Author's Note- Well I never planned on this story being anything more than a one-shot but in between writing chapters for Icy Rose and procrastinating from writing chapters for Icy Rose I kept getting ideas for this story. So as of now this story will be a multi-chaptered story and will be as many chapters as I feel like, hopefully you guys enjoy this story. The poll on my page is still up if you want to go vote on which pairing I'll write a one-shot and maybe more about. Thank you to AmbidextrousLion for helping with ideas for this story and for going over this chapter and editing it, I greatly appreciate her help and recommend you check out her story Layer of Ice which is a really good RWBY High school AUand one of my favorite stories. As always Read, Review, Favorite, Follow and Enjoy!

Ruby was running through a forest. There were people she was looking for, but she was having trouble finding them even with her speed. Eventually though she ran into a clearing in the forest and saw the two people she was looking for: Blake and Yang. The two girls were lounging by a tree, but when they saw Ruby they both stood up and started walking over to her, Ruby was stunned by the sight of the two in perfect health. She started walking slowly over to them, but as she walked she started picking up speed until she was practically running.

"Oh my god Blake, Yang, I thought you two were dead, but you aren't. You're fine!" She started rambling as she threw her arms around Blake in a bear hug that would make Yang proud.

"Yes, everyone is fine," Ruby kept repeating to her as she buried in face in Blake's long black hair. Though as she held her girlfriend close she noticed something wrong. Her arms were growing slick with some unknown liquid. "Blake what is this?" She asked a sense of dread coiling in her gut. Blake began to answer, but soon all Ruby heard was a gurgling sound being emitted from Blake's mouth. Looking up Ruby was horrified to find that blood was pouring out of Blake's mouth and her eyes had glazed over. Backing away, Ruby found that the slick liquid covering her arms was blood and that it had come from several large gashes along Blake's torso.

"No...No…please no," Ruby started muttering as Blake slowly stumbled her way towards Ruby. "YANG HELP!" Ruby screamed, "We need to help Blake." Ruby was swiveling her head around trying to find her sister. When she saw Yang she realized that she could not help. Her sister was also walking toward her, Ruby did not see any wounds, but Yang's eyes had been changed from the normal lilac to a pitch black. "No Yang…not you…no," Ruby cried, tears staining her face as she backed away from the two girls who were closing in on her

"Where were you Ruby?" Yang asked, "I thought I could count on you."

"I'm sorry sis… please, I wanted to help," Ruby pleaded. Backing up she felt her back hit a tree as the black and yellow girls closed in. Somehow through the blood Blake began speaking

"Why couldn't you defend yourself Ruby? I'm dead now because you were weak," She said as she closed in.

"I tried…oh god I tried…please, I'm so sorry Blake… I wish I could have helped." Ruby sobbed as she slid down the tree until she was sitting. Looking up, the last thing she noticed before Blake and Yang surrounded her was that the leaves of the tree were red.

Ruby awoke with a cry. She was covered in a cold sweat and she was out of breath. Looking around she realized she was in her dorm room at Beacon. She was curled up on the floor like she had been for a vast majority of her time in the last few weeks. Standing up Ruby walked to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was drawn from exhaustion, and her hair was matted owing to the fact that she hadn't bathed in weeks. To be fair she hadn't left her room in weeks merely spending her time curled up on the floor in depression. The most noticeable thing though was her eyes. The skin around them was dark and bagged despite the amount of time she spent asleep. Ruby had not felt rested in weeks. She would lie curled on the floor passing from consciousness and sleep and not being able to decide which was the bigger nightmare. Her normally shining silver eyes, normally filled with excitement and joy were dim having lost her joy. Ruby continued staring at her reflection at in the mirror and she was disgusted by what she saw.

"They see you as small and helpless"

Ruby was depressed, what reason did she have to live? The two most important people in her life had been taken from her in such a short time and now the world seemed so empty.

"They see you as just a child"

Ruby looked at herself in the mirror and hated the person she saw looking back. A weak child masquerading as a warrior. "What a warrior," she thought in derision as images flashed behind her eyes. Falling back as she was pushed by Blake, the other girl taking her place and then the cold gleam of the Ursa's claws as they slid through Blake's torso before the force of the impact threw Blake to the forest floor. Ruby didn't hear it, but she knew that was the moment when her scream had pierced the silence that followed, everything else was lost in the red haze of her rage as she had found a new found strength to attack the surprised Ursa with reckless abandon, not caring whether she lived or died.

Ruby couldn't stand the sight of herself in the mirror and lashed out, punching the mirror and fracturing it into shards that cut her knuckles on her right hand. Blood flowed from the cuts on her knuckles but Ruby didn't care as she just sat on the floor of the bathroom. She just let the blood flow from her hand staining it crimson. Even the sight of her blood made her think of Blake

"It's your blood that's red like rose,"

She hit her head back against the wall. "I don't deserve to live at the cost of Blake's life," she thought. This was a thought that had constantly assailed her since the day of Blake's death. "Why would I want to live without Blake?" Another thought that had filled her head every day. Ruby stood up and walked back into the main part of her room. It was a mess; different things were just lying around. The object that caught her eye was a picture. Walking slowly over she dropped to her knees to pick the picture up, a picture of Blake reading that Ruby had taken during the first week that her and Blake had started dating. The thought of that week had kindled a small ember of happiness in the barren wasteland that was Ruby's heart.

