"Well, hello, lil' sis."

The words seemed to hang in the air as the two girls stared at each other in uneasy silence. Yang stared at Ruby wide-eyed and with her mouth agape, almost like she could not believe what she had just said. She stood rigid, as though any subtle moment would frighten off Ruby. Ruby, being on the receiving end of Yang's stony gaze, was understandably shaken. Her face started to swell with redness, quivering somewhere between bursting into tears and biting someone's head off. Her mouth repeatedly opened and closed in an effort to form some sort of reply, but in the end, it settled into a grimace.

Meanwhile, Weiss was left totally dumbfounded. Just what the hell is going on? Since when did Ruby ever have a sister? And why do they look like they're about to kill each other? After the jump scares of both Yang's bold arrival at the movies and the movie itself, Weiss had had enough surprises for one evening and was not keen on dealing with this new situation. That being said, the only thing she hated more than the mountain of stress she was attempting to suppress was being left in the dark like panned between her two friends, hoping to somehow glean more information from them. Are they even going to talk about… whatever is going on between them, or are they just going to continue this idiotic staring contest?

At last, Yang spoke up. "What, you don't have anything to—" But Ruby seemed to have no intention of listening to whatever she had to say. Without warning, Ruby, still wearing her defiant face, stepped back into the dorm room and slammed the door right in Yang and Weiss's faces. Within seconds, the heiress could hear the sound of the key turning the lock from the inside and the jingle of the chain lock sliding on. Wait a minute, chain lock…

Weiss turned the key that was still in the lock and tried to push the door open, but the door only opened just a crack before coming to a quick stop. She knew that the door was locked from the inside with the chain, but she jerked it again and again in the vain hope that the chain might break. Of course, Beacon was not a cheap university, and neither was the metal they used for the chain lock – there was no use.

"Ruby Rose, you open up the door this instant!" Weiss shouted through the tiny opening she was allowed. "You are not about lock me out on the night before my exam! It's late enough as is, and I don't know what's going on here, but so help me Oum, I will not let you ruin my grade!" Her roommate did not respond, and Weiss could her the rustling of the bedsheets through the crack in the door. Is that brat really about t hide under the covers? I'll show her! The heiress now resorted to banging on the door to try to get Ruby's attention, but still nothing. Why is this happening to me? Tonight was already enough of a mess for my head. The pounding slowed down as Weiss used up what little of her energy she had left. All I wanted today was to have a nice, relaxing, uneventful evening so that I could calm my nerves. No drama, no surprises – is that really too much to ask? Why isn't anything going my way? She finally stopped when she felt her eyes watering and her muscles starting to shake uncontrollably. Weiss's frustration was giving way to despair, and she might have broken down right then and there were it not for the warm touch on her shoulder.

The heiress spun around to look at the woman behind her. Yang had lost her intensity from earlier, and in the amber glow of the lights outside shining off her golden locks, she looked like a smoldering ember. She offered Weiss a lame smile, the kind people make when they are trying to hide what they are really feeling with false cheerfulness. Weiss knew this technique well. The still-shaking girl could guess that no matter what had happened between the two sisters – she could not help but pause at the thought of those two being related, seeing as they look nothing alike – Yang did not want their reunion to be so brief and bitter. "I can already tell you that she's not going to unlock that door until she knows that I'm long gone," she said with a sigh. "She did stuff like this all the time when she was a kid."

"I see," Weiss said noncommittally. She was sure that Yang had more to say.

"I know that you'd want an explanation for… all this," Yang gestured towards the door and herself as if to indicate her situation with her sister, "but you wouldn't want to deal with that right now I bet." Weiss huffed a quiet laugh in affirmation. "You've got a test tomorrow, so it wouldn't be fair of me to dump all that shit on you."

"Thanks." Yang frowned at the heiress's curt response, and Weiss quickly picked up this. "No, really, thanks for that. And for tonight. For what it was worth, it was fun." She rubbed her temples to fight back the small headache that was growing in her. "But I'm very exhausted right now, so forgive me if I don't sound so cheerful."

"Heh, if you sounded cheerful, I would be a bit concerned," Yang joked, returning to her usual self.

"Hey! I can be cheerful, too, you know," Weiss huffed with a pout, but without the acidity she would normally have. The more distance I can put between that awkward reunion and us, the better. "You just haven't seen it yet."

"I'd pay to see that! Anyway, I keep talking about you needing to rest for tomorrow, and here I am, stopping you from doing that, and it's- oh shit!" Yang had pulled out her scrolled to check the time, and it seemed as though she had completely lost track of it. "Yep, it's ten past one, time to let ya go. Alright, good luck on that test tomorrow, but I'm sure you'll kill it." The blonde punched Weiss lightly on the shoulder with a wink and a hearty grin.

