Feeling her eyes crack open, although she felt tired enough that she tried to fight waking up for a few seconds, Weiss groaned as she woke up. And waking up, apparently in the same position she fell asleep in, Weiss found herself with her back against the wall in an uncomfortable seated position. When she leaned forward away from the cold wall, Weiss felt a few painful pops and cracks from along her spine as she shifted. Fucking hell, I'm turning thirty soon, not eighty...

Although her vision was blurry at first, she could make out the redheaded blur that must have been Ruby watching her wake up. A crooked, jagged line of white appeared against the hazy cream background as Ruby's voice rang out.

"Morning Weiss."

Rubbing at her eyes and feeling the dust crumbling under her fingers, Weiss forgot all semblance of courtesy and simply grunted back. Through a yawn Weiss sighed: "...morning Ruby."

Across the fire pit from the blonde, standing up while leaning against the opposite wall, Ruby cracked a smile at Weiss. It wasn't often that she saw Weiss wake up groggy. Usually the blonde rolled up out of bed already at one hundred percent; ready to take on the day, military style. 'Probably had something to do with sleeping in such an awkward position'. Ruby had thought about moving Weiss during the night, but didn't want to run the risk of waking the sleeping woman. Ruby thought to herself internally: 'Speaking of which...'

Taking a step forward away from the wall, Ruby spoke down to Weiss, who was still seated on the ground. "So… how's the watch going?"

There was a good ten seconds of dead air in between them, where Ruby swayed back and forth as she waited for the blonde's response. It took Weiss a second to get that Ruby was making an attempt at a joke. She wasn't used to them yet, it would probably take her some time, if she ever actually did get comfortable with this Ruby again. "…Damnit, sorry. How long was I out for?"

Checking her wrist theatrically, where she lacked a watch, Ruby hummed to Weiss: "Hmmm… Mercury said you made it about three hours last night before you crashed, and that by now you've been asleep for around… fiveish hours maybe?" Ruby was tossing something back and forth between her hands as she looked down at Weiss, and smirked at the blonde's blank expression. "I woke up about three hours ago, and once I was up Mercury decided to try and go hunting."

"…Try?"

The small smile on Ruby's lips grew larger, and she actually chuckled to herself lightly, even if it did sound off-key and awkward. "The way he limped out of here, he'd better hope whatever he's trying to catch is blind, deaf and dumb. Only way in hell he's sneaking up on anything."

Moving past Ruby's joke, Weiss worked through all that the redhead had said bit by bit. "Well… whoops, my bad. How did he know I was asleep? He should have been out when I... may have started to slip on my watch."

Ruby snorted, arching an eyebrow at Weiss. "Great way of putting it. Eh… Apparently you breathe in a really annoying way while you sleep." Scratching the bridge of her nose, Ruby looked down on Weiss. "You woke him up I guess. At least, that's what he was complaining about when I came to…"

"Do I?"

Ruby shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes at the same time. "Doubt it, I've never noticed." Ruby laughed to herself again, this time the short chuckles sounding far more genuine than before. "I think he was just looking for a reason to moan. Personally, I think Mercury would be annoyed by the sun rising if he could actually think of a way to bitch about it… without sounding crazy at least."

Weiss cracked a smile at the thought. "That would be the difficult part… wouldn't want all our neighbors to think we're unstable, they catch us shaking our fist at the sun." Finally breaking loose of the last shackles from her drowsiness, Weiss pretended to wave a sign as though she was in some imaginary protest. "I can see it now, us all running around in circles like mad men, harassing people to sign petitions and support campaigns to stop the sun from rising in the morning."

"Don't laugh, a few good things must have come from all those hippies. They would have given up on all their chants sooner otherwise…"

"Pfft!" Arching an eyebrow incredulously, Weiss looked at the redhead. She couldn't believe the stance Ruby was taking. Of course it was stereotypical for Weiss to dislike protesters, being raise more by the ideas of big business than her own parents.

But Weiss had been surprised when she found out a few years into their partnership that Ruby hated protesters with a passion. Even before the end of the world, Ruby had always thought it was simply best to 'go with the flow'. Weiss learned about Ruby's resentment towards protesters and rioters when they had been sent to disperse a huge group of salesmen who were protesting the rising of blast burn dust... which for the most part was being artificially inflated by Schnee Industries. It was the group's first, and one of the better protests they had been sent to sort out, but it was still rowdy enough to leave them all bitter about rioters. Even Blake had been soured, and she had spent a majority of her youth either at or organizing rallies.

Being forced to weave through crowds while dodging signs and bullhorns definitely went directly against Ruby's flow. With a smirk Weiss remembered Ruby, who had been eighteen at the time, angrily firing Crescent Rose off into the air just to clear a space for the group to walk through. And even after that, it took the team a few solid hours of work to clear out all the stragglers.

And that was one of the better ones.

Weiss asked: "And what would that contribution even be! Unless they were pushing for soap and deodorant, I doubt anyone really cared enough to hear them out."

Ruby's smile flashed again as she started to argue. "Okay, maybe they didn't have the best public image… doesn't mean we should just discount what they say and call 'next!' Maybe they would have had great ideas on how to… do… uh…"

"You're reaching Ruby…" Weiss found amusement in watching the look on Ruby's face, see the redhead flounder around for some point that she could defend. "They knew nothing besides how to yell into the wrong end of a bull horn! bunch of tie-dye wearing hypocrites…"

"But… uh… well..." Eventually Ruby had to accept that she had lost the argument, and resigned with a sigh. "Fine, I can't think of anything… but hey, give me a break, I'm tired." Ruby's eyes suddenly widened as she caught her slip up, about a second after it left her mouth.

'Damnit! God, I'm a moron!' Ruby knew she should have kept her mouth shut, the moment she said that Weiss's eyes narrowed to slits.

"Wait a second Ruby, I think...," Weiss muttered, squinting up at the girl standing above her. 'I was awake for three hours, then asleep for five. Ruby woke up three hours ago, meaning…'

Done with her mental math, she looked up at Ruby. "I thought you were shooting for six hours of sleep?"

