After the Storm

by Terkontar

The storm had passed and team RWBY left the grim clouds behind them, finally being able to take a breath, tend to their wounds and pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. And no matter what comes next, they'll brave this new dawn – together / Takes place after Salem's defeat, two years after the fall of Beacon. Mostly slowly burning Whiterose with some Bumblebee on the side.

25. Things that Haunt Us

Chapter XXI: Things that Haunt Us

DISCLAIMER: The following section contains depictions of psychological abuse. If you do not handle well themes such as self-loathing, bullying or gaslighting, you might want to scroll down to the next section (past the italics). Reader discretion advised.

There was a void.

It was dark, but not in the sense of being filled with shadows; if darkness was the absence of light, that void was a place where the notion of neither light nor dark existed, as neither were needed. There were no stars nor even sky, nor was there any tangible ground or exit — nothing but an endless vast of nothing, save for one, pitiful thing: at the heart of that void, like the last thought of a dying mind, trapped was Ruby.

She was on her knees, curled in something akin to the fetal position; robbed of both her clothes and her dignity, her skin was bared to the cruel nothingness that surrounded her. Though there was no light there, the idea of color still somehow existed, defying the physics that had forsaken that place; Ruby's arms were especially vivid in hue, tinged with the deep crimson of spilled blood that covered them nearly up to her elbows. Her body looked as if it was made of cracked porcelain, seeming so fragile that even the gentlest caress could see the pieces crumble apart; a faint, red light bled out from within through those gaps, making the poor girl look much akin to embers slowly dying to the cold of the night.

In truth, the void was not quite as empty as it might have seemed at the first sight. There were also certain things lurking on the peripheries of different senses — faint whispers only Ruby could understand and shadowy images only she could decipher and place. Though unnerving and hurtful, she could bear them — they were nothing more but phantoms or scars, distant echoes of past pains that possessed neither sentience nor the ability to harm her any more than they already had.

Then, the Dark spoke, and Ruby gasped and looked around in fear... for she now knew she was not truly alone with her demons.

"Ruby Rose," the voice addressed her in a tone that was almost fond, as if speaking to a cute, misbehaving child. Though disembodied, it was clearly feminine and chillingly familiar. "The Huntress Prodigy. Red Angel. Grimm Reaper. The Silver Eyed Warrior. Ozpin's 'simple soul', and the poster child for his world of lies." As the voice continued to list her monikers, the mockery of those words became more and more apparent, all pretense tossed aside.

Fearing what was to come but having nowhere to run, Ruby closed her eyes, curled into a ball and covered her head with her arms, as if bracing for a strike... or simply hoping that the voice would go away, or perhaps that she herself could vanish out of existence.

If that was really what she was hoping for, she was not granted her wish. Instead, when a tall, feminine figure dressed in all black stepped out from the nothingness, the voice of Ruby's tormentor was reunited with its owner.

Towering imposingly over the defenseless, quivering girl, the woman bent her back a little and leaned in; a tiny, cruel smile lingered on her pallid face as Salem looked down at Ruby, calmly regarding her enemy. "Welcome to my domain."

Straightening her back, the Witch began to lazily pace around Ruby, speaking as she went; though there was no perceivable ground to mention, each of Salem's steps was pronounced by a quiet yet sharp sound that somehow echoed amongst that vast emptiness, making the void seem all the more desolate. "I suppose congratulations are in order. Many people have stood in my way over the ages, but few were as successful as you in disrupting my operations; in that one sense, the daughter outshone the mother."

Right after that bit of dubious praise, the woman's voice took the tone of casual dismissiveness. "Given, all you've accomplished were temporary setbacks... but credit where credit is due, even if it was all ultimately pointless," Salem spoke, half-heartedly brushing aside two long years filled with toil and pain. There was a brief pause, punctuated by a soft, amused chuckle. "If only Summer could witness how low her offspring has fallen, repeating the same mistakes she herself had made."

Having completed a full circle around her, Salem stopped in front of Ruby and fell quiet for a spell. Her expression softened — gone was her sneer, replaced on her face by the look of pensive sadness, or even one of compassion. She knelt down beside Ruby and lifted a single pale hand to the girl's face as if to caress it, only for Ruby to recoil immediately with a soft whimper the moment Salem's long, dark nails touched her cheek. The Witch didn't appear dejected or surprised, nor even amused; her expression didn't change at all, oddly wistful and impossible to decipher.

"So battered and broken... I pity you, you know. You are so young, and yet suffered so much and have been fed so many lies that all you can do now is to recklessly move forward, lest the reality catches up to you and crushes your spirit. So selfless, so desperately trying to prove to yourself that your life has a meaning, all in order to fill the hollow you feel in your heart. You try to save the world, without care for what it might cost you... or cost others," she spoke softly. Her voice was... kind, almost — understanding — with every single word being so apt and well-placed that it hurt to the core. "Why do you resist? Why go through this pain? Why endanger those who you say you love?" Salem asked quietly, as if baffled by the notion but genuinely trying to understand it.

"Because that's what's right," came the answer, delivered in a small, shaking voice. Ruby could barely muster the will to speak, and it almost seemed as if the words were meant to convince her own self more than anyone else; there was desperation to them, with Ruby clinging to their sentiment like to a lifeline.

Salem's dark eyes narrowed as she looked down on the girl cowering before her, lips curling into a mean, sardonic smirk. "Ah, of course, how silly of me to think otherwise; there I was, naively thinking that Ozpin's champion might've had a genuine, well-thought out reason other than one's self-righteousness. Pray tell, how do you know the right from wrong? Do you ask those who are to pay with their lives for your decisions?" She scoffed with obvious contempt. "Call Cinder a murderer all you want, but at the very least she had the integrity to admit it."

There was no arguing, no rebuttal — Ruby remained silent, having no response to the accusal thrown her way; she simply took it, with her inner light growing duller the longer Salem spoke.

There was worry; compassion; a desperate need to give that poor, hurting girl a hug.

Suddenly, Salem creased her brow and cast a brief look around the omnipresent emptiness, her dark eyes searching for something, seeking... then they pause, and for the briefest of moments it seems they are staring straight at you.

There was fear, but also defiance, then relief coupled with concern when Salem's gaze returned to Ruby.

The Witch let out a small, soundless laugh through her nose. "I must confess, I admire the strength of your conviction... or, should I say, your delusion. I could understand simply lying to your own self — after all, what reason would you have to live on if you acknowledged the futility of the situation? — but your talent for deceit is truly remarkable: not only did you buy into your own lie, but also convinced others to believe into that vain hope of yours, so that they willingly follow your lead into their deaths. Ozpin truly couldn't have hoped for a better ally," she spoke, a cruel yet playful smile dancing on her lips. Her tone was sharp, her derision out in the open, and yet not once had she raised her voice at Ruby or struck the girl; she stayed calm and collected, and that demeanor of hers made everything she said ring sound and true. "Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised — you have had a lot of practice in lying to your loved ones, have you not?"

When she spoke again, she did so in a voice smooth as silk and just as tender — a breathy whisper that would not feel out of place within the ear of a lover. "How does it feel, to lead the whole of Remnant to slaughter? They are dying as we speak, you know — the people you so wished to 'protect'. Getting torn to shreds on the streets of their cities, right in front of their friends and loved ones, fighting for a lost cause while being kept in the dark as to the truth of what is really going on. Who is your real harvest, oh Grimm Reaper?" There was a small pause, skillfully left there to let the venom of those words sink into Ruby's system.

"Was it worth it? Has all this pain you've suffered and wrought, all that blood on your hands, given some meaning to the deaths of Pyrrha and Penny? Or would it have been easier for everyone had you looked down the barrel of your rifle and pulled the trigger?" she murmured like the devil perched on Ruby's shoulder, then brought the nail of her thumb to Ruby's chin and forced the girl's head upwards; Ruby's eyes remained closed, but the Witch didn't seem to care, satisfied with simply having a better look at her nemesis' pained face. After a second, Salem posed her next question: "Tell me, young Rose: have you become the hero you dreamed to be? The team leader you strived to be?" A pause. "The daughter Summer Rose would be proud of?"

She was met with a heartbreaking silence. Salem let it linger for a while — fester like a contaminated wound.

"Pity," she commented in a small voice. "But I suppose there's some silver lining to the final act of your story. You see, some say that there's nothing sadder than dying alone and forgotten. And you? Rather than die by yourself, you'll do so with your friends by your side... then again, that in and of itself is somewhat tragic, isn't it? Being the reason they need to die?" Salem questioned, continuing to twist the proverbial knife within the wound. Her mouth was left open, as if she was to continue, but she let her next words linger for a bit on the tip of her tongue before finally speaking.

"I could say that they really trust you. That they believe against reason that you will accomplish another miracle and pull them through... but that wouldn't exactly be true, would it; maybe save for your dear partner. Still, I imagine there's some solace for you to be found in the notion that your friends are willing to throw their lives away for you. And that at least one of them is foolish enough to still have faith in you," the Witch mocked.

While Salem had been speaking, the whispers in the dark steadily continued to grow clearer and louder, more frantic, turning from a mere white noise to a maddening cacophony of hushed voices... familiar voices uttering unfamiliar things — hurtful, uncaring things, accusations and insults that had never been spoken in Ruby's presence, but which Ruby feared had crossed people's thoughts or been said behind her back.

By that point, the faint glow within Ruby's cracked frame had grown dull and dim — already more of a dirty pink than vibrant red — turning paler still with each carefully placed word Salem let out.

