Ruby Rose sat alone in the back of a classroom, absentmindedly looking at the papers in front of her, she was supposed to be catching up on homework that she had missed in the past months, but she couldn't find it in her to even try.
"Ms. Rose…"
Ruby looked up into the squinting eyes of her biology teacher, Peter Port, "are you finished?"
She slowly shook her head, "c-can I just take it home?" she asked quietly, "I-I'll bring it to you in the morning."
"Of course Ms. Rose…" he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "and if you need anything, feel free to come and talk to me."
"T-thank you Professor Port." She said hollowly, picking up the papers and walking towards the door.
"Ms. Rose," Professor Port started again Ruby stopped, "I know you've had a hard three months," he said, "but I'd like you to know that we're all glad to see you on back on your feet.
"Thanks…" She said softly, walking out of the room; and as she walked down the halls, she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of loneliness, she no longer had anyone to walk alongside her in the hallways, no one to speak and confide in. she let her shoulders slump as she got to the front doors and found it raining outside, she put her hood up and pushed the door open, walking out into the drizzle.
"Ruby…" someone said, making her look up, standing outside was someone she didn't think she would see.
"Jaune…I thought you were-"
"On my way to boot camp?" the blonde asked, "I'm about to head to the recruiting station, but I have some time…" he walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder, "ruby…I'm scared to leave you like this…I mean…what if-"
"I'll be fine Jaune," Ruby said, giving a half-hearted smile, "I-I still have Ren and Nora…and…and my uncle Qrow…I'll be fine…"
Jaune hesitated, then stepped forward and hugged her, "make sure to write." He said softly, "and if you need anything, anything at all…I'll do my best to help."
Ruby slowly returned the hug and nodded, "good-bye Jaune." She said softly, letting him go and walking away.
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"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked softly as she entered her uncles house, her home, now that she thought about it, 'uncle Qrow, I'm home." She walked into the living room and found the retired Master Sergeant asleep on the couch, a bottle of whiskey clutched in his hands, "uncle Qrow," she said softly, shaking him awake.
He shot up straight at the contact, looking around with a wild look in his eyes, "wha-who-oh, Ruby…" he said in relief, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from them, "how…how was school?"
"Fine…" she said, looking around the room, it was the same as always, only now an extra amount of hard liquor bottles were strewn on the usually clean counter top, "did you go to work?"
"They sent me home, apparently calling a woman a useless cunt isn't good etiquette."
Ruby nodded mutely, before walking into the kitchen, 'I'll make dinner.'
Qrow watched her walk away, and then groaned and stood up, "I'll help ya." He said, staggering a little as he shook his limbs out.
Ruby just nodded as she started pulling things out for spaghetti, they worked quietly for a few minutes, until Qrow spoke, 'you know…they brought…they brought by your sisters possessions." He said, "cleaned out her locker…they thought it best to give it to you, I put it in your room."
"Okay…' ruby said, picking up a cup, which fell out of her hand and shattered on the ground, the resulting sound made Ruby give a startled gasp, taking a few steps back as visions of fire and death ran through her mind.
"Ruby!" Qrow said in alarm as he watched his niece shake in fright.
"I-I'm fine." She said shakily, hugging her arms and willing them to stop shaking, "Just…just give me a minute."
Qrow watched her, "um…why don't you go take a nap, I'll finish dinner."
She sniffled and nodded, shuffling out of the kitchen.
Qrow gave a tired sigh and ran his hands through his long hair before focusing his attention on the food.
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Ruby walked into her room and looked at the box that sat on her bed, she hesitantly put her hands on the flaps, debating whether or not to open it, she finally made up her mind and opened it, looking inside to find several mementos of her sister, pictures of her tour in Menagerie, a sheathed buck knife, a couple of old ranks that she hadn't bothered to get rid of, and, to Ruby's surprise, her sisters BDU blouse, her name tape and combat patches still on the arms and above the breast pockets, her sergeant ranks still pinned to the collar, Ruby felt tears once again spring up in her eyes as she hugged the blouse and quietly sobbed into it. She continued to sob until she heard shouting in the other room, she slowly stood up and walked out, peaking into the living room, where she found her uncle glaring at someone Ruby really didn't want to see.
