AN: Will Adam return? Will Ruby rebound? Will Weiss start feeling? Stay tuned to find out.

Thanks to Spartacus400 on /r/RWBY for beta reading.

Disclaimer: RWBY is a product of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. All characters are owned by Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.

The Safe Haven

The elevator doors opened up to the giant underground cavern. Immediately one could see, through the dim light, that it was already being modified by a labor force. Foundations for what looked to be buildings were being established by what looked like civilians. Lantern-spikes were driven into the rock to light the workers' area, causing a spectacle of a sea of underground lights.

All the way at the back of the cave, five huge metal stacks stretched between the floor and ceiling of the cave. A tall wall could be seen being built in the vicinity of the stacks. And not too far away from that was enormous mounds of dirt being settled into a framework.

Ruby and her team were quickly guided by a pair of soldiers, "Come on, move it! The General is waiting for you!" Another two began to lead the group down the stretch of the main rock road. Her boots stepped over the wet, dirty cave floor. The cavern smelled horrid, as if animals had just died somewhere nearby.

As she heard the elevator ascend, she questioned the appearance of Ironwood down here. Surely he should be on the surface giving orders. If we was underground, greeting the batches of civilians, this whole thing could be even bigger than it already was. And that was already hard to top, considering what the soldier told them on the transport. Maybe Ironwood would finally give them some insight on just what on Remnant was happening.

The group was herded right down another wide path. Ruby exchanged some worried glances with her teammates. Weiss seemed to be taking this quite well, and Yang was in her 'protect her little sister' mode, eyeing everyone around them. But Blake looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her brow quivered ever so slightly and her eyes were misty and trying to retreat into her skull. It was nearly the same expression she had worn when she had revealed herself as a faunus to the team.

She was about to speak up to her troubled friend when she was cut off by a soldier commanding her to stop. Looking over to see what was in front of them, she saw General Ironwood stand on top of an old crate. He raised his hand to cease the commotion in the crowd. The group quickly died down to a silence.

Ironwood scanned over the small sea of people, before declaring in a commanding voice, "I will try to make this as brief and as informative as possible," He fixed his shoulders, "I am standing where this city's platform shall be constructed. This where you receive news and public announcements regarding this city and your life in it." Small mumbles were heard among the crowd, "This city I speak if is New Mountain Glenn. Your new home indefinitely."

"What going on?" Someone from the crowd shouted.

"At the current moment we do not know much." The General answered, "But based on certain variables our scientists were able to conclude that within a few days...Remnant's surface…" He paused slightly, "...will be too cold, too lethal for any life to survive…"

The crowd grew very still. Ruby felt her soul being crushed.

"The most important thing to do right now is not panic and be as orderly as possible." Ironwood assured, "Now, all men sixteen and older please follow the soldiers to my right. You will be given excavation gear and begin clearing area. And all women and children, follow the soldiers to my left. You will be given building materials and join in construction of the city. Good luck to you all." The soldiers called for their recruits.

Yang pulled Ruby from her spot, to the specified area. She was as solid as a brick. She wouldn't, she couldn't grasp the fact of being restricted to this underground city her entire life. Her dream to explore the world was being pummeled to death by this unforeseen situation. It tugged at her soul's strings and hit her with the power of a freight train.

"Come on, Ruby…" Yang looked down at her emotionally torn sister, seeing the look in her eyes, "Ruby...come on…" She wasn't talking about moving.

As they approached a small section of the construction area, they were given a hefty bucket of mortar and a trowel. Around them concrete bricks were stacked up on pallets ready to be laid. An overseer stood up in the center of the complex's foundation, getting ready to shout out instructions to their fidgety workers. This same layout of workers and overseers were set up along the entire length of the cavern; somewhat nine and half kilometers.

Blake didn't even wait for the overseer to climb up onto his pedestal. Everyone watched in the dim light as Blake immediately lifted up one of the large blocks with both her hands, feeling its weight. Fumbling the concrete in her palm, she examined its structure and held it out horizontal. She, got down on her knees, took the brick in one hand, silently dipped her trowel in her tub of mortar, and spread across the marked line set out for them. All eyes were on her as she laid the first brick. No hesitation, she just began the job handed to her. They watched as she took a second brick, that's when she stopped to turn and look around her.

