Chapter 6

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A NEW CHAPTER \O/! Thanks to everyone who supported me in the making of this chapter. No, I haven't forgotten about this story! Love you guys, and hope you enjoy! As always, be sure to follow/fav for more, and review if you have questions or feedback for me! Thanks!

(don't worry, I gotchu Sharon1234)

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NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ WEISS ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

The plated exoskeleton of the Death Stalker is made composed of one the strongest materials in the world. It is why this particular species of Grimm is one of the most widely feared creatures today. Not only does it boast a superior range with its deadly tail along with pincers that can close at speeds of up to seventy miles per hour, its armor also provides it a sense of impenetrable 'absolute defense.' Like most other species of Grimm that have a thick armor composition, its underbelly serves as its biggest weak spot as it lacks proper fortification to stop objects from penetrating it. However, the immense size and nature of how Death Stalkers move and attack often grant little opportunity to attack from underneath. Take immense care when dealing with Death Stalkers. The chances are, you will not win.

Weiss was distracted from her notes by the sound of subtle snoring next to her. Weiss looked up at Ruby, who had a slight line of drool running down the right side of her face.

"The nerve of this girl," Weiss thought to herself. "She wakes up everybody else in the room almost every day yet spends her time in class asleep."

She watched the younger girl a little longer. Though it made Weiss twinge in the way that she could sleep so care-freely in the middle of class and miss the material she needed to fight, it was kind of cute the way that she slept. She kept her head upright, but every few seconds, it would begin to tilt dangerously to one side. However, she seemed to manage to catch herself before ever hitting the table.

Weiss sighed lightly. She probably needed to wake her up. There was important things that she was missing in this lesson. Inching closer to her team leader, Weiss lightly tapped Ruby on the shoulder.

"Ruby," Weiss whispered subtly.

Ruby flinched hard.

"Strawberries are the best kind!" Ruby yelled, falling heavily out of her seat onto the floor. The classroom went silent for a moment. Then the students erupted with laughter. Dazed, Ruby blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked around in confusion.

Professor Port was not as amused. He looked straight at the pair of them, clearing his throat so the laughter would subside.

"Huntresses in training! Do you really believe that you should be wasting the little time you have to learn about the enemy, chit chatting about such nonsensical matters?" He declared across the room. "You must cherish this opportunity while you have it!"

The room became deadly silent. Weiss felt the eyes of everybody in the room on both her and Ruby. Shocked and embarrassed, she was at a loss for words.

"Umm," she heard Ruby's voice next to her, breaking the silence.

….

"What."

The classroom exploded in laughter for the second time. Weiss put her head on the table as, turning even redder with embarrassment. Professor Port, renewing his energy, continued to ramble on about the duties and responsibilities of being a huntress, but she was too embarrassed to even continue listening to him.

"This girl is SO dead once we get out of here," Weiss quietly seethed to herself, clutching her fists tightly against her sides. She ignored Ruby's nervous chuckling as dark thoughts filled her mind.

"I had higher expectations for you two," she heard Professor Port's voice clearly ring out above the noise of the classroom. She couldn't see it because her face was on the table in front of her, but she knew that he had a mask of disproval sitting on his face.

Weiss clutched her fists tighter and clenched her jaw. Boy did she have a lot to say to Ruby after they got out.

Weiss was silent as she made her way down the hallway. Next to her, Ruby was the same. From the corner of her eyes, Weiss could see Ruby clutching at her textbook with her eyes glued to the floor.

The two continued to walk quietly down the near-empty hallway. The few students that walked alongside them had shared the same class with them before, and they could easily sense the tension in the air. They did their best to either hurry past them or lag behind so they were out of earshot. Or range of Weiss's sword, at least.

That left the hallway relatively silent, with the exception of the occasional unseen murmuring from a random direction.

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

From Weiss's side, Ruby broke the silence and began to speak.

"Weiss, I—"

"Yes, team leader?" Weiss interrupted, a tight, deadly smile coming onto her face. "Do you need something?"

Ruby stopped, her eyes looking to the side. Weiss stopped with her. She wasn't done. No, there was no chance she was letting Ruby go from this one. There were far too many things that she had the mind to speak right now.

"Do you need some caffeine?" she carried on, her fake smile remaining plastered on her face. "Or some cold water? Or maybe a personal alarm clock to use in class?"