"Hopefully, I won't need the luck, but thanks, Yang," Weiss replied with a small, sleepy smile. She would have loved to return Yang's cheerfulness, but she just did not have it in her; all she wanted to do at that moment was to sink into her pillow and find some peace and quiet at last. "I'll see you tomorrow at the gym, then."

"See ya, Weiss," Yang said with a wave of her hand, already headed toward the stairwell at the end of the walkway. Without making more than a couple steps down the stair, however, the blonde stopped, turning back to Weiss and calling out to her, "Oh, and if for some reason Ruby doesn't let you in or has fallen asleep already or something, just text me and you can crash at my place! I don't have an extra bed, but I have a comfy couch with lots of pillows, and I can drive you back in the morning before the exam!"

A shiver of excitement ran up Weiss's spine. Granted, this option would be rather inconvenient for the both of them, and she would rather not want to be in a rush in the early hours before the exam, but… Weiss could not deny that she wanted to spend more time around her new friend. Besides, she might learn a little bit more about Yang, like what kind of nighttime habits she has, how clean she keeps her place, what kind of clothes she sleeps in…

"Weiss?" Yang called out again, breaking the girl out of her dream world.

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time!" Weiss spat back, hiding her embarrassment with a sharp tongue. "I'll keep it in mind, thanks."

"Cool. 'Night, Weiss."

"Good night, Yang."

Weiss leaned with her back on the door as she listened to the sound of Yang's footsteps slowly descending down the metal steps until the harsh clack of boot on metal faded into a soft click. She watched as the woman moved across the dimly-lit parking lot to the only yellow motorcycle in all of Vale – even in this low light, its appearance was unmistakable. She watched as the silhouette mounted the bike and paused for a moment. Weiss had a hard time making out features from that distance, but she could have sworn that Yang was taking a good long look at the dorm. Probably nostalgia, she thought indifferently, though I could never imagine anyone missing this place. After what seemed like a minute of her just sitting there, Yang revved the motorcycle and tore out of the parking lot and down the road, the rumble of bike dimming to the hum of a bee before fading into silence.

Realizing that she hadn't moved from her spot for several minutes and spurred by the growing cold of the night, Weiss turned to face the door and gave it a firm few knocks. "Alright, Ruby, your sister's gone now," she said with light exasperation. "Would you please be a good roommate and let me in?"

Almost immediately, the heiress heard the sliding of the chain lock, and the door creaked open slowly to reveal Ruby, wearing her pajamas and a sullen face. Strange, had she been by the door this whole time? With a quick "thank you" to her roommate, Weiss walked into the room and made a beeline for her desk. She was done studying, but she still had many small things to go through before the test the next morning. Review cards? Check. Pencils? Check. Bubble sheets in case the professor doesn't hand any out? Check. With each item that she marked off, Weiss slid it into its respective pocket or folder in her backpack. With all her focus on packing materials for the next day, the heiress did not notice her red-clad roommate sitting at the edge of her bed, looking down at her feet with the same sad expression from earlier. In fact, Weiss would not notice her for another several minutes before she broke the silence.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?" She did not look up from her task as she spoke.

"About what happened with Yang, I just wanted to sa-"

"Alright, stop right there," Weiss said, raising her hand out to stop Ruby from going where she thought she might be taking the conversation. Her eyes met Ruby's sad silver ones – dust, she looks like she's about to cry or something – and she resumed. "Before you say anything else, let me just tell you a few things. First, it has been a long week, and today has been even longer than that, so I'm very, very tired right now. Second, I have a big test tomorrow which I've been stressing about for ages, and the last thing I need right now is learn all about your family drama or whatever is going on between you and your sister. Third, it's just a bit after 1:30 right now, so even if I did want to hear whatever you had to say, I just don't have the time. Now, that being said, is there anything you want to say?"

Ruby looked dejected, but seemed to understand Weiss's situation and said nothing more than, "No, I don't have anything else to say." While this was the answer she was looking for, Weiss could not help but feel a pang of guilt. Here I am, talking about needing to be understood, when she probably just went through something big. How thoughtful of you, the heiress scolded herself.

"Look, Ruby, I didn't mean to be so snappy. You're a sweetheart and a good roommate, and I know what just happened was probably huge for you, but I think it would be better for the both of us to let the matter rest until tomorrow. Once I'm done with this blasted test, I'll be all ears, okay?" Ruby gave her a nod in affirmation and a twitch of a smile. She was not quite happy, but at least Weiss's proposal was satisfactory. Weiss smiled back as warmly as she could and continued, "Why don't you talk about your date with Jaune instead? It sounded like you had a lot of fun."

"Well," Ruby started slowly, "I already told you that Jaune was taking me to Atlas Avenue, and I knew that it was supposed to be a nice place and everything, but I didn't think it was, like, super nice. I mean, even the napkins were fancy! That dinner alone could have paid for all my textbooks this semester!"

