The Forest Cabin

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL PATRONS! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

An idea I got and wrote several months ago. I knew my posting schedule would be full until wintertime, so this now fits perfectly into the lineup. I decided to write in present tense, because it's my favorite way to write, and I haven't done it much with RWBY. It's also the best for suspense/crisis situations, as you'll see this is.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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														The Forest Cabin

The forest is cold, coated in icy white armor, the air thick and frigid.

If not for all the fighting they'd done over the last three days and nights, Ruby and her team might have stopped to appreciate the scenic beauty. But mental fatigue and physical ailments have sapped their ability to appreciate much of anything.

Ozpin had sent them out here to handle an abnormal infestation of Grimm. The location of a small hideout cabin had been input into their scrolls, and upon discovering it the first day, it had been almost exciting, thrilling.

But now, after all this time alone out here, they are becoming stiff, both from the cold and something else. Their rations are low, the wood in the fireplace even lower, and their energy levels even lower than that.

They were supposed to be sent for today. A small air ship was supposed to be taking them back to Beacon.

But poor weather has delayed the hour of their collection. They are forced to stay here, inside this tiny cabin, much too small for two people, let alone four.

There is only one bed, and presently, that is occupied by Blake, due to a gash of a wound she'd suffered in a previous fight. There is a chunk missing from the back of her bandaged right leg, and Ruby knows there is a spot in the forest still marked with crimson because of it.

Almost all of their remaining resources – food, blankets, water – have been given to Blake in hopes of preventing sickness. Due to how freezing it is even inside the cabin, it would be all too easy for something as simple as a cold to cause serious damage, especially to someone already so severely weakened.

Yang is doing everything she can for her partner. Seated in a chair pulled up at her bedside, with a hand over her forehead is the position she's held for many hours, religiously monitoring Blake's condition. Every so often, she checks her pulse, her breathing, and if Blake happens to be conscious at the time, Yang inquires about her pain.

In the initial hours after sustaining her injury, Blake's responses had been that of a typical young huntress.

"I'm fine." "Don't worry." "It's not that bad."

But now, with the cold winds howling outside, and their rescue ship delayed by an unforeseeable amount of hours, Blake is becoming more honest.

"How are you feeling?" Yang asks her, brow furrowed with concern.

Blake's unbound ears are folded downward, her eyes are hazy and unfocused, her voice nothing more than a rasp.

"It hurts," she confesses. "My aura... doesn't feel like it's doing anything to help..."

"You're too exhausted," Yang sighs. "We all are. But don't worry. It's gonna be fine."

Yang lingers a moment longer in her chair, tucking the blankets a little more tightly over her partner's heaving chest. She then leans down and presses a soft promise to her forehead.

The kiss seems to calm Blake down, just a little, but anything is progress. Yang soothes her, encourages her to close her eyes, and waits until she does.

At this point, Ruby watches her sister vacate the chair and approach her.

Just as she has been doing for the past several hours, Ruby is sitting in front of her scroll at a small desk, awaiting a message from Ozpin. Once the blizzard passes, he is going to send out their ship right away, and he needs them to be ready to depart.

Ruby believes they couldn't be more ready.

Yang pauses at her side, bracing one hand on the edge of the desk, the other covering her face. Her voice is low and it trembles slightly, ridden with worry.

"How much longer?" she whispers.

Ruby can only shake her head, and reach out to curl her fingers over her sister's.

"I'm not sure. There hasn't been a signal in hours."

"Damn it..."

Ruby just considers them lucky to still have battery left on any of their scrolls. Blake's and Yang's had both died yesterday, and as things are now, Ruby's and Weiss' are below 20%. It is crucial that they have signal when Ozpin sends out the ship, because their scrolls are the only way to track their location.

Of course, rescue teams traveling on the ground are entirely possible, but with Blake in her present condition, none of her teammates want her to be transported on-foot. And in such an unforgiving environment, air travel is inarguably the fastest and safest method of travel.

Ruby squeezes her sister's hand a little tighter. She can feel Yang trembling, and knows it isn't from the cold.

