A temple of stone.

Golden eyes.

A silver sword.

"Jaune."

A temple of stone, surrounded by a wall of ice.

Golden eyes, flickering in the dark.

A silver sword, calling to him.

"Jaaaune."

A temple of stone, surrounded by a wall of ice, an ancient power hidden from the world.

Golden eyes, flickering in the dark, malice hidden behind deceptive beauty.

A silver sword, calling to him, summoning him.

"Jaune!"

A cold, hard wooden floor. Jaune groaned.

"Oops. Sorry Jaune." Apologised an all too chipper voice.

"Mrbl." Jaune moaned into the floor, blearily pushing himself off the frozen wood.

"It is a good morning isn't it? Come on, the cat lady is making breakfast." Ruby said, grabbing his hand and dragging him outside. Even if he had just awoken, his sense of touch was perfectly fine, and he could easily feel the chilly Atlesian morning breeze prickle his skin. Plus Ruby's hands felt oddly leathery.

"Cold." He mumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes with his free hand. Ruby giggled and pushed his cloak into his face.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it. And thanks for saving me." Ruby simpered softly, and Jaune knew, having seven sisters had given him some cues about when a woman was about to do bad things to him, that something very, very bad was about to happen to him.

Just as he moved to cross his knees, something very curved and wickedly sharp lightly pressed against a very important part of Jaune's body.

"But if you grope me again, I will cut you. Understood?" Ruby asked with an all too innocent, all too wide smile.

"I-I promise! I won't-haven't done anything to you or ever will!" Jaune exclaimed, and Ruby's silver eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Okay!" Ruby chirped, pulling the seventy-two inch long scythe away from Jaune's heir maker.

"Okay?"

"I didn't really think you did that, you're not the type. But I still had to make sure, you know? Anyway if you're angry, blame cat lady, she's been filling me in on some of the stuff you allegedly did to me."

"Wait what!?"

"Yeah. I think she's just bored. Must be pretty boring out on the road by yourself. Luckily I have you and now a weird cat lady has us too."

"Us?" Jaune asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well we're all going to Snowmire.'' Ruby replied matter of factly. "Considering the fact I nearly died last night from the weather alone it's probably for the best if we all team up. It'll be like forming a party for a quest. Our quest!"

"I suppose." Jaune replied with a shrug. Blake seemed alright. A little perverted, but alright.

"Good to know you value my company so much." Interjected a quiet voice. Jaune looked ahead to see Blake sat on a log, a bemused expression on her face as she poked a stick into a low fire.

Jaune's stomach rumbled.

"It won't be long." Blake snorted, gesturing to another pair of logs in front of her. Ruby sat down on the one closest to the woods, her scythe propped up against a tree. Jaune sat down after her, noticing that was wearing black leather gloves. She shook her head when seeing his confused expression, sending him the sisterly look of "I'll tell you later."

"Sleep well then sleeping beauty?" Blake asked, and Jaune nodded eying up the sausages that sizzled in a pan above the low fire that Jaune now noticed had been dug into the ground underneath the snow.

"Why have you dug the fire into the ground?" Jaune asked.

"It's a smokeless fire pit. It means smoke won't give away our position." Blake replied dryly, lazily poking a sausage.

"Why would we need to worry about that?" Jaune asked, trying his best not to stammer and give away the fact he was on the wrong side of the future King's graces.

"Reasons." Blake replied blandly with a pointed look.

In the corner of his eye, Jaune saw Ruby's hand twitch slightly towards the direction of Crescent Rose.

"Cool. That's very nice and cool. How long until the sausages are ready to eat?" Jaune asked quickly, and Blake shot him with an unimpressed look.

"A few more minutes. I'm not an expert cook and would rather err on the side of caution than eat undercooked sausage." Blake replied, taking her spare hand away from something hidden behind her cloak and shooting Ruby a warning look.

Jaune suddenly felt trapped as the two glared at one another. Why was Ruby acting so mean all of a sudden?

"Y-Yeah you're probably right. I'd take burnt sausage over not cooked sausage anyday."

"Insulting my cooking already? Not very gentlemanly of you." Blake retorted dryily.

"No-I didn't mean to s-suggest-" Jaune stammered, silenced by a raised palm.

"I'm jesting with you Jaune." Blake said calmly. "There's no need to apologise."

Jaune nodded and an awkward silence fell over the trio. Ruby was torn between keeping a watchful eye into the woods and shooting dirty looks at Blake. Blake was torn between staring boredly into the hissing pan and returning Ruby's dirty looks impassively. And Jaune was torn between looking nervously at Blake and nervously at Ruby.

"So what are you doing on the road Blake?" Jaune asked after a while, desperate for anything other than this purgatory awkwardness.

"Travelling."

"Oookay to where?"

"Snowmire currently."

"What for?"

"Supplies."

"Really? What happened to your old ones?"

"I ate them." Blake replied, staring at him like he was an idiot, which he very much felt like.

