"Fifty six?"

"Up"

"Seventy five?"

"Down"

"Sixty six?

"Down"

"Sixty… Ruby, this is stupid. Let's do something else..."

"Well... excuse me for trying to keep you entertained…" Ruby sighed. She was fine with stopping though; Ruby had the game rigged anyway. Blake had taught her a long time ago that no matter what, even if the other person cheated, a game like this could always be won in eight guesses. It came in use back when Ruby used to mess with Juane during their study sessions, and towards the end he thought the redhead was some "mind Jedi" or something. Ruby only lost when she messed up her mental math.

Weiss snorted as she continued to walknext to Ruby. "Yeah… because this was soooo entertaining."

"And because of that jewel of a comment," Ruby grumbled, "I'll leave you to come up with the next road trip game."

Their "road trip" had lasted the past two weeks, as they slowly wandered their way east through the forests on their way away from Caric. It had been two weeks since they abandoned the city, and during that time the pair hadn't run into a single person, dead or alive. No bandits, no infected... nothing. They hadn't even seen a corpse!

Well, that or the dead bodies were covered by so much snow that they still weren't visible. But out of sight equaled out mind, and it was definitely a morale booster to not have to see dead bodies piled up in the streets or stacked against walls every day. Unfortunately, the weather showed no signs of changing anytime soon, and it still lightly snowed most days.

Most days. Today heavy snow was coming at them at a forty degree angle, and a harsh gale whipped by their faces and through their hair, the icy wind stinging their cheeks and leaving the pair with a constant blush. At least it was the type of snow that was immediately hard as soon as it landed. If the pair had been forced to hike through knee-high snow they would have made a tenth of the progress they had. Other than an odd depression every once in a while in the snow where they would suddenly sink to around thigh deep in the slush, they were mostly able to just walk across the powdery water as though it wasn't even there.

Still though, even with the winds annoying bite, the experience was actually somewhat refreshing. Just walking through the forests and farming country was nice, not having to worry about constant threats like people or zombies. Ruby liked to spend her quiet moments daydreaming that nothing had happened over the last seven years, and she was only out on a hike with Weiss again. The redhead had actually gotten her partner to do that with her on the rare occasion in the past, after weeks upon weeks of constant prodding. But Ruby didn't let herself daydream for too long though; those days were long gone, and dwelling on those memories would only give Ruby unnecessary heartache over what she'd lost.

After a small, uncomfortable silence while they both waited to see if the other wanted to say anything, they returned to walking in silence. Trying to be sly, as Ruby usually got annoyed when her blonde partner scrutinized her, Weiss cast a reproachful eye over at her partner.

Ruby actually looked… better. She looked happier. The months of stable meals and protection from the elements had left the two stronger than they usually were this time of year, and in better spirits as well. And as much as Ruby hated to let the change happen, she had actually been sleeping more too. Not by a large amount, but maybe instead of the redhead's usual four hours of sleep, Ruby would now get five. And while she had raise hell the next day, Ruby had actually slept for six hours after Weiss decided to not wake the redhead after a long day of traveling. The dark marks under Ruby's eyes were actually disappearing slightly, and now you actually had to look to see the slight purple bags that dusted the tops of Ruby's cheeks.

But by thinking of how good things were right now, Weiss couldn't help but remember all the times that were bad. It was like when you tried to think of the answer for a pop quiz. Eventually you'd remember your answer, but not before you dragged yourself through every single idea that remotely had to do with what you were thinking about.

Last year had been a particularly rough ordeal, worse than any other year before that. Weiss remembered almost starving to death on multiple occasions through that winter, and the same had been true for her partner. If they hadn't gotten lucky and found a hibernating bear, which still put up a decent fight against the two severely weakened women, they definitely would have died out in the cold, starved under some tree. Still, this time of year was difficult for another reason as well.

Weiss cast another glance at her partner, uneager to ruin the happy morning. As much as she'd found Ruby's game annoying, the blonde knew the conversation they were about to have would be painful, and either end in stony silence or, even worse, in screams.