Weiss could almost see the sweat dripping off of Ruby's forehead as her own smile began to disappear. The students that had slowed down before and were now passing the two of them gave Ruby a sympathetic look, but Weiss didn't care.

Or maybe," she continued, "JUST MAYBE, the desire to be a good enough team leader to not DIE out in some fight against some STUPID GRIMM and leave your team alone because you didn't know ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE FIGHTING AGAINST!"

The hallway fell completely silent. Weiss's eyes shone dangerously like a lion staring down at its prey. Her smile was completely gone.

She was angry. Angry that Ruby wasn't taking her responsibilities seriously. Angry that she was endangering them all in the future by her lack of care to study. Angry that in the past two weeks that Weiss had been mercilessly drilling her to improve, she wasn't seeing the any of the results that she liked.

Yes, she was angry.

Ruby was as quiet as the hallway around them. The floor had once again caught her attention.

"I've got her now," Weiss thought to herself. "How's she going to get out of this one?"

An awkward silence had filled the space between the two of them. Weiss waited for a response.

"Umm," Ruby finally spoke after a pause. "Sorry… I'm just… going to go. Study. Or… something. I don't know. Sorry."

Ruby turned away without looking back at Weiss's face. She walked away quickly, not uttering another word.

It wasn't the reaction that Weiss had expected. She watched, slightly stunned, as her partner reached the end of the hallway by herself and disappeared. She waited a few seconds before closing her eyes tightly in frustration. She exhaled slowly through her nose, struggling to regain her control and composure.

Weiss let out a silent, frustrated growl and slammed her fist forcefully against a nearby locker. The sound of her fist striking the locker echoed loudly down the now empty hallway. She had so many conflicting thoughts. So many clashing feelings. So many… emotions.

There, she said it. Her emotions. She knew that they had a big part of why things were happening like they were.

Was this her fault? Was she pushing Ruby too hard? But she had to, she needed to be their team leader. But was this the right way to go about it? It was the way that she had been taught. And that seemed to have worked well enough. Why was Ruby not showing the same results?

She'd tried so hard. For the life of her, she'd tried. For the past two weeks that the pair had been able to walk on their own without crutches, she'd taken it upon herself to personally point out all of the errors that Ruby had been making as a leader and correct them. Things that she personally had learned from countless textbooks and tutors. Things that she expected Ruby to be able to carry out while on the battlefield or on their missions.

Inside, Weiss sighed in frustration. Ruby excelled when it came to fighting. Though her form was still pretty sloppy, she knew for the most part how to handle her scythe.

But everything else? The things she actually needed to know when it came to leading a team? Why did it seem so hard for her to keep up?

Weiss clenched her fists. She didn't know what to do. She was confused, but she refused to admit it. Deciding finally to blow off her steam on the dust simulator, Weiss turned around briskly and began to walk in the direction of the training grounds.

She wasn't ready to deal with this. Not here. Not now. Doing her best to clear her feelings from her head the same way she'd done so many times in the past, she willed her thoughts to melt away like the echoing of her footsteps in the hallway as she turned the corner and disappeared.

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ RUBY ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby did her best to hold in her tears. What was she doing wrong? Didn't Weiss know how hard she was trying? Couldn't Weiss see the sweat and blood and tears that she was pouring out so she could shape herself to the leader that Weiss wanted her to be? Why couldn't Weiss just understand how difficult it was for her, a fifteen year old nobody, to catch onto the advanced concepts that Weiss was raining down on top of her?

She was glad that Yang and Blake weren't in the same classroom as she and Weiss were when the incident had occurred. It would have been embarrassing for them to have known about the mistake that she'd made of sleeping in class. But finding her mistakes seemed to be an exclusive ability of Weiss—and she did one hell of a good job at doing that.

Ever since her dustplane had arrived in Beacon and she'd learned that she would be partners with Weiss, Ruby had never felt so inadequate in her life. From the time that she'd spent recovering with Weiss and every moment afterward, her life seemed only to be about fighting. And strategizing. And leading.

Leading. Ruby scoffed aloud. What did she of all people know about leading a team? And why couldn't anybody see that she was completely worn out? Why had Ozpin forced this responsibility onto her? She wasn't capable of this much pressure. She wasn't capable of meeting Weiss's expectations. At this point, she didn't feel capable of anything.

And she was angry. Angry at Professor Ozpin for making her life this way. Angry at Weiss for being able to understand her. Angry at herself for not being able to keep up.

