Chapter 5! I cut up the entire testing arc a little bit so it's not a clumped up.

Theories are made in this chapter. More dialogue and explanations.

Enjoy.

The day seemed to have begun like any other had over the last two weeks. The girls of Team RWBY woke up, got dressed and after breakfast they had made their way to the infirmary. Today was the day Ozpin had set up for Ruby to test.

The test consisted of three major things subjects: Two written tests, one for battle strategy (as all leaders must know) and one a general test on Grimm. Anatomy, habits etc. The third portion of the test would be a physical test split into numerous parts. Ruby would have to fight alongside one member of her team against a pack of Beowolves (captured compliments of Professor Port), then fight with every member. The final part would be Ruby fighting against every member in a spar (or one member... It depends on Goodwitch's mood).

The written test on leadership would be first, right after lunch. Then they would begin the first stage of the physical tests. After that it would be the Grimm test (easy test, really. Only put in to give the test taker a rest.) Finally would be the spar.

It was almost ten o'clock. They would have three hours to be with their team leader before she would begin her test. Team RWBY began made their way to the infirmary quickly. The team wanted to spend as much time as possible with Ruby before throwing her into a grueling seven hour testing process.

Yang was lead the group into the infirmary and found Ruby's door. Knocking, they heard a quiet 'come in'. Opening the door, they found Ruby sitting on the side of her bed, fully dressed in her combat attire (that Yang was more than happy to drop off).

"Ruby?" Yang asked, "Are you ok?"

Ruby looked up at her sister, "Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because it looked like you-" Weiss started, but stopped herself after realizing Ruby was probably mentally preparing herself, "-oh never mind."

Ruby shook off the comment, not allowing herself to be distracted for anything. "Ok, I think I'm ready." She looked to her teammates, who nodded. If she said she was ready, then they wouldn't stop her.

Yang put her arm around Ruby's shoulder and led her out of the room that Ruby called home for the last few days. Weiss and Blake followed closely, leaving the infirmary. In a matter of minutes they made it to Ozpin's office and knocked, receiving a 'come in' from the other side.

Walking in, they were met with Ozpin's welcoming gaze, "Ah, Team RWBY. I assume you're ready for today's tests?" Ruby nodded, "Very well. Follow me and we shall begin your first written exam." With that, Ozpin left signaling them to follow.

He led the girls down to a fairly small classroom. It held only a few desks, and even fewer chairs. "Professor Peach will be in shortly to give you the exam, Ruby. The rest of you are welcome to stay, if you'd like, on the condition that you do not interfere with the testing in any way." The team nodded. "Very good. I'll leave you all alone until the end of this test, then we shall discuss in detail the next portion. Good luck, Miss Rose." Ruby nodded in thanks and Ozpin left.

"So, Ruby," Yang started, "Do you want us to stay in here or not?" Ruby thought for a moment.

"Think you could wait outside? I don't want to feel rushed with this..." Her team nodded and began to exit the room, "Wait! I don't mean to leave, yet. Stay until I get the test." Her teammates looked at each other, then their leader and nodded. No telling how long until Peach would get there, Ruby didn't want to be alone for an extended period of time.

Unfortunately, the time was spent in mostly awkward silence. Ruby didn't talk much, as she felt as though she had nothing to say. She wanted the company of friends, or at least, those who she has been told were friends.

On the bright side, it wasn't a long time spent before Peach entered the room. "Ah, hello there." She began, "I'm professor Peach, nice to meet you... again, Ruby." She extended a hand, which Ruby returned. "I'm here to give you your exam today." She turned to the others, "Will you be staying for the test or leaving?" The team turned to their leader and nodded.

"We'll be outside waiting, professor." Weiss said. Peach nodded and gestured for them to leave. The sooner Ruby could begin, the faster they can begin the next few tests.

The team left the classroom, and found that Ozpin had been gracious enough to give the girls chairs in the hall. Yang had a slight smile on her face. The chairs weren't there (at least, they didn't notice the chairs) when they first walked in. Each member sat down, Blake pulled out a book; Weiss, her scroll; while Yang just sat there, not doing anything. She began to lose herself in thought.

'What if we can't help Ruby?'

'What if she's like this?'

'Why can't I figure this out?!' She hadn't had time to think about things these last few days, only put pieces together and attempt to figure out what happened to her sister, using what she could gather.