Still, it was a conversation they needed to have. The fact that this was so hard to talk about was one of the few things that proved to Weiss that Ruby was still human, somewhere inside of Ruby's iron hard shell.

With a heavy sigh, Weiss looked up at the girl next to her, breaking the silence that had been constant for the past few hours. "Well, I've been avoiding a certain topic… and I think you have been too."

"I don't want to get into it." There was a sense of finality in Ruby's tone, and anyone else would have stopped there. But Weiss knew she had to keep going.

"But I do. It's important."

"But I don't, and I say it isn't."

"Don't you think we should at least say something…" Weiss then mumbled meekly: "Today marks that it's been five years since-"

Weiss was cut of at a snort from Ruby, who gave the blonde an incredulous look. "Say something!? What the hell could there be to say?"

"I don't know, maybe you coul-"

Ruby cut off Weiss with a rude wave, then sarcastically announced to the air: "So Yang, heeeeey sis, what's up! Just wanted to give you a holler… letcha know what's been going on." Ruby paused theatrically for a moment, and then cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled at the top of her lungs. "MAYBE SAY SORRY FOR GETTING YOU RAPED AND KILLED FIVE YEARS AGO!"

Seeming to calm down a bit, Ruby sneered, and then spat: "But hey, accidents happen right? Best wishes, your little sis Ruby!"

"Come on Ruby!" Pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers, Weiss tried to think of another way to approach this. The only reason Ruby was being combative was because the redhead really didn't want to feel anything for her dead sister. Ruby didn't want to stop and mourn her losses. She didn't want to feel the pain that came with losing your loved ones.

Thinking of a new angle, Weiss began again. "Let's just say she is up…up there… on some cloud or something. I personally don't think so, but I know you do. Is that what you really would want to say to her?"

"What would you say I tell her? You apparently think there is some way that I should go about this. Why don't you take the lead?"

"Ruby, it doesn't matter what I would like to say to her… this is about what you would want to say to your sister."

Ruby sniffed back over her shoulder at Weiss while running a hand through her hair. "I think any normal person would be able to guess what I have to say… I'm not too keen on outward expression and all that nowadays. Yang wouldn't have a hard time guessing my thoughts if she actually wanted to; we were never the…" Ruby scrunched her face up for a moment as she tried to think of a way to put her thoughts into words, and then made air quotes while finishing her thought. "We weren't the 'sharing feelings' type of siblings anyway."

Something in that sentence sounded wrong to Weiss, although she couldn't quite place her finger on what it was. Ruby took advantage of Weiss's moment of thinking, not wanting to talk about this any longer. And as luck would have it, something gave Ruby the perfect excuse to kill the conversation.

Ruby shushed Weiss, and motioned with a hand gesture past the trees that they were about to walk through. Howls, snarls, and a large number of barks could be heard past a small hill that hid from view whatever was going on over the steep slope. Pulling her hunting rifle off of her shoulder, Ruby crept forward quietly, already prepared to fire the rifle at an enemy. While they hadn't seen any people, they had seen large amounts of wildlife wandering through the wilderness, and sometimes a pack of wolves could be more dangerous than a group of humans. Humans could at least be bargained with if something goes wrong. There isn't any bartering with feral wolf, one who hasn't seen a human in over seven years.

As Ruby peered over the ledge with Weiss following close behind, she caught a glimpse of what was causing all the commotion. A pack of wolves had surrounded two feral dogs, one of which was lying motionless on the ground. It was interesting to see the dark brown hound standing over its light beige pack mate, even though from here it looked as though the dog it was trying to protect had already died, its eyes faded and its tongue hanging lazily out of its mouth. The darker terrier should have just run; it would have probably been able to survive if it had. Instead, the two watched silently as the dog was overwhelmed and pushed to the ground by several members of the wolf pack, the rest running around the struggling terrier to feast on the other fallen hound.