Waving off the blonde, Ruby sighed back to Weiss what could only be a flippant denial. "Baby steps Weiss, baby steps." After a look from Weiss, which was both withering and crestfallen, Ruby huffed: "I'm trying Weiss…"

Even though she tried to look nonchalant, Weiss could see that Ruby felt guilty about going back on what she said last night. 'I haven't seen guilt from you in a while…'

And while seeing Ruby's discomfort shouldn't have done that for her, it made Weiss hopeful for the future. It cemented in that Ruby was actually trying to change.

That things may actually be different, if Ruby really did want them to be so.

The redhead didn't' catch Weiss's reflective mood, being buried too deep in her own thoughts. A particularly loud crack suddenly resonated from the fire place, as a thick branch suddenly snapped under the intense heat of the blaze. The loud sound, somewhat akin to a gunshot, made Ruby jump, and the object that was flying back and for the between Ruby's hands almost went flying off as Ruby jerked back suddenly.

Once Ruby realized there was no danger, she actually noticed the nervous twitch she was going through by tossing the object from hand to hand. Looking down at what she was passing back and forth between her hands, Ruby stopped the motion and caught the white blur in a fist. Turning it over a few times, Ruby loosened her grip and felt it slip between the gaps of her fingers and sway back and forth under her palm. And without warning, which the brunette realized she should have given Weiss a second to late, Ruby tossed it lightly to the blonde girl still sitting on the floor. "This belongs to you…"

Weiss's reaction time was as quick as ever, and her reflexes were on par with that speed. Reaching out and feeling whatever Ruby had been playing with wrap itself around her outstretched hand, Weiss pulled back her arm to see her white pebble necklace wrapped around her fingers. Surprised that she hadn't' noticed the necklace was missing, her other hand unconsciously crept up to the hollow of her neck and felt the empty space, usually occupied by the pebble strand. Taking her eyes off the white beads, Weiss looked up at Ruby and cocked an eyebrow at the redhead.

"Um… thanks?" Twirling the beaded necklace on a finger, Weiss couldn't help but ask: "Why did you even have this though? I was wearing this when I went to…. well, when I accidentally fell sleep last night."

Weiss's question was met with a simple shrug. "Eh, I don't know really. I've never watched you sleep. Or, I haven't really paid attention before. And while I don't see what Mercury meant by 'annoying breathing', you do fumble around with that necklace a lot while you dream…" Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Ruby commented bluntly: "Looked to me like you were half strangling yourself. Kind of anticlimactic way to go out, so I decided to take the necklace off you."

Weiss hadn't been expecting that answer, or anything in that ballpark really. And because of that, Weiss was more than a little caught off guard. To anyone else, that would have been just an easy observation, a simple gesture of good will. But Weiss knew better. After being with the basically emotionally dead Ruby for the past five years, she could obviously see Ruby's half veiled attempt at being loving. It was a far cry off from the caring gesture's Weiss would get while they had been courting and dating almost a decade ago. Weiss remembered all the random 'anonymous' white roses that seemed to be left everywhere throughout her day, left along only Weiss's schedule, left only for Weiss to find. Or… the more direct, surprise ambush kisses when Ruby knew Weiss would be the most surprised.

This was a far cry from those days. But the gesture was probably the closest thing she would ever get to what they had possessed… or at least for a while.

Bunching up the cords, rolling the rough beads between her fingers, Weiss felt some flush go into her cheeks. "Well, uh… thank you Ruby…"

But Ruby hadn't spared Weiss a glance once she saw that she hadn't clocked Weiss in the face with the necklace. And because of that, she didn't get to see the royal red that had suddenly invaded Weiss's face, the rosy blush that was in no way inspired by the somewhat frigid weather. "Don't mention it…"

Staring off out of their cave, the brunette started tapping her foot against the cave floor, obviously bothered. And totally oblivious.

They continued on, chitchatting lightly, getting reacquainted with jokes and laughs. Ruby's often came out as rigid and rehearsed, or sounded even more uncomfortable and stressed than normal. But Weiss could see Ruby trying. She could see the effort Ruby was making to make the slightest joke, even if they did fall flat and make her sound somewhat fake. Weiss was hoping that last part would go away with time.

Every few seconds though, Ruby would stop laughing, or talking, and make a quick glance out to their left. She would make hasty twitches, trying to appear nonchalant, as she looked out to the meadow surrounding the tunnel's outlet.

After Ruby peered out again for the fourth time in under a minute, the blockade that was holding Weiss's tongue back finally broke. She needed to know what was up, if there was an actual, real problem that they should be taking seriously.

"Ruby, what's bugging you?"

Her head snapping back a little too quickly to appear nonchalant, Ruby just stared back at Weiss with wide eyes. "Nothing, nothing at all." Almost as though she was trying to change the subject, Ruby pointed at the seated woman's neck and muttered quickly: "How did you even get those beads in the first place anyway?"

"Hmm… I don't really remember. I just picked them up somewhere…"

"Hmph. I liked your tiara better." Ruby looked back out the cave entrance again, and started biting her lip.

Her voice dripping with sarcasm, Weiss snapped back: "Thank you so much for that comment; lets me know you appreciated me selling it to bribe away a check point officer." Sneering in an annoyed voice, Weiss reiterated it again. "Now, what's really bugging you Ruby?"

"Noth-"

"RUBY!"

Snorting angrily, Ruby peered back out of the cave again, looking out at the morning dawn. "Three and a half hours is a loooong hunting trip…"

"Oh…" Weiss hadn't been expecting concern to be what was biting at Ruby. "I'm sure Mercury will be fine… he seems capable enough."

