Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Roosterteeth and the creation of Monty Oum.
Yām HaMélah
It was well into the night by the time the four finally arrived at their hotel. The business of renting a car, the drive to Ein Gedi, and the sheer time difference left them wanting nothing more than to collapse into their beds, suitcases left untouched and abandoned by the door. Yang was already asleep on her feet, head drooping and bouncing as she tried desperately to keep from nodding off in the elevator. So it was Weiss who balanced the blonde against one shoulder while fumbling with the little plastic key card, and opened the door to their room. After a day spent waiting in airports and crammed into airplanes, Blake was just conscious enough to note that Weiss had been right; the place was incredibly nice. The beds, the sofas, everything was pale creams and tans, lit by the bedside lamps and the twilight glow off the nearby water.
All of this was lost on the elder sister. Within seconds of walking into the room, Yang flopped still-clothed across the bed she'd share with Weiss, grunting unintelligibly while the shorter girl tried to shake her into consciousness.
Ignoring the heiress' irate demands that Yang at least change, Ruby and Blake snuck off into their own room, closing their door on the suddenly hushed complaints that sounded suspiciously like they were being muffled with Yang's mouth.
The pair slept the dreamless sleep of the truly tired, and for once it was the sun, rather than Ruby, that roused Blake from her rest. A harsh beam of light glinted through the curtain that neither of them had thought to close, crawling its way up the bed until it landed on the Faunus' face. Eyes squinted against the unwelcome brightness, Blake slipped out from beneath her girlfriend's arm, the younger woman huffing quietly as her weight left the bed. Crossing to the window, Blake grabbed the curtain, ready to draw it shut to block out the day, and froze.
The adjoining rooms Weiss had insisted on, despite the sisters' attempt to keep her from splurging, opened onto a spectacular view of the water, a massive expanse of sparkling green and blue surrounded by the pale browns of sand and stone, lines and clumps of white appearing on the water's edge where the salt had gathered in thick, bumpy deposits. Even this early, a few beach-goers had snuck out to wade into the sea, one young child scampering down the beach to rejoin his family. A small group of visitors was already in the midst of smearing the dark, brackish mud across their bodies, hoping for the supposed healing effects of the Dead Sea soil.
Blake let herself stand there for a while, the sight washing over her as slowly as the microscopic waves that gently lapped at the sand. With a sigh, she jerked the curtain closed and slid back into bed, worming her way back under Ruby's arm.
The younger woman stirred at the movement, one hand rubbing sleep from her eyes as she blinked.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself," Blake said, leaning in to peck her cheek.
"Mmm," Ruby purred groggily and kissed her back, arms reaching out to twine behind her neck. "Are you getting up?"
Flicking the blankets over her head, the brunette burrowed a little deeper, snuggling a little closer to her girlfriend. "Nope," she muttered, and buried her head in the available shoulder.
"Good," the redhead smiled, as one hand came up to scratch at the base of Blake's ears. Ruby's expert fingers had the Faunus drowsy within seconds, and Blake was more than happy to lean into the caress as her eyes drifted shut. The bed was soft, Ruby was warm, and she had no intention of leaving anytime soon. The day and the salt-filled sea could wait a little while longer.
The same, apparently, could not be said of their neighbors.
What felt like seconds later, three precise knocks sounded on their hallway door, making Blake jerk upright as she woke. Her pounding heart gradually slowing back to a normal beat, she waited, hoping that whoever it was had simply gotten the wrong room.
They hadn't. The rapping sounded again, ruining her peaceful morning. Growling under her breath, Blake peeled herself out of bed, stopping just long enough to fix her kimono before yanking the door open. Sleep clogging her eyes, and exhaustion sapping her patience, she glared in abject fury down at the waiting bellhop.
"Room service?" the young man chirped in accented English, a bright smile on his face that refused to falter even beneath Blake's scowl. Reluctantly taking the tray, she let the door swing shut, muffling the identical three knocks the man then delivered onto Yang and Weiss' door.
I really hate her sometimes, the brunette thought, dropping the tray with its covered plates onto the bedside table and crawling back into the bed. Trust Weiss to already be awake and ordering breakfast this early in the morning.
"What was that?" Ruby mumbled, not bothering to pull her head from the pillow.
