Weiss sighed as she was walking alongside Ruby. As much as she liked to be around her, with everything going on lately, she found it harder and harder to be near her for some reason. Almost like Ruby had gone somewhere where she couldn't reach.

It didn't help that she's had this feeling since they reunited back in Mistral.

Was it since she saw Yang and Ruby give each other that emotional hug? No, she felt the loving embrace when they welcomed her. Was it after that when they were talking about Salem? That was the most likely case.

After hearing that story, she started thinking more about Ruby. Thinking of a plan with Ruby, that's when she felt it. That Ruby was somehow in a place where she couldn't reach her, even though she was right by her side.

She wasn't the little girl she remembered tutoring back at Beacon or the young leader that came up with foolish plans to relax.

They had so many things going on and Ruby seemed fine. Though there were some points where she hesitated slightly. Did Ruby really recover since the Fall of Beacon? Was she forcing herself to push forward? It wouldn't be surprising for her to bottle those emotions in while inspiring others to move forward.

And here Weiss was being selfish and thinking of herself. What kind of best friend and teammate was she? There was a promise that she wanted to keep, but here she was having a hard time keeping it when she couldn't even stand by Ruby's side.

"Weiss?"

The ex-heiress snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her partner.

"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"I'm just…" She paused for a second before deciding to lie. "…Wondering where Oscar went." There were so many things on her mind that she had a hard time organizing it, and there was no way that she wanted to burden Ruby with more things to worry about.

So many things happened just in the past week. She wanted to retrain herself and the way she fought, so as not to become a burden to her team. Then they were going to Atlas, which was one of their goals right now.

They were going to Atlas to seal the relic… or was it something else? For the life of her, she couldn't remember why they were going to Atlas.

Oh right, Ozpin said that they had to get the relic to Atlas. But what was there? He just disappeared on them and—her thoughts stopped when she felt a warm hand holding hers.

Weiss looked up and saw Ruby holding her hand, frowning at her.

"Weiss… is this about Atlas?" The young leader knew that Weiss hated the idea that they had to go to Atlas, but she didn't explain why. What happened in Atlas to cause her best friend to become so reluctant in returning?

"I…" She looked away. "It's not just that." Weiss sighed, unsure of how to really talk to Ruby about everything that's been worrying her. "Let's just find Oscar. I'm worried that he might be in trouble."

Ruby looked concerned about the answer her partner gave her but she was right. Argus was a big place. He could be anywhere.

"This isn't working…" Weiss sighed. They'd been walking for six hours now and haven't found a trace of him.

Ruby merely snickered.

"…Dare I ask what you're snickering about, Ruby Rose?"

"I'm just remembering when Blake went missing like this. That's all." Ruby looked up at the sky, sighing at the memory.

Weiss frowned seeing that faraway look on Ruby and almost reached out to her. Don't go. Don't leave me alone…

Shaking that thought out of her head, she looked around and saw a familiar figure stumbling towards the park.

"Ruby… we should call it a night. Go find Yang and Blake and head back to the Cotta-Arc house, I'll be right back." Weiss looked at Ruby, making sure that she understood, then jogged towards the park, frowning at what she saw. There was Qrow, pulling out a flask of alcohol again and taking a swig.

"I should've known better than thinking you would really stop drinking even after what happened at the farm."

Qrow narrowed his eyes at the young woman and waved his hand. "Buzz off, kid. It's none of your business what I do."

"Unfortunately for you, it is my business. You're hurting Ruby like this, and she has enough on her plate already without worrying about you." Weiss didn't know how much Ruby was hiding from the others, but she knew that there was no way that the young leader wouldn't confide in anyone about her problems.

"And what do you know, kid?! Ozpin lied to all of us. I thought that I had a place by his side because I felt like I was wanted by someone for once." He accused, pointing his flask at her. "But he just threw all of that away. We're just risking our lives for nothing in this pointless war."

Weiss narrowed her eyes as she approached him and slapped the flask away from his hand so that he could pay attention to her. Little did she know, three familiar teammates were watching everything from the corner of a building just outside the park.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Qrow stopped when she glared at him and looked away from her.

"You're hurting her. Ruby. She's in pain because she cares too much about her friends and family, not just this stupid war!" She continued to glare at him then took a deep breath, needing to get this off her chest.

"You can't run away from your problems…" Weiss started as she rubbed the sore spot where she swatted the flask earlier.

