Here we go, now. Chapter 14 is up and ready.

Not much else to say today really, as not much has happened. All i can say is I hope you enjoy.

Ruby walked out of the CCT and examined her surroundings. There weren't as many students out as there once was, worrying her a bit. 'How late is it?' She wondered to herself, 'How long was I in there...?' She shook her head free of her worries, and walked on. She had to find her team, like her Uncle said.

The one thing that ran through her mind that her mentor told her, was why she had to apologize. 'Did I really overreact? Did I cause them to worry that much?' Everything that she had decided earlier, everything that had made sense for a moment, was now turned upside down on her. Qrow had agreed with her, the methods of her team and their excuses, were poor, albeit with good intentions in mind. But that didn't excuse her actions, still.

Regardless of whether or not she truly had to apologize, she knew only one certainty. 'I have to find my team...'

She walked away from the building, going to the one place where she left the very ones she currently seeks.

Yang was the first out of the elevator, impatiently charging through the crowd of students exiting the CCT. It was time for the building to close, which meant the inevitable exodus had to happen at that precise moment. The brawler pushed through the crowd, ignoring the muttered remarks and curses.

She made it outside and looked around wildly, expecting to see the red cape somewhere, anywhere... But alas, she saw none.

Yang grabbed her head in frustration and groaned. "I'm sorry, Yang..." A familiar voice soothed from behind her, "Fate has conspired against us here..."

Yang sighed, accepting her partners words. "Professor Goodwitch," The brawler called, "Is there any chance that you can see who Ruby called? She wouldn't go here unless she wanted to contact someone, alone."

"Miss Xiao Long, are you asking me to look into a student's private call record?"

Yang stood there, giving Goodwitch a quizzical glance, "Wha-? No... I'm not asking you to give me every person she's ever called. I only want to know who she just talked to and for how long..." She tried to focus her vision on the instructor before her, "Do... Does Beacon record all of our calls?"

"Of course not!" Goodwitch snapped, "There's no way we could! We have no place for all of those servers. Besides, Ozpin never cared for another students phone calls ever since he... We, not he, but someone, listened in on the wrong call." She began to tap into her scroll, looking into Ruby's school records.

"Wait..." Weiss called, "That implies-"

"Before you ask, Miss Schnee, yes. Beacon did, at one point, record the phone calls of certain students. We did so up until we discovered a few students making calls to..." She thought her next few words carefully, not trying to incite any unwarranted comments. "Let's just say people did rather unusual things over the phones..."

Yang immediately understood, though it took Blake and Weiss a few moments to comprehend. "Wow," The brawler commented, "I'll never know how that works for some people..."

Glynda glanced at her student, "I'd rather not find out..." It was at this point where the monochrome duo finally figured out what was happening. Both rubbed the back of their necks awkwardly. "Alright, here we go. Ruby Rose, signed into CCT at ten-forty-four manually, requested an outgoing call to a Professor Qrow Branwen at Signal Academy..."

Yang instantly froze. Ruby called Qrow? The blonde buried her face in her hands and groaned again, "Really?! Out of all the people, she has to call him!?"

"It's obviously someone she trusts, Yang." Weiss reasoned, "I would go to my training instructor from when I was little if I needed help with anything."

"That's not it, Weiss!" Yang countered, clearly distressed, "Qrow has a history of... Well, let's just say he's not exactly the best influence. He's more of a jokester."

"But he kept Ruby hidden when she first ran off, right?" Blake inquired to Yang's regret. Her partner gave a defeated, yet affirming nod, "Then he obviously thinks highly enough of his own niece to help her in her time of need. Who's to say he wouldn't do the same?"

"He is aware of what happened to Ruby, right?" Glynda asked. Again, Yang nodded, "Then there we go. He knows that if Ruby called him, then she truly must be back in a corner. And, depending on how she explained herself, he might even have helped our cause, rather than hers."

This didn't seem to help Yang, as her shoulders still stayed slumped. She listened to reason, though, and trusted the judgment of her uncle to have done the right thing. "I- alright. Let's say he did convince her to come back to us... Where would she go?"