"Not that you have done much to deserve either the loyalty or the faith; your sister follows you out the sense of duty and Blake of guilt, while Weiss you've won over by the virtue of being the first person who's shown her a bit of kindness. But, still, I suppose it counts." She all but laughed in Ruby's face, keeping her voice just steady enough to show that she truly meant what she'd said.

There was a denial; a soft reassurance that brought some color to Ruby's broken heart.

Salem's expression changed slightly, as if a new idea had just crossed her mind. Slowly, a sick, twisted smile bloomed on her face like a ghastly flower, made all the more bloodcurdling by the fact that it actually did reach her eyes as she closed in for the coup de grâce.

"Come to think of it, such unconditional faith deserves to be rewarded," she spoke, her voice sweet, each word laced with poison and malice. "If your dear friend ever recovers, I might actually let her live. I could even lock her away to keep her safe for you, till the end comes; I imagine a gilded cage would feel almost like home to our little heiress. There she would have all the time in the world to contemplate just how much you have failed her trust."

There was a chill, a sense of loneliness and the pure, unadulterated dread... and none of them belonged to the girl groveling in front of the Witch.

No; Ruby's was the fury.

As soon as Salem had finished that thought, it was as if someone used bellows to breathe a new life into the furnace that was Ruby's heart, the coals that had all but burned out sparking with a living, vivid flame. The cracks lining her frame did not mend, but within a ruby-red inferno roared to life.

Ruby's demons went quiet. Her light was no longer fading — she had been set ablaze.

Then, she burst out laughing.

Salem stared at her, and though the Witch was trying to stay composed, a small hint of confusion could be found on her face. As if having finally lost it, Ruby just continued to laugh, her uncontrollable, hysterical roar filling the dark void. Her laughter was that of a dead woman, a maniac who'd given up on their own life and cared not for what would happen to them, wishing for nothing more but to fulfill their one last objective: if they were to go down, they would take their enemy with them.

The crack in Salem's stony expression deepened when Ruby collected herself and, balling her hands into fists, began to slowly rise up from her knees.

"Man, you sure must love the sound of your voice," Ruby spoke; laughter still colored her voice somewhat, but underneath it a low, fiery rumble could be heard. With her back fully straightened, Ruby opened her eyes and stood face to face with Salem, meeting her gaze. In the look Ruby was being given, scorn mixed together with bewilderment, its sight bringing a disfigured grin onto Ruby's lips — more of a snarl than anything else, in which all of her teeth were bared. "Anyone ever told you that you really oughta learn when to stop running your dumb mouth?"

She struck as fast as a snake, her left hand darting towards Salem's throat... then, everything turned white.

---

Weiss woke up with a sharp gasp, the real world hitting her like a bucket of ice-cold water.

By the time she realized she was awake, she'd already been sitting upright on her bed, staring wide-eyed at a splotch of sunlight on the opposite wall of the empty room. Her bedding was a complete mess, while she herself fared even worse — drenched in cold sweat, she was trembling as if in high fever, her heart pounding wildly in her chest as her thoughts raced a mile a minute, running laps 'round her head.

"What the hell," she quietly let out alongside a shaky breath, her voice dissolving into a heavy silence.

Stunned, Weiss rubbed her face, wiping some wetness off her cheeks and forehead. She took a few unsteady breaths in hopes of calming herself down, but it did little to help as she balanced on the razor's edge of a total freakout.

'Disturbed' didn't even begin to describe the state the dream had left her in; it had been alien and beyond surreal... but at the same time, it felt as real as no other dream could ever have. No; it had been more vivid, more raw than most days in the waking world... and to boggle her mind even further, Weiss hadn't just dreamed of Ruby this time around — she had been Ruby.

But, at the same time, she hadn't.

Every verbal lashing in that dream, every sensation and feeling — the pain, the sorrow, the despair, the guilt — she had experienced almost as if it was her own... but it wasn't. She could understand what the whispers in the dark had been saying — some of them speaking in her own voice, talking of things she'd never thought and much less said — but... she also couldn't; they'd been both an unintelligible noise and speaking in a completely coherent manner, all at the same time. She had been a specter, a disembodied spectator... but she hadn't been one.

She had been Ruby... but also herself. Not aware of herself, admittedly, but herself nonetheless, experiencing it all from two points of view all at the same time; mixed into that sensory overload had been some thoughts and emotions that had been undoubtedly hers, and though there had been no obvious distinction between the two, she could just tell whose were whose.

It was as if her consciousness had been stripped down to the bare feeling — it might've been devoid of identity, but Weiss had been a part of that dreamscape rather than an observer... and it had seemed that Salem could sense her intrusion.

Weiss shuddered at the memory of those inhuman red eyes lingering right on her, unseeing but seeking; the mental image of them alone was enough to freeze her to the core. It was as if a character from some horror flick had looked out of the TV screen and acknowledged her existence in a fairly clear manner; the fourth wall had ceased to protect her, leaving her vulnerable and absolutely shaken.

"Just a dream..." Weiss let out a strained whisper, rubbing her teary eyes. She had said that to convince herself, but it wasn't really working; her subconsciousness was clearly trying to tell her something, and she absolutely hated it for it. "Just a dream."

Throwing off the crumpled blanket, Weiss sat on the edge of her bed. The clock of her Scroll told her that it was a quarter to nine in the morning. Having gone to bed sometime past 2AM, she hadn't really gotten enough sleep; normally, she'd be pretty cranky about it, but that day she couldn't care less — wired with anxious energy, she was awake enough not to need coffee, which on most days would be unthinkable so early in the morning.

Weiss just remained seated on her spot for a couple of moments. Resting her forehead in her palm, she tried to gather her thoughts that were running amok in her head. The sight of the other bed in the room being abandoned didn't really help her in her endeavors, but she was trying her best not to let it worry her; Ruby tended to not sleep long even on the calmest of nights — knowing her, she was probably in the kitchen and working on breakfast.

Two full days had passed since Yang's visit to Doctor Glas. Not much of note had happened since; the sisters had made up, and though every now and then some residual awkwardness could still be sensed in the air, they behaved as normally around one another as one could hope.

The day after Yang, it had been Ruby's turn to go, just as had been scheduled; like before, Weiss had accompanied her partner on that trip. While Ruby had been having her session, Weiss had spoken some with the doctor's assistant, ultimately making an appointment for herself on Thursday — admittedly, not without some reluctance.

Much to her relief, however, she still had one more day to mentally prepare. The same couldn't be said for Blake, and now that Weiss thought about it, it seemed possible that Ruby had gotten up early to bake her something nice, just to cheer Blake up before she'd have to leave for her appointment at noon.

Once she'd calmed down enough for her hands to stop shaking, Weiss got up and quietly made her way out of the room, pausing briefly and shooting the sleeping Zwei a short glance. "At least one of us has had a peaceful night," she breathed out quietly before stepping outside.

Moving past the silent guest bedroom, Weiss entered the bathroom and bolted the door shut. She approached the sink and washed her face, then looked at herself in the mirror: her eyes were slightly reddened and harbored deep disquiet, while her brow was marred with worry, a frown sitting on her lips; her white hair was a proper mess, too, all tangled up and disheveled after she had tossed and turned in her bed. She was not okay, and it would be painfully apparent to anyone who saw her.

Her nails scratched against the porcelain as she unwittingly clenched her hands on the sink. Taking a deep breath, she stepped away from the mirror and just sat on the toilet, hugging her knees in search of comfort. She wasn't being rational about it all, she knew that, but for some uncanny reason that dream had left her beyond unsettled, incapable of just shaking it off. It took her a while, but she eventually managed to pinpoint the cause.

In her dream, Ruby had never spoken up for herself, never fought back. The thinly veiled insults, the abuse, the gaslighting, the lies... she had just taken it all, without a word. Not once had she objected — not externally... nor internally. She had been like a resigned criminal at courthouse, silently listening as the judge recounted their sins, waiting for a just sentence.

It took Weiss several minutes to pull herself together and leave the seclusion of the sunlit bathroom. Having made herself somewhat presentable in the meantime, she headed downstairs. The living room was empty, but the door to the kitchen was cracked open, letting through the faint sound of a radio playing.

In the kitchen she found Ruby, all alone. The girl indeed had been making pastry; now waiting for her creation to finish baking, she was leaning her back against the table, facing away from the kitchen's entrance. A mug of coffee sat in her hand, but as Weiss watched the girl for a moment or two, it seemed almost forgotten; at first, Weiss thought that Ruby was simply listening to the radio, but her friend seemed... distracted. Worried, even, with a certain tension to her shoulders and her jaw clenched tight.

"Hey," Weiss called out softly, announcing her presence.

At the sound of her voice, Ruby turned around; a smile flickered to life on her lips, if briefly, soon sizzling out like a bright spark when she saw Weiss' face. Putting down her coffee, she rounded the table and was already by Weiss' side before the latter even knew it.

"Hey... is everything alright?" Ruby asked, gently rubbing Weiss's arm as she studied her expression with concern.

Weiss couldn't help but look away. "Yes, it's just..." Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she shook her head. She really could've used a hug in that moment, but didn't want to come off as needy by asking, or to worry Ruby any further. "I've had another freakish dream. It's nothing."

Ruby didn't seem particularly convinced, but didn't press her for truth, simply letting Weiss off with a brief embrace. This much welcome contact ended far too soon, leaving the girl cold and wanting, but she didn't ask for more when Ruby led her to the table and sat her down. Instead, she watched silently as Ruby rushed off to grab her a fresh mug from a cupboard.

