Note: This entire arc has dragged out a lot longer than I wanted to. My goal was to spend two chapters per day of vacation, and now I have four chapters dealing with Velvet of all people. I do have other things I need to do in this story, so I am going to have to move along after this. I know a lot of you have been waiting for WhiteRose, so here's the deal. Next chapter: pure WhiteRose. The fluffiest, gooiest WhiteRose I can think of... or YOU can think of. That's right, I'm taking suggestions again. Comment what WhiteRose thing you want to see happen, and I'll do it (within reason). It's gonna be extra long, so I need plenty to write about. I hope you have enjoyed this miserable little depressed sidequest though. It's certainly very popular among this discord (which you can join! Join it! Jooooiiiiinnnnnnn itttttttttttttt.)

Enjoy.

Ruby woke up to her world on fire.

The entire point of a vacation was to escape one's troubles. That was how she understood it. She supposed she could only blame the universe, which was well-established to hate her guts for no discernable reason.

She entered the living room to find it in pieces. She saw Velvet lying on the couch, using Aura to heal her broken face. She saw Pyrrha awkwardly laying towels on the floor by the patio entrance to soak up a massive spill. She saw a lot of angry glares. She couldn't ask many questions before Weiss pulled her aside and explained to her the situation. The series of revelations hit RWBY like punches to the gut. Velvet: slave killer. Blake: assaulting a teammate. Team CFVY: suspiciously forgiving. When she went to bed the night before, she wanted to make pancakes. That was her goal for the day. She wanted pancakes covered in an absurd quantity of maple syrup and butter. Now, she had to deal with this shit.

But that was the life of the leader of Team RWBY—and by this point, she was used to it.

First things first: Blake. Her teammate was the most important to her. After clearing up the details with Weiss and Yang, Ruby stoically headed up to Blake's room. She didn't move with any urgency, but merely a slight weight in her step, as if her burdens had sucked away her energy. She was polite when she rapped her knuckles on Blake's door and made sure to announce her presence. The door was unlocked, and she entered carefully. Blake was lounging on her bed in her usual clothes, her demeanor stripped of any of the fun of the sand. She was reading her Scroll, though she put it down as Ruby sat on the edge of her bed. The younger Huntress placed her hands into her lap and spoke with a gentle but clear authority, like a parent who wasn't mad but merely disappointed.

"Hey, Blake. How are you feeling?"

"Not great," Blake said plainly. "Actually, I'm really mad."

"I see," Ruby sighed. "Weiss told me everything that happened between you and Velvet. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

"I'm not going to apologize to her."

Ruby shook her head. "I know you aren't, and I wouldn't expect you to."

"But that's why you're here, right?" Blake asked. "You're going to scold me for punching her, and tell me I have to make things right for the good of the team."

Ruby paused for a moment, then shook her head again. "No, actually. The first thing I wanted to tell you was that… I understand exactly why you did it."

Blake seemed perplexed. "Really?"

"Yeah," Ruby admitted. "You might not remember, but the second time Weiss and I were ever in a room together, I punched her in the face too. She said some things about my mom, and I just couldn't help myself. Broke her nose." Ruby held up her fist and smirked. "Guess we both have a mean right hook, huh?"

"So…" Blake said cautiously. "You're fine with me punching one of our allies."

"I'm not fine with it," Ruby clarified. "It's a huge mess down there, and it's going to be a bother to clean up, but I'll handle it. I just wanted you to know that I'm not really mad that you did it. With everything that you've had to go through, and how she handled it, I can see why you'd want to do it. She did something really, really bad, and of all the punishments she deserves, punching is probably the least of them. I'm trying to say… I'm not holding this against you. And, if I can't patch things up with Team CFVY, I'll have your back in whatever comes next."

Blake held back a laugh at the absurdity of it all. She expected so, so much worse, but instead, she was given a reminder of why Ruby Rose was one of her favorite people on the planet. Not that there were many contenders these days, but still… she was cool. It was enough to make her relax. She leaned against her pillow and rolled her eyes.

"Do we really have to work things out?" Blake groaned. "I don't want to team up with a bunch of apologists for this shit."

