I… kind of expected this to happen after the last chapter, but that doesn't mean that I am any less speechless now. This story has gotten over a hundred followers… Really, thank you all for supporting this story as much as you guys do!

Today marks this story's one-year anniversary… so let's find out what this day has brought us, shall we?

Special thanks to Namitaa776 and LightZephyr for, once again, helping me out in a big way for this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. I do not intend to pretend that I own RWBY. And I will likely never own anything RWBY-related barring these RWBY fanfictions on this account.

The sun was slowly making its presence known, signaling the start of a new day to everybody as it dyed everything in an orangey yellow color. The rays broke through the small hole in the curtain and forming a pool of light on the exhausted blonde's face.

Yang had barely slept, if at all, in the past couple of days. Despite the urging of her friends to get some rest, she hadn't been able to relax.

With a soft groan, the blonde looked up at the cause of her sleep deprivation and saw that Ruby's bed was in the same state as her heart. Empty.

Yang nearly jumped when she heard the doorbell, not expecting any visitors until a few hours later. Shrugging, she stood up from her seat and was about to rush out to answer whoever was outside when she noticed the state that she was in.

Ten minutes later, Yang, now dressed more appropriately, had opened the door for the waiting friend.

"Not that I don't like having you over," Yang began as she eyed her raven-haired friend, "But why are you here this early? Did you find anything?"

"Unfortunately not," Blake admitted with a sigh before leaning against the table. Despite being better at hiding it, even Yang could see the exhaustion that was slowly eating away at Blake as well.

Yang was so lost in her own little world that she barely registered the jab to her shoulder.

"What?" Yang asked, a bit louder and harsher than she had wanted it to come over as while rubbing the sore spot.

"I was asking whether you've eaten yet," Blake trailed off with a huff, slight annoyance evident in her tone as she dusted herself off before continuing, "But I should have known that the state that you are in."

Yang was about to retort when she saw her friend hop off the table and walk to the front door. Confused and genuinely curious, she asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get something to eat," Blake answered matter-of-factly with the doorknob in her hand, "And you're coming with me. You barely left your house since last week, have you?"

Unable to find a way to argue, Yang accepted her fate and followed Blake outside. Yang really did stay at home most of the time since the incident, forcing her friends to come over to make sure that she was still taking care of herself, and was thus shocked at how beautiful the outside world was.

Shaking her head to get back to reality, Yang jogged a little to catch up to Blake before the two walked in a seemingly random direction in comfortable silence.

It wasn't long until Yang got tired of the silence, but before she could say something to break it someone had beaten her to it.

"Yang! Blake! Good morning!" a familiar voice came from behind the two, causing them to turn around and see Pyrrha, slightly out of breath but still smiling brightly, "How are you?"

"Have you heard anything yet?" Yang blurted out immediately, completely disregarding the question that she had been asked in favor of asking one of her own. With her attention not on her, Yang missed the defeated look on Blake's face, but she didn't miss the one on Pyrrha's.

"I am sorry, Yang, but I haven't," Pyrrha admitted sadly as she dug around in her pockets for something. Once she did, she took out her phone and checked something on the screen, "Ruby isn't the only one whom I haven't heard from in a while. I haven't been able to contact Neo lately, either."

"What?!" Yang and Blake exclaimed in shock, the former turned her own phone on and held it up to her ear while the latter turned to their red-haired friend, "That's not like Neo at all."

"That's what makes it even worse," Pyrrha responded with a frown, "Neo's—"

"She's not answering!" Yang shouted in frustration, pocketing her phone again when her efforts proved to be fruitless.

"I would go and check up on Neo myself if I did not have work in an hour," Pyrrha said as she put her own phone away and turned around, "Well, it was nice seeing you two again!"

"Bye!" Yang waved as Pyrrha jogged back the way she came from, only turning back to her companion when the redhead was out of sight, "So… what do you make of this?"

"I don't know," Blake sighed after a moment of silence, her brow furrowed as she tried to process the new piece of information that she had been given, "You think she's okay?"

"Let's find out!" Yang announced as she grabbed Blake's wrist and half-led-half-dragged her friend along, with the blonde actually ignoring the indignant cries coming from her captive.

The two of them didn't make it far, however, as the next distraction seemed to appear out of thin air.

Yang stopped mid-stride, receiving a curious look from Blake who was wondering why they had suddenly stopped before Yang started running through the red light.

