The alarm clock rang, shrill and incessant just as the sun was peeking through the dorm's windows.

We all need a little extra sleep, Ren thought as he reached over Nora to shut the alarm off. He and Pyrrha were the only two that could be trusted with keeping an alarm clock next to their beds, as Nora would turn it off before she went to sleep, and Jaune- Ren's thoughts were derailed by the realization that Jaune was no longer here.

Not wanting to believe himself, he sat up in his bed, careful not to disturb a sleeping Nora. The room felt so empty without their leader. Nora and Jaune's beds were in the middle of the room, unoccupied. Pyrrha laid still and alone on the furthest bed, the sunlight catching on her crimson hair. She was strong, but Ren knew that Jaune's death had impacted her more than she let on.

He looked down at his partner. Nora's ever-present blush was splotchy from where she had slept on her arm, and drool had collected on one corner of her mouth. Her short orange locks smelled of cinnamon and sweet honey. So peaceful. It'd be a shame to wake her, he he knew that letting her get off of her schedule would only lead to chaos, so he gently roused Nora, shaking her shoulder slightly to awaken the young Valkyrie.

Nora woke at his touch, and turned onto her back before telling him about the dreams she had, as usual. "Ren? I had this really bad one last night."

That's new. "What was it?"

"We ended up going to Vale instead of back home, and then there was a bunch of Grimm, and we split up to fight them, and Weiss was there too- I think I accidentally hit her once or twice, but it was just a dream so that doesn't really matter- and then these robots came and killed all of them.

"The scary part was that after that, Jaune wasn't there anymore. We went to where he and Ruby were, but he wasn't there, and when we asked the soldiers there where he was, they said he was dead. Pretty scary, don't you think?"

Ren took Nora's hands with his own, reluctant to tell her that her nightmare was real. "Nora, I wish I could tell you otherwise." His gaze shifted from her clear blue eyes to Jaune's empty bed. Nora followed his eyes and turned on her side to face the truth.

Nora stared quietly for a minute before sitting up violently. "No."

This isn't going to be good.

"I don't believe you. He just went to the bathroom. He'll walk through that door any minute and trip on something like he always does when he's tired. You'll see." And with that, she crossed her arms and propped herself against the wall, waiting for the blonde haired boy to walk through their door.

Ren crossed his legs and waited patiently with her. He knew better than to challenge Nora when she got her mind set on things. Soon enough she would realize that Jaune wasn't coming back and would move on. But she wouldn't forget.

She never forgets when it comes to people.

Nora made enemies as quickly as she made friends, since she could never forgive people who bullied her because of her family. Not her real family, the one that had adopted her, but the family that had left her on Ren's doorstep when she was just a baby. The family that pillaged and murdered any village weaker than theirs. The Valkyrie family. The pair had grown up together in fear that her family would come back to take her back once she was older, but as time passed, their fears faded. Not everyone's though. There were still plenty of families that said she was a murderer, that it was in her blood to do so. And when some of the bullies came after her, intent on eliminating the Valkyrie spy in their midst, she broke their legs. But the elders didn't care.

The council determined the only way to prevent Nora from plotting against the village was to make sure she was never alone. Nevermind that the bullies had brought a bodybag, she was the one in trouble because she defended herself. So Ren volunteered. They were family after all.

They sat there in silence, watching the door until the golden sunlight warmed their room completely. Pyrrha finally stirred, and immediately twisted to look at Jaune's bed. The redhead was immediately crestfallen at the sight of his empty bed. It seems we all had the same bad dream.

Pyrrha rose from her bed across the room, the sheets falling away from her revealed her toned body. She slept in a nightdress, but the sheer fabric fell around her in such a way that you could still see how athletic her body was when she stood in front of the sunlit window. She was modest, but sensual all the same. After almost an entire year together, Jaune never realized. And now it's too late.

"Is everything alright?"

"Nora just needs a little time to process."

Pyrrha walked over to Ren's bed and sat down on the edge, careful to not disturb her grieving teammates. She kept her hands folded in her lap, as if unsure of whether or not she was allowed to console them.

All three sat watching the door while the sun rose a bit higher in the sky.

Finally, Pyrrha rose without a word and crossed the room to her and Nora's closet. She pulled her nightgown over her head and slid her panties off, standing nude in the corner furthest from the door for a moment as she removed the towel from her closet and wrapped it around herself. Normally she would be much more careful about how much skin she showed, but today was not a normal day. She collected Nora's towel and moved walked back to the pair on the bed.