"Yang...?" Ruby keeps her voice low, so only she can hear. "How bad is she?"

Yang drags the hand on her face down, rubbing away small drops of water as she does so. She sniffles, pulls her fingers through her bangs, and tries to take a deep breath that catches in her throat.

"Bad... She's so weak, Ruby..."

The trepidation that has long-since settled in the pit of Ruby's stomach is renewed by Yang's words. The discomfort is debilitating, and her insides feel like they are on fire while her outsides are shivering.

Nothing unnerves her more than seeing her big sister cry.

It makes her want to cry, too.

But she is the team leader.

She can't afford to cry, not unless she wants the morale of her friends to sink into oblivion.

So all she can do is turn herself in her chair and wrap her arms around Yang's back, resting her head against her chest, just like she'd used to do on stormy nights.

"It'll be okay. Professor Ozpin will signal us any minute now..."

She has been saying that for the past four hours.

Ruby sighs, and she can see her breath, watches it until it dissipates into nothingness. She feels Yang's arms circle around her, providing the smallest shred of warmth, the tiniest flicker.

Yang has been preserving her semblance for as long as possible, for when the fire in the hearth inevitably goes out. At that time, they will have no choice but to huddle together and hope.

But at least for now, Ruby can still hear the feeble crackles of the flames behind her. Strengthening them would have been no problem for Yang, but the issue is that they are dangerously low on wood. Ruby herself has already gone out into the forest to take down a few trees with Crescent Rose. But the wood they had provided had been frigid, and the flames that had settled on the pieces had dwindled dismayingly fast.

By now, the team has decided that venturing outside to collect wood is more harmful than beneficial. One of them being out in the cold does none of them any good, and expending energy unnecessarily is reckless and puts their last remaining supplies at risk.

So they make due with what they have left. They have to.

For a moment, Ruby stays in her sister's arms, her ears catching sound of the faint whimpers above her. Her eyes flash back to her scroll's grey, motionless screen, only to watch the numbers drop from 14% to 13%. She bites her lip and hugs Yang more tightly.

She is only coaxed away from her sister's embrace when she hears the padding of footsteps approaching from behind. Pulling away, she looks up to find her own partner standing there.

Weiss is the only pillar their team has left. She is oddly calm, strangely collected, and refuses to let any emotion show. She knows it will only exhaust herself more quickly if she does.

That is why she hasn't even looked once at Blake in the past several hours. Not because she doesn't care, but because she knows it will only upset and enervate her.

Up until now, she has been sitting on a vigil beside one of the cabin's only windows, keeping an eye on the forest activity and the weather.

For her to leave her post can only mean one of two things.

That the weather has improved and cleared, or that something is amiss.

And as Ruby's tired eyes search her resolved ones, she feels her stomach twist again.

Yang senses the crisis as well, though Weiss has yet to speak of it. The blonde girl releases her younger sister and turns her attention to Weiss.

"What is it?" she asks. "Just tell us straight up."

Weiss takes her gaze away from Ruby's only for a moment to find Yang's.

She knows they are all enervated to almost unsafe levels, but Yang is probably worse off than the rest of them.

Blake's exhaustion is so severe she is barely conscious enough to feel it.

Ruby is more focused on the battle against time rather than anything else.

And Weiss herself has made sure not to let herself be affected by things as much as the rest of them. She had purposefully chosen to sit at the window, because that post allowed her to distance herself from the festering panic and worry. This is why she is so calm, even now, even in knowing what she must do.

She doesn't even blink as she responds to Yang's request.

"It's nothing you should concern yourself with." Her voice is stern, but not unkind; Yang has enough to worry about. Anything more could break her.

So Weiss steps close, puts a hand to her shoulder, and guides her back towards the bed where her partner rests.

"She needs you, Yang. Don't worry about anything else."

And perhaps against her better judgement, Yang believes Weiss' words, and elects to comply. She takes her seat once again and reaches beneath the blankets for Blake's limp hands.

Weiss stays at her side for a brief moment, this being the first time she's seen Blake in hours. She is worse than before, much worse than the rest of them. She is sweating and shivering, her breath alternating between deep and shallow heaves.

