that Yang and Blake were back. Yang was stretched out over her blankets dressed only in her pyjamas, but she couldn't make out what Blake was doing. All she could tell was that the fauness was indeed there. She grabbed onto the side of her bunk bed with extreme caution, making sure not to wake any of her team mates. She connected with the ground with enough silence that you could still hear a pin drop on the other side of the room. She quickly changed her clothes into her combat skirt and slowly opened the door. She peeked her head out, making sure that no one was in the halls with her. She scurried out of the room and closed the door behind her, heading down the hallway.

Outings like this were uncommon for Ruby, but the silence left her alone to her thoughts. On the outside, she was a perfectly happy girl who couldn't be brought down by any human means. But keeping up an appearance like that took a toll eventually. It wasn't always the easiest being the always happy girl. Sometimes she wanted to be a normal girl who could be mad, be angry, be confused and be scared. But that's not what her team needed or wanted. They needed a strong leader, someone who could lead them consistently and effectively. She opened the door to the cliff, the one they had just launched off two days prior. The cold air felt refreshing against her sweaty form, the moonlight lighting up the cliff. She sat down next to the launching platforms, the cold metal refreshing against her skin. It was a cliff just like this one where her mother's tombstone rested. The last time she'd seen it, snow covered all around it. The red roses she'd placed against it had long since wilted away, spread to the wind. She had told her mom everything. How hers and Yang's life was going, the jokes that Qrow had told them, how she was doing in school, everything. She spoke to her like she was expecting an answer. But she never did. The only sound that every accompanied her voice was the wind, the constant reminder that she was gone. Ruby had never really liked the wind from that point on. It reminded her of things that she didn't want to remember. Lying back against the grass, she let her mind wander.

"What are you doing here Ruby? I never really took you for the kind of person to go out adventuring out this late at night. I always took you for the responsible leader." The familiar voice questioned.

"Oh. Hello Mark. I guess I could say the same for you." She replied, her head still buried in the grass.

"Do you mind if I take a seat?" He asked as he gestured to the ground beside her.

"Go right ahead. There's more than enough room for you here" she responded with a chuckle.

"What's on your mind right now Ruby? That's the only reason that I can see you coming out this late at night. Is it about school, or what?" He questioned kindly, keeping the conversation casual.

"No. I'm just thinking about before I came to beacon. Back when life was easier, you know. I'm not complaining though! I'm just saying that life was better in ways before I came here." She answered, speaking the truth. Not the whole truth, but truth nonetheless. "Anyways, what are you doing out here? Were you looking for me, or was I just in the way when you came here?" She asked suspiciously, not trusting the leader to her right.

"Actually, I came out here to ask you a question, if that's alright with you." He asked nervously, bringing fear into her soul. She didn't know why he was out here, or how he knew she'd be here. But whatever she felt, she couldn't let it show. She had to keep being the strong, happy leader that she had been told she was.

"You go right ahead Mark. I love questions." She replied gleefully, still lying on the grass. Mark cleared his throat and waited a few seconds before replying.

"Well, as I know, you're the leader of team RWBY, correct?" She asked, granting a nod from Ruby. "And you're also the partner of Weiss Schnee, correct?" He asked again, granting a more suspicious nod from the crimson girl." Then I believe that I must ask you permission to begin seeing her. I don't want to anger you in saying that, I just know that she's not taken, and I quite enjoy her personality, and I think that'd I'd be a good match for her. That is with your permission, of course." He asked, causing the cogs in Ruby's head to begin to turn.

"So that's why you came and found me tonight, isn't it? You wanted to ask me permission to date my partner. That makes sense, but why would you ask me? There's no rule saying that you have to ask me." She questioned, somewhat confused.

"I respect you, Mrs Rose. After what you did for me and my squad back there, I could at least respect your decision. That would be the least I could do for you. You did a brave thing that I could not ever hope to repay, so I'm trying to pay it off as best I can. This doesn't settle my debt I have to you, of course, but it's a start. And if you don't wish to accept my request, I will take it to heart and honour it. I wish for you to accept, but if you don't, I understand."

She closed her eyes, letting the choice float through her mind. She didn't have any feelings for Weiss romantically, or even the same gender for that matter. And she knew that Weiss showed interest to Mark when they had returned. He seemed to be responsible, had a good attitude, but was prone to getting in fights without the ability to defend himself. That caused her to choke up for a second before delivering her response.

"Go ahead Mark. But if you hurt her, or you can't defend her, you'd better hope that the fall down this cliff breaks your neck before the beowolves can get to you." She threatened, letting her intentions be clear. She had just gotten to the new Weiss, and she wasn't going to let her crawl back into her shell of coldness.