The trio before her started thinking. Where would their leader go to find her team...

Weiss smacked herself, literally, and dragged her hand down her face, "Guys, we don't have to overthink this." The group turned to her, quizzically, "Where would you go to find someone after leaving them, with no way of contacting them?" Blake looked to her counterparts before finally understanding what Weiss was getting to. Goodwitch and Yang, not so much, "You go to where you last saw them..."

Yang swooped Weiss into a bear hug, "You beautiful woman, you!" She cried as she crushed the heiress' ribcage into dust, "Let's go get my sister!" She ran down the paved pathway, not letting go of the heiress, despite the cries of anger. Goodwitch and Blake were still left behind at the CCT, watching the blonde go.

"Is she.. Always like that?" Glynda asked, "Especially this late at night?"

Blake shook her head, "Depending on what kind of mood you get her in..." She turned and faced her instructor, "Why did you really call us...?"

Glynda met her students gaze and smiled, "I think I found a way to help. However, it's a method that involved hypnotism." Blake blushed a little, "You haven't tried hypnotizing anyone, have you?"

"Not yet..." The faunus kicked a pebble away, "But I think I know how to do it... I just need some practice."

"You have a whole weekend... Provided your partner doesn't crush you leader in one of those bear hugs of hers." The older woman shuddered, "I can't imagine what it must be like being on the receiving end of one of those."

Blake chuckled, "Yeah, it's tough. I feel bad for Ruby. She had to deal with all of that growing up." Moonlight shown from behind the clouds, finally offering tiny more light to the already lit campus. "Do we... Wanna let her know she's going the wrong way?"

Glynda shrugged as she turned away, "I'm sure she'll figure that out soon." She began to walk away, her heels clicking with each step, "Come on. Let's go find your leader."

Blake nodded as she turned to follow her instructor. The clouds hid the moon, once again, returning the sky to obscured darkness; blocking the beautiful view of the stars above. 'We're coming, Ruby...' Blake thought.

Jaune closed the door to the last classroom, letting out a defeated sigh. He turned to face his team, who were systematically going through each room in search for their friend. "Anything?" He asked. The lack of a response from his team, save for Pyrrha who shook her head, told the leader all he needed to know. He made a face and let out an awkward groan.

"Maybe she isn't here?" Ren suggested, "I'm not even sure why a student would want to go back to a classroom, even if it's to hide."

"Alright, so maybe this wasn't the best place to look..." Jaune gave in, "But where else could we go? Come on, Ruby's our friend! We have to do something to help."

Pyrrha stepped in, trying to reason with her team, "Alright, so maybe she's not here. We could try somewhere else? We could call Yang or someone else and find out where she liked to go?"

Nora bounced in, though didn't say a word. "I guess we could try them? See if they have another place to check?" Jaune shrugged as he pulled out his scroll. "Maybe they'll want us to check the city?"

"That'll have to wait for morning, I'm afraid." Ren sighed. Jaune shot a quizzical glance at the stoic boy.

"Oh yeah! Because the airbus system only runs until eleven o'clock!" Nora cheered, matter-of-factly. "We're stuck here until morning!"

Jaune's shoulders sagged as he began to dial Yang, "I really don't want to think about that right now, Nora..." He sighed as the ringing began. He looked around the hall awkwardly as his team waited to hear something. After the fifth ring, a voice started.

"Hi! You've reached Yang Xiao Long, sorry I couldn't get the phone, but if you-"

"Voicemail." Jaune said simply, "Do I leave a message?" His team nodded quickly as he got the memo. The voicemail message ended, finally, and a beep was heard, "Hey, Yang. We uh, couldn't find anything in any of the classrooms and we don't know where else to look. Give me a call back, alright?" He clicked the 'end' button and looked to his team. "Now what?"

"Call Blake or Weiss?" Nora suggested.

Pyrrha and Jaune shared a glance before nodded, "I'll take Weiss," Pyrrha said with a smile, "I know she'll pick it up if it's me..."