According to Blake, the 'cold' that Ruby felt in the visions she had was fear. She was confused, unable to figure out what happened and was scared. When she heard her teammates, she was certain she could find answers. But when she was still left in the dark, she feared; when she feared, she was alone.

As for the visions, Blake confirmed that it was her mind attempting to remember who the voices speaking were. She was certain, without the possibility of doubt, that she knew them. However, she could not remember faces except when they were in memories. So those memories replayed themselves, in a futile attempt to remember.

Blake wanted to press Ruby a little more, to try and figure out what was going on in her mind, before, during and after the incident with the Deathstalker. But the nurses wouldn't allow it. The moment Ruby showed signs of weariness they kicked out her teammates. They wanted their patient to have as much rest as possible. Much to her teammates dismay, they understood.

Blake noticed Yang's unease and put a hand on her shoulder, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Yang lied, "I'm fine." She got a cold stare from Blake who saw right through Yang. She sighed, "Fine, I'm not entirely ok. Happy now?" Blake still didn't relent, "What do you want from me?!"

"I want to know what's wrong?"

Again, Yang sighed, "I'm just having a little bit of a tough time with this. I just... It's tough for me to accept the inevitability that I can't help my sister."

"Yang," Weiss began, "You know that way of thinking is flawed, right?" Yang just looked up at the heiress quizzically, "Believe me, there will be a way for you to help her. If not to bring her memory back then you'll be able to help her make new ones. Besides, it's just the last year, it's not like she lost an entire lifetime."

"It's still a year of memories, damn good ones too."

"How about the breach?" Weiss said, "Remember how many nightmares she's been having recently? She can't cope with all of the..." Weiss stopped and came to a realization, her teammates matched her look, understanding the same thing. "Could she be repressing this... because of the Breach?"

"It... It's entirely certain, Weiss..." Blake said, "Her nightmares have been getting progressively worse... Maybe her mind saw a way out of them."

Yang let all of the information sink in, leaning back in her chair. She looked to her teammates, and in her mind, she thought only one thing: Disgust.

Disgust in herself. She saw the signs; Ruby's nightmares had been getting worse and worse lately. It wasn't uncommon, each of the girls had their fair share of them. And they would all help their teammate through the issue. Ruby, however, pushed everyone away, not letting them in, hiding it. Yang knew this weeks ago... And still did nothing. She knew she should have pressed on, pushed for answers. It's different for a sister to force the issue out than a teammate.

"Yang," Weiss called, "Are you ok?"

"I-It's my fault," Yang said, choking up, "I knew... I fucking knew!"

"Hey, hey hey hey," Blake said quickly, attempting to calm down her partner, "It's not your fault. If anything we all have the blame. We all saw the signs, we all knew. Yet we did nothing, we let her be when she said for it, even when it was evident she needed help. It's not your fault, Yang."

Yang didn't take this information very well. Blake's attempt at calming the young Huntress was futile. The brawler continued to blame herself and it was clear to the others. Blake, doing the only thing she knew how to do in order to deal with Yang (Compliments to her leader) pulled Yang into a hug.

They even got Weiss to join in.

"Blake's right, Yang," Weiss assured her, "We all knew... We're all guilty." Yang, finally, gave in. She didn't want the blame of failure to fall onto her teammates. This was an issue that sisters, who knew each other best, would have to work out. Obviously, her method of thinking was wrong.

Weiss was the first to pull away from the hug and announced that she would report to Ozpin. He would need to know what they have figured out in order to assist the overall treatment. Moments after she left, Blake and Yang finally broke off the embrace. Taking their seats in silence, they waited patiently for Ruby. Neither of them knew how long this test would take.

They didn't have to wait long before something happened, as Yang's scroll began going off. "That can't be Weiss, can it?" She asked. Blake just shrugged and gestured to answer it. The name that came up was Pyrrha's. Yang quickly answered,

"Hey, Pyrrha. What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," She responded, "We just saw Weiss hauling ass and all hell over to Ozpin's office. She wouldn't even stop to say 'hi' to Nora. What's going on?"

Yang quickly slapped her forehead. They had completely forgotten to keep all of JNPR in the loop with Ruby. All they knew was that she had amnesia, nothing about the tests or anything thereafter. "Uh, we figured something out with Ruby, something that Ozpin needs to know..."

"Oh? Wanna fill us in? Like you said you would?

