Yang groaned as she threw her sheets off, trying to blink sleep out of her eyes. The hardwood floor of their room was chilly, but Yang didn't mind. She was too tired to care. Their schedule had gotten so messed up that team RWBY only got to sleep a few hours each day, and always at irregular and inconsistent times. Yang checked her scroll. Six at night. She reached her arms above her head and bent her spine, stretching and letting out a loud yawn.

This was the most peaceful wake up she had had in weeks.

Normally, Yang was awoken by the loud blaring of the alarm bell or a personal page to her team. So, waking up at dinner time actually seemed quite pleasant and normal. Yang let out a soft smile as a thought crossed her mind. This was the first time she had free time, and she knew exactly how she wanted to spend it.

She hopped to her feet and twisted in the air to land facing her bunk. She stepped up onto her bed so that she could peer up at the sleeping face of Blake.

Her porcelain skin had a few streaks of dirt marring it, but the elegant curves of her features warmed Yang's heart to the very core. Her shapely legs were half tucked under a thin white sheet, and she was wearing a black tank top. For the first time in a while, her ears were free from their bow. They quivered slightly in her sleep.

Yang's smile grew a little. Her girlfriend's face was completely peaceful, devoid of any worry or concern. The second that Blake woke, started thinking again, remembered where they were in the world, what was happening, the intensity would return. Blake was never one to back down. Yang resented that a bit as she shook Blake's shoulder lightly.

Amber irises opened to find lilac staring back at them, and a smile grew across her face.

"Better than an alarm, isn't it?" Yang asked with a wink. Blake got an elbow under her and grabbed her scroll, checking the time.

"It's too early. Six o'clock is too early."

"Well, maybe later, you can have a catnap."

A blank stare was all Yang got for that. She shrugged.

"Come on, I want to go for a walk."

Blake felt Yang's fingers brush against hers as they walked through the abandoned garden near Beacon's main courtyard. It was a silent question, permission for her to take Blake's hand. Blake didn't like being too affectionate in public, but here, isolated, she didn't mind, so she grabbed Yang's hand in her own and they slowly walked through the flowers in full bloom. It felt solid and tangible. Blake stroked the back of Yang's hand lightly.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Blake finally voiced the thought gnawing away at the back of her mind as she looked through the empty pathway. Since the world had gone to hell, no one had time for the flowers anymore. Why should she?

"We need time for ourselves, otherwise we'll burn out. We can't help anyone if we get ourselves killed."

"We're stronger than that. We have to be."

"No one's that strong. Everyone needs to rest. Everyone has limits."

"I don't know if we can afford those anymore." Blake mumbled, reaching up to cup a nightshade's blossom, feeling its familiar texture. They had always been her favourite. Part of her loved this, spending time with Yang, alone in a garden. It was a moment to forget the rest of the world, but right now the world was burning.

"Blake…" Yang's voice was full of worry as it trailed off, a thought unfinished.

"Why is it so important to you that I stop?" She asked, unable to keep the edge of irritation from creeping into her voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yang asked, her eyes downcast. Blake looked at her surprised. Yang looked vulnerable, like a doe skittering in the gaze of a wolf.

"Yang?" She inquired, not fully understanding. Yang pulled on Blake's hand and brought her swinging around so they were face to face, and suddenly Yang's lips were on her own.

She tasted like honey and vanilla, and Blake's eyes fluttered shut of their own accord. Blake didn't think she'd ever get tired of kissing Yang. Her tongue whispered against Blake's lips, and she parted them, granting her girlfriend access. Their tongues swirled together, and Blake felt Yang press herself more forcefully against her chest.

Normally kissing Yang was peaceful, calm, and flowed smoothly and naturally. This one was different though. It was heated and Yang was grasping at her desperately, almost as if she were afraid to ever let go. Blake pulled back slightly, but Yang followed her, taking charge and pressing Blake's back up against an oak tree. Blake moaned into her girlfriend's lips slightly at the authoritative movement, and Yang took this as a sign to press on. Their tongues wrestled against one another's, and Yang ran her hands through Blake's hair. Blake let herself give in for a moment, pulling Yang's waist against her, eradicating any space between them. She enjoyed the sensation, vanilla and honey filling her senses as Yang's fingertip grazed her ear, making it twitch involuntarily. Yang's hands slid back to Blake's face, cupping her cheeks as Yang drew out one last, long kiss before pulling away slightly.