"You don't have any textbooks this semester," Weiss drily interjected.

Ruby pouted at her roommate. "You know what I mean! It was just a simile!"

"Analogy."

"Right! That." Ruby paused for a moment as she tried to remember what exactly she was talking about. "Oh, yeah, and he even ordered a bouquet of roses to sit at the table, because, you know, I'm Ruby Rose, and so it was really sweet and I felt really mushy inside because Jaune was being so nice to me with all this." The brunette fidgeted in her spot on the bed, probably from the happy thoughts that she had just remembered from the date.

"That's all well and good, but how was Jaune himself?" Weiss asked. "He can go through the motions all he wants, but if he wasn't a good date, then it all means nothing." The heiress had been on a number of dates in the past, all with guys who were far more interested in impressing her than actually getting to know her, so she naturally had a distrust for people who go for lavish dinners and all sorts of other superficial fluff.

"Oh, he made the evening worth it, for sure," Ruby replied with a beaming smile. She then giggled as she remembered something. "It was his first ever date, apparently, and even though he tried to hide it, you could tell that he was super nervous. It was really cute, really, and it actually really helped me out, since I was nervous, too, and I was happy that I wasn't the only one. From there, we just kinda did our own thing. We started talking about school, but then we just went everywhere from there. We talked about our favorite shows, our plans for spring break, embarrassing stories about ourselves, our pets, and other stuff. I don't even remember everything, but I do remember that it was the best night I've had in a long time." The warm afterglow that Weiss felt from Ruby was proof enough of that.

"That's really good to hear, Ruby." While a little envious of the kind of happiness Ruby had, she could not help but smile – no, she deserves this. Weiss mentally patted herself on the back for cheering up her roommate. So this is how Yang does it – perhaps a bit of her is rubbing off on me? She smiled at the thought decided that now was probably a good time to go to sleep. "Alright, I have to wake up in six hours, so I'm going to go to bed now."

"Okay, that soun- wait a minute, why are you waking up at 8? Isn't your test at 10?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't you want to squeeze in extra sleep, so you don't, you know, accidentally take a nap during the exam?"

"And go to class looking like a mess? No, I need that hour to shower, do my hair, put on makeup, and make sure I don't look hideous before going out." Of course, Weiss looked gorgeous no matter what she did, but it was one thing to look good and another entirely to feel good. Ruby, someone who did not usually fuss about appearance other than making sure she washed herself in the morning, could never understand what she was going on about.

"I know, but don't you think that's a bit unnecessary?"

"Yes, it is certainly necessary. If I'm trying to figure out the number of chiral centers in a molecule, I don't want to waste my time thinking about whether or not I have split ends showing." Her roommate let out an "ah" of understanding, but Weiss knew that all this talk was foreign to her. Still, Ruby was being a good sport about it, and that's all Weiss needed. "Anyway, good talk, but it's time for sleeping."

"Right! Good night, Weiss!" Ruby zipped under the covers and slipped on her sleep mask. She was used to going to bed while Weiss was still doing homework or reading, so it was a necessary purchase for her – tonight was no exception. Weiss began to take off her clothes and slip into her own pajamas, tossing her sweater and leggings into the laundry hamper. She made her way across the room to flip off the lights before also slipping into her blanket.

As Weiss was slowly letting go of her thoughts and drifting into her slumber, Ruby whispered from across the room, "Hey, Weiss?"

"What is it?" She might have tried to sound annoyed at her roommate interrupting her, but she honestly could not muster the will or the energy to do so.

"Was she… was Yang really the trainer you've been talking about?"

Ah, still got that on her mind, then. Still, she could not blame Ruby for wanting to ask something about her sister. "Yeah, she's the one."

Weiss did not hear anything from Ruby for a little bit. It was an obvious question with an obvious answer, but she figured that it was harmless enough to ask anyway. Then, she heard Ruby sigh – out of relief or sadness, she was not quite sure.

"I guess things got better for her, then."

EDITORS: condor700 and Just_one_more_

Well, well, well, it has certainly been a very long time since I updated this - in fact, as of the time of posting this, 2 months on the dot. At first, I thought just to take a break for finals in late April and early May, but after not writing for that long, I started to lose my touch. It didn't help that this chapter was especially difficult for me to nail down, being such a vital chapter. This is the result of my third rewrite, and I'm finally happy with how it turned out.

For those of you who waited all those 2 months for this, thank you so much for keeping up with this story, and here's to finally getting the ball rolling again! Please feel free to say what you think of this chapter, as I'm sure y'all will have lots to say for this one ;)

Also, I would like to thank Jefardi for helping me out with this chapter - he was a massive help, so thanks, mate :D

That's all for now!