A startlingly loud gunshot rang out across the field, and the entire pack of hounds scattered at the sound, not taking a single moment to search for the origin of the echo.

"What the hell Weiss!" Ruby yelled loudly at her partner, who still had her gun pointed into the air. "You couldn't have done anything…"

Weiss just shrugged, and began to walk towards the two dogs while snapping over her shoulder "I guess I'm also being irrational today."

Ruby followed behind sourly, knowing that Weiss was just taking out her frustrations on her. 'You want to play that way Weiss? Fine'. Ruby was angered by Weiss's actions; they were just a waste of resources and a burden of heartache. But more than that though… the blonde made Ruby actually feel guilty over all that she put Weiss through.

'Maybe I'm just selfish… making her live like this with me. It's obvious she doesn't want to keep going any longer… but I don't want to die yet. And I can't live without her. I know she doesn't love me anymore… and I can't bring myself to love her in the way I used to either; I had to give up those feelings to make myself strong enough to just keep her alive. But I won't live on my own in this world. It's too cruel, and I'd rather just die myself than have to live on alone. I know I deserve hell for all the things I've done… I just hope I haven't drug her down to my level.'

Ruby shook the dark thoughts out of her head, and followed behind Weiss as she watched the blonde slowly pull out her hunting knife from one of her heavy coats many pockets. Weiss clutched the knife to her chest with both hands, resting the back of the blade against her collar-bone, as if she was afraid of the blade flying away if she let it go. And as they both stood side by side over the two dark blotches in the pure white snow, Ruby felt her heartstrings being pulled at.

It was a depressing sight, walking up to the two hounds, both lying on top of the snow while small droplets of blood leak from their wounds. Ruby's earlier guess had been right, the light beige terrier was obviously dead, and had probably passed some time ago. But what tugged Ruby's heartstrings most was how the chocolate-brown dog was still trying to follow the approaching pair with her eyes, even if she could no longer move. They were both dead, even if one was still breathing.

Weiss knelt next to the dog, running her hand through the dogs dull brown fur. The terrier's tail started beating against the ground for a few seconds, wagging happily as it was pet. A quick jab in between the eyes from Weiss ended the thumping.

"…"

It looked like Weiss wanted to say something, but just couldn't get the words out of her mouth. Weiss avoided Ruby's eyes, and while she wasn't crying Ruby could tell she was on the verge. Nobody blinked five times in a second, and a layer of mist seemed to be wafting off the blonde's eyes.

"Well… would you be offended if I suggested the dog for dinner?" Ruby had lost all of her sense of tact long ago, and wasn't sure if that was stepping over some line Weiss had decided to make on the spot. Lately it seemed like Weiss got attached to every single thing she laid eyes on.

Weiss just shrugged her shoulders, and began walking away. Looking over her shoulder the blonde looked back at Ruby while answering with: "I'll find firewood".

As the sun slowly descended behind the horizon, with the two friends staring at each other apathetically over the fire, the winter's chill finally began to set in. It wasn't snowing heavily anymore, although the snow was still thick enough that the melting ice surrounding their small cooking stove threatened the dryness of their kindling. Weiss might have to go search for more firewood if it continued on for much longer.

The dogs hadn't been too great a meal; as starved as they were, Ruby was sure they were more than three-quarters bone.

Ruby looked up to meet the heiress' gaze and reluctantly asked the question that had been biting at her for a few minutes while she mulled it over in her head. "Do you want to put the fire out now or later?" Every minute the left the fire on, they risked attracting the attention of some threat, whether it be the wolves, the infected, or even other people. Ruby didn't want to bear the cold for another night, but she'd rather be miserable than dead.

Weiss just thought about that for a moment. Once the fire went out… well, the day was over. They didn't have watches or star maps to let them know when midnight had passed. So the arbitrary line they had been forced to make was just when the light died out and came back the next day. "Not yet… we still need to talk about Yang."

Weiss expected to hear an argument from Ruby… a sigh, a groan, a mutter of impatience. Instead, Ruby just continued to stare across the fire at Weiss, watching the light flicker off of the heiress' form.