Blake punched her pillows back into shape, annoyed at the way they always seemed to shift out of place. "Weiss thinks she can wake us with food."
The redhead grunted, and the telltale sound of sniffing to reach Blake's ears.
"Do I smell pancakes?"
"Still tired," Blake groaned, pulling the blankets higher over her head. Even if she was smelling maple, it was too damn early for breakfast. Or being awake. Or putting up with Weiss' not-so-subtle hints that it was well past the time when they should have gotten up.
There was a long pause as the younger woman's sleepiness dueled her hunger for supremacy. Apparently, it was a particularly long battle, as the other girl stayed half-relaxed, half-tensed under the thick coverlet as she struggled to make up her mind. Hunger eventually carried the day, and Blake heard her slip out from beneath the sheets, followed by the clink of the breakfast lid being removed.
"I'll save you half," Ruby promised and sat back atop the covers, tray balanced atop her lap. One hand quickly busied itself in petting Blake back to sleep, the other quietly shoveling syrup-covered hotcakes into her mouth. With the smell of maple syrup filling her nose and Ruby's hands rubbing the base of her ears, Blake let her annoyance ebb away, and slept.
Several hours later, and with much cajoling, Ruby managed to drag Blake out of bed, stuffing food into her mouth before pushing the other woman into the shower. From the voices they had both heard through the wall, Weiss and Yang had been up long enough to grow bored with their hotel room, although Yang thankfully waited until after Blake was mostly dressed before bursting into their room in a bikini and shorts and impatiently asking if they were ready yet.
It was a short walk to the beach, the path ground down by the thousands of guests that walked those same shores, come to experience a body of water unlike any other. Swimsuits on beneath their clothes, the four girls made their way down towards the water, the sisters laughing and chatting all the way. Ruby led the group, as always, refusing to let go of Blake's hand and half-dragging the still somewhat-sleepy and increasingly reluctant Faunus behind her. Weiss followed behind the pair, her nose buried in a guidebook, periwinkle sundress over her ruffled bathing suit – even without looking, Blake knew there would be ruffles.
The summer sun beat down on the beachgoers, and Blake had no doubt that Yang's already tanned skin would be several shades darker by the time their vacation ended. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she made a note to pick up extra sunblock – the blonde might fight using it, but at the rate Weiss had to lather the stuff over her skin, the Faunus doubted their stash would last much longer.
Umbrella mounted and towels spread out over the sand, the four busied themselves in the last preparations for the day. Bottle open at her feet, Blake busied herself with rubbing sunblock into her legs while Ruby scouted out the best places along the beach. Weiss tried in vain to keep reading her book while Yang worked suntan lotion into her back, strong fingers rubbing and smoothing far longer than they needed to. Within minutes of the blonde massaging along her shoulders, the heiress' ice-blue eyes drooped, struggled valiantly, and then fell shut as calloused thumbs dug deliciously into the corded muscles of her back. With a sigh, she settled her head atop her arms, so relaxed that she barely grunted a warning as Yang undid the tie on the back of her swimsuit.
"Just don't want to get it messy, babe," Yang reassured her, her hands kneading their way down the heiress' now-bare back. Weiss made a noise that was somewhere between a skeptical grunt and a groan, and rolled her head to the side. Apparently it was too hot, and Yang's massage too good, to get angry at the blonde's stunts.
"You've done that leg already," Ruby chirped, and Blake turned to find her girlfriend staring down at her, a concerned expression on her face. "Twice, actually."
Blake winced. She hadn't thought that her nervousness would be that obvious, but ...
She'd never been overly fond of water. Maybe, as Yang suggested, it was 'a cat thing.' Pools she could handle, but the open ocean, or sea in this case ... the idea of being on the surface with a great chasm opening up beneath her, ready to swallow her whole and drag her down to a watery gr-
Not helping.
Something squeezed her hand, and Blake looked up to meet Ruby's gaze, seeing the worry in her big grey eyes.
"We don't have to go in," the younger girl said, bending down to meet Blake's gaze. "We could join the mud people, or just enjoy the sun, or-"
With a sigh, Blake pulled away before pushing herself to her feet, leaving the capped sunblock well within Weiss' reach.
"Stop giving me chances to walk away from this," she chastised gently. Taking Ruby's hand, she swallowed her fear, and led the younger girl down towards the water.
