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.

15. Of stitchings and seams, part two

Chapter XII: Of stitchings and seams, part two

Ruby had dreamt of flames, of bodies turning to ashes and scattering on the wind. Awake, she stared blankly at the ceiling for a long while, her eyes glistening with unshed tears of sadness, or perhaps frustration.

She hated mornings like those, when even the sun seemed to be taunting her, shining brightly in spite of her loss, mocking her misery. She hated those nightmares, hated envisioning her worst fears, hated being reminded by her treacherous brain of what she had lost... and hated how used to all of that she had become. A small part of her being had naively hoped that the first night spent in her home would have been a calm one, but, taking the anniversary of the Fall into account, Ruby knew she could hardly be surprised not to have been granted her wish.

And yet, she couldn't help but wonder bitterly: hadn't she suffered enough already...? Not knowing whether to scream or to cry, the poor girl did neither; with a heavy sigh and an equally heavy heart, she sat up in her bed and rubbed her face, drying off the wetness around her eyes.

Ruby looked to her right, her gaze lingering for a while on her roommate's sleeping form. Lying on her side and breathing steadily through her slightly parted lips, Weiss seemed to be having a far more peaceful of a rest, her face serene, untainted with pain or worry — a sight that offered Ruby some consolation, but at the same time caused her to feel an unpleasant twinge of envy in her heart. 'How is this fair?' a small part of her mind questioned. After all, if Weiss could enjoy a good night's rest, why couldn't she do the same? Why was Ruby the only one to wake up in cold sweat? Was it because she was weaker, or had suffered more? Had Weiss forgotten... or was it just Ruby being unable to move on?

Pushing those thoughts aside, Ruby reached for one of the Scrolls lying on the nightstand and flicked the device open, only to discover that the hour displayed on the screen — 8:49 AM — was more-or-less in line with her own guesstimate. None too thrilled to be proven right in her assumption that she had woken up over an hour earlier than she had planned, Ruby let out a quiet groan.

'Might as well get up, I suppose...' she thought to herself, finding it doubtful that she'd be able to fall back asleep... and afraid that the nightmares would return.

Leaving the warmth of her blanket, she rose from the bed and proceeded with her usual routine of stretches, trying to be as silent as she possibly could. While she exercised, her eyes roamed freely about the room, eventually turning towards the the dog bed beneath the mirror and the pup sleeping therein. As she watched the pooch for a spell, the image of Zwei lying flat on his back, with his legs kicking the air as though he was happily chasing something in his dreams, brought some semblance of a weak smile to her lips.

Said smile was short-lived, however, and pretty quickly began to wane; surrounded by sights and warm colors so starkly contrasting with her emotional state, she chuckled bitterly, her quiet, mirthless laughter ringing hollow in her chest. With all of her negativity, she was like a blizzard on a dry day in Vacuo, feeling as if she didn't belong in her own bloody room. Being there was awkward — stifling, even — and it made her want to just leave, lest her foul mood poisoned the tranquility of the place or disrupted the peace of those still lying asleep.

'Oh well,' she thought with a small sigh, brushing her bangs off her sticky forehead and running a hand through her crimson, somewhat greasy mane, 'Guess I could use a shower, anyway...'

Usually, Ruby showered shortly before going to bed, but the night before she had been simply too tired to wait for Weiss to finish washing up; needless to say, a visit to the bathroom seemed highly recommended, especially after waking up in cold sweat. That, and she also silently hoped that a steady stream of hot water running down her body would help her clear her mind, at least a little bit.

Shuddering a tad when her bare feet left the carpet and made contact with the chilly wooden floor, Ruby walked to the backpack that she had left by her desk the night before, after both she and Weiss had unequivocally agreed to leave unpacking for another day. She got down on her knee, then spent a few moments on digging through her belongings, caring very little about keeping her things nice and orderly. Soon enough, she found what she was looking for; with a fresh set of underwear in her hands, Ruby silently left the room, casting one last glance at her sleeping partner before making her exit.

Even the house itself appeared to be asleep, completely still and quiet bar the soft sound of Ruby's footsteps. The few rays of sun that fell through the window bounced off the hallway's wall, filling the place with dim light; the shadows, forced to retreat, cowered by the opposite end of the corridor, making the luminous outline of the door to the master bedroom stand out among the darkness.

'Wonder if dad's already gone off to Signal...' Ruby mused idly. Not acting on her curiosity in any way, she entered the bathroom and locked the door, letting out a weary sigh that no one would hear.

Soft light flooded the room, seeping inside through the small, wide window high in the eastward wall. Oddly enough, said light made Ruby kind of uncomfortable, as if something was off — a sense of a cognitive dissonance, possibly stemming from her usual showering habits.

Trying not to dwell on it too much, she promptly began undressing. As she pulled her shirt off her head, she glanced at the mirror and, for some reason, the sight of her own reflection gave her a pause; feeling a strange wave of melancholy overcome her, she tossed her shirt at a laundry basket and slowly approached the image of her lookalike on the wall, placing her hands on the edges of a sink once she was close enough.

She looked at the familiar spiky bangs framing the girl's pale face, at the dark strands of hair that flowed freely down her shoulder blades, black at the base and gradating smoothly into blood crimson closer to the tips. She traced the outline of her nose, of her lips, jaw and chin, then went down, following the soft curve of her neck and clavicle, pausing for a moment on a thin line of slight discoloration on her left shoulder before going even further south, down to her shapely, bare chest. Then, she returned to the girl's face, finally pausing at the well-known and yet strangely foreign eyes.

Ruby was well aware that she had changed, had matured — her hair was now longer, her femininity more pronounced — and it came off to her as no surprise. Still, something about these changes unsettled her a little; even though she wasn't that different visually, there were times when she would look at herself in the mirror and fail to recognize that naive, happy-go-lucky girl she had used to be in her own reflection.

It kind of reminded her of one of Weiss' songs, one she'd heard by accident about a year prior, when she and Weiss had been listening to music on Weiss' Scroll, sharing earphones. At some point after Weiss had dozed off, a track quite unlike the others had started playing. It had begun with a few seconds of silence filled with nothing but a soft static noise, as if it had been recorded with that very Scroll and never cleaned nor mastered; then, suddenly, the silence had been pierced by her partner's gorgeous singing voice, accompanied by a single piano note.

Soon enough, Weiss' haunting vocals had had Ruby moved to tears, as it had quickly become clear to her what the song had been about — Weiss had sung of her time away from her team, pouring her very heart and soul into the words of bitter loneliness, yearning and pain. Although Ruby had heard that song just once, most of the lyrics had burned into her memory along with their sad melody; even a whole year later, thinking of them caused her heart to sink a little. One part resonated with her especially well in that very moment: the last verse.

"Mirror what's this thing I see / Who is staring back at me / A stranger to my heart has filled my mind," Ruby recalled effortlessly, humming the tune. The last bit that followed she would utter aloud, singing softly, with her voice echoing in the empty bathroom: "Mirror, help me — who am I?" The words coming from her lips had the weight of a genuine, question, for she herself was no longer sure of the answer.

No one had offered her a response.

She could think of a few denominations that could possibly be used to describe her. A survivor. A Huntress. A Silver Eyed Warrior. A killer... A weapon. Some would probably call her a hero, but she didn't really feel like one — not with the knowledge of all those people whose lives had been put at risk or lost just so Ruby and the others could press onward.

In retrospection, it seemed somewhat funny to her, in the morbid kind of way — back at Signal, she had dreamed of nothing more than becoming like heroes of legend, of saving people and changing the world for the better... and now, after she had changed the world, she was simply glad that it was all over. One thing was clear — just like she had said to Coco the day before, the person looking at her from the mirror was no longer the same Ruby Rose that had enrolled at Beacon less than three years ago.

One change that moved her the most had taken place in her eyes — though they were just as silver as ever, they no longer had the same shine they used to, the same unbound energy pictured on the photos from her days at Beacon. Her gaze had since hardened, tempered with hardships and experience; instead of looking at things with childish wonder and positivity, her eyes glinted with calm determination, clever and perceptive, and though they had not lost all of their past warmth, she felt that there was a hint of underlying weariness in them. Hardly the eyes one would've expected from the girl of less than eighteen years.

She was a different person now, and though it wasn't all inherently bad, per say, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something precious had been lost along the way — the innocence of her youth, to which she never had an opportunity to properly say goodbye to. At times like this, doubt crept into her mind and she couldn't help but wonder why she had chosen that life, wonder if she would've made the call to become a Huntress had she known how it would've ended for her.

She had wanted to help people, to keep peace, not to be used as a weapon, a tool in a war she hadn't been aware of. She had been pushed too hard, crossed the line past which there was no return; she had killed, even though she had never even gotten the chance to fall in love yet, and the thought was just plain depressing.

On the other hand, what would she have done otherwise? Clung to her childhood in a world gone mad, done nothing and just idly watched Remnant burn because she had not been ready? She knew all too well it was not something she could possibly have done — not with the whole of humanity being at stake. Still, even though it seemed in the end that she had made the right call, it did not stop her from feeling hurt and disillusioned.

How the time seemed to fly... even though it had been just two years, her days at Beacon seemed so distant now, as if they had been but a memory of something that had happened ages ago to somebody else. It was a sad thought, that even though she would soon return to being a student at the Academy, it would never be the same, just as she herself would never be the same... but she had already accepted that, if grudgingly. She just wished the ghosts of the dead would finally stop haunting her dreams.

With a soft sigh escaping her lips, Ruby pried her eyes away from the mirror and renewed her preparations for the shower; then, as she opened the cabin and stepped inside, fully naked, a sudden realization hit her and she let out an exasperated groan, facepalming, miffed by her own forgetfulness. "Shampoo."