"I-" She broke off, gasping a little for breath. "I need to know I have this to come back to. I need you Blake. I want to make sure that when everything is said and done, and the world goes back to normal and everything is peaceful, that you're there with me. I know it's selfish, but is it enough that I want you here for you to take a break?"

Blake paused, shocked.

Was it enough.

"Yang, I… why…"

"Blake, please."

Blake just stood there, with her mouth open. The weight of the moment bore down on her. She couldn't deny that she wanted to, that the prospect of spending a day alone with Yang, sheltered and isolated from the horrors around them, excited her. Just talking over their worries, and being together. They could stay in the garden for a bit longer, having fun and speaking to each other. They could go out and have lunch together, eat some bonbons and relax.

But the memories of Vale were seared into her mind... The countless people who were being run down by the creatures of Grimm, the screams and the sights of the citizens being ripped apart by the monsters. The feeling of being unable to save any of them when they were so close to her - that crushing helplessness. She remembered several of the people that survived some of the attacks, the way they all seemed devoid of hope… How lost they all looked, just wandering around the camp, without any motivation to do anything. The screams of the children, the mothers that had lost their children, fathers crying out in anguish as they held the bloodied faces of their recently passed, numerous strangers asking for the location of their loved ones, their friends, their families - many of whom would never be found. The looks of absolute grief on their faces when they had to be told their lost one would never come back to them, the despair that arose from them as they screamed at the hunters, yelling it was their fault. Because it was always their fault. They never did enough; their best couldn't come close to what it had to be. If she chose to be selfish right now, there would be more and more of those people, and they would have failed their task as huntresses. She was already failing, what kind of monster would it make her if she gave up on them now in favour of what? A day of relaxation? Why should she get to rest at the expense of human and faunus blood?

"We have a mission, and people entrust us to do it. We can't just leave them behind… I need to go. I'll see you at the Bullhead." Blake broke away from Yang briskly..

Blake strutted away from Yang and headed straight for the landing strip. Yang just stood there, something between sorrow, grief and fear swimming in her lilac eyes.

"You can't possibly keep this up." Yang whispered when she thought her girlfriend was out of earshot. But Blake heard with her sensitive ears and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. This wasn't the first time they had had a talk that had ended with Blake storming away.. She had a job though, they all did, and that task was more important than any of them and what they wanted. As much as she didn't like it, when weighing her relaxation against the thousands of citizens in Vale, there was little real choice.

So Blake walked to the bullhead and hauled herself in quickly, deftly putting the straps from her seat on, heedless of the interruption she had just made to Weiss and Ruby.

Ruby looked over at Weiss sitting stiffly in the bullhead. Ruby had sent a message to Blake on her scroll a few minutes ago which meant they wouldn't be there for a while longer, but at Weiss' insistence, she and Ruby had still come straight to the bullhead.

Weiss' hair was unkempt, and Ruby knew that the heiress would never have let herself look anything less than immaculate had she the choice. Unfortunately, they had been rushed, as was quickly becoming the norm for them. And that worried Ruby.

She knew they needed to work hard, now more than ever. She remembered what the relentless Grimm attacks had done to Mountain Glenn, and she also knew that Vale had nowhere to fall back to if it was breached. They couldn't let that happen, but Ruby couldn't shake an uneasy feeling. Her team was getting burned out. They were tired going into each fight now, and everyone was tense. Blake and Yang had been fighting a lot, and Weiss had deep shadows under her eyes. Her skin looked thin and transparent, her cheeks hollow.

Guilt and apprehension clenched in Ruby's stomach. It pained her to see Weiss like that. She hadn't been eating enough or sleeping enough. Each day it got worse and worse, and the little voice in the back of Ruby's mind got more and more pronounced:

What if something happens to her?

Ruby dipped her hand into one of the front pockets of her belt, withdrawing the small silver object within, no longer than her index finger. It was a narrow cross with flared tips and two grooves running to the center from each extremity, not too dissimilar from the pair that attached her cloak to her corset. There was a small loop at the top, through which a delicate argentine chain was hooked.