"What are you waiting for? Pick up a brick." She told her fellow workers.

They were stunned, even the overseer. She had just...started. As if she had just accepted her fate. Her team looked her over, and once they saw her face, they knew the true reasoning behind this sudden cooperation. If what they saw was correct, Blake would not be sleeping for a few days. Blake, under her cool shell, was in fact panicking, more than any of the civilians around her. They watched as she laid another brick before the overseer came to their senses and demanded they get moving.

While the sisters stuck to each other, Weiss grabbed a brick and moved up next to Blake. Her eyes crossing over to the faunus as she worked, "Are you okay, Blake?"

Blake glanced up, looking out at the streets before them, "I'm fine," She checked her peripherals.

"It's just you have that look on your face…"

"Really, Weiss, I'm fine…but what about you? Are you okay?" Blake asked, attempting to change the subject. They looked at each other, Blake's pleading eye silently asked Weiss to move on from the subject.

Weiss sighed, lowering her brick down or a second, and paused for a moment, "Not really...I've been just trying to push this off as temporary...but after what Ironwood said…"

"You're worried," Blake finished, "Family, I'm guessing?"

The former-heiress nodded, "They live in Atlas. But that right now is unsettling, considering I have no idea if they have any safe haven anywhere close to this scale, or even one at all."

"I'm sure they'll be fine, I'm sure of it," The faunus tried to assure Weiss, "...also, like Ironwood said, there is still a day or two before the planet freezes over."

"You may be right…"

Suddenly an outburst from the overseer attracted their attention. They were shouting out a command to get moving; loudly. The shouting becoming angrier as the seconds slowly passed by. Ruby was standing in the fire of the superior official, taking the force of their words. That's when Blake and Weiss realized their team leader hadn't moved from her spot. She just stood there and blinked at the overseer, not a word affecting her stance.

The overseer's commands turned into warnings as they reached for the baton on his belt. Blake and Weiss went to shut their eyes, knowing what was coming next after the threats. Before the overseer was able to pull their weapon from their belt, big sister Yang stepped between them, quickly apologizing for Ruby's behavior and pulling her sibling away.

"I feel so bad…" Weiss caught Blake's focus as she set yet another brick.

"So do I…," Blake turned away from sisters, "Ruby looks crushed…"

Weiss' eyes watered, repressing tears, "I'm such a...DUNCE!" She balled her fists.

Blake recoiled in response of the sudden outburst, nearly falling over, "Weiss?"

"I'm such a…" The distressed woman clenched her eyes shut, "I'm such a damn dunce!"

"Weiss, Weiss, calm down...calm down...Why are you a dunce? What happened?" Blake dropped her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I..messed up…" Weiss was handed a concrete block, "This evening….in class...I said something to Ruby…" Blake looked back at her as she applied some mortar, "It wasn't that bad at the time...but now...I didn't think…" She trailed off.

"What did you say?"

Weiss inhaled and swallowed, "I told her...that… she had the rest of her life to explore the world...that today...wasn't the end of the world…"

Blake nearly winced, that did sting, "It's okay, Weiss...no one could have predicted that something this big could've happened…"

Weiss sighed, "I just hope she'll be alright…"

Blake gave a quick sweep of the area, looking for anything or anyone that was off, "I hope we all will…" She returned to her work.

"Ruby...What has gotten into you?" Yang asked as forced another brick into her sister's hands, whom just sighed. They stood up on their knees as they worked on the beginnings of the wall. Not to far away from them was their other two teammates conversing, also on their knees working. Ruby opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by Weiss shouting out her favorite slur.

She shook her head and tried again, "Nothing...I'm fine…" The team leader mumbled.

"Ruby…" Yang resurfaced her big sister mentality.

"Really...Yang, I'm fi-"

"Don't lie to me, Ruby…" Yang interjected, "You've been off this whole time...like you just shut off...like you gave up…"

The younger girl was silence for moment, focusing on flattening her mortar, "So…?"

"So?" Yang blinked, she couldn't even believe this was her sister speaking, "You can't just give up like that...Especially you, Ruby...It's just not like you...you were always up for the next challenge...And this is it…"

Ruby just continued laying down the bricks given to her, taking her own time to respond. Finally she muttered, "What if this is it, I mean...there isn't anything after this?"