"Oh haha. Very funny." The blonde leader quipped as he dialed Blake. He put the phone to his ear as it began ringing. Once. Twice. Three times... "Are you kidding me?" Four...

"You've reached Blake Bella-"

"Does no one on this team answer their phones?!" Jaune yelled, as a beep was heard from his phone, "Blake, tell Yang to call me back." Was the only message he left before hitting end. He turned to his team with a feigned angry expression. Nora was hiding behind Ren, though Jaune could tell from the sounds she was making that she was hiding her laughter. "Any luck Pyrrha?"

The gladiator simply clicked her phone and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Alright!" Their leader clapped, "We have two choices: Continue the search elsewhere, or go home. I'll leave it up to you all..."

Ren, Nora and Pyrrha all glanced at each other. Fairly simple options, really. Though searching elsewhere implied a long night ahead of them. Or, they could go home, rest and start the search in the city first thing in the morning. "Isn't there a curfew for students at, like, Midnight?" Nora asked.

Ren nodded, but Jaune and Pyrrha didn't seem to care, "We can still search for her!" Pyrrha defended, "We'd just have to avoid anyone who looks like they have authority..."

"Seems easy enough." Jaune agreed, "I'm all for looking some more."

Ren and Nora, once again, shared a wordless glance. "Aw, what the heck? It'll be fun!" Nora jumped to her leader. Ren stood back, sighed, but inevitably agreed. "Let's go find our little reaper! She owes me a Journal!" Nora cried as she ran out of the class hall.

Ren and Pyrrha followed closely, whilst Jaune rubbed his eyes with a single fist. "Well, so much for a good night's sleep..."

Ruby walked through the darkened campus quickly, trying to get back to her dorm room. 'Everything would be a lot easier if I could see where I was going...' She thought. 'Actually, if I even knew where I was going...' She took a look at her surroundings, trying to figure out where exactly she was. 'Is there a directory or something here?'

The moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds again, granting the red-clad girl a bit more illumination for her. The campus was already well-lit, but that still didn't mean that she had any idea of where she was going.

"I know!" She said to herself, "I'll follow the trail to the outside of the campus. I'll be able to find my own way home from there!" Her mind was made up as she looked down the bricked path she had been traveling on. She could tell it wouldn't take her to the outer edge of the schools' walkway. She turned around and saw the same thing. "I... I've been going the wrong way since the quad, haven't I?"

She looked around and deflated, shoulders sagging. Now she had to go all the way back to the crowded quad, find the right path to the outer walkway area, then walk back to her dorm building, which she still wasn't sure she could find alone...

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all." She said. still not realizing that she was talking to herself. She began her long trek back, now starting to be unsure of herself with every step. Despite the last two weeks of being out of the hospital, she really hadn't done much around campus. All she really knew was where her classes were and her dorm, as well as how to get to Vale. She didn't need the tour of the campus, as she thought she wouldn't have needed it.

Well, she hoped she wouldn't have needed it, at least.

As she retraced her steps, Ruby noticed a lack of people. The campus was... Empty... Eerie...

Rather intimidating even...

Despite the lamps surrounding the path, the rest of the area could only really be lit up by the moonlight. Which would be possible if only the moon wasn't behind a seemingly never ending line of clouds. She knew it was childish to be afraid of the dark, but that wasn't why she was afraid.

It was because she had absolutely no idea where she was.

There was no way to call for help either. The only thing she could do would be to power through the veil of shadows that surrounded her and make it to the quad. That was her mission now. The dorm room could wait.

Her steps were lively as her sixth sense kicked in. Somewhere in the shadows, she was being watched. Looking around, she saw no one, but could feel someone. "Blake?" She called to no one, "You out there?" No answer. She clutched her shoulders, keeping herself warm.

Cricket chirps and the sounds of her own footsteps were all that accompanied the girl in red. She started to regret her decision earlier, after seeing the campus without other people. 'It's like a horror movie...' She thought, 'Is there a curfew or something? On a weekend?' She pondered more as she traversed through the campus, finally making it to the quad. The whole area was very well lit, though still completely devoid of life.