Blake was sitting on her bed in Team RWBY's dorm. She was reading a new book that she had just gotten. She was so immersed in the fantasy setting and the character that even with her enhanced Faunus hearing she didn't notice the cloaked figure that drew near to her.

CLICK!

Blake jumped at the sudden noise and looked around until she saw Ruby standing a few feet with a camera in her hands and a broad smile on her face.

"Ruby, can I ask why you just took a picture of me reading?" Blake asked in confusion, Ruby sat down on the bed next to Blake.

"Because you're cute when you're concentrating on a book." Ruby said it like it was completely obvious. Blake just looked at her new girlfriend. The thought was still new to her, but it filled her with joy; something her life had not seen much of.

"Ruby that is… really adorable." Blake said as she tousled Ruby's hair. Ruby leaned over and rested her head on Blake's shoulder.

"Hey Blake could you read to me?" she asked innocently. Blake thought for a moment before she smiled

"Sure" she said as she picked up in the story where she had left off, only this time she spoke aloud to her new audience who was enraptured by the story.

Ruby smiled at this memory. It was one of the many she had with Blake in the three years they had dated, but then the ember was smothered like it was doused in ice water as Ruby remembered that she would never have any more of these memories with Blake. It was made worse as she sank deeper into her depression as this thought also occurred with Yang, her brawler of a sister who she had not even said goodbye to before they had left on their respective missions.

Ruby just slumped to her side and curled up back into a ball, not even bothering to do anything about her still bleeding hand. She drifted off back into sleep, back into her recurring nightmare and was once again awoken in a fright. This cycle constantly repeated itself. Ruby's waking hours as few as they were, were as horrifying as her nightmares as she faced the emptiness that filled her.

"And no matter what I do. Nothing ever takes the place of you."

The thought haunted her because of its startling accuracy. Nothing Ruby had done since the deaths of Blake and Yang had filled the void in her soul. Yes, she had gotten angry, sad, and very rarely a fleeting ember of nostalgic joy, but these had all been short and disappeared as soon as they had come, leaving Ruby as empty as they had found her.

Ruby was interrupted from her brooding by a knock at her door.

"Ruby?" A high thin voice came from the other side of the door. Ruby didn't feel like answering. She didn't want to interact with other people. "Ruby, I know you're in there." The voice called from the other side, it was weak and Ruby realized it was Weiss. "Maybe if I just ignore her she will go away", Ruby thought as she curled up tighter in the fetal position hoping to just shut Weiss out. It wasn't working

"Please Ruby, talk to me," the white-themed girl pleaded. Ruby could hear the weakness and sadness in her voice. "She's barely holding it together, how is she holding it together?" Ruby thought angrily "How can she be like that when Blake and Yang are gone? Does she even care?"

"Ruby, I'm coming in," Weiss said, her voice soft. The door opened and Weiss stepped in. She was a barely contained wreck. Her normally perfect ponytail was disheveled, her eyes were bloodshot from crying, and her normally well maintained clothes were wrinkled. Weiss looked around at Ruby's room and then at the curled form of said girl. "Ruby come on you need to stand up and get of this room." Weiss said gently as she kneeled down to try and rouse Ruby.

"No," was the only thing Ruby said.

"Come on Ruby, when was the last time you left this room or ate? You need to come out." Weiss said her normally commanding voice barely above a whisper.

"No, I don't want to, "Ruby said, waving her hand, the one that was still bleeding from her knuckles.

"Ruby! You're bleeding! Come on, let's get that cleaned up." Weiss urged gently as she pulled Ruby up, the girl unresponsive and merely dead weight. Weiss took Ruby to the bathroom and looked at horror at the broken mirror, some of the shards still red with blood. Weiss didn't say anything she just cleaned Ruby's hand and dressed the cuts.

As Ruby looked at the mirror multiple reflections now looking at her a thought came to her mind. "Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all? Fear of what's inside of me. Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?" But just like Ozpin and Weiss the mirror did not have any answers to give her.

Weiss realized that it would be impossible to get Ruby to leave her room today, but she hadn't given up. "Alright Ruby, I'm going to go get you some food, and after that I'll come back tomorrow, okay?" she asked as Ruby just stared back at her. Weiss just left. She barely had the energy to hold herself together, but she came back within the hour to leave food in Ruby's room only to find the cloaked girl curled up on the floor back into the fetal position. "Ruby, I promise things will get better…they have to. The last part was a whisper as she left. Ruby had different thoughts on that statement.

"Things will never get better, how can they when I don't want to keep going? How can they when I don't even deserve to live?"