"Are you comfy?"

Weiss shrugged slightly before nestling even more into Ruby's warm body. "Quite."

"Well that's good—your feet are freezing by the way."

"Low circulation, my feet are always cold. You'll get used to it."

She could feel Ruby's eyes on her but kept her eyes closed. They'd been tangled up like this all morning. "Is that right? Planning on cuddling with me a lot huh?"

"I had considered it." Weiss started to pull away. "But if it's something you're not interested in then—"

Ruby quickly pulled her back. "No no, it's okay. I can adjust to cold feet."

Weiss grinned—another victory. "Good," she nodded against Ruby's shoulder. "Good…because I believe these cuddling sessions will be beneficial to us both."

"Oh yeah? Why? Because from this position I can easily grab your butt?" She felt a hand squeeze her backside and she squeaked involuntarily.

"Ruby!" She cried and kicked her under the sheets. "Will you stop that!"

"Why?" Ruby chuckled. "You have a very nice butt, Weiss. You must do clenches."

"I do not do…clenches. I have an extremely rigorous workout routine!" She again started to draw away and this time Ruby let her. "You can't just go randomly grabbing a person's bottom like that. It's indecent."

"You're my girlfriend though." Ruby pouted. "I just spent the last ten minutes with my tongue in your mouth."

Weiss knew her face was a very bright shade of red right now. She shook her head, letting her hair fall over her face to shield her. "That's—that's not the point. The kissing is very nice but that took us some time to adjust to. Any future groping will take equal time."

As she stewed in her own embarrassment, Weiss felt Ruby's warm fingers dance along her forehead and push away her hair. She met a pair of silver eyes looking up at her—any previous playfulness now replaced with genuine affection. "I'm sorry I did that without asking—I know you're not comfortable with all this."

"You don't have to apologize," Weiss sighed. "I know it's frustrating that I'm so…reserved about it."

"Weiss, listen to me." Ruby sat up and put her hand on the back of Weiss' neck. Her thumb rubbing along Weiss' skin. "It's not about—if you don't want to do this sort of thing, all you have to do is tell me and I would never push you or leave you because of it. The sexy stuff—"

"Please stop calling it 'the sexy stuff'."

Ruby frowned. "I don't know what else to call it!"

"Intimacy!"

"Intimacy?" Ruby spoke the word again. "Intimacy…" Her lip curled. "Look…whatever you want to call it, it isn't a must have for me. It's not something I ever even thought about before you but I just don't want you to not do it because you think I'm too innocent. If you don't have a desire to do the sexy stu—" Weiss felt her eye twitch. "The intimacy, then that's okay. Just don't hold out because you're trying to shelter me. I'm twenty and I've read Blake's books before."

"You mean Blake's filth."

Ruby smirked. "Oh it is, trust me. But they're fun." Weiss raised a brow. "To read! Wow, there's no questions about your innocence!"

Weiss smacked Ruby's shoulder but felt herself smiling regardless. A moment passed and she settled back down a bit next to her girlfriend and took a deep breath.

"Perhaps I have been a bit…standoffish with the physical intimacy between us. We've just been dealing with so much and I didn't want to make things anymore complicated." Weiss felt extremely vulnerable in this moment. She was baring herself to Ruby, figuratively, and sought great courage in her next sentence. "I'm…scared."

Suddenly, she felt Ruby's fingers dancing across her face and she closed her eyes. It was something she'd done for Ruby before to calm her down. To have the favor being returned sent butterflies through her stomach.

"Of what?"

She tried to focus on the feeling of Ruby's fingers and let her mind sweep back to the memories of how often Ruby fought for her—for their friendship and everything that led to where they were now. She needed it now, more than ever.

"Of disappointing you."

The fingers on her face stilled and silence lingered over them for ten long seconds before Weiss opened her eyes. She was met with the sight of Ruby looming over her with sadness in her face. "How could you ever disappoint me? Weiss, I love you."

"Growing up…that's all I ever was, Ruby—a disappointment. My father he…he never gave me any credit. Anything that I did and took pride in, her scoffed at and belittled. I could never be enough for him, I never tried hard enough to satisfy him and I struggled for a long time with hating myself because of it. I push myself so hard with all that I do because I have to. I don't want to disappoint the people I love."

Ruby's expression hardened with each word Weiss spoke and when she finished, Ruby pursed her lips and inhaled a deep breath.

