Ruby met her own gaze in the mirror of the dressing room. Jaune had convinced her she needed new clothes due to the tattered and frayed state of her old ones. He hadn't been wrong. They went shopping, but no matter how many outfits Ruby tried on, she never saw them in the mirror.

All she saw were her eyes.

They looked like little glints of a glacier. Frozen water trapped in time. Red hair, red cape, black boots, black dress, and then blue eyes. Apparently they used to be silver.

She couldn't get used to it. They felt wrong, like they weren't hers. It made her feel like she had left part of herself behind when she had come back.

She slowly reached her hand up and gently ran her fingers under her eyes. Ruby could feel the pores of her skin, could see them in vivid clarity. She could see her dark long eyelashes, curved elegantly above her eyes. Everything fit and matched and felt like Ruby, except those icy little glints.

Jaune would probably be wondering what was taking her so long about now. Ruby turned, opened the door to the dressing room, and stepped out into the fluorescently lit back of the shop. It wasn't particularly large, maybe twenty paces by thirty, but the door just behind Jaune on the opposite wall opened up into another room, twice the size of this one, filled to the brim with a variety of combat clothes. Ruby had tried on a lot of different ones so far; she couldn't remember any of them.

"Purple might not suit you." Jaune murmured, and Ruby suddenly refocused, temporarily forgetting her eyes. She looked down at her dress, realizing for the first time that what she had put on was a deep purple. It was a dress that fit her tightly with long sleeves and went down to her knees. The material was stretchy, so she could move fine in it. Ruby didn't mind it, she didn't mind much of anything at that moment.

"Someone once told me everything goes with grey." Ruby said absent mindedly. She knew exactly who had said that. "Or maybe black."

"I'll go see if I can find something." Jaune said, standing from his place on the waiting bench.

Ruby shuffled her feet and swung her torso from side to side uncomfortably as she waited. Jaune returned a moment later with a tight grey shirt accented by a frilled black combat skirt. Ruby took it and re-entered the dressing stall.

As she shut the door behind her, she caught a glimpse of her old vestments behind her. Her gaze caught on the long flowing cloak that hung from the door, swishing softly from it closing. Ruby put on the new clothes, but her eyes never left the cloak as it grew still. When she finished, she turned around and ran her fingers through it, feeling the material. It was soft but worn down; something she had obviously had for years. She didn't know why, but it was important to her.

A memory began to tug in her mind. Ruby closed her eyes, trying to stop herself from thinking; clearing her head. She had quickly learned that was the best way to do it. She could claw at the vague formation of the memories, but they always seemed to get farther away. When she did this though, it seemed to-

"Take care, dear." A tight smile on pink lips, framed by tanned skin. A comforting hand as a cloak, too large for a little girl like her, was draped around her shoulders.

"Can't you stay?" Fear in her voice. She didn't want this.

"I'll be back soon sweetie. Yang will take care of you, and if you get scared at night, just hug this cloak around you. I've never felt scared in it, neither will you"

Ruby opened her mouth to speak and-

She blinked. She frowned. The memory was fading, getting pulled further from her conscious mind. She tried to remember scraps, details, any words, but soon she was forgetting it all.

That had never happened before.

And then a thought entered her mind that chilled her spine.

What if this happens again?

What if the few memories Ruby had of Weiss left her? What if she would never remember any of the others? Weiss had hinted that there were so many times, and maybe she would learn more in the letters, but words on a page meant nothing to Ruby if she didn't know how they had felt. She had only just started to remember Weiss, how could she live with forgetting her? What happened if there was nothing left but the knowledge that could never leave; that without Weiss, there would always be an empty hole inside Ruby.

She desperately grabbed the handle and threw it open. Jaune started at her alarming exit of the stall.

"Ruby?" He questioned. "Are you alright?"

"I-" She cut herself off. She had no idea what to say. She couldn't say much about Weiss, not without revealing the letters, and she didn't know how to justify herself. "I need to go." She finally blurted out. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice pestered her that what she was doing was nothing like her at all.

"Wait, but what about your clothes?" Ruby looked down at herself. Everything matches with grey, even her new eyes.

"These ones are fine." She said. She reached around the door, grabbed her cloak, attached it to the dress and stormed out of the room. She walked through the rest of the shop, and a clerk tried to stop her on her way out. Ruby hardly registered her even as Jaune tried to calm the clerk informing her he'd pay. She was focused on one thing only:

She had to find Weiss.

