We're barely outside of the kingdom. Why is there no stinking signal?!
Ruby balanced near the end of the thickest branch she could find, leaning out dangerously as she held her scroll aloft.
"Miss Rose?" a voice called from somewhere down below.
Ruby moved further out on the branch, holding her scroll to the east this time. Still no signal.
"Miss Rose?" the voice called again, louder this time.
She wasn't technically a "Miss" or a "Rose" anymore, but she'd let it slide.
"Yeeeaaaah?" she responded, practically on her tip toes now as she waved her scroll to and fro to try to find any amount of reception. I need a bigger tree...
"Do you see any, um, Nevermore?" the girl asked, her voice closer than before.
Nevermore? What Nevermooooh crap, Ruby realized suddenly. That was the fib she fed the student before climbing up here however long ago, wasn't it.
Ruby peered down through the foliage and spotted the girl, a mouse Faunus diligently making her way up the tree. One of the students she'd been tasked to lead on their first field assignment, alongside...
The tree shook violently, wood snapping and cracking at its base. The mouse girl squeaked and hugged the trunk for dear life while Ruby balanced among the upper branches.
"Whatcha doin' up there, sis?" Yang shouted up, sweet voice dripping with restrained anger.
"R-Recon?" she offered, trying to keep the guilt out of her voice. "We were just about to head back to camp!"
"Good, good," Yang said happily, cracking her knuckles. The student had climbed hastily back down and now stood a fair distance away from the brawler. "Because the rest of us were wondering what our leader was doing up in a tree for the LAST!"
Crack! Another powerful blow rocked the tree.
"HALF!"
Boom!
"HOUR!"
Ruby gulped. Busted. She tucked her scroll away and leapt from the tree, letting her semblance carry her quickly and safely to the ground. Going wide around her sister, Ruby landed next to her younger charge.
The girl had a finger pressed to a communicator in her ear, speaking softly to her team on the other end. "No, no Grimm. All clear here. We'll be back soon."
Ruby offered her best smile as she brushed rose petals from the girl's shoulder. "Back to camp?"
The mouse Faunus' eyes darted nervously past Ruby's shoulder before offering a brisk nod and scurrying away back towards camp. Before Ruby could make her own escape, Yang's arm snaked around her shoulder and pulled her into a bone-breaking side hug.
"Look, Rubes, I get it," Yang murmured compassionately, iron grip loosening. "They'll be fine. She'll be fine, you know that. But we need you here. These girls busted their asses so they could go on a mission with the Ruby Rose, you know?"
"I know." Ruby let out a long sigh, hand resting on her hidden scroll.
They wanted Ruby Rose, but they had gotten Ruby Arc.
Ruby sat on the edge of camp, back resting against a stout tree as she stared at the contact on her scroll. Still no signal. She'd have to give up for tonight and hope for better luck tomorrow. They were only about half a day's walk away from their mission area, a small town on the edge of the forest. Maybe the village will have a range extender...
Clicking her tongue at the grayed out 'call' icon, Ruby expanded the photo she'd chosen for Jaune's contact. She'd taken it just two days ago, the day before she left with Yang and Team STRW. Ruby had spent the morning at Beacon meeting with Professor Goodwitch to go over mission specifics and expectations the headmistress had for the rookie team. Ruby called home afterwards to check in and Jaune had told her that they had just cleaned up and were about to start dinner.
She came home to her living room destroyed, a minefield of toys she had to navigate to make it to the couch where her two most favorite people rested. Her husband, dopey as ever, still had his scroll in hand with her contact pulled up. Cleaned up, huh, Ruby thought wryly, smirking at the trail of drool that leaked from the corner of his mouth.
On his chest, rising and falling with her father's steady breathing, slept her sweet little Primrose. Pumpkin Pete was clutched in her tiny fist, her constant companion for nap time. Her hair, gold like Jaune's (and equally unruly), was tinged with Ruby's own red. The girl looked so much like her father when she slept, but when awake you'd see her mother's silver eyes, bright and inquisitive, staring back at you.
