The first twenty-four hours after the last battle had been the worst. Ruby had spent the first three unconscious in a makeshift operating room while a doctor sewed her wounds shut and bandaged them. The next hour was spent waiting for Ren to be cleared. He had broken his left arm in five places. He still said he got off lighter than the rest. They had both spent the next twenty hours awake. It had taken another two for them to be allowed to see Weiss, looking smaller and more fragile as tubes connected her to a dozen machines. She had given them a weak thumbs up when they visited her, with Ruby being overly cautious so as not to accidentally knock something over.

They ended up having to leave her be, Weiss needed to rest and the nurses were eager to hurry Ruby and Ren out. Hour eight had marked the point when they were allowed to see the remaining members of team CFVY. They had lost Fox in the second year of the war, and Coco hadn't made it out of the final battle. Velvet had had to watch her die, unable to help and incapacitated by her own injuries. Yatsuhashi had made it out of the battles relatively unscathed, but had been donating blood to help out in any way he could, and Velvet, the doctors said she would probably never walk again. An hour later Blake was out of surgery, and in the process of waking up. By hour ten they knew that Sun wasn't going to make it, the poison had been in his system too long. Neptune had broken the news to the rest of his team, almost unable to speak through his sorrow. By hour eleven Sun was gone, those well enough to move had held a vigil for him as they waited for him to pass.

They buried Sun along with Qrow, Ironwood, Coco, and the rest of the dead a week later during a mass ceremony.

Yang had woken up at hour sixteen and demanded to be taken to Blake, though it wasn't until hour eighteen that she had been allowed to do so. Ruby and Ren had left the pair alone while they waited first with Weiss, then Nora, and finally outside of Jaune's operating theatre to find out if he would live. It had taken the full twenty-four hours for his surgery, another two days for him to gain even fleeting consciousness, and another three before he was awake long enough to have visitors.

After that everyone had drifted apart for a while, nobody communicated much for half a year. Even those who had always been close either lived together in companionable silence or went off on their own. Yang and Blake had been the ones who brought everyone back together, broke everyone out of their shells a bit, encouraged communication. Jaune came back from outside the kingdoms, started renting in Vale with the rest of his team, though he still spent weeks on end on long missions, at least now he had a place that he based himself when not on a mission. At least people had a chance of knowing where he was.

Ruby moved north to Atlas to be with Weiss, and they had been happy. Weiss had to run the Schnee Dust Company, she was the last one left, and she was intent upon reforming it along more egalitarian lines. And Ruby was finally getting to do what she had trained for, hunting outside the kingdoms on missions bound to help those in need, rather than the life or death battle for the fate of the world. Ruby had relished in it, the easy (for her) balance between her job and her relationship with Weiss. They were happy, for a long while, until the stresses of both their jobs began to pile on. Weiss's frustration that Ruby was so often gone, risking herself on the most dangerous missions available, and Ruby's that Weiss even complained because she was working so much when Ruby was home that they barely saw one another.

It had eventually culminated in a fight, each trading barbs in the front entrance when Ruby returned late from a mission. It was hardly their first fight, but it was their worst by far, ending when each pushed the other a little too far and Ruby turned on her heel and left, just barely remembering to grab Crescent Rose as she left a trail of rose petals behind her.

Ruby had gone to Patch first, spending three nights with her sister in their childhood home, before leaving with only a note left behind that read 'Vale'.

And that was how Jaune came to find Ruby, wearing a travel-stained cloak and trying not to cry in one of his favourite Valean bars, while he escaped his Teammates on what they referred to as 'date night'.

"Hey." Jaune slid into the bar beside Ruby. "It's been a while. Yang told me you were in Vale." He glanced out of the corner of his eyes at her. He'd made sure to sit on her right side, the left was covered by a dark patch, and underneath the socket was so mangled that the advanced Atlas prosthetics hadn't been an option. With her shoulders hunched forward she looked smaller than she had in years, curled over a glass of whiskey and with tears trickling out of her one good eye.

"And naturally you came to find me, because that's what Ruby is, in need of being found and protected. Can't let her look after herself, or do anything dangerous." There was a hard edge to Ruby's voice.

"No this is my favourite bar, and Ren and Nora are being sappy again. I just happened to run into you." It wasn't a lie, he hadn't been looking for Ruby, but Yang had told him to keep an eye out for her in a frantic email. "Gotta say, thought you would prefer establishments that were a little classier." Jaune motioned to the elderly pool table and the crowd of bikers surrounding it.