"Yang!" Blake shouted, grasping wildly and managing to grab the collar of Yang's jacket. Not a second too late, too, as a car chose that exact moment to come speeding down the road and narrowly missed Yang, "What were you thinking?!"

"Didn't you see that?" Yang countered while pointing to the other side of the road in panic, causing Blake to frown in confusion. Yang, however, didn't let that stop her, and was already running again before it was safe to cross, "Come on!"

Forcing Blake to run after her to avoid getting left behind, Yang appeared to be running in a random direction to the raven haired. That was until she saw Yang's target as well, and then it clicked.

Taking a deep breath to rush forward in a quick burst, Blake overtook Yang and ran into the alley that her target had disappeared into moments ago.

'I knew I could count on you,' Yang thought with a smile as she saw her friend go, picking up her own pace to catch up. It wasn't long until she finally did, but what she saw wasn't what she had expected.

"You two really know how to make a scene, don't you?" the familiar voice scolded, a short figure glaring daggers at the two, "What were you thinking?"

"We heard that you were unreachable, and wanted to talk to you," Yang said, panting slightly as she turned to Blake. With a nod of approval, the blonde continued, "What happened to you?"

"This?" Neo asked as she twirled the strands of her black twin tails, "You know that I have to—"

"I do, and you know that that isn't what we're talking about here!" Yang interrupted angrily, catching Neo off-guard, "Why can't we contact you?"

"Here's why" Neo replied calmly as she fished around in her pockets before pulling out her phone. A large crack spread across the screen of the device from the lower left corner to the upper right one, and both Blake and Yang visibly calmed down after seeing it, "It broke a few days when I dropped it, and I haven't had the chance yet to get it fixed. You know you can always come to my place if there is something important, right?"

"Something… important…" Yang echoed before she finally looked like she remembered something herself, "Neo, have you found anything yet?!"

"I… may have come across something interesting…" Neo admitted slowly and almost hesitantly. She looked like she wanted to leave it at that, but when she saw the look on her friends' faces she quickly added, "But I don't want to get your hopes up yet. I want to confirm it for myself first."

"That's—" Yang began, but was interrupted herself when Blake stepped forward.

"Understandable," Blake finished, casting a sideways glance at her blonde friend in warning before turning back to the shorty in front of her, "Thanks, Neo."

"No problem!" Neo grinned as she calmly pocketed her phone back in her pocket.

"Though if I may ask… how will you tell us when you have confirmed it?" Blake wondered out loud, slightly startled at the condescending looks that she was receiving from both Neo and Yang as a result, "What?"

"I can always come by with what I've found," Neo shrugged nonchalantly as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "And if you or anybody need me, I'm sure you all know where to find me by now."

It was at that moment that both Blake's and Yang's phones decided to ring and, with a lack of anything better to do, Neo crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall while waiting.

Neo amused herself by watching the expressions and, more specifically, the changing expressions on both Blake and Yang as they listened to whoever was on the other end of the call.

Yang was the first to finish.

"It was great seeing you again, Neo, but I have to go now," Yang said as she took out her phone again for a bit to check the time, "Apparently, two new members have signed up and want to see me to get a good impression of the training."

"I guess I'll see you around then," Neo shrugged as both she and Yang turned to Blake, who had just pocketed her phone as well, "And what are you going to do?"

"Ren said that he found something and wanted to show me," Blake answered as she turned to her friends, "I'll keep in touch."

And with that, Blake left the alley without another word, her sight set on a familiar male's house. This left an awkward silence between Yang and Neo.

"You better keep in touch with us as well!" Yang said as she pointed to Neo, the threat not being registered as such thanks to the smile on the blonde's face, "I have to go as well, but I expect to be the first to hear it when you find anything!"

"Right right…" Neo said nonchalantly as she waved Yang off, waiting for her to be out of earshot before fumbling around in her pockets again.

The object that was in her open palm was a small metallic emblem in the shape of a rose.

"Ruby…"

It only took Yang ten minutes to reach her gym, and another five to get a change of clothes for the occasion. Once content with her appearance, she pulled her hair into a high ponytail and walked into the next room where the new members were waiting for her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Yang said with a sing-song voice as she walked inside with a spring in her strides, "I'm Yang Xiao Long, a pleasure to meet you!"

The two people who were already waiting in the room turned at Yang's entrance and smiled when they saw her. One of them was a mint-haired woman wearing a black shirt and blue shorts, who quickly put her phone away when she realized who was in the room.

