"Ruby!"

Who's calling my name?

"Ruby, where are you?"

Who is that? Why do they want to find me?

"Ruby, we've got to go! We're out of time!"

What's going on? Where am I?

"It's no use! She's gone!"

"No, I need to find her!"

"Yang, we need to go now!"

"I'm not leaving her!"

Yang? Where is Yang going?

"I'm not leaving without her! Go if you want to, but I'm staying until I find Ruby!"

"I'm staying too, then."

"Blake..."

Blake? Blake is here too? Where is here?

"You're both idiots! Gah! I can't leave you here! Fine! I'll stay too!"

"Thank you, Weiss..."

"Just... just start looking for her so we can get out of here already!"

Even Weiss? My... my team... what are they doing here?

"Ruby!"

"Ruby, where are you!"

"Come on, Ruby, we need to get out of here!"

No... no, they need to get out of here... or they... they'll die...

Like me...

Ruby opened her eyes. She was resting on the cold hard pavement, a street, it looked like Mantle. It was quiet. Snow was gently falling all around her, slowly covering the ground, but there was no sound. No sirens, and no Grimm, but no people either, except for her own slow breathing. She sat up and glanced around. The buildings seemed undamaged, at least any more than was normal. The lights were all out, though. And it was cold. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering in the chilling air that was starting to crawl into her skin. Grabbing her cape, she wrapped it around her body, tightly winding it around her hands to keep them warm, though it didn't really work. She needed to get inside.

Walking to the nearest door, she reached out and knocked. The sound echoed through the street. She looked around behind her for anything that might try to sneak up on her, but there was nothing. Once she was doubly sure that she was alone and no one was answering, she reached out and touched the door. The door creaked open before she'd even had the chance to turn the knob. She could see markings on the frame, now that it was open. The door had been forced some time in the past, but how long she couldn't know. She stepped into the house as quietly as she could, taking Crescent Rose from behind her back. Instinctively, she flicked the light switch, but nothing changed. The power was out then. That would explain the cold as well, if Mantle's heating systems were offline. Maybe she could find a way to turn the power back on. Then she wouldn't freeze to death. Maybe a bed in one of the houses would do for now, however, since she didn't know how to restart an entire city's power grid. But not this house. It wasn't secure.

Deciding that, since she hadn't heard any sounds other than the ones she made even after she knocked on the door, there probably wasn't anything in the house, Ruby tried speaking in her normal 'indoor' voice. After a brief fit of coughing, and what looked suspiciously like a cloud of dust coming out of her mouth, she managed to wheeze out a dry "Hello?", but got no response. She called again, a bit louder, and still no response. Either there was no one home, or they were all hiding from her. Tiptoeing through the hall, peeking into the living room and the kitchen, and warily eyeing the stairs leading up, she began to get a weird sense of déjà vu. Other than the door having been forced, there was no sign of struggle or panic, and it was starting to remind her of her encounter with the Apathy. That dreaded memory caused her to shudder. Was it possible the entire city of Mantle had been overtaken by the Apathy? That didn't seem likely.

Suddenly, there was a sound. A heavy thud from above her, like a body falling off a bed. Maybe, just maybe, someone had been sleeping up there, and her calls had woken them up. With how cold it was right now, she wouldn't even be surprised if she had just saved them from freezing to death. Perhaps that was it, the power had just gone out during the night. That was a horrible prospect, considering how many people would have died in Mantle, but the more she thought about it the more it didn't hold up. Mantle was alive at night, people up and about at all times. No way everyone was asleep all at once. Maybe this one, though, was just a person who had been sleeping. Perhaps just bundled up from the cold, and pulling themselves out of bed to see who else was wandering around in this ghost town. She felt like she was fooling herself, psyching herself up or something.

Whoever it was, they needed to know she meant them no harm. She set one foot on the bottom stair, looking up to the next floor. "Do you need help?" No reply. "It's okay, I'm a huntress." Still nothing. "I'm coming up, okay? I'm not going to hurt you." Not unless it was a monster, of course. She would definitely hurt a Grimm. That went without saying. Still, she found every step up the stairs took her longer than the one before. She was sure that any Grimm she might encounter inside a house would be easy for her to deal with, but there was a nagging thought in the back of her mind. She remembered the Apathy. She remembered their power.

Almost to the top of the stairs, she heard a sound like a rasping groan. Something was definitely alive, though it didn't sound like it was in good health, whatever it was. At least she wouldn't be alone. The thing, which either couldn't or wouldn't identify itself, sounded like it was gasping for breath, wheezing even, as it dragged itself across the floor of one of the rooms on the upper floor. Ruby reached the top of the stairs and turned, aiming Crescent Rose at each of the doors in turn. They were all closed, but she could tell the noise was coming from the farthest room. She approached carefully, weapon at the ready, until she was close enough to reach the doorknob. She opened the door, pushing it and letting it creak open slowly on its own as she aimed the barrel of her gun into the room.

There she was. A small pale girl with long white hair sprawled out on the ground in her nightgown, shivering uncontrollably. Ruby dropped Crescent Rose and rushed into the room, grabbing the tiny girl. She was about to put her back in the bed, under the sheets, when she saw that the room's one window was open, letting a chilling breeze into the room. She hoisted the girl up in her arms and carried her out into the hall, going to the second-farthest door and carefully opening it with the girl still in hand. It was another bedroom, but with no window to speak of. Perfect.