Yang hunches forward and lets out another helpless sigh, and it is all Weiss can do to touch her shoulder gently.

"Take care of her," she murmurs. "And yourself. Ruby and I can handle the rest."

Yang doesn't reply, but Weiss knows her answer.

The heiress steps closer to the bedside and, with ginger fingers, she touches Blake's forehead.

Her skin is hot, and her hair is damp with sweat. Even her Faunus ears are radiating an unnatural heat. Weiss brushes over them softly with her knuckles, traces her fingers back down over her cheek, watches her quivering eyelids.

Then, she steps back, leaving the two of them with only the smallest of touches to remember her by.

She struts back across the room, to where Ruby is still seated in her chair, anxiously waiting. Ruby straightens up, prepared to hear Weiss' explanation.

But her partner passes by both her and the desk, heading straight for the corner where all of their weapons lie. Myrtenaster is leaning against the wall, and Weiss soundlessly picks it up and sheathes it against her hip, then turns back around. She heads for the door of the cabin, and Ruby is so taken aback by her sudden actions that she almost fails to intercept her.

Almost.

She hasn't run so quickly in many hours, but now she darts across the cabin's floorspace and grabs her partner by the arm. Brow furrowed and heart racing, Ruby seeks her eyes.

"Weiss? What are you doing?" She still tries to keep her voice down, so as not to alert or agitate Yang. But she is too terrified for her voice to be completely composed.

Weiss' eyes are hard and determined, and it scares her.

She knows that look. She's seen it before.

And she knows it means that nothing is going to stop Weiss from doing what she has planned.

Nothing.

Weiss turns to her, but avoids her eyes, because though she knows nothing will stop her, she also knows that Ruby's gaze is the only thing that comes close to making her falter.

"There's a pack out there," she explains, voice equally low. "They're starting to move in closer to the cabin. With how distressed we all are, it's no wonder we're attracting them. I've got to get rid of them before they attract more."

She takes another step towards the door, but Ruby only tightens her grip.

"Weiss, are you insane? You can't go out there alone! You haven't eaten in days! And it's too cold!"

Ruby hears somewhat of a chuckle from her partner.

"Cold..." she repeats. "And when has that ever stopped me before?"

Her words sound strong, but Ruby knows there is weakness behind them. Weiss has always been ridiculed for her chilling demeanor, so now she's using it as an excuse to do as she deems necessary.

Ruby tugs on the sleeve of her bolero in an effort to draw her back.

"I'll come with you-"

"You need to stay and wait for Ozpin's signal," Weiss corrects her. "And you need to watch over Blake and your sister."

Ruby takes her words like a blow to the gut, but she knows Weiss is only telling the truth.

But still, Ruby fights her.

"Weiss, you can't." In her panic, her voice becomes firmer, until her tone is almost a command. "I won't let you."

And Weiss knows exactly which card to play. She's horrible, and she hates herself for it, but she plays it anyway.

"Is that an order?"

And Ruby knows she has lost.

It is her biggest flaw as leader of this team.

She doesn't give orders. She doesn't believe in using her title and the accompanying authority to control others.

And especially not Weiss.

All her life, Weiss has been made to conform. Her family life demanded she be controlled, to the point where it had truly damaged her in certain aspects.

Ruby refused to take that risk.

She could shout out her ideas for a plan.

She could make firm suggestions.

She could even beg and plead.

But she would never give orders.

And so she shakes her head now, swallowing hard, and it doesn't go down all the way.

"No..."

Her voice is thick, as if there is something crawling up the back of her throat.

Weiss knows the point is in her favor, but that doesn't mean she's happy about the methods she's used to gain it.

"I'm sorry," she breathes, and Ruby watches the puff of air until it disappears.

She knows what Weiss is referring to.

And she also knows what Weiss is asking for.

Trust.

She's always trusted Weiss, all this time, all these months. Why shouldn't she trust her now? She is her partner. Trust is the very foundation of their relationship. Ruby needs to show her just how dearly she values that.

So she takes a breath, steps back, and lets her go.

"How charged is your scroll?"

