"Come on, Blake! You can do this!" Ruby shouted.

"B-but-"

Yang cut her off. "No buts! Just grab it!"

That comment caused Ruby to snicker. "Hehehe, butts."

Weiss gave her a look. "What are you, five?"

Ruby pouted and sank her lips on the surface of the water, blowing thousands of tiny droplets at Weiss.

"Agh!" Weiss held her hands out to block the attack. "Stop it!"

Ruby snickered and continued the assault.

Yang ignored the two. "If ya do this, you'll be more superior than all the cats in the land!"

Blake cursed herself, knowing she hated water. Yeah, she already got in the river, but the ocean was different. It was more vast and… salty. Her friends seemed to be enjoying swimming in the cool ocean, and she was getting lonely on shore. The scorching sun had been beating down on her for a few hours now, and she could use some relief.

"Fine!" she reluctantly shouted back.

Yang pumped her fist in the air. "Yes! That's my brave kitty cat!"

Not only were the three swimming in the ocean, they found vines to help swing them in to have more fun. Predators were lurking below, but the group decided that they needed some much needed amusement after what they've been through the last few days.

The faunus took a deep breath to prepare herself. She kicked off her black flats and hesitantly grabbed a lengthy, green vine that had swung the other three in the ocean.

"You can do it, Blake!" Ruby encouraged. "I promise it's worth it!"

Weiss looked over and saw a bubbly smile on the brunette's face like she was on cloud nine, causing her to shake her head. "Apparently, too worth it…"

Blake jumped off the mini-cliff with a yelp, immediately regretting her decision. She swung directly to the three who were treading water, causing them to hastily scurry out of the way.

She hit the water and immediately felt refreshed. The ocean wasn't freezing, but not hot either. Her head breached the top and she opened her mouth to gasp, air filling her lungs.

Yang stared at the faunus and chuckled, proud of the joke she planned to say. "You're such a wet pussy."

Blake frowned. "You wanted me to jump in just for that stupid pun, didn't you?"

"You know me so well~" the blonde teased. "The water isn't so bad, is it?"

"No," Blake shook her head. "This feels nice."

"Does your cuts hurt?" Yang asked. "I know they hurt more in salt water, so-"

"Yang," Blake interjected. "They're fine."

The blonde smiled, so happy that her friend had recovered. She turned around when she heard a splashing sound, only to see Ruby swimming after Weiss, who was trying to desperately get away from her.

"I noticed the princess ditched the leave-patch, too," Yang grinned. "Looks like everyone's recovering nicely."

Blake tread the water, savoring the coolness. "Yes, everything's finally calmed down. You were right. We needed this."

The two looked over when they heard Weiss yelp. "Gah! Ruby, get off me!"

Ruby hugged the girl tightly. "Aw, you know you love me!"

"Still," Yang continued. "I hope it doesn't take forever to get off this island."

Blake floated on her back. "We have an S.O.S. signal lit at all times. Let's just try to enjoy ourselves. This won't last forever."

The blonde took those words to heart, glad that Blake at least thought they had a chance to get leave the island. The black smoke lingered up high in the distance.

"You're right," Yang floated on her back and linked arms with Blake so they wouldn't drift apart. "Lets look at this as a vacay."

The faunus couldn't help but snicker. "An unexpected vacay."

"Ahhhh," Yang sighed in relief. "Can't get over how good this feels…"

"Good thing it's never cold here," Blake muttered. "We got lucky."

Yang laughed from the comment. "Still too hot."

The two heard shouting in the distance, from what they could tell, it was from Weiss.

"Ruby get off me or so help me-"

"Just accept it, Weiss!" Ruby beamed. "Accept my love!"

Weiss trudged back on shore with Ruby teetering behind. "If you keep following me, I'll get Nora to shit on you like she did to Yang!"

The brunette gasped in feigned horror. "You wouldn't!"

Weiss carefully picked up the sloth, who was chilling on a tree trunk in the shade while the four swam. "I would."

"Brrah!" Nora squealed in delight.

Weiss wrapped the animal around her neck. "She agrees."

"Nora!" Ruby yelped. "How could you? I'm hurt!"

"Brrah," Nora cooed and nuzzled Weiss' neck, eliciting a smile from the white-haired girl.

"You like Weiss so much you'd crap on people for her?" Ruby asked. "That's true friendship right there."

Weiss stifled a giggle.

Yang and Blake joined the two on shore, the blonde wondering what the yelling was about.

"What're you arguing about now?" she asked.

"Reprimand your sister, brute," Weiss seethed. "I can only take so much physical contact."

Yang took this as her chance to tease the girl and wrapped her arms around her neck, careful not to disturb the sloth. "Awww, you know you love it~"

Weiss was fuming and yanked away, slightly blushing. "S-stop that," she weakly protested. "I swear, you two will be the death of me."