"Qrow, I know you're retired." General Ironwood started.
"Damn right I'm retired, I served my twenty Jimmy." Qrow growled.
"Which is why we need you," Ironwood said, "we lost too many people in that attack, officers and NCO's who can't be replaced by these new recruits, they're too fresh, they'll freeze up."
"Go find someone else Jimmy," Qrow spat.
"You don't understand-"
"No, you don't understand," Qrow snapped, "your precious Army isn't the only thing that lost people that day, I lost my brother-in-law, my niece lost her sister, her friends, I'm not leaving her to face that on her own!"
Ironwood sighed, turning to the door, "If you change your mind-"
"I won't." Qrow said bluntly.
"If you change your mind," Ironwood said again, "you know where to find me."
Ruby slowly slid down against the wall, still hugging her sisters' blouse, shaking ever so slightly as she heard Qrow swearing under his breath as he went back into the kitchen.
Qrow had tried not to let anything seem wrong when Ruby came back into the kitchen, he ate silently, internally stewing over what Ironwood had told him.
"You should go…"
Qrow looked up at his niece, unsure if he had heard her correctly, "what?" he asked.
"I said you should go." Ruby mumbled, "Ironwoods right…they need you."
"So, you heard our little talk huh?" Qrow asked, leaning back in his chair, putting his fork down.
She nodded, "and…you shouldn't let me get in the way of helping other people." She said softly,
"Ruby," Qrow said, putting his hand on hers, "Your one of the only remaining family that I have left, and you need me."
"I'm fine," Ruby, said, giving him her best fake smile, "it'll be lonely here for a while, but I'm sure I'll get used to it."
Qrow deflated, 'Ruby…"
"It's what dad would've done…' Ruby said quietly, "Yang too, they would go back in and show them what happens…when you mess with Vale…"
Qrow gave a soft laugh, "They would, wouldn't they?" he mused, standing and walking over to the fridge, he pulled out a rarity, a bottle of wine, he popped the top off and poured two glasses, he then walked back and gave one to Ruby, who looked at him in surprise.
Qrow sat back down and raised his glass, 'here's to friends gone, and family still with us."
Ruby raised her glass and clinked it with Qrow's, together they drank it, Ruby wrinkled her nose a little at the taste, it was sweet, yet had a tinge of sourness that made her shake her head a little.
Qrow laughed, "guess even wine is still to strong for ya, hey kiddo?"
Ruby looked at him, then started laughing too, and for a few brief moments, reality was lifted off their shoulders.
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Qrow watched as Ruby left the house, her second day back to school, he had made sure to help her with Ports homework, biology being one of the few classes he hadn't failed in high school, before she had left. He gave a tired sigh as he picked up his old OD green field coat and walked out of the house. For all intents and purposes he was going to see Ironwood on the military base a few miles outside of town, but first, he had somewhere to be.
His old truck rattled and groaned as he turned it on and headed the complete opposite of where he was supposed to go, as he drove he pulled an old Cassette out, "for old time sakes, eh Tai?" he asked the empty seat beside him as he popped the cassette into the player, soon the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd was blasting out of the speakers, with Qrow singing along to the words until he got to his destination, an old graveyard that had several new grave stones erected on the outskirts. He slowly got out of the car and walked over to two in particular. He knelt down between them and put his hands on the cold stones as he looked at the words engraved on them:
Taiyang Xiao-Long
Dec 18 1979-Nov 10 2016
Loving husband, father, and comrade,
Gary Owen,
Yang Xiao-Long
April 1 1997-Nov 11 2016
Loving sister and daughter
Retreat, Hell
Qrow closed his eyes as he felt tears come, but he forced them down as he slowly stood up, "I didn't think you'd come so soon.' He said softly, turning around to look at the woman standing behind him, her long black hair cascading down her shoulders, her clothes were disheveled, as if she grabbed the first thing she could find and threw them on, the only thing that wasn't crumpled and wrinkled was the leather jacket she wore, her red eyes were looking at the gravestones with a mixture of grief and disbelief.
"When…when I saw their names in the paper…I thought it was a joke." She said softly, falling to her knees where she stood. "Then you called…but I…I didn't want to believe it…"
"Well believe it," Qrow muttered, looking back at the graves.
