A/N: Sorry this one's late guys, shit's been really hectic for the past few weeks. Forgive the length of this one, it's another transitiony chapter, but it's necessary for building. Anyway, enjoy!

An Interval

A shiver traveled up Ruby's spine as she took in the sight before her.

From the base of the wall, stretching back all the way into the Emerald Forest, was a seething, swarming mass of Grimm. An undulating wave of darkness, broken only by bleached bone-white masks and smoldering crimson eyes. The force was massive, nothing they could ever hope to defeat if they were thrown into direct combat with it.

Ruby prayed the Aura shield held. At least until team JNPR could take back the city. That might give them at least a small chance of victory. That thought sent a whole new burst of nervousness coursing through her body. She didn't like the idea of her friends fighting their way through Vale outnumbered and without backup. They had lost too many people already, she really didn't want to see her friends' names added to that list.

Of course, she mused, they didn't really have much choice. Jaune had been right whenever he said that RWBY was needed here. She wasn't trying to be arrogant, but the fact of the matter was that the remaining fighters seemed to have wordlessly chosen her as their leader. With the exclusion of CRDL, everyone had begun to look to her for orders. If she left now, there was no telling what would become of them should their defenses fail.

On top of that, Ruby wasn't entirely sure her team would be fit for a mission like that right now. She turned to regard her partner staring despondently across the clearing below them. Weiss had been incredibly withdrawn since the battle the previous day. Ruby couldn't exactly blame her. She was aware that Port and Weiss had become rather close after their one talk first year. The heiress had once confided in Ruby that despite the man's ridiculous bravado, he was the first person she turned to outside of her team whenever she needed advice with something. She had said that Port sort of felt like the father she had never truly had. Supportive and caring.

Ruby knew she had to talk to her partner; she was clearly not handling the professor's death well.

"Weiss," she began hesitantly. The pale girl didn't respond. "Weiss," she repeated, a bit more strongly. Still no reaction. "Weiss-"

"What, Ruby?" her partner asked tersely. "I'm right here, do you really not think I can hear you?"

"Well you weren't responding and-"

"So it didn't occur to you that maybe I don't want to talk?"

"No, I figured that."

Weiss floundered for a moment, tripped up. Ruby always had a habit of being unpredictable. "Well then why-"

"Because you need to talk, Weiss," she cut her off. "We can all see how Professor Port's death is affecting you, but you won't talk to anyone about it. You're doing that thing that you always tell Blake not to do, keeping it all in by yourself. We're your teammates." She took a step forward and laid a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "I'm your partner. It's what I'm here for."

Weiss glared at her, but Ruby only smiled in return. The red-cloaked girl sat down cross-legged atop the wall. She looked up into her partner's eyes and authoritatively pointed to the space beside her. "Now, talk."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby, before glancing at the spot beside her, chewing her lip. She looked back to the silver eyes watching her expectantly, and with so much warmth, and she sighed. She lowered herself down beside the younger girl, stretching her legs out in front of her so that her heels just crossed over the edge of the stone, inches away from the Aura shield.

"I don't even know what you want me to say," she stated, sweeping her eyes over the invasion force beneath them to avoid looking at Ruby's wide smile.

"Whatever you want, really."

"Well then how about this is pointless?" Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but Weiss talked over her. "Ruby, we're in the middle of a fight for our lives! If even the slightest thing goes wrong, we could all die. You're the one leading these people now; if you don't focus every bit of your concentration on this then everyone-" her sentence ended abruptly as she saw Ruby's face fall. Guilt twisted her gut. She hadn't meant to be so harsh.

The brunette turned away from her, out toward the Emerald Forest. There was a heavy silence between the two for a minute before Ruby spoke quietly, "I'm well aware of how much is riding on me, Weiss. I know that if things go wrong, I'm going to be the one to blame. Even already, maybe if I had acted a little faster or done things differently, those eleven students would still be alive. Maybe Port wouldn't be dead."

"That isn't what I-"

"But, you know," Ruby continued, her head swiveling back around. Her eyes met Weiss' and the heiress felt like squirming under the intensity and determination that shined in her silver irises. "What kind of leader would I be if I completely ignored my partner when she needed me the most?"

