she couldn't place it. "Who is this?"

There was a moment of silence. Weiss opened her mouth to ask again—

"It's Ruby."

The floor seemed to shift under Weiss' feet. Her heart leapt into her throat so fast she thought she was going to throw up. Neptune looked at her with concern at her sudden change of expression.

"R-Ruby… Hi." As nervous as Weiss was, just being able to say those two words made her heart soar. Neptune's eyebrows nearly shot off his face; he downed the last of his glass of milk and left the room. Weiss heard the apartment door open and shut and footsteps walking down the corridor outside. She smiled silent and unseen thanks at the man.

"How've you been?" Weiss continued.

"Aaah, you know. Getting by. How about you?"

"Y-yeah,"couldn't get the words out.

"I know, Weiss. Me too…" Weiss smiled as she felt a tear spill down her cheek. "I'll see you soon," Ruby finished. The call ended.

Weiss looked at her scroll for a minute, trying to convince herself that she'd actually had that conversation. She smiled, cried, and laughed. Her heart was a roiling mess of emotions, and she couldn't even pick out an individual one that she was feeling. Joy, she told herself. That has to be the main one…

Weiss slid her scroll closed with a smile and set it back on the table. Her chair creaked as she leant back and closed her eyes. This is it, she thought to herself again. Gods… I love you, Ruby Rose.

In the semi-darkness of the early evening,