3 Weeks Later

"Ahhhhh, I love this," Nora hummed, leaning back in her chair and struggling to balance her shotgun across the bridge of her nose. Unintentionally, Nora's game left the cold, cruel barrel of metal on the business end of the gun pointed at Ruby's face. While the ginger tried to keep it there by bobbing her head back and forth with her firearms swaying, Nora hummed: "I get to mess with you, Weiss and Mercury now too."

Knocking the shotgun away, Ruby grumbled at Nora. "First off, don't point that thing at me, it's gonna fire one day and blow my face off."

"Nah, safety's on," Nora sighed, beginning to rebalance her rifle. But at the look on Ruby's face, which was almost begging Nora to do put her gun back up and start a fight, the shorter woman decided to not give Ruby the ammunition. Instead, she held it across her knees with both hands. "Uh... so, you think Vacuo might have somehow pulled through all this?"

And that was how most of the day's conversations went. Nora being optimistic and imagining countries and cities totally evading all this mess, and Ruby shooting her far fetched hopes down. Every time she did get her hopes shut down, the ginger haired girl would sulk for a minute, then fire off on some new tangent

Despite being stuck in a dingy old sitting room filled with dusty furniture, only modified with just a row of hanging bells on the opposite wall, it was actually fun just sitting and talking. Although Nora was constantly trying Ruby's patience.

"And second..." Ruby hummed, picking up the earlier thread in the conversation, "I'm actually surprised you included Mercury in that tally."

"Pff... I could care less what he used to be like. Once he stops sulking, I'll gladly share a drink with him and laugh about the good-ol days at the academy..." Nora smiled to herself, and then added: "And all the times I beat his ass into the floor while we were sparing."

"Hmph... wait, share a drink? I thought Jaune said that booze was only used for cleaning wounds, and for the odd celebration?"

Giving Ruby a mischievous look, Nora simply stated: "Jaune can make all the rules he wants, but it doesn't change the fact that I can also have my own personal stash. Where'd you think I broke out the tequila from on the night you guys arrived?"

"Ah... I think...," Ruby paused, "that you should probably not tell me where that stash is."

"I thought you hated alcohol?" Nora smiled, and then chuckled at a memory. "I mean, drunk Ruby's a blast, but I don't think I ever saw her more than once or twice..."

Rolling her eyes, Ruby looked Nora up and down as she did so. And as she watched, Ruby couldn't help but think that what she saw was amazing. Ruby had thought that Mercury looked young. Now Ruby realized that it was just her who looked older. All of them, every single freaking one, it was as if they'd been frozen in time, not really living until Ruby and Weiss had stumbled upon the team.

This was especially true with Nora. The snarky voice coming from the orange haired girl didn't match her looks. She sounded shrewd and witty, although still as scatterbrained as she had in the past. But while her voice had aged, Nora still looked young. She looked youthful, full of energy, already dressed for the summer in an open beige cardigan and pink undershirt. That, plus jeans and a pair of sneakers, made her look as if she'd maybe just turned twenty two and was getting ready to go walk Beacon's main shopping streets. Not a survivor in her late twenties, always on lookout for infected. If she and Weiss didn't share a birthday, Ruby would never believe that the empty-headed woman would be thirty in under a week.

"And drunk Ruby of all people," Ruby sighed while shaking her head, "should definitely stay far far away. Where I can keep her from embarrassing me more than I already have on my own."

"Oh ho ho! Now you have me interested..." After a couple seconds of prodding though, Nora saw she was getting nowhere she wanted with Ruby. "Whatever, be no fun... I still get drunk Ren whenever I want." Going back to playing with her shotgun, spinning the locked trigger now on a finger, Nora twirled her gun as though it was a baton, not a fully automatic death machine. "I let him think he can still out drink me, then pound maybe three or four more shots before he and I go-"

"STOP!" Ruby glowered at the smirking Nora, and growled: "I have a good enough imagination, I don't need you giving me more mental images."

"I only wished it lasted lon-"

"NORA!"

Bursting out into laughter at Ruby's tone, Nora had to wipe away tears from her eyes. "Ah, this is great, I can't mess with the others like this anymore. They're a bunch of dopey no-funs, I can't do anything to surprise them anymore... I can't even embarrass Ren nowadays in front of everybody else. What has this world come to?"

"Hmph, you want to be around Ren so much, why don't you do these watches with him instead of with me?"

"WHAAAT, you think I'd want my super sexy boy-toy before you?!" Roping an arm around Ruby, ignoring the redhead's hiss as she did, Nora twisted her ring and pointer fingers together and said: "We're way tighter than he and I could ever be! Once we've been having sex behind his and Weiss's backs for a few years, it'll be sealed deal."

"Ughhhh... I'm not coming out here with you again after this."

Smirking, Nora let go of Ruby. "Relax, take a chill pill. I'm just messing with you... Also, I'm not allowed to bring Ren out here on these watches at the moment."

That piqued Ruby's interest. "And why so?"

"No couples!" After Nora sang out that answer, she elaborated. "Ya see, good old Jaunny boy somehow caught wind that Ren and I's performance on the watches would be 'lacking' when we came out together." At Ruby's questioning look, Nora smirked and added: "We'd get sidetracked during the day. A lot of waiting around, just me and Ren, nothing else to do..."