Ruby found herself sighing for the umpteenth time that trip as she studied the picture of her family. Was it always going to be this hard? Jaune had gone on a few missions since Prim was born and he got teary every time he came home. He'd been a softie for years now and, sweet as it was, she teased him thoroughly for his tears. Now, though, she wasn't so sure she wouldn't do the same.
It's not like she was worried. They were back home on Patch, Prim probably already snug in her crib for the night. She just missed them. She missed tucking Prim in. She missed feeding her and burping her after. She missed reading her stories the baby didn't understand, she missed singing to her, she even missed changingher.
This was her first mission since Prim was born six months ago and only her second day away from home. Ruby already felt like she was losing it.
"Scootch over, mom."
Ruby looked up to find Yang smiling down at her. She scooted over as requested, letting her big sister join her under the tree. Yang tousled her sister's hair on the way down and came to rest at Ruby's side, shoulder pressed to shoulder.
They sat there quietly as they watched two members of Team STRW build a fire. Tara, a fiery redhead, had their back to them. She gossiped endlessly at her partner. Sophie, the mouse Faunus who followed Ruby earlier, worked quietly, occasionally offering a mumbled response whenever the redhead paused to breathe. Ruby failed to notice the girl peering quietly at her through pale yellow bangs. The other two members of the team (whom Ruby, to her shame, didn't remember the names of) were making a sweep of the surrounding area for Grimm.
"Was Mom like this too?" Ruby murmured, stroking the face of her child on the screen.
Yang shrugged. "Probably. I'm pretty sure all moms are crazy at the start. It'll get better."
"Mm." Ruby didn't feel like it would.
"Really though," Yang said, turning to her sister. "Prim's with Jaune. And Dad's not even thirty minutes away if there's anything Jaune can't handle. I meant it earlier when I said we need you here."
"Goodwitch told you, right? They earned the right to be out here with us." Nodding towards the two students ahead of them, Yang continued. "They were ranked near the bottom of their year until they found out the top scoring team of the semester would have their first mission with you as their lead."
Ruby chewed her lip. Way to disappoint, Ruby.
"And they did it. Worked through every weekend, came in first in academics and just barely second in combat," Yang said. She continued, a bit more quietly, "I've got a fangirl, you know? Ol' Red there, Tara. It's kind of cute. She just talks and talks and talks, told me aaaalllll about it. Twice."
"You've got one too, you know," Yang said, nudging her little sister. Ruby finally looked up from her scroll and met eyes with Sophie. The timid girl quickly looked away, busying herself with the fire.
"Tara told me all about that, too," Yang said with an exasperated sigh. "You didn't notice, right? She has a rose embossed on the stock of her rifle and everything."
Shame burned in Ruby's gut as she watched the mousy leader of Team STRW work. "I..."
"But that's why I'm here, sis," Yang said, climbing to her feet and extending a hand down to Ruby. "To keep you in line. Let's go say hi."
Ruby smiled up at her sister and reached up to take her proffered hand. Yang, however, didn't move to grab her.
"Nuh uh. Scroll. Hand it over."
"But-"
Yang rolled her eyes. "But nothing. I promise I'll give it back once we reach town or if anything comes through. These girls know that being distracted can get you killed, they don't need to see it."
Ruby relented and passed her scroll up. Her sister was right, she needed to get her head in the game. Yang smiled brightly and offered her other hand to help her sister to her feet before leading her towards the still unfinished fire.
"You girls struggling? I brought an expert camper to show you how it's done," Yang joked. "Ruby here walked across two continents like a dumb ass and camped out nearly every night."
Ruby glowered at her sister for that as she joined the two students at the fire. "We were keeping a low profile."
"Suuuure you were. Over half a year on the road with some guy who you just happened to end up marrying later? 'Low profile', sure."
"Yang, it wasn't-"
"Really, Miss Rose?" Sophie cut in suddenly. "You walked that far? Why?"