Ruby rolled her eyes while turning back to Weiss. "I let him barrow my rifle when he left. I really don't like the idea of us both being weaponless out here…"

'Figures as much… might be a little too optimistic to think that Ruby would be worrying about somebody else yet.' "Are you really worried, or do you just miss your gun? We seem pretty safe…"

Now it was Ruby's turn to look incredulous. "Weiss, we've ran into marauding bandits, dangerous wildlife, roaming clickers, and now supposedly extinct monsters… Would it be normal for me to not be paranoid?!" Starting to pace back and forth, sticking to her side of the cave, Ruby started muttering to herself out loud, almost as though she had forgotten Weiss was there momentarily. "I mean… I don't think he'd run for the hills, but he did take his pack, and my rifle-"

"Stop!" Weiss glared up at Ruby, staring down the taller woman. It was impressive that she was able to, the differences in their heights only highlighted by Weiss still being seated on the ground. "Ruby, if everything you said is true, you owe a lot to Mercury. You owe him almost everything, and so do I. So be a little trusting. I'm sure he'll be back."

Ruby only waved Weiss off, responding to the blonde's lecture with a simple "sure, sure, whatev's Weiss. I guess you're probably right…"

Even with saying that, it was obvious Ruby was still seriously bugged; she started fidgeting under Weiss's watchful gaze, and didn't seem to notice the blonde's deepening frown as Ruby started to wear tracks in the cave's stone flooring. After a few minutes or frantic pacing, during which Ruby devolved to terse grunts whenever Weiss tried to get her to talk, Ruby started hopping up and down as though there were red hot coals underneath her feet.

"Gah!" Whirling around angrily, Ruby started stalking out to the entrance of the cave. "Watch my stuff, I'll be back! I've got to go find that dumbass!"

Weiss moved to get up and follow, calling after the redhead, who had already left the cave. "What, you're just going off alone?! Wait up, I'll come with you!"

But before Weiss could even get off the ground, Ruby yelled back angrily. "Stay put! I'll be back in an hour! If I come back here, and you're gone, and I have to go hunt you down again… Whelp, I'm gonna be crackin' skulls if that happens!"

And before Weiss could say anything else, Ruby was gone. And as the redhead disappeared from view, Weiss flopped back down to her spot on the floor again. So now I'm degraded to guard duty...

A small voice spoke up in the back of Weiss's mind. 'What if Ruby really is worried about Mercury? What if she thinks he may be in trouble, and wants to keep you out of the way?'

Weiss snorted loudly at the thought. But the more she thought about it, the less confident she became in the sentiment. Weiss couldn't really know for sure if Ruby really was caring, of it was just some ploy to placate her for a week. Deep down, Weiss feared that all of this was just an act.

Those empty gestures had worked well on her in the past, and both Weiss and Ruby were well aware of the fact.

Stalking back and forth angrily, Weiss mulled over whether or not to head out to look for Ruby. She padded across the fifteen foot line that divided the cave between the light of the outside meadow and the shadowy recesses of the cave. Every time she turned around, she put the opposite side of her body into the sunlight's warmth. It was an odd feeling, the intense heat on one side, while her other was blissfully cool by comparison. The sensation made Weiss feel as though she roasting herself on a spit, and she actually wondered if her arms would get unequal tans if she didn't keep up her consistent, balanced amounts of sunning.

Looking out of the cave, Weiss couldn't help but think to herself angry curses over the current situation. '…It's been more than an hour… at least! I was told to stay put, but that goes out the window if I really need to go look for her… Screw what Ruby says, I'm leaving! She can be as mad as she wants, but fact of the matter is Ruby said she would be back in an hour, and I haven't seen her.'

Turning on a heel and moving to walk out into the dead meadow outside, Weiss was momentarily blinded as the sunlight glinted off her eyes. And just as she put a hand over her eyes, which almost felt as though they were getting stabbed by needles of light, Weiss felt herself bounce off something hard and sold. But instead of fall to the ground, Weiss felt something suddenly grab onto her jacket, and she found herself hanging a few feet above the floor. Looking down, she saw a gloved fist bunching up the material on the front of her coat, supporting her weight easily.

"Hellooo Weiss, what's up?" Just as effortlessly as he was holding up the smaller woman's weight, which was still nothing to scoff at while he was holding her entire body up with only one arm, Mercury lifted Weiss up so that her feet were underneath her again. Once he felt her take over supporting her own body's weight again, he let go of the winter jacket. Raising an eyebrow at Weiss, he asked: "Shouldn't you watch where you're going more?"

"Mercury! Where's Ruby?"

Reaching up to his shoulder and pulling the rifle off his back, Mercury grumbled angrily as he unceremoniously tossed Ruby's gun to the floor. "My god, you and Red need to learn some manners."

"Are you serio-"

Shaking his fingers in front of her face, obviously only playing around, Mercury cut the blonde off and started a joking tirade. "You know Weiss, I work my fingers to the bone for you two! Day in, day out! I'm like a freaking 50's housewife around here! I don't think I expect too much, maybe just a: 'Hey Mercury, where have you been? Are you okay? Do you need any help?' Those are the greetings I look forward to when I get back… not just 'move out of the way blondie, where's Ruby? She's way more interesting than you could ever be'."

"Blondie?" Shaking her head, trying to not get mislead by Mercury's rambling, Weiss moved back to what she had been thinking about. "Sorry I guess, but Ruby went out looking for you, and then you come waltzing back in here without her worries-"

Suddenly another voice, which set Weiss's heart at ease, called out from the meadow out in front of the cave. "You're about as blonde as I'm fat Mercury, I'll tell you that much!" Ruby's voice came out

Sidestepping past Mercury, who had let his charade slip and turned back to where Ruby had called from, Weiss walked out of the cave, again blinded by the light. Weiss had to put a hand over her eyes, which had readjusted to the dark, to keep them from watering in the sunlight. After a few seconds, Weiss was able to put down her hand and take in her surroundings. The area was just as ugly as it had been yesterday, the ground brown, grey, and tan with dead grass and bleached white roots creating spider webs across the floor.

Looking around for a few seconds, Weiss heard a voice call to her from her left, yelling out to her. "Over here Weiss. Hurry… or you'll get out of all the work…"

"Because that's what I look forward to doing…" Despite what she had mumbled, Weiss took up a brisk pace and jogged over to where Ruby's voice had echoed from. She turned around a particularly large tree trunk, a few dozen feet into the forest, and found the redhead struggling to pull something across the ground. Looking over Ruby's shoulder, Weiss was surprised to see Ruby dragging a large, tawny brown shape across the ground.