"Come on, Ruby," The blonde slung an arm around her sibling, "Be hopeful…"

"You're avoiding the question…" Ruby stared down at the ground.

Yang sighed, she didn't know how to respond to that, "Ruby...We're people...we don't know what's going to happen next…"

"What's your point, Yang?"

"My point is…," Yang searched for the words, "Maybe you should stop trying to predict the future and revel in the fact that we're still alive…"

Ruby shook her head, "I just want to get back up on the surface as soon as possible...I want to know when this will be over…"

"We all do do, Ruby, we all do," Yang forced a smile, "But maybe not knowing is better than knowing right now…"

Ruby just flared her nostrils in aggravation and tensed up her shoulders and set a concrete block onto the mortar. Yang let her head hang and gritted her teeth, holding back her emotions. This wasn't her sister. It wasn't.

"Look, Ruby-"

"I don't want to hear it, Yang"

"We'll make it through this, you and me, together," Yang put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby titled her head in her sister's direction, not taking her eye off the concrete, "You mean it?"

"Of Course…" Yang wore a small smile.

"You two! Get working!" The overseer commanded.

Blake and Weiss gave no attention the overseer shouting at their friends. They had decided it was best to stay forward. The two girls had been silent for a while now. They just focused on building the wall up higher until they were told to stop. Peering over the semi-tall wall they had built, they scanned the underground cavern.

In front of them, a little ways ahead, was the main road crowded with more civilians from the surface. The main road connected from one side of the cavern, the elevator, all the way to the other side, the large complex with giant smokestacks leading up to the ceiling. Hundreds of complexes, which they had assumed were for shelter, like the ones they were building were being set up from the beginning of the elevator to a couple hundred meters before the smokestack buildings. The area just before the smokestack building had pathways and rails leading into smaller caves; mines. On the far side of the cavern, tucked behind the shelters was a large bit of land being cleared and filled with what looked like loads of earth. A quick look over the shoulder revealed a few special buildings being laid out.

"Fire!" A man close by called out. At his command several workers pulled their triggers on what they could only make out as some sort of harpoons. The guns launched their tethered projectiles high up at the cavern ceiling, piercing the rock. The harpoon heads' cables had disconnected from the weapons long ago, and now steel cables hung the air.

Next to the group of men was a cart, full of thin metal rods. And next to the cart was, "Is that Ms. Goodwitch?" Weiss pointed. The familiar woman by the cart ripped out a very familiar riding crop, and gave it a swing through the air. Suddenly dozens of the metal rods flew into the air, connecting to each other, creating a grid formation before gently raising the completed structure to the steel cables.

"What in the world are they-"

"-Lights," Blake cut off Weiss, whom just blinked at her. Blake raised an eyebrow, "Did you not read City of Ember?"

"Well I-"

"Girls! Girls!" Weiss was cut off again, this time by another voice. Turning to see where it had came from, the two saw their green-haired history professor sprinting towards them.

Ruby and Yang glanced up at their old teacher, watching him almost trip over himself. He skidded to a halt right before the wall they had just constructed and fixed his great coat. His quirkiness had already attracted the attention of the overseer and most of the workers.

"Sir, what are you doing?" The overseer demanded an answer.

Oobleck bounced on his soles and responded, "I need to speak to a couple of your workers!"

The overseer scratched his chin."Under whose authority?"

Oobleck instantly flashed off some sort of slip, "General Ironwood! He has granted me access to speak with any of your workers as I please!" The doctor pointed directly at Yang, "Starting with her!"

The overseer grunted in aggravation and finally accepted his overruling, giving Oobleck a gesture to continue whatever he was doing. The doctor readjusted his glasses and signalled the blonde over to him.

Yang blinked a few times before finally jumping to her feet, walking over to her old professor, "Yeah, Mister Oobleck?"

"Doctor." He immediately corrected

"Sorry...What's up, Doctor Oobleck?"

The man rubbed his hands together and donned a gleeful smirk, "Yang Xiao Long, I'm integrating you into the Arctic Wolf Initiative."

Again, Yang blinked.

Hope you enjoyed the read, leave your best reviews!

Love

~Vox