"Weiss, I would never do that to you. I admire you so much and everything you do for me—I've been in a bad place lately, I know that. But you're so strong, strong enough to get me through it and I can't even tell you how much that means to me."

"I know," Weiss shook her head, refusing to cry. "I know and I believe you when you say it—but this voice in the back of my head won't stop screaming that one day you'll wake up and be like him. You'll hate me and I'll be alone again. I was alone and cold when we met—I pushed you away because it's easier to be alone. Nobody can hurt you if you don't let them get close enough to matter."

Ruby leaned down and rested her head in the crook of Weiss' neck and her arms wrapped around Weiss gently. At the sudden contact, Weiss returned the hug in kind. "I'm sorry you had to grow up like that," Ruby whispered into Weiss' neck and she felt a soft kiss applied to her skin. "I hate it, I hate the thought of you being alone. It's awful and your father is so mean and I'm sorry."

Ruby was crying and Weiss rubbed a hand up and down her back. "Shh, it's okay, Ruby. I'm okay—I got through it."

"You did," Ruby drew back and put her hands on Weiss' cheeks. "You're so strong, Weiss. You dealt with it all and still turned out like you are. With the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met."

"I don't know about that—"

"No," Ruby shouted and then kissed her. "No," she mumbled against Weiss' lips. "You did, you're…you're a super tough cookie, Weiss. The toughest cookie."

Despite her tears, Ruby made her smile again and Weiss was grateful for it. "Tougher than those cookies you and I attempted at Beacon?"

"Oh…wow I forgot about those." Ruby sniffled and laughed breathlessly. "I nearly broke a tooth." Before Weiss could say anything else, Ruby kissed her again. "See though! You failed at baking cookies, and I love cookies—but I still thought you were amazing and perfect!"

"Ruby," Weiss hated that word. "I'm not perfect."

"I know, but that's…part of why I think it. You're not perfect—you snore when you sleep on your side and you leave white hair all over everything. You eat really slow, like ridiculously slow. I'm pretty sure I've seen your salad go bad before you finished it."

"Hey!"

Ruby cut her off with a finger on her lips. "You have flaws, Weiss. It's true—but to me, that's why you're perfect. Perfectly imperfect and I love all of it. So if you're scared of being intimate with me because you think it might not be great then so be it. If it happens and it's awkward and crummy then we'll think back on it like we do the burnt cookies. Just another time things didn't go great but we got through it and made more memories."

To hear Ruby speak like this was almost surreal. There was no trace of a fifteen-year-old girl. Ruby had her moments, and the child inside of her would probably never go away—but she wasn't a kid anymore.

"When did you become so good with words?" Weiss asked, pushing Ruby's bangs aside.

She was met with a brilliant smile. "My therapist uses them a lot—she enjoys her speeches."

"Dr. Drake is a highly trained psychiatrist with years of experience. She went to the finest—"

"Weiss," Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying she's bad at her job, she's great and I have really appreciated being able to talk to her. I'm just saying the lady can be a little long winded and I think it's rubbing off on me."

The words she wanted to say formed in her head and Weiss tried to channel her inner Yang Xiao Long. "Hmm, well maybe I should try rubbing off on you." She added a wink for good measure but was met with a blank stare.

"What?"

"You know," she could save this. "I could…rub against you—our bodies," Ruby seemed even more confused. "Sexy stuff!" Weiss cried and Ruby burst out laughing.

"Wow, you really are bad at this." Weiss frowned but couldn't hold it when Ruby kissed her. "That's okay though—I still love you." As the kissing started again, she felt Ruby's hand slide up her nightshirt and fingertips danced across abdomen. She moaned meekly into Ruby's mouth and her breathing started to quicken.

Reaching up, she tangled her hands in Ruby's hair as her girlfriend's fingers went higher and higher until they were ghosting over a spot they had never touched before. Weiss let out a very audible gasp at the contact and Ruby broke the kiss.

"Tell me if it's too much," she whispered before kissing Weiss' collarbone.

Weiss remained silent and let Ruby continue her ministrations.

She was sinking, drowning even and loving every blissful second of it. Ruby was so warm and inviting. Weiss wanted to touch every single part of her, but for now she couldn't stop playing with her hair. Each part of Ruby deserved the utmost attention and admiration.

This, she could do this—she could become addicted to this. She wanted Ruby to touch her more, to explore her more.

