It was immense. That was her first thought. It was the size of a warehouse, with a set of stairs at the back at that led up to a platform above them. There were hundreds of different instruments hanging from the walls and even more on stands—or standing alone—on the floor. There were racks of music books, CDs, and instrument accessories near the door, and soundproof booths near the back, for testing out instruments.

Ruby tried to squeal in delight, but her lungs were full from the breath she'd held as they entered, and all that came out was a gargled choking noise.

Weiss leant forward, looking at Ruby. "Are you okay?"

Ruby, who was struggling to get air out of her lungs, nodded frantically. As Weiss' brow furrowed in concern, Ruby heaved in a huge, gasping breath.

"OhmygodohmygodohmygodohmyGOD!" Ruby squealed. "Weiss! How have we never been here before?"

Weiss blinked in surprise and took a step back, away from Ruby's sudden onslaught. Ruby gaped at Weiss for a moment longer—as if she were genuinely horrified that Weiss hadn't told her about the place earlier—then she was gone. Weiss looked around, utterly bewildered; then she spotted Ruby halfway across the room, standing in front of a wall of guitars. Weiss shook her head, grinning despite herself and wandered over to the pianos.

Ruby was standing in front of the biggest collection of guitar she'd ever seen. She couldn't do anything but just gaze upwards longingly, wanting all of them. There were some amazingly ornate guitars hanging near the top, carved with such finesse that she couldn't even begin to imagine how long it would've taken to make, let alone how much it would cost.

"You like guitars?"

Ruby looked to her right. There was a tall, blonde man standing next to her. He couldn't have been any older than Yang. He was gazing up at the guitars as well, with his own look wonder.

"Yeah," Ruby said as she looked back up the guitars. "I love them."

He folded his arms and gave her a sidelong look. "Do you play?"

Ruby folded her arms right back and raised an eyebrow at him. "Hell yeah I do."

The man snorted in laughter and unfolded his arms. "That's good to hear. You'd be surprised how few people that come here actually play what they're looking at."

He turned to face her and Ruby caught sight of a nametag with the store's logo on it. Well that explains why he suddenly started talking to me.

He gestured up at the wall and gave her a grin. "So, you see any you want to try out?"

Ruby looked back up at the wall and scanned the guitars. They all looked so nice. She wanted to try them all. But there was a part of her—her 'musical weirdo' side—that didn't want to cheat on Crescent Rose.

She shook her head. "Nah, I'm just looking."

The man frowned. "Really? You sure?"

"Yeah," Ruby said with a lop-sided smile. "I've got my own sitting back in my room. I don't know what she'd say if she found out I played a guitar other than her."

He looked at her for a second, with one eyebrow raised, then burst into laughter. "Okay, fair enough. I know that feeling."

Ruby's smile spread into a grin.

"Well, I'm going to head back to work then," he said. "Feel free to look around. Stay as long as you want—as long as you're out by six. Give me a shout if you need any help with anything. The name's Jaune," he added, flicking his name tag.

Ruby nodded. "Alright, thanks. I'll let you know."

Jaune nodded again and walked past her, towards the counter.

Ruby continued to browse, enraptured by the collection of instruments. Once she finished browsing the guitars, she looked through the basses, then went upstairs to look at drum kits and speaker systems.

After an hour of mindlessly browsing the store, Ruby stood at the top of the stairs and looked down into the ground floor, searching for Weiss. She hadn't seen her white-haired friend since they'd entered the shop and, while it hadn't bothered her at first, she was beginning to get worried. But Weiss was nowhere to be seen.

Jaune was standing next to a tall red-headed girl who was holding a violin, talking animatedly; and there a few other random patrons, inspecting various instruments. A few of them Ruby recognised vaguely from school, but she couldn't seem to find Weiss.

Ruby made her way around to the stairs, her heart in her throat. She had no idea what had happened to Weiss, or where she'd went. They were in the middle of a crowded city, who knew what might have happened to her.

Ruby was halfway down the stairs when she spotted Weiss walking into the store through the front door. She looked worried and anxious, but otherwise unharmed. Ruby crossed the store quickly, reaching Weiss in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, where were you?" she asked. "I've been looking for you."

Weiss smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I was outside, looking for my… friend."

"You could have let me know!"

"Sorry, I didn't think. I was a little preoccupied; I'm not feeling too well today."

Now that she mentioned it, Ruby noticed that Weiss did look a little paler than usual.

"Well then," Ruby said with a smile. "I've finished looking around here. We can come back for a better shopping trip later. What say we go and get something to eat?"

Weiss looked out the window for a second and then turned back, nodding. "Sure, sounds nice. I know a little café just up the street from here; it's not far."