'Alright, Ruby...' She thought, 'You've made it this far, let's see how well your muscle memory can do...' She looked around as she stood in the middle of the quad, 'Alright, I know the walkway I used was to the north... And look at that, they have the directions marked on each overhang... Nice.' She turned North and started moving. This path had far better lighting than the one she was previously on, leaving her to be in a better, more secure mood.

In the distance, she saw the light of Vale along the clouds. She concentrated on it as the full city came into view. The glow of the Vale's bright lights against the waterfront as well as the way the clouds lit up made her feel warm. Something about that sight seemed familiar, it made her think...

It made her remember...

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the cool night air entered her lungs. She let out a long, relaxed exhale. In this instant, all of her worries, all of her fears, dissipated. She opened her eyes and saw a light fog forming over the waterfront.

She heard the sounds of the city in the distance; a few car honks, a police siren or two, regardless, it was all relatively quiet. Serene, even.

Again she closed her eyes as she began to remember.

"Wow, Yang..." Ruby said, "Look at that view..."

"Beats Signal any day..." The blonde said, her legs resting off the edge of the cliff, "Heh, it beats most of Patch, actually..."

"Doesn't beat much of Atlas." Weiss huffed simply, "Actually, the city lights are taking away some of the beauty of the land, in my opinion. I think it's giving me a headache."

Yang took a deep breath and sighed, "And, ladies and gentlemen, our resident Ice Queen here to ruin our moment." Ruby and Blake let out a giggle whilst Weiss glared daggers at the blonde, "Oh come on, Weiss. We're trying to have a team moment here. Don't ruin it."

Weiss, again, huffed. "How absurd." She mumbled to herself, facing away from her group. It wasn't good enough, though, as Ruby sent a sharp elbow into her partners ribcage. Weiss let out a yelp, while Yang patted her sister on the back. "Yang, you are such a bad influence."

"Hey!" The brawler cried in mock hurt, "I'm a great influence!"

Ruby bounced her head back and forth whilst she shook her right hand in the same way, "Eh, I don't know, Yang..." She said slowly, "I think Weiss isn't too far off. You're a great role model, but you are totally a bad influence..."

Yang scrunched her eyebrows as she stared off into the city. "Rubes... What's the difference?"

The leader shrugged, "Role model is over time, influence is shorter time?" The blonde wrapped her sister in a headlock/hug, much to Ruby's distain, "Ack-! What!? What!" She gasped as the iron grip tightened.

"I think schools making you think too hard..." She said quietly as Ruby struggled, "Shh... It'll all be over soon..." She soothed.

"B-Blake! Weiss! Help!" In a flash Blake tackled the brawler, knocking her over. The two tussled while Weiss helped Ruby out from Yang's underarm. "Thanks." She said as she took a breath of relief. She glanced behind her and saw Blake and Yang rolling away from the cliff, though Yang was quickly gaining the upper hand. Ruby looked back at her partner with a raised eyebrow, "Want in?"

Weiss looked out to Vale, turned to peer to Beacon, then back to her fighting teammates. "Eh," She shrugged, "Why not?"

"Banzai!" The two yelled as they joined the fray. At this point, no one knew why they were fighting anymore, all they knew was that it was fun.

Eventually all four came to a complete stop, all out of breath. Yang was the first to start laughing, going from a small chuckle to full on, side busting laughter. Blake was the first to join her partner, followed by Ruby and eventually Weiss. All four stared up to the night sky, finally composing themselves.

As they stared into the clear, starry sky, Ruby began to wonder just how small she was in comparison to the rest of the universe. She never before questioned herself, not even when Summer died. Even now, she only wondered just how vast the horizon above truly was.

It was in this moment where she found peace. In this moment, she was happy, content. The clear sky seemed to be as serene as the city below them. As the stars danced Ruby knew one thing...

She couldn't have a moment like this anywhere but home. She couldn't share a moment like this with anyone but family.