The blonde got butterflies in her stomach at the mere sight of Weiss blushing. "A-anyways," she saw the smoke barely linger in the air. "We should make the fire stronger. Rubes, can you get some wood?"

"Aye, aye!" Ruby mocked a salute and sped off to the tree lines, careful not to venture too far in the jungle.

While the other three tried to keep the S.O.S signal flaring, Ruby set out on her mission. It didn't take long to find several large twigs that could easily be snapped off the trees. Once she had gathered a large amount, she turned course to head back to shore.

She stepped on what she thought was a tree root, only to hear it hiss.

"AGH!" the brunette screamed, dropping the supplies and falling backwards in terror.

The root began to slither its way to Ruby, spitting out its tongue to get a whiff of the girl.

As it approached her foot, she started crawling backwards desperately. "S-s-snake!"

The reptile was faster than she thought, just as it was about to strike her ankle, a black blur dashed in front of her.

Ruby looked up and saw Blake shielding her, with the spear in hand. Apparently, the faunus had smacked the snake back with her weapon, temporarily stunning it.

"You okay?" Blake asked, eyes firmly on the dazed snake.

"Y-yeah," Ruby replied as she found her feet to stand. "Thanks."

Blake twirled the spear and got in a defensive position. "Don't thank me yet."

The snake slowly slithered its way back to the pair, carefully taking in its opponent. Blake made sure to stay in front of Ruby, the last thing she wanted was to see her get hurt.

The reptile let out another menacing hiss, debating to lunge or not. Blake made sure to keep the spear in its view in an attempt to intimidate it.

The plan failed, however, and as the snake was about to strike, it felt its tail being jabbed.

It turned its head to the attacker, hissing in pain.

"Weiss!" Blake yelped.

Weiss took her spear out of the tail and got in a defensive position, waiting for the snake to strike. It slithered angrily to the girl as she backed away, terrified of what she got herself into.

Before the reptile could even lunge, its head was impaled in the side from an unknown assailant.

"Yang?" Ruby asked, still shaken. "You did it!"

The blonde smirked and took out the weapon from the snake's head. "Everyone okay?"

Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Thank you, Yang."

Yang was speechless. She remembered that on the first day they shipwrecked, Weiss said she would never thank her for anything. Up until this point, it rang true, but the blonde could tell she was genuine.

"You're welcome," the blonde beamed a smile.

The snake's body began to spasm even though its eyes were devoid of life. This caused the four to jump back in surprise.

"It's okay," Blake assured. "Its nerves are still working, but it's dead."

"Whew," Ruby wiped her forehead in relief. "Anyone ever eaten a snake?"

The four grimaced as they stared at the twitching carcass.

"We can't eat it," Blake informed. "That type's poisonous."

"Holy shit!" Yang exclaimed. "Why didn't you say that before!?"

"Poisonous or not," the faunus said. "No one wants to get bitten by that."

"Is everyone really okay?" Weiss asked. "No one got bitten or anything?"

Ruby hugged Blake. "Thank you, Blake," she whispered in her ear. "If you didn't show up in time I would've gotten poisoned."

Blake happily returned the embrace with a smile and savored the comforting warmth, not wanting to let go. "Y-you're welcome, Ruby…" she whispered lightly.

Yang smiled at the sight. "I think we're okay."

"Brrah!" the sloth squealed.

The four smiled at Nora, glad that no one got hurt. Weiss pet the animal for being cheery after the ordeal, but they whipped their heads to the tree tops when they heard rustling.

In the distance, a smaller monkey was hanging on one of the branches, cautiously inspecting the group.

"Ruby," the blonde called. "Grab the sticks. We need to get out of here."

Ruby and Blake reluctantly separated from Yang's call.

Blake's cat ear flicked to the tree tops, where she saw the small monkey. "It just wants the snake carcass," she informed. "Move slowly so we don't startle it."

The three nodded and slowly backed away from the snake's lifeless body, careful not to disturb the monkey. Once they were far enough away, the monkey picked up the carcass and started to nibble on it.

Now on the shore, Yang turned to Blake. "I thought you said they were poisonous?"

"The monkey probably built up an immunity to certain poisons," the faunus inferred. "It looked older, so it probably knew it wouldn't be affected."

"You're too smart for your own good," Ruby chirped, still holding the pile of sticks.

"Only in certain areas…" Weiss mumbled.

Blake caught the statement. "What?"

"Nothing!"

"This place is savage," Yang said. "It's a cruel world out there. That little shit took our meal."

"We couldn't eat it anyways!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yeah," the blonde sighed. "But it was still our trophy, ya know?"