"Nineteen percent. I'll send a distress signal to you if need be."

She says as much, but they both know she won't be sending any such signal.

Ruby takes a deep breath and speaks to reassure herself.

"Yeah... you can do this, Weiss. No problem. I know you can." She gains little consolation in telling Weiss what she already knows, but Ruby needs to say these things for the sake of her own selfish comfort. "One pack is nothing to you. The cold is nothing to you. You'll protect us. You have to-"

"Right." Weiss cuts her off rather abruptly, and Ruby stiffens. She watches her partner turn away, showing her back, though Ruby wishes she could see her eyes instead. Weiss repeats the phrase to herself. "I have to."

And then she is gone, only a cold breeze and the slam of a door left in her place.

And Ruby can't help but feel she's made a horrible mistake.

She fears what Weiss might've thought she'd meant in saying all of those things.

She hadn't meant to make Weiss feel like it was her obligation to go out into the blizzard-ravaged forest and fight off a pack of Grimm on her own. She'd merely been trying to reassure herself.

But now, she is frightened that she'd said something wrong, made Weiss feel pressured into leaving when Ruby might've had the chance to change her mind.

Nothing – not even their current situation – is worse than that feeling.

Worse than feeling as though she's just sent her best friend and partner to her death.

But she hardly even has the time to feel distraught, because the sound of the door catches Yang's attention. Her sister turns away from the bed and casts her gaze on Ruby.

"Ruby? What was that? Where's Weiss?"

Ruby has no choice but to explain.

"She went out. There's a pack-"

"What?" Yang stands from her chair, her eyes already rimmed with crimson. "Ruby, how could you let her do that? It's too dangerous-"

"Because they're going to attack the cabin if she doesn't," Ruby snaps.

She doesn't mean to sound angry, but Yang's addressing the fact that she'd let Weiss go only makes it more poignant to Ruby. She doesn't want to think about it any more than she already has to.

And maybe Yang understands that, because she doesn't take offense to her sister's curt reply. She just sits back down and hangs her head.

"I hope you're right about this one, Ruby."

And Ruby can feel the tears dripping over. She makes no attempt to wipe them away.

"Me, too..."

She returns to her desk, to her scroll, where the screen is still blank and the numbers are in red.

And she waits.

It's all she can do.

It's all she's been able to do for the past three days.

She waits. She stares. And she listens.

Her scroll displays the same pixilated screen now dimmed in order to preserve the remaining battery. If not for the blinking numbers in the top righthand corner, she would've thought the device had gone dead.

She listens to the cabin.

The wind pushes against the outside, the flames in the hearth lick weakly at the splintered sticks that remain. Every now and then, Yang shifts in her chair and sighs.

Ruby closes her eyes and continues to listen.

She can hear Blake's strained breathing, and it gets to the point where she subconsciously begins to copy the pattern. Ruby quickly pulls herself back to her senses.

Minutes pass, silent and heavy.

Then, a new sound causes her to jump and swivel around in her chair.

Blake's sudden cry of pain tells both sisters that she is once again conscious. She writhes violently in her bed, assaulted by an awful, terrifying numbness in her right leg. Her words are broken pleas for help.

"Ah-! It hurts... oh god-"

She has no control over her body, the immense pain forcing her limbs to thrash in hopes of finding a less agonizing position.

But Yang can't let her move.

She won't.

She leans over her partner and presses down on her shoulders. The weight makes Blake cry out again, but Yang can't stop.

"I'm sorry-" she whimpers. "But Blake, you can't move around like that. You can't-"

"Yang, it hurts-!"

"I know it does," she sobs. "I know. I'm sorry..."

Ruby's heart is pounding and breaking at the same time. She rushes over to lightly push her palms over Blake's ankles, preventing her from moving her legs.

The cramps are vicious on Blake's abused muscles, and even though her teammates had previously sacrificed the last of their own meals and given them to her, it hadn't been enough to keep her strength up.

It isn't long before her body exhausts itself from the seizure, to the point of unconsciousness yet again.

By this time, both sisters are sobbing.