Looking to Blake, then Weiss, finally Yang... Ruby knew, deep down...

They were all her family...

She opened her eyes. That moment in time, that memory, her first in ages... That happened in this very spot. Ruby felt a tear begin to roll down her face. She dashed it quickly, not wanting anyone to see.

'Oh, who am I kidding?' She thought to herself, 'There's no one out here, anyway...'

So she thought, at least.

As she stared out to the majesty of Vale, Ruby heard clicking. Slowly, the noise got closer and closer to her. It sounded familiar... Yes, high heels. But they were too heavy to be Weiss' heels. Neither Yang nor Blake wore them, and she knew for a fact that Pyrrha wouldn't go for them, even on a special occasion. She just didn't seem to be like that sort of girl. Nora also didn't seem like the kind to where heels...

This only left one person.

She maintained contact to the city, while a body stood next to her. Off the corner of her eye, she could barely make out a purple cape. She glanced over, knowing who the person next to her was...

"It truly is a beautiful sight, isn't it?" Glynda said, solemnly.

"They don't get old, do they?" Ruby inquired, "Any of them..."

Glynda chuckled as she shook her head, "Nope... Not at all..." The woman turned and faced her student, "So that's why we couldn't find you..." Ruby turned and faced the older woman, quizzical expression written all over her face. Glynda chuckled before explaining, "All this time we were looking for a girl with a red cape. Nobody said they saw one, and up until you logged into the CCT, we weren't sure if we were going to find you."

"Wait..." Ruby said, "My clo-" She stopped mid-sentence and checked her back, only now realizing that this whole time she did in fact leave her cloak at the dorm. "Huh... I didn't even realize..."

"It certainly made finding you difficult." Glynda assured, "But, all we had to do was check here." Once again she turned out to the city before them, "I don't blame you for coming here, either..."

Ruby's shoulders sagged as she took a deep breath, "I messed up, didn't I?" Glynda peered at her student, raising a lone brow, "When I ran... I made a mistake..."

"Miss Rose," Glynda began, putting a hand on her downtrodden student, "Leaving that environment was the best possible thing you could do." Ruby looked up to her instructor with a surprised expression, "Listen, you were mad, your team was unruly and you didn't want to deal with it all at once, so you left and chose to deal with it all one step at a time. I commend you for recognizing a negative situation and taking charge in such a way. You diffused it, even though technically you were part of it."

"Gee, thanks."

"However, I think the one place where you messed up was leaving your scroll at the dorm. That makes it very difficult to find you, especially in cases of emergency."

"Yeah..." Ruby broke eye contact, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, "I probably worried Yang and the others, didn't I?"

Glynda smile as she looked to her right, "Why don't you ask them?" Ruby followed her teachers gaze and saw Yang, Blake and Weiss, all approaching. Glynda broke off and walked away, whispering something into Yang's ear. The blonde nodded and continued walking.

Ruby tried to speak first, "Yang... Guys, I'm-" A familiar strong arm pulled her into a soft, warm hug. Before she knew it she felt two more bodies join the mix.

"Don't say it, Ruby..." Yang started.

"You don't need to apologize for anything." Blake added.

"We weren't doing nearly enough for you, despite all you've done for us..." Weiss finished.

"It should be us that are sorry... And we are." Yang said solemnly, tightening her grip on her leader... Nay, her sister...

Ruby took it all in. A lone tear escaped her right eye as she tried to wrap her arms around everyone. To her dismay, only Blake and Weiss could feel their leaders arms. 'Yang will get a hug of her own... Ah, screw it... Everyone will get a hug of their own...' She thought.

After a few moments the team broke their group hug, each one not knowing what to say. Ruby decided that she would be the one to break the silence, "I... I know you said I shouldn't, but I'm going to anyway... I'm sorry. For both overreacting and for worrying you."

"Hey." Blake called, her eyes soft, glassy even, "You don't need to... We drove you to that point. None of this would be happening if it wasn't for us."