Was a sword in her chest just not good enough for Weiss to become her friend? What more did she have to possibly do to gain her approval?

Her tears were beginning to leak out from the corner of her eyes. She couldn't hold them in for much longer. The more she thought about everything happening to her, the stronger her tears rebelled against her eyelids and made the effort to break out of their restraints.

Ruby didn't know what to do. Where to go. She didn't want to go back to her room, where she would have to confront Yang and Blake about her situation. They'd be able to tell right away that something was wrong. And even worse, she might even see Weiss back at the room. She'd made such a large effort to suppress her emotions before walking away from her, and she knew for sure that she wouldn't be able to perform such a feat if she were to see her again.

Walking in no particular direction, Ruby let herself stray outside. Letting her feet lead her, she soon found herself standing at the edge of the entrance of the campus, where she had stepped foot on Beacon Academy for the first time from the loading bay of the dust plane. Nobody ever came out here. Not this far away from the school. Ruby let herself sit down on one of the empty benches nearby.

The tears finally came out. It was the first time that Ruby had cried since that day that Weiss had brought her close to her and told her that everything would be okay.

But she had lied.

Nothing was okay.

Weiss and Blake and her professors and even Yang… they all just expected so much out of her. Didn't they know that she was just a child? She was just a child. Yeah, so maybe she knew how to twirl a scythe around and stop a few stupid thieves, but when put into context, she was so incapable of holding up these expectations that weighed down on her like a boulder. She couldn't talk to anybody around her, nobody would even come close to understanding. The other students—they actually belonged here. For the first time, Ruby was seriously doubting if her admission to this elite school really was a mistake.

"What are you even DOING here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" Ruby recalled Weiss's words from the first day that she arrived here at Beacon.

Those words. They'd crushed her. Ruby sniffled and looked up.

How things had been so different in the few weeks before when she had first stepped into this area. Things had been great then. A new school, a new opportunity, a new life. She remembered smelling the sweet air of the campus for the first time and seeing the bright atmosphere of the school.

She also remembered exploding just ten feet from where she was now sitting. That had been the first time that she'd met Weiss. The beautiful, stubborn, smart, haughty girl that had captivated all of her attention.

Of all people, why did it have to be her? Why was she so… strangely attracted to this girl? Was Yang right? Was it a mistake to ever even befriend her?

Deep down, Ruby knew why she wanted Weiss to accept her so badly. She knew why she was so desperate to gain her approval. In a sense, she even knew why Weiss acted the way that she did.

Whether Weiss herself knew it or not, Ruby knew something that nobody else did. Despite the front that Weiss put on day after day that fooled so many of the people around her, Ruby could see through it all.

Her eyes missed nothing.

The flashes of uncertainty in many of the small things that she did. The way that she pretended not to care about how others thought about her but looked the way she did after every insult. The loneliness—the fear that she allowed to slip into her eyes every now and then.

The signs—they were all there. Ruby knew because she'd been there before.

Weiss was lonely.

She wanted to help her. To reach out to her. To let her know that somebody understood.

But did any of that matter at this point? Ruby had tried so hard just to befriend her, but nothing seemed to be working. Talking, connecting, neither of the two were Ruby's strong points. The only thing she really knew how to do well was fight, but even that was something that had been stripped away from her with every single one of Weiss's demeaning comments about her improper fighting style.

What else could she do? Why couldn't she just be good enough to make Weiss understand that SHE UNDERSTOOD? Why did Weiss have to push her so hard?

"She's only pushing you because she wants what's best for you," Ruby thought to herself. And she knew it was true. But she just couldn't keep up. She was so worn out—so tired from the two weeks of nonstop training, studying, and flat-out being scrutinized for every little mistake and yelled at for each one.

Ruby let out a sigh of frustration and put her head into her hands. She was so tired of this. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to… to… she didn't even know anymore. What did she even want to do?

Suddenly, Ruby heard a sound behind her.

"Fancy seeing somebody else out here during this time of the year," came a voice from the same direction.

Ruby spun around. Instantly, she recognized the dark coat, the green scarf, the cane. The voice that seemed to transcend the clumsy errors of man.

"P-professor Ozpin," Ruby started, surprised. She stared at him for a brief moment before realizing the position she was in. She hastily wiped at her eyes.

"What are you doing out here?"