"So... what about you?" Weiss spoke up after a while.

Closing the cupboard, Ruby dropped down from her tiptoes and shot her partner a puzzled look, lightly tilting her head to the side.

"What got you out of bed so early, I mean," Weiss specified. "Bad dreams, too?"

Having her wordless question answered, Ruby walked over to the coffee pot and began pouring Weiss the drink. "Nah, I just kinda needed to go to the bathroom really bad, and then dad got up, and since I wasn't really sleepy I thought I'd eat breakfast with him before he went to work. Then I figured Blake probably could use something to perk her up a bit, so I got to baking."

"Why did you seem so tense when I walked in, then?" Weiss asked as Ruby was setting her coffee down on the table.

The other girl blinked. "Did I?" The soft smile she'd been wearing while serving Weiss her drink waned and she looked rather sheepish all of a sudden; taking a seat across the table from Weiss, she rubbed the side of her neck. "Just had a bad feeling, is all," she said while looking off to the side. Her eyes briefly flicked to Weiss', only for Ruby to get awfully interested in the grain pattern of wood making up the table.

Trying not to give Ruby any more reasons to worry, Weiss quietly sipped her coffee, pretending not to notice the quick glances Ruby was sneaking in her direction. The drink was lukewarm, probably having been brewed a while ago, but she didn't mind; while she didn't really feel like she needed coffee, the familiarity of that routine helped soothe her nerves somewhat.

"Hey... do you want to talk about it?"

Weiss glanced at the girl that had posed the question, but was then quick to look away, unable to hold Ruby's caring gaze for long. Stalling for time, she silently took a long sip of her coffee, looking at anything else but Ruby; eventually, she set down her drink and let a tired sigh roll past her lips.

"I've... I've been having those bizarre dreams recently," she confessed, thoughtlessly rotating her white mug so that the side decorated with the logo of Signal Academy was facing directly towards her. "They're all about you and the girls... mostly you, I suppose. The things you've been doing while I've been out cold. Up to this point they were just... odd, especially visually, but it wasn't really anything that abnormal considering the circumstances." She clenched her eyelids shut tight, as if trying in vain to purge the memory of the latest dream out of her mind. "But today's dream was anything but normal."

Beginning to fiddle idly with her fingers, she carried on, staring blankly at her hands as she spoke. "You were in some dark room... or a void, rather. There was no source of light in sight, but I could see you normally... kind of." The image of Ruby's naked frame covered in crack-like lines of light resurfaced in her mind. She hesitated for a moment whether to disclose it, weighing the description of the scene on the tip of her tongue before swallowing it altogether, sparing Ruby that painful detail. "I... was you, in a sense... but also wasn't, as if I was experiencing feelings and senses of two people at the same time. And we... you weren't alone. Salem was with you, talking with you." She swallowed thickly. "Or at you, rather."

"...can you repeat what she said to me?"

"I..." She wasn't sure whether it was something about Ruby's voice, or if the mood suddenly shifted, but she somehow felt the urge to look up. Ruby's tone had been tense and hollow, and, combined with just how pale she had gotten, it almost caused Weiss to say that it'd be better if she didn't answer... but that refusal froze on her lips when she saw the look in Ruby's wide eyes.

Ruby had never looked at her like that before. Her gaze was fearful, but there was a strange kind of intensity to it, as if she felt she needed to hear what Weiss had seen; Ruby wasn't demanding Weiss to answer... but she wasn't quite asking, either.

Weiss girl didn't understand Ruby's sudden fixation with her dream, but her will soon caved under that unexpected pressure hidden behind Ruby's stare. Breaking the eye contact, Weiss wracked her mind how to satisfy Ruby's curiosity in the gentlest manner possible.

"She... tried to make you question whether it was all worth it," she let out eventually, giving some careful consideration to each and every word. "She was acting all refined about it, but every single syllable was twisted to hurt you."

"Something that Glas told you?"

Weiss shot her friend a confused glance. Though it didn't quite occur to her why just yet, she felt a lump of ice tumble down the pit in her stomach. "What? I— no, she didn't..."

"Do you remember something more specific?" Ruby continued to press her, going so far as to even lean closer over the table. "Word for word if you can. Anything will do."

Somewhat taken aback, Weiss withdrew a bit; even though Ruby hadn't raised her voice nor really done anything, there was an undeniable, feverish energy about her that made Weiss feel backed into a corner.

"I..." she started, but immediately found it difficult to form a coherent sentence with Ruby looking at her like that. It was the kind of an expectant stare that made it incredibly hard to focus; she felt rushed, so much so that she didn't even know what to tell Ruby. She didn't understand her apparent desire to know, either, but was too distracted to pause and question it.

Random, jumbled bits of her dream flashed in her mind, only to slip right through her fingers before she could hold onto their threads. She almost blurted out the first cohesive thing that came to her mind — what Salem had said about Ruby and her rifle — but she thankfully managed to stay her tongue. Freezing with her lips parted, Weiss drew a blank... until another strong impression appeared in her thoughts.

"She threatened you that she'd put me in a gilded cage if I survived." She closed her eyes and shuddered as the echo of Salem's expression that formed within her mind. "And her smile when she's said that, Dust..."

"What." A single, breathless word that chilled one to the bone; a quiet sound of shock and disbelief, an expression of perceived impossibility that caused Weiss to suddenly feel nauseous.

As Weiss looked up, she saw that Ruby had one hand covering her mouth; the two of them just stared at one another with wide eyes, frozen within a moment that felt completely surreal.

"I... I haven't told anyone what she said to me about you. Anyone. Not even Glas."

The air in Weiss' lungs turned into a chilled mist, leaving her without a voice for a second or two. "Are you..." Immediately, she needed to swallow, biting back the bile she could already taste in her mouth. "Are you trying to tell me that was real? That all of this really happened?" Now it was Weiss' turn to stare, and her gaze had the weight and focus of a spearhead. Trying to remain as collected as possible, she had spoken in a slow, deliberate manner, but her voice began to crack along with her heart as Ruby turned to look away from her. "Please tell me that isn't what you mean."

To Weiss, it seemed that the room became so cold that the time itself began to freeze, with seconds of silence dragging on for so unbearably long that one almost wanted to claw out their own ears. She had to wait for an answer for what seemed like an age, and when it finally came, Ruby's reply was little more than a whisper.

"I don't know about 'all of it'... but it sounds that way." Drawing in a shaky breath, Ruby covered her eyes with a trembling hand. "She got inside my head, Weiss. Got inside my head and used my own m-memories and fears to try and break me... and I had no way of defending myself. None."

The quiver in Ruby's voice that could be heard towards the end was the last straw. Weiss' blood turned into liquid nitrogen, cold enough to burn as it began to boil within her system. Her jaw clenched, her knuckles cracked and turned pale; every muscle in her body tensed as she started shaking, every fiber of her being vibrating with rage. "That fucking bitch..." she seethed. "If only I..."

Alarmed, Ruby tried to calm her down. "Hey, it's oka..."

WHAM. Bolting up from her seat, Weiss slammed her fist onto the table, her other hand cutting through the air as she animatedly whipped it about. "NO IT ISN'T OKAY—!" she began to scream, only to be cut off by the sharp crack of breaking porcelain.

The noise startled her, immediately sobering her up. It wasn't difficult at all to pinpoint its source — her coffee mug now lied shattered on the floor, having been knocked off the table when Weiss had blindly swung her arm about. Dark liquid now pooled around its broken pieces, some of it dripping slowly down the nearby wall and furniture that had gotten caught up in the splash.

What shame she felt looking at that mess paled in comparison to the gut-wrenching sense of guilt she was hit with the moment she laid her eyes on Ruby. Weiss' outburst left her all tensed up and with her mouth hanging open, staring in shock at the destroyed mug lying splintered all over the floor. After a moment, Ruby's startled gaze darted to Weiss and their eyes locked, and Weiss could see it in her expression and in the slight quiver of her lips — sense it in the air between them — that Ruby was starting to panic. And Weiss had been the root of it.

Her heart falling to the porcelain-covered floor, Weiss briskly rounded the table and dropped to her knee by Ruby's side; she reflexively wanted to take her friend's hand into hers, but when Ruby pulled away with her chair, she held back, even though it pained her.

"I'm sorry," she pleaded, looking Ruby straight in the eye and hoping — begging — that Ruby would realize she truly meant it. It seemed to have the desired effect on Ruby, and as she settled down a bit, Weiss hung her head low and shook it ruefully. "Dust, I'm sorry, I shouldn't—"

"You're right," Ruby cut her off, silencing her in an instant and causing her to look up in surprise; Ruby's voice was weak and dry, but in Weiss' head it sounded as harsh as the clap of a whip.

She spoke slowly as she continued, placing immense weight on each and every word she so pointedly uttered. "What she's done wasn't okay; nowhere near being okay. She's violated me, on the basest level possible."

Weiss had wanted Ruby to get angry for once, and it was exactly what she'd gotten — the girl lifted the lid she'd put on her feelings to contain them, and even though she'd opened it but a crack, the cold, bitter flame of hate and hurt that flared up deep within her silver eyes was enough to leave Weiss rattled.

Ruby's eyelids fluttered shut for a moment; taking a long, shuddering breath, she shook her head. When she looked at the other girl again, her glare had lost much of its former intensity; rather than angry, she seemed spent... and vulnerable. There was a quiver in her voice as she went on, and every word was heavy with emotion. "But I can't hold onto that anger, that pain. She's dead, and won't be able to hurt anyone else that way anytime soon. I can't spend my every night thinking back to how fucked up that was. I want to move on." She blinked, and in doing so she inadvertently opened whatever floodgates had been preventing tears from streaming down her face. "I need to move on, Weiss. To try. It'll break me otherwise."

