Team Effort

Weiss

Weiss was having a lousy day. Nothing seemed to be working right for her, which slowly over the course of the day just added to her growing irritation. She had woken up later than normal and missed breakfast before class, she had to suffer silently as she watched Ruby sleep during several of the classes. What surprised and irritated her even more is that the professors weren't saying anything to her about it. Ruby had even bumped into her and caused her to accidentally spill her drink at lunch, and now that she was developing a migraine she noticed all too plainly that Yang was very, very loud. Finally, to put the icing on the cake, she had to assist Professor Port after classes finished for the day, as part of a promise she had made to him the week prior. She should have been looking forward to it, but her irritation at the day as a whole only made it seem like a chore.

Finally, after the day was officially over for her, she made her way back to her shared dorm where she knew her team would be waiting. All she wanted to do was shower, study for a little bit, and then go to sleep to try and forget that today had even happened. She entered the room of team RWBY, and what she saw only added to her irritation. Blake and Yang were both studying, preparing for tests in the coming days, but Ruby was sitting in the floor with her legs folded playing a video game.

Ruby, without looking up, simply greeted her with, "Hey, Weiss." Weiss narrowed her eyes as she observed her team leader, who was neglecting her studies in favor of a video game. She marched over to the dresser that the TV and game console rested on and yanked the cables out of the wall, shutting both electronics off. "Hey, what gives? I was about to beat the game!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Weiss asked angrily.

"I was playing a game."

"Are you even slightly prepared for the tests coming up? Do even know that we have tests coming up?" Weiss gave a heavy sigh. "Why do I even bother trying to help you? You're just going to study in a half assed manner and fail any way." Ruby was somewhat surprised to hear Weiss swear. "For you to be a team leader, you are very clearly not doing your job at all! You're supposed to set an example for your team to follow. What have you done lately? You've slept in class, become a nuisance everywhere, and when I come back after a long day I find you not studying, but playing a video game!"

Yang and Blake both wanted to interject, but they just didn't know what they could say as they watched the Ice Queen chew Ruby out.

"Weiss," Ruby replied weekly. "I can explain."

"No. Don't. I don't want to hear your excuses. You're an idiot who can't get by without someone else's help, you don't appreciate the help that they give you, and all you do is make trouble for everyone. I think I made a mistake in taking Professor Port's advice, and I am back to square one; you are not fit to be the leader of team RWBY!"

Ruby stood up angrily, which took the other two members of team RWBY by surprise; Ruby was never angry. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a team leader, Weiss?"

Weiss scoffed. "It'd be child's play for me to lead a team."

"Well, that may be the case for you, but it's not for me! I barely get to do anything that I want around here. Have you not noticed at all what I've been doing for the past month?" Ruby asked, and continued before Weiss could reply. "I've planned training exercises, built up our team's cooperation through those exercises, created battle plans for our next assignment in the Emerald Forest, studied for every class we have, and I've only slept for a few hours each night to accomplish all of this! Do you want to know why I slept in class today, or why I made you spill your drink? Because I'm exhausted! I've tried to meet your standards, and the only thing you have to say about it is that I'm not doing my job. I wasn't neglecting anything by playing that game Weiss; I was taking my first real break in a god damn month!"

Weiss was taken by surprise to hear the venom in Ruby's words. The only reply Weiss could stammer out was, "O-oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh'. Maybe if you weren't always such a stuck up bitch whose only real hobby seems to be picking on me and making me feel miserable, you might notice that I'm actually trying very, very hard!"

Weiss was offended and surprised. Ruby had just called her a bitch, which never happened. She even heard Yang gasp in shock. Weiss, in her typical fashion, simply replied with, "How dare you!"

"No! How dare you! I am tired of this, Weiss. I've wanted nothing more than to be your friend, and you've only ever made my life a living hell. I can only take so much abuse, Weiss! You think I should step down as leader? Well, maybe the problem isn't the leader; it's the teammate who can't see past her own self entitled attitude!"

Weiss was about to retort with something, but she couldn't remember what it was because she felt a stinging sensation coming from her left cheek before falling to the floor; Ruby had just slapped her. "Ruby, I…" Ruby slapped her again, and was about to do so a third time.