---

Weiss, who had been balancing on the edge between the consciousness and her dreams, was ultimately stirred awake by a soft, rustling sound somewhere nearby. Feeling the warmth of day caress her cheek, she cracked open her heavy eyelids and nigh immediately identified the source of the noise to be none other than Ruby herself; the girl, paying her no mind, perused the contents of the dresser located at the footboard of Weiss' bed, clad in nothing but graphite gray panties and a matching sports bra that tightly hugged her comely breasts, leaving very little to the imagination.

Under different circumstances, Weiss would probably feel at least a little bit ashamed to be peeping like that, but, right then and there, she was simply not awake enough to care about decency and could freely enjoy the magnificent view she was presented with.

Weiss' eyes wandered unrestricted, admiring her partner's smooth, milky skin and the girl's deceptively small frame, with slender legs capable of delivering bone-crushing blows and the lithe arms that wielded the massive hunk of Crescent Rose with such ease that it seemed nearly weightless.

Such was the curious effect of Aura on its user's body, allowing for some degree of control over the way in which physical activity shaped one's own appearance — though it was usually a matter of personal preference rather than a conscious choice. In Ruby's case, her petite, feminine looks disguised just how physically formidable she was in combat, which — while most certainly unintentional — seemed only fitting to Weiss, as it meshed well with the fact that there was so much more to that girl than met the eye. Of course, there was also the aesthetic aspect of it all, and Weiss would be lying had she denied greatly appreciating it — while she was willing to admit that Yang's pronounced musculature and well-toned stomach were impressive and had a certain appeal in their own right, the soft curves of Ruby's belly were much closer to Weiss' personal ideal of feminine beauty.

A tiny wrinkle marred Weiss' brow as she fixed her gaze on the right side of Ruby's stomach. There it still was — a small imperfection of the otherwise smooth skin, a thin line of slight discoloration running horizontally across the girl's side, marking the place of an old wound. The scar was the price of a single moment of hesitation, left there about a year ago by Tyrian's wrist blades when Ruby had faltered to finish the job and relieve him of his head; thankfully, the girl had managed to sidestep in the nick of time, avoiding the potentially lethal stab directed at her abdomen and getting off easy with just a nasty cut above her right hip. Tyrian himself had not been so lucky, as Yang, fuming, had picked up where her sister had left off and promptly clubbed the crazy bastard to death with his own tail mere moments later. Ruby's wound had healed nicely, but the scar remained, serving as a reminder of the painful lesson on the dangers of showing mercy to those who know of none.

Weiss' eyes moved as if on their own volition, drawn away from Ruby's side and guided by her memories to the girl's bare shoulder. There, peeking from behind the strap of Ruby's bra, was another, smaller blemish, one that could possibly be missed if you didn't know where to look. It looked so insignificant, almost like a mere stretch mark right below the girl's left clavicle... and yet, the wound it was a shadow of had run deep, and the sight of it reminded Weiss of how close to losing Ruby they all had been.

The cold wind of Solitasian wilds bit into her skin as Weiss waded through the ankle-deep snow with a bundle of dry firewood cradled in her arms, alone amidst the countless fir trees that surrounded her. Having found a small cave that could shelter them from the frigid night, their team had separated in search of food and materials to make a campfire of. Weiss hadn't liked the idea of splitting up, but they all had known that they hadn't really had a choice if they wanted to finish before it would get dark; to avoid getting lost, they all had promised to stay within shouting distance of each other, with their Scrolls — and their weapons — at the ready.

Weiss came to a halt by a long dead, toppled fir tree and, picking at random, grabbed one of the branches still attached to the trunk, giving it a tug. Encouraged by the dry cracking sound the wood had let out, she used a bit more force, snapping the branch off without too much of a struggle and then breaking it down into smaller pieces with her foot. Then, as she was about to pick the kindling off the snow, she suddenly felt that something changed, as if the world itself had shifted right under her feet. An inexplicable sense of dread had penetrated her being to the very core, throwing her heart off the beat; even though the air was just as frigid as it had been and the forest itself seemed just as desolate, she could tell that something was wrong.

In a single instant, all reason died in her mind as she took off running, dropping her firewood right where she had stood. Guided and driven by some sort of a primal instinct, she dashed between the trees towards north, where her partner was supposed to hunt for wild game. Soon, a familiar sound shattered the frozen silence of the woods, scaring some small animals and causing Weiss' blood to run icy cold — the powerful roar of a high-caliber rifle.

She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, and when the layer of white started to pose a real problem once she had left the cover of the woods, she used her Semblance to create a bridge of hard light that allowed her to move freely atop the surface of the snow. The gunshots steadily drew closer — not only those coming from Crescent Rose, but also from a weapon of a much smaller caliber — and were eventually joined by the crisp clang of clashing blades. Finally, Weiss ran up one last slope and reached the snow-covered edge of a small cliff... and felt her heart freeze in place out of sheer terror, along with the world and the time itself.

Crescent Rose flew in air, away from the slender fingers desperately trying to reach it. At the same time, a wholly different blade drew closer to Ruby and her heart, biting into her clothes, into her flesh, burying itself deep in the girl's left shoulder while silver eyes widened in pain and shock, staring at the green kama and the mint-haired girl wielding it. The two of them looked at each other, one in disbelief and the other with a vengeful expression of grim satisfaction painted on their face. Then, the victor cast a brief glance at her partner in crime and yanked her bloody blade out of Ruby's shoulder, ripping a shrill cry of pain out of Ruby's throat... just before a ruthless kick to the gut from Mercury sent Ruby backwards, over the ledge and down into the frozen river below.

And in that very moment, when her partner and best friend had disappeared from her sight behind the snowdrift at the edge of the cliff, a horrid, world-shattering thought sparked in her mind, all but consuming it — the beautiful light of Ruby's life was gone. Just like that, she'd never hear that Dolt's voice again, nor see her smile.

The whole scene couldn't have lasted more than two seconds, and yet it had shaken Weiss more than the years of abuse at her father's hands and all the struggles following her escape from Atlas. It was as if the whole world had gone dark, leaving her lost and stranded on the bottom of an abyss, without a guide or hope, without the will to carry on.

Some sound must've escaped her throat, as Emerald turned to look right at her. Her dark, satisfied smirk quickly melted away as they locked their eyes, replaced by some strange, complicated emotion... almost as if she was feeling for Weiss, her enemy. It quickly disappeared, however, giving way to concern just before Mercury slapped her on the shoulder, urging her to go. Right when they turned tails and started running, blurs of yellow and black came into Weiss' vision from behind, dashing past her and down the cliff she was standing atop of, chasing after the runaways.

There were gunshots, but they seemed oddly distant and muffled, as if she was underwater. What she did hear loudly and clearly was her heartbeat, the wild pounding of the boiling hot blood flowing through her veins and into her head.

The moment Emerald started retreating, the cold, numbing emptiness Weiss' had been feeling had changed into something dark and ugly, stirring Weiss from her stupor; a pure, boiling rage that threatened to tear her apart if not unleashed, hunger of a kind she had never experienced before — a burning desire to kill. She embraced that feeling, letting the black flames of fury engulf her as she gripped the handle of Myrtenaster with enough force for her knuckles to turn as white as the deathly cold realm that surrounded her.

She screamed at the top of her lungs at the object of her rage, though she herself didn't remember what exact words had come forth; it didn't matter. With a single swing of Myrtenaster, Emerald's retreat was cut short in an instant.

Emerald's Aura shimmered a bit as she tumbled to the ground, kicking up a cloud of white when she landed on all fours in the snow; she tried to get up, only to discover that her left leg was encased in ice, frozen to the ground. In a desperate attempt to free herself, she fired her gun at the thick block of ice, but paused in horror when she'd noticed a long row of pitch black glyphs appear to her right, followed by a low, menacing hum coming from the opposite direction.

Summoning had never before been as simple nor as fast to Weiss as on that day. Then again, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise — it was scarily easy to focus on casting when there was but a single thought in her mind, and when every fiber of her being wanted to see someone suffer.

In a snap, a pair of armored arms materialized out of thin air above Emerald, slamming an enormous sword into the girl's side and sending her flying straight into the first of gravity glyphs. The woman's silhouette was reduced to a mere blur as she bolted through the black snowflakes, speeding towards the nearby woods like some living projectile shot out of a railgun, snapping the trees in her wake like dry twigs.

Seeing what happened to his partner, Mercury dodged into that freshly carved out clearing, disappearing from Weiss' sight between the trees. It only kindled her ire; she wanted to raze the forest to the ground and cook the enemy alive, to make them feel her anguish on their skin... but before she could act on her dark wish, her teammate's voice brought her back to reality, sobering her up.

"Where's Ruby?!" Yang yelled in a panic-stricken voice.

That question was like a punch to the gut, causing the feverish energy burning in Weiss' veins to leave her like hot air escaping a ruptured balloon. She didn't reply, but the silence and the look on her face must've been telling enough. As Yang kept on staring at Weiss in shock, Blake noticed Crescent Rose lying in snow not far from the ledge above the river. "There!"

While Blake was hurriedly leading Yang towards the scythe, Weiss clenched her stinging eyes and hung her head low. She should've acted, somehow... even if she couldn't possibly have shielded Ruby from Emerald's blade in time, maybe she could've caught Ruby and prevented the fall, or done something, anything... but she had just stood there, completely paralyzed until it had been already too late.

Or was it?

There, in the dark pit of despair she had slunk back into after her high of rage had subsided, Weiss found a sliver of hope, a tiny, defiant spark burning deep in her soul, refusing to let her fully believe that Ruby was gone. She clung on to that spark like to a lifeline in the ocean of darkness, and its faint flame quickly spread inside her like a wildfire, filling her with new determination and pushing her to act.

