It was another forty five minutes before Yang and Raud burst through the door to Blake's office. The Faunus didn't notice the crash of the door slamming into the wall as Yang flung it open. She didn't hear Yang call her name, or speak in a pleading, desperate tone to Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Neptune, who were scattered around the office.
Blake was too far lost in her reminiscence to even realise where she was, let alone who was with her. Memories of Weiss played out before her eyes: images of the heiress smiling, laughing, and enjoying a shopping trip in Vale; the sound of her haughty anger as she scolded Ruby for some overzealous excitement, or a failed test; and the time the two of them had shared over the last year. Blake had been Weiss' only confidant when she'd left—and during the time since—and Blake had realised how much the heiress must have trusted her to confide in her like that, especially given how rocky the start of their friendship had been. All of this ran through her mind as she stared into her empty hands, as if blaming them for her inability to do anything to save her friend's life.
So it was a sudden shock when a hand clamped down on her shoulder and snapped her back to reality. Fingers dug into her shoulder, sending a jolt of pain up her neck, and she flinched in her seat, scooting away from the hand before looking up at the culprit.
Yang was crouched next to the chair with her face a little below Blake's, looking up at her with more emotion than the faunus had ever seen on her wife's face. A wretched cocktail of sadness, mourning, love, longing, pity, regret and frantic worry was painted across the blonde Huntress' face. The sight brought tears to Blake's eyes; she threw her arms around Yang and pulled her close, wiping the tears away on her wife's shoulder before she saw them. Some reasonable, logical part of her remembered that Yang would have enough to deal with in the coming days; Blake didn't want to pile her own grief on top of the woman when she'd have enough of a challenge consoling Ruby.
Nevertheless, the feeling of Yang's arms wrapping around her and squeezing tight was almost too much to resist. It made her feel… safe. Every fibre of the faunus—besides her singular, ever-so-quiet voice of reason—wanted to break down and Yang's presence made her feel like showing that vulnerability wouldn't be a bad thing . A choked sob escaped her, and she pressed her face even deeper into the crook of Yang's shoulder. A hand touched the back of her head lightly and stroked down her hair.
Yang crooned comfortingly in her ear, whispering reassurances and words of her love. It didn't make Blake feel any better, but it have her something else to focus on for a while. Slowly, she regained her composure and pulled back. With a thumb, she wiped away a rogue tear from the corner of her eye, then sniffed embarrassedly. Yang's hands came to rest gently on Blake's shoulders, and the blonde Huntress looked up at her again, wearing the same chaotic blend of emotion. With a smile, Blake reached out and wiped away a tear that was threatening to spill from Yang's eye. The corner of Yang's mouth tugged upwards, and she rocked forwards on the balls of her feet to plant a gentle kiss on Blake's forehead.
"How're you holding up?" she asked as she rocked back.
Blake smiled again, but knew it was a poor attempt at reassurance. "I… uh…. I don't know, honestly." She rubbed one of her eyes with the palm of her hand. "I don't think it's really sunk in yet."
Yang nodded solemnly. She watched the faunus for a few seconds, then drew her into another hug. Blake breathed in Yang's scent, turned her head to kiss Yang's cheek, then pulled back. She reached up to her shoulders and took Yang's hands in her own, pulled them down to her lap and squeezed them. Yang offered a reassuring smile and squeezed back, but Blake could see the worry growing in her eyes. A moment later, Yang glanced around the room, and panic flashed across her face.
Yang turned back to Blake and opened her mouth to speak. "Where—"
"At her apartment. I… I haven't seen her. They flew in a bit over an hour ago; Neptune came straight here, and told us Ruby was going home."
Yang nodded and swallowed. "I… uh…" Yang gave Blake a guilty, torn, pleading look.
The faunus nodded and gave her a small smile. "Go."
Yang raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Are you sure? Are you…?"
Blake nodded again. "I'll be fine. I'm sure… I'm sure she needs you more than I do."
Yang hesitated, watching Blake's eyes closely, and then nodded. She kissed Blake on the lips, too quickly, and stood straight. Yang hung onto one of Blake's hands, letting the other fall away, and looked down at her, a look of gratitude on her face.
"Call me if you need anything," Yang said. "Otherwise I… I'll probably stay the night there. Just to… you know… be there with her."