"You shot a deer?"

Still struggling with the job, Ruby grunted back over her shoulder to Weiss. "Mercury did. I'm just the one bringing it back. Apparently somebody," Ruby started yelling, peering back into the cave the silver-haired villain had disappeared into, "couldn't' bring the deer on his own! And men complain when women say chivalry is dead!"

A disembodied voice rang back out of the cave. "My leg hurts! And stop complaining, I did the harder part of the job anyway!"

"You looked down a sight and curled a finger, I doubt that took much strength!" Ruby, grumbling to herself angrily, looked back over her shoulder at Weiss. She took a small step to the side, and then said: "here, help me with this."

Stepping up next to Ruby, Weiss saw that they had tied the deer's front legs together, as well as the back legs, and put a thick branch in between the two barriers. Ruby was using the branch as a handle to pull the heavy beast across the ground.

"This is going to give me splinters," Weiss grumbled as she wrapped her hands around the thick branch, already feeling little needly pieces of wood jabbing at her palms.

"Yep, I know I've already got a few..."

Weiss sighed, annoyed as she imagined the annoying tingle she'd be getting for the next few hours until she plucked the tiny twigs out. "Thanks Ruby, I'm so glad we're spending such quality time together."

Ruby just smirked. "Eh, you know what they say, misery loves community."

"No you dolt, it's 'misery loves company.' Who the hell has heard the phase misery loves community?"

"...Just shut up and pull the damn deer Weiss."

Weiss laughed quietly at Ruby's annoyed tone. "Aye aye, whatever you say!"

After dragging the carcass the last two hundred feet, which was much easier with Weiss's help, ruby let the deer stay abandoned beside the cave's entrance. "That should be fine… we'll clean it later or something…"

Walking into the cave, Ruby and Weiss found Mercury just relaxing, with his feet kicked up next to the fire. "Yo, what took you so long?"

Instead of answering him, Ruby swung her leg forward and let her shoe go flying off her foot, sending it hurting towards Mercury's face. Forcing Mercury to duck, the shoe sailed through where his head had been, before smacking against the cave's wall and falling to the ground. Cocking a thumb out towards the caves entrance, Ruby spat: "Make yourself useful, and go clean the deer… now."

"Eh… I don't feel like it…"

For a second, it looked like Ruby was going to fight him. But getting a crafty smile across her face, Ruby just shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, you can stay, but we're just going to be talking about girly stuff… feelings, makeup, old flames, what not. You understand don't you?"

Mercury's eyes widened, and without a second hesitation he said: "Say no more, I'm gone!"

As Mercury limped away, Weiss leaned over to Ruby, whispering in her ear. "Are we…?"

"Nah… I just wanted dumbass gone. Wouldn't you?"

Although she agreed, Weiss couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that the answer was no.

A few hours later, the three were sitting around the fire, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Forming a triangle around the small blaze, each sitting in their own comfortable ways, they all just enjoyed staring into the fire and it's dancing flames. And after the full meal, the atmosphere felt much warmer than it had been over the past few days.

Sitting up from lying on his back, Mercury propped himself up on one hand and cracked the knuckles on his other. Groaning while he sat up, Mercury looked at Ruby. "So, what are we doing now?"

Ruby just shrugged her shoulders at him, almost staying entirely still as she sat cross-legged in front of the fire. "Has anything changed?"

"No shit things have changed Ruby!" Cocking a thumb at Weiss, Mercury growled at the redhead across the fire. "Our whole reason for going to Beacon just fell into our laps! What reason do we have to go now?"

A mumble came out from Weiss, as though she was annoyed at them for breaking the silence. "It is the only place worth going to on this side of the mountains, unless we want to just keep wandering the wilds aimlessly forever."

"Uhhhhhh… well if you guys want to go, we discuss it on the trail." Ruby scratched the bridge of her nose, already thinking out the path ahead of them. "We should still keep moving west. I don't know where we'll end up, but we can't just sit around stagnant."

Weiss immediately nodded, and after a few seconds, Mercury grunted in agreement as well.

"Alright then… I'll take first watch, and we'll leave around noon tomorrow." Ruby got up to get her rifle, which she had left barely out of reach. As she walked away, Ruby thought she heard some murmur behind her. Turning back around, Ruby looked back and forth between the two. "Sorry, did you say something? I wasn't paying attention."

Weiss answered her almost instantly, a little too quick to be casual. "Nope. See you tomorrow Ruby…"

But after a weird look from Mercury, who received a glare from the standing redhead, the silver-haired man huffed a sigh. "Weiss grumbled something along the lines of 'and you'll only get five hours of sleep while doing that' when you looked away."

"Fucking traitor," Weiss spat, glaring angrily at Mercury, who smiled apologetically back.

"I owe allegiance to no one… that, and I'm sick of watching you two putzing around each other. I mean, seriously, I've been around you two together for less than a day, and it's been awkward as hell." Looking up at Ruby, Mercury made a thoughtful face before saying: "there's three of us now, you aren't needed for a watch anymore."

"But I-"

"Also, both Weiss and I have both nagged you about sleeping more."

"But I was just-"

"Did that change anything though? Nope."

Ruby, under the gaze of both Mercury and Weiss, caved in as she saw she'd been checkmated. "Fine, have fun doing the shifts on your own!" Before Ruby even had the chance to storm off, Mercury reached behind himself and threw the barrel of cloth that was one of their two sleeping bags at her. Catching it and stumbling with the sudden momentum, Ruby almost wanted to throw the bag back at Mercury's head. But catching the apprehensive look on Weiss's face, she decided against it.

Lying down angrily, Ruby stared up at the ceiling of the cave as she flopped onto her back. It took a good ten minutes for her to cool off for sleep to even be a possibility. especially since she could hear the muttered whispers that were coming from the other two. Apparently Weiss and Mercury had moved to sit next to each other, to talk while Ruby tried to sleep. Unable to make out what they were saying, Ruby could hear no more than hush murmurings, almost completely drowned out by the crackling fire.