"Yeah... This is gonna be a long story... so..." Yang had to start somewhere with this without breaking her promise to them and without telling them about Ruby's nightmares. "This is going to be tough to explain..."

Weiss had began a very fast speed walk, almost a run even, straight to Ozpin's office. She stopped for nothing, completely ignored Team JNPR (which hurt to do) and even mowed some people down. Anything and everything in her way was in danger, time was of the essence.

'Wait,' She thought, 'why don't I just call him?' She slapped her forehead, realizing how much of an idiot she was. 'Ruby, you're rubbing off on me... Stop it!' She began to pull up Ozpin in the Scroll's directory, then realized she was almost fifty feet from the tower that lead to his office. She said and began walking.

On her way in, she was stopped by Glynda Goodwitch. "Miss Schnee, what do we owe this pleasure?"

"I need to see Professor Ozpin right now!" She said, urgency clear in her voice, "We may know what caused the amnesia!"

Goodwitch's eye's went wide, and she nodded in understanding. Opening the elevator, she gestured for Weiss to enter. Goodwitch then put her scroll on the terminal and almost immediately they were going up.

"So," She began, "What do you think is the issue... And why didn't you just call?"

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "I didn't think about calling until I was already here." Goodwitch just chuckled, "As for the issue... We think the Breach had an... effect on her..."

"An effect?" Goodwitch repeated, "Elaborate?"

"Can I say it when we get to Ozpin, please? I don't want to repeat myself." Goodwitch nodded in understanding.

After another minute of silence, the door opened and they were right outside Ozpin's office. Goodwitch knocked on the door and entered, not even waiting for Ozpin to respond.

"Glynda." He said calmly, "You have entered without waiting for a response in a long time, what is the...?" He then saw Weiss. "Ah, Miss Schnee. Is there something wrong?"

"On the contrary," Weiss began, "We think we know what's wrong with Ruby." Ozpin gestured to go on, "We think... We think it was the Breach, sir."

"Excuse me? What do mean by that?"

"Ok, I'm going to go and... Not be Weiss for a moment..." Ozpin raised an eyebrow, but knew what was going to come so gestured to continue, "Ok, check this out! Ruby and Professor Oobleck stayed on top of the train to keep the White Fang off of us. She knocked a lot... I will emphasize a lot, off of the train." Ozpin nodded, "Then the train went through the wall. There were a great many people standing around, and when we came to, the Grimm started pouring out of the hole the train made."

Weiss stopped for a moment, allowing Ozpin to absorb the information. "So, what you're saying, Miss Schnee, is that Ruby-"

"Wanted to forget, sir." Weiss interrupted, "She had been having, bad nightmares recently. She told us not to worry about it, it happens with all of us. We just thought it wasn't much and went by her wishes. We think that what she did... How many people she threw off and how many people she saw get hurt..."

"It caused those nightmares..." Ozpin said, making the same realization that the others made. "This information is... Troubling, to say the least. But it gives us a foreground to begin helping her." A small 'bing' was heard and Goodwitch reached for her scroll.

"Professor Ozpin!" She began, "Miss Rose has finished her exam and is ready for the physical portion."

Ozpin nodded, "Very well. Glynda, prepare the combat arena and lock the room up. These next few hours will be a private match. Call Peter and tell him to bring his... Pets to the arena." Goodwitch nodded and began making arrangements, leaving the two. "Miss Schnee!" Ozpin called, "Join me, if you will. You'll be fighting with your leader very soon."

Weiss nodded and followed Ozpin out.

Yang had finally hung up with Pyrrha. Blake had tried to help her through the conversation and was greatly relieved when Pyrrha finally had given up trying to understand what she was being told and just accepted the information given. Yang didn't want to disclose her sisters personal life, with the nightmares, at least, but still gave enough on what they believe the underlying cause of amnesia is.

"Well," Blake sighed, "I think Weiss might be able to sleep a little easier..."

"Hm?" Yang hummed, "Why's that?"

"Oh, she's been dreading the fact that she, and her harsh words, might be the cause for the amnesia." Blake chuckled, "Ruby's comment yesterday almost totally proved that.

It was Yang's turn to chuckle, "She... She honestly believed that?" Blake nodded, "Wow. And here I was thinking she didn't have a heart."

"If she does it's frozen in permafrost." Yang almost broke down completely. Blake had been waiting so long to use that and was glad to see it had a good effect.