Drying off her cheeks, she stepped back from the edge she had been standing on and took a deep, calming breath, then dashed back towards the cliff. She leapt, bouncing from one glyph she had summoned under her feet to another, soaring through the icy air and caring not for the frigid wind that lashed at her face; soon enough, she flew past her teammates and the ledge Ruby had plummeted from. Down below, she could see the place where the girl had fallen through the ice — foam licked at the rim of the hole, while the snow around it was disturbed and bore traces of fresh blood, looking as if someone had tried to climb out of the frigid water but had failed and slipped back in. Her heart jumped at the sight, both her hope and her panic kindled at the same time. Continuing her descent, Weiss clenched her teeth, cursing herself in her thoughts — she had wasted so much time... jumping after Ruby should've been the first thing she'd done, instead of just standing still or attacking Emerald.

'Hold on, Ruby. Please... just for a little longer.'

The moment her feet landed on the snowy riverbank, she resumed her mad dash onwards, completely disregarding the fierce burning of her lungs she experienced every time she breathed in the frigid air. She wasted no time on checking out the hole punched through the ice; instead, she ran downstream, knowing full well that the current must've carried Ruby further away by then. Snow crunched under her boots as she raced down the river, trying to figure out how she was going to locate her partner under the ice.

Just when she sensed the cold fingers of panic starting to grasp her by her throat, she had a feeling that she was getting close; desperate as she was, she held on to that sensation, pushing away her fears and letting her instinct guide her steps. Finally, she stopped, trusting her gut when it had told her that she'd already overtaken Ruby. Throwing a brief glance in the direction whence she had come, she saw Blake and Yang standing over the hole in the ice; Yang was in the middle of undressing, with her coat already discarded on the snow as if she was getting ready to jump into the deadly water, while Blake seemed to be trying to talk her out of it, visibly afraid, gesturing wildly with her hands. As they were arguing over the best way to go about the current situation, a black bird cut through the air above the river, flying towards the girls.

Turning away from the ongoing scene, Weiss looked at the sheet of snow-covered ice in front of her — deadly cold and uncaring just like the rest of Solitas, cruelly separating her from her partner, whose life it threatened to snuff. She couldn't see what was below it, couldn't be sure that Ruby was nearby... but her instinct was right back when she had sensed that the girl was in danger, and she decided to put her trust in it once more.

Not that she had much choice.

The blade of Myrtenaster whistled in the air as she readied her stance; with her weapon in front of her face, she pressed two fingers of her right hand to the flat of the sword and steadied her breathing, closing her eyes and pushing all unnecessary thoughts aside. As she reached deep within herself, calling forth her Semblance, she tuned in to the sound of her heart to help herself focus... and there, between the heartbeats, she discovered something else — the faint, barely audible noise of someone pounding on the thick ice.

Weiss reached towards a distant memory and gripped it tight, forcefully yanking it back from nonexistence and willing it into a physical form. She needed not to see to know that her summoning was complete, sensing her knight's presence by her side; she gave him a command and he moved in to obey, slamming the icy surface with his massive sword and rending it asunder in a few swift blows. She shuddered at the woeful sound of ice cracking from one bank to the other, opening her eyes just in time to dodge the splash of frigid water caused by her Arma Gigas marching into the river. Unlike the floes of shattered ice that got carried downstream, the giant knight stood fast against the current that reached nearly to his chest, awaiting for any movement to occur in the pool he'd just carved with his blade.

During the painfully uneventful few moments that followed, doubt crept into Weiss' mind — was her intuition mistaken, perhaps, or was she too late? Before she could go down that line of thought, however, something shot out to the surface with a splash — Ruby, coughing, gasping and struggling to stay afloat, but wonderfully alive. Covering her mouth with her free hand, Weiss watched how her knight picked Ruby up and then carried the girl out of the water in his armored arms.

Running closer, Weiss spun the dust chamber of her MADR, using Wind Dust to blow the coat of snow that covered one of the boulders sitting on the bank of the river. She dismissed her summon after it had gently lowered its precious payload onto the prepared spot, then, switching to Earth Dust, she swung Myrtenaster in a wide arc around the stone; as she jabbed her blade into the ground, a small wall of stone erupted from the snow in front of her, shielding her and Ruby from the cold wind.

Weiss dropped to her knees right next to her partner, who, prepping herself up on her right hand while hunched over to the side, was coughing up water from her lungs; thankfully, the girl was not spewing any blood, but the crimson stain pooling on Ruby's left shoulder and her shivering were both clear signs that Weiss shouldn't relax just yet.

Cursing the fact that she had left all of her firewood back by that old fir tree, Weiss created a small fire glyph under Ruby and herself, careful not to make it give off too much heat. She remained at the ready while she waited for the girl to stop throwing up, prepared to jump in and help Ruby in case she started to choke; in the meanwhile, Weiss simply watched her friend silently, finding herself unable to take her eyes off the girl, as if afraid that Ruby could just disappear at any given moment.

Soon enough, she noticed the skinned knuckles of the hand Ruby was prepping herself on, swollen and bleeding in places, and felt her heart sink. An unwanted, nightmarish image appeared in her mind — image of being trapped under the ice without light and without help, of desperately striking against the unrelenting barrier with all your might and yet still achieving nothing, powerless in the face of the impending death... 'How hopeless Ruby must've felt down there,' Weiss couldn't help but wonder, 'not even being able to use her dominant arm...?' Biting back a thousand words she wanted to say, Weiss quietly took her partner's frigid hand and covered it with her own, minding not to touch the bruises while she rubbed it tenderly with her thumb.

Having eventually managed to get everything out of her system, Ruby looked at her savior. "W-W-Weiss..." she stuttered, with her teeth chattering so badly that Weiss could feel her own starting to ache. Before Ruby could try to say anything else, Weiss hushed her gently by pressing a finger to her quivering lips.

"Shhh, easy, easy... let's get you warmed up first," Weiss said softly, fumbling a bit with the rose-shaped clip holding Ruby's cloak in place before finally unclasping it, then pulling the dripping rag off her friend's shoulders. Just when the red cloth slid down onto the rock, the sound of snow crunching under hurrying feet announced the imminent arrival of the rest of the group.

Yang was the first one to burst onto the scene, coming to a screeching halt the moment she appeared from behind the wall Weiss had put up; her shoulders bare and her coat held firmly in her grasp, it took her frantic eyes but a heartbeat to locate her sibling. "Ruby!"

Without thinking, Yang dashed towards her little sister and, before Weiss could stop her, wrapped the girl in a firm hug, causing the poor thing to yelp in pain. The instant she heard Ruby's cry, Yang jumped back as if she had been scalded with a living flame, staying an arm's length away.

"Shit, sorry!" Having instantly sobered up, Yang took a moment to check up on the girl, finally taking notice of the blood tinging Ruby's damp clothes and of the wound lying hidden beneath. Being as preoccupied with her sister as she was, she paid no mind to both Weiss barely fighting off the urge to strangle her on the spot, nor to Blake and Qrow's presence. "Shit. We need to get you out of these wet clothes, fast," Yang muttered after a brief while of deliberation, then promptly proceeded to start undressing Ruby.

As Blake moved in to help Yang, Weiss stood up, pushed past Qrow and silently retreated round the corner, leaving the makeshift shelter she had created. She had been fine for as long as she could simply focus on tending to Ruby, but now that someone else had taken over and her mind was free to wander, she felt that it was about as much stress as she could take; already able to taste the bile on her tongue, Weiss was quite literally worried sick, and had a sneaking suspicion that getting a good look at Ruby's wound would only result in reacquainting herself with her breakfast. In hope of soothing her nerves, Weiss breathed deeply, inhaling the frigid Solitasian air while the wind lashed at her face, cooling off her head; although her hands and legs were shaking, she was fairly certain it was not because of the cold.

While Weiss preferred not to watch, it was not to say that she was not interested in the state of her partner — far from it; leaning her back against the stone wall, she still listened intently to everything that was happening on the other side, to every word and every hiss of pain. At some point, an irritated groan reached her ears.

"Screw it," she heard Yang mumble. "Sorry Rubes, we'll get you new ones." A confused 'huh?' followed, but the only explanation Ruby received was the jarring sound of her shirt and the laces of her corset being cut in twain before she could even protest.

"H-hey!" No one appeared to pay any mind to Ruby's indignation; for a while, everyone remained silent, and Weiss felt pity as she imagined her partner in all of her naked glory, shifting uncomfortably on her spot while Qrow, Yang and Blake were examining the girl's wound.

Qrow was the first one to speak up, traces of relief recognizable in his voice. "The bleeding isn't that bad... must've missed the subclavian artery. And it seems that it's already started to heal, huh..." He paused for a moment, seemingly in thought, but whatever it might've been that was on his mind, he didn't dwell on it for too long. "You'll live, pipsqueak," he stated with a weak chuckle, as if to comfort Ruby, but Weiss could tell that it was himself he truly wanted to reassure with those words — a sentiment she wholeheartedly understood.

She closed her stinging eyes and pressed the back of her head to the cold stone, grinning from ear to ear like an idiot. The anxiety that had been keeping her tense like a drawn bowstring had gone away, the release leaving her barely able to stand on her shaky legs... but also so happy that she could cry. It all had been so surreal, like a bad dream she couldn't wake up from — the blind run through the forest, Ruby's fall, and the frantic race downstream in a hopeless attempt to save that girl, not even knowing where to look. For a few harrowing moments, she had thought that she had seen her best friend die... and she had never been happier to be mistaken.

Hearing soft footsteps on the snow, Weiss opened her eyelids and saw Yang leaning against the edge of the wall, with her coat nowhere in sight, looking right at her; tears shone in Yang's eyes, running down her cheeks, but those were happy tears, befitting the radiant smile present on her face. Yang's lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but she was quick to change her mind, possibly finding no words she deemed adequate; instead, she simply grinned sheepishly, then stepped closer and wrapped Weiss in a loving hug, letting her embrace speak for her of the depth of her gratitude. Her feelings reached their recipient even though neither spoke a word, and Weiss leaned into the hug, entrusting Yang to hold her trembling with emotions body; Weiss understood, recognizing the same fear and relief she'd felt in her own heart.