It was such a simple statement, and she said it like it had the easiest answer in the world. And Weiss knew that, to Ruby, it did. No matter how harsh a situation, if a leader couldn't look after her followers, then she wasn't suited for leadership in the first place. She had seen it time and again in how Ruby acted in any sort of crises. Somehow she always managed to juggle both her teammates' welfares and the battle at the same time.

"I know what it's like to lose someone, Weiss. Especially someone you look up to and confide in. I understand the void it leaves behind." Weiss winced at those words, feeling the very same emptiness yawning in her chest. "I also understand that keeping it all pent up inside of you doesn't do you any favors." A pang went through her as she heard the sadness in Ruby's voice.

"Your mother..."

Ruby shook her head. "Doesn't matter. What matters is you letting it out, not bottling it up. We've got another hour until our shift ends, and Yang and Blake are guarding the other side of the school. We won't be interrupted, and I promise that nothing you say will go beyond us."

Weiss was silent for a couple minutes, before she whispered in a small voice, "Professor Port was...he was always there for me. Everytime I needed advice about something. Anytime I just needed someone to talk to, or vent to, he was there. Whenever I couldn't go to any of you, he would sit with me and listen and offer advice. He would always make time for me." She took a deep, stuttering breath, feeling tears prick at her eyes. "Did you know he sought me out after I lost that match against Sun in the quarter finals of the tournament last year? He knew I'd beat myself up, tear myself down.

He found me and told me I was being ludicrous. That I was one of the finest Huntresses-in-training he had ever had the great fortune to train." She sniffed before continuing in a watery voice. "Told me that I shouldn't be ashamed, that it was a splendid match and that I should use it as an opportunity to accept my flaws and improve myself. That's what he always told me to do. Take the situation, learn from it, and improve from it." Her voice cracked. "But how am I supposed to improve from this?" And the dam broke. The encroaching sadness that had plagued her since Port's death rushed to the surface, and Weiss found herself sobbing. She hid her face in her hands as salty tears tracked down her cheeks.

She heard movement beside her, and was surprised to find her head being pulled down and forward, into something soft and warm. Small but strong arms wrapped around her back, holding her tightly. Weiss didn't say a word, accepting the gesture of comfort. She balled fistfuls of Ruby's shirt in her hands, pouring out her sorrow into her partner's neck. They stayed like that until the end of their shift, Ruby remaining miraculously quiet but for a few soft murmurs of comfort, something for which Weiss was eternally grateful.

"There," Ruby said, pinning the sheet of paper to the corkboard. She turned to face the room full of people behind her. "The schedule's up. Everyone needs to memorize it and be ready to go whenever it's time for their assigned turn. Teams STAR and RUNE, you've got the next shift, so get prepped and then head out. Keep your eyes peeled and your weapons ready." She nodded at them all, and the group dispersed. The two teams that had been scheduled finished checking their weapons, exchanged brief greetings and introductions, then left to patrol.

Ruby let out a small breath. That was one thing taken care of, at least. She turned to look at her partner, who had been hovering behind her back in an attempt to keep anyone from noticing she had been crying. "C'mon, Weiss, let's go get some food."

The heiress shook her head. "Thank you, but I think I'm just going to go lay down for a while. I'm not feeling particularly hungry at the moment, anyway." She nervously crossed her arms.

Ruby offered her a smile. "Alright, go get some sleep. I'll bring you some food later."

Weiss looked up in surprise. "Ruby, you don't have to-"

"Nope, hush. I'm bringing you food later. Now go rest." Her eyes softened. "Leader's orders."

Weiss looked like she was going to protest for a moment, but then her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. She nodded tiredly. "Fine. I'll see you later."

"Sleep well," Ruby chirped as the white-haired girl exited the entrance hall.

"That might not work out for her as well as she hopes," a voice stated from Ruby's right, and she turned to find Blake at her side, watching Weiss's retreating form.

She blinked at her faunus teammate. "Why's that?" Ruby frowned. "And where's Yang?"

Blake spun around and headed for the cafeteria, Ruby following close behind. "Funnily enough, the answers to both of those questions are related."

Ruby gave her a confused look before it clicked, and she let loose a groan. "Yang went back to the room for a nap too, didn't she?"

Blake nodded with a small smirk as she swiped a small salad from the buffet. Thank god the kitchen staff didn't go to the conference too. We'd starve to death before the Grimm got us. "She didn't sleep too well last night, and the coffee's wearing off."