"Thank you Ruby, I'll do my best. Also, if I do start dating your partner, can I call you petals?" He asked jokingly as he stood back up.

"No. Nothing is going to change my mind about it either. You're not going to call me petals." She replied, closing her eyes when she felt him stand up.

"Alright, well thank you. I'll try not to let you down." He finished as he vanished from the cliff, leaving Ruby to her new, less downing thoughts.

"Hopefully I just made the right choice." She said to herself with guilt, the choice now more weight she had to bear on her shoulders.

Team RWBY's dorm,

Weiss

The ice princess had been awoken by the creaking of their door opening, causing her so jolt up in attention. Myrtenastar was under her bed, out of reach of her hand. The intruder closed the door and began to approach her, causing her heart to stop. The muscles tensed and her mind filled with fear. Her body told her to scream, but her throat had quenched too tightly to free anything more than a wheeze. She looked over to her left, the sleeping figure of Blake still there, providing no comfort. Weiss lifted her hands in front of her, a measly attempt at self defence. The figure merely took off their clothes and climbed onto the top bunk as though Weiss wasn't there.

"Ruby? Is that you up there?" The silver haired heiress asked, confused by the chain of events.

"Yeah, it's me Weiss. Now let's get to sleep. We've got a lot of classes tomorrow." She closed, ending the quick conversation.

What was she doing out there? Ruby never disappeared randomly like that. That was a Yang trait, but certainly not a Ruby trait. Why had she just randomly disappeared? Speculations filled her mind, trying to make logic out of the situation. She could've needed air, she could've been meeting someone by how fast she had dismissed any answers. She could've gone to think about something, there was so many things that she could've done. Weiss couldn't place her finger on one answer. She decided to abandon it and go to sleep. Her leader had a reason for going out there, and she knew that she did. Maybe she'd ask her tomorrow.

Team RWBY's dorm,

The next morning,

Weiss

The ice princess had awoken late the next morning. The sun was already making its journey to the top of the sky when she looked out the window. Blake was already gone, and by the looks of the covers, so was Yang. She stretched herself out and stood up, looking at the bunk above her, which was also empty. "My team abandoned me" she thought to herself as she looked around the room, the only thing out of the ordinary was that the bathroom door was closed. Yang often closed it once she was done, and she was generally the last one out, so that was explained. She slouched to the other side of the room, glancing into the cupboards. They were newly refreshed with Yang's and Blake's journey to town yesterday. She grabbed a box of cereal bearing some fancily dressed young woman with red hair on the front. She walked over to the fridge and took out the nearly empty carton of milk. She didn't know where it all went, but Ruby most likely had something to do with it.

"You're up late today Weiss. What's the deal with that?" Came the muffled question from behind her, causing her to jump. She turned around to see the face of Ruby, already dressed in her combat skirt with a toothbrush in her mouth.

"Don't do that to me Ruby! You could've given me a heart attack!" Weiss scolded, her hand on her heart.

"What did you want me to do? I couldn't tap you on the shoulder; I couldn't just stand behind you. Should I have left a note on the milk that said I'm behind you, don't be afraid? Because I don't think that would've ended any better." She joked, disregarding her partners fear.

"You could've left the bathroom door open. That would've worked I guess."

"Oh, I guess I could have. Sorry Weiss." She apologized.

"Ruby, what were you doing out yesterday night? It's not like you to go running off like that in the middle of the night. Have you been spending too much time around Yang?" She joked while pouring herself a bowl of cereal. It wasn't a five course meal, but it was good enough for her.

"I was just thinking about some stuff some last night." She replied. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't exactly telling the full truth either. Fortunately, that was enough for Weiss to believe her.

"I trust you. But if you're going to go running off like that in the middle of the night, at least let me know first. You nearly gave me a heart attack when you came in last night. I thought you were coming to kill me."

"Oh, I never thought of that. Sorry again princess. Anyways, I'm going to meet up with Yang, Blake and JNPR in the cafeteria. You're free to come join us if you want." Ruby proposed as walked back into the bathroom, returning without her toothbrush.

"I'll catch up with you guys once I'm done eating and getting changed. Class isn't for another half an hour anyways." She said nonchalantly, beginning to dig into her bowl of cereal.

"I'll see you then Weiss. Have fun with your cereal." Her partner joked as she left the room, leaving Weiss by herself once again.

Beacon cafeteria,

Ruby

When she arrived at the cafeteria, her six teammates and friends were already engaged in a conversation about what had happened yesterday. Ruby took a seat next to Yang and across from Ren, who was currently face palming about some remark Nora had made. She was given a quick wave of greetings before they continued the conversation as though she had never arrived.