Yang hopped off of her bunk and wrapped her arms around Ruby to keep her from getting closer to Weiss. "Ruby! Calm down! Ruby, stop it!"

Ruby was yelling with tears rolling down her face. "No! I'm tired of her, Yang! I'm tired of her treating me like garbage! She needs to know how it feels!" She struggled as she yelled. "Let me go! Let me go!"

Blake went over to Weiss once she was sure that Yang had a hold of Ruby. She helped the white haired girl up to her feet, saying, "Let's go for a walk, Weiss. Everyone needs to calm down."

Weiss nodded, failing as she tried to fight back her tears.

Ruby: Earlier that Day

Ruby was upset that the sun was already rising. Over the past month she had been studying like there was no tomorrow, preparing for the coming tests. She couldn't fail them. During a meeting of the team leaders last month, Professor Ozpin told them that the leaders would be given an even stricter grading scale, saying that it was to judge how they handle themselves as a team leader; as such, Ruby couldn't afford to do poorly. This had the negative drawback of reducing her hours of sleep to nearly zero. She got up and showered in an attempt to wash away her fatigue. When she walked out she walked by Yang, who paused and looked at her with concern; Ruby could only assumed it was because her lack of sleep was finally making itself known on her face.

She ate a quick breakfast and returned to the dorm to study a little bit more. Weiss was still sleeping, and by the time she woke up the team had to go straight to class. Ruby took her seat next to Weiss and tried her hardest to pay attention in class. Days of sleep deprivation, however, were too much for her to handle and she passed out at her desk, not noticing Weiss's growing irritation. When class was dismissed she didn't notice Weiss storming out of the room, and she felt Yang gently wake her. "Ruby, it's time for the next class."

"Hm?" Ruby replied. She bolted up. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked.

Yang nodded. "Are you okay, Ruby? I've never seen you this tired."

Ruby was about to lie and say she was fine, but she learned long ago that if there is a single person you don't lie to, it was her sister. "I haven't slept properly in a few days," she replied sheepishly.

Yang looked at her sister with growing concern, unsure of what could be keeping her sister from sleeping; Ruby wasn't allowed to tell her teammates about her strict grading on the coming tests. Yang finally smiled. "How about this; I'll take more detailed notes for you to copy later, and I'll let you sleep in the rest of our classes."

"Won't I get in trouble?"

Yang shook her head. "I'll tell the professors that you're really tired and that I'm helping you out. You'd be surprised how accommodating that they can be."

Ruby smiled somewhat weakly from her exhausted state. "Thanks, sis."

So, for the next few classes before lunch, Yang told the professors about Ruby and they agreed to let it slide for the day, and so Ruby slept. By the time lunch rolled around she felt better, but nothing could truly replace a full night's sleep. Still exhausted, she accidentally bumped into Weiss when they were walking to their table, causing her to spill her drink. "I'm sorry!" she stammered out.

Weiss just glared at her, seeming only slightly relieved that the drink didn't spill all over her uniform. She set her tray down and walked back to get another drink. Ruby felt really bad; she was clumsy from time to time, but never that clumsy. Yang smiled, trying to comfort a distressed Ruby. "Don't worry about it, sis. Just explain to her later about how you're out of it today. She should forgive you. Probably."

When Weiss came back, Yang started to have a conversation with Blake, purposely talking louder than normal to help Ruby stay awake until the next class; Ruby silently thanked her for that, because she didn't want to pass out into her salad bowl.

The day dragged on and Ruby slept in a few more classes, and by the time she returned to the dorm with Yang and Blake she felt ready to study again. Weiss had to help Professor Port with something. "Hold it!" Yang exclaimed. "I've let you rest, so now I want an answer to a question: why are you so tired?"

Ruby couldn't tell her about the strict grading, but the coming tests were sort of like midterms and thus caused stress for everyone, not just team leaders. So, she felt she could tell the truth; just not all of it. "I've just been worried about those tests is all. I've been studying night after night, hoping I can make a good score."

Yang smiled. "And how long have you been doing this?"

"A month," Ruby replied.

Yang was very proud of her sister for trying to improve her grades, but didn't want her health to suffer for it. "Tell you what; you copy my notes from today's classes, and then you are taking the rest of the night off from studying."