After some time had passed and Ruby's injuries had been tended to, their group retreated to the cave they had found earlier on. There, Yang had helped her sister get dressed in a fresh change of clothes, reclaiming the coat she had wrapped around Ruby to keep her warm. Once they had started a small campfire inside the cavern, Blake and Yang had set out to search for more firewood, leaving Weiss and Qrow to stand guard by the entrance. Being as exhausted emotionally as she was, Weiss was grateful for not having to go, not to mention that she simply didn't want to leave Ruby; still, the closer the setting sun was drawing to the horizon, the more concerned and restless she was becoming, starting to see her returning teammates in every snow-covered branch moved by the cold wind, only to be met with disappointment every time.

The snow crunched under her feet as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. When she rubbed her hands together to get her blood flowing, she heard a soft chuckle coming from her fellow guard.

"You can head inside, you know?"

Weiss said nothing to Qrow's remark, glancing at the setting sun before frowning and turning her head in the direction Blake and Yang had headed. It was a tempting offer indeed, but she was worried about her teammates… and maybe a bit afraid of facing Ruby alone. Although she had not voiced her thoughts, her internal conflict must've shown on her face, as Qrow soon followed her gaze and spoke up again, addressing her concerns.

"Eh, don't worry, they'll be here soon enough," he assured, getting Weiss to look at him. Then, with a small nod of his head, he gestured towards the cave. "Go. You deserve some rest. Besides, Ruby would probably appreciate some company right now."

Weiss sighed, giving in; she didn't mind standing in the cold too terribly, but Qrow's last point resonated with her, tugging at the right heartstrings. With a quiet 'okay', she silently retreated deeper into the cave, walking down a rather narrow corridor slithering through the rock, with the echo of her footsteps announcing her approach. Soon enough, she entered the main chamber lit by the flames of a campfire, its unsteady glow causing the shadows to dance on the uneven walls of the cavern.

"Hey," Ruby greeted her partner, her smile weak but genuine.

She was sitting alone on a large stone slab close to the fire, with her cloak spread out neatly beside her. Paler than usual, the girl looked all kinds of miserable, her right hand wrapped in bandages — though, thankfully, it didn't seem that she had broken any bones — and her left arm resting in a sling... still, despite being as battered as she was, she managed to muster some of her usual pep, and seemed really happy to see Weiss.

"How do you feel?" Weiss asked, unable to come up with any other way to start the conversation.

Ruby's right shoulder rose and fell in a small half-shrug. "Been better," she said nonchalantly, then cocked her head to the side and shot Weiss a sideways look, smiling playfully and adding: "Then again, guess I can't really complain; it's not every day you get your life saved by a dashing lady."

Weiss, however, was not amused. "You could've died, Ruby. It's not a laughing matter," she uttered lowly, then bit her tongue when her words had come off as way harsher than she had intended them to. She wished she could take them back, but when she saw Ruby shrink on her spot and look away, it was clear that it was already too late.

"No, I... I guess it isn't," Ruby murmured, and it painted Weiss to see how visibly dejected she was. Especially since Weiss had known, deep down, that Ruby's joke had not been meant to make light of the situation; rather, it was made with no one else but Weiss in mind, to help her cheer up.

After a brief moment to compose herself, Ruby returned her attention to her partner; although the corners of her mouth lifted, her strained smile only deepened the pit Weiss felt in her stomach. "It's alright, as long as I don't move my shoulder too much. No fighting for me for the next few days, I'm afraid, but I'll live." Prepping her elbow on her knee, Ruby leaned forward, looking Weiss in the eye with a concerned frown on her face. "But what about you? You kinda look worse than I'm feeling, to be honest."

Weiss blinked, feeling her eyes start to burn. Always putting others before herself — that was Ruby for you, frustratingly so. Weiss admired that about the girl, truly… but there were also times when she hated it, as it made situations like the one she was in all the harder to get through.

Approaching her partner quietly, Weiss knelt in front of Ruby so that their faces were at the same level. "I thought..." she started, but the words turned into a cold lump inside her throat, refusing to come out. 'That I had lost you' was what she was going to say, but she never finished that sentence, opting to go for a dismissive answer instead. "I'm... fine. I'll be fine. Just don't scare me again like that, okay?"

Unsurprisingly, Ruby didn't seem at all convinced, but decided not to pry and just huffed through her nose in amusement. "No promises, but I'll try," she spoke in a small voice, then tilted her head cutely to the side and paused for a while, meeting Weiss' gaze, only for the latter to get lost in her silver eyes. Then, after a while of just looking at Weiss, she smiled — a beautiful, earnest smile, one filled with love and gratitude. "And hey... thanks for today. I mean it; I really thought I was done for. I'd have hugged you, but..." She gestured with her head towards her left shoulder, giving Weiss an apologetic look.

Ruby remained silent for a moment, letting her eyes fall to the ground; then, as if struck by a sudden idea, she looked up at Weiss and smirked. Paying no mind to her friend's confusion, she reached with her right hand around Weiss ear; a moment later, Weiss felt a gentle pull as the girl brought their heads closer and bumped their foreheads together in a sign of thanks and affection.

And with that little gesture, Weiss completely cracked.

All of her fears, all the anguish she had felt when she had thought she had lost Ruby, all of her relief — they all came crashing at her in force, and she was far too exhausted to possibly contain it. Hot tears started flowing down her cheeks — or perhaps they had been there already, and Weiss just hadn't noticed them hiding in the corners of her eyes — while her body was being shaken with wild, uncontrollable sobs.

Wrapping her arms around Ruby's legs, Weiss let her head fall onto the girl's lap and just cried; knowing not whether she was happy or sad or the mix thereof, she simply let her tears purify her heart and mind while a gentle hand combed through her hair, bringing comfort and easing her pain with warmth and kindness she had once been so starved for.

It was Ruby's voice that roused Weiss from her recollection, bringing her back to the sunlit room of the present. "Seeing something you like?" Ruby asked playfully, smirking as she watched the drowsy Weiss whom she caught red-handed.

Ruby was well aware of the fact that Weiss found her physically attractive and teased the girl about it from time to time, while also quite openly throwing flattering remarks Weiss' way; though initially such remarks would get Weiss quite flustered, nowadays she'd usually just respond in kind, and such friendly flirting had been a part of their routine for a while now, with one playfully complimenting the other but not really meaning anything else by it. The compliments were genuine, but they were always just that — compliments.

That day, however, something else was on Weiss' mind, stopping her from playing along. "How's your shoulder?"

It was clear that Ruby didn't expect that response, Weiss' words catching her off guard so much that she actually laughed. "That's one way to dodge a question." Nonetheless, she pondered on her answer for a while, moving her left shoulder in circles to try it out. "Good as new, I guess. All thanks to you," she said eventually, giving Weiss a tiny, grateful smile before returning to browsing the contents of the drawer. "Anyway, I've already showered, so the bathroom's all yours."

Sitting up, Weiss stretched her back like a lazy cat, stifling a yawn with her hand. Reluctantly, she left the comfort of her bed and began shuffling sleepily over to the chair on which she had left prepared a fresh change of clothes, only to stop halfway and look at her Ruby, who, perusing through her old clothes, paid Weiss no mind. She watched the girl for a moment, then, spurred by a strange hunch telling her that her friend was not quite okay, Weiss silently approached Ruby from behind and wrapped her arms around the girl's bare stomach, pressing herself against Ruby's back and nuzzling into her crimson mane. Ruby stiffened upon the initial contact, startled by the unexpectedness of the touch, but relaxed a bit once she'd realized that it was just Weiss.

Ruby laughed nervously. "Not that I don't appreciate it..." she spoke, "but what's up with the hug?"

"I dunno. It just felt like you needed one," Weiss mumbled sleepily, not really expecting Ruby to say anything. Breathing in, she realized that there was something different about Ruby's hair that time around, though it took her drowsy self a moment to put a finger on it — she still could sense the sweet fragrance of roses, but it was subtler than usual, overpowered by the familiar scent of Weiss' own shampoo.

While Weiss' groggy mind was processing that newfound knowledge, Ruby unexpectedly chose to open up.

"I... didn't sleep well, I guess," she admitted with a resigned sigh, loosening up into the embrace and causing Weiss to immediately snap to attention. "Got up on the wrong side of the bed. But I'm better now; the shower has helped. Thanks, though."

Holding Ruby close, Weiss remained silent for a few moments, waiting for her friend to elaborate if she so wished. Of course, it was obvious to Weiss what Ruby had really meant by 'not sleeping well', but she didn't want to pressure Ruby into describing her nightmares in detail.

"'Kay," she murmured eventually, after it had become clear that Ruby had already told her everything she wanted to say on the matter. Having given up the subject, she let go of her friend and slowly pulled away, feeling Ruby shudder slightly when she accidentally brushed her fingers against the girl's bare side. Stepping to the nearby chair, she grabbed her clothes, then turned one more time towards her partner and said: "I won't take long." With that, Weiss left the room.

---

Dressed and refreshed, Weiss stepped out from the bathroom and into the silent corridor, wincing a bit at the seemingly loud click of the door closing behind her. She glanced towards the open entrance to Ruby's bedroom, then, after a heartbeat of deliberation, decided to go downstairs instead, having a vague feeling that she wouldn't find the girl where she had last seen her. Enjoying the pleasant coldness of the wooden floor against her bare feet, Weiss unhurriedly started her descent; about halfway down the stairs, her suspicions regarding Ruby's whereabouts were further reinforced by the faint, pleasant smell of a breakfast in making — fried bacon, if she were to hazard a guess. Following the scent, Weiss, ushered forth by her freshly realized hunger, quickly traversed the living room, slipping into the sunlit kitchen through the door left slightly ajar.

Hearing the soft creak of the hinges, Ruby turned around to look at the arrival, flashing Weiss a brief smile in a greeting before returning her attention to the frying pan in her hand. Drawn like a moth to a living flame, Weiss approached the girl and looked over her shoulder, at the scrambled eggs with bacon sizzling on the pan.

"Hungry?" Ruby asked, amused.