By the time she finished, Ruby was practically choking up. From the look in her teary eyes, Weiss could easily tell that she was desperate... and afraid. Afraid of her life turning into one that was no longer worth living, more of a torment than anything else.

Ruby's confession left Weiss at a complete loss, with the silence that followed being punctuated only by Ruby's soft sniffles and hics. What was there Weiss could possibly say to something like that, anyway? There wasn't a single consolation she could think of that wouldn't come off as patronizing or otherwise callous; she couldn't say that she understood Ruby, either, for nothing she'd ever experienced could be compared to being attacked within the sanctuary of one's own mind.

It infuriated Weiss, that helplessness. She couldn't do anything... but to be there for Ruby.

Sensing that she herself was starting to tear up, Weiss wordlessly sat in Ruby's lap and wrapped her arms around the other's neck. She hugged her friend tight, continuing to hold onto her even after Ruby's sobs became less violent and both of them stopped shaking for the most part. They remained like that for a good while, trying to draw strength from the physical contact, basking in the soothing warmth both of them so much needed.

The hug wasn't at all a selfless one. Weiss felt genuinely sick — her head hurt, her stomach was churning, and she had to actively fight the urge to vomit, with the sour taste of bile persisting in her mouth no matter how much time had passed. Even though what she'd just learned didn't directly affect her, it'd shaken her as much as little else had in her life.

It wasn't just about what Salem had done to Ruby, as bloodcurdlingly twisted as that'd been... but also the sheer amount of pain Weiss had seen. It also raised many uncomfortable questions; for example, assuming that Weiss had really somehow — in some weird, freakish way — managed to glimpse inside Ruby's mind, was the girl she'd seen there what Ruby's psyche was like? What Ruby saw herself as? Battered and vulnerable, with blood on her hands, so fragile that it seemed that a single light knock could have her shattered...?

She prayed that wasn't true, that her dream was just that — an uncanny coincidence of her subconscious really running with the artistic liberty card. It would've been so easy to choose and believe that... but, as she kept holding Ruby in her embrace, a weird, unwanted sense of closure accompanied her, as if she finally had all the pieces of the puzzle on her hand, finally seen the full picture.

And she hated that feeling.

At some point, Ruby grasped a handful of Weiss' shirt. "How much did you see?" she asked weakly.

Weiss stayed quiet for a little while, thinking on her reply. "Since before she'd appeared," she admitted. "There were whispers and some shadowy images, like... random scenes from your life, I think. People talking behind your back, laughing at you, saying mean things... your dad not leaving his room for two days straight and not answering when you knocked..."

It was weird, understanding those phantasmal visions that had been skulking in the void; they should have meant nothing to Weiss, made up from noises and images she couldn't place nor name, but — when filtered through that weird connection to Ruby in that dream — they actually made sense, as if that link provided her with the necessary context and filled in the gaps.

"Damn."

Hearing a small hint of awe in Ruby's voice, Weiss' heart sunk deeper into the cold pit within her chest. "It wasn't a normal dream, huh?" she asked resignedly.

Ruby huffed out a short, mirthless laugh. "Bit specific for a coincidence."

She fell quiet for a longer while, and as she stayed there in silence, the air about her began to gradually change. She gingerly weakened her hold on Weiss and tensed up, freezing within her friend's embrace; even her breathing turned shallow, so much so that Weiss could barely hear or feel it despite the proximity. And somehow, without exchanging a single word, Weiss knew exactly what was going on... and the knowledge did nothing to lessen her heartache.

Ruby was terrified of being thrown aside like some old, broken thing.

"Do you see me differently now?" Ruby asked in a voice so small and vulnerable that it knocked all the air from Weiss' lungs.

Weiss inhaled deeply, drawing in a shaky breath. Not once in her life had she been asked a question so precarious and loaded with emotions as that one; it felt as if Ruby had just placed her heart and soul on Weiss' palm, for her to crush them if she so pleased... or just wasn't careful enough.

It wasn't fair to Weiss, such responsibility... but she couldn't find it in herself to blame Ruby for putting it on her shoulders.

For better or worse, coming up with an answer was easy to her, for in her eyes there was but one she could possibly give. There was no point in beating around the bush — after all, who wouldn't look differently at a person after getting to know their demons? No, finding the answer was the easy part, for it all but came to her... but it didn't make the act of actually saying it out loud any less nerve-fraying.

"Yes. And I couldn't be more proud of you."

Ruby let out a tiny, sharp gasp; for a brief moment her body slacked against Weiss' in disbelief, only to nearly crush her in one vise of an embrace the moment later. Weiss could feel Ruby's nails dig into her back through the fabric of her shirt while Ruby burrowed her face in her shoulder and began to cry openly.

Those weren't the dignified tears, nor the pretty kind of sobbing one might've expected from a TV drama; it was violent and raw, replete with bloodshot eyes, puffy eyelids and a runny nose, loud enough for it to be pretty jarring to Weiss even though Ruby was actively trying to keep the volume down. Ruby was shaking like a leaf, but, to be fair, Weiss wasn't faring all that much better, overtaken with emotions; there was anger and also grief, worry and frustration, but chief of them all was relief, all of them rolling into a storm so intense that Weiss was actually glad to be sitting. Moving onto a plane of existence comprised only of their shared closeness, they paid no mind to the rest of the world; neither of them knew how much time had passed by the time the air finally cleared.

"I'm sorry," Ruby's quiet apology grounded Weiss back in the reality. "I've got no idea why, nevermind how... but I'm sorry you've had to see it all. The mess that's inside my brain shouldn't be your problem; you have enough of them on your own." She shook her head, grinding her chin against Weiss' shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry."

"I'm not," Weiss fired back with zeal, then winced at how sharp and assertive it sounded in her own ears; a small part of her had gotten genuinely annoyed at Ruby's implication that Weiss was a wounded party there, and it had shown. Objectively speaking, Ruby probably wasn't exactly wrong, either, but it still rubbed Weiss the wrong way.

Yes, the experience had been painful, maybe even traumatic, but while she had briefly experienced some of Ruby's pain and emotions as if they'd been her own, the lasting impression they'd left on her hit completely differently. The excruciating pang of guilt Ruby had felt at the mention of lying to her loved ones was now a mere echo in Weiss' heart, and so was the hollow void of defeat that had opened within Ruby's chest when accused of leading her friends to their deaths; those feelings weren't hers, and thus didn't bother Weiss the same way they bothered Ruby. The only reason they hurt was because they showed Weiss just in how much pain her best friend had been. Four years ago, the idea of being distraught over the woes of another would've been preposterous to Weiss... but there she was now, worrying and balancing precariously on the verge of crying.

Then, Weiss thought of the other side of the coin, and her nausea returned. Only in that moment had she considered Ruby's angle, and how Weiss' knowledge affected her — for all intents and purposes, she had trespassed on the sanctuary of Ruby's mind, just like Salem had... and the thought made her sick all over again.

Given, in her dream she had only been able to superficially glimpse into rather than truly read Ruby's mind, but, as imperfect as that vision had been, it still gave Weiss a tremendous insight into Ruby's fears; obtaining such intimate knowledge gives a terrifying power over another person, a power no one should ever have. "Not sorry for myself, anyway. But I am sorry for having been an intruder; I had no right to."

Weiss was close enough that she could practically feel the vibration inside Ruby's throat as the other girl let out a soft hum of agreement. What took her by surprise was that there was no darker undertone to that sound — no anger, nor fear, nor even hesitation.

"It's not like you planned to," Ruby replied quietly.

She was upset, that much was for sure, but it seemed that her displeasure was more directed at the situation as a whole rather than Weiss in particular. She probably felt humiliated, exposed... but the ways in which Weiss could use what she'd seen against Ruby didn't seem to be a concern in her mind, once again showcasing a degree of trust in the light of which Weiss felt truly humbled.

Then, Ruby mustered a tiny laugh. "Besides, if someone had to go poking around in my brain, then I'm glad it was you."

The phrase took Weiss aback so much that she actually felt compelled to pull away and shoot Ruby an incredulous look. Offering her no real answer, Ruby just gave Weiss an awkward, somewhat apologetic smile before sheepishly averting her eyes.

Weiss could just tell that there was more to it that Ruby wasn't sharing, and she would've lied had she said that she wasn't tempted to pry... but before she could decide whether to do so or not, Ruby gestured with her head to the side, bringing Weiss' attention to the shattered mug still lying on the very nice, wooden paneling.

"We probably should start cleaning," Ruby stated. She was likely deflecting... but Weiss couldn't deny that she had a point.

And so Weiss got off Ruby's lap, allowing the two of them to get going. Armed in paper towels, the girls worked in tandem, with Ruby wiping the floor and furniture dry while Weiss took it on herself to gather the sharp shards of porcelain. Thankfully, none of said shards was so tiny they'd be easy to miss, but there were quite a few of them scattered all over the room, making Weiss' task a bit more laborious than one might've guessed.

"Tell me it wasn't anyone's favorite mug," Weiss asked at one point; she said that in a jesting tone, but there was an obvious edge of anxiety to it that she hadn't quite managed to hide.