That lasted for a few seconds at most, the Faunus' feet slowing and dragging in the sand the closer she got to the slowly moving waves. With a squeeze of her hand, Ruby stepped forward and tugged, turning around to face Blake as she led them both into the sea.
"Just remember. I'm right here."
Blake smiled at the reminder and let herself be walked first one step, and then another, into the warm water. Eventually she found herself with the water up to her hip, lapping at her bare stomach as she held onto Ruby's hands, the fingers inside her grip acting as her own personal life preserver. Ruby, the shorter of the two, was already in up to her breasts, the top of the red swimsuit she knew Blake liked peeking out over the blue-green water. Taking a breath, and rather forcibly reminding herself that it was almost impossible to not float in the Dead Sea, Blake let go of the redhead and slipped into the water.
Trying to actually dive beneath the surface was roughly the same as holding a boogie board underwater, or it would be, if one's entire body happened to be made of polyethylene foam. As it was, she bobbed against the surface, her hips the only part of her actually beneath the water. The sea was warm and thick, the salt making her body far more buoyant than it would normally be. Lying on her back, she could just make out the Moab Mountains on the Jordan side of the sea, distant and blurry as they rose against the pale sky. The expanse of blue stretched out above her, rivaling the bottomless depths of the blue-green plane she currently rested on. Somehow, the idea seemed less concerning than it had before. The warmth helped, as did the knowledge that she'd have a hard time going beneath the water even if she wanted to. Limbs stretched out across the water, Blake floated in relative peace, limp and relaxed as the gentle ripples lapped against her skin, her heartbeat slowing until it matched the calm ebb of the sea.
Something bumped softly into her side, and Blake looked up to find silver eyes staring up at her. Ruby was similarly stretched out atop the waves, arms and legs spread in the shape of a star as the weak current carried her by the Faunus.
"You look comfortable," Ruby grinned, relief at her girlfriend's triumph plain on her face. "You doing okay?"
"... actually, I can think of one way to make it better."
"Oh?"
A smile on her lips, Blake kicked gently with her legs, drifting atop the water until she bumped into Ruby's side. Steadying them with her hands, she pushed her damp hair to the side, and laid her head down on Ruby's belly. The smaller girl giggled, her tummy bouncing the Faunus' head slightly before she settled, hands sliding down to stroke through the dark tresses that streamed out behind the brunette. The water easily supported the extra weight, and the two rested there in relative isolation, Blake using her girlfriend's stomach as a pillow while they floated atop the sea.
An hour later, Blake watched from the relative safety of their umbrella as Yang splashed her sister with the salty water, Ruby's shriek echoing clear across the beach. Soon the two sisters were fully engaged in their splash war, oblivious to the stares of the disapproving elderly and the all-too completely approving glances of several young men and women. Still, the two seemed perfectly happy, and Blake couldn't help it as her lips twitched in an unbidden smile.
"So, are you enjoying the trip?" Weiss asked, looking at Blake over the rim of her sunglasses. Her bikini was back to being properly tied, the heiress lounging back atop her folding chair, petite body stretched out in a desperate attempt to absorb as much of the sun as she possibly could.
"Yeah ... I am." Salt air filled her lungs as she breathed, staring out from beneath the cool shade of the umbrella. "Thanks for this, by the way. It means a lot to me."
"I didn't want to come alone," Weiss shrugged off her thanks, one hand reaching for the sunscreen.
Thankfully, Yang's return saved them from any further awkwardness, the blonde scampering up to whisper something in Weiss' ear. Within seconds, the heiress had turned a brilliant crimson and immediately started walloping Yang with her guidebook. Laughing uproariously, the blonde took cover behind Blake, using her as a human shield from the irate little girlfriend.
"What did you say?" Blake asked as the heiress tried in vain to smack Yang without hitting her dark-haired hostage.
"Well, since Mount Sodom's nearby, I just thought the Princess and I could-"
"Not another word!" Weiss shrieked, and tackled the taller girl into the sand.
Writer's Note: So, here's my first entry for RWBY relationship week. I know some people were asking for some Ladybug, and fortunately for them, it came up first on my RWBY RS week rolls. As always, I'd love to hear what anyone thought of the fic, so please leave a review if you can.