Yang let her hand drift to the side, sweeping through the dewy leaves of the garden. Beautiful flowers, each a starburst of vibrant color, stood tall and tickled her exposed thighs, leaving behind faint drops of morning moisture that beaded up on her. The trees were in full bloom as well, pink and violet blossoms opening up to the world, almost as if to compliment the sheer liveliness of the scene. Hidden birds sang to one another and insects chirped and buzzed. The garden was abuzz with life, busy in a sense, but Yang found in calm and peaceful. Day lilies grew next to nightshades whose stems were twirled around roses, everything existing in such perfect harmony that Yang couldn't help but smile.

"Yang! Look! Squirrel!" Ruby piped up from beside her, and Yang followed her sister's extended arm to a mid-sized birch just ahead of them. Indeed, atop it was perched a small russet colored squirrel nibbling on the edge of a white lily.

Yang looked back at her excited little sister, feeling pride and love swell in her chest. It was so good to see her so full of energy and happiness. Ruby was still fixated on the scene around them, the beautiful landscape that seemed almost surreal in its perfection. Yang wasn't sure why, but she couldn't stop glancing over at Ruby, every time she did so a small smile appearing on her lips.

"We should have brought Zwei with us." Ruby said, her voice never losing its energetic zeal.

"I think he would have just eaten all the flowers." Yang mused. Ruby laughed, that bell-like peal that seemed to ring clear. It reminded Yang of the sunsets that happened here in Patch. It was a small island, but its temperate climate meant that the sun shone through the sky ceaselessly throughout the year. When they were little, Yang and Ruby used to always sit on the roof of their house and watch it sink slowly behind the horizon, growing red as it faded from the world. Eventually, their dad would come out and, with a sad smile - his smiles were always sad after Summer - tell them to hurry off to bed. Sometimes they did, but during the summer months, they would always sneak back out and watch the stars appear.

Yang loved those moments. She loved looking out and watching as the night grew deeper and the stars burned brighter. They would ignite the sky, swirls of white pinpricks, some faintly tinted blue or red, dotting the deep blue of the atmosphere. She loved Patch for that; no matter if it was winter or summer, day or night, cold or warm, it never felt dark there. As the sun got more distant, the stars grew in brightness until it might as well have never left. The constant wind shifts blew away any storms that threatened the island, so rain or hail never lasted more than half an hour.

And there was no more perfect a testament to the island than the garden they were in now. Yang knew that, no matter what, she could be happy there.

Yang, still smiling, was pulled from her reverie as rose petals tickled her nose. A few floated around where her sister used to be, and Yang looked ahead unworriedly, searching for her. Ruby was twenty feet away, lying on the ground just in front of a small overhanging bush, her arms crossed in front of her with her chin resting on them. Yang could make out a little ball of fur hiding in the shadows of the flora with a little pink nose. Yang watched, one hand rising to rest on her other elbow, as the bunny slowly moved out from under the bush, its little nose twitching incessantly as it approached. Anywhere else in the world, it likely would have fled, but here on Patch there were no wolves or foxes, so the wildlife had become somewhat tame. On top of that, Ruby had always been good with animals.

She waited patiently as the bunny sniffed at her, assessing her, determining if she was a threat. Ruby just lay there, her silver eyes trailing the rabbit quietly. Seconds passed, or it could have been minutes, time had no hold on Yang in such a blissful moment, and the rabbit got even closer. Its whiskers brushed her arm, it padded forward, and then it nuzzled her hand slightly. Ruby, careful not to startle the creature, raised her hand ever so slowly, and then with her index finger rubbed a small circle on the rabbit's head. It let out a soft squeak, something that had once upon a time only ever been used in moments of terror and panic, but now had a more peaceful and amicable nature.