"It can be quite difficult to find some alone time on the campus," he replied, idling shifting his grip on the top of his cane. "It's always Professor Ozpin this, Professor Ozpin that, we have a problem in the main entrance, somebody is here to see you, have you gotten those files ready to present in tomorrow's student showcase? It can all get very tiring at times. I find this spot in particular to usually be the best for getting away from it all."

Ruby couldn't help but smiling at his words. It was comforting to know that, despite his status as the headmaster of an elite school, he was still capable of feeling and displaying the burdens that rested on his shoulders. It was comforting to know that… somebody understood.

The two were silent for a moment as Professor Ozpin calmly looked around at the beautiful scenery of the area.

"Problems regarding your position as a team leader, I suppose?" He said finally, still looking nonchalantly at the flowers behind Ruby.

She nodded slowly, re-wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She knew that she was angry with him before but… something about this man in particular made her feel so comfortable. So easy to just pour out everything she was feeling and not care about whether or not she was being judged or tested.

"Yeah… I just… I dunno," Ruby said, twirling her cloak around her finger. "It just feels like such a large responsibility sometimes. At times, I just feel like I can't keep up with what is expected of me. And that nobody really understands what I'm actually feeling." Ruby looked down at the floor, her attention settling on a pair of ants that was running around near her feet. She noted the way that they seemed to be working together to inspect the large foreign boot that had invaded their territory—watching out for each other in order to defend from any sudden movements. Ironic, given her own situation with Weiss.

Above her, she heard Professor Ozpin begin to laugh. Puzzled, she brought her attention back up to his face.

"I could not have said it better myself, Mrs. Rose," he said, smiling in her direction. "There are so many times that I have the exact thoughts running through my own head."

Confused, Ruby tilted her head to the side. "But you're the headmaster of a highly respected school, how could you possibly feel that way about yourself?"

Ozpin smiled again.

"Whether you know it or not, you and I are both very similar, Ruby," he said. He pushed his glasses farther onto his nose using two of his fingers. "We're both leading a team of people that hold very high expectations of us, and furthermore, sometimes it can feel like we're alienated from the very group of people that we're leading because of it."

Ruby was silent as she listened to him continue.

"It becomes very easy to become lost in the responsibilities that you're expected to handle."

Ruby couldn't agree more. If there was ever another time to feel lost in her life, now was probably it.

"Just remember, Mrs. Rose, not to lose who you are in all that happens." Ozpin spoke, looking Ruby directly in the eyes. "Despite the fancy titles, it is you who is expected to carry out these responsibilities. When I picked out leaders for the teams at the beginning of the year, I didn't choose the mask that you currently seem to be hiding behind."

Ruby returned Ozpin's gaze as he continued to talk.

"Be yourself. That's the best advice that I can give, and it's something that took me a very long time for me to learn myself."

Ruby stared in wonder at the man standing before her. She'd never thought of him in the sense that he could also feel separated from the ones that he was leading. Ruby realized that he was right. In fact, everything that he'd said had struck home.

She looked back at the campus of Beacon. The campus of opportunities. Of life. Ruby inhaled the sweet smell of the air around her as she noticed again how every scenic element of the campus made it seem so bright and welcoming. She smiled and turned back to Professor Ozpin, but he was gone.

But that was okay.

She'd heard what she needed to hear.

If she was going to do this, she needed to do it right. She needed to be honest with Weiss, even if that meant hurting her own pride in doing so. Standing up fully, Ruby began walking back in the direction of the main entrance of the school. She was ready to finally open up.

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ WEISS ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss walked slowly and angrily, breathing heavily from exhaustion and frustration as she made her way back to her room.

Their words—they had stung. She wanted to forget the things that they'd said to her, but she knew that she wouldn't any time soon. The events of the training grounds involuntarily flashed back to her mind.

It had started out well enough. Weiss always felt most comfortable with her sword in her hand, and the Grimm projections that were being produced from the dust generator were doing well to clear her head from the storm of emotions that had been clouding her thoughts. She felt better—more relaxed and able to think. To brainstorm. To conjure up a new way of helping Ruby reach her potential as a leader.

Weiss knew that she could do it. And she swore to herself that she would make it happen, for the sake of both herself and Ruby.

Then, things had gone sour. Of all people that had chosen to train in that particular time, it just had to be Cardin's ugly group of friends. They entered loudly, and instantly after noticing her, they'd begin harassing her endlessly about the events that had happened earlier in the day.

"You two sure make a great team," Cardin's voice echoed in her mind. "I wonder which one of you comes up with the stupid responses to the professors?"