Ruby blushed when she finally caught on the Nora's meaning, picking up her hands and rubbing them off on her jeans, trying to think of anything that had felt sticky or slick on the few occasions she'd been out here.

"Don't worry, we clean up well... anyway, I feel as though the whole situation is somewhat unfair, I've never bugged him about the Shamblers that passed through when he and Pyrrha were out here. Although they're boring, and when they let infected by, it's just because their plain old unobservant..." Nora sighed sadly, shrugging her shoulders. "But I don't fight him, it's easier to just let him have his way and let him get all wishy-washy on his own. Jaune makes that rule every few weeks, then gets bored having to sit around with just Ren silently, or me being annoying and pestering him for a few hours, and takes his stupid rule back without any prodding on my part."

"Okay, first off, that is sooooo gross. Is there even a safe piece of furniture in here, or have you two already ruined it all?" After the seconds of silence from Nora, Ruby sighed and then added: "And also...seriously?" Ruby tried thinking of straight laced Ren pulling stupid stunts like what Nora had described. "I... I can't see it. I mean, I never really imagined the Lie Ren just throwing caution to the wind and doing something so immature. Never met a bigger stickler for rules in my life..."

Swatting at Ruby, Nora huffed: "Hey, that's my man you're talking about!" Nora faked looking angry for a few seconds, although the scowl she tried to make looked sketchy the second it came up. After a moment, it slid from her face and the ginger sighed: "...yeah, you're right though. But hey, I like to think of Ren as putty in my capable hands."

"Of course you do."

"Anyhow, since we are on the subject of couples anyway... and you already know we're all gossiping about it behind your back... I've been dying to ask you something. The big scandal, the juicy little tidbit... what's up with you and Weiss?"

Ruby sighed. She'd been expecting this ever since she'd walked out here with Nora this morning. It had been about a week since everyone else at the Beacon base had found out that Ruby and Weiss weren't together anymore.

Or, that the two really didn't know where they stood anymore. In truth, the two felt closer than they had in years. Ruby felt more human, and Weiss seemed much happier. At least, Ruby wasn't finding any notes from Weiss about how terrible of a person she was.

They joked and laughed together now, although it still felt a bit awkward awkward from time to time. But even that was fading, and Ruby would have been lying if she'd said that everyone else's involvement hadn't helped. If it had still been just her and Weiss wandering the wilderness... well, who knows where their arguing would have left them at?

'If I hadn't gotten better, maybe Weiss would have finally gotten sick of me? She's way less drawn in now... I've seen her smile more in the past few weeks than I did all last year...'

Really, Ruby truly did thank everyone around her for all they'd done, who'd helped the pair through this five year straight rough patch. Even if she'd never actually said thanks out loud.

Both Pyrrha and Jaune had obviously been curious, but they'd also respected Ruby enough that when she said she didn't want to talk about it. When the redhead had said that, the conversation simply ended. Ruby was pretty sure that Ren felt the same way, although he was so stone faced that she couldn't really be sure if it was that, or if he hadn't really cared enough to ask in the first place.

But Nora didn't have a sense of boundaries... every time Ruby or Weiss was alone with her, they'd have to dodge dozens of questions, many of which were tactlessly asked or obviously crossed lines anyone would have already known were there.

"Nothing is up... at least, not anymore."

Nora hummed for a second, raising an eyebrow at Ruby and looking the redhead's defensive posture up and down, before saying: "Sorry, don't believe you."

"Believe what you want then," Ruby snapped. "It doesn't make the slightest difference to me."

Raising her hands, trying to placate Ruby, Nora mumbled: "Alright alright, be no fun..." Nora put down the rifle, and Ruby was surprised when she suddenly felt the room's atmosphere get dimmer. It was as if Nora was a constantly glowing lamplight, and when she got serious, her bright aura around her would fade.

"Actually, I do believe you. I'd been wondering why you two seemed so at odds since maybe two days after you guys showed up. When Weiss told Pyrrha that you two weren't a thing anymore... well, it made sense. You two in that old world fit nicely... now, fighting the hordes of dead and the monsters who make you wonder if people are really even human anymore... well, I don't think the girls from ten or so years ago would have been able to make that last..."

Ruby didn't say anything at first, just listened to Nora's monologue. It sounded sensible, and somewhat sad too. Neither of the two things something she'd expect from Nora. "I mean, when you say it like that-"

"I think it's sad," Nora said, cutting Ruby off. "So, you two seem to be sticking two the story that you aren't together anymore... but do either of you really want that to be true?"

"I'm not following you..."

"Sure, you guys have had your troubles. Both Jaune and I had problems with our partners becoming all stone faced and mopey, but we got through them. And we're now okay, we're living happily. It was probably harder for you and Weiss, it being just you two, no couples counselling while you were wandering around the wilds in the apocalypse..."

Nora obviously lost her train of thought at that point, her eyes going blank for a second. "I'm sorry, but what was I getting at?"