The rabbit leaned forward and its nosed poked hers. Ruby muffled a giggle and Yang couldn't help but let out a cheerful laugh as she watched her sister. She looked to the side as she passed a particularly colorful batch of flowers. She extended her hand to them and caressed them. Orange, yellow and red they were, her colors, and Yang leaned forward to smell them. An aroma of soft springs running from mountains, fresh grass, and sunny days filled her senses, and Yang breathed deeply and happily. She glanced back over at Ruby, who was now on her knees, holding her hands out as if offering something to the creature, who was inspecting them accordingly. Knowing there was no real threat, it placed one paw on her hand, then worked its way up until it was sitting in Ruby's cupped hands. It lay down, nuzzled its nose into Ruby's forearms, brought a paw up over its ear as if to itch it, then curled up in a little ball. Ruby stood slowly, bringing the rabbit up to her chest, her eyes locked on it the whole time. A smile cracked her face from ear to ear.

"Yang!" Ruby whisper-yelled. "Look!" Ruby's eyes met hers, and Yang smiled back at her sister.

And then there was a sickening squelch as a dark spike split Ruby's chest open like meat on a skewer. Ruby's eyes shot wide, her smile wicked from her face. Yang froze, feeling like it had been her chest that had just split open, her intestines grinding around inside her at the sight. Ruby looked down at the stinger covered in her own dark blood, then back up at Yang. Her mouth moved like she was trying to make words, but nothing came out but a trickle of thick blood dripping down Ruby's mouth and gagging, as if she were choking on her own blood.

The trees next to Yang withered in a second, their leaves crumpling up as if the very life had been sucked out of them by some vampiric force and they fell to ashes to reveal thick, metallic thorns that shot out of the warped and twisted branches of the garden. The sky above her darkened until it was pitch black and nothing existed except for the thorns and her sister impaled on the Deathstalker's tail, lit in a hauntingly flat grey light.

There was a sickening moment of silence, the two girls looking one another in the eye. Yang could see tears in Ruby's eyes and the glossy patch of soaked material where the blood had pooled on Ruby's dress spreading like some foul disease.

Then another of the pike-like spikes shot out of the darkness faster than Yang could see and ripped through the side of Ruby's torso, sending flecks of crimson liquid flying. Some of it splattered onto Yang's pale skin, and she gagged as the metallic scent permeated her senses. She looked back up just to watch a third stinger rip through her sister's leg.

"Ruby!" Yang screamed, so loud she could feel fibers of her vocal cords shred as she was shocked back into movement. It felt like she was running through syrup though, and her strides brought her no closer. She watched as her little sister was lifted into the air, Yang reaching her arm forward to try and get to her sister, to grasp her, to pull her away, but the world stretched out between them, growing darker and darker, until all that Yang could see was Ruby's head, limp and at an odd angle from her neck, the gob of bloodied saliva that was strung from the bottom of her chin wavering slightly as the tails pulled her further away, and two glazed, dead, lifeless silver eyes.

"Ruby!" Yang's scream echoed off the unseen walls of the apartment, Yang's torso shooting off the bed as the name ripped itself from her mouth. Her entire body convulsed, there was a bitter taste in her mouth, and her throat was tight and hoarse, like she wanted to be ill. Sweat covered her body, plastering her bare skin and making her soaked bed sheets cling to her body even as she fought to throw them off.

"Yang?" A gruff, drowsy voice asked from beside her in bed, but Yang ignored it.

She stood shakily, moving swiftly to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, throwing the light switch so hard it snapped off. She collapsed, her elbows catching on the sides of the sink and her body slouching into it, her forehead coming to rest on the palms of her clenched fists. A sob tore through her body, and Yang felt wet streaks fall down her cheeks as she gasped for breath. She sucked one in, only to have it come out quick and raspy, hardly staying in her lungs at all. Her chest heaved as she whimpered, the tears coating her hands and making them slippery, running down her forearms until they covered her elbows. Yang slipped, and hardly staggered as she fell hard onto her side.

Her body instinctively curled up into a ball to try and ward off the pain she was feeling, to protect her, but there was nothing in the world that could protect Yang from this.

A/N: And suddenly the rating jumps to T

So, I gave myself ten days, and took them all. I wanted to make sure that the chapter came out alright because it's setting up a big sub-plot. Yang's going to be a relatively important character in this story, and next to the Ruby/Weiss half of things, she's going to play the biggest part in this story. Despite coming off as alright to everyone... Well, maybe the party girl isn't quite as happy.

I'm hoping to get the next chapter out a bit faster. The next few chapters will have a few more character introductions, but other than that, the stage is pretty much set! Hope you're all enjoying the read! Till the next update.

-Unjax