Weiss huffed loudly, nearly at the point of stomping up the stairs.

From that point, their insults only worsened. Not only did they attack Ruby and herself as a team, but their comments began shifting to her as a person.

"Why are you such a bitch? Did your parents leave you as a child? I can't imagine anybody ever wanting you, really."

Weiss ended up leaving the training feeling hurt and humiliated. She felt angry and sad and frustrated and helpless all at the same time. Her day had shifted from bad to worse when the clumsy blonde-haired kid—Jaune—had made yet another clumsy attempt to gain her attention.

But she knew he wasn't sincere. He was only after what his eyes saw. But nobody in this school really had eyes for who she really was. Nobody.

Weiss pushed that thought out of her mind as she unlocked her room door and entered the room.

It was empty. Weiss sighed in relief.

But then she heard a sound on Ruby's bed. The one that wasn't so empty. It was Ruby.

Weiss closed her eyes. She didn't want to do this right now. She couldn't do this right now. She just needed… time alone. To think. To… she didn't know. Do whatever. She watched in regret as Ruby climbed down from her bed.

"Weiss," Ruby said quietly. "I need to talk to you."

"Ruby, not now," Weiss said, doing her best to avoid conversation with her partner. She didn't know how long she could maintain her self-control. Today was just not the day to talk.

"No, I need to talk to you." Ruby said, a slight edge of urgency building up in her voice. "Today."

Weiss shut her eyes, putting her fingers on her forehead and tilting her head to the side in frustration. "Ruby, I'm having a very bad day right now." Weiss said, her voice also increasing slightly in volume. "Please, just save it for another day." She turned away, expecting for Ruby to back down the way she did whenever she raised her voice.

"No, Weiss." Ruby said, walking forward to block Weiss's path. "This is serious. It's really important—for me. I need to talk to you. Now."

Weiss looked up, slightly stunned. Then her face hardened. "Okay, fine!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. She was done. She was done holding it all in. "What is soooooooooooo important that you can't even wait twelve hours to share with me? This better be really, really good or I don't even know what I'm going to do."

Ruby took a step back, not expecting the amount of hostility that had been sprayed all across the room with the remark. She took a deep breath, doing her best to control what she was going to say.

"It's… it's just… the way you've been treating me Weiss. It's just not fair. How hard you're pushing me. What you're expecting of me. It's becoming too much for me to handle, and I—"

"Well of course I'm pushing you, you dolt!" Weiss interrupted, "How else do you expect to improve from what you are right now?"

Did she not get it? It's not like she spent hours training her just because it was fun.

"From what I am right now?" Ruby asked, her voice beginning to become louder. "What I am right now? What AM I RIGHT NOW?" Ruby cried out loudly. "Am I just a tool to you? Something that you can USE to make yourself look better? I'm a PERSON TOO, Weiss!"

"Don't be stupid, Ruby, I know that!" Weiss shot back, clenching her fists. "All of this work that I've been pouring into you, it's been for YOU! I'm not doing this for MYSELF, I'm trying to TRAIN YOU so you can actually DO YOUR JOB AS A LEADER! I'm not going to serve under an IDIOT! Right now, all I see is a child who slacks off and SLEEPS during class time while she's supposed to be LEARNING! You need to GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, RUBY!"

"And you think I will by shouting at me while I'm trying to master a new technique?" Ruby countered loudly. "By telling me that I'm not working hard enough even though I invest hours EVERY DAY just READING YOUR STUPID BOOKS ON STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP? Just WHAT am I doing that doesn't meet your expectations?"

"Don't even GIVE me that Ruby!" Weiss said, letting out a laugh amidst the tension in the room. "When I was your age, I didn't even GET the amount of free time in a WEEK that you do in a DAY! Consider yourself LUCKY!"

"I'M NOT YOU, WEISS!" Ruby retaliated fiercely. "STOP TREATING ME LIKE I AM! You can pour this information and knowledge that YOU received when you were back at your manor with all of your TUTORS and TEACHERS, but I'm NOT going to learn it all in a WEEK!"

"What am I SUPPOSED to do?" Weiss yelled back. "You don't even seem to be TRYING, Ruby! Without me, you wouldn't be ANYWHERE in your studies. I'm PUSHING you so you'll do these things ON YOUR OWN, and I shouldn't even NEED to be doing the things I am!

"Then WHY ARE YOU?" Ruby finally cried. "WHY are you PUSHING me so HARD?"

