"Res Publi-ca! Res Publi-ca! Res Publi-ca!"

"Move your feet, idiot! Don't you hear the damn drums!"

Dum da-dum da-dum da-dum—

Her footprints were red, now. Her legs were leaden. But she could walk forever. Even if her body couldn't. It was just a thing of flesh. It would listen.

"Move it, girl! You're just meat now!"

Being whipped never was a big deal; it always felt like it was landing on some other body. Pain was always somewhere else. Everything was always somewhere else.

"Tell us who you fight for!"

"Res Publica!"

"Ruby?" A girl caught her, one arm shooting out to wrap around her waist. "What'd you say?"

The Ruby in question blinked, her head reverberating with the doldrum beat.

"N-nothing?" She didn't know what she'd said. She didn't really know anything; the world was fading in a tunnel, her whole body weighed down. Nevertheless, Ruby righted herself. "How much further?"

The concern in Weiss' eyes didn't waver. "A few more days before the next stop. That's what Blake said, at least."

Sleep was clawing at Ruby's eyes, biting her brain, so there was no brain function to catch her before she said, "And you… trust her?"

Weiss' hair was more ashen than white now, flopping heavily with unwashed oils and grime as she snapped her head to her paramour. She looked more scandalized than Ruby expected. "Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?"

Ruby blinked heavily, her lids begging to stay shut every time they met. "Because you two… fought?"

"That has no bearing on her superior navigational skills," Weiss retorted confidently, arms folding over her chest. "Furthermore, we have come to an amicable coexistence."

Even if Ruby wasn't an illiterate idiot, she didn't have the wherewithal to know those words. "Wha?"

But Weiss didn't turn to her with judgement in her eyes. Even if Ruby still felt stupid, this always made it worthwhile— Weiss' gentle face brightening in the way it did whenever she got to teach Ruby something. She looked that way so often now, with how many subjects she'd started vigorously teaching since their travels started: letters, with which she was slowly chipping away at Ruby's ignorance; longsword, with which she was quickly making Ruby feel like a dashing knight; even magic, with which she was making Ruby feel at least like an enlightened spectator.

"Amicable means friendly," Weiss informed her. "And co-existence means existing together."

Ruby tried her best to tuck the former into her exhausted brain and rolled her eyes at the latter. "I know what coexistence means."

Weiss bowed her head in contrition. "Sorry."

Ruby patted her paramour's dirty hair. "It's okay, I forgive you."

The once-heiress hummed under her hand, rather like a pleased cat— an image which tickled Ruby's sleepless soul. She certainly had the fangs for it; the fangs which Ruby had become increasingly interested in.

The new teeth were inherently interesting, even if they consistently embarrassed Weiss. One would think they'd make her better at eating the strange Fay game they hunted, but it was quite the opposite: fangs were for grabbing, for holding and killing, while the teeth they replaced were made for the actual breaking up of captured food. As such, the duelist had to routinely cut her meat into tiny chunks. Anything bigger took ages to chew.

Ruby found herself oddly endeared to them. They were something primal and dangerous, a stark contrast to Weiss' gentle, regal features. They looked oddly at home in her newly-crooked smile, something Ruby saw often now from Weiss. The panic in her eyes was more distant, too, her craving for sap no longer obvious, her hands much less prone to shaking.

Yang and Blake, however, did not seem to be on speaking terms yet. They always insisted on taking watch themselves while the others slept, one after the other. Ruby had come to suspect it was a way for there to never be a time where they'd both be unoccupied and alone.

Qrow was nervous. Even watching him from the back of their column, his anxiety was palpable. His eyes always darted to the endless forest at their side, as if looking for something. As if something was looking for him.

Thankfully, Ruby didn't have to feel too bad about her and her paramour being okay, because Ruby definitely wasn't okay. Something had taken her peace. Something had planted itself in her mind: something with strings that could tie onto her eyes and tug them towards the forest.

She couldn't sleep. Not with Weiss in her bedroll every 'night'. Not while her love looked so vulnerable in those moments of quiet, snoring peace. She had to stay awake. It was chipping away at her, and not at all slowly. The shadows were longer, darker than they used to be, despite the realm's light having remained unchanged. Shapes formed in the corners of her eyes, retreating when she looked. She heard things. Footsteps— more footsteps than their ten, a hundred footsteps, a veritable march.

And when her eyes made themselves close, when sleep forced itself upon her for split seconds at a time, she could hear it…

The march…

That heartbeat drum…

Dum da-dum da-dum da-dum…

"Res Publi-ca! Res Publi-ca! Res Publi-ca!"

"Ave— Rosea— Aeterna!"

"Im-pera-tor! Im-pera-tor!"

"Im-pera-tor…"

Stumbling again. Caught again. Weiss again.

"Ruby, what're you saying? Is that dryadalis? And— are you falling asleep on your feet?"

Ruby pulled away from her paramour. "N-no. It's not."

Weiss very obviously didn't believe her.

"And I, er… didn't sleep well. Last night."