Blake's ears folded as she looked away.

"But you can't just face them head on on your own, either. You'll just end up hurting yourself. Even worse, you'll hurt the people that care about you."

Yang frowned, glancing at her prosthetic arm before looking away.

"I know that your semblance brings bad luck wherever you go…"

Qrow grunted and clenched his fists tightly.

"But you know that you're not alone. You have teammates and, most importantly, a family. Ruby… Yang… They're there for you. Because that's what family does. Being there when you need help."

Ruby bit her lip, then looked at Blake and Yang, both who nodded at her, giving her a soft smile.

"I'm not expecting you to listen to my advice…" Weiss walked over towards the fallen flash and picked it up. "But if you continue like this, Ruby will hate you… Not only that, she'll suffer even more because you made her hate you." She looked at Qrow, frowning at him. "She looks up to you, you know that, right?" She swirled the flask in her hand then held it out to him. "She wants to help you, but you're not letting her. Take the flask back, ignore my advice and her help like you've been doing… or realize that you're not alone. It's your choice, Qrow."

The older man looked at Weiss, then at the flask, walking towards her and taking his flask back. The ex-heiress sighed, expecting that answer, then let out a sound of surprise when she felt his hand on her head, ruffling her hair.

"You're just like your older sister." He stated then put the flask back into his pocket. "It's not easy but… I'll try… to let her help, I mean."

"I'm sure that she'd appreciate that you're trying to become better, if anything. You're not the only one in pain when you drink, Qrow." Weiss looked away sadly, thinking of her mother, then shook that thought away. This was about Ruby. Not about herself or her mother. "You'd better head back now. She really misses you…" You still have time to make things right and be there for her when she needs you.

Qrow just placed a hand onto her shoulder. "Thanks for looking out for her. Let's go back to them."

Weiss just gave a small smile and nodded, starting to walk back towards the Cotta-Arc house with the older man, and blinked when she saw a familiar trio scrambling away from the corner. Frowning, she made her way towards the corner quickly and saw her teammates pretending that they just arrived.

"What on earth are you three doing?" She asked as she crossed her arms, raising a curious brow.

"Oh hey, Weiss! We uh… we bumped into each other as we were looking for Oscar!" Ruby said quickly. It wasn't a complete lie, but she just didn't tell the whole story.

"And did I not tell you to go back to the house once you found Yang and Blake?" Weiss frowned.

"We were about to but we uh... lost our way. Argus is huge!" Yang lied.

Blake already knew that their lie was seen through and sighed. "Ruby was worried about you and we found her as she found you having a talk with Qrow."

"You three…" Weiss sighed, shaking her head, then realized something. "You… didn't hear our talk, did you?" Just seeing them looking away nervously gave her the answer, causing her to blush and look away from them.

The trio looked at each other, then grinned as they surrounded the ex-heiress.

"W-What are you three doing?" she asked, not liking the look on their faces and took a step back.

"You can't run away from your problems, Weiss." Blake started, placing a hand onto her shoulder.

Weiss stiffened, already knowing where this was going.

"But you can't just face them head on on your own, either. You'll just end up hurting yourself. Even worse, you'll hurt the people that care about you." Yang couldn't hide the smirk behind her voice as she placed her hand on the other shoulder.

"And you know that you're not alone either. You have teammates and, most importantly, a family. Yang… Blake… even me. We're there for you. Because that's what family does. Being there when you need help." Ruby grinned as she hugged Weiss into a comforting hug. "I told you before, Weiss. Team RWBY won't leave your side for a second. I intend to keep that promise. And I'm sure that Yang and Blake do too."

As soon as Ruby said that, both Yang and Blake joined the hug, making sure that Weiss felt loved.

Though she was still getting used to receiving hugs, it certainly wasn't unwelcomed, and she rather enjoyed the warmth from her family.

"Thanks to you nosy teammates, I can't really keep a secret and hide anything from you, now can I?" she laughed.

It was a much-needed laugh, one to make her forget the troubles that they were about to face, even if it was temporarily.

The laugh that reminded her that she was home with her real family, and that she could count on them if she needed to.

A/N: Ok, this was written during Vol 6 Ch 8 so kinda in the same boat as Shared Burdens. Just my little version of "What if they had a talk?"

Er... enough about that, hoped that y'all enjoyed! May or may not continue these little series 'cause had some ideas written down. See y'all next time!