Just as she was about to express this feeling—there was a knock on their door.

"Weiss!" It was Yang and she was about to lose her other arm if Weiss had anything to say about it. "Get off my sister and get up, right now. We have a serious problem."

Ruby gave her an apologetic look and removed her hand from under Weiss' shirt. The moment gone and Weiss wanted to cry all over again for entirely new reasons.

Quickly, the girls got out of bed and straightened themselves out as best they could. By the time Weiss opened the door, Ruby was putting on her skirt and grabbing her boots.

"Yang, what in Remnant do you think—"

"Now is not the time, princess—we have a serious fucking problem."

The curse was heavy and matched with Yang's anxious body language it made for an unsettling combination. "What is it?"

Yang glanced at Ruby for a moment before turning back to Weiss. "It's…your father. He's here."

It always amazed Weiss how quickly her father could destroy her. Most times, he didn't even have to speak—just the look on his face could tear down any self confidence she'd built.

This was no different. The moment Yang mentioned his arrival, everything good in her life seemed to shatter. She hastily dressed—spending torturous minutes trying to decide what to wear and knowing it wouldn't matter. As if she could impress him with clothes. Prove to him that she'd matured and was capable.

She wouldn't be surprised if he screamed at her the minute he saw her. After all, she was responsible for his house being torn apart by Pyrrha when she was still hunting Ruby. It was all her fault; she went after Ruby that day.

Stupid, you're so stupid, Weiss.

They sat in Winter's office just waiting and Weiss had never felt so terrified. Ruby was with her but she honestly wished Ruby would go away. Her father would eat Ruby alive, especially now with how fragile she was—but Ruby insisted and Weiss was too messed up to care.

Only when Ruby put a hand on her knee did Weiss realize her leg was bouncing.

"Hey, relax." Ruby gave her a smile but Weiss on scolded herself.

If she looked nervous, he would pounce on her and berate her for being weak. She needed to be strong, she needed to prove to him that she was strong.

Hastily, she shoved Ruby's hand off her leg. "Ruby, please! Now is not the time. You need to either sit up straight or leave because my father will not tolerate you slouching."

Ruby frowned, a wash of hurt passing through her before she pushed it away. "I'm not here to please your father, Weiss. I'm here for you."

"If you wish to be here for me then you will please my father. I need him to accept you, Ruby. If he doesn't then I will lose you."

"What?" Ruby shook her head dismissively. "Weiss you're an adult, we both are. He can't take me away from you."

Weiss knew very well that he could. He could take her from everyone if he spent enough money. "Ruby, please just be on your best behavior. For me?"

Silver eyes stared at her, studied her and just when Weiss expected Ruby to be defiant again, she sighed and straightened in her seat.

'I love you', Weiss mouthed silently as footsteps approached the door. Ruby gave her a smile just as the door opened and a chill filled the air around them.

"Weiss," her father spoke and his voice rumbled through her like a tremor. She swallowed thickly and stood.

"Father, it's wonderful to see you." She said with a gentle curtsy that he casually ignored before moving around to sit at Winter's desk.

He quickly laid a picture down on her desk face first so he didn't have to see it. Weiss wasn't sure what the picture was, but clearly it wasn't anything he was interested in.

She took in his appearance, fully dressed in a business suit and as powerful as ever. He put his hands on the desk and remained silent as Weiss retook her seat. He had yet to acknowledge Ruby and Weiss took it upon herself.

"Father, this is my…partner from Beacon. Ruby Rose."

He looked at Ruby for a moment and Weiss saw her wave.

"Hello, sir."

He quickly brushed her off and looked at Weiss again. "I had an interesting return to my home, Weiss." She hated the way he said her name.

She hated the way her head bowed when he said it even more. "I—I know, I'm sorry, father. We were attacked."

"We?" He asked, clearly knowing the answer already.

"I—"

"It was my fault, sir." Ruby spoke up and Weiss looked at her anxiously. The last thing she wanted was Ruby speaking out of turn. "Your daughter offered me shelter when I wasn't taking care of myself and something was chasing me. I led it to your home and the damage was my fault. I apologize."

He regarded Ruby for a moment—taking in her words and Weiss was prepared for him to belittle her and tell her to leave.

Instead, he looked at her again. "Weiss, how could you be so irresponsible? Bringing people into my home without my permission? You truly do lack common sense, don't you?"