Ruby tried to shut the conversation down at that point, get to move on to something more benign. "Don't really remember, lets focus on the watc-"

"Oh yeah, you and Weiss! So, you and Weiss aren't together anymore... apparently. But to me, it looks like you both want to be. It's clear as day you both are head over heels for each other. You're both just too chicken to take the gambol and ask the other one out."

"Excuse me? Did you just say that I'm a coward?" Ruby couldn't get mad at Nora, she'd become good friends with the girl in this short time. But she could still be severely annoyed. "After all this time fighting infected and bandits, I think I've proven I'm hardened and tough enough to deal with my own problems."

"Pfft, all that means nothing. Killing's easy. It's dealing with people without bashing their skulls in that's hard." Leaning in, Nora actually got a sad look on her face, a real, genuine frown that reached up and shined through Nora's teal eyes. "I'm saying that you're afraid Weiss'll reject you if you ask. You are afraid, and I don't see the reason for it really, of knowing if Weiss actually wants you or not."

"I-I, you're..." Ruby trailed off, realizing there was some truth in the girl's words. "... I guess you're right then."

"Thought so. Anyway... how about you two start off fresh."

"Huh?!"

Nora scratched her head, for the first time in this conversation actually putting thought into what she was going to say. "You guys at least seem like friends, we can work with that... So, I mean, have you ever thought about asking Weiss out on another date again?"

"Uh, Nora... we almost got married. I mean, tied the knot and all that. I think asking her out on a date is a little silly..."

Making a loud snort, Nora replied: "Well sweetie, I'm sorry to break the truth to you, but your love life's options are kind of limited when you're in an apocalypse. Besides, you two always made a nice couple... I shipped it way before you guys went public."

"Yeah, because me and Weiss dating will go fantastic! I know, I can ask Weiss to go to popcorn and that crappy new romance that came out last week!" Ruby couldn't help the sarcasm that started leaking into her voice. "And after that, we can go ice skating, get a nice Italian dinner, go dancing in the park under the fireworks! Let's just see how all that goes!"

"Just because it won't be easy, doesn't mean you shouldn't try..."

"It won't be easy?! Nora, I don't see how it could be possible! Where the hell would I even start!? How the hell could I even ask!?"

Nora put her hands up, trying to placate Ruby. "Look, all I'm saying is you don't need to start off right where you two left off. I'm assuming you two weren't madly in love day one, it probably took time." Nora leaned in, her eyes almost pleading. "Just let it take time again... it'll probably be faster this time around."

The tension in the room faded, and Ruby was getting reminded over and over again why she'd liked Nora so much while they were still in school. Sometimes she wasn't all there when you talked to her. But when you finally got her attention, whatever she had to say would be well worth your time. After everything else, at least that hadn't changed...

Ruby slumped down in her chair, really thinking about all Nora had to say. "I just... I don't even know where I would start..."

"Oh my god, I've been telling you for the past five minutes!" Snorting, Nora huffed: "You are soooo dense... just fucking ask her out!"

Sighing loudly, Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. "It isn't going to be that easy Nora... we've got a lot of history still, most of it bad... it's not like ten years ago when I could just walking up and ask the prissy heiress on a date to the mall..."

"Course it is!" Nora turned in her chair so that she was directly facing Ruby. "You keep on saying that you've been 'mean' and 'terrible' and 'unfair' to her... but the way I see it, Weiss is totally over all that. Have you ever even seen the way she looks at you nowadays?"

Snorting loudly, Ruby laughed: "Oh, and how does she look at me then? Am I missing some lovey-dovey, star crossed gazes or something?"

"Oh god no, she lets you see those awful looks. Way too gooie for me, but you two seem to be into it." Leaning back in her chair, folding her arms, Nora smiled mischievously at Ruby. "All I'm saying is that the only thing keeping you two apart is the both of you acting like bumbling idiots."

That piqued the redhead's curiosity. "Seriously, tell me!" Ruby leaned forward on her own chair and sarcastically asked "So, how is she looking at me then? Should I be worried? Scared? Feeling like I should run from some sexual predator?"

With a snort, Nora glanced out the window, checking the street for threats quickly before looking back at Ruby. "Well, when you're around, Weiss's all sweet and reserved, good old formal Weiss..." Nora trailed off for a second, before leaning in and saying: "but when you aren't watching, she gets this look in her eyes. It's like she wants to strip you down, throw you against a wall and fu-"

"NORA!"

Laughing as she settled back down, leaning back in her chair with enough force that its front legs lifted off the ground, Nora sighed: "You asked..."

"She does not!"

"She absolutely does. Now you do something with that fact and stop wasting time. You aren't getting any younger, that's for sure..."

Ruby sat silently for a second, thinking and dwelling on that. "It's... it's just..."

Suddenly, a hollow peal rang out as one of the bells on the wall shook. After it's momentary metallic chirp, the room went entirely silent.

"Hold that thought...," Nora breathed, already standing up with her gun held loosely in her hand. Walking over to where they all hung, Nora rested her fingers on each bell in turn, feeling for which one was still shaking. She moved through the first five, hesitated on the sixth, and then put a hand down on the seventh. "This one. It's the street you and Weiss came down."