Ruby tries to fix the disturbed blankets and wrap them back around Blake's cold form. Yang gradually releases her shoulders, then wipes loose strands of dark hair from Blake's face.

"I'm sorry..." she chokes out. "Blake, I'm so sorry..."

And she cries.

Ruby can't do much, for either of them. She can only kneel at Blake's beside with her arms around her sister's waist and her head on her knees.

Yang holds her for a long while, sobbing apologies. Ruby reminds her it isn't her fault.

She loses track of time yet again, shivering even in spite of Yang's embrace.

A while later, Ruby gets up, hugs her sister, and returns to her desk where her scroll is now at 8%.

Yang is still crying. One of her hands covers Blake's beneath the blankets, the other rests softly on her chest. Her partner's breathing is more shallow than ever, and sometimes, she feels nothing at all. She's in pieces, and it's all she can do to try and keep them all together.

Ruby hunches forward on the cold hard desk, hiding her face in her arms as the last flames of the fire flicker and die.

Her stomach is hollow. Her body is sore. Her blood is frozen.

So she can only imagine how the others must feel right now.

How hollow Yang's stomach must be after giving her last meal to Blake two days earlier.

How sore Blake's body must be after having her leg shredded by giant claws.

How frozen Weiss' blood must be now that she is-

It is then when a new sound claims her attention. It isn't the howling of the wind, or the whimpers of her sister.

This... is a new sound. It's coming from right next to her head.

Bmm. Bmm.

Like a bullet, she shoots up, her posture erect and her eyes focused on the screen in front of her. It crackles, shifts, then comes into focus. A muffled voice is produced from the speakers.

"...ose...? Miss Rose...? Do you copy?"

Hearing Ozpin's voice seems almost too good to be true. Never before has she been able to fully understand that phrase.

She reaches out to press the button and responds.

"Yes! Professor, we're here!"

Even Yang stops crying when she realizes what is happening. Ruby can hear her gasp in disbelief as their headmaster continues speaking.

"I'm incredibly relieved to hear that, ladies. You have no idea... You have my sincerest apologies for the way things turned out. I shall take full responsibility for this misfortune. I sent you out under-rationed and on desperately short notice, without considering how things could have turned out. I am at fault for all that's befallen you. I've already dispatched an air ship to your location. There is a medical team on-board. Please be ready to depart immediately."

Ruby tries not to cry, but the knowledge that their rescue is on the way is too overwhelming. She nods to her headmaster and dips her head to him, shedding more tears in the process.

"Th-Thank you..."

And it's so wonderful to know it's all finally over. That soon, they'll be someplace warm again, someplace safe. They can eat a huge dinner and sleep in their own beds tonight.

Ruby jumps out of her chair and rushes over to her sister, throwing her arms around her in an exuberant embrace. Yang hugs her back warmly, and the contact is everything it had always been.

Blake is still unconscious, but they know she will be all right soon enough.

"We're going home..." Ruby whispers into her sister's neck.

"Yeah..." Yang sighs. "It's finally over..."

Ruby pulls herself away and straightens up, a smile on her lips after so many days of cold had frozen them downward.

"Weiss, did you hear that?"

She speaks happily, looking to the chair by the window where her partner was sitting-

Only to find it empty.

Ruby's heart drops like a rock in the ocean.

She'd been so delirious in both her exhaustion and her excitement that she'd forgotten until now.

Weiss hasn't come back yet.

"Oh my god-"

Ruby darts across the cabin and grabs Crescent Rose, then charges for the door without hesitance.

Yang shouts after her.

"Ruby-"

"Weiss is still out there!" she cries. "I have to find her!"

And like the breeze, she is gone, slipping out the door as quickly as she can to keep the remaining heat inside the cabin.

Outside is a world she's never seen before. She has seen the forest, but not like this.

Layers of snow cover everything, to the point where the trees are bending heavily over beneath the burden. Some have already snapped in half. It's up to her knees, and she can barely make it two steps away from the cabin before she's forced to stop.

It's so cold. Colder than any winter season she's ever experienced.