"Do I need to stop sleep—"

"N-no!" Ruby splattered hastily, getting brief looks from the front of the column. She amended her volume. "No. I'm fine. It— it was just tonight. I swear."

Slowly, Weiss offered the smith a nod of tenuous concession. "You… swear?"

Lying was a knife in Ruby's gut, but she'd been stabbed before. For Weiss' sake, she'd do it again a thousand times. "Yes."

Weiss eyed her. "You're sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

She was sure that she had to do this. She'd gotten this far without sleep; she barely felt tired anymore. Exhaustion was more like a distant enemy, numbed from her body, an invading force she could fight off with stubborn resilience.

Weiss' eyes narrowed at her. She scowled, and reached out to put a hand on her paramour's chest. The others gave them a look. Weiss' nod told them to make some distance.

The duelist locked eyes with the smith, cerulean eyes cutting harshly to a silver that couldn't muster any strength in itself. Her features softened with affection. "Ruby," she said, her words like steel. "I know you're lying."

The air became sharp. Crisp. Cold. "I'm— no, I'm—"

Weiss turned, revealing her right hand resting on the pommel of her saber. "It's okay," she said, despite sounding like it was very much not okay. "Aulus told me you've been having trouble sleeping."

"No. No, I'm—"

Weiss' hands took Ruby by the shoulders, forcing the smith to face her. "Yes. You are. Ruby, you look like death."

The girl who looked like death shriveled. "I— it was just—"

"But it wasn't just last night, was it? What's gotten into you? Lying to me, and so soon after—" she waved back the way she came, making the knife of guilt twist all the way up to Ruby's throat. "Why? And why didn't you just tell me?"

"B-because, it's—" she restarted, "I can't just—" she tried again, "I— I—"

"I won't be hurt if you want me to leave your bed, you know."

"No!" Ruby denied, because she desperately wanted Weiss to stay right there, right next to her; so peaceful and safe, her face reminding Ruby of why she forced her eyes to stay open. And if she slept, there wasn't any promise Ruby's dreams wouldn't take her right back to the girl, or to someone else. She reached up to hold Weiss' wrists, leaning forward to press their foreheads together. Ruby closed her eyes and breathed, "No, I… I just… I'll try to sleep tonight, okay?"

Weiss huffed. "How do I know you're not lying again?"

She was lying again. She was lying right through her teeth. But, at the very least, it'd buy Weiss another night of safety. "Trust me, okay? Just trust me."

Weiss stared at her. She stared for a long time, long enough that Ruby feared a rebuttal, but eventually she closed her eyes and huffed. "Fine. You're lucky I love you."

Ruby made her lips curl up into a smile. She reached out to hug Weiss around the waist, which the duelist allowed. Their bodies pressed warmly against one another, and Ruby felt her paramour release a long sigh of relief. "I really am," Ruby agreed, feeling the guilt needle out from her stomach and string up lead weights all along her insides. Worse, she had to force her voice to stay neutral, soft and somber, not to crack when she said, "I love you too."

They only got looks when they rejoined the group with a little more life in their stride, their hands joined. Ruby tried her best to leech off her partner's real joy. Could Yang and Blake tell? Could Qrow? He stared like he could. Regardless, they all left the situation unaddressed, assuming it resolved. Qrow went back to glancing around nervously as they marched. Yang went back to snapping flames between her fingers, reinforcing the skill of control that'd so painfully slipped before. Blake went back to sulking. They walked on. And on. And on.

Ruby kept her eyes wide open. She stopped only hearing the chants, the drumbeat, the march, when her lids were closed. Now the sound persisted.

The march. The legion footsteps, the weight of boot and shoe and sandal instep. A clamor of strength and State. A power of unity. A heart so much greater than her own, and an arm that deserved to wield her.

The drums. The thumping pressure like a second and third heartbeat in her ears. Their guiding tempo. Instruments of war, just like her.

The chants. The voices— as raucous as they were hushed. As rallying as they were grim. As rough as they were stately.

"Im-pera-tor! Im-pera-tor!"

The chill air of the marble court. The assembly of damnation— deserved damnation. The heart's last beat beneath her fingers. Eyes shot purple.

"For this failure, you will take marks of shame."

"Ave— Rosea— Aeterna!"

The word that echoed loud and quiet, the one that cut past the sounds, the one that called to her. The one that damned her. The one that pulled at her eyes.

"Legatus." "Legatus." "Legatus." "Legatus."

She could see the fay ahead of her, but did not know if she was supposed to recognize them. She did not know the old one in front, the girl in front, the girl at her own side— what happened to their ears? Why were their eyes so dull?

She felt the march under her own feet. The drum of her tired heart hammering blood through her veins. The chanting voices that held her up by her neck. The weight of the world— of two worlds— and enough death to fill a third. A stack of bodies tall enough to see past the cribrum, to glimpse the stars beyond.

When the officer commanded them to rest, the white-haired one laid with her. Better a warm bed than a cold one. Better a day of rest. Better a deep and accompanied sleep than a restless, lonesome one.

She had an arduous journey come the wakeful hour. A quarry. A target.

An heirloom.

Better to meet it with life.