"We're gonna have to check on them in a bit to make sure they haven't killed each other." Ruby selected a bowl of chicken noodle soup. She wasn't much in the mood for cookies at the moment, and she couldn't risk the sugar crash anyway.

"I'm hoping they're gonna be too tired for that."

"With any luck, Yang will already be asleep by the time she gets there."

"Yeah, but noticed anything particular about our luck as of late?"

Ruby sighed. "Yes…yes I have." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, Ruby," Blake reassured her leader.

"Who will be fine?" Jaune asked, sliding into the seat across from Blake. Pyrrha took the spot beside him, in front of Ruby.

"Weiss and Yang," Ruby answered, blowing on spoonful of soup. "They both went back to the room to sleep."

"Oh god," Jaune dropped his fork in horror. "And you left them alone? I thought we were trying to protect Beacon, not destroy it!"

"They're both really tired so maybe they'll just...go to sleep?" it sounded weak, even to Ruby.

"You know as well as we do that that is a very slim possibility," Ren commented, taking his own seat next to Pyrrha, Nora bouncing happily along behind him. Ruby groaned and slumped. Ren smirked, deciding to throw her a bone. "Maybe we'll see a miracle today though." Ruby looked up and gave him a dazzling smile, sending his eyes scurrying downward to his tray. His didn't know why Ruby seemed to have that affect on him. He was terrible at holding her gaze.

"So how are your preparations going?" Blake asked.

"They'd be going a whole lot better if we had any idea where we were going," Jaune muttered.

"What Jaune means," Pyrrha interjected, shooting the blond a look that made him blush and look away ashamedly, "is that we're pretty much as ready as we can be without knowing exactly where Roman's going to be."

Ruby pondered for a moment. "Did we hear anything about where he was when we were in Vale, Blake?"

The faunus' brow scrunched in thought. "No," she said slowly, "I do not believe we did." She looked back at Pyrrha. "However, I would search the biggest, most central buildings you can find. Possibly a high-end hotel or something similar. He'd want to stay in a position where he wasn't too far from everything." Pyrrha hummed an agreement.

"Why hotels?" Jaune asked.

"Roman's got a flair to him. He's not quite flashy, but he also wouldn't say no to the fanciest accommodations he could find."

"Ah. Right, well. We'll have to look over the map of Vale then. Thanks, guys."

"No problem," Ruby smiled. "Just make sure you take him out and get back here safe and sound alright? I don't want any of you guys getting hurt." She subtly shot Ren a look out of the corner of her eye. Not subtly enough though. Her teammate caught it, and adding it to the information she had gathered the previous day, put two and two together.

So when team JNPR turned to each other, leaving the present half of team RWBY to themselves, Blake quietly leaned over and whispered in a voice so slight only Ruby could possibly have heard it, "So you and Ren, eh?"

It had been unfortunate timing on her part, as Ruby was mid-drink. Milk spewed from her mouth in a fine spray as her eyes widened. Pyrrha, to her credit, managed to get her platter in between the cloud of projectile dairy and herself, blocking most of it. Ruby start coughing roughly, trying to clear her windpipe.

"I-I'm sorry," she choked out to team JNPR before rounding on Blake. "What?!" she hissed.

"You don't do a very good job of hiding it."

"Hiding what?"

"Yang was right, you do have a crush." Ruby groaned, her head hitting the table with a solid thump.

"Not you, too."

"I have to say though," Blake continued in a low voice as if she hadn't heard Ruby, "did not expect it to be Ren."

"Can we stop this now?" she asked in a small voice. "Please?"

Blake shrugged. "Sure."

Ruby sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"And don't worry," Blake said with a wink that made Ruby think that she had been spending too much time around her sister, "I won't tell anyone else."

Ruby let loose another sound of dismay, forehead making its way back to the wooden surface as Blake laughed lightly beside her.

It felt almost normal, like it was just any other day.

If Ruby had any idea what was coming, she would realize just how wrong she was.

A/N: So there you have it guys. Again, sorry for the length, and if it seems rushed at all. I hope you guys enjoyed this one! I'm really trying to keep everyone true to their characters

I apologize again for it's lateness. This past week and a half has been busy as fuck and frustrating and hectic. I got in a car accident and shit so I've had to deal with that...woooooo

Anyway, I love you all. Please review, let me know what you think!