Ruby sat on her bed in her dorm. Crescent Rose lay in pieces around her, carefully organized, as she worked on polishing each piece.

"So guys, what do ya think?" Yang asked, and twirled, showing off her outfit for the night.

"Very stylish," Weiss complimented. She was just finishing up brushing her long hair.

"Thanks, the town won't know what hit it." She boxed the air.

"Neptune has assured me and Blake that the selection of horror movies he and Sun have picked out is quite extensive." She set her brush down, and started putting her hair up. "So we should be well preoccupied."

"What about you, Ruby?" Yang turned to her sister. "You make any plans for All Grimm's Eve with your secret boyfriend?"

"Oh no," Ruby answered. "He had a party to go to, so I'll just be chilling here. Catch up on some of my studies, that kind of stuff."

A moment of silence followed. "He's going to a party...without you?"

Ruby looked up at the tone of Yang's voice. "Yang-"

"What a jerk!" She put her hands on her hips. "Why didn't he invite you as a plus one?"

Ruby sighed. "I told you, our relationship is complicated-"

"So complicated he can't even take you to parties with him? You guys have already been on a number of dates!" She paced from the door back to the middle of the room. "Why if I were you, I'd crash that lame party of his and give him a piece of my mind!"

"It's not that big of a deal, Yang."

"Heck, I'd give him a piece of my mind just for making you keep so many secrets." She crossed her arms. "It just doesn't seem fair. Like he's taking advantage of you."

"He's not!"

"What kind of boyfriend wants to keep his girlfriend a secret?" Weiss asked. "You can say all you like that he's nice, but something just doesn't feel right about all this. Like, is he embarrassed to be seen in public with you, or something?"

"N-no," Ruby argued. "He's-"

"Weiss, it's time to go," Blake said quietly.

"Right," Weiss agreed, and stood. She looked back to Ruby. "It's your business, but you can hardly blame us for trying to watch out for you." She left the room with Blake.

Yang walked towards the door herself, muttering, "Especially when he's some jerk who doesn't even take you to parties with him..." The door closed behind her with a click.

Ruby groaned, and flopped back on her bed. She stared up at the ceiling, listening to the silence. Her chest felt tight, and her throat felt like it was closing up. Why did they have to say such things? Why couldn't they trust her? Why did they have to assume the worst? If they even realized who they were talking about... she bet they'd change their minds lickity split. Ozpin was always spoken of in the highest regards, why couldn't her 'secret boyfriend' get the same treatment?

She rested an arm across her eyes. She was so tired, in more ways than one. She could feel the ache in her muscles, the weight of her lungs. Their words echoed in her head, spinning and twisting. She lifted her arm up again, her eyes narrowing.

Ozpin stood with Glynda, listening as his old colleagues shared and exchanged stories, filling in the blanks of the time they'd spent apart. He sipped from his wine glass. It turned out that Barrie knew many more people than Ozpin could have ever given him credit for. The room was packed, and the man himself was constantly in motion, drifting between conversations and greeting people as if he knew them all quite well.

"And I said, 'Tune her? I thought you said tuna!'" a brunet told in their little group. A round of appreciative chuckles was shared. "Ahaha, yeah, I then had to pay over 3000 lien in damages."

"Bad luck, that!" Barrie said, making his way to their group. He was a portly man with a blond toupee. He clapped the brunet on the back, and looked between them all. "I would hope you others aren't in such financial straits?"

A ginger lifted his finger from around his glass. "My niece is getting married. I mean to give her a tea set as a wedding gift, but you wouldn't believe how much they can go for."

"Aw, but congratulations on your niece's marriage! Speaking of which, that reminds me..." He lowered his voice, and leaned in towards the middle of their circle. "I was actually planning to make an announcement about it later tonight, but I'll let you fellows have a preview. It's part of the reason I decided to invite all of you here tonight." He held out his arm, turning it so the underside faced up, and pulled up his sleeve. In glittering golden cursive, his tattoo spelled Moira Ash. He beamed at them all. "I discovered my soulmate!"

A round of "congratulations" was said between them all.

He straightened back up, pulling his sleeve down. "I know, I know, I'm so excited" He was practically trembling. "I feel as giddy as a schoolgirl! To think, that my tattoo would turn in my old age."

"You're not that old, Barrie," the ginger countered.

"Thank you." He rested a hand on the ginger's shoulder. "It just goes to show, true love can find you, no matter how ancient you are."

"And sometimes it comes breaking down your door to get you," the brunet said. "I came across my soulmate when she clocked me in a massive bar fight. But she patched me up afterwards and footed the hospital bill to make up for it."

"Haha, life's that way sometimes, huh?" He looked around at the others. "What about you? Found or still hoping?"

The ginger shook his head.

"Not yet," said Glynda.

He could almost feel the damning letters burning on his arm. "I have a feeling my tattoo will always be brown."

"Oh, don't say that," Barrie said. "I'm sure Mrs or Mr Right is out there for you somewhere."

He tilted his head in an uncommitted nod, and shrugged. He went to take another sip of his wine, and froze. He stared past Barrie's shoulder, eyes widening, breath vanishing. There, timidly maneuvering through the crowd, wearing what appeared to be a cheap wolf costume but unmistakably her, was his soulmate. He straightened back up, turning his gaze to the others. "Glynda will you hold this for me?" he requested, not even waiting to hear her answer before passing his glass over. "I need to make a call."