The other waiting member was a male about a head taller than her with short dark gray hair, wearing a black shirt with white markings on them and black pants. He seemed almost bored as his eyes were looking around the training room but he, too, seemed to be a lot livelier when Yang entered.

"The pleasure is ours," the mint-haired woman said with a slight dip of her head, accepting the outstretched arm of Yang's after a split-second hesitation, "My name is Emerald, and this is Mercury. We just moved in here and were desperate to find a gym to train in, so finding yours by chance was a really fortunate break for us."

"I'm glad to hear that!" Yang smiled before gesturing for the two to follow them, "Since you're new here, I'll show you around a bit so you can see what you want to use later."

"That's very kind of you," Emerald responded, Mercury only looking at the two interacting in silence, "Let's go, Mercury."

And without waiting for Yang, despite the fact that it was the blonde who was supposed to lead the tour, the two newcomers walked off.

Yang couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy at their presence but pushed the feeling down as she ran to catch up to the two.

Meanwhile, Blake had reached Ren's house and was currently looking over the video that the male was playing on his computer. The room was a mess, supportive of the fact that Ren had been focusing all his time and energy in this, and so Blake was forced to watch over his shoulder.

The video was depicting the security footage from the Schnee Manor, depicting the scene of the crime right before it happened. Blake had managed to get her hands on it, and she had sent it to Ren in the hopes that he could make more of it.

"It starts about here…" Ren mumbled as he pressed a few keys on his keyboards, the video now playing at half speed to allow the two to make more of the scene. As the video played, Ren was pointing at several points on the screen.

"Wait, stop there!" Blake exclaimed suddenly, jerking forward and startling Ren in the process, "Can you rewind a little bit?"

"Sure," Ren muttered, pressing a button to make the video play in reverse while trying to see what Blake had noticed. Unlike his companion, he didn't seem like he understood what was going on.

"Right there!" Blake suddenly announced, pointing at the screen and prompting Ren to pause the video, "Can you zoom in on this part over here?"

Obediently, Ren typed the command to allow them to enlarge the image, and the male thought that he finally understood what Blake was talking about.

"What is it about that sword that interests you?" Ren asked as he eyed the blade, its polished metal reflecting the light and significantly obscuring the view from the camera.

"You haven't noticed it yet?" Blake asked, slightly shocked that it took the male this long to figure it out. As a matter of fact, Ren didn't seem like he realized at all what was so special, so Blake decided to give him another hint, "Take a close look at it."

"A close look…?" Ren repeated slowly as he directed his attention back to the screen, trying to find what was so special about it when his eyes drifted to the hilt. Smiling, and mentally berating himself for the fact that it took him so long to realize, he turned to Blake with a serious look on his face, "I'm not sure if it would be enough to prove their innocence."

"It might be, but it should be something at the very least," Blake replied as she turned back to the image with a smile of her own, her gaze landing on the deadly weapon held in the girl's right hand.

After watching her friends leave, Neo had taken her time to walk back home. Despite the distance that she would have to cover, she was content with taking it easy and taking the more scenic route.

On her way, she stopped by the supermarket and was now carrying a plastic bag worth of groceries in either hand. While this was visibly slowing the girl down, she was still carrying a content smile on her face when she looked forward to sitting back and enjoying the goods.

As Neo was walking, she quickly zoned out while making her way through the familiar streets. It didn't seem like a lot of time had passed when she had to get back to reality.

She had reached her house before she even realized it.

"A lot sure has happened since…" Neo mused as she gently placed one of the bags on the sidewalk to fish for her keys. Once she managed to grab a hold of it, she took it out, unlocked the front door, and walked in after grabbing the other bag again.

While she had expected it, something still felt off when she walked inside. Shrugging in an effort to get rid of the alien feeling, Neo headed over to the kitchen where she dropped off the two bags before heading upstairs to her room.

Looking around, the first thing that Neo saw was the binder on her table, being positioned exactly opposite to the door. Sighing, she couldn't help but walk over to it and flip through the pages until she reached that page again.

For some reason, she always ended up on that exact same page again whenever she touched the binder, even when she tried to avoid that page altogether.

And, before she knew what was happening, Neo remembered the events of that day once again…

Murmuring some choice words under her breath, Neo yanked the door open with more force than necessary and yelled, "Yang, for the last time—!"

"It's been a while."