Weiss was perched on top of a large boulder, looking down on Ruby who had sprawled out across the ground next to the fire. The redhead's body curled around the fire pit tightly, and she propped up her head with one hand while leaving the rest to lie on the frozen grass. Ruby had chosen to take the position so that she would be able to soak up as much of the fire's heat as possible before they had to extinguish their camp for the night. But the cold didn't bother Weiss. Even though she knew it wasn't true, Ruby sometimes wondered if Weiss could have just sat out in the freezing snow in the buff. She might not have not even given a shiver at the freezing temperatures.

Gazing up at Weiss, Ruby began to wonder if the legends and fairy tales she had heard as a child were true. She remembered as a child hearing Yang's mother tell them stories about magical snow elves and other such creatures choosing to live among humans. Weiss could have passed for one. Peering down from her platform, Weiss's face was hidden in shadows and only left her two pale blue eyes visible, one of which pointed down slightly as though it was weighed down by the old scar tissue. It reminded Ruby of the old masks she would see hanging in the neglected drama room at Beacon, one side smiling while the other in tears. The fire's light didn't do much to illuminate the rest of Weiss either, and turned the blonde's entire wardrobe to a golden orange hue. But the moon, at a phase where it was almost totally shattered, provided more than enough light behind the heiress through the tree branches to turn Weiss's hair to starlight.

But just because Ruby found Weiss's appearance beautiful didn't mean that she would give in to it.

Ruby stood up, and without looking at Weiss again began to kick snow onto the fire pit, extinguishing the largest of the flames under piles of snow.

"Hey!" Weiss stood up quickly, and jumped from her small ledge towards Ruby, intending to knock the redhead away from the fire. Instead she just flew through empty space as Ruby dodged the hurtling white object and twisted around the fire, continuing to extinguish the blaze from Weiss's side.

Weiss scrambled back onto her hands and knees from where she had landed in the snow, and twisted back around to look at Ruby and shouted at the redhead. "RUBY STOP IT! WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS!"

Ruby didn't notice Weiss's shouts, and even if she did she ignored her partner's complaints. She now worked in a frenzy, as if somehow the fire being extinguished was similar to extinguishing her own pain that she had felt the entire day. As the light from the bonfire died down, so did the aching in her heart that Ruby didn't know how to deal with any longer.

Weiss wouldn't have it. Just before the fire was totally dead, she reached into the center of the pit and ripped out from under the snow one of the last branches that had still remained alight. The blonde shook the branch lightly, and as it received the air it needed to stay aflame, the embers flared back to life and blue patches of fire cast long shadows across Weiss's left half. She then twisted so that the blazing stick was protected behind her, where Ruby wouldn't be able to get at without going through the heiress first.

Ruby let out a long sigh, and then turned to Weiss and calmly mumbled to her partner across the dead fire pit. "Weiss, put it down before you burn yourself."

"NO! NO RUBY, WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS! TODAY! AND WE ARE GOING TO DO IT WHILE IT IS STILL TODAY! AND I DON'T GIVE A RATS ASS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT! BECAUSE I DO!"

Ruby was stunned by the blonde's outburst. Not by the general content of the message, she heard an outburst like that from Weiss every few weeks. But what really froze the redhead was that Weiss had yelled…

"A rats ass?" Ruby actually began to laugh to herself quietly, although in the almost nonexistent light it looked as though she was merely shrugging her shoulders at Weiss. "I don't think I've heard you use that one before Princess."

"Shut it Ruby! I don't care why you feel as though you don't want to say sorry!"

"… Weiss, that branch is going to set you on fire in a minute… and as much as I think it would be a great laugh to see you run around in circles trying to put your hair out, I would prefer you just put the branch down."

"No, I know you. You'll just put it out as soon as you get the chance." Still, Ruby had a point, and Weiss jerked sharply when an ember fell off of the torch and landed on her exposed wrist. The branch probably only had a few minutes left of fuel before they were plunged back into total darkness and would have to keep this conversation up in the dark, which would be hard to do.