Ruby, who was then toiling away right next to Weiss, paused her wiping and gave the sorry remains a quick once-over. "This? Nah, it's probably just one of mine. Maybe Yang's." She plucked a seemingly random piece — the bottom of the late mug, or rather one half of it, near to where the handle had been — from Weiss' hand and examined it more closely. "Yep, Yang's; mine's been chipped 'round here," she said, pointing with her thumb at the perfectly even edge, then returned the shard back to Weiss' hand.

Weiss blanched at those words, giving Ruby a look that screamed 'not exactly reassuring, that'; noticing it, Ruby let out a small chuckle and shook her head. "Don't worry, she's got like two more of those, and that's already minus the one she broke."

Weiss breathed out a tiny sigh of relief, thankful that Yang's attachment to certain material things did not extend to that mug in particular. Still, as she later looked down at the shattered thing in her hand, she couldn't help but feel bad about breaking something that wasn't even hers. "Should I throw it away?" she questioned guiltily, shooting Ruby a sideways glance.

Ruby, who had gotten back to her wiping, paused again, turning her attention towards the heap in Weiss' hand and poring over it with a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Nah, I'll take care of it," she decided, saying so with a rather mysterious smile briefly gracing her lips. "Just leave it on the counter once you've got all the pieces."

"Okay."

Weiss was the first one to finish; putting the shards down where she'd been asked, she quickly rinsed her hands in the sink, then rested her back against the table in wait for her friend to wrap up — that is, after Ruby had refused Weiss' offer of help. Thankfully, it seemed that none of the coffee had gotten on the carpet, making Ruby's task that much easier.

Ruby was done before long; tossing a large ball of dirty paper towels into the dumpster, she moved on to get herself cleaned.

Just as the stream of water from the faucet was cut off, Ruby spoke up. "You've said that you've had more odd dreams lately," she prodded, doing so in a manner that bore the pretense of casual interest; she didn't even look at Weiss, occupied with wiping her hands dry with a rag.

What she had just said gave Weiss a small pause. While her interest wasn't exactly surprising, Weiss could sense that there was some purpose to that question, one she couldn't quite decipher just yet. "Yes..." she admitted warily, wondering where her friend would go with it.

Ruby passed Weiss a quick glance, then put the rag away and hoisted herself onto the counter, perching on its edge. "What were they about?"

Weiss regarded her with a studious stare. For someone who had been pretending but a moment ago to be only slightly curious about the subject, Ruby's eyes — though still somewhat red — were unusually focused and motivated. Weiss knew well the face Ruby was making, having seen it more times than she cared to count — it was the same expression Ruby would always make when she wanted to figure something out: sharp, serious, and perhaps more than a little stubborn. Awash with nostalgia, Weiss felt the faintest of smiles tug lightly at the corners of her mouth.

While she didn't quite understand why Ruby wasn't being more direct and upfront in her questioning, that weird foreplay was no reason for her to see an issue in humoring her; in fact, those dreams had been nagging Weiss for a while, and she would actually welcome Ruby's input.

"In one of them you and the others were fighting a bunch of lesser Grimm. I couldn't really see any of you normally; you all looked like... silhouettes made of colorful light. Ground was graphite gray and dead, Grimm were black, grass — ashen. You yourself were like a tiny red light in the middle of a raging sea of blackness." Weiss saw Ruby arch her brow at the description of the strange imagery and smirked wryly, but when the girl didn't interrupt her with any questions, she moved on.

"You've pulled away from the rest of the group, hacking away at the Grimm until an Alpha Beowolf blindsided you. I tried to yell, but couldn't speak since I've had no body... but then you've taken care of the Alpha anyways — turned around and impaled it onto the shaft. After that, similar situations repeated a few times, but each time you managed to pull through with some last-minute save." Weiss mustered a tiny smile, shooting her partner a part-critical, part-playful look. "You were sloppy."

Ruby reciprocated the smile, but Weiss noticed that it didn't quite reach her eyes; those had a rather peculiar look about them, one that Weiss — oddly enough — couldn't quite read. Ruby seemed to have shifted her position slightly, though, as if she had her back slightly straighter. "Anything else?"

Weiss nodded darkly. "There was another. You were walking with Oscar and the rest, before the fighting started. Then there were gunshots in the distance." She cast her gaze down, staring absently at the now-cleaned wooden floor. "You seemed down, stressed, like you really needed a hug... and then turned around and looked straight through me."

In the corner of her vision, Weiss caught a glimpse of Ruby rubbing her hand across her mouth, seemingly in thought. Weiss looked up, and in doing so met Ruby's eyes, which still had the same unreadable expression — if anything, the intensity of it had only grown.

Sensing something was up, Weiss stared at Ruby in questioning silence, with the two of them looking wordlessly at one another for a good few seconds. When Ruby finally broke the quiet, she spoke in a voice that was deliberate and oddly contained, all the while staring her partner dead in the eye. "Weiss... do you remember how I told you that back at the time it didn't really feel like you weren't with us?"

The phrase rang some bell inside Weiss' head, but it took her a second to pinpoint the exact belltower. She nodded. "In the infirmary, right before Yang and Blake came by; I remember. Feels like a long time ago." She knitted her brow. "You've never finished explaining it."

"Because it was just that. Now, I'm not that great at Aura detection — honestly, I have no idea how Ren and Fox do that — but I just... know what it feels like, to have a full team together, you know? And it didn't feel like you weren't with us. I kept looking over my shoulder all the time, half-expecting to see you there, heaving as you tried to catch up to us." Seeing Weiss' frown and the playfully-threatening look cast her way, Ruby responded with a warm, surprisingly gentle smile. "I thought it was just my wishful thinking, but once the fighting started, there were a few moments where I'd be completely toast if I didn't suddenly get that random idea that I've had something on my flank. Like, don't get me wrong, I know I'm good, but I'm usually not so good that I would instinctively pull up the shaft and casually skewer an Alpha as if I've actually planned it."

Weiss' jaw went slack. 'Say what.' Ruby might have as well just admitted to having slept with Blake right under Yang's nose, it still would've seemed more probable than the thing she seemed to be implying.

As Weiss stared Ruby in the eye, she knew that the other wasn't kidding; there was conviction in Ruby's gaze, a sense of certainty so strong that it would've been difficult to tell her otherwise even if she was, in fact, wrong.

That morning, all of it had been so overwhelming and hard to wrap her head around; Weiss hadn't had nowhere enough time to process it, and more yet kept on coming. She was hurt, worried and confused, and she didn't know how to even start unpacking it all. After all, how had she gone from a vivid nightmare to supposedly accompanying her team in spirit during the zero hour? It was surreal, all of it.

But she slowly began to understand the reason behind Ruby's apparent desire to learn more about Weiss' dreams; Weiss herself felt as if she was going insane, and she couldn't even fathom how Ruby must've felt all that time. She didn't blame her at all for jumping at the first clue suggesting that she might have not been going crazy.

If Ruby sensed Weiss' skepticism, she didn't let it show, still wearing the same gentle expression. "Those hunches saved my ass," she confessed. "It almost felt as if I had some guardian angel watching over me."

Then, her soft smile blossomed into one unlike any other, one so radiant that its incandescence would sear it into Weiss' memory with the clarity of a photograph; Ruby seemed moved beyond mortal words, and absolutely elated. And the way she looked at Weiss... intense enough to be electrifying, it sent a shiver down the girl's spine and stole her breath away, so warm it could probably heat a whole house in the dead of winter.

"And perhaps I really did. Perhaps I really wasn't alone in the dark."

A thousand words floated about in Weiss' head, and yet she found herself stuck with nothing to say, her mouth left open, with the girl struggling in search of her voice as one would for air.

If asked, Weiss wouldn't be able to tell how much time she spent drawing a blank and just staring at the beaming Ruby; she wouldn't even know what spurred her to say what she was about to say, be it something Ruby had mentioned, or maybe a feeling, or a loose idea that had randomly crossed her mind. She turned her gaze towards the ground and wetted her lower lip, then said: "What she said wasn't true. About me being loyal just because you've shown me some kindness; it's much more than that."

Moisture glistened in Ruby's eyes once more, but her smile didn't waver; those tears weren't tears of a sadness or fear, but of gratitude and relief. It seemed that by saying what she'd said, Weiss had unwittingly struck a chord within Ruby. There was a spark of recognition in the girl's silvery eyes, and something about the way Ruby looked at her told Weiss that those few words might have meant more to her than to Weiss herself; Ruby also seemed to be more at ease about something, as if Weiss had just put to rest a fear of hers, once and for all.

"I... kind of figured," Ruby stated, lightly wiping a lone tear with her thumb. She shook her head and sighed, and her smile finally dimmed somewhat as she cast her eyes down. "I don't think her strat was to speak 'the painful truth'. You can live in denial even when the truth slaps you across the face. But it was much harder to clap back when everything she said was something that a small part of you agreed with, or was afraid of."

What Ruby had said instantly chilled the room by a few degrees. Weiss felt the cold fingers of fear crawl up her back and clutch at her throat — not yet choking, but beyond distressing.

Ruby had just unknowingly validated the thing that had disturbed Weiss the most about her dream — the fact that Ruby hadn't really denied any of the accusations. Did it mean that Ruby had been battling with similar thoughts all that time, perhaps not quite believing them, but fearing, considering?

If so, it truly made Salem all the more terrifying.

"'No victory in strength,'" Weiss aired quietly, to which Ruby replied with a grim nod.

Weiss had truly meant it when she'd said that she couldn't possibly be prouder of her partner. Salem had broken so many great Huntsmen and Huntresses who were both stronger and more experienced than anyone on team RWBY; take Professor Lionheart for example — a once-paragon reduced to a shell of his former glory, he'd been terrorized into betraying his friends, ideals and the people he'd sworn to protect, all for the fear of what Salem could've done to him.