Blake smiled. "I'll let you know."
Yang gave her a small smile, leant in for another kiss, and left in a sprinting whirl of yellow. As soon as she left, Blake felt a coldness surround her, as if the sun had just gone out. Without Yang there to keep her warm, to keep her safe, a shudder wracked her. She grabbed her upper arms in each hand and hunched forward in an attempt to stop the shaking and was only marginally successful.
A hand came down on her shoulder and Blake looked up to see Pyrrha smiling down at her. The red-haired Huntress pulled a chair around and sat next to the faunus, wrapping an arm comfortingly around her shoulders. It wasn't as effective as Yang's presence had been, but it helped. Blake smiled her thanks at Pyrrha and leaned into her side, resting a head on the taller woman's shoulder and closing her eyes.
"So… what happened?" Jaune's voice broke through the silence that hung like an oppressive cloud.
Blake looked up at the Huntsman, feeling a jolt of anguish at the sadness in his voice. Jaune might be married to Pyrrha now, but he had been quite smitten with Weiss for a while in their first year at Beacon. While Weiss had never felt the same way, nor encouraged his feelings in anyway—in fact, she seemed downright annoyed by him almost every time they encountered one another—Jaune had always cared for her. His feelings had become more platonic in their second year, but he'd always kept an eye out for her.
Neptune looked up, expressionless, and sighed. He'd run through the story briefly to Blake when he'd arrived, but Jaune and Pyrrha had arrived minutes ago—not long before Yang had. Nora had arrived before the pair, and Ren was still nowhere to be found.
Movement near the door caught Blake's eye; Raud was quietly leaving the room and crossing into Kelly's office. The woman sat behind her desk and glared up at the mercenary, opened her mouth, and then Blake's office door clicked shut.
The faunus frowned for a moment. What could Raud have done to upset Kelly that much? They'd seemed to be getting alone well over the last few days…
Never mind. She shook her head and turned her attention towards Neptune, who looked like he was struggling to find words.
"I… uh…" The Huntsman ran a hand through his light-blue hair and grimaced. "We don't know, honestly."
Everyone in the room frowned, just as Blake had. What do you mean you 'don't know'? How can you not know what happened!? Blake's words of anger came back to her, and she laid a hand on Pyrrha's hand as the red-haired Huntress opened her mouth to—undoubtedly—say the same.
"What do you mean?" Jaune asked. His voice was frighteningly calm.
Neptune went into a long-winded, detailed explanation of the lead up to the event. He explained how Weiss was the only one who had been able to sneak into the warehouse—other than Ruby—and how, once their quarry had gone into the building, Weiss had been given no choice but to go in.
"Ruby and I followed as quickly as we could, but…" He closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head ever so slightly. "When we got there… she was already…"
"Alright," Jaune interrupted him. "Don't force yourself." Neptune gave the blonde Huntsman a look of gratitude.
"Do you know who did it?" Pyrrha asked. The Huntress' chest vibrated comfortingly against Blake's ear as she spoke; the faunus closed her eyes and let out a long, slow breath.
"No," Neptune replied. "They were gone by the time we got there, and there was nothing left in the warehouse. All we learnt about these people is that they're dangerous, and they don't want to be found."
"Did you find out anything about who it could be before she went in?" Jaune asked. His voice was almost emotionless, but Blake heard a slight hesitation before 'went in' and a tremor in his voice as he avoided using Weiss' name.
"Not really. That's why we needed to go in so badly. All we know is that they're working with the Schnee Dust Company in Mistral and we think they're getting extra Dust shipped in, so they can smuggle it out of the official shipments."
"Dust, huh…" Jaune's voice trailed off as he pondered.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha sounded concerned.
"Hm? Oh, nothing. Just… thinking…"
Blake opened her eyes and looked at the Huntsman. He was rubbing at his chin thoughtfully, looking at the ground.
"You think it has something to do with what's going on here," Blake said. It wasn't a question. She was thinking the same thing.
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "I don't want it to be true—if they're smuggling Dust from other kingdoms in as well, then we're in serious trouble—but we should probably consider the possibility, at least."
Neptune glanced back and forth between them, confused.