Ruby frowned. "Is that a good idea, Yang?"

She nodded. "I don't want you to overwork yourself like you so clearly have. You need a break. You can sleep, read, eat cookies, or play all you want after you copy the notes. I don't care, as long as you're not studying."

Ruby finally smiled. "Thanks, Yang." She quickly jotted down the notes, which were surprisingly detailed. Yang usually only wrote down what she thought would be the most important information, but these were almost word for word the lectures that day. Once done, she decided to play Yang's video game console. It was rare that she ever played video games, but she did love them. It was a simple platformer game with a small number of levels, but it was challenging enough.

After playing for a good while, she heard the door open; Weiss had finally returned. "Hey, Weiss," Ruby greeted, almost completely immersed in the game's final level. Weiss stormed over and unplugged the game. "Hey, what gives? I was about to beat the game!"

And then the argument broke out. Ruby didn't like that Weiss was accusing her of failing as a leader. The stress of Weiss treating her harshly and the coming tests were enough to make even Ruby lose her temper. She told Weiss about her stressed state, and why she was so stressed. Ruby saw that Weiss had figured out that she was in the wrong but didn't want to admit it, so the argument dragged on until Ruby did something that she would never have done before; she slapped Weiss two times, knocking her to the floor in the process. Yang had to hold her back, because she was still so angry that she wanted to keep slapping Weiss. In spite of the things she was saying, Ruby couldn't believe what she was doing.

Blake escorted Weiss out of the room, and after she was sure she could let go of Ruby, Yang lowered her arms. "Ruby, calm down!" Yang told her. "Weiss didn't know that you haven't been sleeping properly."

"She could have handled it better, Yang!" Ruby yelled, crying profusely at this point.

"I know, and she's in the wrong for doing what she did, but you are in the wrong here too. Do you have any idea what you just did; what you just said to Weiss?"

"I…I…" Ruby stammered, tears falling continuously from her face. "Oh, God," she finally said as she fell to her knees crying.

Yang hunkered down and hugged her little sister tightly; not her usual bear hug, but a comforting and gentle hug. "It's okay, sis. Just calm down."

"I…I slapped her, Yang. I've never hit someone I care about. I've never even gotten angry with you before."

"It wasn't you, Ruby," Yang comforted her. "It's the stress and the exhaustion's fault. You need to take better care of yourself and rest properly. When Weiss comes back you can apologize and explain it to her in full. If you love her like you've told me you do then you'll attempt to get her forgiveness."

Ruby nodded. She didn't want this to ruin how she felt for Weiss. She had never even told Weiss about her feelings out of fear that the heiress would outright reject her. Ruby didn't care for Weiss as a friend; she was in love with Weiss. That made Ruby's anger even more surprising, even to herself.

Weiss

Weiss was crying. She felt terrible. She didn't know that Ruby was exhausted from working so hard. How could she know? She had never seen the girl studying or staying up later than usual. Then again, it may be because she didn't pay any more attention than she felt she had to. She felt she shouldn't have been so harsh to the girl. She was surprised to see how angry Ruby had gotten, but somewhere in Weiss's mind she felt that she deserved Ruby's wrath. What Ruby had said was painfully true. "I do treat her like garbage, don't I?" she asked the black haired faunus walking by her.

Blake pondered for a moment before answering. "I don't think that's how you mean it, though."

"But it's what I do, though. Only once did I ever show that girl any kind of support, and just now I told her that I shouldn't have even done that." She paused in thought. "Has she really been working so hard without me knowing?"

Blake smiled. "I was actually the only one who knew about her recent study habits."

"How?" Weiss asked.

In response, Blake simply twitched her cat ears. "It wasn't her studies that she was neglecting; it's her health. She's only slept an hour or two a night over the last month. You didn't hear her and Yang talk about it this morning, but Yang picked up on it and told her to sleep during class while she took extra detailed notes for her to copy. Yang even told the professors what was going on so they would leave Ruby alone."

Weiss cried softly a little more. "And here I thought she was purposely being disrespectful to them during lecture." She shook her head. "I really am a terrible person."

"You could have handled it better, true, but Ruby shouldn't have reacted so violently. I didn't even think she was capable of hitting one us. Let alone you."