Almost ready to give up on sleep and order one of them to go to be first, Ruby cracked an eye and peered out to them. And when she did, she noticed that Weiss was now sitting up by herself, Mercury probably lying down to go to sleep. Weiss just sat there, with her knees tucked up against her chest, and her arms interlocked across her shins.

As though she was brandishing it for Ruby to see, Weiss's necklace wasn't hanging around her neck in its iconic spot. Instead, the pebble bracelet was easily visible as it wrapped around Weiss's wrist three times, resting in its new spot quiet stylishly.

That little gesture was more than enough to set Ruby's heart at ease. Within the minute, her eyelids started to droop. And before two were up, Ruby had drifted into easy, calm sleep.

Weiss, to put it bluntly, was stunned.

She had been expecting, as she sat watching over Ruby while the brunette slept, for her partner to sleep for maybe three or four hours, and then roll over to great her before she herself went to sleep. But when she shook Mercury awake, eager to get a chance to rest, Ruby was still out cold.

And now, five hours later as she woke up, Weiss rolled over and found herself looking at Ruby's blank face.

Getting up quietly, Weiss pushed herself off the ground, careful to keep her new bracelet from shaking too much and causing unnecessary noise. Padding over silently, Weiss walked over to Mercury, and sat down next to Mercury quietly. Mercury simply nodded to her presence.

"…has she woken up during the night and fallen back asleep?"

"Nope."

Weiss looked back over at the sleeping girl, who was sprawled out haphazardly on the cave floor. Ruby was lying on her side, only half laying on top of her bag. One of her arms was curled under her head a pillow, while the other just lay palm up on the cold floor. It was the same with her legs, one off and one lying on the cold granite surface.

Twisting her head back and forth like a stork, Weiss finally got a good angle to look at Ruby's face. Usually during her sleep, Ruby's face would be scrunched up though it was in a rage, and she would constantly twitch as if she was a brawler imagining fights. Ruby always said that she didn't dream, or at least didn't remember them. But Weiss had seen the looks on Ruby's face when the redhead suddenly woke up from what must have been a dream. And those faces made Weiss believe that Ruby was choosing not to confide in her, not that she simply lacked the memory of them.

But now, Ruby's face was just simply blank. There was nothing there. No anger, no suspicion, no mask. Just Ruby's plain face, which had always looked as though it was naturally suited to a smile. "She looks so peaceful…"

Mercury looked over at Weiss, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. "For now… She's going to be so pissed when she wakes up and sees sunlight outside."

Simply shrugging, Weiss flippantly responded back: "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I'm simply stunned that she'd sleep for this long…" Joking, Weiss asked: "The hell did you slip her?"

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's definitely the reason she's still sleeping. I'd lower myself to giving out roofies just to get your girlfriend to take a nap."

"So then how do you explain this?"

"I don't know, maybe she fell into a coma or something?" Mercury looked over at Weiss, who was still watching Ruby, and nudged her with an elbow. "Alright, I've got to ask something…"

"Well, actually, you don't. You want to know, get rid of that curious itch that's bugging you, but I doubt you have the biological need to know." At the withering look from Mercury, Weiss laughed quietly, trying to stay quiet enough to keep Ruby asleep. "I'm just messing with you Mercury, ask away…"

Mercury's lip twitched, and then he smiled lightly. "I'd definitely get my head bitten off if I asked Ruby… I was wondering, every time I make a joke, like girlfriend, or the like, you two just get awkward. What gives?"

That wiped the smile off Weiss's face. "I… I don't know."

"Come on, there has to be some reason… I asked Ruby about what happened to you two before all this, just in case you aren't saying why because you don't want to fill me in."

Weiss just sat there silently next to Mercury, thinking for a moment. Curling up with her arms around her knees, rocking back and forth on her tail bone, Weiss muttered to herself while talking to Mercury. "… I don't know… I guess we don't know where we stand any more. After these five years its hard to tell."

"Uhhhhhhh… why do, and don't be offended, but why do you lesbians have to make everything so complicated? I walk up to Emerald, go "hey, want to go out?" She says 'no', then she says 'yes', then she say 'no' again… easy! All this stuff between you two is super annoying…"

Mercury wondered if he had said something wrong, because Weiss just sat there with her head bowed for a few moments silently. Mercury was getting ready to turn over, maybe go stretch his legs, when a small sigh came from the woman sitting next to him.

"…Mercury, I don't think you get it…"

"What wouldn't I get?"

Still speaking quietly, Weiss huffed: "Sometimes, when things were rough… well, it was bad Mercury."

"Really?" Mercury stopped playing around with the chips of shale he had been grinding to dust, putting them off to the side.

"Yeah… sometimes, and it was random when she'd get like this really, Ruby would just be… dead, I guess. For months. It was painful, to be around her. Especially since I remembered what she had been like before so well." Weiss swallowed loudly, and then mumbled: "And you couldn't help but wonder things like 'is this my fault? Does she resent me?' Because she didn't actually act like she disliked you… she just treated you as though you weren't even there."

Mercury sat there silently for a moment, contemplating what she said silently. "Okay, I see what you're saying." He sat there silently for another few seconds, and then said what had been biting at him since she started talking. "but… if you were so unhappy… why did you stay? I mean, it sound cold-hearted, but why didn't you just bail on her if she made you so miserable?"

Weiss scoffed silently at the question. "Ruby is the queen of making you change your mind at the last second… I don't know, whenever I was close to leaving, she'd do this little quirky thing, or word something in her weird way, that would make you just see a small glimmer of who she once was." Weiss held out her hands in front of her, cupping at the air as though she was grasping at old thoughts. "She'd make you wonder if she'd ever come back… like right now."

"Really? You think she's being like her old self now?"

"Mercury, you may not see it, but I haven't known a Ruby this animated and lively in nearly five years…" Weiss caught on her words for a few seconds, before stuttering: "And, and I want this one to be real… I want her to stay, like this at least… where she's at least trying again."

"Hmm... okay then."

Weiss turned to look at Mercury, surprised by his simple answer. "That's it! 'Okay then?!' Don't you have some question or opinion to shove down my throat?"