Ruby was already up, out of her chair and walking towards the locked exit. The redhead looking forward to stretching her legs and leaving this conversation behind. Nora had already given her enough to think about, and she was afraid of getting overloaded if the ginger kept talking for too much longer. "Alright, let's go deal."

As Nora followed Ruby's shadow out of the storeroom, she grumbled silently: "Let's go deal?! And you still think you aren't changing back to the old you? Everybody can see it. Weiss is literally dying for it. You're the only one slow on the uptake."

Ruby followed barely two feet behind the older woman, who weaved through the shadowy alleys and back streets as though she had them branded into her memory. Nora slowed down as she came to the corner of the street they'd been walking towards, and stopped at the edge of the wall.

Nora leaned her head out from behind the corner for a quarter of a second, less than a twitch, and then immediately pulled back. "Two, both stumbling around maybe twenty feet back right. One's still tripped over the wire." She pumped her shotgun, already prepared to lean out and fire.

"Whoa whoa, hey there, bullets are pricey..." Ruby placed a hand on Nora's shoulder, and then smiled brightly. "If you would allow me..."

"Be my guest, I'll cover you I guess."

Ruby pulled out her new knife, a spare she'd found in the armory. At first, it looked like a simple iron T, the cross guard's arms tapering in slightly at the end back towards the pommel. A small B was etched into the meeting place between the guard and the grip, and when Ruby pressed down on a hidden trigger under the letter, a five inch long, inch and a half wide blade sprung out of the hilt. To Ruby, it felt more like she was using a miniature sword than an actual knife.

"Yeah, cover me with a shotgun, I'm sure that'll go great. Blow both me and whatever you're pointing at away in a flash."

Ruby then swung around the corner, not taking the time to get ready or prepare. Nora waited a second and then followed behind, wondering if she'd actually have to help Ruby.

She didn't, and watching the redhead at work, Nora was undoubtedly impressed. Ruby was efficient, she was clean... and she was brutal. The redhead swept up to one of the infected, stabbed it in the temple before she was even noticed, and like a flash of red whirled over and gutted the other one like a pig before it had the chance to even see the other Shambler had fallen.

Stepping up to the carnage, watching as Ruby quickly silenced the still writhing infected, Nora whistled and nodded at the redhead. "Nice work. Guess I get to keep my bullets for another day."

Ruby just nodded back, wiping her dagger off on the pant leg of the infected before her, before clicking the switch again and pulling the blade back in. "Good knife... I'm surprised nobody else was using it."

"Eh, to each their own. Blade's a tad thin for my taste, I'd probably snap it in under an hour opening a tuna can or something..."Nora looked off at the setting sun, frowning at the day's end. "Just a few more hours, and the day'll be over."

Shrugging, Ruby couldn't really bring herself to care. 'Tomorrow will bring the same. It always does...'

Gesturing to the two leaking bodies below her, Ruby asked: "Should we move these?"

Nora looked back at Ruby, thought about it for a second, and then sighed. "Probably... but I honestly don't feel like it. We'll do that tomorrow, we're both on watch again."

"M'kay..."

Watching Ruby stand up, her back outlined against the orange sky, Nora still seemed bothered. "... It seems off." She looked back at Ruby, and then muttered: "It's silly, but I always say its felt like thirteen O'clock for the past few years... I guess I'm still waiting for the feeling to break."

Ruby didn't catch Nora's meaning. "As in Military time?"

"No... It's, it's like... I don't know... it's felt like this world shouldn't be happening now. Like Beacon tower's broken clock hands have rolled over into something that can't exist... it's like they dragged us all into this, I don't know, forever twilight. As stupid as that sounds I mean."

Ruby could immediately sympathize with the feeling. "I know what you mean... I don't know, I don't think this feeling ever goes away. It wouldn't be good if you let it. You just learn to deal with it."

"You've felt it too?" Nora's eyes watched Ruby, bright and somewhat hopeful that somebody else would finally get the lonely feeling she'd carried around in the pit of her heart for the past few years. The ache that nobody seemed to get, even after she'd spent so many afternoons trying to explain the sensation to Ren and the others.

"Yeah... it faded for a while, but I'm noticing it again..."

"Hmph...," Nora huffed, seeming relieved that somebody else could finally sympathize. "Whelp, here's where I leave you."

Ruby just raised an eyebrow at Nora, her face making the question on her mind more than clear enough.

"I've gotta go trade in ration cards, two person job. One person on cart duty, one to make sure nobody tries to swipe anything."

With a smile, Ruby asked: "And which one are you?"

"Depends... I'm going with Pyrrha, so I'm active thug today."

"Huh, you know, I can kinda see it..."

Nora smirked at the remark. "Yeah, somehow I got branded as the group's muscly psychopath to the town... So, anyway, who do you want me to send out here with you, Ren or Jaune?"

"Uhhhh... R-Ren's good I guess... I can just watch for clickers on my own though, you don't need to send anybody."

Nora now smiled, chuckling to herself for a moment before asking: "Do you still think Jaune was upset?"

"Nope. Just send Ren please."