"There was an attack coming to Haven and I kinda sorta had to run away from home to protect it," Ruby laughed uneasily. "And Sophie?"
The mouse girl perked up, probably because Ruby had remembered her name.
"It's Arc. Ruby works for me, though," she told the girl, smiling.
"O-O-Okay Miss Ruby!"
Ruby shot Yang a glare when her sister snorted at that.
Ruby spent the rest of the evening chatting with Sophie, giving the girl tips on everything from setting a camp to weapon maintenance while out in the field. The girl listened raptly and Ruby wasn't entirely surprised when Sophie produced a small notepad to take notes.
Yang had the other three members of STRW with her on the other side of the fire, sharing battle stories. Yang had the girls eating up every word as she weaved stories of destroying Grimm, routing the White Fang, and all around kicking butts. Tara especially was enraptured, gasping and laughing at every major point.
"Let's take a break," Yang finally said, stretching for the sky. She pulled out Ruby's scroll and shook it at her from across the fire. "Hey Rubes, got any new pictures? Mind if we take a look?"
"Go for it," Ruby responded before turning back to Sophie. Ruby had the girl's rifle laid across her lap.
The other three girls crowded closer around Yang as she started going through Ruby's scroll. They ooh'd and aah'd at all the right points even if they were probably only being nice. What teenage girl cared about babies? Ruby hadn't at all until she had one of her own.
She didn't notice when exactly the group went quiet but something about the silence bugged her. Looking up from Sophie's rifle (named Silver Rose, much to Ruby's embarrassment), Yang's had a wide grin as she pointed out something on the scroll, holding it up closer for the girls to inspect. Their faces were painted red by the fire, flames shining in their wide eyes.
"Cute butt," Yang said casually.
Ruby smiled and went back to inspecting the rifle. "Prim has a cute everything."
"...I guess she got the butt from her dad..." Tara added quietly.
That was a...weird conclusion to draw, Ruby thought.
Yang chuckled. "Never knew dudes could pull off the whole naked apron thing, but dayum Vomit Boy."
Ruby's head snapped up so quickly that rose petals fluttered down on her shoulders.
Yang was staring her down from across the fire, smug grin plastered on her face, and she realized that the other girls' faces weren't red from just the fire. Ruby couldn't see it clearly through the back of the scroll, but she could just make out her bright red apron and the blond wearing it (and nothing else) posing saucily in front of the bathroom mirror. Ruby delicately handed Sophie's rifle back to the girl and immediately sprung to her feet, making a mad dive for the scroll.
"T-T-Those are private!" she squawked as Yang danced away, holding the scroll high out of her sister's reach.
Yang laughed heartily as she continued to evade her sister's desperate grabs, leading her all over the campsite. Their leader Sophie looked thoroughly confused while the rest of her team giggled and elbowed each other.
After several minutes of chaos, Yang finally put her mortified younger sister in a friendly headlock until she petered out.
"Yaaaaang," Ruby whined, trying to wrestle her way out of the hold. She'd never been so embarrassed in her life, and that was saying something. "Please give it back."
"You have got to learn how to use private folders, Rubes," Yang admonished. "What if I had been Dad?"
Ruby covered her eyes in shame, shuddering at the thought. Teenage girls ogling her husband was bad enough, she didn't need Dad seeing that side (literally) of Jaune. Thank the gods they stopped at the apron... Ruby thought. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
"So!" Yang announced, turning towards Team STRW with a defeated Ruby still firmly held in a headlock. "What did we learn from crazy mom-slash-wife Ruby Arc today?"
"Hide your porn?" one girl put forward, getting laughs from her friends.
"Find a guy with a nice butt," another posited, getting even more laughs.
Ruby let out a withering sigh. This is one way to finally get away from the "perfect savior of Remnant" label, I guess.
"There's more to being a huntress than what we learn in class," Sophie offered
Ruby nodded sagely at the girl's wisdom. That's my fangirl, she thought proudly.