"Now that I can smell the food? Famished," Weiss admitted. Then, she noticed a small piece of paper lying on the counter beside the kitchen stove and turned it around to take a better look at it; she didn't need to read all of it to recognize it as the same business card she herself had received, along with the rest of her team, a few days ago from professor Goodwitch, on behalf of Doctor Grapes: 'Dr. Cordelia Glas, psychiatrist and therapist'. From what they had been told, the woman was also a part of the Circle, so they wouldn't need to withhold any details should they ever decide to follow Doctor Grapes' advice and seek professional help. "Considering paying that therapist a visit?" Weiss questioned.

"Yeah," Ruby breathed out wearily, stirring the contents of the pan with a fork. "And I think we all should go, as much as I'd rather not need to engage the team in that sort of a bonding activity."

Weiss let out a sigh, agreeing with her partner that it would likely be the best course of action — and sharing Ruby's lack of enthusiasm for it "You're probably right," she conceded grudgingly, stepping away from the counter and taking a seat at the table. "Well then. When would that be?"

"Sometime next week, perhaps? After Blake's birthday, that's for sure."

That reminded Weiss of something she had wanted to ask Ruby. "Hey, speaking of Blake's birthday... have you already figured out what you're giving her?"

"Hm? Not quite, but I have a few ideas."

"Something hand-made?"

Ruby glanced over her shoulder to look at her partner, surprised by the hint of envy she had noticed in Weiss' voice. "Probably? I was thinking of making her something practical — a mag dispenser for Gambol Shroud, maybe? I dunno. Why?"

"Well, we're going shopping either way, so I thought I could drop by a bookstore..."

"But?"

Weiss exhaled loudly in resignation, lowering her upper body flat onto the table. "I just feel that anything bought with money doesn't really mean much coming from me," she explained, a bit sourly.

"Out of curiosity, what were you planning on getting her? The new 'Ninjas of Love'?" Ruby asked, smirking mischievously, as if telling a joke only the two of them were in on.

Weiss grinned. "You know it." As far as she and Ruby were aware, Blake still lived in blissful ignorance, thinking that no one had ever seen through her rather meager attempts at concealing the presence of her favorite smutty romance series in their dorm at Beacon. Handing Blake that book would make for one hell of a wake-up call, and just thinking about her reaction was enough to get a chuckle out of both Ruby and Weiss.

Snickering under her breath, Ruby turned off the burner and began scooping the eggs and bacon off the frying pan and onto the prepared plates. "Well, I cannot imagine a world in which Blake turns down a new book — especially when it's her favorite guilty pleasure we're talking about," she said, grabbing the plates and bringing them over to the table. Setting one serving down in front of Weiss, she took a seat opposite of her partner and promptly starting digging in.

"That's true, but..."

"Eh, I don't think she would mind either way; it's the gesture that matters," Ruby said in-between her bites. Scooping up another mouthful of scrambled eggs, the girl pondered for a while, holding her fork in her mouth. "But, if just buying something really bothers you so much, why not write her a song?" she suggested eventually.

Weiss blinked, somewhat surprised by the simplicity of the idea, but considered it nonetheless and, slowly, a soft smile began to bloom on her lips, growing stronger the more she thought of what Ruby had said. She liked that solution — instead of money, it would require time and actual effort, not to mention that it'd be far more 'personal' than any gift Lien could buy. While it was true that she was running somewhat short on time, Weiss still believed that she should manage to pull it off before the time was up.

"Thanks," Weiss said simply, giving her friend a smile of gratitude, to which Ruby replied with a single wink and a smile of her own.

---

Having eaten their breakfast, the girls finished getting ready and headed for the town, where they boarded an airship that took them to the center of Vale. Traversing the familiar streets of the downtown, the two quickly found themselves in one of the malls they had used to frequent during their time at Beacon, joining the steady bloodstream of people flowing through the spacious corridors of the building.

Considering that only about a week had passed since the streets of Vale had been overflowing with Grimm, the girls found it a bit surprising just how… normal everything seemed around there, but neither of them could be seen complaining.

Weiss let Ruby lead the way, ultimately following the girl into one of the many clothing stores around. Once inside, she got nearly immediately abandoned with a cheerful 'have fun' and a wave when Ruby dove into a nearby aisle, disappearing from her view and leaving Weiss alone in the middle of a foreign territory. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Weiss, undeterred, valiantly approached the nearest rack, relatively confident that she would eventually be able to find something 'casual' that she'd like; that, however, soon proved to be far more daunting of a task than she'd initially imagined.

Minutes passed, and though she ended up going through many an aisle, she had never gotten as far as to actually try any of the outfits on, finding none that looked like something she actually saw herself wearing, with most of them feeling either too bland, too showy, or perhaps too informal. Hanging one more shirt back onto a rack, Weiss let out a resigned sigh, then took notice of her partner heading towards her with a bundle of clothes in her arms.

"How's it going?" Ruby asked, though judging by the look on her face, she'd already known the answer.

"Not too well, as you can see," Weiss said, pursing her lips. "I didn't think I'd have that much of a problem with stepping out of my element, but I feel... well, kind of lost, honestly. Nothing seems like a good fit."

"Need a hand?"

Weiss wasn't sure if she liked the enthusiastic spark she'd noticed in Ruby's eyes, but opted to accept the offer nonetheless. "If you could," she replied, smiling a bit sheepishly.

Ruby flashed her a wide grin and promptly grabbed her hand, dragging Weiss down the shopping aisle she'd come from. "Come, there's that one blouse you'd look just great in." To Weiss, her partner's enthusiasm was both endearing and ever-so-slightly unsettling.

It quickly turned out that Ruby had much more than one article of clothing in her mind, leading Weiss through the store without a hint of hesitation in her step. After a while, Weiss started having a sneaking suspicion that Ruby might've been hoping for her to ask for help. Making beelines from one rack to the other, the girl needed surprisingly little time to find the tee, top or sweater she was looking for, as if she'd made a mental note of every thing she'd encountered during her own hunt that she'd thought would suit Weiss well. Now, she was just dragging Weiss from one spot to another, adding more and more things to the heap steadily forming in Weiss' hands. Weiss herself didn't mind, finding Ruby's eagerness quite entertaining; by the time she was finally allowed to enter the changing room in peace, she had about a dozen things to try on.

To Ruby's credit, most of the clothes she'd picked did fit Weiss rather well, both in size and in style, nicely bridging the gap between the casual and Weiss' usual attire. There were familiar grays, whites and blues Weiss was so accustomed to, accompanied by a couple things colored dark red or warm brown that went surprisingly well with Weiss' alabaster hair and pale complexion. Though a fair bit less elegant than the clothes Weiss tended to wear, the sweaters,, hoodies, pants and other things Ruby had chosen for her were all quite easy on the eye, not to mention warm and comfortable. Trying them on felt a bit awkward at first, but, slowly, Weiss got used to it.

In the end, in the whole bundle there was but a single item she had any real qualms with — an ugly, silly woolen sweater depicting a bunch of Grimm, obviously meant by Ruby mostly as a joke. Weiss' initial reaction to it was to peek outside the changing room and simply shove the thing into the grinning Ruby's arms, but, faced with the girl's dreaded puppy eyes, she caved in pretty quickly, agreeing to take it under the condition that Ruby would get one such sweater for herself. Much to Weiss' dismay, Ruby just clapped her hands gleefully and took off running, quickly returning with an abomination much akin to the one that now waited for Weiss to try it on.

Done with their hunt for casual attire, the girls went through the checkout and left the shop, with Weiss making it a point to avoid the eye contact with the cashier while she had been paying for her purchases. Oddly enough, the sweater her partner had coaxed her into buying had grown on her after she'd tried it on, as its silliness was very... Ruby; still, even if she wasn't as vehemently against it as she had been before, it didn't necessarily mean that being seen with it in public was any less embarrassing. With the source of her shame hidden at the very bottom of her bag, Weiss walked next to Ruby as they marched towards another shop.

"I wonder..." Weiss started.

"Hmm?"

She pointed with her head towards the bag in Ruby's hand. "The clothes you've bought for yourself. Don't get me wrong, they look nice and all, but they're kind of... impersonal, compared to the rest of your wardrobe? Where all the roses have gone off to?"

"Oh." Ruby let out a short laugh. "Haven't really have the time to do it since Beacon, but usually I just add them myself? There's also that one nice tailor lady back in Patch I go to when I want something really fancy. Could take you there later, if you'd like."

Weiss pondered on the offer for a while — as well as on that little nugget of knowledge regarding Ruby's own skill — before eventually shaking her head. "Maybe later this week; I think I'd rather get a feel for those clothes first," she said. Soon enough, she came to a halt in front of a large window display featuring a couple of mannequins dressed in fancy suits and gorgeous, flashy dresses. "Seems we're here."

Ruby swallowed, eyeing the display with apparent apprehension. "Yeah... well, lead the way," she said to Weiss, awkwardly rubbing her neck. Weiss just rolled her eyes good-naturedly and went in, with the other girl trudging uncomfortably a few feet behind her.

The shop, though stylish and perhaps a bit more than a little pompous, wasn't big, as it didn't need to be — not counting Ruby and Weiss, there was but a handful of customers strolling amidst the mannequins and looking at the various displays. The store was more oriented towards showcasing the work of its designers and accepting orders, rather than actually selling the outfits they had on hand.

One of the impeccably dressed clerks waited by the counter, working listlessly on a computer; as the girls marched in, the woman glanced up from the screen and, apparently recognizing them, immediately straightened her back, ribbing her male colleague who had just finished servicing some middle-aged lady. Though she felt their gazed on her skin, Weiss paid them no mind, heading straight for the fitting rooms while Ruby kept on sneaking nervous glanced towards the counter, somewhat troubled by the unexpected attention.