"Classy is the last thing that I want right now." Ruby took another sip of her whiskey, enjoying the way it burned. The harsh edge to her voice signalling that for her at least the conversation was over.

Sighing Jaune motioned to the bartender for one of his usual. After his beer was set in front of him he decided to try at talking again. "So I'm thinking of finding my own place, so that's new for me. Apartment hunting is hard, not a lot of places are within my price range, and even fewer are happy with tenants who are gone for weeks at a time."

"Renting with Ren and Nora getting to be too much?"

"I just don't understand how they can still be acting like they just started dating."

"They're in love Jaune."

"Yeah but so are Blake and Yang and they mellowed out."

"Blake and Yang have a child to look after." Ruby smiled as she thought about her niece. Blake and Yang had adopted her shortly after the war, when Serafina was still a baby. Her birth parents had died in the second year of the war, and Blake and Yang had cared for her ever since. At four years old Serafina was already set on becoming a huntress like her adoptive mothers.

"And you and Weiss eased up on the sappiness from what I hear." Jaune continued oblivious to the glare Ruby was aiming at him. "Even Velvet and Yatsuhashi are more subdued since the wedding."

"Velvet and Yatsuhashi were always subdued." Ruby laughed as she gestured with her glass, spilling a few drops over the side. "Love is different for every couple, you know that. Ren and Nora are just permanently teenagers."

"Speaking of couples, how are you and Weiss?"

"So Yang managed to keep her mouth shut about that huh?" A sour edge returned to her voice. "I don't want to talk about it."

Yang hadn't, Jaune knew the base details. There had been an argument and Ruby had shown up at Yang's door on Patch, travel stained and upset.

"Yang didn't tell me anything." He flinched when he caught the look Ruby was giving him. "Yang didn't tell me much." He corrected.

"Of course she fucking did, she tells everybody everything, can't have secrets with her around!" Ruby had a look on her face that could freeze hell over.

"She was worried about you, you walked out of her house after doing nothing but stare at the wall for three days. She told me to keep an eye out for you." Jaune took a long drink from his beer.

"I'm leaving." Ruby stood up and stumbled a little, before Jaune grabbed her forearm to steady her.

"No you aren't, we're having a conversation." Jaune pointed to her seat. "Sit back down and tell me what happened so I can help you."

"Fine!" Ruby snapped. "Do you really want to know what happened?" She was half yelling at this point, and people were beginning to stare.

"Indoor voices Ruby." Jaune reminded her, remembering what Blake said about drunk people being very large toddlers when she sober drove for Nora's birthday.

"Weiss and I had an argument." Ruby continued in a slightly quieter voice. "A disagreement about how we each want to live our lives. I'm perfectly happy to keep hunting and only seeing each other when I'm home, that's the life I chose for myself at a young age, I always knew that any relationship would be like that. She doesn't see it the same way, she would rather I took easier jobs and stayed closer to Atlas." She slid her empty glass away from her. "I said that maybe she had lost sight of what we had trained for. She said something about how it seemed like I was trying to get myself killed with all these dangerous missions, and that I could help without risking my life so much. I said that if she couldn't handle that I had chosen the life of a huntress because I need to be out there fighting and helping in the areas that are worst effected then maybe we shouldn't be together."

"Yeah but you two have had this discussion, and argument, before." Jaune said, recalling the irritated texts Ren and Nora had received from Weiss and Ruby respectively. "What happened this time?"

"I took a Class 6 mission."

"So you aren't blameless in this." Ruby had promised Weiss she wasn't going to do anything above a Class 4 for a while at least.

"Those people needed help Jaune and I'll be damned before I let people get hurt when I can help them!" Ruby gratefully accepted a new whiskey. "I don't think she gets that. I have the ability to help people and it is my duty to do so." She downed half of the glass in one swallow and grimaced. "Tell me you don't feel the same Jaune."

"She's just worried."

"I can look after myself!" Ruby snapped, but her words were beginning to slur. "And don't you dare give me that look, you haven't been on a mission less than a 7 in years."

"And I also didn't make a promise that I wouldn't. Or get myself nearly killed on a 10." Jaune took a swig of his beer. "What else?"

"Hey that giant Death Stalker got lucky!" Ruby protested. It had, it had been slightly too quiet and on her blind side. To say that she had almost died was an over statement, but she had been hurt badly.

"Stop avoiding the question."

"We both said some horrible things, I think I implied that she was just like her father, too engrossed in her work to care, and then," Ruby took a sip of her drink to steady herself. "Then she said I was headed the same way as my mother and I left."