"No, I don't think so... I think I understand what's going on here well enough, I don't need to pry any farther than I already have... I'll let you two work through this."

Weiss shook her head as though she had been stung. "Work through this?! You think this is some marital spat or something?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Mercury placed his hand against his neck, using his leverage to make a large pop resonate from under his palm. "Ah... I've been trying to do that for the past hour. Anyway, yeah, I think there's a shot. I'm a romantic..."

The blonde would have said something, but a voice asked from across the fire: "And why are you a romantic?"

Both Weiss and Mercury jumped, and Weiss actually fell off her seat as Ruby sat herself up. Weiss smiled sheepishly at Ruby, who was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Good morning Ruby."

Ruby ignored Weiss though, although she did nod to Weiss to acknowledge her statement. "Romantic about what Mercury?"

"Oh, nothing in particular..." Mercury scratched the back of his head, trying to quickly come up with something convincing. "We were just... just gossiping over reading tastes, that's all."

Waking up, pushing herself off the ground, ready to face the new day, Ruby looked over at the two of them. "You read romance?"

Lying smoothly, Mercury nodded. "Yep, got to read something to brighten my day... Weiss and I don't have much of an overlap in taste, she's into all those old, stuffy classics."

Ruby could tell something was up, and looked back and forth in between the two of them. But Mercury was just staring back at her unapologeticly, and Weiss was refusing to meet her gaze. In the end, Ruby just shrugged her shoulders. " Fine, whatever... Come on, let's get ready to go. You guys can talk about book choices on the road." Ruby let out a long sigh, as if she was dreading what came next. "We've been stationary for far too long."

Walking past the two of them, Ruby turned out of the cave and out of sight, probably to stretch her legs and work the early morning fog that came with waking up out of her head. Weiss and Mercury turned to each other, feeling as though they had dodged a bullet. "Quick thinking, huh?"

"Hey, they didn't call me quicksilver for nothing..."

Weiss laughed lightly, now able to laugh fully, unafraid of topping out her volume. "Nobody called you that."

"But they should have! It would have been the perfect name, I'm pissed nobody came up with it for me!" Grumbling angrily, Mercury complained: "You can't give yourself a nick name, that's the biggest, most loserlly thing you can do..."

A peal of laughter came out of Weiss, who was just about to make another joke at Mercury's expense, when a sudden yell of alarm came from outside the cave.

"WHY THE HELL IS IT BRIGHT OUTSIDE?! HOW LONG WAS I ASLEEP FOR?!"

Two Weeks Later

Stumbling around, almost slipping on the magenta leaves that coated the forest floor, a ghastly abomination clicked and hissed as it wandered aimlessly. It's eyes, now destroyed by the fungal plates erupting out of it's temples, twitched sightlessly as it stared out blankly to the surrounding forest. Clicking aimlessly, unable to get a clear lock in on any one sound in the bustling forest, the clicker tried to lock in on any target in particular.

Suddenly, it heard something, although it was too quiet to pinpoint where. Maybe a deer, maybe a wild dog. No, those animals made too much noise while they roamed around. This creature was silent, barely discernible from the world's noise floor. Turning around, teetering on it's stolen legs as it did so, it's broken brain imagined sinking it's snapped and chipped teeth into something red and wet. It sent out new calls, to hear new signals, for new prey to hunt.

Opening it's mouth, with it's rotten smelling breath snake out from it's mouth, it let out a few broken clicks. It expected for the signal to take a few moments to get back, to hear a ping and learn for something new to hunt. Instead, it received back an immediate response, almost less than a foot away. But before it had a chance to shriek with glee, it's life was ended as a blade of grey ice flew into it's face, arcing down from on high. Crumpling as it died, the last thing it heard was the sound of breaking metal snapping in two. Then it's mind went dark, never to seek to sink its teeth into another creature again.

"...God-fucking-damn it, I broke my knife." Standing over the clicker, Weiss looked down angrily at the monster lying at her feet.

"Actually, you just broke my knife!" Stalking up to Weiss angrily, his leg finally fully healed, Mercury swiped the broken stub of a dagger out of her head. "I can't believe you Weiss! I bring this knife across half the continent for nearly a decade, and within three weeks of loaning it to you, you snap it like a twig!" Shaking the ruined knife in front of her face, Mercury snapped at her: "This is Mistralian steel, how the hell did you even do that!?"

"Well, I'm the best one with knives anyway. I needed a weapon, and you guys don't use them! I know you wouldn't have been able to make that kill, you guys would have shot it just to be safe... danger of the territory while fighting clickers anyway. We always lose knives!"

"Shut up Blondie, I say-"

"Quiet!"

Both Weiss and Mercury fell silent, looking back at the redhead walking behind them. She looked like she was in a foul mood. "The hell are you two doing? That's the sixth clicker we've seen today, why the hell would you be making so much noise?!" Ruby started stalking towards them, shoving her hand into her jacket pocket. Weiss wasn't sure what to expect as Ruby paced forward. While her posture would suggest Ruby was stressed and worried, the redhead's face was totally blank. It wasn't angry, wasn't upset, it was just ambivalent... although the voice that had just snapped at them a second ago didn't match up.

Ruby came up to the two of them, and as she brushed past Weiss, pulled out her hand from her pocket and shoved her own trench knife into Weiss's hand. "Let's go, and actually be quiet this time..."Ruby then took off ahead of them, without waiting for a response from either of the two.

Weiss fell in behind Ruby, and heard Mercury starting to follow them a second after. She could understand why Ruby was so pissed, and the blonde was actually kicking herself for making the noise. The last thing they needed was to be loud here, where clickers were roving around by the dozens. Luckily they had been able to sneak around the big packs of hobbling, twitchy dead. The more clickers that walked together, the louder you could get away with being.

It made sense really. The closer they got to civilization, the closer they would have to get to the dead. That was the trade off: humans and allies, people to rely on to support and protect you.

But in exchange for the safety, there was the danger. More monsters to fight... more of the marching dead to run from. Forever

Later on, after the sun had set and the dark had taken the night for itself, the entire group sat around another fire. They each were lounging out in the position that they felt the most comfortable in, Ruby sitting cross legged, Mercury lying flat on his back looking up at the stars, and Weiss curled up on her side.