"You don't have to be their friend. It's a purely working relationship," Ruby reminded her. "If we were able to smile and pose next to Jacques, we can handle this."

"I guess that's fair," Blake sighed. This did feel worse somehow, maybe due to expectations. She knew Jacques was a scumbag from the very beginning, and their relationship was always cat and mouse, playing with each other for personal gain. Here, Team CFVY were their equals. She heard they were interested in civil justice. To see them reduced to this pathetic display was crushing. She sat up a little straighter and looked Ruby in the eye. "You know, I am sorry that you have to clean up this mess. I didn't want to put any of this on you."

"It's no big deal." Ruby slouched under the pressure, but she tried to smile it off. "You've done so much for this team already, I think you can cash in a few favors. And I can think of it like this: it's good political practice."

"If that's how you want to think about it, sure. But I'll tell you the same thing I told Yang: I don't want to talk to Velvet. I barely even want to think about her."

"You won't have to. I promise that."

"Thanks."

"And can you promise me something?"

"I won't kill Velvet in her sleep."

"Cool." Ruby extended her fist, and Blake was kind enough to bump it in return. Ruby groaned and stretched as she stood up from the bed. One crisis averted. It was likely the simplest; despite her reputation, Blake was actually pretty easy to talk to if you knew her. Ruby was more stressed about the next two steps. Next step: settle any beef with Team CFVY. That would require caution, calculation, and of course humility. She made her way toward the door, ready to move on when the handle moved on its own. Ruby took a step back as the door swung open. She expected it to be either Weiss or Yang checking on her, or telling her that some other new thing had gone horribly wrong. Instead, she saw orange hair and frantic eyes come from around the frame, and nervous Nora Valkyrie entered Blake's room unannounced.

"Hey, Blake, you in here—oh, Ruby. You're here, too."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Nora. What are you doing here?" The question was legitimate. Nora and Blake had maybe had a single conversation if even that. Nora was more off-kilter than usual, stuttering even in her smile. Ruby had wanted to speak to Team JNPR later. The last thing she needed was to lose both her allied teams. Yet, the opportunity presented itself now, and though she had to be careful, she knew Nora would be the easiest to persuade.

"Hello, Nora."

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, I was just about to leave. What's going on?"

"Oh, I just, uh… came to check in," Nora replied. "You know… see how things were going."

Blake scowled. "I take it you heard about Velvet."

"That? Nah." Nora blinked. "Yep. That's what this is about. Don't know why I said otherwise."

"It's all right," Blake said. "Come in. I don't bite."

Nora tried to laugh at the joke, but nothing came out. She stepped quickly into the room and shut the door behind her, as if she didn't want to be seen by anyone else.

"Well, you know… I've known Velvet for a while," Nora explained. "She was one of the only members of CFVY I really talked to. And so when I heard what happened, I was pretty confused. And then I heard the reasons why it happened, and I got extra confused. Jaune said he noped out of the room once the fighting started, so I had to ask Pyrrha, and Pyrrha really didn't know, so I asked Weiss, and she tried explaining it, but then Coco also tried explaining it, and then I had to find Yang and have her explain it. And… wow, it's a lot to take in."

"I'm sorry for the confusion," Ruby stated. "I can assure you none of us wanted to cause trouble."

"I don't know if I believe that," Nora said with a nervous smile. "But uh, yeah, you guys feuding with CFVY."

"We're not feuding," Ruby claimed. "I was just going to go talk to them and squash everything."

"Okay, well, tension with CFVY, whatever," Nora said clearly. "I just wanted to let you guys know where Team JNPR stood. We're not, like drama people. We don't really like to get involved with these things if ya catch my drift. I think I speak on behalf of my team when I say that they don't really want to take sides. It's all way too complicated for us. We just want a vacation."

"Understood," Ruby nodded. "We would never ask you to take sides by the way."

Blake opened her mouth to say that she would, but thought better of it.

"Right, yeah, so that's the thing. Publicly, no one is gonna take a side, and hopefully, we can put all of this behind us. That being said…" Nora looked straight at Blake, pulling back her lips tightly. "Privately… I think you were totally right to punch her."

Blake stood up from the shock. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yyyyyyep."

Ruby and Blake looked at each other in surprise. "You actually think she should have gotten hit?" Ruby asked.