"It was his fault you know..." She kept on going, obviously enjoying Ruby's cringe at the memory. "I mean, everyone could see that you looked real green around the gills, and Jaune runs up and hugs you, swinging you around in the air like an idiot."

The redhead couldn't help but shiver at the memory. "And on that day, I took the 'best introductions' title away from Weiss."

"Oh come on, you hadn't eaten anything beforehand and it was mostly water. Jaune needed a bath anyway, and even he laughed after the shock."

"Just... just send Ren..."

"Hmph, if that's what you want." Nora started to turn away, and then immediately turned back. "Also, just to let you know, the most dreaded time in a woman's life is coming up for me in four days..." After letting that sentence hang in the air for a moment, Nora sighed bitterly:"...Thirty. And apocalypse or not, I still expect you to get me a gift..."

Before Ruby could even begin to argue, Nora slipped in one more comment that froze the redhead dead in her tracks. "And I've got to say, getting asked out on a birthday would probably be pretty romantic..."

Ruby wondered for a second, and then replied: "And somewhat stupid too. I mean, isn't that just like asking a girl to prom on live T.V. or in front of the entire school? Kinda just cornering them into saying yes?"

Nora just shrugged her shoulders. "We're all allowed to be stupid, especially when under all this pressure to try not to be... Ren hates it, but I can't remember a week going by where I don't walk in on him dancing by himself, just alone in a room while pretending to play DDR..." Nora looked off into the distance, laughing at the memory. "That mental image kinda punches a giant hole in the tough, stoic persona he's going for, doesn't it?"

And with that, followed by the swish of her coat tails, Nora turned and walked off, whistling and chuckling at the thoughtful look on Ruby's face as she went. Nora called one final remark over her shoulder as she walked off, grinning back to the redhead standing against the descending sun. "Be stupid, alright! Lord knows I nobody'll ever hold that title longer than I have!"

And now back to the room, waiting for Ren to come and keep her company, Ruby laid out sadly on a neglected and loveseat. As she sat and stewed, Ruby couldn't help but dwell on everything Nora had told her. She'd been right on quiet a lot, even if shed simplified some of the trickier parts.

Trying to distract herself, knowing that she wouldn't be able to act like a fool once Ren arrived, Ruby picked up her own rifle and tried to balance it on her face like her ginger haired companion had been doing earlier. 'This is not as hard as Nora was making it look...' Actually, after a few seconds, Ruby could just sit perfectly still and keep her rifle level.

Once she could keep the rifle there across the bridge of her nose with ease, Ruby tried to challenge herself and make the task more difficult.

Now standing in the middle of the room, Ruby kept her face looking up as she balanced her rifle pointing straight up on her face, the butt of her gun resting on the tip of her nose and right in the small dip between her eyebrows. The redhead only had to twitch her head back and forth every once in a while to keep the gun from falling over. Other than that, she could just stand leaning back and keeping the rifle pointed into the air.

Again, it was pretty easy for Ruby to keep the gun balanced on her face, only requiring an occasional twitch to keep her rifle from toppling off her head. 'Okay, this is giving me a headache, I'm gonna be cross eyed-'

Just as Ruby thought that, a rapping knock came at the storeroom's door, and the startling noise made the redhead flinch to the point where the rifle nearly bounced off her face. But other than shifting a little bit up her face, now more on top of her forehead and off her nose entirely, Ruby kept the rifle in place. "I mean, I spent this long trying to prove I have balance, why stop now? If Ren says anything, I can shut him up with Nora's comment on DDR.'

Walking over slowly with her arms out to her sides for balance, Ruby made her way to the door while keeping her gun still propped upwards on her forehead. Finding the entrance, still looking up, Ruby blindly slid her hands up and down the door frame until she found and undid the door's heavy deadbolt.

"It's open Ren, come on in!" Stepping back, Ruby kept her arms to her sides, still trying to keep her center aligned with the rifle balancing on her forehead. 'This is not that hard, Nora's sense of balance must be-"

"Hmph, funny sight."

Ruby jumped, and the gun went flying off Ruby's face and noisily clattered on the floor. Looking back at the voice, Ruby realized that it wasn't Ren who'd shown up at all. She had to look down a bit, because inside the space Ren's tall and muscular figure would have occupied in the doorway, a short, slim, snow white haired girl stood in his place instead.

"Oh! U-uh, hey Weiss..."

Weiss smirked, stepping into the room. "Don't stop on my account, looks like you had something impressive going on."

"Nah... I'm good, I make a fool out of myself enough as it is, I don't need to do extra work..." Weiss laughed at the joke, and Ruby smiled back. "But, uh, why are you here?"

"Um, because you asked for me? You did send Nora for me right?" Taking off her coat, which was now unnecessary in the warm spring weather, Weiss threw her bleached white leather duster to the side and over one of the spare chairs in the room. "I was just lounging around with Ren, Pyrrha and Mercury back at the dorm rooms. Then Nora comes bursting in and says that you want me to join you for the rest of your watch. She then grabbed Pyrrha and left... said something about getting food for the week?"