"Weiss," She called softly. The other girl turned towards her, her glacial eyes flashing slightly in the light of the sun, just beginning its descent. Usually, the red tinge was exclusive to the later hours of the day when the sun kissed the horizon just before twilight, but now with the smoke sitting heavily in the air from the burnt fields and defenses it was permanently stained a somewhat bloody color.

Ruby held the cross to Weiss.

" Here, I wanted to give you this before we went out again," She said quietly.

"What's this for?" asked Weiss, exasperated slightly but still reaching forward to gently take it.

"It was my mother's. She gave it to me before she left the last time. She told me that no matter what happened, it would keep me safe." She let out a soft laugh. "I used to be so scared of the dark, but nights seemed a little brighter after that. It worked for me so far, and there's no one I want to stay safe more than you.",

"Ruby," Weiss looked down at the petite necklace. She undid the clasp and reached it around her neck. "Thank you, but why now?"

"My mother gave it to me before she went on her most dangerous mission. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we all make it through this, and I know you can take care of yourself, but this is only going to get worse from now on. This is something I can do to help make sure you come out of this alright. It's small, but if it helps at all, it's worth it.."

"Thank you,." Weiss repeated, reaching forward and taking Ruby's hand. Ruby smiled, feeling her girlfriend's thumb run over the ridges of her knuckles. "I just wish I had something to give you."

"How about a kiss for good luck?" Ruby suggested with a cheeky smile. Weiss gave her a glare, but then rolled her eyes and leaned forward.

"Fine. But you only get one." She whispered when her lips were an inch from Ruby's own. Her heart thumped a bit louder in her chest, and her pulse quickened. It was just a brief peck, but Ruby grinned as they pulled apart.

"There, now we've both got some extra luck." Weiss smiled thinly, one of the few times she had in the past weeks. She reached up and fingered her new accessory. She had never been given a family heirloom before.

Ruby's attention was pulled to the side as she saw Blake storming towards the bullhead. Yang followed fifty feet behind her, and her shoulders were held stiffly. Ruby sighed. They had been fighting again. Ruby hadn't wanted to get involved, preferring to let them sort it out on their own, but she was beginning to think she might have to have a talk with Yang. They were stretched thin as it was, and they didn't need any more stress at the moment.

She signaled the pilot as Blake rushed into the plane, sitting down roughly and strapping in. The ship thrummed slightly as the engines started up. The roaring of the engines grew to a peak as Yang hopped on board, and no sooner was she sitting down were they off the ground.

The bullhead had not been Ruby's favourite at first. It was old and smelt of rust and engine oil. The seats were hard and uncomfortable, and it was very, very loud. She didn't much care anymore though. It was part of the routine now. Wake up, bullhead, fight, bullhead, sleep. It was monotonous and repetitive, but it was what they needed to do in their part to help stem the tides of the encroaching sea of black.

Ruby brought Crescent Rose up from under her seat as the pilot flew them out towards the walls that surrounded Beacon, checking the various bolts and hinges. She knew her scythe was in perfect working order, but there was only so much she could do to alleviate the nerves that ran through her body. She checked her spare cartridges, made sure everything was topped up, checked her trigger to make sure it was well oiled, checked her cartridges again…

"Check our six! I've got a signal from back there!" The yell came through the hatch, and Ruby perked up. The pilot was shouting at her from the cockpit, and she frowned. They were still a few minutes' flight from the edge of the city, it was probably just another plane. Nonetheless, she shucked her harness and made her way to the open bay door of the dust plane. She grabbed the guard rail.

A deafening screech pierced the sky, and Ruby instinctively covered her ears, stumbling backwards. When it passed, she leapt forward and stuck her head out of the door. She looked back behind her, and her stomach sank.

The black mass was so large it almost looked like a cloud. Its razor sharp feathers and bone plating betrayed it though. Burning red eyes were locked on its prey and gleaming talons were poised to snap forward at any moment.

"Nevermore!" She shouted at the others who were waiting for her word to unharness. She saw shock pass over their faces briefly before they refocused.