"Didn't you just say Velvet was like your one friend in Team CFVY?" Blake questioned.

"Yeah, but like," Nora gestured broadly to the world around her, "you guys heard what she did, right? She, like, hunted a dude! A dude that was a slave! Seriously, what the goshdarn heck is wrong with her? I was a passive friend with her, and that means I'm just supposed to pretend that never happened? I was so poor growing up, and she was out there as some pretty rich girl doing weird hunting people stuff like a serial killer! That's ridiculous. And the whole 'She was a kid excuse'? I didn't go around killing slaves when I was fourteen. That's not that much younger than we are now!"

"But you are fine with me literally punching her," Blake needed to confirm.

Nora threw up her arms. "I mean, we're Huntresses! We literally solve all of our problems with violence. I own a gigantic hammer that I use to pummel people I don't agree with. I can't be all like, grrhh, arrggh, violence bad. Sometimes you gotta smack a lady to get a point across. Don't take that out of context by the way. I mean this purely in a Faunus-revenge-justice-comeuppance kind of way."

"I…" Blake stammered. "Thanks. I guess."

"Look, I ain't one for drama," Nora reiterated. "And this is just me. I don't know how Ren or Jaune or Pyrrha privately feel about any of this. I'm not gonna ever bring this up to anyone, and I'm not going to start anything. But I want you to know that you have support in this fight. Stand up for your people however you want."

Blake didn't have anything else to say. She was never one to care for Nora. She seemed too childish and ignorant to ever be taken seriously, despite her demonstrable skill. She was actually flabbergasted that the cartoonish redhead was able to give a more mature take than the allegedly socially conscious Team CFVY. Well, okay, maybe mature was the wrong idea. She literally advocated for punching people she disagreed with. But she was a sympathetic ear, and Blake was more than happy someone listened to her.

Ruby bowed her head, awkwardly trying to leave the conversation. "I think you two should talk more about that. I need to go clean some things up with CFVY. But thank you, Nora, for your honesty."

"Eh, no biggie," Nora handwaved. "What are friends for? Wait, are we friends?"

Blake smirked. "Keep this up and we'll see."

Nora did not know if she liked that response.

Ruby ducked around Nora and left her and Blake to work out the kinks. That… went better than expected. Neat. Now came the incredibly challenging part. She mentally psyched herself up as she walked through the villa. She had stood up to Ozpin and Ironwood, outwitted Jacques Schnee, and pacified Sienna Khan. Was she really going to let herself get intimidated or bullied by a bunch of second-years? She set the bounds of this relationship, and she would make them abide by it. She wouldn't let them ruin all of her hard work. Though, as she neared the villa's main room, she softened her stance. These were her allies. Being a dick to them wasn't going to help matters. She took in some more deep breaths to calm herself down as she entered the living room.

Team CFVY hadn't moved from the couch. Velvet had a few tissues stuffed near her nose to stop the bleeding, lying safely in Yatsu's arms. Coco let her teammate rest her legs in her lap. Fox sat beside them. They had turned the television onto a random cooking competition, which only reminded Ruby of the breakfast she was missing out on. When the others saw her approach, their mood shifted. Coco side-eyed her out of the corner of her shades. Velvet turned down the volume. Ruby paused in front of them, hands displayed by her thighs to show she was unarmed as if engaging in a meeting with some dangerous stranger.

"Hi, Velvet," Ruby said calmly. "I want to see how you're doing?"

"I'm all right," Velvet sighed. "It's not the first time I've broken my nose. They say it gets easier to break every time. I'm more upset that my face can't go a few weeks without someone scuffing it up."

"Well, I hope it heals properly," Ruby stated. She cleared her throat. "I heard everything that happened between you and Blake. I just had a conversation with her, and—"

"Is she going to apologize?" Coco asked bluntly. Ruby hesitated for a moment.

"I want to apologize on her behalf," she admitted. "She should not have attacked you, and I can promise that it will not happen again."

Velvet seemed satisfied, though Coco scoffed. "So, she's not apologizing then?"

"Please try to understand," Ruby explained. "Blake can be a very difficult person, and this has been very hard for her to learn. She was raised in Menagerie. She's been through more than I can hope to understand. And what you told her triggered some very painful trauma."