Ruby heaved a large sigh, and then said: "I promise I won't."

"Then dig out the pit."

"Excuse me?"

Weiss yelped again as another ember fell off the upper branches and landed on her hand for the second time. Straightening up she looked back at Ruby and snapped at her. "Where do you expect me to put this down, and where did we already have firewood?"

Ruby just did as she was told, and soon the fire was alight again, although they had to keep feeding it with new kindling to keep the old flame alive against the moisture that had been added by the snow. Neither of the two sat down though, and they stared at each other across the fire, as the flames reached up to about their knees in between the two.

Ruby's face took in the light better than Weiss's did, she had to look down to meet the cold blue eyes that glared at her. Ruby's chin didn't jut out as much either, and left the majority of the light to make it up to her eyes. Ruby rolled her jaws for a few moments, as if she was getting ready to give some grand speech and needed to work up to it. But the red-head was only able to get out a crappy excuse. "I don't have anything to say Weiss. I'm sorry, but I just… don't."

"I don't believe that… you said plenty next to me this morning."

"Do you want me to say that again?"

"No… I don't want you to say anything like that." Weiss thought back to their conversation earlier that day, and it finally struck her what she had though was wrong about their exchange. "You said something along the lines of 'Yang wouldn't have a hard time guessing your thoughts if she actually wanted to'…"

"Yes…"Ruby answered with trepidation, bobbing her head up and down slightly to get the heiress to her point.

"You don't think she'd want to?"

Weiss received back from the redhead a hard "nope."

"Why not?! She was your sister Ruby; she cared about you more than anything else in the world, both before and after…"

Ruby turned sideways, as if looking at Weiss out of the corner of her eye somehow made it easier to talk. "We both know Yang held grudges. I'd be pretty pissed myself if I died just because you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you…" As an afterthought Ruby sniffed "ruin your beauty sleep and what not."

"Wha… Ruby, she held grudges over crappy inconsequential things, like Juane spilling coffee on her shirt. You seriously think Yang would blame you for what happened?"

"I'd blame me Weiss. I'd blame me…" Ruby saw Weiss open her mouth, as though she was prepared to argue that point. Instead of letting the conversation continue on any longer, Ruby cut Weiss off and ended the pep talk. "Weiss, I've lived believing this for four…well no, I guess it's five years now. I don't think some magic pep talk you're going to give on the spot unprepared will give me any kind of epiphany".

And with that Ruby turned away and laid down on the ground against the fire again, trying to cover herself as best she could with a heavy snow blanket the redhead had swiped from the city before they left. She didn't even put out the fire.

Weiss felt like a failure. How could she have not seen this over the past five years? Anyone else would have… anyone better would have. As she felt a few single tears roll down her cheeks, Weiss began to curse herself. Would things be different if the blonde had noticed Ruby's guilt and headed it off before the regret could become an integral part of the redhead's personality?

Feeling utterly hopeless and worthless, Weiss covered the fire with just enough snow to reduce the flames to glowing embers, and took first watch with bloodshot eyes as she stared at the mistake she had allowed to form across the fire pit.

Across the first pit, Ruby laid down against the cold ground and miserably thought to herself I deserve to be uncomfortable. I said we should go to Atlas. I got Blake killed. I was asleep and Yang went out on her own because of that. I got my own sister killed. And I've tortured Weiss over the past five years. I know she hate's me. I read the letters she's written, and I'm sure there are more I haven't found.

Ruby scrunched up her face and clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to muffle the strangled gasps she was making so that Weiss wouldn't hear her actually cry. As Ruby felt a tear roll over her hand and onto the cold ground below her, the redhead was finally crushed by the weight of the world. Feeling those tears leak out meant she had finally lost.

Neither of the two knew the other had cried through the night.

They both cried together.

They both cried apart.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you at the next chapter. I've left a lot of foreshadowing for what's to come. See you on the flip side!