While having seen what Ruby had gone through cast new, sympathetic light on Leo's betrayal, it did little to lessen the contrast between him and Ruby. Even though the girl was hurting so much it made Weiss' heart bleed, she still carried on in hope of a better tomorrow, staying true to herself. Where the likes of Lionheart and Raven had faltered and buckled, Ruby had persevered, giving others the strength to follow in her steps and hope. Like a bright flame in the darkness, she was team RWBY's strength... and her teammates were hers.

"About that kindness and loyalty thing... I think I've felt you back then."

"What do you mean?"

Ruby shook her head. "I 'unno, it's been like... a feeling that gave me the strength to believe, you know."

And if Weiss had really managed, by some strange miracle or a curse, to directly aid Ruby in the darkest hour... she had been granted her one wish.

---

Around half past ten, Blake and Yang decided that it was the time to move out of bed and leave the confines of their bedroom. Having descended downstairs, they were welcomed in the kitchen by the other half of the team, both of whom were already dressed.

The mood was rather... weird as Blake and Yang entered, and not in the fun way, but Blake had her educated guesses as to what had been the root of it; before long, she let the thought slip her mind anyways, chased away by the the sweet smell of a fresh cheesecake paired with Ruby and Weiss acting fairly normal as the four of them went about their breakfast.

After eating, Ruby hit up her sister, asking if Yang minded doing a grocery run together.

"Sure," Yang mumbled with her mouth full, still chewing on her last bite of the cake. "When?"

"Like, right now? Unless you want nothing but take outs for dinner."

Yang dusted off her hands and noisily pulled back her chair, stepping away from the table as she was on her way to the fridge. "I mean, it wouldn't be so bad, would it?"

She opened the fridge and took a gander at what was — or rather wasn't — inside. Not only was there no food, but also next to no cold drinks, as well as nothing to snack on. With a deadpan look on her face, she closed the fridge's door and marched across the kitchen, already on her way out. "Okay, just lemme grab my clothes."

The sisters both left within the next ten minutes, leaving Weiss and Blake by themselves; as soon as Blake heard the door shut behind the siblings, her amber eyes turned towards Weiss sitting next to her. She stared at her for a spell, quietly sipping her tea, then spoke up casually: "So... what did you two argue about?"

Weiss visibly bristled at that accusation, crossing her arms and looking off to the side in a manner that could suggest nothing else but Blake hitting the nail right on its head. "We didn't argue."

Blake fixed her with a rather unimpressed look. "Weiss, you really can't fool these ears," she stated, bringing Weiss' attention to the pair that sat atop Blake's head. "I quite clearly heard you yelling, not to mention that, unless I'm mistaken, something got broken." The list of the things she'd heard didn't quite end at that, but by the look of it, Weiss didn't need Blake to spell out that she was also aware of the crying.

Weiss hung her head low, resigned. "It wasn't an argument. It's... I just lost my cool."

Blake narrowed her eyes, a bit exasperated by what she saw as a rather childish attempt at beating around the bush — a pointless one at that. "May we not argue about the semantics, then?" she pleaded, sprinkling in just the right amount of snark to sober Weiss up a little.

As Weiss looked up and met her eyes, Blake's stare mellowed into a more compassionate one. Raising both of her hands in a gesture of goodwill, Blake spoke again in a much gentler tone: "Look, if it's something you'd rather keep private, then all you need to do is to say so and I'll lay off. But you're my friend, something is clearly bothering you and I want to help; if nothing else, I can at the very least hear you out."

Weiss nodded in acknowledgment to that, but said nothing at first; she just kept on thoughtfully sipping her tea for the next half a minute or so, lost in what seemed to be a quiet consideration of Blake's offer.

"Do you remember what Salem did to the three of you?" she asked eventually.

Blake tensed a bit at the posed question, her chair creaking lightly underneath her as she leaned back and sat more straight. "No... but Yang told me the gist of her experience. And there's also that... weird sense of déjà vu whenever I start thinking negatively... as if I have already had the same thoughts before, except I can't recall when."

There was a brief flicker of fire within Weiss' blue eyes. "That bitch," she hissed into her mug, quietly enough that Blake wouldn't have heard it if not for the virtue of owning a second pair of ears.

Setting the mug down onto the table, Weiss stared blankly at her hands, and her gaze was so loaded with barely contained emotions that it almost seemed as if it had some heft to it. "I learned of what she's said to Ruby, just this morning," she admitted in a hollow-sounding voice.

"And you got heated?" Blake didn't blame Weiss, not one bit; heavens knew she herself was pissed when Yang had filled her in on the story, and knowing how much Ruby had been struggling with lately... that retelling Weiss had heard couldn't have been pretty.

Weiss nodded slowly, breathing out a guilty sigh. "And Ruby tried to calm me down."

Blake gave the crestfallen girl a knowing, sympathetic look. "And you snapped because she was trying to play it off again."

Closing her eyes, Weiss nodded once again. "Yes. I hate when she does that. She bottles all this pain up, constantly, and I worry that one day it all becomes too much and she..." She choked up, finding the words that were to come next too painful to speak, so much so that she teared up a little.

Blake just nodded solemnly, sparing her the need to continue. "Yeah. I get it."

Weiss took a deep breath to ground herself before carrying on. "The worst part is, she just didn't want me to throw a hissy fit over something she wants nothing to do with but to move on from," she groaned, rubbing her face in exasperation. With a small frown on her forehead, she turned her eyes towards Blake, looking rather distressed. "I was completely out of line, was I not?"

Blake shifted uncomfortably, honestly not quite certain how to answer to that. "I'm not sure about 'out of line'..." she spoke cautiously. "You probably shouldn't have yelled, but I don't blame you for being worried. And if it helps, I don't think that Ruby does, either," she said, giving Weiss a slightly crooked but nonetheless reassuring smile. She left it at that, bringing her mug to her lips and taking a few sips in thoughtful silence.

After a while, as she was looking through the window, she aired: "So... she's told you what happened. It must've been difficult to her."

Weiss awkwardly looked away, scratching the wing of her nose. "She... hasn't exactly told me."

Golden eyes flicked towards the her, giving Weiss a puzzled look. "I think you've lost me. Is this about semantics again?"

Wringing her hands, Weiss briefly met Blake's eyes, only to nigh immediately look away; by the look of things, she had no idea how to even begin explaining herself. "I've... dreamt it," she let out, and it was clear that she was all too well aware how that sounded.

Blake blinked. Then blinked again. "You... have dreamt it," she repeated slowly, then paused; when Weiss reaffirmed with a sheepish nod that it was correct, Blake shook her head. "Still lost."

"I've been... having some strange dreams lately."

"...Okay. Strange how?"

A tiny simper made itself manifest on Weiss' face. "Would you think me crazy if I said that I've dreamt of things that happened while I was out, in the exact way how they happened?"

Blake's eyes widened in a double-take; for a while she continued to silently bore proverbial holes into Weiss, trying to find anything that'd suggest Weiss was just pulling her leg or exaggerating, but she eventually found herself with no other choice but to concede that the girl was being serious — and fully expecting Blake not to believe her, at that.

Inhaling deeply through her nose, Blake leaned further back in her chair and just stared at the table in front of her with a distant gaze. "Two years ago I might have, but these days the word 'crazy' rings kind of hollow to me. Damn," she muttered, admittedly somewhat awestruck. Her eyes once again turned towards Weiss, sending a curious, confused look her way. "But... how?"

Weiss aired out a resigned sigh. "And that's what we don't understand."

Blake ruminated on it for a short while, considering the ways how she could explain the phenomenon, but no matter how hard she tried, anything she came up with was rather... out there. Granted, they all had seen stranger things happen.

"You don't suppose you've actually managed to follow us out-of-body, do you...?" she probed, not hiding the fact that she herself was fairly skeptical of her own suggestion.

"I... don't know. That's what Ruby's been suggesting. That what little consciousness I've had hitched a merry ride with the rest of you, somehow," Weiss replied cautiously; to Blake, she looked not quite there, as if debating her own self whether she wanted to buy into it or not. "Ruby believes she could actually sense me at the time. On multiple occasions, too." She seemed... torn, as if a part of her really wished it to be the case, while the other part feared it.

"And do you believe it?" Blake pried, intrigued.

Weiss frowned and scrunched her nose a little, finding herself in a rare situation where she truly didn't know what to think. She shook her head. "I don't know, Blake. Nothing about any of this makes any sense... but it is at the same time the most logical explanation in sight, if we can even call it 'logic'. I mean, how else would you embed in my subconscious the memory of what happened to you lot? Or better yet, what happened inside Ruby's head?"

"Telepathy?" Blake suggested, but she was pretty much spitballing at that point.

"That's neither my Semblance nor hers. It's Fox's, and it doesn't really explain why I wasn't perceiving things exclusively through her, rather that being a phantom anchored to her."

"True," she admitted. Leaning in over the table, Blake rested her chin in her hand and shot Weiss a thoughtful look. "So... piggybacking your consciousness off Ruby it is? I mean, we only have to look at Oz to know that it's not exactly impossible."

Weiss shuddered. "Dust, I should hope it's nothing like that."

"Easy, Weiss, I just meant it in principle. I mean, it's obviously not permanent; you're here, Ruby's out, and each of you is clearly still their own person. All I'm saying is that two minds sharing a body is not only a thing from old fairytales and my novels." Feeling a smile creep onto her face, Blake let out an amused hum and looked at Weiss with fond eyes. "It'd be so like you."