"I get that," Coco groaned. "I'm not trying to downplay her trauma or anything, but that's no excuse to hit someone out of nowhere. She should apologize for that."

"I get that, and it's frustrating," Ruby said, shifting her tone to match Coco's. "I wish Blake would apologize for a lot. She's done some things that have been really hurtful, and she won't admit fault for it. But getting Blake to apologize is like climbing a mountain. Even if she agrees she owes you one, getting it out of her will take time."

"That's pretty shitty," Coco growled. "Who does she think she is—"

Coco's anger was cut off as Velvet grabbed onto her arm. "Coco, it's fine."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is," Velvet insisted. "I don't need Blake to apologize for anything. She has every right to be upset with me. I just want to move on from this, if that's okay."

"I think that's what a lot of us want," Ruby said with a slight bow. She saw the frustration creep through Coco's face, so she acted swiftly. "I don't mean to say that we should just forget this happened entirely. That's not fair to dismiss what happened of course, and I'm not trying to. But what I am saying is that I don't want our relationship to be defined by this. I know from dealing with my teammates that we often have had serious problems, but we got through them by trying to see through each other's eyes and learning to live with them. We can recognize that what happened was wrong and that it will take a long time to repair properly."

Most of Team CFVY seemed amenable to that suggestion. The only holdout, of course, was their leader, and it was her silence on the matter that prevented anyone from speaking up. She leaned back her head on the couch, waited a few moments, then slowly took off her shades. She stared straight through Ruby with her deep brown eyes, but Ruby held steady.

"If you're worried about me abandoning the group or anything… don't," she said bluntly. "I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not mad. I'm not mad at you, period. It ain't your fault your friend put you in a horrible spot, and I'd be pretty fucking hypocritical if I could forgive Velvet but held a grudge against you. I think Blake sucks, but I can put that shit aside if that's what Velvet wants."

"At the very least, we should put it aside while we aren't in Atlas. We are on vacation, after all. This should be a place free from any drama," Ruby pointed out.

Fox spoke up. "Technically, we should put it aside while we are in Atlas, too. That place is just a nightmare all around."

Coco and Ruby both shot Fox a glare; the former challenging him for setting up her terms without asking, and the latter wondering why the hell he thought he had anything to do with this conversation. Fox slunk back in his seat, dejected, while Velvet raised her voice.

"What is Blake going to do?" Velvet asked curiously. "I take it that she's willing to move on as well."

"Not exactly," Ruby explained. "She doesn't want to speak to you, at least for the foreseeable future. She doesn't want to work with you at all, but I made her understand that's not happening."

"That's… reasonable," Velvet sighed. "I wouldn't expect her to know what I went through, and honestly… she's justified in everything even if she doesn't. I'll try my best to respect her boundaries. It's the least I can do."

Ruby smiled. Her worries hadn't fully subsided—Coco, despite her promise otherwise, could change her tune and blow up at the slightest transgression, and Velvet's words didn't quite ring true in the way Ruby would have liked, though it may have been her biases talking. She expected many awkward dinners from here on out, but the fires had been burned out. She just had to get used to the ashen taste.

"Well… I appreciate you all hearing me out," she said politely.

"Same," Coco sighed, putting on her sunglasses again. "We'll make it work somehow."

"I hope so," Ruby nodded. "Now, I'm going to eat some pancakes. I am starving."

Velvet moaned. "Ooh, pancakes sound really good. You wouldn't be able to make some for me, would you?"

Ruby forced out a smile. "Of course."