"Rather consider it, and be wrong, then not, and have it be true?" Blake muttered.
"Exactly."
She and Jaune both sighed. Things were getting worse by the moment. They barely had the time to mourn a fallen comrade; the threat to Vale was demanding all their focus.
"What are you—" Neptune began.
Blake turned to him and cut in. "Something similar to what's happening in Mistral is happening here. But where you had Dust being smuggled into the city, we've been having Dust shortages for months. It was only recently we started investigating it and realised something was going on."
"So you think…"
"They're connected, yes. Though that doesn't help us; it sounds like you were doing about as well with your investigation as we've been doing with ours."
"So what do we do?" Nora asked. It was the first she'd spoken since coming to Blake's office. Her reaction to the news—or lack thereof—was a little frightening, actually. She'd heard from Neptune—Blake hadn't been in any condition to talk at the time—nodded solemnly, sat on the couch, and not said a word until now.
Blake looked at her, racking her brain for their next move. It was a good question. This news didn't change their investigation; they could proceed as they had been. They knew now that the enemy was more dangerous than Blake had originally thought, but that shouldn't stop them. But something held her back.
"I… I don't know," she whispered, sinking back into Pyrrha's embrace. Another wave of grief washed over her; she fought back tears once more. Weiss would know, she thought. The Ice Queen would tell us all to harden up; that Huntresses died, and there was nothing we could do about it but move on.
A sob escaped her, and she choked back another that followed on the heels of the first. Pyrrha tightened her arms around the faunus and rested her head on Blake's. Blake sucked in a breath and tried to keep herself from sinking into despair again.
"So…" Jaune spoke awkwardly; the way he spoke when he knew he was liable to get in trouble for what he was about to say. "Where is she?"
Neptune didn't even look up. "In the morgue, here. A Schnee solicitor flew into Mistral once the news went to her family; apparently her father wanted her to be buried in the Schnee family crypt, but Ruby wouldn't have it. I've never seen her that angry…"
Blake nodded. It was tradition for Huntsmen and Huntresses to be buried at the academy they'd trained at. More than a tradition, actually: it was written into international law that a Huntsman would be buried at the academy they'd trained at, unless they requested otherwise in their will.
"The solicitor didn't put up much of a fight. He said that no matter how adamant her father was about it, there was no chance of winning. Afterwards, he told us that Weiss' will stipulated that she wanted to be buried here, no matter what."
Tears threatened to spill from Blake's eyes once again. Weiss had always been determined to come back to Vale someday. Before she'd went to Mistral, she'd been hopeful that she could come back with Ruby, and everything could return to normal. Things hadn't panned out the way any of them had wanted, but—as little a comfort as it was—at least Weiss was back.
"Do you think…" Jaune spoke in that same tone again. "Do you think we could go and see her?"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha scolded him from across the room, and tightened her hold on Blake protectively. Jaune shied away, holding up his hands placatingly.
Neptune shook his head. "The coroner met us on the landing pad; he said that anyone who may want to visit her has to wait until the funeral."
Most Huntsmen's funerals were open-casket affairs. The only time it was closed was if the body couldn't be recovered or if the cause of death rendered the body unrecognisable. Weiss' funeral service would take place in Beacon's amphitheatre within twenty-four hours. Academy's had grown accustomed to making funeral preparations quickly, and all Huntress or Huntsmen funerals were fully funded and organised by the academy at which they would be buried.
Jaune looked down, looking chastened. Pyrrha's hand stroked down Blake's hair comfortingly. After a while, Blake closed her eyes and felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her. As she drifted off to sleep, she could almost pretend that the arms around her were Yang's.
It took Yang far longer than she'd have liked to make it to Ruby's apartment. The traffic had been a nightmare, and she'd been caught by almost every single red light between Beacon and the apartment building. Eventually, she pulled her bike to a stop out the front of Ruby's building. She looked up as she took her helmet off and saw all of the curtains were drawn in Ruby's apartment. With a sigh, she dismounted her bike and walked towards the building.
The door was closed, so Yang approached the panel next to it and pressed the button for Ruby's apartment. After a moment of silence, there was a click—the sound of someone answering the call—but no other sound.
"Ruby, it's me. Can you let me in?"
