Chapter 12

Neo and Weiss were fast asleep, snuggled together, long before the rest of Team RWBY arrived back to the room. Blake silently padded into the room, effortlessly hopped up to her bunk, and curled up for the night. Yang's arm was wrapped around Ruby's shoulders; her sister's eyes were red and her cheeks were tear-stained.

The moonlight filtered in through the window and illuminated the cuddling figures just enough for Ruby to see what looked to her like smiles on the happy couple's faces. Tears welled in her eyes again. Yang squeezed the girl tighter as she looked to make sure the door was locked, hoping it would slow her enough so she could grab Ruby before she got out again. But Ruby felt heavy against Yang, under her arm. With a bit of relief, she didn't think her little sister would be running anywhere.

"C'mere, little sis."

Ruby couldn't say anything, she just let Yang lead her to the edge of the brawler's bed. Yang didn't want her to be alone; she knew this was incredibly hard on her.

"Do you want to sleep with me tonight, just like when you were younger and had those… dreams… you used to have?"

Grey eyes clamped tight, as she begged her tears not to fall; Ruby couldn't even nod her assent. She just flopped into the bed and curled into a tight little ball. Yang slumped her shoulders as she pulled off her jacket and boots before lying next to her sister. She held the small girl close, trying to give her some semblance of comfort. Despite her efforts, she felt Ruby's body shake as she failed to fight back her emotions. Yang swore her heart was breaking for her sister over the girl's pain.

Ruby cried through most of the night and only managed to fall asleep due to, what Yang assumed was, sheer exhaustion. Yang did her best to just be there and stay strong for her sister, but it killed her inside.

She started to think how this was all her fault. If only she wasn't beaten by Neo. If she, or Weiss, had just killed the tiny villain. Or at least, if Weiss hadn't, somehow, stopped being 'Ice Queen Weiss' all of a sudden and stayed as cold to this interloper as she had been with Ruby all this time…

Ruby rolled over and latched on to Yang as she mumbled something incomprehensible in her sleep before softly sobbing.

She turned to her right and looked at the sleeping pair across the room. Great… Obviously the only thing I can do now is to kill at least one of them. Yang sighed and held Ruby close until she finally fell asleep as well.