Placing the girl gently on the floor, Ruby set to work. This bedroom was empty of people, which was a good sign. So far, no dead bodies. That was always a good day. She pulled the mattress off the bed and pushed it into the corner. The bed and blankets alone wouldn't be enough to ensure their warmth, so she needed to make a nest. Shoving the bed frame aside, she placed one of the blankets on the mattress, then retrieved the girl again, laying her down on top of the blanket before wrapping it around her. She needed more insulation, though, so she started rummaging through the drawers for any piece of clothing she could find. Soon enough, the girl was covered and surrounded in every shirt, every pair of pants, and every sock Ruby could find. She placed the pillows from the bed under the girl's head and prepared to put the second blanket over her, but, thinking twice of it, she reached into the blanket already wrapped around the girl to feel her body. She was still very cold, and while all these things were good for insulating her, all of them were already very cold. There was nothing to generate heat.

Looking around for something that could generate heat, Ruby felt the breeze coming in from the other room and wrapping her arms around her body, shivering violently. She needed to close that door, but first, she ran out into the hall to get the blanket from the other room. She put it on the floor and started going through the drawers in that room as well, finding dresses and skirts among the other things. This was definitely a girl's room. Tossing all the clothes onto the blanket, she dragged the blanket through the hall to her new nest and started piling all of her spoils on top of the girl as well. She then went to close the door at the end of the hallway and hurried back. She couldn't close the door in this room just yet, or it would become too dark to see what she was doing. She needed to finish the nest.

Reaching into the blanket she'd wrapped around the girl, she started peeling off her frozen clothes. They were no good in their current state, practically solid and no doubt contributing to her condition. Throwing them aside, Ruby removed her own clothes quickly and stuffed them into the girl's blanket. They still had Ruby's body heat, so they were the best there was. Grabbing the second blanket from this room and wrapping it around herself, Ruby then closed the door and lay down next to the girl, pulling her closer before covering both of them with the blanket from the other room. This was about all she could think to do. It was cold, almost too cold to fall asleep, but slowly, very slowly, Ruby could feel the girl's body get a little warmer. She wrapped her arms around her, rubbing her back through the blanket to create friction, making more heat. It seemed to be working, as the girl eventually started to move on her own. Ruby was very cold, but not quite freezing, and the girl wasn't freezing any longer either. Bit by bit, their two bodies made enough heat to warm them both up, and then the cloth around them, slowly but surely saving both their lives. Finally, Ruby fell asleep.

Ruby woke up, feeling like over a hundred pounds of soft materials were resting on top of her. She tried to move, then realized that there actually was over a hundred pounds of soft materials resting on top of her. Putting more effort into moving, she sat up. Immediately, the moment the blanket fell, she felt a horrid chill sweep across her bare top. Pulling the blanket back up and shuddering horribly, she glanced over to the empty spot beside her in the bed. The girl was gone. Ruby looked around in a panic, only to find that someone, whoever they might be, had left the door open and an assortment of winter time clothes sitting on the shelf next to the door. She didn't have to be asked twice.

Wearing three layers of thick pants, a sweater, then a jacket, then a coat, then a woolly parka, mittens, and her own socks and boots, Ruby ventured out of the room. As soon as she stepped into the hallway, she could hear sounds coming from the ground floor. Carefully making her way down the stairs, making sure not to lose her balance in her stiff and stuffy new outfit. Once at the bottom, she looked around to see some changes. The front door had a wooden board nailed across it, for starters. That was smart. Even more, there was a candle lit in the living room. It wasn't much light, but it was enough to make a difference. The noise was coming from the kitchen, however, and she had to wonder if the girl had recovered enough to be cooking something. Maybe she was just retrieving boxes of cookies or something. Ruby would settle for cookies.

She entered the kitchen cautiously. The girl was standing on the counter, dressed much like Ruby, though she was obviously wearing Ruby's own clothes under several other layers. All the cupboards were open, and the girl was rifling through various non-perishables looking for anything that was more than just seasoning. She seemed to have already found a few things, as there were some boxes, a couple containers, and a plastic bag already set out on the table. She was scavenging for food. A reasonable move, but it did tell Ruby that this girl probably lived in this house as much as Ruby herself did. Which was none. They were going through someone's stuff for warmth and nourishment, but since it seemed to be necessary for survival, it could be excused.

Ruby stepped into the room, and right away accidentally knocked something over, sending it clattering across the floor. The girl jumped and turned around, her pure white irises catching Ruby off guard completely. The girl had been next to comatose the night before, so Ruby hadn't seen them. She'd been expecting a pale blue like Weiss, but white was something different. The girl looked surprised to see Ruby, and glanced down at whatever Ruby had kicked onto the floor. Ruby tried looking down to see what it was, but her layers upon layers of clothes made it difficult. Finally, she got a look at the pink parasol on the floor.

"Uh... sorry for startling you..." Ruby looked up again. "Hi, my name's Ruby. What's yours."

The girl stared at her for a moment before showing a small smile. She blinked, and her eyes turned pink.