Yang nodded along. "Solid answers all. What about you, Tara?"
The redhead tapped her lip in silent thought for a moment before answering.
"Never get married or have kids?"
"Nailed it!" Yang laughed, Team STRW (sans Sophie) laughing along with her.
I wanna go home... Ruby thought grumpily.
Sophie stood a little bit taller as the bullhead descended towards Beacon's landing pad. It was a successful mission through and through. A week out in the field, no casualties, no major injuries, and a thoroughly satisfied client. Miss Ro-...Miss Ar-...Ruby hadn't even had to help with the fighting, while her sister only joined in once to show off her skills for the team.
A week with her hero was like something out of a dream. Ruby was so different but so much better than what she had expected. She was nice, and awkward, and kind of a dork, but still an immensely competent and skilled leader. Everything Sophie hoped she could be one day. Ruby had even said she wanted to help her tinker with her rifle once they were back at Beacon!
Puffing out her chest in pride, she looked over to Ruby to thank her for everything she had done. The silver-eyed huntress met her gaze with a smile, but as soon as the bullhead doors started to open she disappeared in an explosion of flower petals that left the group staggering. Yang just laughed and offered the team her apologies as they followed the trail of petals towards Beacon's main entrance.
They found Ruby standing before the statue in the courtyard, an impressive mass of stone featuring a proud ponytailed huntress raising her spear high in victory. With her were Professor Goodwitch and a man that could only be Jaune Arc. And in Ruby's arms was Primrose, the daughter she had heard too much about.
The baby girl squealed in delight as her mother raised her high over her head over and over, each time bringing the girl down to her face to blow exaggerated raspberries into her stomach. The headmistress watched the spectacle with a soft smile, something Sophie had never seen on the stern woman's face before. Ruby's husband stood just off to the side, sniffling a little. Was he crying?
Noticing the group, Professor Goodwitch turned and faced them with her usual critical eye. Sophie swallowed heavily and stepped forward.
"Team STRW reporting in. The mission was successful with no major injuries sustained," she reported smartly. "I have a preliminary debrief ready now, unless you would prefer to wait for the detailed report."
The professor nodded firmly. "Good work. Mrs. Arc here has spoken quite highly of you all. I believe you've earned a rest. Enjoy your extended weekend and deliver your report first thing Monday morning."
"Ma'am!" Sophie responded in the affirmative, squaring her shoulders. Ruby must have spoken highly of them indeed if the famously strict Professor Goodwitch was being so lenient.
"Thanks for watching out for Ruby for me. I really appreciate it."
Jaune approached, hand extended. "Oh, uh, Jaune, by the way," he added quickly.
Sophie heard a quiet "oh, we know" from Tara behind her, followed by a burst of giggling. What were they on about?
Jaune went from girl to girl for introductions. Sophie accepted the handshake proudly, but her teammates were red-faced and giggling during their turns. How could they be so rude to Ruby's husband?
"Hey Professor?" Yang asked suddenly. "Mind if I take STRW here out for dinner? I wanna hear about Beacon."
Sophie watched her partner practically vibrate in place as she waited for the answer.
"No wrecked nightclubs," was all Professor Goodwitch said before turning away and leaving the group.
"Awwww yeeeeaaah, par-tay!" Tara cheered, giving an excited high five to Yang.
Ruby and Jaune, hand resting around his wife's shoulder, approached the group as they chatted excitedly about their upcoming night on the town.
"You guys did really well," Ruby said, favoring each girl with a smile. "You're all welcome to come by Patch anytime, we'd love to have you."
"Definitely," Jaune added. "I wanna hear about your mission. Ruby always glosses over stuff."
Ruby affectionately headbutted her husband's chest at that.
"Really though, come by this weekend. I'll make lunch, whatever you guys like. I'll have you know," Jaune added proudly, "I'm a pretty crack chef."
A quiet snort was all Sophie heard before Yang and the rest of Team STRW burst into laughter.