"What do you mean 'let alone me'?"

Blake sighed and shook her head. "If you haven't figured it out then I'm not telling you. Oh, and for the record, Yang knows about it too." Blake stopped walking, causing Weiss to stop and look around. They had walked in a complete circle in the building and found their way back to their dorm room. "I'm going to check on them. I'll come back to tell you can come inside in a moment." Weiss nodded as Blake slowly and carefully walked into the dorm. A few seconds later she opened the door again and motioned for Weiss to follow her inside.

Weiss stepped inside, unsure of what she'd find. What she saw broke her heart. Ruby was sobbing into Yang's chest as her older sister slowly rubbed her head to comfort her. "She's here, sis. Now talk to her."

Ruby nodded. Weiss was about to apologize for her treatment of Ruby when she saw the younger girl do something unexpected; she dropped to her knees and bowed to Weiss. "Wh-what are you…" Weiss started.

"I'm sorry, Weiss!" she exclaimed, cutting Weiss off. "I didn't mean to get so angry with you. I didn't mean what I said about making you feel my pain. You don't deserve it." Ruby tried, and failed, to fight back sobs as she spoke.

Weiss dropped to her knees and helped Ruby raise up before embracing her. "You, dolt. I do deserve it," she said. "I've treated you in such an awful way, not thinking about how sensitive you were to it. I never meant to hurt your feelings."

"Weiss," Ruby replied before returning Weiss's embrace. "No, you don't deserve it. I can normally take your abuse, and I usually don't mind it; it's part of who you are. I let my own exhaustion and stress of the coming tests get the better of me."

Weiss laughed softly. "You shouldn't worry over the tests this much, Ruby. It's not like it's that important that you have to hurt yourself over it."

"Yes it is!" Ruby exclaimed. "If I fail or do poorly then they'll judge my abilities as a team leader."

"What?" the other three girls all said in unison and Weiss pulled away from their embrace to meet Ruby's eyes.

The cat was out of the bag, but Ruby didn't care at this point; her friends needed to know why she was so tired and stressed. "Team leaders are going to be graded more harshly than the other students. Ozpin told us this himself at last month's team leader meeting."

Weiss hugged Ruby more tightly. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped."

"I…I wasn't supposed to say anything." She thought for a moment. "But that still doesn't excuse what I said to you, Weiss. I didn't mean it. And I swear to you that I should have never, ever raised my hand to you."

Weiss stroked Ruby's hair, trying to calm her down. "I know you feel bad about it, Ruby, but it's fine. I deserved it. It was…enlightening."

"You don't understand," Ruby said. "No matter how upset I get I should never hit the person I love."

Weiss blushed. "What was that, Ruby?" she asked.

Ruby pulled away from their second hug and looked Weiss in the eyes, both girls still showing traces of tears. "I love you, Weiss. More than anything in the world. It's part of the reason I've worked myself so hard lately; I don't want to disappoint you." She looked away in embarrassment. "I never said anything because I was afraid you would hate me or reject me. I didn't want to lose you, so I bottled my feelings away, only telling Yang and Blake when they caught on to it on their own and confronted me about it." Ruby looked back to Weiss. "Do you hate me?"

Weiss was shocked. Two things Ruby has done today that she never would have expected, and this one was…pleasant. Thoughts and emotions raced through Weiss's mind, pulling her in a thousand directions at the speed of light, causing her to falter for a response. Ruby was about to take her silence as an answer, but Weiss simply couldn't put her thoughts into coherent words. Finally, Weiss gave up even trying to form a response and simply acted by pressing her lips to Ruby's.

Ruby was caught completely off guard, but didn't resist or fight back in any way; she let the moment happen. She ignored the watchful eyes of Blake and Yang as she enjoyed her own personal bliss. When they finally separated for breath they looked into each other's eyes and smiled.

Yang smiled at the sight. "Well, looks like forgiveness has been passed around the table. That settles that. Time for bed, Ruby." Ruby looked to Yang, wanting to argue against it. As tired as she still was, she didn't want to go to bed yet.