"Awesome," Ruby said. "Let's go."

Ruby took one last glance back at the store as they walked to the door. She caught Jaune's gaze and waved goodbye to him; he waved back, over the shoulder of the girl he was talking to. Weiss opened the door and the sudden burst of sunlight was blinding to Ruby. Nevertheless, she followed her friend out the door and back into the crowded, busy street of Vale.

Blake stood outside, gazing up at the sky. She'd been walking back to the dorm after her meeting with her bass tutor, when a passing shadow had caught her eye. Her tutor was a Faunus and liked to stay outdoors whenever possible; something to do with what animal her Faunus side had taken, Blake was sure, but it was generally considered bad manners amongst Faunus to ask what animal that was.

Blake now looked upwards, watching a lonely cloud—the only one she could see in the sky—slowly drifting away. Something about clouds had always captured her imagination. Something about floating free, above the ground, free of hatred, discrimination and other worldly troubles.

As Blake watched, the cloud slowly split into two. One smaller chunk of cloud drifted away from the rest, unravelling into wispy threads until it vanished entirely. Something about it made her feel uneasy, though she couldn't determine exactly why.

She turned away, towards the dorm, and swung her bass around her as she walked—it had been hanging off her back, for easy transportation. Now she grabbed the neck with her left hand, pressing down on one of the strings and plucked it with one of the fingers of her right hand. She walked towards the dorm with her eyes glued to the neck, playing through a progression of notes and gradually drifting into a quiet practice of From Shadows.

It felt nice to play the bass with her fingers. The music that White Fang had played tended to be heavier songs, very fast paced and aggressive, and she'd been almost forced to play them with a pick. But there was something about feeling the strings move under her fingers that enraptured her. It made the music feel… physical; more real. As much as she still loved the type of music that White Fang had played, she was glad to be able to play the way she wanted to—at least until she was skilled enough to play songs that fast-paced without a pick.

And that was why she'd come to Beacon: to improve. She'd felt the drive for years; the need to always be getting better, to show up those who'd told her that she'd never amount to anything. She'd gotten a taste of that with White Fang; they'd certainly been successful. But, as much as it pained Blake to admit it, becoming popular among the human population had been the worst thing for the band. She craved that niche fan base they'd started with, the few people who understood what they were fighting for with their music—when they still had to fight for the their place in the world.

They'd been about Faunus rights—fighting for their own rights to be whatever they wanted to be. She'd wanted to make the band popular through their own efforts; through their blood, sweat and tears. Instead, the humans in charge of Grimm Studios had handed them that popularity on a silver platter.

It felt condescending. Like a pat on the head to a child, scared of the monster in the closet. Once they'd been handed global popularity by Grimm, they'd lost all credibility, lost the right to fight. It wasn't long before Blake had grown sick of it all. She was honestly surprised she'd lasted as long as she had;long enough for Yang to learn who she was, and to make her first night at Beacon an awkward night of explanations and rationalisations.

Blake sighed at the thought of Yang—no doubt still asleep where Blake had left her almost two hours ago. It had taken Yang a week or so to fully relax around Blake. She'd often tense up whenever she met Blake's gaze, or Blake would catch Yang staring at her in admiration. That had hurt more than anything else. How could she tell Yang that none of her admiration was deserved? She hadn't done anything. They'd been a local band in a small town, barely in sight of Vale, until a Grimm agent had shown up at one of their shows. Then, almost overnight, they were famous all over Remnant, through no work of their own. Every admiring look she'd received was like a dagger to the heart, reminding her of how far White Fang had fallen, how they'd sold out so easily.

Blake came to a sudden stop when she realised she was standing outside her dorm room already. She blinked in surprised and looked up and down the corridor, making sure she actually was where she thought she was. She knew getting lost was normally Ruby's thing, but the walk had seemed to flash by, faster than she was used to.

She sighed. Thinking about White Fang, about Adam, about her past, always did that. She'd get lost inside her own head for hours before resurfacing, so reaching her dorm so quickly really didn't come as that much of a surprise.

She swung her bass back over her shoulder, letting the head hang down near the ground, and opened the door. The room was dark. By this time of the day, the sun was on the other side of the school and wouldn't be shining in their window, though they should be getting some light, but all the curtains had been drawn, and none of the lights were on.

Yang was lying on her bed, still dressed, curled into a small ball, and snoring lightly. Blake couldn't help but smile; she looked adorable, very different from her normal, brash persona. A shaft of light from the open door shone into the room, and directly onto Yang's face, making her shift in her sleep and roll over with a small moan. Blake stifled a giggle at the sound.