"Blake's right, Ruby..." Weiss' quiet voice rose through the cool breeze, "For a while now we've been holding off helping you. We thought we were preparing. Instead, we were delaying."

Yang stepped in, with a fire in her heart as she spoke, "That's right. So now, no more delays! We end this now!"

"Actually-" A soft voice called from behind the trio. Glynda approached the group yet again, "It's almost one thirty in the morning... You might want to get some rest before 'finishing this'." She smiled. Yang blushed, embarrassed. She hadn't realized the time, despite how long they had been out. In fact, it didn't even feel that late.

"Right..." Yang said, rubbing her head, "Let's head back, girls. I think we've all earned a rest for the night." Everyone agreed, either nodding or making a sound. "Professor Goodwitch," Yang said as she stepped by, "Thanks for helping us find our le-... No, our sister."

Glynda smiled as she nodded. "For any student, anytime." She said. With that, Glynda Goodwitch turned and walked away. "I'll be sure to check on you all tomorrow afternoon."

Team RWBY walked back to their dorm in silence. Though, this wasn't an awkward kind of silence, instead it was a happier one. One where there was nothing left to say.

The team walked into their building, up the long flight of stairs and finally wound up at their door. Yang was the first to pull out her scroll, unlocking the door's electric lock. She opened it and her team entered right behind her.

Each one crashed on their respective beds. The swaying of Blake's temporary bed made Weiss a tad nervous, but her concerns passed as the bed slowly came to a stop. Luckily for her, Blake was a rather docile sleeper, so she didn't have to fear the ever-dreadful sway in the night, which would eventually cause a creak or a moan from either the ceiling or the ropes. Weiss had yet to determine which it was.

Yang hopped on her bed and sighed. "I don't know about you girls, but I think I'm gonna skip my nightly's, tonight." Her team moaned and groaned in agreement as everyone began to drift. Ruby's one regret was that she hadn't changed out of her class uniform. She thought nothing of it as she curled up, staying above the covers.

Weiss had swiftly thrown her covers over her, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. Blake had already thrown her covers over her... Actually, she dove beneath them when she jumped into bed. Yang stayed above her covers, unable to fall asleep. Something was eating at her...

Like she forgot something...

Oh...

"Oh crap!" She yelled, jumping in her bed. Her team jolted awake, all looking to the source of their interruption as she jumped from her bed. "We forgot to tell JNPR!"

Weiss put a palm to her face as Blake began a defeated laugh. "Aw, man..."

"JNPR was in on the search?" Ruby inquired.

"Yeah, and I totally forgot to tell them we found you..." Yang said as she dialed Pyrrha, "Jaune called me earlier but I couldn't get back to him." She started an awkward little dance as she waited for someone to pick up. Eventually, a voice was heard from the phone. "Pyrrha? H-hey, it's Ya-"

A muffled "What do you want?" Was heard from the other end. Ruby took a look at the clock, noting it was now closer to two o'clock now. "U-u-uh... We, uh... We found Ruby... You all can stop searching now..."

A long pause was heard, as Pyrrha was obviously thinking. Eventually the team could make out what sounded like laughter. "Uh, yeah. I'm being serious... You guys can come on in, it's over now..."

Pyrrha didn't reply... Well, she did, by hanging up. "She not happy?" Blake asked. Yang shrugged as she sat down in a chair. "Well, I'm kinda awake... I think I'm gonna do my nightly's now..." She said, jumping down from her bed.

"I got dibs on it next!" Weiss declared. "Oh, what a night..."

Ruby, who had propped herself on her elbows during the call, now leaned back in her bed, covering her hands with her face. "You said it..."

Ah fluff, don't ya just love it?

Like I said, I don't really have much to say on this. I tried really hard to make it good.

Thanks for reading, please leave a review! Not just 'Cool Story' or anything like that, I actually want to know what you think, what you enjoyed or what you think I could do better on. Next chapter I'll answer or comment on any review that catches my eye.

I also want to thank Karm for taking time to look over this.

As always,

Until Next Time.