Before she could protest, Weiss cleared her throat to get Ruby's attention. "She's right, Ruby. You need your sleep. It doesn't matter how important a test is; you should never neglect your health." Ruby was about to protest against Weiss this time, but Weiss simple shut her up with her lips. The kiss was brief, but conveyed the feelings of affection and concern that convinced her that she should listen to them and go to bed.

"Okay," she said. She stood and started to climb up to her bunk.

"What do you think you're doing?" Weiss asked, using her condescending tone.

Ruby turned, confused. "G-going to bed?"

"Not up there you're not," Weiss stated. Weiss changed into her night clothes and pulled the covers back on her bed, motioning for Ruby to get in.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked, confused.

"No girlfriend of mine is going to sleep by herself after such a rough month. You are to get as much rest as possible, and I'm going to personally see to it!"

Ruby began to smile widely as nodded. She climbed into Weiss's bed first with Weiss herself trailing behind. They turned out the lights and covered up with the blankets. Weiss let Ruby rest her head on her chest, and within moment's Ruby's exhaustion hit her like a freight train and she was out for the night.

Ruby: The Next Day

Ruby stirred, slowly waking up. She rolled over expected to run into Weiss, but instead she simply encountered the bed sheets. She slowly opened her eyes to find that the room was empty with the exception of herself and one other person. This person was not a member of team RWBY, but rather the man who had formed team RWBY; Professor Ozpin sat in a chair with a cup of coffee, reading a newspaper.

He looked up and noticed that Ruby was waking up. "Good morning, Miss Rose. I hope you rested well."

"Professor? Why are you here?" Ruby asked.

Ozpin sipped his coffee while he set the newspaper down on a nearby desk. He stood up and relocated the chair so he could sit next to the bed. "Miss Schnee told me about your little problem early this morning and said that you were taking the day off to rest. I came to check up on you. How are you feeling after more than a full night's rest?"

She rose up and stretched, working the stiffness out of her limbs. "Better than before," she replied. "What time is it?"

Ozpin looked at his watch and smiled. "It's 12:30pm. You've slept for well over twelve hours." Ruby was amazed that she could sleep that long. She was one of the earliest to wake up in the morning; it was part of her routine to start the day off by polishing Crescent Rose. "Also," Ozpin said, breaking her away from her thoughts. "I came by to have a little chat about the coming tests."

Ruby gulped. She knew that Weiss must have told him that she spilled the beans about the stricter grading scale for team leaders. "I'm sorry, sir. I told them how you were grading the leaders. They were worried about me and I couldn't keep hiding why I was hurting my own health."

"And that's why I wanted to say that you passed my test."

"Ipassedyourwhatnow?" Ruby said quickly, not sure how to react.

"I told the team leaders that they would be graded more strictly so they would try harder to pass, and I added the condition that they were not to tell their teammates so that they would be forced to rely only on their own power to pass. However, I believe that no matter how skilled you are, or how well you study, it takes more than one to win a fight, even one so indirect as academics. By telling your team what I said not to tell them, you opened the door for them to help you, which is what teams are made for."

Ruby was amazed. "What about the grading scale?"

Ozpin smiled. "I lied, of course. You are being graded the same as everyone else. The leaders were, I suppose, earning an extra grade from my little test, but it was more of a moral lesson that I wanted to teach you rather than an actual academic lesson. So far, you're only the second person to break down and tell your teammates."

Ruby felt curious. "Who was the first?"

"Jaune gave in two weeks ago, it would seem. I was given a very interesting visit from Pyhrra that day. Not as interesting as the one Weiss gave, however." Ozpin stood and headed for the door. "One more thing, Miss Rose. I fully support trying your hardest, but you shouldn't do so by compromising your health. It's not good for you to lose so much sleep."

Ruby thanked him, and he left. She smiled to herself. If she could walk away from these events it was this; she was more likely than not going to make her first excellent grade on a test, and that Weiss returned her feelings. She stood and took her shower, washing away what little fatigue remained in her body. As she dressed she looked at herself in the mirror and gasped. She looked horrible. Dark circles and prominent lines had made themselves known on her face where she neglected her sleep for a month, only resting for two or three hours a night. She now understood why they called it 'beauty sleep', and she made a decision to never have a repeat of the last month ever again.