The fire had been the beginning of a large argument, spearheaded by Ruby and Mercury. Weiss watched like an umpire as the two fought over whether to light one. Like most of the arguments over the last two weeks, Ruby lost. She was still staring at the fire darkly, even if she was enjoying it's warmth in the cool night air. Fire's were intrinsically dangerous now, but you couldn't help but feel safe around one too. Clickers didn't seem to recognize fires, and while the group had run into nine of them during the day, they hadn't seen a single infected. It was odd, but they could all make their own guesses why.

The group consensus was that they were within a day from Beacon, and that the city somehow did a good job of keeping down it's dead.

Their proximity to the city was severely unnerving to the trio circling around their fire lit campsite. Or really... just one of them. One of them had gotten more and more edgy as they got closer to the city. It had taken the other two a few days to realize what had been setting her off and putting her on edge.

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, looking at the fire flickering eerily in front of her with unease. "We should put that out soon... we're so close to the city, somebody may see it and come out to look."

Raising a hand and waving her off, Mercury said: "Not yet. We can put that out when we're done discussing our game plan."

Sighing loudly, Ruby looked over at Weiss, who had propped herself up on a shoulder and was looking at the two of them with interest. "You have any opinion on the issue Weiss."

For a few seconds, Weiss looked as though she wasn't going to answer. But then she lifted her head, and solemnly told the two of them: "I don't want to have come all this way just to chicken out while we're standing on our old doorstep."

Mercury made a sound of pure contentment from his spot on the ground, obviously happy with Weiss's answer. "You heard the lady. Two to one, we're going in."

Ruby wasn't surprised by Weiss's answer, although she still wasn't happy with the verdict. "I still think it's a bad idea!" Looking between the two of them, she could see Mercury was set. He had made it clear that he saw going to Beacon as their only option.

So she shifted her attention to Weiss, to try to win her over. "If Beacon is still standing, and that itself is a big if, it's not going to be pretty." Weiss started to argue, but Ruby cut her off. "And let's just say it is pretty! Chances are there will still be a few old faces lingering around. Most people don't stray asfar from home as we have."

Weiss didn't say anything, although her complexion became noticeably paler. Ruby hoped that it was from Weiss getting nervous, not just a trick of the lighting.

Ruby pointed with a finger at her own face, at Weiss, and then back at herself. "They aren't going to be welcoming us with open arms, the two main turncoats. If we just come waltzing in, and if we get recognized, there's a good chance it won't go well. We'll be lucky if we just get asked to leave. You want to get into another shoot out, on somebody else's home turf... especially when you don't have a gun?"

Weiss squirmed a bit, both at the thought of running into an old hunter and the steady gaze from Ruby. "I don't really think there will be anybody we need to worry about…"

"Hold up," Mercury cut in, looking back and forth between the two. "I'm missing something here... Almost all the hunters ran for the hills when the disease began to spread. Don't you two think you're getting somewhat full of yourself by thinking you'd be grudged against after all of these years. I mean, come on, it's been seven eight-years out here, people's memories aren't that long."

Ruby and Weiss shared a glance, both glaring at the other two explain. After a few seconds Weiss gave in. "Well, when the end began, all of the hunters and huntresses fought valiantly. Nobody even thought about deserting or running..." Weiss laughed bitterly: "We had to protect the people didn't we?!"

Her one break in character over, shifting uncomfortably, Weiss scratched her nose and looked away from Mercury, as though to hide a guilty conscience. "We were on the front lines... that was where they put the best teams. Well, those teams and the groups that nobody would miss, the one to two years."

Mercury couldn't help but comment. He whistled: "Wow, kind of brutal, a little heartless. Especially coming from the halo wearing huntsmen."

Weiss shook her head. "It boosted moral. We all liked to think of ourselves as tough, but fact is most people didn't get to see the infected more than once... they didn't live that long. They weren't equipped to handle shooting rotting monsters that looked like your grandma or niece... Anyway, what would strike you more: seeing the team that everybody raves about, everyone adores lovingly as your goals for success dying, or seeing a bunch of no names die?"

Letting out a large sigh, already knowing he was cornered for his answer, Mercury sighed: "I guess it would be the no-namers."

Weiss simply nodded. "They took a chance on a few groups like ours; they needed to look like they were at least sending some muscle out there... I think that they'd realize now that it was a bad decision to send the best to basically chaperon the C-rate teams on their own."

"Why?" Mercury raked his brains, but he couldn't think of a reason.

Looking at Mercury annoyed, although he had the feeling it wasn't directed at him, Weiss snapped: "Because we didn't all die."

"Wait, what?"

Weiss made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat, as though she was explaining something a simpleton would have understood. "When other teams went out, they didn't come back! They were just done! But when they started send us in, the best... nothing is worse for moral than seeing half a team return. To actually know how it happened, hear people crying over their teammates, is a lot different than not hearing a 'present' at the breakfast roll call!"

Ruby suddenly piped up, who Mercury had almost forgotten was still away. "After Blake died, Yang was done. So, when we got back, we just left... We were the first group to ever run… Or if they did, they were no names, people you wouldn't have even glanced twice at."

Sneering bitterly, Ruby mocked: "When the oh so grand "Team RWBY" left, everyone suddenly went 'if they don't think there's hope, Ozpin's golden girls, why the hell are we here?!' After we left, the organization fell apart within weeks. Most stayed, but us leaving struck them with such a moral blow that I doubt they did much good after us."

That was when it clicked for Mercury. "Oh, I get it now. That's why you're so opposed to going into Beacon tomorrow. You think there will be somebody there who will still be bitter about all that, somebody who may hate you two for running."

"And you are not making me any more confident Mercury!"

Holding up his hands palm up, trying to placate the redhead, Mercury thought for a second. "I don't think your worries are valid." He was almost cut off by Ruby, who looked like she was about to argue, but he continued on hastily. "They are justified, but they aren't valid. Chances are slim that there are still hunters around. Chances that there are hunters who will actually hate you for what you did are even slimmer... the heroic types all died off a while ago."