Ruby spat out her tongue in disgust. "The monkey can have it."

The four finally made it back to the fire, where Ruby threw in dozens of sticks she had gathered. Flames engulfed the wood, allowing the smoke to give off a black color, something someone far off the island would hopefully see.

They sat comfortably around the signal, with Nora nuzzling Weiss' neck.

"You know," Ruby started. "I wish Sun saw that monkey. Its tail was just like his."

Weiss tilted her head. "Who's Sun?"

"He's a faunus like me," Blake replied. "He's a funny guy."

She smiled fondly when she remembered the boy never left his house without a few bananas, even keeping some leftovers in his pocket. He knew that he lived up to the stereotype and was proud of it.

"Not as funny as me though," Yang said. "Mama's the queen of jokes."

Blake scoffed. "Puns aren't jokes. They're just lame."

Yang gasped and put her hand dramatically over her chest. "I'm hurt, truly."

Ruby sat with her hands wrapped around her knees. "Anyone feel gross?"

"Now that you mention it," Blake grabbed her ponytail to inspect her hair. "Yes."

"Anyone want to go to the river?" Weiss asked. "We can wash off, get food and more water."

"Sounds good to me," the blonde beamed.

"But," Ruby said, still shaken up from last time. "The last time…"

Yang gazed firmly in her silver eyes. "We'll be more careful. If anything happens, we'll have weapons and each other, got it?"

Ruby gulped. "Right."

"Then it's settled," the faunus smirked. "Let's go. I want to get the salt water out of my hair."

"You can say that again," Weiss chimed.

"Brrah!" the sloth squealed, as if agreeing to take a bath too.

"Don't go too far," Yang called. "You never know what's in there!"

After examining their surroundings, the group determined that it was okay to enter the fresh river, certain that no predators were present. Their spears were left on the dry grass near the edge of the river in case of an emergency, their wooden knives, however, were still strapped to their thighs.

The water was just above Ruby's knees as she savored the cool feeling. "I feel better already!"

Surprisingly, Blake was the first one to put her full body in the water, seeming to be the one to enjoy it the most. Her, Weiss and Yang took out their makeshift hair ties for now and washed out any debris that was ailing their hair.

"Brrah!"

Nora the sloth enjoyed the soothing bath, still wrapped around Weiss' neck.

"Want me to hold her?" the faunus asked. "You should wash your neck too."

Weiss smiled. "Here," she gently unwrapped the animal and held her above water to set her in Blake's grasp.

Presently, all of them freely swam in the refreshing river, making sure to also clean their torn dresses.

"Brrah!" Nora had a smug smile present.

The sloth's fur had taken most of the heat during the day. She was used to being in the shade for long periods of time, so the clean water was kind of like solace.

Weiss sighed in relief. "This was a good idea."

"Wait," Yang swam up to the girl. "You have something in your hair," she reached out and carefully removed a tiny leaf.

Woah, Yang thought. Her hair's so soft…

The blonde kept holding her hair, staring at it in awe.

"Are you done?" Weiss' voice reached her ears.

"O-oh um, yeah," Yang snapped out of her thoughts. "You're all clean now! Except that dress."

"This is the best it's going to get," Weiss replied. "It's like you said, we can't be picky."

Yang chuckled. "You're right. I mean, I'm right. As usual."

Weiss smirked and flicked some water on her face. "You're such a brute."

The blonde giggled while stroking her hair, still cleaning it. "And you're such a princess."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked.

"Brrah!" the sloth could tell its favorite human was in distress, trying to cheer her up.

"God dammit!" the blonde cursed. "The freaking sloth is backin' you up?!"

Blake and Weiss laughed, the faunus smirked and stroked Nora while she was around her neck. "It's kind of sweet."

The faunus trickled some water on the sloth's head since it was the only part on her body that wasn't under water.

Ruby joined the group and tread the water beside Blake. "We really are keeping her, aren't we?"

Yang swam over to the faunus and Nora, petting the sloth's head. "I don't know why you thought I was kidding."

"She hasn't eaten in awhile," Weiss stated. "I'll get her leaves."

"Oh, good idea!" Ruby beamed. "Meanwhile I'll catch some fish! Can you guys handle the water?"

"You got it, Rubes," Yang nudged Blake. "Leave it to us."

After doing their assigned chores, the sun was setting for another day to end. Some clouds were looming in the distance, signalling another storm was brewing.

They trudged through the forest and back to the shore, thankful it wasn't too long of a walk. Ruby threw the sticks in the fire to make it burn more brightly in the dimmed night as they sat around it.

Weiss took turns taking a bite out of her fish and feeding the sloth some leaves. She grabbed a leaf from the pile of leaves and put it to up to the animal, who was still around her neck.