The blizzard has left the forest a hollow shell of its former self, lifeless and drained of any kind of warmth. Even the sunlight is grey and without heat.

Every inhale freezes her lungs more and more, and it only takes seconds until it becomes painful.

But that isn't the worst part by far.

There's blood.

All around her, the snow is disturbed, trampled by massive paws, tree trunks scratched and splintered. Crimson stains pool into the snow, a dark, sickening contrast seeping deep into the colorless blanket.

In the first minute, Ruby is inconsolable. She believes every drop of blood to be Weiss'.

Until she stops to think rationally, as her partner would have her do.

Some of these puddles are far too massive. Even if every last drop of blood in Weiss' body had been spilt, those pools are far too large to have been made by her. The bodies had long-since disintegrated, but it had clearly been Grimm that had fallen here.

Ruby doesn't want to risk calling out, both for fear of her lungs freezing over and for fear that her cry might attract unwanted attention.

So she uses the skills she's learned at Beacon, the skills she's been training and honing for months.

She scours the snow, reading the story of what took place out here some time ago.

She sees where Weiss slaughtered two Grimm at once – a familiar slash mark on a tree indicating Myrtenaster's blade just above two red puddles.

Ruby could only guess that Weiss had fought while using her glyphs to keep herself balanced above the snow, or else she would have sunk as low as Ruby was sinking now and been unable to fight.

The snow had probably slowed the Grimm down, but not Weiss.

Ruby uses her scythe to cleave away piles of snow to make her advance easier, and she continues to read the silent story of Weiss' fight.

Judging by the indentations, there must have been several beasts still alive as they'd drawn Weiss further and further into the woods. Ruby finds another large bloodstain several yards in, marking another of Weiss' kills.

But from there, a smaller, thinner trail of blood indicates Weiss had been injured.

Ruby feels acid burning in her throat. She might be sick.

She looks around, but she can't see Weiss anywhere. She only sees trees and snow.

She knows there isn't much time left before the air ship will come, and they won't be able to linger in search of Weiss.

Ruby follows her partner's blood trail deeper into the woods, continuously clearing the snow out of her path.

Weiss hadn't been able to get away from the beasts, that much is clear. Or perhaps she'd been the one leading and she'd lured them out purposefully, lest they follow her back to the cabin. Either way, they'd gone far enough away that the cabin was almost out of sight.

Ruby is on high alert, in spite of her fatigue. Weiss' clothes might've allowed her to stay hidden well, but Ruby's wardrobe was painfully noticeable in this environment.

The trail leads her almost in a circle, until she has looped back around to the other side of the cabin. She can't believe how long Weiss' fight must have lasted, and Ruby hadn't heard a sound of it.

She spots another puddle of blood, the largest one yet, but whatever bodies had lain there had vanished.

She can't take it anymore. She calls for her.

"Weiss-! Where are you?"

Her voice carries, echoes, fades.

No response.

Not even the wind moves.

She has no choice but to try again.

"Weiss...?"

Something shifts in her line of vision.

Up ahead, Ruby can see something moving, just barely. She can hardly tell what it is, because it blends in so well with the scenery...

And Weiss is there.

Like a ghost, she is pale, and it feels like she could disappear at any given second, as easily as her breath fades. She is leaning heavily against a tree, her body all but frozen to the trunk. Blood coats her left shoulder, drips down her sleeve to create a puddle of its own at her boots.

With a sob, Ruby runs to her, stirring up the snow in her wake, dispersing it to bring it down to a traversable level. Weiss staggers forward, and it's the last thing she can do before she falls.

Ruby catches her softly, dropping Crescent Rose without hesitation as Weiss collapses against her. Ruby encircles her partner before she falls lightly onto her back in the snow, accepting the frigid chill for herself, letting Weiss rest on top of her.

Weiss is so cold. She's trembling so violently, almost spasming.

There are crystals of ice frozen in her hair, on her eyelashes, perhaps even in her lungs. Her skin is hardened by a layer of cold, her breath thick and white. A pulse beats hard in her throat, shaking her ribcage and slamming throughout her body. Ruby can feel it, fast and straining against the assault of elements.