"Hey!" Ruby shouted and Weiss jumped. "I told you it was my fault. Weiss was just being a good person and helping me. Don't talk to her like that!"

"Ruby—" Weiss tried, but it was far too late.

"She's my daughter and I will speak with her however I please." He didn't even raise his voice. He wasn't threatened by her in the slightest. "It means little now, the repairs have begun on the home and Weiss will be returning to it this afternoon. Your sister has given far too much leeway here, clearly. This riffraff you've surrounded yourself with has become an annoyance."

Weiss felt like she was suffocating—she couldn't go back to that home, to a future that wasn't hers. She would rather die than sit in that home and rot away all by herself. She wanted to scream, to tell him no and grab Ruby's hand so they could run.

Instead, her head lowered again and she submitted, as she always did, because she was too scared to fight back.

"You won't take Weiss anywhere! She's a grown woman and she can make her own decisions!"

Her father rolled his eyes before standing up again. "Weiss, I wished to have an adult conversation with you about all of this, but I see you've decided to bring this ignorant brat with you and have made my decision far easier. I'll expect you to pack up your things and be ready by three o'clock. I have matters to tend to with your sister about improving this base and clearing out the trash. With your sister off gallivanting through Vale with Faunus trash, General Ironwood has given me full approval to begin bringing in the dust based weaponry for his soldiers and any huntsmen and huntresses are no longer welcome here."

"B—but Winter's a huntress?"

He turned on her with a bit more anger in his eyes. "I know what I said, Weiss!"

Out of the corner of her eye, as she cowered, she saw Ruby take a step in front of her. He once again ignored her. "Your sister has let all of this go to her head. She believes she's saving the world, doing good and all she's doing is keeping a broken system alive that has only done more damage to the world. Now she's working with a Faunus? The time of hunters has passed—dust and military is the future. Arming our soldiers with the firepower required to stop the Grimm is how we will protect Remnant. Anyone who refuses to move forward will be…" his gaze turned to Ruby, disgust in his voice. "Dealt with." With that, he pushed past Ruby and made his exit—but not before one more reminder. "Three o'clock, Weiss. Not a second later."

She flinched when the door shut behind him and Ruby was shaking with rage.

Weiss tried to stand on her shaky legs but only made it so far before falling back down into her seat. This seemed to break Ruby from her anger.

"Weiss," she felt a pair of hands on her arm, helping her up. "Weiss, I won't let him take you home. Yang and I…my father—we won't let him."

Ruby could say whatever she wanted, Weiss knew the truth. She shook free of Ruby's grasp and walked away from her. "I have to go pack." Ruby tried to stop her but Weiss never stopped moving.

The day dragged on as they always did, Weiss felt incredibly sullen as she put her things into a lone suitcase and tried her best not to touch anything that belonged to Ruby. Since Ruby was released from the medical bay, she'd been staying with Weiss almost exclusively. There was a limited amount of beds anyway so them bunking together made sense.

All her life Weiss had cherished her personal space—she never shared a bed with anyone and couldn't imagine trying to adjust to having someone else in bed with her. It seemed illogical and uncomfortable; to have some useless need for company in the night.

Now, she was terrified of never sharing a bed with Ruby again. It had only been a few weeks but she'd memorized the feeling of Ruby's body pressed against her. The sound of Ruby's breathing and how sometimes she would roll over on top of her. Weiss loved that, she felt so safe when Ruby held her that the rest of the world could collapse around them and she'd be perfectly fine with it.

Stop, Weiss. Time to let all that go. You're too much of a coward to fight for it anyway.

She could never begin to explain the hold her father had on her. Like a vice grip on her courage he always seemed to be able to break her. What made it worse was the lack of effort it required. He would berate her and stomp on her confidence without any doubt he could destroy it.

Her only memories of her father were the blind hatred he'd always had for her. She often wondered why he tried so hard to keep her home. He never wanted to spend time with her—never tried to connect with her. No, she was the leftover of the loss he would never forgive her for. The only reason he kept her locked away was because it made her miserable and he felt like she deserved it.

Weiss stopped packing, emotion overwhelming her as she covered her mouth to stop herself from sobbing too loudly. She was going to be going back to her prison—without Ruby or Yang or Blake. Without Winter—or anyone who had ever cared about her.

She didn't want to go, she didn't want to leave her friends, her girlfriend. She wanted to be with them and to be happy—she wanted to be strong enough to stand up to her father.