Without warning, the door swung open. Yang and Blake were sure Peach was coming out to yell at them for being too loud. Peach walked out and looked at the two, "Your leader has completed her test, girls." The pair took a simultaneous sigh of relief. Ruby walked out behind Peach and approached her teammates.

"So," She began, "What was so funny?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

"Oh," Yang started, "It was a joke about Weiss, is all..."

"Let me hear it."

"Ok, Blake said 'If she had a heart it would be frozen in permafrost by now.'" Yang started to crack up again. Ruby just glared at the two. "You-You're not laughing." Yang choked out.

"That didn't seem very nice." And then Yang and Blake realized it. Ruby doesn't fully remember how much of a bitch Weiss can be. "Actually, I'm surprised that came from you, Blake."

Blake hung her head in shame. Yang attempted to defend her, however. "No, it's nothing like that! It's just, you don't remember the 'Weiss Schnee experience'."

"Mhm." Ruby said, "Another thing I don't remember."

Those words hit Yang like a MAC Truck. "I-uh, It's-!"

"Don't." Ruby said firmly. Yang was mentally kicking herself for saying that. She had completely forgotten everything in the span of seconds and all logic went out the window.

"Sorry." Yang apologized after the harsh scolding given by her sister.

"Ahem!" A voice from down the hall got the girls' attention. "I understand you have completed your test, Miss Rose." Ruby stood and nodded. "Excellent. Then I will allow you to choose your next test, which is a physical one. Do you want to face waves of Grimm with your teammates, or spar with them instead? The one you don't do now will be the one you do later tonight."

Ruby thought for a moment, looked to her teammates, then to Ozpin. "I'll fight with them now, and fight them later."

"Very well!" Ozpin said, "Follow me girls." The group followed, Yang in front, Ruby to her right, Blake behind Ruby and Weiss next to Ozpin.

They walked across the courtyard to the arena. After entering Ozpin gestured towards the locker room. "Once you change into your combat attire enter the arena. I will explain your fight then." Ruby nodded and went to the locker room. Yang followed closely.

"Do you really have to?"

"You may need help." Ruby kept a quizzical stare at her sister as they walked inside. The sister's lockers were right next to each other. Ruby then realized...

She doesn't remember her code.

Looking towards her sister, Yang knew instantly the problem. "I told ya." Ruby just shook her head in mild annoyance. "Hey, what's wrong? You've been very quiet today." Ruby stayed quiet. "Hey," Yang nudged her after opening her locker, "Come on... You nervous?"

"No."

"Then what's up?"

"It's just... I know how I'm going to fight alone and with you... I'm just not sure about Blake and... Wise?"

"Weiss." Yang sighed, "She's gonna whoop you if you don't learn that."

Ruby chuckled, "I'd like to see her try."

"Whatever you say, sis." Yang said, slapping her sister on the back. "I'm going to go take my seat. Don't worry too much about the other person. Just let the fight happen and work with them. I promise you'll do fine."

"Easy for you to say." Ruby muttered. Yang left, leaving Ruby to take a moment to herself before entering the ring. 'How am I supposed to let the fight happen and go with it if I don't remember any maneuvers? How can I fight with them if I don't know who they are, let alone how they fight?'

Ruby shook these thoughts away from herself and stood up. Now was the time to fight. She looked at the clock. "Two o'clock," She said out loud, "Well, it's now or never."

Well then...

Ruby's got a bit of an attitude to her, doesn't she? This is not how she will act throughout the entirety of the story, so if you read this and said "Damn I don't like this Ruby." Don't worry, friend. She's not here to stay.

I also used the theory on the Breach that I saw on the RWBY subreddit. I think it worked very well for the story. Allows for some expansion of thought in terms of theories and issues, right? Right.

So! I also put some thought into that ship... Ok, I am HORRIBLE at shipping, romance, any of that. If I am going to do it, which I will hint it a few times in the near future, it won't be anything big. Actually, it may just be absolutely terrible (probably the latter... You have been warned).

Ok! I'm done rambling. How was this episode? A lot of plot building went into this. Next chapter is the first fight and it's not bad starting out. A lot less dialogue, but also a lot of just text. It doesn't really do much to move the plot, other than give you an idea of where Ruby is at. It will take some time because I need to move things around and make it not so "generic".

On that note, I thank you for reading and bid you farewell!

Until next time.