"Ah... oh, okay yeah." While Ruby's responses to Weiss were meek, inside she was screaming bloody murder at a certain ginger haired friend. Who the redhead could just imagine grinning like an idiot over corralling Ruby and Weiss together. 'THAT SCRAWNY, BEAK NOSED, FRIZZY HAIRED FRECKLY FREAK! I DON'T NEED HER MEDDLING AND GETTING IN MY WAY! I CAN HANDLE MY OWN LOVE LI-'

"Ruby?" Turning back, Weiss caught the angry look on Ruby's face as she sat down on an old coffee table, completely disregarding the chair next to it. It was somewhat out of character for Weiss, the complete disregard for manners. "You okay?"

Shaking her head, trying to remove the haze of red from her mind, Ruby hesitantly smiled at Weiss. "Yeah, I'm just reliving an argument I had with Nora earlier today."

"Oh really? I thought you were getting well along with Nora. What was it what about? Anything I should be worried about?"

"No, nothing worth sharing. Mostly stupid things really..." Ruby mumbled, the quick excuses somewhat truthful. Weiss watched her for a few seconds, and then shrugged her shoulders, letting the subject drop.

"Oh, hey, since you mentioned Mercury," Ruby began, leaning forward as she talked, "how is he? Still sulking in his corner?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, the gesture extremely pompous... and pretty Weiss-like too. "As if I'm paying attention. He's a grown man, he needs to learn to deal with his own problems."

"So he is?"

"Hmph," was the blonde's only reply, although Ruby could easily take that as a yes. 'I hope he'll come around soon... really it's only Pyrrha and Jaune who're giving him a hard time...'

"So, anything happen during the day?"

Perking up, dragging herself out of her thoughts, Ruby answered: "Yeah, two infected tripped a wire earlier in the day."

"Hm... good, Ren said it usually only happens once a day, so we probably won't have to go out again..."

"Look at you, miss slacker!" Ruby grinned as she leaned even farther forward, almost entirely off the edge of her chair at this point. "I thought you'd be all gung ho for doing a job?" All she got out of Weiss in return was a loud snort. "Hey, now that I think about it there was something we, Nora and I, talked about earlier during the day..."

Raising an eyebrow, Weiss asked: "Oh, so something worth sharing? I thought you were going to stay sealed on whatever you two talked about out here on your own... secret plans, discussion, murder plots and what not..."

"Pfft! You think Nora could ever keep a secret!" Ruby laughed for a few seconds, really chuckling at Weiss's comment. "At most, I'd give her a day before she blabbed anything she'd been told to keep under wraps. If she was all alone by herself, Nora'd probably learn to raise the dead, just so she could tell somebody!"

She remained stone faced for a second, but even Weiss couldn't help but give in to Ruby's laughing. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'd definitely never put her in charge of a secret... anyways, what were you guys talking about then?"

"Oh, um..." Ruby stalled for a second, trying to make it seem like she was trying to think of how to phrase what she and Nora had argued about earlier. Really, the redhead was trying to think of something believable that she and Nora would even talked about in the first place. "Uh... well, I was wondering, and then I didn't agree with Nora's answer... well, why were hunters famous?"

"Are you serious?" Weiss smirked, her lips twitching as she fought off a smile. "I mean, you were the embodiment of hunter idolizing as a kid, remember? You don't know, and how the hell should any of us have a clue?"

"Well, that's it, isn't it? I loved hunters, thought they were all badasses-"

"Great way of putting it," Weiss interjected, smiling at the thoughtful look on Ruby's face. It was the old look of when Ruby would be struggling over one of Oobleck's or Goodwitch's harder lessons. And, Weiss had to admit... it was pretty cute on the redhead.

"I thought they were all badasses," Ruby repeated, scowling that the one-time heiress as she talked. "But, now that I think about it, why did I?"

"I don't know Ruby, same reason people look up to policemen and firefighters I guess... they just represent bravery, courage... general goodness. That and your own mother was one. It'd be weird if you hadn't looked up to them."

Ruby shook her head, already enjoying the argument. "Alright, so that explains me. But it doesn't really explain everybody else. I mean, why did every kid want to be a hunter? Why did they all independently go "that is the cool guy, the awesome woman?" What about them huh?"

Weiss sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose as she listened to Ruby's rambling. "Are we really going to get into child psychology?"

"Why not, we've got a few hours out here, don't we?"

Heaving out a heavy breath, Weiss thought for a few seconds before she responded. "Well, you dolt, I'd say it's basic elitism."

At the blank stare from Ruby, the blonde had to smile and laugh. Although the redhead bobbed her head along with Weiss, it was obvious she had no idea what Weiss's answer meant. "You have no clue what that means, do you?"

"Ah...no, I kinda... yeah, I'm stumped."

"Hmph. Well, how many students were in the first year of students during the average year at Beacon?"

"Uh... like six teams or so worth?"

"Yes, I'd say that would be a close aproximatio-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, let's not use big words and have me get lost this early on." Cracking her knuckles while she looked out the window, Ruby muttered: "Speak like you would to a seven year old, make this easier on both of us..."

Scowling, Weiss grumbled: "I always told myself I'd force your vocabulary to grow..."