"BECAUSE I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU AGAIN RUBY!" Weiss screamed back at her, tears welling up in her eyes. "I AM NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND BE THE PERSON THAT WATCHES YOU DIE AGAIN BECAUSE I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO SAVE YOU!"

Ruby's mouth shut quickly. The answer was not what she expected at all.

"DO YOU THINK I ENJOY YELLING AT YOU RUBY? DO YOU THINK IT MAKES ME HAPPY WHEN I SIT WITH YOU AND SEE ALL THE POTENTIAL WAYS THAT AN ENEMY COULD KILL YOU?"

Weiss began losing control of her speech, and her words began to come out in short sobs.

"DO YOU… KNOW HOW MANY… TIMES I'VE WATCHED… YOU DIE IN MY DREAMS? I AM NOT… GOING TO LOSE YOU RUBY! I AM NOT… GOING TO WATCH YOU DIE AGAIN! YOU'RE THE ONLY… PERSON THAT HAS REACHED OUT TO ME IN THE LAST SEVENTEEN YEARS OF MY STUPID LIFE AND I AM… NOT… PREPARED TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

Weiss's voice cracked at the last sentence. She couldn't stop herself. All of the feelings that she'd had stored inside of her...

They were out now.

Like a dam bursting, her pent up tears of guilt and frustration that she had been keeping to herself this whole time came flooding out of her eyes.

Ashamed, Weiss turned away from Ruby and covered her face with her arm. However, despite how she felt about the given situation, she didn't try to stop her tears. Right now, she was too overcome by the emotions she'd been hiding away inside of her for so long.

Weiss heard Ruby's footsteps approach her.

"W-Weiss…" She heard Ruby say. "I… didn't realize that you felt that way."

Weiss felt Ruby's hand gently grab her shoulder. Weiss sank down to her knees, not wanting to be touched by her. She felt vulnerable and weak. It had been years since she'd cried in the way that she was doing right now. She was embarrassed… About everything. About how it had come to this. About the fact that she was now on the floor, crying in front of a girl that was two years younger than her. But she continued to let her tears fall from her eyes.

"Weiss," Ruby spoke again, gently. "I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry that you felt this way this whole time."

Weiss heard Ruby kneel down in front of her.

"But listen," Ruby said, directly in front of her face. "I'm not going to die, okay?" Weiss looked up through her tears at Ruby.

"Y-you can't be sure of that, you dolt," Weiss said, swallowing hard and clearing her vision with the back of her hand, still facing away from Ruby.

Weiss felt a gentle hand touch her chin and guide her face back around. Her eyes found those of Ruby's, who was returning her gaze softly. Weiss swallowed again, but didn't turn away.

"Yes I can," Ruby replied softly. "I swear, I'm not going to die in front of you because of some stupid fight we're in, okay?"

"Promise…" Weiss whispered back, doing her best to keep her voice from cracking and blink the tears out of her eyes. "Promise me, Ruby."

Ruby smiled.

"I promise, Weiss. I promise I'm not going to die because of you."

Weiss put her face into Ruby's cloak. She didn't care about her own image at this point. Instead, she took her time to inhale the pleasant scent of flowers that surrounded Ruby's clothes.

Inside, she felt a weight being pulled off of her shoulders. She'd been keeping these feelings to herself for the longest time. But they were finally out. She was finally free. She stayed still for a moment, just letting herself rest her face on Ruby's shoulder. She felt Ruby's gentle hands on her back—comforting her. Letting her know that she was there.

Comforting hands that she'd never received when she was a child.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Weiss spoke, her voice cracking again slightly. "I'm sorry that I pushed you so hard, Ruby. I just didn't know what to do."

"It's okay, Weiss," Ruby replied calmly. "I understand. I understand."

The two sat on the floor together for a few more moments, just feeling comfortable in each other's presence.

Ruby had changed her life.

She wasn't going to lose her. No, she wasn't going to lose Ruby. She wouldn't. She wouldn't.

Suddenly, Weiss heard a sound—it was of a room card being swiped against the door and a locking mechanism sliding open.

The door opened.

Standing above her and Ruby were a very confused looking Blake, accompanied by a shocked Yang.

"Umm…" Blake said after a pause. "Is this… a bad time?"

A/N: Once again, sorry for the inactivity. My time management still isn't the greatest in the world, haha. But I tried to make this chapter a little longer and a little more meaningful to make up for it! Hope you enjoyed!