She walked back into the room after drying off and decided against putting her usual attire on, and she didn't want to get back into her dirty pajamas, so she wore an outfit she rarely wore; a pair of black shorts and a red tank top. She had no plans to leave campus, and even considered not leaving the room. She went to make Weiss's bed, and after she finished that she picked up a comic book and climbed onto the bed she had slept in and started to read.

Not too much longer later, Weiss came in with a plastic bag in her hands; she was early. "Did you sleep well?" Weiss asked with a smile.

Ruby smiled back. "Yeah. Thanks for letting me stay in the dorm today, Weiss."

"Don't mention it. I said that you were going to get as much rest as possible and I meant it. Here," she set the bag down and pulled out a foam container. "I grabbed you some food. You weren't in the cafeteria at lunch, so I assume you slept through it."

Ruby blushed. "Yeah, just a little bit." Ruby was about to get up to accept the food when Weiss held her hand up, indicating she wanted Ruby to stay exactly where she was.

"You are resting today. Even if you're awake now, I'm not letting you do anything you don't have to. So, you're eating lunch in bed."

Ruby looked at the neat and clean bed that belonged to Weiss. "You sure? I don't want to get your blankets all dirty from eating."

"If it comes to that we'll just have to wash them out, now won't we?" Weiss approached and set the container, along with a plastic fork in front Ruby.

Ruby straightened up and folded her legs, accepting the food gratefully. She opened it and found chicken alfredo with three cookies set to the side for desert. Ruby loved pasta, and ate happily. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she started eating, finishing the meal by tossing the cookies into her mouth gleefully, careful not to drop a single crumb on the bed. "Thanks, Weiss," she said softly.

Weiss nodded with a smile and took the now empty container and fork and threw them in the trash bin. She turned to face Ruby, who was once again leaning on Weiss's pillows, and couldn't help but think certain thoughts that she would normally fight to halt. Aside from the look of sleep deprivation that Ruby would carry for several more days, Weiss truly believed that Ruby was the most adorable girl she had ever met. Ruby had returned to reading the comic book, and didn't notice that Weiss was violating her with her eyes.

Weiss looked Ruby up and down from her hair cut to her bare feet, taking in the beauty of the girl. Even the outfit she was wearing to laze about it was adorable. The black shorts that stopped just above her knees and the red tank top the revealed her pale arms made her look irresistible to Weiss. The heiress usually didn't approve of the style, but she seriously considered putting some wristbands and bracelets and a cross necklace on Ruby to complete the punk look; maybe even some red and black low top shoes.

Weiss slipped her own shoes off and climbed on the bed next to Ruby. Ruby paused in her reading of the comic for a moment and turned to Weiss. "Why are you early? Did classes get cut short?"

Weiss shook her head. "After my last class I decided to take the rest of the day off. Professor Ozpin said it was okay." She shrugged. "Today was a review day for most classes anyway."

Ruby smiled. "Well, I'm glad you decided to spend the rest of your day with me."

Weiss smiled back before frowning. "Ruby, I wanted to apologize. Not just for yesterday, but for all the times I was cruel to you."

"Weiss," Ruby said. "You don't need to apologize. I've already forgiven you for those incidents. I forgave you right after they happened."

"No, I do need to do this. It's important to me, Ruby. Just hear me out." Ruby nodded. "Ruby, I shouldn't have treated you the way I did all this time. From the moment I first met you I've been cold, hateful, and self righteous around you. The entire time the only thing you've been doing was bottling up the hurt I pushed onto you, and yet you still wanted to be my friend." Ruby was about to interject. "Don't deny it, Ruby. You were carrying all the hurt from my words and actions; you just didn't accept it and kept moving on. Nonetheless, the hurt was still there. People may say things they don't mean out of anger, but the words come from somewhere. You did feel awful because of me, and that just makes me feel awful."

"Weiss," Ruby finally said. "I still love you, regardless of how you treated me."

This made Weiss smile. "That's what I don't understand about the whole thing. How could I have treated such a sweet and adorable girl so harshly?" She put a hand on Ruby's cheek. "I'll never treat you that way ever again."

Ruby smiled at the touch of Weiss's hand, but then an idea came to her. "Weiss, we need to fix what I did to you last night."