"Yeah, and you gave up about a week or so into knowing me, remember?" Ruby smiled at the memory, of both the first time they met and a bunch of other occasions that confirmed that statement. "I think you were right when you said 'Dolt' would make a good fit for the rest of my life unless I shaped up."

"Never too late you know, Ren and I could still turn you into a proper lady, wouldn't be that hard since we've got time now..."

Ruby shook her head. "Nah, I think I'm fine with what I've got going for me... Anyway, back to the huntress talk."

"Alright. Some schools had a few more first years, some had a few less, but Beacon was a pretty good average, and makes a good average to use. Usually a team would drop out or disband and quit in the four years before they graduated, so at the end, lets say Beacon let loose 20 or so trained and skilled hunters at the end of every year." Weiss rubbed something into the dust in the coffee table she was sitting on, and from where she was in the room all Ruby could really see was a bunch of numbers and lines getting scratched into the dust. That, and Ruby could hear random mutterings from Weiss on her math under her breath.

"...about half of us make it the average twenty years to retirement... let our license expire to go do something else, although I'm still counting them, one a hunter always..."

"...thirteen schools allowed to give out a hunter license..."

"...four hundred or so get to be idiots... killed the second they got out of school and their licenses stamped..."

"...maybe ten or so hunters to keep they're license and become teachers, run each school..."

Weiss tapped her fingers a few times, crossed out some of the lines in her dusty math as she reworked a few of her numbers over, and finally looked up. "Alright, by my math-"

Ruby cut off the blonde, smiling mischievously. "Is it somewhere near 2652?"

"... I got 2330, where did you get your's?"

Chuckling, Ruby turned her knife over in her fingers and said: "As a team leader, I was given access to statistics on the org... when we shipped out, I saw that there were 2652 registered and expired hunter licenses at the time." Ruby clicked the button on her knife a few times, pulling the blade in and out, watching the piece of steel flash in the dim room as it was unsheathed from inside the hilt and grip before disappearing back inward again. "I think it was some report on drafting numbers, old teams who got called up but never showed..."

"Well, you could have started all this by sharing that with me, save me the trouble."

"Can't make it too easy around here for you, I need at least one of us to stay smar-"

Weiss snapped at Ruby, not harshly but firmly: "Stop interrupting me, it's killing my train of thought."

Staring at the bells on the wall across her, Weiss started saying: "So if there were twenty seven hundred hunters... there were so few of us out of the world's four hundred million people, of course we'd be respected by everyone. I don't think we even make up a thousandth of the population... there were probably more billionaires on the planet than hunters!"

Ruby couldn't really do anything but whistle to Weiss's answer. "Wow... it sounds like so many hunters when you give the number... but when you give the percent, it sounds so tiny instead..."

"It's kind of depressing... kind of like we're a species going extinct."

"Hmph," Ruby snorted, laughing at Weiss's thoughtful tone. "What? Of decent people?"

" I guess... I don't know, I still think the world needs hunters. We helped the world... made it better I guess..."

"Okay then, here's a silver lining." Ruby thought how to phrase what she was thinking before she spoke. It could be taken badly if she misspoke her thoughts. "If there are less people in the world, well that means there are more old hunters in proportion, right?"

"That's one way of looking at it... Actually, that reminds me of something I argued with Nora and Jaune about a few days ago." Weiss leaned in, wiping the dust on her fingers off on her pants. "Have you ever noticed how every time we ask who else is around Beacon, we never really get a straight answer?"

Ruby just gave Weiss a puzzled look. She hadn't noticed anything like that at all. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I've just got this weird gut feeling... it's like every time I ask one of them 'who else made it' or 'who else that we'd recognize is around town', I just get brushed off with some hasty, cryptic answer..."

"Hmmmm... you think they don't want us to know about somebody else in the city?"

Weiss merely shrugged. "It's the only answer I could come up with... I mean, what else makes sense?"

Ruby crossed her arms, thinking. Now that she actually thought back, the redhead actually could think of times where either Nora, Jaune, Pyrrha, or Ren would just sidestep a question relating to the town. Usually, Ruby never paid the deflections any more thought than that. The JNPR group was weird, and them being shifty around the past hadn't set off any red flags for Ruby. She'd guessed they were just like Weiss... ashamed of the past, and reluctant to think back on it.

"Maybe...," Ruby began, trying to think of a reason for all their secrecy. "Maybe they think there's somebody else out in the city we'd rather meet up with? Somebody else you and I'd trust more?"

Weiss's only response was simple. "Huh..." The blonde furrowed her brow, thinking about the idea for a minute before shaking her head. "I can't think of anybody I'd trust more than them though... can you?" Standing up, starting to pace, Weiss asked out loud: "I mean, it was us and them at Beacon. Team's RWBY and JNPR, the top two... was there ever anybody we were as close with, somebody else I'm just not remembering?"

"Uh... an old teacher maybe? Maybe Ozpin or Goodwitch's in the city? "

"No... I'd still go with all of JNPR..."

