The Search Ends

Sometime later….

Ruby POV:

It's been over an hour since I started my search, and...nothing.

I spent the better part of an hour searching, slowly expanding my radius until I was no longer confined to the arena building, still not even a hint of Sapphire's existence. Not a single person knew where she went, frustration is slowly building. It's nine forty, a good hour and some past the time we usually sleep, I'm tired.

"Why can't she just show up already!?" I whispered my frustrations allowed but was only met by the usually serene silence of Beacon at night, though now it only irritates me more.

I refuse to blame Sapphire though, she's not in the right headspace to make good decisions, nor does she have many people in beacon to confide in. I mean there's Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and ren, but they are nowhere closer to her than we, as her team, are, so I doubt she'd be able to talk with them much easier than she can with us.

"Haaa…" I let out a sigh as if to distract myself from my wandering thoughts open up the team coms.

"Anyone have any luck?" I lightly ask.

I mean I doubt anyone has as no one has initiated a conversation, but I just want something to do other than wander in my own thoughts.

"No luck here, everyone I asked hasn't seen her since she left the arena," Yang's tired voice comes through in response.

"The staff are, as well, unaware of Sapphire's location," Weiss' came through with undisguised frustration.

"Thought so, what about you Blake?" I ask, not expecting any good news.

"Nothing, no one has seen her enter or exit the dorms in some time," Blake replied with veiled impatiens audible in her voice.

"Fine then, continue if we don't find her before midnight, then we will head in and continue tomorrow," I stifle a yawn and give them that final deadline. As much as I would rather spend all night searching, it would be fruitless to-

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Blake.

"I see Sapphire, she just entered the dorm building, should I confront her?" Blake slowly but impatiently pours out her words.

"No, don't," I quickly reply, "We don't want her to run away again, just follow her and weel meet you in the dorms."

With that, I ended the conversation and rushed off.

------------

It doesn't take long for me to come upon the off-white walls of the dorm building and reach the large brown doors of the entrance. I pull open the doors with little effort and see the lobby on the other side, with Blake waiting on the other side of the room; near the archway entrance to the hallway.

As soon as I open the door her eyes shoot toward me, and motions for me to come over; to which I comply.

"Am I the first one?" I ask.

All I get in reply is a nod in affirmation. Blake says nothing else, and just patiently leans against the wall. I assume she is waiting for the rest of the team, but with my growing impatience, I am having a hard time doing the same.

Eventually, my desire for information overwhelms my patience, and I ask, "Well, where-,"

Or at least I tried to as, before I can get the third word out, the front door once again opens up. I dart my eyes over and see Yang and Weiss walk inside. It doesn't take them any time at all to spot us as, due to it being so late, the room is sparsely populated. Only us and a couple of other groups of students are hanging about, hardly a crowd.

However, Now we are all here, and, before I can even ask, Blake starts her explanation.

"Sapphire went directly to the dorm room after she showed up," She said, "She seemed a little out of it, but I couldn't see any visible injuries so she was probably just tired."

"What is she doing now?" Yang curiously asked.

"I don't know, I didn't follow her in," Blake matter of factly replied, "It would have been hard to remain unnoticed if I did."

"What does it matter," Weiss interjected, "Let us just get this over with so we can rest for the night."

I will not say this aloud but I agree with her, it's been a late night, and I want to sleep. Still, even with all of my exhaustion, we need to see if Sapphire is fine before we settle in for the night.

"In any case, we need to head to our room, so," I state as I start walking to the stairs, "let's go."

And, so, with my team following behind me, we climb the flights of stairs to arrive on our floor before traveling the hallways to find our room; all with very little conversation. I imagine that everyone is a little too tired to care about conversations.

With that, I find myself looking directly at the white door to the room, and I pull out by scroll to unlock it.

As silently as possible, in order to not startle our little runaway, I open the door and step inside; still followed by Blake, Yang, and Weiss. Though my attempt at being silent seems to have been useless as just as we walk inside, the probably previously sleeping Sapphire shoots up and looks unblinkingly right at us. Her ears and tail are as stiff as a board and stay that way for a few seconds before they return to normal.

The tension in the air is palpable as nobody dares to move a muscle. Sapphire seems to be looking for a way out as her eyes dart about the place. Quickly, though, her eyes still, stationing themselves. I don't know whether she determined she couldn't run or she didn't want to, but her eyes displayed her fearful intention to hold her ground. The tension only seemed to grow heavier and heavier until all of Sapphire's composure seems to crumble in an instant. Tears well up in her gem-like blue eyes, and she darts her eyes to the ground, avoiding eye contact.

It's difficult to see her like that. She's normally such a confident ball of sunshine, but ever since this morning, she's rarely had the guts to look us in the eyes. It's almost as if she fears what she might see. Like she is expecting us to hate her now or something.

Oh…

That's what this is about….