They stopped by the changing rooms, most of which were empty. Weiss was about to enter one of them and leave Ruby to her own devices, but, taking a look inside the stall and seeing the body scanner and the complimentary wall-mounted console, she realized that she wasn't exactly positive whether or not Ruby would know what she was supposed to do inside. Back at Beacon, they had gone looking for shoes for the prom together, but Yang was the one to help Ruby pick her dress and Weiss didn't know what store they had been shopping at; it seemed possible that Ruby had never been to an establishment with a fitting room quite like that one.

"You've used one of these before, right...?"

Prying her eyes away from the two clerks pretending not to be paying attention to them, Ruby looked at the room in front of her and nodded

Prying her eyes away from the clerks pretending not to be paying attention to the two of them, Ruby looked at the changing room in front of her and nodded unenthusiastically. "Yeaaah, back when I was getting my prom dress. Undress, get scanned, find a dress that looks nice on your projection. Sounds easy enough." She let out a mirthless chuckle, then sighed woefully. "Man, is this gonna take a while."

The two of them just stood there for a while in awkward silence. After a little bit, Weiss patted Ruby's shoulder encouragingly and said: "Well, have fun." With that bit of karmic justice delivered, she disappeared behind the curtain to the adjacent stall.

"Sure..." Ruby let out with her breath, before finally resigning to her fate and grudgingly stepping inside the dreaded fitting room.

---

Some time had passed and Weiss, quite satisfied with the dress she had settled on, left the changing room. Noticing that the curtain to Ruby's was still drawn and her partner was nowhere to be seen, she stepped closer and knocked on the doorframe. "How's it going, Ruby?"

Suddenly, Ruby's disembodied head popped through the gap between the wall and the curtain. "Weiss, help," she begged, visibly desperate. Before Weiss could react in any way, a pair of arms appeared from within the fitting room and grabbed her hand, pulling her inside.

Once she'd gotten her bearings after having been unexpectedly dragged through a curtain, Weiss shot her fully dressed partner a questioning look. "What's the problem?" she asked, though glancing at the screen of the nearby console had given her an idea what it was about.

"I just don't know what style to pick," Ruby said with a hint of underlying exasperation to be found in her voice. "I've found a few that were alright, but I feel that they were something you'd wear to a prom, not on a... whatever it is that your mom is making."

"A stuffy party?" Weiss suggested with the tiniest of smirks, then pressed herself against Ruby and gently pushed the girl to the side, taking the place at the console with a wide grin. "Sure, leave it to me. I'll make sure that you'll be turning all the heads on that night."

Ruby, however, didn't quite share her partner's eagerness. "Um... I'm really not sure if I want to turn heads."

Weiss laughed under her breath, thinking back to the clerks in the shop. "Oh, but you will either way — trust me. Our team is fairly well-known as it is, and after snatching the microphone and delivering that speech at Vytal you've essentially become a celebrity — a cute one to boot," Weiss said playfully, looking away from the long list of dresses on the screen and casting a sideways glance at Ruby to catch her reaction; though the girl tried her best not to appear abashed by the compliment, her averted gaze along with the soft, reddish shade tinging her cheeks were enough to bring a satisfied little smile to Weiss' lips. "Now hush, let me have some fun dressing you up in all those pretty dresses."

It had been a good while since the last time Weiss had had as much fun as in the minutes that followed. Getting to see Ruby — or her 3D model, rather — dressed in a plethora of different dresses was a treat in and of itself, but even that was nothing compared to the reactions such sights were getting out of the girl in question, who groaned, squirmed and blushed at Weiss' comments. Among many priceless responses, Weiss' all time favorite was when she decided to pull her partner's leg and added a pair of high stiletto heels to the preview, earning herself a stern look of withering disapproval.

Eventually, they managed to piece together a custom dress they both could agree on, and as Weiss followed the embarrassed but pleased Ruby out of the fitting room, she couldn't help but look excitedly look forward to seeing the girl try the real thing on in a couple months' time.

They paid in advance for their orders — or, rather, Weiss paid for both of them, swiping her credit card against the reader before Ruby even had the time to pull hers out of her wallet, much to the latter's apparent chagrin. Ruby would undoubtedly have been able to pay for her dress out of her own pocket, as the Circle had been compensating their team somewhat handsomely for their work, but the way Weiss saw it was that Ruby was doing all of it for her sake, and thus she didn't want to burden her friend financially when money was but an afterthought to her own self; besides, getting a kick out of picking Ruby's dress was far more than the monetary value of the dress in Lien.

"I know you're used to paying for us," Ruby mouthed after they had left the store, "but you really didn't have to do that." Still, her 'thanks' back at the checkout had seemed genuine, indicating that she did appreciate the gesture, even if she was a bit irked by the unintended humiliation that had accompanied it.

"And you didn't have to offer accompanying me to my mother's ball," Weiss countered, trying to play it cool despite the pang of guilt she felt in her chest as a result of not having taken her friend's feelings into proper consideration. Dropping the facade, she let out a defeated sigh. "I just wanted to thank you somehow, instead of burdening you financially on my behalf, of all people. Sorry that I embarrassed you along the way, I… didn't really think of that at the time," she said apologetically, rubbing her cheek.

Ruby just looked Weiss in the eye for a few moments, then blew air through her nose in silent laughter and hopelessly shook her head. She didn't speak a word, simply taking Weiss' free arm and locking it with her own, caring not for the hypothetical onlookers as she wordlessly reassured Weiss that no hard feelings were had. The two of them like that for a ways, until Weiss started to slow down as they were about to pass by a storefront lined with rows upon rows of bestselling books.

"I think I'll drop by the bookstore either way, after all," she said in response to the questioning look she felt on her skin, then turned towards Ruby and held out the hand that carried the bag with the clothes she'd bought. "Would you mind holding on to these for me?"

Having left her purchases with Ruby in front of the store, Weiss went inside and began her search for the latest entry to Blake's favorite smutty romance series. The task wasn't especially hard, as the series seemed to be actually quite popular, albeit for reasons which Weiss — having read a couple of chapters once upon a time — couldn't quite fathom.

Grabbing two more books for herself along the way, Weiss lined in the queue to the checkouts, and, waiting for her turn, looked at the titles at nearby shelves, every now and then glancing at Ruby through the storefront window. The girl stood right on the other side of the glass, paying attention to her Scroll, while the bags were likely laid at her feet that were hidden behind the shopping display.

Nothing of importance happened while the queue continued slowly moving onwards over the course of the next minute or so; at some point, one of the titles Weiss had noticed piqued her interest, and she decided to look up some info on it on her Scroll.

Once she learned what she had wanted, she closed the device and turned her eyes towards her partner, just in time to see how some girl around their age suddenly stopped as she was about to pass by Ruby. The newcomer spoke up — Weiss couldn't say what it was — causing Ruby to look up from her Scroll; much to Weiss' surprise, her partner seemed to actually recognize the auburn-haired stranger, who then promptly pounced at Ruby and wrapped her in a tight hug, with Ruby laughing as she hugged her back.

Her arms folded across her chest, Weiss watched the scene unfold, intrigued and somewhat regretful that she couldn't hear a single word that was being exchanged. The new girl appeared to be a tad taller than Ruby, with shoulder-length hair and auburn bangs woven into a braid that ended behind her ear. Though she was grinning like an idiot, Weiss had to admit that she had a pretty, radiant smile, and was quite attractive in general, with a slim frame and large eyes; at the first glance, she exuded an air of kindness and innocence. She and Ruby definitely seemed familiar with one another — close, even, though the thought baffled Weiss somewhat.

As Weiss continued to observe the girl, a tiny little frown appeared between her white eyebrows as she started picking up on certain things, like the girl's nervous fidgeting, or how her eyes didn't quite meet Ruby's, bashfully looking away most of the time.

"Is she... is she hitting on Ruby?", Weiss thought, genuinely shocked. "Just who the hell is that chick?"

"Um... miss?" someone called suddenly right next to her.

Weiss snapped to attention, startled by the clerk tending to the checkout counter. She had been so preoccupied with the scene happening in front of the shop that she hadn't even noticed when she reached the beginning of the queue. A bit embarrassed, she handed her books to the cashier, asking them to wrap the Ninjas of Love as a gift; while the clerk was working on her order, she resumed watching Ruby and her mysterious friend, eventually seeing the two of them part ways after one more hug. Not even listening to the clerk telling her the total of her purchases, she absentmindedly paid for everything with her credit card; accepting her books handed to her in a paper bag she didn't remember asking for, she thanked the clerk and promptly left the shop.

As she approached Ruby, she noticed a smile that still lingered on the girl's lips, broadening slightly in a greeting when Ruby's silver eyes looked up at Weiss from her Scroll. "'Sup?"

"Who was that?" Weiss questioned. "The girl with the auburn hair."

"Oh, you mean Autumn? She's an old friend, back from Signal. Haven't heard from her since... since shortly after the Fall, I think." Ruby turned her head in the direction her friend had gone, gazing on with an absentminded, nostalgic look in her silver eyes, as if seeing something only she herself could see. "Kinda missed her."

Situations like that one served to remind Weiss how little she knew about certain aspects of Ruby's life outside of Beacon, despite thinking she knew the girl so well; little things that had never been brought up, like past loves, childhood stories, or even the name of her favorite book, small unknowns that — when brought to light — bothered Weiss more than they reasonably should.

"Were you two close?" she asked quietly, having a feeling she already knew the answer.

Ruby scratched the back of her head. "I suppose? Not counting Yang, I'd say she was my best friend back at the time," she said, then let her eyes fall to the ground before carrying on, as if she felt guilty of something. "We tried to stay in touch after I'd enrolled at Beacon, but, well... doing so became kinda hard after going to Anima, what's with CCT being down and whatnot."

"Oh. I see," Weiss replied a bit flatly, looking at the ground a few feet ahead of her. Then, mustering a soft smile, she turned to her partner and spoke, "Well then. Shall we head back?"

"We could, I guess? Unless you'd like to grab a bite to eat while we're still in Vale? It's been a while since we've been to that pizza joint downtown."