"Uh, yes, but, Clark?" she questioned and spun on the spot as he walked past her. He circled around, first making sure that his friends lost track of him in the crowd. Then his eyes zeroed in on the wandering Ruby. He went up behind her, and tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around. "Oh there you are-" she started to say.

He gripped her by the arm. "May I have a word with you?" he ground out. He lead her through the room, avoiding people as much as they could, and they stepped out of the apartment into the hall. He then pulled her over to the nearby utility closet, and they entered, Ozpin pulling on a nearby chain and turning on the light. He let go of her arm, and rounded on her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I-"

"How did you even find me? I didn't tell you where the party was."

"Oh believe me, it wasn't easy." She adjusted the wolf-themed hat on her head, pushing the snout up. "It took a while, but eventually I got the info from a janitor. He was really bummed out that he wasn't invited to the party too, but honestly I don't blame you guys for not inviting him. He smelled really weird and was kind of creepy and tried to offer me a cup of tea but I don't like tea so-"

"Okay stop, stop." He pinched at the bridge of his nose, his face a grimace. "First of all, don't talk to Steve." He let out a breath. "Second of all, do I even need to tell you how foolhardy it is for you to have come out here like this?"

"But I really needed to talk to you!"

"About what? What could possibly be so important that you couldn't text me or call me or just wait until we saw each other again?" He started to pace in that small space. "Do you understand at all the risk you put me, yourself, and our relationship through? It's even worse that you were trying to seek me out. Do you not realize how strange and suspicious that seems? Especially when I'm with friends and colleagues, have you forgotten that we need to keep up appearances?"

"That's easy for you to say," she said suddenly, glaring at him. "I bet everything's just peachy for you, nobody keeps bothering you about where you go at night, who you're seeing, or anything!"

"Bothering- wait." He halted. "'Who you're seeing...' Do your friends know something?"

She immediately looked down to the ground. "Look, when my tattoo first turned orange, I told my team immediately." He felt his heart stop. "So when they asked about it later, I couldn't just deny that I'd found my soulmate. Like 'whoops, false alarm, my tattoo went back to being brown!'" She looked up again. "But I didn't tell them who my soulmate is, and I won't let them look at my tattoo."

He rubbed at his temples, falling back to lean against the wall. "Ruby-"

"And you don't know how hard it is!" She began to gesture wildly with her arms. "To have to keep so many secrets from your closest friends all the time, from your own family! To have to lie so often and dodge so many questions! For them to not listen or trust you anymore! They say such awful things about you sometimes!"

She paused for a moment in her rant, and Clark could see tears forming in her eyes. "They call you a jerk and say you're weird and that you're embarrassed of me or that you don't treat me well or that you're taking advantage of me. And they never listen to me, no matter how much I try to defend you and say that you're really nice!" She sniffed. "And I just feel so alone and bottled up and I need your help because I don't know how much longer I can keep up 'appearances.'" She started crying, and bowed her head into her hands.

Clark could only stare, shocked. Then, he took a step towards her. Slowly, he moved his arms around her. She reciprocated, hugging him around the middle and crying into his chest. He hugged her very gently, feeling her shudder every time she drew breath. He waited until she started to quiet. "I'm sorry," he said softly. He had forgotten how young she was. He'd forgotten that she was still growing. He'd forgotten that despite how strong and energetic she was, she was still so small and fragile. "I didn't realize how much more difficult this all was for you."

His fingers traced lazy circles on her back. "I'm sorry I haven't been there for you." He felt her breathing start to even out. "You shouldn't have to defend me against your friends and sister. They have every right to be suspicious of me. All they know is that I'm just some strange man who's dating their team leader and sister, and making her keep secrets. Even if they knew who I was, they'd have every reason to hate and despise me."

"But it's just not fair," she blubbered.

"It doesn't have to be fair," he told her. "That's just the way it is. The way it needs to be." He could feel his tattoo on his arm, and could almost swear that he felt a tug between it and her respective tattoo. "I'd like for you...to come and talk to me, when you feel alone. When you need the support and encouragement and guidance. So that you don't feel the need to pull risky stunts like this." He felt her grip the back of his shirt. "I'm begging you, have courage. Please be strong, and just do your very best to keep this all a secret. Our relationship depends on it. I will help, in whatever ways I can, so we can get through all this together. But you must have courage. Please?" He leaned back, and reached under her jaw to tilt her head up.

Some tears were still leaking from her eyes to drift down her cheeks, but there was something in her expression. Something firm and fiery, like iron, like a furnace. She nodded. "Yeah." She hugged him again, finally done crying. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

"I was just... it got to me."

"It's perfectly understandable." He could feel his own fate being sealed as the next few words fell out of his mouth. "I'll be here for you, from now on. You won't have to feel alone in all this."

She let out a relieved little sigh. "Thank you."

He nodded. He tightened his hug for just a moment, then released her and stepped back. "Wait here, for a moment." He brushed her bangs back. "I'll walk you home."

She rubbed at her eye. "Okay."

He stepped past her, and exited the closet. He re-entered the apartment, back among the noise and people and music. He grabbed his coat off the hanger, using it to hide the tear stains on the front of his shirt. He found Glynda, still holding his glass of wine, though she'd moved to have a seat on the couch. He leaned over towards her, speaking in a low voice. "I'm very sorry, but something came up. Could you give Barrie my excuses?"

"Sure, but what happened?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "What call was it you had to make? Did something happen?"

"Nothing." He turned and started to go. "I'll see you at school Monday." He grabbed his cane as he exited. He retrieved Ruby from the utility closet, who had stood waiting patiently. As she moved past him out into the hall, he reached up, and turned out the light.