For a very dear friend, Hiro! Thank you for all you do, and happy birthday!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Moonbeams

It was a night when everything should have been quiet, and yet Blake awoke to noises in the room.

She opened her eyes slowly, ears perking slightly as she listed to the rummaging coming from diagonally over her bed.

Ruby was awake. Again.

But this time, she was not just tossing and turning in her nightmares like Blake had heard her do so many times before.

They all had their nightmares from time to time, but what separated Ruby from the rest of her teammates whenever she suffered one was her course of action once she had been woken up; by some unspoken rule of her nature, she needed to move.

Blake listened silently as Ruby hopped off of her bed, taking care to place the heels of her feet before the pads as not to rouse the heiress who rested close by.

Past Yang's blissful snoring and Weiss's softer breaths, Blake could hear her leader cross the room to her clothes drawer, sliding it open with careful hands to pull out an article. There was a moment of pause as she slipped into it – likely her red hoodie, Blake assumed – before there was motion at the door. It creaked open slowly, and a shaft of light was cast into the room for an instant before it was gone.

Where in the world was she going? It was one in the morning.

Blake heaved a sigh, sitting up as she stretched her arms above her head. She slipped out of her warm covers and went to her own clothes drawer, pulling on a pair of loose, black sweatpants over her sleepwear shorts before tucking her arms into her purple trench coat.

After securing the buttons and fastening the sash about her waist, Blake stepped into a pair of boots and grabbed her scarf on a whim as she exited the room.

Her ears picked up on the distant movement of a heavy door, and she knew instantly where Ruby had run off to. Following, she found herself at the building's exit where she paused for a moment, letting Ruby get some distance on her so she would not be discovered. Not yet.

After a time, Blake opened the door and stepped out into the wintry night.

An orange glow filtered down from the lights on campus, but Ruby's footsteps led her to a location void of the stinging, artificial glow. Blake placed her feet in the path Ruby had left behind, her boots crunching through the snow as she continued onward.

It was not hard to find her leader at all, as she was seated on a small hill near the courtyard, knees pulled to her chest, a splash of crimson against the landscape of sparkling white.

Blake paused again, taking in the scene before her, the small girl made to look even smaller in comparison to the wide field around her and the vast expanse of open sky above.

She looked... so lonely.

Blake went to her, and only when she was right beside Ruby was her presence noticed, which was an indication of how deep in thought the younger girl was.

Ruby blinked up at her.

Moonlight illuminated Blake's form in the darkness, her dark hair shimmering silver, the speckled stars glittering in the backdrop of her angelic form.

Ruby's eyes widened, and her breath puffed white as she spoke.

"Blake?"

The Faunus girl nodded, sitting down beside her in the snow, absently draping the scarf she had taken with her around Ruby's shoulders. She curled her legs beneath her and looked up to the sky. She felt she already knew the answer, but she needed to ask anyway:

"What are you doing out here at this hour?"

They both knew why Ruby had woken up, but Blake deliberately avoided asking the details behind that. Ruby smiled her silent thanks as she directed her gaze up to the dark ocean sprinkled with twinkling lights.

"Just... thinking about some things..."

Her voice was much quieter than usual. Blake liked hearing her that way.

And yet she knew it was not right.

"Yeah..." she sighed. "There's... a lot to think about, isn't there?" She herself got into those moods, particularly at night.

There was something about the darkness of nature that made mankind and Faunus alike doubt various things about themselves, if not their very existences. Night was a time when nature ruled as it should have, and all else was defenseless and still.

Therefore, when people challenged the laws and stayed awake, their minds were often troubled even more so than they would have been during slumber. Sometimes the nightmares slipped through, but those were harmless; the things that ran through the minds of those awake at such hours were real, and could easily take affect on the soul itself.

The two girls continued to gaze up to the cloudless sky, breathing the fresh, cold air, letting the frigidness cleanse their lungs entirely.

Blake wrapped an arm around her leader's shoulders, pulling her in, letting Ruby lean against her for everything she was worth. Ruby sighed, sending out another stream of white air, expelling more insecurities to the silent night.

They both let their minds wander for a while, digging up past memories or spiraling into future scenarios or simply getting lost in the chambers of their own imaginary castles.

There were some times when the mind needed to be left to its own devices, but the best place for it to reorganize itself was under the stars.

Blake closed her eyes for a long while, letting specific memories resurface, coming to peace with certain things, and reburying others for another time.

The wind was subdued, but even still Ruby shivered against her.

Their gazes pulled away from the expanse of stars and met each other's. But it was mutual – neither wanted to go back inside just yet.

Blake's ears twitched once and a playful smile came to her lips. "Let's get warmed up, shall we?"

Ruby's uncharacteristically-melancholy expression was instantly swapped for the proper lively one. She grinned and nodded eagerly.

Her colorless eyes were alight with stardust.

Blake pulled them to their feet, letting go of Ruby's hand before dashing off into the snow. Ruby squealed and gave chase, trouncing after her.

Blake did her best to run at a steady pace through the snow, but it was not long before she was easily overcome by the speed semblance of Ruby Rose.

Fingers tapped her shoulder as the cry of "You're it!" echoed on the air. Ruby spun around and tore off through the snow the way she had come. Blake watched fondly for a moment before dashing after her.

Ruby's laughter was carried all around the campus as she ran freely, heart light, inhibitions thrown to the wind. Blake did her best to keep up, if not to catch the girl, then simply to continue hearing that joyous sound.

She did not know how long it was they chased one another, and she hardly cared.

The moon had shifted slightly overhead by the time Blake felt her legs beginning to grow heavy, her breath labored as she brought her hands to her knees.

"Alright, Ruby. I forfeit. You-"

But her words of surrender were abruptly silenced as the brunette whipped around and charged at her. A pair of zealous arms wrapped around Blake's waist as a hyper bundle slammed into her stomach with the shout of "Tackle attack!" Ruby bowled them both over into a mound of snow, Blake landing softly as a small "oomph!" slipped past her lips.

Ruby was panting excitedly, beaming all the while.

"Did I win?" she asked, hovering over Blake.

Two furry black ears twitched in amusement beneath her.

"Of course you did. I never tagged you."

Ruby squealed victoriously as she flopped down onto her teammate's stomach, finally allowing Blake to catch her breath. The older girl wrapped her arms around Ruby, fingers playing through her messy bedhead of hair as her eyes were cast back up to the sky.

The moon smiled down at them, cool and distant, yet protective and omnipotent.

Blake closed her eyes and felt the girl in her arms sigh happily.

Then, she felt a warmth on her cheek and reopened her eyes to find Ruby kissing there gently. She smiled shyly, returning the gesture sweetly, earning a giggle.

Ruby pressed closer to Blake, tucking her head beneath her chin, listening to the steady beating of her heart.

Blake breathed deeply, letting the warmth radiate between them.

It was a night when everything should have been quiet.

And yet she was thankful it was full of laughter instead.

A/N: There is something that strikes me about Ladybug that I cannot quite place and it's beautiful. Again, happy birthday, Hiro!

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