Weiss arched one of her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Finding a way to follow us in spirit if you couldn't do so in body," Blake spoke warmly, left corner of her mouth slowly climbing upwards.

With her brow tented, Weiss flashed the other girl an uncharacteristically timid, if grateful, smile. "You really think so?"

"Oh yes," Blake said, focusing hard on keeping her composure. She calmly stood up and carried her mug to the sink, but as soon as her face was out of Weiss' view, Blake's expression morphed into a cheeky grin. Having placed the mug under the faucet for Yang — who was on the cleaning duty that day — to clean later, she glanced over her shoulder at Weiss. "You're stubborn like that."

Weiss' eyes narrowed at her in response, to which Blake, feeling smug, pretended not to understand what was the issue. "What? Would you rather have me say that of course you'd follow Ruby like a stray puppy?"

Reclining further back in her chair and crossing her arms in mock offense, Weiss blasted the grinning Blake with a half-hearted glare. "I hate you."

Still needing to dress up and prepare for her visit, Blake began moving towards the exit; on her way, she walked behind Weiss' chair and patted the girl on the shoulder as she was passing her by. "And we love you too."

When Blake was already halfway through the door, Weiss called after her, causing her to stop in the doorstep and look back. "What should I do about her?"

Her kneejerk response would be to say 'kiss and make up' in the most deadpan voice she could possibly muster, but while it took a lot of Blake's willpower, she ultimately succeeded in containing the urge; as much as she enjoyed teasing Weiss from time to time, she didn't have the heart to bully the girl when those blue eyes were looking at her in genuine distress. "Have you apologized?"

Weiss nodded, looking down at her hands. "Yes."

One corner of Blake's mouth rose up reassuringly. "Then I think you already have done more than she's needed you to."

---

Walking unhurriedly down the street, Yang and Blake had their arms locked as they were slowly leaving Doctor Glas' practice behind. Blake's session had come and gone, and she found herself walking by Yang's side, feeling rather pensive as she silently ruminated on that recent experience.

"So, whatcha think?" Yang prodded after they'd crossed the first one hundred yards or so from the practice, bumping Blake lightly with her hip. "Pretty uneventful, huh?"

In all fairness... it kind of had been. While she'd been pretty antsy on her way there, thanks to the woman's welcoming demeanor, Blake hadn't been all that nervous as she followed the doctor into the study; rather, it had simply felt... well, awkward.

It had been a new experience to her, and a new environment — not really knowing how to behave, Blake had caught herself shifting her weight onto her toes, unwittingly stalking after miss Cordelia while the woman had been leading her further in; seeing how homely that place looked, Blake had almost felt as if she'd been imposing on a stranger, one that had been kind enough to invite her over for tea.

From the get-go, perhaps spurred by what she'd heard from Yang earlier, Blake's eyes had been drawn towards the large bookcase that occupied the better part of one of the walls. A respectable portion of the collection was made up of various books and journals on psychology, but as Blake's eyes had skimmed over the spines of other volumes, she'd realized that a large chunk of the selection — most of it, really — was actually comprised of leisure reading. There were novels and some poetry, with the genres ranging from romance, through sci-fi, all the way to thrillers; Blake had even recognized a couple of titles she knew to be erotica.

The doctor hadn't rushed Blake as she'd been scanning the shelves, though the girl could feel miss Cordelia's studious eyes watching her closely.

Once Blake had eventually made herself comfortable on the sofa, Glas had given her a short form to fill out; after quickly going over the filled questionnaire, the doctor had launched a small introductory speech, kicking off the session in what Blake had presumed to be the same way she usually would. It all had been rather expected; Blake had been nodding along, expressing her understanding when the doctor stressed the importance of trust and good communication.

Then, with the intro bit out of the way, Glas had asked her a question: "Is there some way you feel I might help you?"

That had surprised Blake, though it probably shouldn't have had. Staring at the other woman like a deer caught in the headlights, she had tried to come up with some answer on the spot.

She'd considered the sense of guilt that still refused to completely abandon her... but then had begun to wonder whether it was even an issue; it seemed normal to her, expected... deserved. It was similar with her dreams of Adam — as jarring and stressful as they could be, she wasn't exactly sure whether she'd consider them an actual problem; just a coping mechanism she expected to eventually fade.

"Sorry, but... I don't really know." As embarrassing as it had been, that had been the only answer she could give at the time.

But Doctor Glas hadn't seemed to mind, her expression serene and reassuring. "That's perfectly fine," she had told her.

Having found herself with nothing to say, Blake had taken the first sip of her tea, searching for an excuse not to speak, only for a soft hum of delight to slip from her throat as she'd tasted the drink. The doctor's smile widened a bit at that.

"How do you find the tea?" she had asked, probably more for the sake of the small talk rather than anything else.

"It's delicious. May I ask what blend that is?"

The doctor had let out a small laugh. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask my assistant; she's the tea expert around here."

Blake had accepted that answer with a simple nod, then treated herself to a few more sips. Eventually, her amber eyes had inadvertently gravitated towards the bookcase once more. "That's a rather impressive collection," she had commented with genuine appreciation; there must've been hundreds of books lining those shelves, some of them fairly new, some of them — with their yellowed pages and discolored covers — bearing clear signs of age. "Have you read them all?"

"Thank you. As for your question, the answer is, sadly, no," miss Cordelia had replied, her eyes following Blake's gaze towards the bookshelf. "I've read maybe... two-thirds of those. I'd like to remedy that, but with the amount of time I have to spare, I find myself buying more books than I can read."

"I know the feeling," Blake had said empathetically, kind of happy to have met someone who understood her woes. "Do you have a favorite genre?"

The doctor had shaken her head slightly. "I don't think I have any strong preference, no. If I were to name a guilty pleasure, however, then I'd definitely say sci-fi." Picking up on Blake's curiosity, Glas had gone on to explain herself, all the while wearing a rather pleasant smile. "I've read a few sci-fi novels that were excellent, but also some bad ones. Then there are my guilty pleasures — books that even though I consider, shall we say... uninspired, I found myself enjoying a good deal. They are by no means the pinnacles of literature, but in spite of all their faults and clichés, I simply had a good time reading them." Letting out a small chuckle, she'd taken a small sip from her cup, then given Blake a wry smile. "It's one of the few things me and Jasna disagree on."

"She doesn't like books, then?"

"No, she does on occasion; she's just quick to drop the books that don't meet her 'standards'," miss Cordelia had elaborated, drawing quotation marks in the air before once again looking towards the shelves. "Myself, I'm not too picky; I believe that not everything we do needs to serve some higher purpose, or enrich us — simply doing something to wind down and have a good time makes it easier for us to keep a healthy mind. There's no shame in doing something purely for your own pleasure every now and then." She had then turned towards Blake, looking at her with what appeared to be some genuine interest. "What about you? What books do you like?"

Though it probably hadn't seemed like much at the first glance, looking back at her session, Blake realized that she'd probably disclosed more information about herself than she'd initially thought, too focused on discussing her hobby to even notice it at first. Her favorite themes, the reasons she enjoyed reading, what had gotten her into reading in the first place — she'd mentioned it all, willingly. It was kind of sneaky, she mused, that method of obtaining information, but she didn't particularly mind it. She felt compelled to admit one thing, however — Ruby had been right when she'd said that Glas was easy to talk to and very accommodating.

Blake considered what Yang had said. "Uneventful, huh? I suppose that's one way to put it," she conceded. "It was kind of nice, actually... though I'm fairly certain that won't always be the case."

Yang snorted in surprise. "Nice?" she questioned, clearly finding the answer incredulous. Then, a knowing smirk appeared on her face. "Books?"

"Guilty as charged... though the tea also helped," Blake confessed, laughing lightly. On her way out of Glas' practice, she had actually stopped to ask the assistant about the tea; the woman had seemed rather pleased by the question, readily disclosing the name of the blend and where Blake could get it, and the girl had made sure to note everything on her Scroll.

Following that admission, a comfortable kind of silence fell between Yang and Blake as they strolled down the street on their way home. At some point, a certain idea crossed Blake's mind and she pondered on it for a while, liking it the better the more they walked. "Say, are you in the mood for a little detour?" she eventually suggested.

Yang had her curiosity piqued. "Got anything specific in mind?"

"Oh, you know... walk around, maybe get something nice to eat... enjoy ourselves, just the two of us." Part of it had been motivated by the idea that, after what had happened earlier, Ruby and Weiss could probably use some alone time... but, in truth, it was mostly just Blake wanting to have Yang all to herself for the day.

Yang's face cracked into a grin. "Is that an impromptu date proposal?"

Leaning in closer to Yang, Blake flashed her a sly, seductive smile. "Why don't you find out?"

"How can I say 'no' to that, hmm?"

---

Sometime past 1PM, Ruby had gotten a text from Blake, saying that the pair would not be back for dinner. Indeed, they hadn't been; they'd returned home well past the sundown, all smiles and only slightly disheveled as they'd showed on the doorstep, to which Ruby'd reacted by giving them a small thumbs up. The four of them had sat to supper together then chatted for a bit, but Blake and Yang had excused themselves rather early; Ruby and Weiss had escorted the two with their eyes, knowing smirks present on their faces.

On Ruby and Weiss' side of things, the day past the morning had been rather uneventful. Weiss had tried to do some reading, but her heart hadn't been in it; the two of them ended up gaming most of the day away and the mood had lightened significantly for the duration.