She couldn't say no to a girl with a broken nose. Besides, it wasn't the worst thing Velvet had asked of her…

A few hours had passed since Weiss had seen her girlfriend. Once the damage to the villa had been cleaned—damage she was not looking forward to explaining to Winter—she retreated into her room to get away from the tension. She tried to clear her mind of worry, but she couldn't help but feel for Ruby. No doubt, Ruby was working her magic, bringing Blake and CFVY together so they could continue their war against their headmasters. Or, the stress had become too much for her. Ruby failed. She couldn't do a damn thing, and CFVY had threatened Blake's safety, and Blake had threatened to stab out Velvet's other eye, and everyone was going to fight each other during dinner, and Ruby was sulking like a wounded lamb in the corner, her cute little face sullied by tears. And of course, all of it would be her fault, since she decided to push Velvet into revealing her past in the first place. If she just left well enough alone, none of this would have happened. Her trust, her family, all crumbling because of her—

Ruby pushed open the door to Weiss's room without warning. The heiress jumped in shock, though she soon recognized she had nothing to worry about. Ruby's eyes were heavy and her stomach was full. She walked with a burden and stopped in front of Weiss's bed for a few moments. Weiss paused, unable to call out to her. Ruby slowly fell forward, letting all of the energy leave her body. She plopped onto the bed, her face slapping the mattress. She let out a heavy groan.

"Crisis averted," she mumbled into the cushion. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief.

"There was never a doubt in my mind you could do it."

"Thanks." Ruby rotated so she could see her girlfriend clearly. Her head was by her knees, and she raised an arm only to let it droop down over Weiss's legs. "I am so tired."

"I know." Weiss reached down to stroke the back of Ruby's hand. "This is not how I wanted this vacation to go. I'm sorry for even bringing this up."

"I was upset before that," Ruby confessed. "Coco showed me something yesterday that made me feel… not good."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, thank you."

"If you say so."

"Team CFVY seems to cause a lot of problems. They are very difficult to work with, they keep to their own, they are—"

"A bit like us?" Weiss joked. Ruby finally cracked a smile.

"I guess you do have to be a little crazy to work with us."

"I suppose so," Weiss smirked, "or you just need to speak with our brave and charismatic leader. She'll set you straight."

"I wish I could meet her," Ruby sighed. "She'd be really helpful right now."

"Come here."

Weiss opened her arms, and Ruby reluctantly crawled into her embrace. She was still so full of pancakes that she didn't resist when Weiss tucked her into her collarbone, even though she wasn't really in the mood for hugs. The two lay there together, using each other's company to purge their frustration with their friends. One thing that brought Ruby solace—aside from Weiss's fingers tenderly running up and down her spine—was that they had survived worse. Blake once tried to shoot her in the face. Yang nearly tore her in half. Weiss was an absolute bitch once upon a time, but they made it work. Maybe they just had to bond over some really screwed-up group trauma! Sick joke, but Ruby did feel better knowing she had achieved the impossible before. The four girls that hated each other had blossomed into twelve that mildly disliked each other some of the time. That had to be considered an improvement.

"Do you want to know what's really been upsetting me?" Weiss said suddenly. "I feel like I've barely gotten to see you at all."

Ruby picked up her head, surprised. "We've spent tons of time together this week."

"Yes, but there was always something that undermined it. Games, or pranks, or drama. I wanted this vacation to be special between us. And now, it's almost over, and it feels like we haven't even started."

Weiss's words struck down to Ruby's core. She was so goddamn right it stung. This was their vacation. What the hell was she doing cleaning up other people's messes? This was her time to celebrate everything she had accomplished. Was it selfish? Hell yes, it was, and she wasn't going to apologize for it. She deserved a day, one glorious, unrepentant day, of doing whatever the fuck she wanted. Ruby pursed her lips, brimming with determination. She broke out of Weiss's embrace and rose to her knees, the life returned to her. "All right then. Tomorrow is going to be our day. Just the two of us, doing whatever we want."

It was music to Weiss's ears, though she had to pour cold water on the idea. "You know we won't be able to. Something will come up."

"And we'll ignore it," Ruby declared. "Our teammates can work out their own problems for a single day. We won't let any of that affect us. I just want to spend the day thinking of you, and nothing else. If they have a problem with that, then…"

Weiss grabbed Ruby's hands and pulled her in close. Ruby's weight sent both of them crashing into the pillows. Faces inches apart, Weiss could see her reflection in silver eyes. Ruby's breath was hot on her lips.

"They can go fuck themselves?" she suggested.

Ruby laughed. "Yes. That."

Weiss wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist and pulled her in tighter. They kissed and the last of their worries faded. A day of Weiss and Ruby. Twenty-four hours of bliss, and maybe something more. It would be a day neither of them would ever forget…