"Brrah!" Nora yelped as she curled her tongue around another leaf.

Weiss smiled and then nibbled on the fish. "You like it?"

"Brrah!"

Yang chomped down on her meal, pouting. "Nora, don't you love me?"

The sloth stared at Yang with calculating eyes, silent, leaving Yang to lower her head in shame.

"Oh man," Ruby chimed. "I can't wait to tell human Nora about this."

Blake had finished her fish a while ago. "I wonder how they're all doing…"

"Hopefully Pyrrha and Jaune are together now," Ruby chirped. "He's so dense."

Blake shook her head. "I don't know what she sees in him."

Yang grinned. "How about the lovely faunus couple Sun and Velvet?"

"They're so cute together~" Ruby cooed. "Remember when he had a crush on Blake?"

"She shot him down pretty quickly," Yang chuckled. "Poor guy didn't see it coming."

Blake faintly blushed. "O-only because there's someone else."

"Who?" Yang asked curiously. "Spill the beans!"

"Let's just say they're someone close to me," the faunus mumbled.

Ruby's eyes widened at the revelation, with a deep sinking feeling in her chest. Since she thought it wasn't her the faunus was referring to, she reluctantly didn't press the matter.

"Aw come on," Yang pressed. "That's not an answer."

Weiss read the atmosphere and could tell the faunus was getting uncomfortable. "Drop it, brute."

"Okay, okay," the blonde surrendered.

A breeze started to pick up as the eerie clouds drew closer to the island.

"Tell me more about school," Weiss said. "I've… I've never been, so I'm curious."

"What?!" Ruby yelped. "You've never been to school?!"

Weiss wrapped her arms around her legs, gazing at the fire. "Let's just say my father's overprotective."

Blake held her chin in thought. "Let's see… there's gym class. I have that with Yang and she always takes it seriously."

"Hey!" Yang exclaimed. "It's fun that way!"

Ruby gave her sister thumbs down. "Boo!"

Blake continued. "This one time we had a food fight with our friends Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren."

"It was intense," Ruby added. "Yang took on Nora with turkeys on her fists!"

"She used them as boxing gloves," Blake chuckled from the memory. "But Nora had a watermelon on a stick and literally knocked her out of the ceiling."

"Wait, woah, woah," Weiss interjected. "Is that the Nora you named the sloth after?"

"Yep!" Yang added.

"But can you believe it?" Ruby asked. "Yang was knocked outta the room!"

Weiss' jaw dropped. "Literally?!"

Yang giggled. "That was nothing compared to when Blake took on Pyrrha with really stiff baguettes. Seriously though, no food should be that stale."

"It was like a sword fight!" Ruby exclaimed. "But with bread!"

"It was awesome," the blonde said. "But not as awesome as Ruby surfing on top of the tables using a food tray!"

Weiss gave the three a look. "How did that mess get cleaned up?!"

"Ms. Goodwitch," the three said in unison.

Yang continued. "You should've seen the look on her face when she saw the mess!"

Blake and Ruby bursted into laughter from the memory.

School sounds like so much fun, Weiss thought. I wish I could go…

The blonde noticed Weiss looked downcast. "Hey princess, I bet you had a blast on that yacht of yours, too."

That seemed to make Weiss more sad. "It… it wasn't as great as you think," she stroked the sloth for comfort. "I grew up isolated from the outside world on Never More. My only social interactions were with my father and guests at the parties he hosted."

Blake's eyes widened and her tone softened. "We're sorry. We had no idea."

"It wasn't so bad," the white-haired girl said. "Some of the guests were nice, and father was always there for me."

Weiss gazed at the sky, finding the moon was almost covered by the dark clouds. Her azure orbs stared at the moon that was shining brightly as she remembered it was her only connection with her father.

Hey dad, she thought. I'm holding on to hope. It's difficult, but… You're strong. I miss you.

"Well," the blonde chimed. "You're stuck with us now!"

Ruby smiled. "Whether you like it or not."

Weiss tore her gaze off the now clouded moon. "Literally."

The other three slightly giggled from the comment.

The first drops of rain drizzled on the group, irritating the fire. The sloth slowly tilted her head up to the sky, enjoying the calm droplets.

"We should get inside the shelter," Blake suggested. "There'll be a downpour any minute."

The four stood and wiped the sand off their dresses.

"To the batcave!" Yang exclaimed and bolted down the shore.

The other three sprinted after their friend, who held the makeshift door open for their arrival.

"Batcave?" Weiss questioned as Yang closed the door. "Really?"

"Yep!" Yang said proudly. She walked up to Weiss and put her hand on her shoulder. "Be ready, Robin! The Joker might be lurking in the shadows."

"You are such a nerd."