She locks her arms around Weiss' back, silently begging that her own remaining warmth be transferred to her partner instead.

She receives no warmth in return from Weiss' shuddering body. Not even the blood that oozes into Ruby's dress has any semblance of heat to it.

Ruby holds her as she quivers, Weiss' arms making stiff efforts to return the embrace. She just repeats her name over and over like a prayer.

"Weiss... Weiss..."

And Weiss hears her.

She hears her, but she can't reply.

Her lungs are too cold, her chest is too numb.

She can't speak.

And yet she cries.

Everything catches up to her all at once.

She's scared.

She's tired.

She's hurt.

And it all results in a natural reaction from her heart, stinging waves of pain that gather behind her eyes and spill over. Even her tears seem to ice over as soon as they fall, and she buries her face into Ruby's shoulder.

She gasps, shallow, frantic little breaths, and Ruby feels each one. She knows it's hurting Weiss, so she tries to calm her down.

"Weiss..." she whispers, letting her own tears fall back against her temples. "It's okay... We... We're going home..."

The only indication that Weiss has heard and understood her words is how the volume of her sobs increases.

Weiss wails, cracked, rasping sobs, each one jolting through her as she trembles uncontrollably.

Ruby holds her tighter, now able to discern a faint feeling of warmth pooling between them despite the snow all around.

"I'm... s-so glad you're okay... I-I knew you would be, b-but I couldn't help it... I was so worried... I was... s-so stupid, Weiss... I'm sorry..."

She stares up at the white sky as her tears keep falling down into the snow at the back of her neck.

Weiss' pulse gradually slows to a less frightening pace, one that allows Ruby to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry..." she whimpers again. "I-I never should have... let you go... I'm so sorry, Weiss..."

Weiss hears her. She still can't speak, but at the very least, she finds the strength to curl her brittle fingers into Ruby's cloak. She can't say it, but she trusts Ruby understands.

/You dolt... it's all right... thank you for... coming to get me.../

Another sigh, and this time it doesn't hurt quite so badly.

Ruby is warm, and her embrace is strong. Weiss closes her eyes and finally rests.

Ruby holds her, strokes through her stiffened hair, rubs her back to warm her up. She can feel her breathing, her body is still trembling, but her breaths are stronger than the shivers now. Ruby dips her head forward and briefly nuzzles her nose into Weiss' bangs.

"You... You didn't let me finish..." she whispers. "The only order I... ever meant to give you... was that you had to come back..."

And at last, she loses herself to the tears.

It had been awful, to think she might've sent Weiss off on a mission she wouldn't return from. To think Weiss might have misinterpreted her words, or thought Ruby was taking advantage of her trust...

But as Weiss manages to move her arm a bit more, she rests her hand over Ruby's cheek. She lifts herself up very slightly, until she is looking down into her leader's eyes. And her blue lips curve into a smile as her blue eyes sparkle with affection.

"Dolt."

And Ruby knows.

She knows now that Weiss had never once doubted her, had never once thought Ruby was trying to exploit her.

Ruby's cries turn into open-mouthed sobs as she clings to her partner and says her name like a prayer.

"Weiss... Weiss..."

And Weiss lowers herself down again, feels as the warmth radiates through her body now that Ruby has found her. Her heart beats less fearfully now, and this time when she closes her eyes, it doesn't scare her to do so.

Ruby stays with her there, hardly even able to feel the freezing snow beneath her now that Weiss is there to help keep her warm.

She smiles.

Cries, but smiles.

And it's not much longer before the air above them stirs, and the sounds of propellers soon give way to the image of an air ship overhead, lowering down into the trees.

Ruby holds Weiss tighter and closes her eyes.

They are going home.

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A/N: I've written a lot of RWBY stories and scenarios before, but this is one that's a little different. Though it's just a generic scenario, I really wanted to address how they might act during a crisis where they're basically unable to act.

I really wanted to express the importance of trust, particularly between Ruby and Weiss. And I wanted to stress the idea/headcanon that Ruby doesn't explicitly give orders to her teammates, for fear of giving off the impression that she's 'better than' or 'above' them.