Haste Makes Mistakes
Ruby's breath rattled as she came down from the heights of orgasm, her head falling onto the shoulder of the man she had just given herself to. It was so goddamn wrong, or so she felt in the clarity of the aftermath, but she hadn't felt that way before or during the act itself. She could still feel his hands resting on her hips, palms sweaty. his glasses were askew, green hair sticking up in all directions.
She swallowed hard, still feeling his manhood where it mattered most, softening after their impromptu romp in his dwellings.
"Ruby, are you alright?" He breathed, realizing fully and completely that taking the young woman's virtue from her was a grave responsibility. Especially when that woman was one such as Ruby Rose.
She nodded. "I'm fine." She said slowly, trying to catch her breath. "I'm better than fine, actually, I just…" She didn't dare finish that sentence. Finally pulling up and off of him, a sore feeling gathering at the apex of her legs. "I just didn't think we'd get this far." She said, laying down at his side as he pulled the blankets up and over the both of them.
"I didn't plan it, either." He replied, fixing his glasses if only so that he could see her clearly. "If anything, this was the furthest thing from what I might have expected. I never once assumed that it was a possibility."
He didn't mention the matter lightly, either.
He had first encountered Ruby in person as a student, one with far too much potential at such an early age. He feared for her, yet trusted Ozpin. Inwardly, he'd felt that she was not yet ready for the complications of Beacon, wondered idly if she knew just what she was getting into. Feared it might not be for the best. It had troubled him a great deal, at one time.
After all, they'd all covertly looked in on the Xiao Long family over the years. Speaking with the girl's father, and wishing the household well. They all knew of Ruby's exuberance, her desire to be a huntress. The innocence in her, at war with the obvious future placed in front of her. Yet, Ozpin had spoken, the girl would be trained by Beacon staff.
So, he treated her as a student, instilled within her what he could, hoping it would be enough. That he wouldn't have to bury her under the weight of history.
Still, he was only human, and he had seen enough of the threat looming overhead. So, upon her graduation he wished her well in her chosen field, closed his eyes to the murmurs in the back of his mind. That she still wasn't ready, that Ruby Rose, much like her mother, would never be truly ready. Not face the horrors of their job, and or the whispers of the hell left behind. That in spite of her skill, and her eyes, her soul was something much more fragile.
Months had passed since he had last laid eyes on Ruby Rose, but that she had run to him was enough to prove how terrified she was.
Of what, he still wasn't sure. He hadn't been able to ask.
"How do you do it?" She asked him. "How do you go out there and…" She closed her mouth. There was no words for it.
"I don't." He sighed. "I train others to do it for me."
"That town, there was no saving it. Nothing I could have done."
"It happens. You cannot save everyone, that's just the way of it."
"Yeah, but when you can't even save a single person-"
"You learn to save yourself." Bartholomew interrupted gently. "This is not an easy path. Although I don't air this to students, I'll speak it to you now. The lives we lead are nothing but one failure after another. It cannot help but be so. Therefore, we take every ounce of pleasure in our victories, allowing ourselves what little comforts we can in our efforts…and when we fail, Ruby, we must know that many times…many, many times, it is out of our hands."
Ruby said nothing to this, her eyes closing as she heard the man's heart beating in his chest. She hadn't meant to throw herself at him. She hadn't even been in her right mind, but that aside, she had insisted. She had pressed for it, because somewhere in her deeper consciousness, she needed to feel something else. Needed the madness lingering in her mind to go away.
The feel of claws against her back, teeth at her neck, feathers between her finger tips…all of the touches of Grimm, she had needed them as far away from her being as possible. So she had thrown herself at the touch of a human, because that was the quick fix. The easy solution.
It wasn't the first time she had heard of hunters and huntresses doing such a thing. In fact, there were classes dedicated to the psychology of a hunter in the midst of battle, the rationale that may or may not cloud their judgments. The textbooks spoke of moments like this. Glynda Goodwitch had spent hours working with each of the female students preparing them for the uncomfortable prospect of feeling lust after battle, and the darkness within every Grimm.
If she were honest, Ruby knew one day it would come to something like this. She just didn't know it would be so soon. Either way, she didn't regret it.
"I'm so tired." She sighed at length.
"Then you should rest."
"I can't."
"You must."
Leveraging herself from the blankets she turned away, one arm lifting up to cover her breasts, although the point was moot. "Every time I close my eyes, everything's right there. All over again. I don't want to sleep, I don't want that nightmare."
Reaching for her, he yanked her back down into the sheets and held her close. "Nightmare or not, Ruby, it's your life. You have no choice but to live it."
AYangThang: This was born out of 6 hours of boredom last night with a few friends when we started partying before the RWBY Vol 5 premier last night. This is the result of that. For those of you who didn't go to a theater to see the start of Vol 5, it was so good, you all will love it. Honestly, I just can't wait for Saturday to watch it again. In the meantime though, please enjoy this little slice of insanity...multi-chaptered.