Blake closed the door as quietly as she could and tip-toed to her bed. The bed creaked slightly as she sat down—the kind of creak one only hears when they're trying to be quiet—and she winced. She scooted back and leant against her bed head, swinging her bass around onto her lap.

One of the great things about basses, Blake mused, was that, when they weren't plugged in, they were a lot quieter than normal guitars. And, while playing with her fingers, she could control how loud it went a lot easier as well. So she settled back and continued playing quietly while Yang snored in the bed next to her.

She was halfway through This Will Be the Day when Yang started mumbling.

Blake paused, mid-chorus, and looked over at her. Yang rolled back over, so she was facing towards Blake, mumbled a few more indecipherable words, and lapsed back into silence. Blake chuckled quietly, shook her head, and started the chorus over again.

She finished the song and, as the last note was dying away, Yang mumbled something else. This time Blake put her bass to the side and swung her feet off the edge of the bed. She sat forward, listening intently in an attempt to make out what Yang was saying. There were a few more incoherent ramblings before Blake finally managed to understand any of it.

"Ruby, what're you doing?" Yang mumbled. Blake raised an eyebrow. What was she dreaming about?

"Ruby, calm down, it'll be okay."

Blake's brow furrowed.

"Ruby, please, just calm down." Yang's voice took on a hint of desperation, pleading.

"Ruby! Come back! I know it hurts, but you can't— RUBY, NO!"

Yang jolted awake and shot upright as she screamed. Her face was covered with sweat, some of it dripping off her chin as she panted. Her gaze flicked hurriedly around the room, as if in a panic, like she didn't know where she was. A moment later, Yang relaxed, though her breathing was still hurried and she looked pale, frightened.

Yang looked down and closed her eyes as she forcefully slowed down her breathing in an attempt to calm herself down. After a few seconds she opened her eyes again and flopped back against her pillow with a heavy sigh.

Blake sat where she had been ever since Yang's apparent nightmare had started, frozen in place. She didn't know what to do, what to say, or even if she should do anything.

Yang turned her head toward Blake. "Sorry about that. What were you saying?"

Blake stared at her for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Yang grinned as Blake toppled backwards, giggling madly. It took Blake a little while to recover, but she gradually composed herself. She spun around, lying on her side, head on her pillow, looking at Yang; she was panting slightly form laughing so hard, but she'd recovered enough to give Yang a concerned look.

Yang's smile gradually faded. "So I guess you heard some of that, huh?"

Blake nodded. "It sounded bad."

Yang sighed. "Yeah… You could say that."

Blake was a little unsure of what to say, but decided to take a leap of faith. "You… want to talk about it?"

Yang chuckled bitterly. "Not much to talk about, really."

"Then it shouldn't take long then," Blake said with a lop-sided smile.

Yang shot her a look and broke into a grin as she saw Blake's smile. "Yeah, I guess not…" She took a deep breath before she continued. "Maybe I should rephrase: there's not much I can say. A lot of it is some really personal stuff to Ruby, and I wouldn't go behind her back and tell people without her knowing. I guess, to cut a long story short, Ruby and I lost… someone when we were younger. Neither of us handled it particularly well, but Ruby… Well, it was bad. Even now, she still hasn't fully gotten over it. And, sometimes, I still have nightmares about it, about what happened… and what happened after."

Blake lay on her bed in silence, taking in what Yang had said. She opened her mouth to reply, but Yang cut her off.

"Anyway, enough of that! No sense dwelling on stuff like that, let's go do something fun!" Yang jumped off her bed, standing in a dramatic pose in the middle of the room.

Blake smiled and nodded. If Yang wanted it dropped, Blake would drop it. She knew better than anyone how it felt to want to keep issues away from other people, to sort them out alone.

"What did you have in mind?" Blake asked.

"Hmm…" Yang pondered. "We could go into the city after Ruby and Weiss? Try and meet up with them? Or… just hang out around here, I guess."

Blake smiled. "I'm happy with either, though I have been meaning to do some reading lately… I've slacked off recently, what with all this rehearsing we've done."

"Oh… reading, huh…" Yang muttered.

"We can go into the city if you'd prefer," Blake said.

Yang shook her head. "It's fine. We can stay here. To the gardens?"

Blake nodded with a smile, and fished the book she was reading from her bag. It wasn't until they shut the door behind them that Blake began to wonder how much reading she'd actually be able to do with Yang coming along.

A/N: Okay, this was meant to be the last chapter in this little... 'arc'—for lack of a better word—but this whole Blake thing kind of grew into something a bit bigger than I'd intended. So Chapter 6 is going to round off this little bit of set-up, and then we can get into more interesting things.