"What did you guys even do once you two took off yesterday Yang? You guys just kind of, vanished away. I mean its normal for Blake, seeing as she's a ninja and all, but you're generally a lot less quiet than that. What happened between you two?" Jaune asked, Pyrrha sitting next to him.

"We had a nice conversation and then returned to our dorm room. That's basically what happened. And then we went and bought groceries. That's honestly all we did yesterday." Her tone was normal. Either she was telling the truth, or she was just a really good liar.

"What about you Ruby. What did you do once you and Weiss took off? We didn't see you again yesterday. You just kind of vanished like them. Did team RWBY just all take ninja classes during the summer?" Jaune joked, earning a chuckle from everyone but Ren.

"I just went back to my dorm and went to sleep. Not as exciting as being a ninja though." She replied blandly, telling the partial truth again. This was becoming far more reoccurring than was normal for her.

"Oh, well that sounds interesting. Speaking of you two, where's Weiss. She's usually up bright and early. It's weird for her to be getting up so late."

"She was just eating before she came here when I saw her this morning. She should be here in a few minutes."

Mere seconds after Ruby answered the question, the heiress approached the table, sitting on the end across from Pyrrha.

"Good morning ice queen. Did you sleep well?" Jaune joked, getting nothing more than a mean look from Weiss in return.

"What's up with you Weiss? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Yang teased, earning no response from the heiress once more.

"She's clearly not having a nice morning. Let's leave her alone. Besides, classes start in five minutes, so we should be going anyways" dismissed Pyrrha, dragging Jaune up by the arm.

Team RWBY stood up and began to head towards their first class of the day, sparring. They only had two classes per day, which made studying rather easy. Yang and Blake stormed ahead, leaving Weiss and Ruby trailing behind them.

"Hey Weiss, what's going on with you this morning? You're not this cold normally. Is something wrong?" Ruby asked concerned, noting the strange behaviour of her partner.

"No, I just wasn't in the mood for talking. Thank you for your concern though." She dismissed, continuing the trek in silence. They were interrupted only dozens of feet away from class by a voice all too familiar to Ruby at this point.

"Good morning girls. How is this morning treating you thus far?" He asked, his voice upbeat and happy.

Ruby didn't even bother to answer. She just stormed off to class, leaving the duo behind.

"Hey Weiss, I've got a quick question for you." He asked vaguely, forcing Weiss to reply

"What is it Mark? I'm not in the best of moods this morning." She replied bluntly, trying to shoo him off.

"I know a great restaurant here on campus that I've got two reservations for. Would you honour me with your presence tonight?" He asked as gentlemanlike as he could, hoping to woo the heiress.

"I'd love to Mark. Now if you don't mind, I've got a class I must attend to. You can find me after classes at my dorm." She replied quickly before jetting off to class, leaving Mark and his childish grin behind.

A/N: Now before all of you reading this decide to abandon thread, hear me out real quick. I know that I've just paired up Weiss with an OC in a white rose story, and that some of you might be thinking of leaving this story. But this is just a dip in the road. This story is still white rose, and please trust me when I say that. It might anger you, and I'm deeply sorry. But this is how I chose to continue the story, and I have a very big reveal in mind for the next few chapters. Watch out for wordplay to see if you can get what I'm hinting towards.

In lighter news, I'd like to address the four reviews that I've gotten on this chapter.

Yellowsign: I appreciate that you can understand where I'm coming from. And I REALLY appreciate that you trust me. I need people like you right now. Your review was greatly appreciated friend.

Shadowmanji: on the same lines as Yellowsign, thank you for trusting in my writing. Also, thank you for complementing me on my writing. It really causes me to want to write more.

Metimesthree: I really hope that you still feel the same after reading this chapter. I'm holding my breath

Cowjumpmoon: If you like the character development in these few chapters, you're going to love the next few chapters.

So a combination of those four is the reason there is a chapter up tonight. I honestly really love writing this story, and I'm far more than happy to keep putting up a new chapter every night as long as you guys keep on dropping feedback. Its an exchange of sorts. Also, if any of you guys want to PM me with questions, concerns, or just to talk, I'll make sure I reply as fast as I can. Reviews are also amazing. If you drop a comment, I'll either shout you out or reply to you, depending on which one fits.

Question of the chapter: How do you guys feel about how I'm building up my characters and plot? Do you like it, is it meh? Let me know what you think.

Any ways, long authors note on a potentially misleading chapter, but just have faith my readers. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

So have a great morning, day, evening, night and take it easy.