Weiss gave her a confused look as Ruby stood up and faced her with the most serious look that Weiss had ever seen on Ruby's face. "How so?"

"Slap me," Ruby said flatly.

Weiss stood up and looked at Ruby in shock. "Ruby, I couldn't hit you! After everything I just said about not wanting to hurt you, you want me to slap you?"

Yang and Blake walked in, pausing mid conversation. "What's all the fuss?" Yang asked.

"Oh, thank goodness. Yang, talk some sense into your sister!"

"Why? What's she doing?"

"I'm trying to set things right once and for all so we don't have to worry about it ever again," Ruby replied. "I slapped Weiss last night, so I want her to slap me!"

Yang and Blake exchanged looks. "You can't be serious," Blake said as Yang just shook her head, placing a palm on her forehead.

"I am dead serious."

Yang sighed. "She's not going to be happy until you slap her, Weiss. Just do me a favor and don't hurt her."

"W-what?" Weiss stammered. She looked to Ruby and sighed. "Only once, okay? I won't slap you twice."

Ruby nodded. "Fair enough.

Weiss stepped closer to Ruby and looked her in the eye. Very quickly, so as to be done with it, she slapped Ruby once in the face. Ruby's head moved slightly to her right upon impact on her left cheek. She met Weiss's gaze again with a red mark on her face. "Now we're even," she said, fighting back tears.

Weiss rolled her eyes and locked lips with Ruby. To her surprise, not only did Ruby kiss her back, but she introduced a light bit of tongue as well. When they finally broke the kiss, pulling a single strand of saliva with them, Weiss very sternly said, "Don't you ever ask me to do something like that again."

Ruby smiled. "Yes, dear."

The four girls spent the rest of the day playing games and talking about the upcoming tests, and even helped Ruby study and gave her the notes for today's classes that weren't review. Ruby felt confident that with her teammates' help she could ace every test they had coming in the days to follow.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey. Want to hear something ironic? I slept for five hours before waking up at 3AM this morning from having a dream; that dream was the source of inspiration for this fanfic…which revolved around, for the most part, getting a healthy amount of sleep. A healthy amount of sleep, I might add, is something that I didn't get by waking up to write the story. It's now a little after 7AM. I'm drinking my first cup of coffee in seven months, and I actually got to eat breakfast. Usually I wake up so late in the day or I'm too busy that I don't eat until dinner time, or the occasional lunch hotpocket if I feel like pausing long enough to microwave something. This morning I decided that since I had too much to do later (telling myself not to go back to bed), I opted to make some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Best eggs I've ever made honestly. Hope to write another RWBY fanfic in the future, and you should check out my other RWBY fic, "Team RWBY Plays…" where the four girls play random board/video games. Till next time!

January 27, 2017:

Did some much needed formatting and revision. I need to do that more often, but I have probably missed just as many mistakes as I've fixed. You know, I love going back and rereading my old work, especially my old Author's Notes. I can always tell what I was doing when I wrote it, and where I was in my life at that point. I wrote this story back in 2013, for God's sake. Was this my first RWBY fanfiction? It may very well be. I'm not entirely sure. I've written hundreds of thousands of words since 2013. What's changed since 2013? I feel like my skill as a writer has grown, for one. But, that's to be expected.

What I didn't expect is how much my life would have changed in those four years. Four years is a short amount of time, and in that time I've moved out of my family home, worked three jobs, dropped out of college, bought my first car, fell in love, got my heart broken, lost my dog, disowned my father, got promoted, suffered a lot of depression (still dealing with that one), and pretty much completely redesigned my life from the ground up. And you all have been there, in patched, for all four years of this. Kinda like an extended family that I've never met. All because of this one story. Yeah, I have written better stories. The Longest Night is still my best RWBY fic, and will likely never be topped. Which is kind of sad, but I have nearly lost all drive to write fanfiction. (Not all of my drive, of course. I just have a lot going on in life.) But were it not for Team Effort, I never would have written The Longest Night.

So, thank you all so much for the past four years of support. I hope to see more support in the coming years. I've experienced a lot in those four years, and nothing makes for a better story than real life experiences.

Oh, and the one constant of the past four years? I'm still an insomniac. Still can't sleep worth a damn. :D

Thank you. I love you all! Till next time!