"What the hell is it doing this far in city? They should just be on the fringes."

"Widespread panic," Weiss suggested, coming up next to Ruby. "The citizens must be more concerned than we thought.

"Ice flower!" Ruby ordered, unfolding Crescent Rose. The creature screeched again and dove at them. "Left!" Ruby shouted at the cockpit, but the pilot was already ahead of her. He yanked on the joystick, making the four of them stumble as they tumbled to the side. She saw black feathers swoop by mere feet outside the window.

"Let's slow it down." Weiss said, grabbing Ruby's elbow to steady herself and raising her hand. Four glyphs appeared on the outside of the door, and Ruby aimed down the middle of them. A moment later, she saw a trace of black on the edge of her vision, and shot.

The dust round streaked through the air, the ice from Weiss' glyphs shooting off behind it like a comet's tail. Ruby looked out from her scope to watch the round slam into its back. Ice crystals sprouted from its back in a flash, and Ruby grinned a bit at the hit. But the grimm didn't slow down. Trying to hit it with ice whilst flying through the air was impractical - they'd only get a shot off once or twice a minute.

"Blake, Yang, unload on it." There was a click and whirring and the two prepared their weapons, but Ruby didn't see it. She was already scoped in on the thing's head. It looped up to the sky, presumably getting ready to swoop back at them again. She found its eye and lined it up with the second notch to the left of her scope, trailed its head, making sure the shot would land, and squeezed the trigger.

The dust tore through the grimm's eye socket and it let out a sharp caterwaul, spinning through the air. Ruby let out a whoop and pumped her fist as Yang and Blake unloaded their clips into the beast. Rings of red and yellow exploded against the creature, sending waves of fire over its dark feathers. Ruby's excitement dimmed as it flapped its wings, unperturbed, and began to turn on them again.

"Weiss?" She asked, hoping her partner knew what to do.

Three white glyphs appeared between the airship and the charging Grimm. Weiss braced herself, bringing her arms in front of herself as though to shield her and staggering her stance. The Nevermore barreled into the first glyph, and Weiss' knees buckled slightly beside Ruby. She recovered, and then it smashed into the second. Weiss staggered back, and Ruby heard a sharp inhale through gritted teeth.

"Hold on!" She encouraged, but Weiss didn't hear her. She just grimaced as the Grimm cut into the third glyph. This time it slowed noticeably, but Weiss lost control. The glyph buckled under the beast's pressure and just as Weiss fell to the side, breathing heard.

Ruby raised her gun, training to aim it at the Nevermore's other eye. It was coming fast though, and Ruby couldn't get a clear shot off. She was too far zoomed in. There was a detonation to her side, and Gambol Shroud flew forward, striking the creature dead in its ear.

The Nevermore bucked as Blake wrenched on her chain scythe, sending it off kilter. It started to twist and fall through the air, its balance ruined, screeching the whole way. Ruby thought it would miss them and pass right under them.

But it could still see. It remaining red eye bore into them. The Nevermore flapped its wings, and though it was off kilter, it set the airborne creature on course to crash into them. Yang was unloading her gauntlets into its face, and Ruby followed suit, firing without her sights. Their bullets bounced off its bone plating though and it was closing in. Fifty feet, fourty, thirty…

"Ruby!" Weiss' voice broke her concentrated firing as Ruby spared a glance at her partner. "Get closer."

Ruby nodded and activated her semblance. She blurred to behind Blake and Yang who were still firing furiously and grabbed their waists, hauling backwards so they all sprawled next to Weiss. She looked to the cockpit, started to stand.

Ice grew around them all, encasing Ruby in a hardened shell.

No! she panicked, she had to get to him. They had-

Whoom!

The bullhead was ripped apart, shrapnel flying all over. Ruby couldn't see anything, ensnared as she was, but she could hear the squeal of metal as it was shredded and the buckle of reinforced steel.

And she could hear a scream- the pilot - before they were falling too far away to hear anything else.

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! As always, thanks to all my partners, this wouldn't be possible without you guys. This has been a blast to write, and I can't wait to see what you think when things really ramp up.

Follow/fav/review of you wish to see more feels!

See ya next time everyone!