Weiss considered the suggestion for a moment, then smiled. "Why not?"

---

Surrounded by the dissonant symphony of pneumatic hammers and drills, the two young Huntresses found themselves in a setting vastly different — and far more demolished — than the one they had remembered, with a large sign 'closed for renovation' taunting them from the fence surrounding one of their former go-to restaurants. The neat, windowed storefront they had known and liked was now gone completely, and it seemed a miracle than the whole wall of the four story building hadn't come crashing down onto the street by the time the support beams had been put in place. The rest of the alley didn't fare much better, either, its snapped lampposts, cracked walls and destroyed walkways suggesting it was among those unlucky enough to have been a fighting ground during the siege of Vale. The smell of parget hung low in the air, offending their nostrils.

"Well, that sucks," Ruby said, clearly bummed and not even trying to hide her disappointment. After a few moments of staring at the ruin, she turned to Weiss. "Wanna look for someplace else?" she asked, but her voice lacked any enthusiasm.

Both of her bags lying at her feet, Weiss sighed and shook her head. "No, I think I'll pass. Those bags are being kind of a bother," she said, massaging her fingers, sore from holding the hempen handles.

"Yeah... oh well. I suppose we'll be eating at home, then," Ruby agreed, nudging with her foot a stray .45 cal bullet case lying on the ground, which the cleanup crew must've missed during their initial sweep of the place. She looked up at the ruined restaurant in front of her and stared at it pensively for a spell before speaking up. "A shame, really... guess not everything is back up and running just quite yet, after all."

"Certainly seems so," Weiss conceded. "And I have a feeling that it'll be a long time before we truly get up from our knees."

"Innit the truth," Ruby agreed somberly, then looked over the place. Construction workers were going about their business all around them, paying the pair no mind, and a bit further away a group of people hustled and bustled about an improvised field kitchen, providing the builders and those cut off from the power grid with free meals. Slowly, a faint smile crept onto Ruby's lips. "Still, I suppose it's not all bad — people working together, rebuilding, striving towards a better future... it's what we all have been fighting for, isn't it?" Hearing a muffled giggle coming from her friend, Ruby looked at Weiss and raised a single eyebrow. "What? Have I said something odd?"

Weiss shook her head, amused. "Odd? No, just very... you."

The ambiguous response only confused Ruby further, giving her a pause. "I'm... not sure how to interpret that, so I'm just gonna assume it's a compliment."

Smirking, Weiss fished her Scroll from the pocket of her jacket to check something; once finished, she simply turned away and started walking away in the direction of the nearest airship station, not waiting for Ruby. "We should be able to catch the next ship to Patch if we hurry," she said innocently, keeping her entertained grin invisible to the baffled girl she had left behind.

"Hey!"

---

Unlocked, the door to house was pushed open; the moment Ruby and Weiss stepped in, a happy little bark resounded within the sunlit living room, bringing a wide smile to Weiss' lips nigh instantly. Laying both of her bags to the ground, she dropped to one knee, welcoming Zwei with open arms as he came rushing. Ruby just watched the scene unfold while undoing her shoelaces; once her combat boots were doffed and lined by the wall, Ruby stepped closer to Weiss and Zwei, leaning in and scratching the corgi between his ears.

"Well, with our shopping out of the way..." Weiss started, looking up at Ruby, "is there something in particular you'd want to do for the rest of the day?"

"After dinner? I was thinking of getting started on the blueprint for whatever it is I decide on making for Blake... if you wouldn't mind being on your own for a bit."

Weiss shook her head, scratching Zwei's jaw in thought. "No, no, that's okay. I guess I should get started on my song, as well..." She looked around the place, then shot her partner a sideways glance, wearing a tiny smirk on her lips. "I don't suppose you've got a piano hidden somewhere around?"

Ruby let out a soft chuckle. "'fraid not." Straightening up and throwing her head back, she turned her eyes at the ceiling and got lost in thought for a moment, searching her memory. "There's one at the school, but I dunno if they'd let you in... and I think I've seen one at the community center, but it's been a long time ago. I could take you there, if you want."

"No, that's fine; I should be fine for today with just my Scroll, a pen, and a piece of paper."

"Alrighty then. Now, could you take our bags upstairs while I get started with the dinner?"

Weiss did as she was asked, then returned downstairs and joined Ruby in the kitchen, taking a seat at the table and entertaining her friend with a conversation while the girl was working by the stove. After dinner, Weiss followed Ruby to their room, where Ruby seated her at Yang's old desk; the girl then took a moment to look through the shelves in search of paper, eventually giving Weiss an untouched spiral notebook. Picking a pen at random from a cup filled with writing utensils, Ruby pressed it to the back of her hand and tried to draw a short line; finding the pen operational, she handed it to Weiss.

"Well, here you go. Have fun." Ruby winked at Weiss, then turned away and walked over to her backpack, looking in there for something.

"I'll try. Same to you."

"Thanks. I'll be in the workshop in case you need anything," Ruby said. "Oh, and don't bother knocking, just come right in."

"Why?" Weiss asked. As she turned in her chair to give her friend a questioning look, Ruby just smiled, shaking at her the pair of familiar, black-red headphones she'd just taken from her backpack; with that wordless explanation out of the way, Ruby left Weiss alone in the room.

---

Time flew by as the sun sailed through the clear skies, with the afternoon eventually shifting into evening and then into starlit dusk by the time Weiss finally laid down her pen and tilted her chair back, stretching her arms lazily over her head. Shooting one last glance at the pages filled with her neat, sharp handwriting, she stood up and scooped her Scroll off the surface of the desk, pocketing it in the newly bought hoodie she was wearing.

Not bothering to turn off the desk lamp, she headed downstairs, illuminating her way through the darkness of the living room with her Scroll until she eventually reached the end table and turned on the light. In the kitchen, she made two cups of coffee for herself and Ruby, then, leaving the steaming mugs on the table, Weiss approached the door to the workshop and unwittingly raised her hand to knock, only to lower it immediately when she remembered what Ruby had told her earlier on; turning the doorknob, Weiss invited herself in.

The room wasn't large, with shelves and racks filled with various tools and parts taking up most of the space on its walls, while the large desk placed along the opposite wall occupied a big portion of the floor. Ruby was leaning back in an office chair, seemingly deep in thought, with her elbows on the armrests and a mechanical pen spinning rapidly between the lithe, deft fingers of her left hand; though most of the room drowned in darkness, the desk area was brightly lit, the lamplight causing the outline of the girl's crimson hair to shine alluringly.

With the rose-adorned headphones covering her ears, Ruby didn't seem yet aware of Weiss' presence, and a part of Weiss didn't want to disturb her. She liked watching Ruby when the girl worked on something, so focused and engrossed in whatever she was doing that she completely tuned out the world around her. There was something oddly captivating about her in those moments, about the sharpness of her gaze and the hidden brilliance of the mind behind it.

That, and the sight was simply kind of cute.

Seeing how preoccupied Ruby appeared, Weiss had a feeling it would be best not to simply approach her from behind, lest the girl got startled — with all the baggage the four of them had acquired over the past two years, spooking any of them was just asking to lose the hand that touched them. Pulling out her Scroll, Weiss typed a quick message: 'Knock knock'.

No notification sound could be heard after she had pressed the send button, but Ruby promptly picked up her own Scroll from the desk and looked at it, then turned around in her chair and noticed Weiss leaning against the doorframe.

"Oh, hi," the girl croaked, her voice hoarse from not being used for a longer while. Taking off her headphones and lowering them onto her shoulders, she cleared her throat; in the meanwhile, Weiss crossed the few feet that separated them and leaned on the backrest of Ruby's chair. "What's up?" Ruby asked, completely unfazed by the proximity.

Weiss didn't answer right away, looking over Ruby's shoulder and taking a moment to appreciate the technical sketches sprawled across the desk, drawn on a few separate, large sheets of paper. "I have to say, I'm impressed. I knew you've built and designed Crescent Rose, but to actually see the process..." she said and paused, letting her sentence trail off into nothing. Then, she let out a short chuckle. "I'm not even gonna try to guess how all of that is supposed to come together, though."

Ruby laughed. "Don't, 'cause it doesn't. I was playing around with different designs."

Weiss pointed with her chin at the drafts. "What are these supposed to be? Clip dispensers?"

"Yeah," Ruby affirmed, moving one of the papers to the side so Weiss could take a better look at it. "I started off with one that'd be fastened to Blake's thigh, but then I figured it'd weigh down her right side, so I tried to come up with something that would keep the weight closer to her center of mass." She tapped another sheet of paper with her finger, then leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "But a back-mounted dispenser would probably collide with Gambol Shroud when sheathed, not to mention restrict the movement of her back and hips, so I'm probably gonna go with the first one, after all." Pressing the back of her head against the top of the headrest, she looked at the ceiling and let a slightly frustrated sigh out into the ether.

"For now," Weiss spoke firmly, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, "I think you should take a break."

Ruby cocked her head to the side with a small crack and rubbed her stiff neck, looking outside through the window. "I guess... what hour is it?"

"Quarter past eight, give or take a couple of minutes."

Having learned of the late hour, Ruby let out a rather peculiar noise that placed somewhere between a huff and a breathy chuckle. "Oh," she exclaimed in apparent surprise. "Yeah, probably best to call it a day. Speaking of, how was yours?" she asked with a warm smile, looking up at Weiss still hanging off the headrest of her chair.

"So-so, to be honest, but I think I know what I want to go for. I really could use a piano now... but I suppose it's something I can worry about tomorrow."

"So, what now?"

"Well... we could always watch a movie."

Ruby grinned at that. "I'll prep the popcorn."

---

Ruby entered the living room with a bowl of fresh, fragrant popped corn in her hands; circling the TV stand, she looked around the 'corner' of the holographic display and took a peek at the info screen of the movie Weiss was reading up on at that moment. Noticing the genre, she let out a short laugh.