That said, moments of thoughtful silence had crept between the girls once Blake and Yang had come and gone. Something had been on Weiss' mind, and it'd showed. Hoping that a hot shower would ease her partner's mind, Ruby had let Weiss to have the first go in the bathroom... and indeed, when the time for Ruby's turn had come, Weiss really had seemed to be in a better mood.

Still furiously rubbing her hair with a towel, Ruby walked back inside her bedroom and kicked the door shut with the back of her heel; she was less quiet about it than she'd planned, but she doubted anyone would be bothered — her dad could be a really heavy sleeper when he wanted to, while the other half of her team was probably too preoccupied to care. The mattress squeaked underneath her as she dropped her butt onto her bed, slowly finishing to dry her hair.

Back when she'd walked in, she'd noticed out of the corner of her eye that Weiss — who was sitting with her back pressed to the headboard of her bed — seemed to be reading something on her Scroll. Now that Ruby's hands stopped their energetic motions and she was able to take a better look, she realized that Weiss wasn't really reading, only staring past the device she was holding in her hand.

Letting go of the towel and allowing it to fall freely onto her shoulders, Ruby gave her a concerned look. "Something's wrong?"

Weiss blinked and snapped out of her reverie. "It's nothing," the girl replied. She wasn't brusque about it, no... it was more as if she deemed whatever concerns she may have had as silly.

"It's the second time I've heard that line today. I'm starting to see a pattern here, just sayin'," Ruby pointed out, trying to sound humorous despite the serious nature of her words. She had her educated guesses what might have been the thing occupying Weiss' thoughts that whole time, but she didn't want to just assume.

"It's just me overthinking things, this time," Weiss replied, flashing Ruby a wry, self-conscious smile; it was rather clear than she was hoping Ruby would just drop it, and when she didn't, the smile fell off her face. Pulling her knees closer to her chest, Weiss cast her eyes down. "It's about the dream. I imagine you don't really want to talk about it."

Ruby had figured as much. "Well, you got me there," she admitted casually, but then managed to muster a weak smile as she looked Weiss in the eye and said, "But I'll live, if that means putting your mind to rest."

Besides, it wasn't like that weird-ass dream and its fallout hadn't been pretty much the only things Ruby could think about the whole day; that's why she'd booted the console to begin with.

Weiss bit her lip, battling with her thoughts; it was painfully obvious that she was afraid she'd just be picking at fresh wounds if she spoke her mind, which, in all fairness, she probably would... but Ruby would rather have that than have her just worrying in silence. Because Weiss was worried, Ruby didn't doubt that — Weiss would've shut her down already if the thing plaguing her mind wasn't making her anxious.

Eventually, Weiss let her Scroll fall onto the blanket while she herself moved to sit cross-legged on the edge of her bed. She wasn't looking at Ruby as she started to speak. "You said that Salem was trying to take advantage of preexisting fears and doubts, right?"

"Yeah, that's my read on it."

Biting the inside of her cheek, Weiss fell silent for a while. Then, she lifted her gaze to look Ruby, and in her eyes Ruby saw deep, deep concern; fear, even. "Did she... did she say to you anything about your rifle?"

A wave of cold washed over Ruby, but it had everything to do with what was happening rather than what had happened. It took Ruby less than a heartbeat to realize where Weiss' thoughts had been going off to, and she straight up jumped to nip that weed in the bud; without wasting a single second, she got up to her feet and crashed onto the bed right next to Weiss, so fast that she'd actually startled Weiss somewhat, while the towel Ruby still had on her shoulders just flopped to the ground.

Disregarding Weiss' surprise for now, Ruby took the girl's hand in her own and looked deep into her eyes. "Dust, I'm not suicidal, I swear! Never have been! Promise," she pleaded with all the zeal she could muster. She didn't take Weiss' worry personally at all; she was simply deeply disturbed that she'd worried her that much.

Much to her relief, Weiss, though still lightly spooked, seemed to settle down after a short while, straightening her back as she drew a lungful of air. With a deep sigh in which she released all of the tension from her body, Ruby let go of Weiss' hand.

"What I have considered was 'what if I wasn't a part of the picture', like, never left Patch, or at some point just... turned back and said 'screw it'. Would that have been better for our team? For Remnant?" Ruby said quietly, then leaned back and laid down across the bed, resting her arm on her forehead. She could tell that Weiss was tempted to reassure her that she'd done the right thing, but Ruby was grateful that Weiss simply remained silent and continued to listen; blessed be Weiss' sweet heart for always supporting her, but in that moment Ruby was simply glad they didn't have to argue. "In either case, I think that was her angle. She just ran with it I guess, because fuck me."

There was a brief moment of silence, after which Ruby continued. "Don't get me wrong, I have thought about death. A lot. I suppose we all have." She paused, and in that short while of quiet she heard Weiss let out a soft, agreeing hum. "I'm not really afraid of dying... or, well, at the very least I've made my peace with the fact that it'll always be looming somewhere on the horizon."

She glanced at her Weiss and met her compassionate gaze, then smiled weakly at the girl. "But I'm not afraid of living, either." Not yet, anyways, and she truly hoped with all of her heart that Dr. Glas would see to it staying that way. Even though her current knowledge of the workings of the world made death seem somewhat less scary and final, Ruby still considered it very sad... and she still had goals and people to live for.

"Do you still have some, uh, pressing questions?" she spoke after another while of silence. She did so, admittedly, not without a degree of reluctance... but it was still a big step up from the day before.

What Weiss had said to her that morning had made it so much easier for Ruby to just... discuss those things with her; she felt accepted, and no longer panicked at the thought of Weiss potentially seeing her as less — not after Weiss had seen as much as Ruby believed she had.

Still, thinking back to the things she'd been through... it wasn't easy. "You may ask if you do... but otherwise I think I'd rather have you just assume that your dream was accurate. Not that I don't want to tell you something, it's just..."

"...hard. I understand."

"'Unpleasant' was the word I was going for, but... yeah. Nowhere as satisfying as picking at a scraped knee."

Ruby's joke got a short, slightly grossed out laugh out of Weiss. "Ew." Her smile was short-lived and dissipated before long. She remained quiet for the next minute or so, carefully thinking on the offer, and Ruby didn't rush her. Finally, Weiss seemed to have made up her mind, her fingers gently taking Ruby's hand into hers. "Just one."

"Shoot."

"At the end... was that how you killed her?" Pretty straight-forward, as far as the questions she could've asked went.

Ruby actually let out a dry chuckle. "Oh, no. That was just her idea of foreplay; all I did was get her out of my head. And after that came the cherry on top, meaning the moment where she almost convinced me that I'd have to kill my own sister."

Closing her eyes, Ruby let out a shaky breath, grateful for the pleasant, reassuring weight she felt in her hand. "Honestly not sure which was worse." The former had been kind of like being assaulted in your own house, then tied up and tortured for the burglar's amusement, while the other was... well, pretty self-explanatory.

Though she couldn't see Weiss, Ruby somehow felt how the girl's anger flared up; it was a rather strange sensation, kind of like some bastard child of smelling the ozone before the storm and feeling the heat of an oven on one's face after opening its door. Thankfully, Weiss didn't blow up this time around.

Opening her eyelids, Ruby peeked at the girl. "Look, I'm sorry that you had to learn this way. I did want to tell you properly, just..."

Weiss just shook her head and smiled softly, her face framed by the curtains of alabaster hair. "It's alright." Soon after that, the mattress creaked as she lowered herself onto the bed, lying down beside Ruby. "It's going to be a long night," she breathed out tiredly.

"Tell me about it," Ruby groaned in agreement. The two lied beside one another in silence for a spell; then, an idea crossed Ruby's mind and her head turned towards her friend. "Movies?"

One corner of Weiss' mouth curled upwards. "Any preferences?"

Ruby grinned. "Let it be something super dumb. Should keep us occupied."

Weiss agreed, and so Ruby briefly ran downstairs for some drinks and snacks while Weiss began the search for potential candidates for that spontaneous movie night. Once Ruby came back with an armful of things, the two of them lied together on Weiss' bed; they would watch the movies well into the night, laughing and discussing how dumb those flicks were until they would finally drift off into a dreamless sleep.

---

Author's Note:

Sheesh, this update sure was a long time coming, plot-wise. Fun stuff. Hopefully you didn't find it too overwhelming; in all honesty, I wasn't planning on such a high concentration of heavy themes, but that story has a life of it's own sometimes. Usually it's for the better, but sometimes hindsight really is a bish.

There's still a part three in the pipeline, but it should be much lighter in tone. It'll come out when it'll come out; for the time being I'll need to prioritize another project of mine, and then I might want to use part three as a sort of a buffer, since the next chapter I simply cannot split into parts without it blowing up in my face. It should be interesting though, that chapter.

Well, in either case, I'd be thrilled to hear your thoughts; I've been waiting a long time to finally get around to this bit.

Thanks for your time, and I'll hopefully see you in the next update!

DT610: I'm happy to hear you're looking forward to those trips! To be honest, I'm always kind of antsy when writing those scenes, since mental health and therapy is such a delicate matter and a part of me worries I might botch them up somehow.

Random65: And happy 2021 to you. I'm glad you've been enjoying yourself so far! That said, please, take my ETAs with a pinch of salt. Or a whole saltshaker. I'm on record for being terrible at estimates when it comes to writing. To err on the side of caution, if I say four weeks, just make that double. It might seem that I've made it on time this time around, but back when I've given the previous estimate I wasn't expecting that Scars would be a three-parter! Sigh... why do I never learn.