"Shit I'm sorry Ruby-"

"Oh shut up it wasn't you who said it." Ruby swallowed the end of her drink and motioned to the bartender for another. "Just don't try any of that peace maker crap either. I don't want to talk to her."

Jaune watched her out of the corner of his eye while she sipped her drink. "How many of those have you had?"

"Does it matter?" Ruby turned her face away from him. "A few."

"Are you done yet?"

"You're going to cut me off either way so I guess so."

"Exactly. Are you ready to leave?"

"Yeah I guess I can find a hotel." Ruby ran her fingers along the bar tracing the grain of the wood.

"No, I'm not leaving you alone in this state. Come back to the flat and say hi to Ren and Nora, they're worried about you. You can sleep on the couch until you figure out what to do next." Jaune finished the end of his beer and stood up to pay both their tabs.

"Thanks." He barely heard her whisper as she stood up, stumbling from the alcohol and leaning on the bar for support.

"Can you walk by yourself?" Jaune watched her as she took a few steps.

"I think so." Ruby said as she wobbled slightly as she walked heel to toe along the hardwood floor.

"Let me know if you're going to fall okay? Or puke?"

The walk to Jaune's flat was quiet and cold. It had started to rain while they were inside, and Ruby dragged her foot through puddles, spraying water in wide arcs while she walked beside Jaune. Occasionally the spray hit Jaune, soaking the leg of his jeans below the knee. He didn't stop her, at least it was better than her sitting in a bar and eventually picking a fight (which she had done before).

"Did you grab much of your stuff when you left?"

"Just my hunting gear because it was already packed." Ruby scrunched up her face. "Which I left on Patch. All I've got on me is my wallet and Crescent Rose. I left my scroll at
Yang's."

"That's part of why she was worried Ruby."

"And I think I left Crescent Rose at the bar."

"It's attached to your belt Ruby."

"Oh." She reached an arm behind her. "So it is."

"I'll call Yang and see if she can drop your stuff off tomorrow, unless you want to go back to Patch. Do you need to go shopping for anything? There are a few 24 hour stores around here."

"I'm too drunk for that, and I think I want to sleep. Can't I just borrow one of Nora's shirts?"

Ruby ended up borrowing a set of Nora's track pants and one of Jaune's very faded old band shirts that were too small for him but he had kept out of nostalgia. It had taken more than an hour to get the slightly more than tipsy Ruby who had decided she wanted nothing more than to braid Ren's hair to drink some water and go to sleep. She was snoring on the couch, while Ren, Nora, and Jaune gathered in the kitchen when Nora rounded on Jaune with questions.

"Tell me exactly what happened." She demanded, standing on a chair so that she could stare down at Jaune in an attempt to intimidate him. Living in a house with two men one a foot taller than her and the other half a foot than her had taught her some intimidation tactics. Other than Magnhild of course.

"Not my place." Jaune replied without breaking eye contact.

"Tell me."

"Nora." Ren warned as he watched her lean over, coming dangerously close to becoming unbalanced.

Nora threw her head over her shoulder and pouted. "But I want to know so I can help her when she wakes up."

"And she'll tell us then." Ren replied in an even tone, though the effect of being cool, calm, and collected, was slightly ruined by the pink clips in his hair and the bow at the end of his braid which Ruby had managed to finish before she crashed.

"Look, one of my very, very good friends just crashed on our couch drunk and apparently very upset, and I want to know why so I can help her. Is that really so bad?" Nora said, her eyes not leaving Ren's.

"Fine!" Jaune said, waving his hands in front of him as if he was trying to clear the air of Nora's voice. "She has a fight with Weiss, walked out, and stayed with Yang for a bit, walked out again, and then I found her when I went for a drink at the Bog. And don't you dare tell her that I told you because she was pretty upset that Yang told me, and I don't feel like being on the wrong end of her scythe."

"Damn." Nora said as she jumped off of her chair and sat down on it. "I thought those two had sorted their problems out."

"Yeah didn't they have that saga where both of them called in help from all of us?" Ren was pacing now. "Do you know why?"

"Yes, but I'll leave it up to her to tell you everything. From what I understand there is blame on both sides." Jaune told them. "Be careful around the subject with her okay? She'll tell you when she wants to. What time is it?"

"Ren grabbed his scroll off of the table. "12:30 am."

"Ahhh I'll call Yang in the morning before Ruby wakes up, I need to let her know Ruby's okay and get her to drop some of her stuff off." Jaune rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm going to bed."