"W-Well that's nice! Me and Ruby are on a quest! Isn't that right Ruby?"

"Umhm." Ruby replied, silver eyes narrowed like shiny daggers. Blake returned them with a glare that made him feel like he was looking at a hungry predator.

Jaune resisted the urge to whine, an unmanly habit he had somehow managed to catch from Weiss when they were younger.

"Y-Yup! That's right! We're going to kill a dragon!" Jaune said weakly, and Blake turned to him, abandoning her glare off with Ruby to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Really? You? And her?" She asked, gesturing to Ruby with a perplexed look on her face.

"I'm a silver-eyed warrior!" Ruby snapped angrily, seemingly insulted by Blake's waving hand.

"I have eyes. Very good ones since I'm a Faunus." Blake replied, dryer than the sands of Vacuo. "I'm just wondering why you're so desperate to get your fellow adventurer killed."

"I do not want to get Jaune killed!" Ruby snarled furiously, taking Jaune aback by the sheer anger in the usually sweet girl's voice."He's my friend!"

"Then why are you taking him to fight a dragon when he's unarmed and has no other form of protection other than a five foot midget?" Blake snapped back and Jaune swallowed nervously. Gods new growing up with seven sisters and Weiss taught him how to effectively argue against an angry girl (apologise immediately, grovel in Weiss' case), but he had no idea what to do as the two angry girls got into an argument.

"Should I make them angry at me instead, at least then they might be able to get along." Jaune thought to himself, then he remembered the feeling of Crescent Rose against his special area, and the fact Blake kept reaching for a presumably hidden weapon for the slightest slight.

"I'll just let them get it out of there system." He thought to himself, leaning as far back as he could.

"Don't you dare call me midget you...you something!"

"Something? At least that's original."

"Shut up! How many dragons have you defeated huh? Cos I've defeated two so beat that!"

"I don't need to because I'm not some idiot wannabe hero who thinks trying to kill monsters fifty times taller than them is a good idea!"

"Dragons aren't that big!"

"They are when they're compared to you!"

Ruby's eyes twitched dangerously and Jaune's inner Save yourself whilst you can! alarm started blaring dangerously.

"Call me short one more time…" Ruby growled.

"Or what? You'll attack me? It's not very heroic to attack a defenseless Faunus isn't it?"

"No but I'll still do it to shut up a meanie who thinks I want to kill my friend!"

"Meanie? That's the best you can come up with shortstack?"

"That's it!" Ruby roared, lunging for Crescent Rose. Blake pulled out a freaking katana!

"Okay time out!" Jaune yelled, throwing himself between the two before they could start swinging. "Let's talk about this like adults!"

"You can't convince those with prejudiced opinions of others to change their beliefs Jaune." Blake stated icily, glaring at Ruby on his shoulder, but lowering her katana slightly.

"Who? What?" Jaune asked

"Prejudiced opinions? What are you talking about?" Ruby asked with narrowed eyes. "This is because you're gonna sell us out when we get to Snowmire."

"Sell us out?" Jaune asked, ignored once more.

"What are you on about? Sell you out to who?" Blake asked, lowering her katana entirely and looking confusedly between Ruby and Jaune.

"W-What? You mean you don't know?" Ruby squaked.

"I know you're a racist." Blake replied coldly, shooting a suspicious glance at Jaune. "I don't know what you've done or who you've angered however."

"Racist?" Jaune asked, ignored once more. He pinched himself to test if he was real.

"Very real." His mind helpfully supplied after he pinched his arm.

"R-Racist?! I'm not racist!" Ruby cried loudly, and a flock of birds flew off from a nearby tree.

"Then why have you been glaring at me all morning? Even after I lent you my gloves and gave you herbs for your blisters!"

"Blisters?" Jaune asked, louder this time and spinning his head towards Ruby "Are you okay?"

Ruby blushed faintly as she lowered Crescent Rose, and Jaune caught the slight wince that shot across her face for a moment when she shifted the weapon in her hands.

"I-My fingers have blisters on them." Ruby told him ashamedly.

"What?!" Jaune exclaimed loudly, staring at her gloved hands and remembering their blue tinge from the previous night. "Are you okay? Is that normal?"

"It is." Blake replied softly, although her eyes remained guarded. "It means her skin is healing and the frostbite was only superficial. She won't be losing any fingers."

"I... Thank you for helping Blake." Jaune said gratefully, feeling guilty and ashamed he had been sleeping when Ruby had needed help. First he'd abandoned Klein, now this? Maybe it would be for the best if he just turned himself in to one of Nikos' lackey's.

"You're welcome. And you should be grateful you are friends with an Arc pig." Blake spat, glaring at Ruby. "If it wasn't for that fact I would've let you suffer."

"I-I'm not a racist." Ruby stammered weakly. "I-I was only glaring at you because I thought you knew we, well Jaune, is wanted."

"Explain." Blake demanded, eyes narrowed.