"But they may not think we'd choose them." It sounded weak, but that was really the best justification she could come up with on the spot. Ruby tried thinking for a few more seconds, but eventually fell to a total blank. "We might just be blowing this way out of proportion... Maybe they're just a bit on the weird side?" At a questioning look from Weiss, which more than anything looked like she couldn't believe Ruby's easy answer, the redhead continued. "I mean, if they're as secluded as they seem to have been for the past seven years, then they've been cooped up with just those four to talk amongst... I mean, hell, they'd probably go stir crazy after all that, I'm surprised they haven't been putting heads on spikes and running around like madmen..."

Weiss could see it somewhat... but the idea of a socially awkward team JNPR being the answer just didn't fit well enough. "No, it doesn't make sense, they all seem fine-"

"So then when we get back tonight," Ruby interjected, "we'll put the question directly to them. That way, there's no worrying over what we don't know. We'll know if they're lying, and we'll go from there."

"Tch! You think it'll go well, just asking them point blank?"

"You kidding? With Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha being their usual selves, they'll probably be begging to just get the discussion over with and out of the way." Ruby smiled for a second, seeing Weiss's posture relax as she loosened up, and added: "also, I still think there's nothing to worry about, and that you're just blowing this all out of proportion..."

Weiss looked down at her hand, annoyed by something, and rubbed it against the wall. "I hope you're right, but I'd rather just know... besides, I'm sure whatever it is, it's not too scandalous anyway..." Still scrubbing her hand against the rough floral wallpaper, pulling it back to her and rubbing her palm together quickly, Weiss looked even more annoyed as she clapped her hands together a few times.

"Weiss, what are you doing?"

Brushing both her hands off on her jeans, Weiss muttered angrily: "I don't know... my hands feel sticky for some reason, ever since I worked out that math on the table..." As she was talking, Weiss pointed back the coffee table she'd been perched on, with crisscrossing lines ruining the even dusting on the surface.

Ruby looked at the table for a minute, really not taking in what Weiss had said. But after a second, Ruby remembered a conversation she'd had with Nora earlier in the day, before Weiss had shown up.

And before she could get the chance to explain to Weiss, who was watching the redhead's face change to the same deep shade of scarlet as the tips of her hair, the darker tone of the room disappeared instantly. Because Ruby burst out into probably the hardest fit of laughter she'd had in over five years.

"I'm never setting foot in that filthy place again!"

"It's not that, it's not-," was as far as Ruby got, before she was keeled over into her hicupping laughs again. It had been on and off struggle to keep a straight face ever since Ruby had huffed out what she had found so funny earlier. Weiss, obvious enough, had found no amusement in the circumstance. She'd left her jacket hung over the chair where she'd thrown it, and had spent the last few hours of their watch standing in the center of the room, away from every surface and piece of furniture as Ruby continued to heckle her from a comfortable seat on the room's couch.

"I'm serious Ruby, I'm not going back out there!" Weiss walked along with her right hand still hovering out away from her, and she glancing down kept giving her arm angry looks, as though she'd want to burn the limb off.

"Come on," Ruby chuckled, wiping away a few tears happily, "we've seen worse. Grosser, more disgusting. I can start naming a few if you want..."

"I don't think you could." As they cut across the academies tall grass medians, already within shouting distance of the dorm rooms where JNPR had set up base, where they had first met the group, Weiss muttered: "I'm gonna have to take like nine baths to scrub that filth off, and these clothes are all ruined, might as well burn them..."

Coming up to the large wooden doors, cracked open as always, Ruby laughed at the pouting girl behind her. "If I clean up the room the next few times I'm there, will you change your mind? It's fun, you out there with me... it's nice talking, just the two of us..."

"You can do whatever you want," Weiss mumbled bitterly. "I'm still not going back into that foul room ever again..."

Even though she said that, Ruby could tell she'd softened Weiss up with those last few lines. 'Maybe Nora's right... I think she really has forgiven me...'

Ruby stepped inside the grand foyer, already warmly lit by a fire crackling in the rooms gigantic, ornate fire pit. The waving flames cast long, flickering shadows across the room's tall ceilings and plaster white walls, still clean after all this time and dyed orange by the light. Long and tall painting of the schools greatest students were still hanging on their hooks, although the black lacquer frames had been neglected of their once regular polishing and had turned a dull ash with time.

Whoever had designed the space had possessed great vision as an artist, and the hall was the clear embodiment of a single word.

Grand.

But even though the fire was snapping and chirping merrily, and the clean walls were glowing brightly, the second Ruby and Weiss entered they felt the room's unmistakable dark tension. It washed Ruby of her happiness, ripping all her euphoria away and replacing it with a lump of grim worry. Something had gone horribly wrong...

Around the fire stood Jaune and Ren, both silent and still. And if front of the flames, both of their faces hidden by the flickering of the light, were Mercury and Pyrrha. Pyrrha was lying, perched up on an elbow, across the carpeted floor, and Mercury was hovering over her in the shadow of the fire. It almost felt like Ruby and Weiss had stumbled in on something private, something intimate.

Although from here the two intruders could easily Mercury cradling Pyrrha's face, every one of his fingers a metallic silver. Just as Ruby saw it he looked up, and from the shadows his eyes leapt out, lacking any sense of humor.

"We've got a problem..."

Thanks for just reading, and I'll see you all around next chapter!