Nora and Ren hadn't moved an inch, but when Pyrrha extended the towel to Nora, the ginger haired girl lashed out. Her hand connected with the towel, sending it to the ground, and Nora broke down.

"Why did we split up?! We could have stuck together! H-he could have signalled that something was wrong! What happened to him?! How did it happen? I just…" Nora's tears were flowing freely now.

Pyrrha stooped down and plucked the towel from the ground."Take a shower. It will help," she said, a melancholy smile creasing her face.

Nora looked to Ren, as if searching for an answer in his vibrant pink eyes. Keep moving forward, his look said.

His partner nodded and rose from the bed, numbly taking the towel and stripping on the spot, throwing her clothes haphazardly onto the bed before donning her towel.

Ren slid off of the mattress and undressed quickly before wrapping his own towel around his legs. None of the team ever cared about seeing each other naked except- except Jaune. Ren had to remind himself for the third time that morning that the brother he never had was gone.

The three remaining members of JNPR exited their dorm and slowly headed down the hall to the showers, careful to not make much noise as most teams were still sleeping off the terrible events of the prior day.

When they entered the showers, they parted ways, moving to their respective showers. Ren hung his towel on a nearby hook before he twisted the knob for the shower he was under, sending hot water onto his tired muscles. The water cascaded down his body, following every line of his body. Normally he would quickly scrub off while Jaune asked him questions about their classes or told him about he and Pyrrha's training session the night before, but today was not a normal day. He scrubbed off his body and let the water run through his hair for a few minutes as he meditated.

When he had finished collecting his thoughts, he shut off the shower and dried himself off as he made his way back to the entrance of the bathroom. He rounded the corner quietly, and was greeted with the sight of his freshly showered teammates hugging each other. Nora had her back to him, her towel wrapped about her body as she clutched Pyrrha. Peeking just over the top of Nora's towel was what appeared to be a tattoo. But Nora doesn't have any tattoos…

Pyrrha looked up and locked eyes with Ren. Is she alright?

Pyrrha's nod told him that Nora had accepted Jaune's death. The redhead squeezed her small companion once more before heading towards the door. Ren held the door, letting both girls through before following them back to their room. Pyrrha produced her scroll and let them back into their dorm. Normally Jaune would get the bedroom door, but this was not a normal day.

They all donned their uniforms in silence. There was no class today, but they had volunteered to work at the infirmary, as the civilian hospitals in the city were overflowing with patients, and Professor Ozpin had volunteered the use of Beacon's infirmary and spare dorms to house the wounded. Students were asked to assist the staff with taking care of all of the injured, but those that had lost teammates or friends were exempt. However, Pyrrha had determined that work would be the best way to get their minds off of what had happened, and neither he nor his ginger haired partner complained.

Ren pulled his jacket onto his shoulders and moved to the door, his team in tow. When he opened the door, familiar faces were on the other side.

Weiss was speaking to Blake and Yang as she exited their room across the hall, "-do we start? We don't even know when she left, much less where-" Weiss stopped herself short when she saw the three members of JNPR exiting their room at the same time.

"Is there something wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

The three members of RWBY all exchanged looks before Yang answered. "Ruby's gone. She left sometime in the night, and we don't know where she went."

"Can we help look?" Ren shook his head at Pyrrha's offer. Always eager to help others, never able to ask for help, he thought.

Blake answered Pyrrha. "Thank you for the offer, but I think this is something we need to do as a team."

"Of course," she replied before turning to Yang and continuing, "I'm sorry."

Yang nodded. Nobody said a word about her eyes.

They stood together in silence for a few moments in remembrance of their leader's battle together and the brave acts that both had performed.

The teams nodded to each other before heading off in opposite directions without a word.

As they made their way through the desolate hallways, Ren was mystified at Nora's silence. Normally she would be going on nonstop about how she didn't have breakfast yet, or how quiet the school was today, or about the one time she fought however many Ursai by herself. 'Oh yeah, and Ren was there too!' was always her line. But today was not a normal day.

Author's Note: Due to travel and another busy week, I have been forced to split Chapter 7 into 2 parts in order to keep the quality of the chapters at the level I demand of myself and that you have come to expect. Part 2 will release next Saturday at the normal time in place of Chapter 8, which subsequent chapters all delayed one week. I apologize for the two straight weeks of 2 part chapters, and thank you again for your patience and support during this busy time of my life.