"A dragon attacked Nördliche Burg. Ruby drove it off with her silver eyes and I was caught in the radius of it and fell into a coma because I wasn't acclimated to silver-eyed magic. Alexander Nikos put a bounty on the dragon, which is the one we are hunting, and tried to have me arrested under the charge of suspected heresy." Jaune explained quickly, and Blake kept a carefully neutral look on her face.

"Why does he suspect you of heresy?" Blake asked, tone softer than before.

"Jaune's a threat to Nikos' position as Queen Weiss' suitor." Ruby chipped in weakly. "He wants to remove him as a threat."

"You have an Inquisitor after you?" Blake demanded.

"Yes. Apparently they're closely connected to Nikos." Jaune replied.

Blake cursed and turned away, muttering to herself as she paced across the Solitas Road. He shot Ruby a confused look, and she merely shrugged back.

"I'm going to do something I haven't allowed myself to do in years." Blake said as she stormed over to them after a few more minutes of pacing. "I'm going to tell you, a pair of strangers about myself."

Upon seeing their slightly perplexed looks, she sighed and sheathed her katana in what Jaune assumed was a gesture of trust.

"I-I don't like opening up to people. I've been betrayed in the past. But you've done that to me and we're going to be travelling together regardless so I might as well return the favour." She explained, sitting down on her log once more and waiting for them to do the same before continuing. "I've been travelling across Remnant in search of something. An ancient power that can return something dear that I lost a long time ago. However this has put me afoul of the Inquisition since the power I seek rivals that of their fake Goddess and is considered heretical to even speak of. If I help you with your quest, will you help me with mine? We're all enemies of the Inquisition now."

Jaune turned to face Ruby, and after a few moments of trying to converse with their eyes alone, they turned to Blake and nodded.

"We'll be glad to help you Blake." Jaune said.

"Yeah. We can't be proper adventurers without a side quest!" Ruby cheered weakly, shifting under Blake's blank gaze.

"Thank you. I'm glad to join your party." Blake replied, a small smirk growing on her face. "Who knows, maybe we'll be heroes who have our stories told by the time we're done with all this."

"I doubt that." Jaune laughed and Ruby laughed too. After a moment, Blake's smirk slipped into a small, content smile.

Then Jaune's belly rumbled and she laughed too this time.

"Are the sausages done?" Jaune asked and Blake nodded, picking up a plate and spearing three sausages onto it.

"Eat up greedy." She teased, adding more sausages onto a plate for her and Ruby.

They ate in content silence, but on the inside Jaune was troubled. This ancient power that Blake mentioned, was it the one from his dream? Was it benevolent? Or would there be a price to pay for whatever Blake wanted?

"I-I want to apologise Blake." Ruby said softly, breaking him from his thoughts. "I didn't mean to make you think I disliked you because you are a Faunus. Just because you have cat ears makes you no different from me and Jaune. We're all united against the dragons and the threat they pose."

"It's fine Ruby." Blake smiled softly. "I should be the one apologising. I'm so used to those few that are racists that I just assume any slight is because of what I am and jump at shadows. I hope you can forgive me."

"T-There's nothing to forgive!" Ruby replied quickly, holding up her hands placatingly. "It's fine."

"We best hurry." Blake said once they finished their breakfast. "We aren't too far away from Snowmire now. I doubt that storm will be the last of its kind."

Jaune turned to look over the horizon Blake was staring at. True to her word, dark clouds churned atop the peaks of distant mountain tops, roiling and writhing angrily in the air like serpents.

"Don't we have to refill the firewood for the resting lodge?" Ruby asked, and Jaune felt his muscles whine at the thought of chopping more wood.

"No. There's a small sub section in the Lodge Law that states if a natural disaster has occured, then the lodge's current resident must go to the nearest town in order inform them of the blockage to the Solitas Road." Blake replied, standing and walking towards the lodge. "Jacque Schnee may have claimed the Lodge Law was for purely out of compassion, but the fact of the matter is he wanted to make sure trade ran smoothly and the kingdom didn't go bankrupt."

Jaune stood and followed Blake, hearing Ruby do the same behind him.

"How far is Snowmire then?" Jaune asked, having lost his bearings after the mad, wild dash to the resting lodge the night prior.

"Mira's End is there." Blake said, stopping and pointing at a small, jagged speck in the distance. "It may look far, but you two's horses pushed forty miles if what Ruby told me was true. If we don't get there today, we'll definitely arrive tomorrow."

Jaune nodded and they began the familiar routine of saddling and packing their bags, excluding chopping firewood this time, before guiding their horses onto the Solitas Road. It wasn't icy, but it was covered in a thin layer of snow. Despite the risk of ice lurking beneath the snow, they were desperate enough to avoid a repeat of last night to ride their horses instead, setting forward in a slow, steady trot.

They were entirely unaware of the blood red eyes that stared at them from inside the thick wood surrounding them. Nor did they notice the figure the red eyes were attached to as they were followed down the Solitas Road.