Another moment of silence. Yang narrowed her eyebrows as she heard a faint noise on the other end of the call. It sounded like… voices. No… A voice. Weiss' voice?
There was a buzz and a click, and the door to the building swung open. Yang shook her head and walked inside.
Other residents smiled in greeting to her as she passed; it took everything she had to give them convincing smiles in return. The elevator shot her up to the top floor, and Yang had to hold herself back so she didn't run to Ruby's door.
As she reached the door, she knocked and held her scroll in front of the scanner. It wouldn't unlock the door, but it would let Ruby know who was knocking. There was another click, and Yang turned the doorknob; it swung open.
The apartment was dark. No lights were on; all the curtains were drawn.
"Ruby?" Yang winced at the almost frantic tone of worry in her voice.
"In here." The response came from the living room; through a door to Yang's left.
There were no lights on in this room either. It was illuminated solely by the constantly flickering and changing light of the TV. Ruby was curled up in a ball on the lounge, holding a pillow. A half-eaten block of chocolate sat in its wrapper on the coffee table, along with an empty plate of what Yang judged—by the few remaining crumbs—to have held a pile of cookies.
Ruby looked away from the TV as Yang entered the room, giving her older sister a sad smile. That smile broke Yang's heart. It was so… resigned. It wasn't meant to be reassuring, nor was it filled with fake-happiness. It was a smile of… acceptance? Yang couldn't describe it—not with any certainty—but it wasn't the look she had expected.
"Hey… How're you holding up, Sis?" Yang asked as she crossed the room.
Ruby's lips twitched and she gave a half-shrug with one shoulder. As Yang drew near, Ruby held out a hand. Yang took the hand in her own, dropped onto the lounge and pulled Ruby over so that she was resting her head in Yang's lap.
Yang looked up and flinched at what was on the TV. She had been right, she realised. She had heard Weiss' voice. And she heard it now, coming from the TV; she'd just been too focussed on Ruby to notice it until now.
A home video was playing on the TV, showing Weiss laughing, smiling, and pushing at the camera. Yang recognised the video. The four of them—Team RWBY—had gone for a picnic in the spring holiday of their fourth year. Ruby had spent most of the outing passing a camera around, making sure the entire thing was filmed from one angle or another.
The Weiss on the screen reached towards the camera, turning the screen black. There was a flash of white as Ruby pulled the camera away and the lens readjusted to the light.
"Come on, Ruby!" Weiss said. Her tone was half-amused, half-frustrated.
A smile spread across Yang's face as she remembered the moment. Ruby had been trying to film Weiss eating, something the heiress had been adamantly against.
"Ruby, I made this for you for this picnic! If you don't put the camera down, you can't eat any of it!" Weiss snapped.
There was a laugh off camera and another voice—one that Yang didn't recognise—chimed in. "Don't put the camera down, Sis! We all know what Weiss' cooking is like. Avoid that stuff for as long as you can!"
With a flash of remembrance, Yang realised it was her own voice; she remembered teasing Weiss for her cooking a lot in their last year. The heiress had decided that she was sick of Yang getting all of Ruby's praise as a great cook, and had started trying to best her. The results had been… less than ideal—terrible, really. Though Weiss' cooking did improve—Yang remembered enjoying the food she had prepared for that picnic quite a lot—it had remained a sore spot for her, one that Yang was more than happy to poke.
"Quiet you!" Weiss snapped, turning her head to the right of the screen. The camera panned across just in time to see Yang throw her head back and laugh, while Blake shook her head in sufferance.
The faunus reached towards the camera. "Give it here. I'll film; you eat." As the camera was passed across, it caught a glimpse of Weiss rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up in exasperation.
When the picture settled down it was focussed on Ruby as she picked up a small, delicate-looking sandwich. She looked at it for a few seconds, turning it this way and that, before looking up at Weiss. "What's in it?"
"Oh just eat it, Ruby. You'll like it; I promise!"
Ruby gave Weiss a sceptical glance and took a bite of the sandwich. As she chewed, the camera zoomed out until Weiss was included in the shot. The heiress might have tried to hide how much she cared for Ruby, but the expectant look on her face as she waited for Ruby to swallow showed how much she really wanted Ruby to like her cooking.