"Oh…my sunny little dragon…" she whispered, looking at Yang grave, "a-and Ruby? Is she-"
"she survived…lost a couple of her own friends though…" he closed his eyes, "Raven…I'm leaving soon…'
"What?! What for?" she demanded, glaring at her brother.
"I'm reenlisting, heading back into the fight."
"And you're just going to leave Ruby-"
"Don't talk to me about leaving anyone." Qrow snapped at her, making Raven shrink in on herself. "The only reason I'm doing this is because Ruby wants me too…but she's also the reason that I need your help."
"My help?" she muttered, "why?"
"Re-enlisting during a time like this, I'll be heading to the front lines, you and I both know it, and that leaves Ruby alone at home…I don't want her there by herself, this whole ordeal has shaken her up more then she'll let on."
Raven slowly stood up, 'how bad is it?" Raven asked.
"She had a PTSD attack yesterday," Qrow said, 'and it was triggered by her dropping a cup."
"And what would you have me do?"
"Stay with her," he said, "be someone to lean on when things get rough for her, and you and I both know it'll get rough."
Raven nodded, unconsciously rubbing her arm, "I'll try…but she doesn't know me."
"You're family," Qrow said simply, "it's not like she'll hate you."
Raven nodded slightly, "I'll come by tonight to meet her…I hope you know what you're doing Qrow."
"So do I Ray," he said, putting a hand on Tai's headstone, "so do I…"
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She had almost made it through the day.
Ruby had gone through most of the day on eggshells, the only reason she hadn't broken was the fact that Ren and Nora had been with her almost every step of the away, that and her sisters blouse, which she wore over her red hoodie, gave her some comfort when she was alone.
But Ren and Nora weren't in her last class, and the blouse did little to stop the loud bang of a textbook slamming into the ground.
The first time had been an accident, the boy behind her had fallen asleep and had accidentally pushed his textbook off the desk, and the resulting sound had made Ruby jump.
'Please don't do that," ruby asked the boy, looking back at him.
He eyed her for a while, but then nodded, "sure thing weirdo." He muttered.
Ruby looked ahead and tried to get her frayed nerves under control as she looked at the notes her history teacher was writing.
Another bang made her flinch. She slowly looked back at the guy, who just smirked at her and said, "sorry, accident."
"Hey, leave her alone." The blonde haired girl beside him said, Ruby looked at her and gave her a small nod of gratitude, the blonde smiled at her and they resumed their work, but Ruby was already starting to shake, it was bad enough to where she couldn't even write.
And then the boy pushed his textbook off the desk once more.
This time Ruby couldn't help her self as she brought her head down, sheltering herself with her hands.
The boy, now concerned by Ruby's reaction tried to get her attention, 'hey, y-you okay?" he whispered urgently, "c-come on, it was just a little bit of noise, I-I didn't mean…" he trailed off as he heard the sobbing, now everyone's attention was on Ruby.
'Mr. Shiko what happened!?" their teacher asked urgently, walking briskly down the aisle of desks.
"I-I didn't know dropping the textbook would bring this on!" he defended himself.
The teacher ignored him and knelt down next ruby, "Ms. Rose, this is Doctor Oobleck, are you alright?" he asked softly.
Ruby slowly shook her head, clenching a fistful of hair in each hand, her small frame shaking.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
Ruby slowly looked up tears streaming down her cheeks, "I-I'm f-fine…" she choked out.
"Sorry to disagree, but your anything except fine, now come, I'll get you to the nurses office.
"Let me." the blonde said, standing and jumping over her desk to get to Ruby's side.
"Thank you Ms. Altan."
"Come on girly," she said kindly, putting a comforting arm around the barely contained, hysterical girl as she stood up.
"Let me come too Arslan." The boy said, starting to stand.
"You've done enough Nadir." Arslan snapped at him as she guided Ruby out of the room.
Nadir plopped back down in his seat, several people were glaring at him, "why did she react like that?" Nadir asked.
Oobleck sighed, "Ms. Rose has had the unfortunate honor of witnessing history in the making, an honor that doesn't treat its recipients kindly."