"We didn't do anything." Crossing her arms angrily, Ruby muttered under her breath so low it was hard either of the other two to catch, half hidden by the crackling of the fire. "They sent us all on a suicide mission. All we would have done by staying was get killed faster. If anything, we saved the lives of a lot of hunters by giving them the idea to leave. Apparently they couldn't form the idea on their own."

Off to her side, Ruby heard Weiss mumble: "But we ran. We left civilians to die..."

Ruby gritted her teeth, angry that Weiss still felt guilt for something she never had in the first place. "They would have died anyway, and all we could have done was keep them company in some mass grave!"

"Hmph...," was Mercury's only reply to Ruby's outburst, although Weiss looked taken aback. That was the first Ruby had yelled in the past two weeks. Other than being a little more stressed than usual, Ruby's mood had actually been on a steady up rise.

"I think I can guess, but I want to be sure. Obviously Yang wanted to go, and by the fact that Weiss looks like a kicked puppy, I'm guessing she wanted to stay." Mercury looked over at Weiss, who glared at him angrily, and smiled back sheepishly. "Sorry, but you do... anyway, what did you want Ruby?"

Ruby gave him an easy answer. "I just wanted us to survive!" Sighing heavily, already feeling a headache forming, Ruby rubbed her temple while thinking on what to do. I've lost, now it's time for damage control... Looking up from her thought process, ignoring the looks she was getting from Weiss and Mercury, Ruby grumbled:"Fine… we'll go in."

Weiss and Mercury shared a look, surprised that Ruby would budge so easily. They had expected the argument to last for a few hours, not fifteen minutes.

"But I'm going in alone tomorrow."

Once they heard the catch, Weiss and Mercury had outbursts at the thought.

"No, you absolutely are not! We did not stick within a hundred feet of each other for the last seven years because it was fun! We did that because it works and it's safe!"

"Red, that's fucking dumb, what's the point in strength in numbers if you just go running off on your own!"

Ruby sat their silently for a few seconds, waiting while the other two created an uproar. Once they had died down, Ruby glared at the two. "Finished?"

Weiss snapped back angrily: "You are not going in by yourself! That is not even an option!" Mercury simply nodded in agreement.

"Listen to me guys. If they are going to shoot, they'd probably shoot at a big group instead of a single person. They probably wouldn't shoot at a woman, and if I do get recognized, the probably would think the longest about shooting me!" Ruby pointed directly at Mercury's face and said: " Three weeks ago I wouldn't have even thought about shooting you in the face," and then pointed at Weiss's face and said: "and if somebody shoots at you, you won't be able to shoot back! That was literally one of our jobs in Caric for a week, do you think Beacon is going to be any different?!"

"I don't care," Weiss snapped. "I don't care. I do not care! You are not going in by yourself tomorrow, and that is final!"

Ruby forgot her earlier orders, and shouted across the fire. "It's the best choice!" Weiss fired back just as loudly.

"For who! For who Ruby!" Breaking out the sarcasm, which Weiss almost never did, the blonde only started getting louder. "Sounds like a great plan for me and Mercury! After all, things go south, and hey, it's only Ruby right! So yeah, that'll be great... do you think I'd really be okay with you risking dying!?"

"So what works then?! I am not letting you get close to the city if there's a good chance we'll get sniped!"

"And why is that your decision?! Can I not go wherever I want?!"

"Not when you're putting yourself in front of the barrel of a rifle! I'm not having it!"

Mercury piped up, seeing this round robin shouting match go nowhere. "Enough! We'll figure it out tomorrow, we've got time... we're about an hour from the outskirts of Beacon's downtown, so we can spend all of tomorrow fighting about it before we decide. At least we figured out we are going in... we'll come up with the rest later."

"Perfect!" Standing up, stretching out her arms, Weiss looked down at Ruby. "I'll take first watch then?"

Ruby stared up at Weiss, who challenged Ruby by staring back coolly. The contest lasted for a few seconds, and in the end, Ruby just flopped onto her back angrily and looked up at the sky.

"Night Ruby." She didn't receive an answer back. It was obvious from the angry look on the redhead's face that Ruby hadn't fallen asleep, but Weiss decided not to push it. As she sat down on the ground, getting ready for a long night, Weiss thought to herself: 'Things have been better, no need to go to fast. We'll work on it bit by bit.'

"Weiss, Weiss, wake up!"

Feeling arms shaking her awake, Weiss was quickly pulled out of her dreams. Opening her eyes, she found herself looking into Mercury's flinty eyes, perfect circles of black surrounded by another layer of liquid darkness.

Not to say that she was tired, Weiss could feel that she'd had a full night's rest, but Weiss was still a little out of it. "What is it? Mercury, can't this wait?"

"Ruby's gone!"

That snapped Weiss out of her stupor instantly. "What?!"

Before Mercury had a chance to speak, Weiss was already up, scrambling across the ground on her hands and knees to pick up the group's scattered belongings. Luckily, they hadn't unpacked too much last night. While Weiss was hurriedly shoving things into her pack, Mercury stood over her while trying to explain what had happened.

"I was sitting under that tree over there, just finishing my watch. I'd look back every thirty minutes, see if one of you two had woken up so that I'd have somebody to talk to. I guess sometime between my last check and now Ruby slipped away!"

Almost done, shoving the last few things into her pack, Weiss didn't even bother kicking the fire to extinguish the flames. "Come on, let's go!"

"Weiss, are you sure-"

But before Mercury had a chance to complain, Weiss was already sprinting towards the forest line. "Either come or shut up! She's going to get herself killed!

Feeling the wind whip by her face, Weiss began cursing fate, and praying to gods that she didn't believe in that Ruby would be okay. 'Of course you'd pull a stunt like this, I'm stupid for not this coming last night! I swear to god Ruby, I hope you're safe. I hope you were right. I hope you don't die.'

'I'm not losing you, just as you were starting to seem more like you again...'

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Favorite, follow, comment, all that jazz. I'd especially like critiques, they help a lot. And that's it… I'll see you all soon!