"A horror movie? I thought we've all had enough scares to last us for a while."

"It's just that there's nothing else that sounds even remotely interesting. Is a horror no good?"

Ruby plopped onto the couch next to Weiss, nearly spilling half the bowl onto her lap. "Nah, it's fine," she said, picking up the few pieces that did fall onto her legs and promptly popping them in her mouth. Scooting a bit to the side, she moved the bowl from her knees and placed it between herself and Weiss, then helped herself to a handful. "It does seem interesting, judging by the description. Worst case scenario, we'll just end up huddled together under a safety blanket, or something." Weiss giggled under her breath at the picture presented to her in her mind, but otherwise did not comment on that.

A few minutes passed and the ads finally ended, cutting off the lazy chat the girls were killing time with. The movie started off rather slow, with its underage protagonist visiting his distant family in the countryside to spend a few weeks with after his parents had been hurt in an accident. As if to subvert the audience's expectation, the welcome he had received was quite warm and, frankly, normal, bar the few odd advices that piqued Ruby and Weiss' interest while being completely brushed off by the boy in a true horror protagonist fashion.

As the main character soon found out, various strange things started happening after the clock hand struck the eleventh hour in the night — unidentifiable noises echoed in the walls and the dark corridors of the manor, while shadows kept moving in the nearby forest — but it was nothing that the protagonist couldn't rationalize away as his cousins trying to spook him out.

While not terribly scary at the beginning, the story surrounding the place that was slowly being unfolded intrigued and captivated the girls, leaving them waiting for yet another twist or unsettling revelation. The local folklore, the recent history of disappearances in the nearby town, and the mysterious weald the protagonist was forbidden from entering after sunset all made them wonder what was even going to be the main spook of the movie — a serial killer, a monster, or perhaps something of the occult?

At some point, the boy decided to go against the advice of his aunt and embarked into the woods at night, following a trail he had not remembered seeing, only to find a strange, decrepit chapel of a sort. Armed with a flashlight, he entered… only for the flashlight to flicker and go out, and for the wind to slam the door shut the moment he turned to leave, trapping him inside amongst complete blackness.

And then, a calm, feminine voice called his name from the dark — peaceful, almost kind... and completely, utterly inhuman.

Suddenly, Weiss felt the mood in the room change, as if the temperature had dropped nearly to freezing in the span of a single heartbeat. Something terrifying filled her chest, fear of a kind you feel when your whole world is about to collapse in front of you; pure, raw dread, an impending doom you couldn't run away from. It was something of a magnitude she had experienced but once before, when she had seen Ruby plummet into that damned river; that fear was primal, paralyzing... and yet, somehow, this time it didn't seem to belong to her, but to someone else, leaving her deeply confused. Still, even if she didn't understand what was going on, one thing was clear in her mind and heart: something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

She looked to her side, at Ruby. The girl was still hugging the pillow she'd placed in her lap before the movie had started, but no longer was there a smile on her lips; she stared at the screen as if completely mesmerized, but her face was one of sheer, utter terror. Her hands — no, her whole body — were shaking as in a fever, while her nostrils expanded and contracted wildly while she breathed noisily through her nose, as if struggling for air.

Following Ruby's frozen gaze to the TV, Weiss decided to turn the damned thing off, but, before she could do that, Ruby's hand suddenly darted for the remote and did so in her stead, with the girl all but swinging the device at the screen in panic while a piercing, woeful wail escaped her throat.

The holographic display dissolved into nothing, but the remote slipped from Ruby's grasp and flew to the side, crashing onto the floor, with its battery falling out and rolling off somewhere into the darkness where the light of the end table lamp didn't reach. The bowl with popcorn, half-empty at the time, got caught in Ruby's sudden movement and was also flung off the couch, tumbling unceremoniously onto the ground and littering the carpet with the remainder of its contents.

Shocked by the commotion she had accidentally created, Ruby pressed both of her shaking hands to her mouth, with tears beginning to flow from her eyes as she stared at the mess. Then, she gasped suddenly and looked at Weiss, as if just then remembering that she was also in the room; as if startled by that realization, she moved away a bit.

"S-Sorry, I don't know why I— I just… j-just..." she tried to speak, but her voice was trembling and cracking just as much as she was herself. She fell silent, then glanced at Weiss with a strange, unfamiliar expression in her eyes that sent an ice-cold shiver down Weiss' spine.

Fearing that the girl was about to just run away, Weiss didn't think twice and closed the distance between the two of them in a heartbeat, wrapping Ruby in a hug; crying uncontrollably, Ruby tried to fight her, to push her away, but when Weiss did not relent, she finally gave in, grabbing handfuls of Weiss' clothes and holding onto them like a vise. Even through the thick fabric of her hoodie, Weiss could feel Ruby's nails digging into her skin, but she just bit her lip and pulled the sobbing mess of a girl closer, while hot tears began trailing down her own cheeks.

"It's okay. Everything's okay. I'm here. You're safe," Weiss kept on repeating those words like a mantra meant to calm both Ruby and herself, gently stroking her best friend's hair while the girl continued to cry and quiver in her arms. She was trying her best to sound reassuring, but her voice was shaking; she was terrified out of her mind, lost without answers while a hundred questions swirled in her mind.

She had never seen Ruby like that... she had never even imagined she'd see her like that, so broken and vulnerable. She didn't understand what was going on, and it scared her; all she knew was that Ruby was suffering, and not knowing how to help her was a torture. Having no idea what to do, she was doing the best thing that came to her mind in the situation, but as she listened to Ruby's labored breath, a thought lingered in her mind that she might actually be only causing her partner even more distress with that embrace — after all, it was her who suggested watching that movie in particular; what was stopping her from unknowingly making matters worse? Still, she dared not let the poor girl go.

"Let's— let's lie down, okay?"

Feeling Ruby's head move slightly against her collarbone, Weiss took it as a weak nod and slowly lowered the two of them onto the couch, with Ruby lying on top of her. To her surprise, the pillow was already neatly placed against the armrest instead of lying at an angle, and as she glanced to the side she noticed Zwei standing on its rear legs and leaning against the couch, looking at Ruby and Weiss with worry in his beady eyes. Assuming it was Zwei who had moved the pillow, she thanked the pup in her thoughts and laid her head down.

Neither of the girls said anything, with Ruby's heavy breathing and her whines being the only things that disrupted the heavy silence of that usually bright and peaceful place. Weiss continued to gently comb Ruby's hair, praying it was doing something to alleviate some of the girl's pain — or, if not that, that it at least wasn't hurting her.

As minutes passed, each of them dragging on into an eternity, Ruby's breath steadied somewhat and her sobs became sparse, while her grip on her partner's clothes relaxed a bit; seemingly having found herself a comfortable spot on Weiss' chest, the girl was just lying there with her eyes closed, as if listening to something Weiss couldn't quite hear. Gradually, Ruby's quivering was losing its intensity, eventually ceasing almost completely — but not before Weiss had completely lost the track of time. Weiss remained quiet for a while, then, finding the silence unsettling, decided to speak up.

"Ruby?" she called quietly. No response, other than the soft murmur of her friend's breathing.

Weiss pressed her head deeper into the pillow and released a long, shaky breath. She was completely drained, both mentally and physically, but the wild beat of her heart was telling her that it'd still be a while till she'd fall asleep. With her fingers never ceasing their rhythmical back and forth through Ruby's dark hair, she stared at the ceiling, spacing out but not really having the energy to actually think; she wanted to come up with a way to help her friend, but she grudgingly acknowledged that it was something she should leave for another day — and that even then it might be well beyond her abilities. And so she just lied there, listening to Ruby's breathing and waiting for the sleep to find her while deep, deep down her heart burned with seething anger, almost wishing that a certain someone was still alive, just so she could kill them all over again.

Even after her consciousness had finally started to slowly drift away, one thought refused to leave her mind.

"What the hell has she done to you...?"

---

Author's Note:

Can I get my bachelor's already so I can focus on this story in peace? Please?

No? Aw, shucks.

Whew, this chapter was insane. I swear, when I've said that Of Stitchings and Seams might end up being over 15k I meant the whole thing, not just the part that was yet to be published. Yeeesh. Good thing that the first few days of May are free in Poland, and that my writing pace tends to pick up towards the end.

I hope that reading through this monster of a chapter wasn't too bothersome; I considered splitting it (again) in two for your reading convenience, but eventually decided against it to preserve its integrity. Not that it has changed much, delaying the update by... maybe a week? Two, tops? Something along these lines. And it sure gets us past the 100k mark with an oompf.

The song quoted in the chapter is obviously "Path to Isolation" by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams, and, naturally, all rights go to their respective owners.

I should also mention that — after considering it a long while — I finally decided to expand the prologue a bit. The core remains about the same, but I added a somewhat lengthy action scene at the beginning, providing a bit more context to the whole situation with Weiss getting wounded. I'm still not too keen on the idea of significantly altering already published chapters, but I just felt that I owed my readers as much, both old and new. Back at the time I had a different idea as to how to handle AtS' narrative (essentially, more retrospections), which is the reason the prologue looked the way it did, and as the fic grew in size that idea has also changed, while the prologue was left the way it had been, with my reasoning being that combat was never meant to be the focus of the story. Reading the 'new' version is not really necessary, as nothing really plot relevant has been introduced, but I imagine that some of you might enjoy reading approximately 2.5k words about Weiss and Ruby kicking ass. Writing action scenes is kinda new to me (doubly so in English), so I must say I'm kinda curious as to what your take on it is gonna be.

Huh, guess it makes this update to be over 19k words long. Damn.

So, thus ends the longest — and probably the darkest, both up-to-date and moving forward — chapter of AtS. A lot has happened here, and I'd love to hear what you think; other than that, there's not much left for me to say, besides saying that I hope you've enjoyed this update, and thank you for reading this far, and for all the faves, follows and reviews you send my way — they're all greatly appreciated. Sorry for the terribly lengthy A/N, and see you next chapter!