Neo froze. That wasn't Yang's voice. Opening her eyes, Neo took in the figure of the person standing in the door opening. But Neo's attention was mostly directed towards the blade in her hand.

The blade that was pointing straight at her.

"What are you doing here?" Neo breathed out, eyeing the blade before turning to the person holding the weapon, "Could you put that down, please?"

"Sorry, we had to make sure that it was really you," the shorter of the two explained, the lighting behind Neo not quite enough to illuminate and reveal the speaker's face, but Neo was sure that it was female by the sound of it, "We need your help."

Neo sighed, trying to shake that memory away as she knew that she needed to get back to reality. There were things that only she could do, and she knew that she had to do them well.

'No,' Neo thought, reminding herself of the stakes as the memories of that day resurfaced once again, 'It's not just that I have to do it but that other people are counting on me!'

Neo wanted to continue going through her files again, but her stomach had other plans if the loud rumbling was any indication. Deciding that now was as good a time as any to munch on one of the snacks that she had bought earlier, Neo closed the binder and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

The only thing was that she wasn't alone in the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Neo asked with a frown, one on of her hands quickly finding its place on her hip as she eyed the person who beat her to the kitchen.

"Ah, Neo!" the brunette smiled, only then noticing the new presence in the room before she raised her head from the plastic bag, "Um… I was trying to find a way to help you unload the groceries."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Neo sighed, motioning for her friend to move aside so that she could put everything away herself. As she was doing that, she murmured loud enough to be audible, "You would only eat everything yourself if you could help it…"

"Hey!"

"Are you denying it then, Ruby?" Neo challenged with a smirk, sure that she knew her childhood friend well enough to know that—

"No…" Ruby mumbled, admitting defeat with her tail behind her legs, and Neo smirked. She didn't spend long in that state, however, as she quickly perked up again when she realized something, "Is there something else I can do to help?"

A short pause, in which Neo was visibly thinking over her options before slowly shaking her head, "Nothing comes to mind."

"Aw…" Ruby whined but accepted her fate as she went to the living room instead where another familiar face was already there.

"Trying to find if they have found anything yet," the white-haired woman answered without looking from her phone, her eyes glued to the screen as the illuminated letters scrolled past, "But I'm having no luck yet."

Ruby was about to respond but was interrupted when Neo had walked in again, a bar of chocolate in one hand and a can of juice in the other.

"No luck with you, either?" Neo asked the heiress, who looked up in slight shock before shaking her head in response. A sigh escaped Neo's lips, "Nobody is getting any progress done, it seems…"

Neo took a sip of her drink but felt uneasy when she knew that somebody was watching her. She didn't even need to look to know which of the two free loaders was the culprit.

"You know, Ruby, I ran into your sister today. She and Blake seem to have been working really hard lately to try and find you," Neo began as she took out her own phone, forgetting that it was broken and reluctantly putting it away again, "Are you sure that this is what you want?"

"Yes. Yang will understand," Ruby answered, slightly worried about making such a bold claim but not backing away from it, either, "You didn't tell them, did you?"

Neo frowned, not understanding why her friend was so stubborn, but respected the request. She shook her head.

"Thank you, Neo. I know it must've been hard for you to keep this a secret," Ruby smiled sadly as she looked off into the distance at nothing in particular, "I just wish it could have gone differently."

"Come on, Ruby, cheer up!" Neo tried to brighten the mood with a smile, but was hesitant to count it as a success when the brunette's face remained downcast, "You two are still safe and nobody has come after you; that should mean something, right? You have to make the little things count!"

"I guess you're right…" Ruby sighed as she plopped down on the couch beside Weiss. After a few seconds of contemplating something that was on her mind, Ruby looked up, "Hey, Neo, I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now."

"Ask away!" Neo took her own seat while motioning the brunette to continue, waiting to hear the question.

"What is three plus ten?" Ruby asked, ignoring the look that she was getting from the woman on her right as her attention was directed fully towards her childhood friend.

"Thirteen, but you should know that already," Neo frowned as she tried to think of a reason as to why Ruby would ask her such a simple math question, "Why did you ask?"

Ruby grinned, "I just made a little thing count."

It was on that night that Ruby and Weiss learned to never get on Neo's bad side again.

And that wraps up this story's one-year anniversary special! I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it! If you have some time to spare, how about leaving a review on your way out?

Thank you for reading, and until next time! Take care, everybody!