Seconds later, Ruby swallowed her bite of sandwich and looked at Weiss.
"Well?" the heiress asked after a moment of silence.
Ruby shoved the rest of the sandwich into her mouth and grabbed another three from the container on the blanket. Weiss sat back with a satisfied grin and shot a small smirk at Yang.
Yang, in Ruby's apartment, rolled her eyes, the same way she remembered doing in response to Weiss' smirk.
She looked down at Ruby. The Huntress' eyes were fixed to the screen; Yang could see a distorted view of the video in the reflection of Ruby's eyes. Yang placed a hand on Ruby's hand and began stroking Ruby's hair, running her fingers through it every few strokes.
Ruby closed her eyes and took in a slow, deep breath.
"I don't know what to do, Yang," Ruby said. Yang reached over for the remote and turned the TV down, saying nothing. A second later, Ruby continued. "I just… I can't believe it." She let out a bitter laugh. "It doesn't feel much different, which I think is the worst bit. For the last year, she's been gone, and I think I just got used to feeling that way."
"Ruby…" Yang scrambled to find the words she needed. That wasn't healthy. Not feeling anything at the death of a loved one was not a good thing. Had Ruby's year of killing Grimm to avoid her grief over Weiss affected her more than they'd realised?
"Don't get me wrong, it hurts. I don't think anything has ever hurt this much." Ruby's voice broke, and Yang saw a tear spill out of her eye. "We were so close, and now she's just… gone. Again. It hurts so much; I don't even know how I made it back here. I can't get her face out of my mind, just lying there. There was so much blood, Yang… I've never seen that much blood before. And it was Weiss and…"
Yang swallowed. A lump rose in her throat, and she didn't want to speak, lest a sob escape instead.
"But, I think I'll be okay… She's been gone for a long time, and I've felt like… well… this for the last year. I think I'll pull through." Ruby looked up at Yang and smiled. This smile was a little more reassuring than the one Yang had received on her arrival.
The smile vanished a moment later, and Ruby looked back at the screen. "I've just got this… anger, just… building up. Every part of me is screaming to hunt down the people that did it, to kill them, to avenge Weiss. I promised her I'd make them pay, Yang. But I don't even know where to start. Honestly, I… I think that's the worst feeling."
A tear ran down Yang's cheek; she dashed it away with her free hand.
"Yang, what do I do?" Ruby's voice dropped to nearly a whisper.
Yang smiled through the tears that threatened to spill over. "I don't know, Sis. I don't know. But you know we'll all help you, right?"
Ruby looked up at her. "But it was my promise—" She cut herself off and looked away. "All for one; all or nothing." It was barely a whisper; Yang wasn't even sure she'd heard it. The words didn't make much sense anyway.
"Ruby," she said, with more force. "We'll help. We want to catch them too. Weiss was our friend as well."
Ruby nodded. "I know." She looked up and smiled. "Together, then."
Yang smiled down at her sister and nodded. "Always."
They both turned back to the TV just in time to see Ruby pull Weiss in for a deep, loving kiss. Weiss' usually pale cheeks turned a bright red, but she didn't pull away. Eventually, they separated, gasping for breath. Ruby grinned at Weiss as the heiress scolded her again.
Yang continued to stroke Ruby's hair, and—finally—let a tear fall down her cheek. She'd just lost one of her dearest friends. They may have clashed at times, but Yang had always cared for the heiress. They'd saved each other's lives on enough occasions to become best friends; it was only their shared stubbornness that had prevented them from showing that to the other.
Up until now, Yang had been too worried for Ruby to let herself cry. But now, being with her little sister, Yang saw that Ruby was going to be okay. It would hurt—for all of them; for a long time—but eventually, they'd all be okay. Ruby wasn't going to go off the deep end, like she had before. She wanted to hunt down the killers, which was fair enough.
And I'll be there to help her all the while, and to keep her in line. She'd be damned if she was going to let Ruby sink into another depression like she had for the last year.
So, with Ruby's head in Yang's lap, and Yang's hand running through Ruby's hair, the two sisters sat and watched the memories of their lost friend play out on the screen before them. They both cried, and both took comfort in the other. They remained like that for hours, until the sun set, and until the home videos stopped playing. But by that point, they were already asleep.