Sapphire…

I watched as Sapphire desperately opened her mouth to speak, but at this point, I wasn't listening. Before I knew it I had already rushed over to wrap her in a hug. It was very clear that even thinking about what happened to her in that facility was difficult. She doesn't need to beat herself up over not being ready to talk about it.

------------A little bit ago---------------

Sapphire POV:

-Click…

The distinctive sound of the door unlocking jolts me awake, and as adrenalin returns me from the void of slumber, I realize just who it was that opened the door. The full team with Ruby upfront and Weiss, Yang, and Blake following closely behind. I feel my heart beating in my chest, and anxiety threatens to rear its ugly head, but I silence them both. I don't feel like running anymore; I just hope they don't hate me.

I feel the adrenalin wash away, and the grogginess of being awakened catches up. It seems that I will not be allowed to close my eyes just yet as it seems I am caught up in some kind of staring contest with an ambiguous weight behind it; I could feel its weight in the air. The silence pervade the room, and slowly but surely I mentally shook off the fog of sleep.

It seems that this newfound mental acuity allowed me to think more rationally, as I quickly notice the relief readily apparent on the faces of my teammates. Shit, were they looking for me? Is that why they were out so late?

I feel guilt and anxiety well up in my chest. The world suddenly felt a hundred times heavier. My heartbeat is spiking, and it is suddenly harder to breathe! I take a deep breath to calm myself, but the aggressive beating in my chest refuses to fade. The conversation from this morning replays a million times in my head.

I let them down...

This morning when I couldn't answer their questions, I let them down. I broke the barely constructed trust that was built between us because I was too weak to open my mouth and Just! Fucking! Speak!

And now, I had them chasing me around the school simply because I didn't know how to face them after that.

I felt tears well up in my eyes as I desperately opened my mouth to apologize. Even if I knew it would be useless; that after this our relationship would never be the same.

"Listen, I-I-I'm Sor-!" I tried to get out through blurry vision and a stuttering voice, but before I even finished, I felt something soft and warm wrap itself around me.

I look down to see Ruby wrapped around me, her short hair still waving in the wind she generated moving so fast.

"It's fine," she soothingly stated, "Everything will be fine. It doesn't matter if you aren't ready to tell us what you went through. It doesn't matter. You're a part of the team now, Sapphire, so I will be there for you, regardless."

Out of nowhere, I felt four more arms wrap around me, all at different heights. I didn't even need to look to understand what was happening

"We will always be there for you," I heard Yang say.

"I already told you, even if no one else is, I will be there for you, so don't run off like this again, ok?" Blake whispered.

Hearing this, I felt my legs give out, and I loudly sobbed in their arms. All I felt at this time was pure relief. I had thought that I had ruined one of the only relationships I've had with anyone since the facility. After becoming friends with everyone here, the thought of losing that relationship was suffocating. Now it feels as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders, and I couldn't hold it back anymore. It's only been a couple of months, but these people have left a mark on me that I will never forget.

Suddenly, I felt a cold hand uncertainly move across my head, halting my train of thought. I look up to see a stiff Weiss uncomfortably trying to soothe me as a child would. She gently moved her hand back and forth on the top of my head with a blush on her face. I could only stare at her as this was the first time I have seen Weiss give any sort of physical affection. I was so stunned in fact that, I didn't even bother to wipe the tear streaks from my face. It seemed I wasn't the only one either, as ruby, Yang, and Blake are also silently staring at Weiss in shock.

Weiss' blush grew darker and darker from the force of our combined stares, and her embarrassment was practically flooding out of her.

Finally, it reached a tipping point and Weiss yelled out, "What!?"

"Nothing, I just didn't think the Ice Queen was capable of comforting someone…" Yang unabashedly stated, causing Weiss' embarrassment to sore.

Hn?

-Sniff…

Something smells….

-Sniff, Sniff

Delicious?

-GRRRooWlll…

The 'very' loud complaints of my empty stomach made their way through the room much to my immediate embarrassment. I felt my face heat up, and I couldn't help but want to bury my head in my pillows. Still, it seemed like my embarrassment was only fated to grow worse as laughter burst from my blond companion.

"Hahahahaha, it's what you get for skipping dinner, haha," Yang's laughter filled the room, and my embarrassment gave way to frustration.

It didn't end there either, as Ruby seemed to unhesitantly join in Yang's boisterous laughter. I couldn't help but become a little angry.

"Shut up!" I yelled, but this did nothing to silence the laughter, so I just ignored them.

"Haaah, Whatever, tomorrow's a school day. You should just eat and then head to bed," Weiss speaks with her voice laced with annoyance along with something else that I couldn't quite place.

With Weiss' words, though, my attention is brought back to my hunger and that delicious smell. I must've been hungrier than I thought because as soon as I saw that to-go bag sitting on my desk, I could almost feel my mouth salivating.

Ok, food first, everything else later….