But she wasn't—she was weak, just like he said she was.

"Weiss," a sharp voice made her jump and she turned in a flurry, nearly knocking Ruby over. "Oh Weiss," Ruby pulled her in close and hugged her. "Do you have everything you need?"

A wave of misery ran through her. "I—I do," she felt so defeated. "I have more clothes back at my father's home. This is just—"

"No," Ruby cut her off. "Do you have enough to make it through at least a week?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. "What?"

"We're leaving."

She recoiled. "We're…what? We're leaving? Who's we?"

Ruby moved across the room and started picking up some of her own clothes and shoving them into what space she could find in Weiss suitcase. "You, me and Yang. My dad and Uncle. Jaune and Pyrrha."

"Pyrrha? Ruby what are you—"

"They're going to execute her, Weiss." Ruby spoke frantically as she continued to throw what she could into Weiss' overflowing suitcase. "Your father and General Ironwood have both said it. She's an abomination and they want don't want to waste more lien holding her. Winter wants her alive so your father is going against her. Weiss, there's not going to be a base for Winter to come back to. He's taking over and Ironwood is letting him. We have to go to Vale, find Blake and Winter and get away from them."

"Ruby," it was such a flood of information that Weiss could barely keep it all straight. She would not put it past her father to do such a thing—Winter had built a great life for herself here. She was in control of her own life, and their father was never a fan of letting control go. Still, they couldn't really do this. They couldn't escape this place. "We'll never make it; Ruby he won't let us leave."

"We have to try!" Ruby raised her voice and stepped towards Weiss. "You have to be strong, Weiss. You have to fight, like you've always told me to. Don't give up, remember? What good are you to anyone if you give up?"

Weiss stared into Ruby's eyes and saw so much strength in them. Beyond that, she saw her own future. She saw a girl who came back to her, who never gave up on her all those years ago and showed her what it meant to open up and be accepted. If she gave up, she'd go back to her father and never be happy again. Not like she was just this morning, laying in bed with Ruby—kissing her, it was the greatest feeling in the world.

It was worth fighting for.

"How are we getting out of here?" She asked with more determination and Ruby broke into a big smile.

"That's my girl." Ruby hugged her and Weiss felt a surge of harmony in her heart. She could do this, with Ruby at her side she could finally get away from him.

Assuming Ruby had an actual plan. "Seriously though, how?"

"My father and Uncle are trying to get us an airship. Some of the soldiers are incredibly loyal to Winter and Uncle Qrow is trying to find some to help. He's working his charm and my dad is doing his best to get the code to Pyrrha's cell so we can free her. If we get Pyrrha she can guide us out. They can't stop her."

"Two, Three, One, Four." Weiss muttered and Ruby stared at her blankly. "That's the code to Pyrrha's cell. You'll need my handprint though; Winter didn't rescind my credentials. I can get you in there."

"Then we have to get you to Jaune right now!"

Ruby started pulling her towards the door. "Wait! What—how do we even know she'll come with us? You've seen her, Ruby. You've heard the other's talk about her. She thinks she's a monster."

"Jaune says he can get through to her and we can't…" Ruby seemed to hesitate and bite her bottom lip. "I can't let her die again."

"Then let's go get her." Weiss moved to the door again but Ruby didn't follow her. "What?"

"You go, find Jaune and Yang. I'll keep packing and go find my uncle and help him get an airship."

Weiss felt herself panicking. "Ruby, it isn't wise to separate, I—" she felt the fear bubbling up again. "I need you."

"Hey," Ruby stepped towards her and put her hands on the sides of Weiss' face. "You can do this. You are Weiss Sch—" Ruby stopped herself. "You are Weiss of team RWBY. You are a huntress and a tough cookie. You are my partner, the best partner anyone could ever ask for and you can do this. I believe in you."

Each word Ruby spoke was anchored by the look in her eyes. Ruby believed everything she said and Weiss found so much strength in her. Frantically, Weiss kissed her hard and then pulled her in for a hug. "Be careful, you understand me?"

"I do," Ruby nodded against her shoulder. "You too, okay? I love you."

Pulling away, Weiss backed towards the door. "I love you too."

Ruby gave her a memorable smile. "Good, now go!"

She ran.

This is the penultimate chapter in the first part of this series. The second part will be coming soon after this one ends. The support for this has been outstanding and I cannot thank you all enough for it.