N/A: It's been a while since I last posted something on this account. I've been busy with focusing on my graduation haha (I should probably delete some of my old stories eheh). I recently got dragged back into the RWBY series and ugh I hate daylight savings day; I ended up having to wait an extra hour for episode 2 but whatever *shrugs* I'm just happy to learn more about Qrow Branwen and Winter Schnee and I'm expecting lots of info from the upcoming episodes of Season 3! *^*
This fic was originally intended to be a drabble (which it kind of is, just connected together because of the topic of Summer). This takes place sometime before Season 3.
On another note; the Ruby x Weiss shipping's up to interpretation though this fanfic was more or less intended to be a Friendship sort of deal (I ship White Rose even though I can't see it becoming canon in all honesty, but that's not why the title's "A White Rose", it's because I was thinking of Summer Rose with her white hood LOL). I also wrote this in under a day haha... don't expect it to be fantastic? :'D
I'd also like to say that rosewatcher's fic, A Pleasant Surprised helped inspire the creation of this drabble combined with the fact that I was listening to #7: Sacrifice that's on the RWBY Vol. 2 Soundtrack.
Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY, Renora would've been canon by now and no one on team RWBY would be in an obvious ship... =3=;
A White Rose
It wasn't everyday that Weiss would be the one to wake Ruby up, if at all. The fact that Ruby would normally be the first to awaken in their daily routine wasn't much of a surprise anymore, but due to the drowsiness that came with waking up early in the morning, she didn't seem to register how odd it was that the red-hooded girl was still asleep. After all, surely it wasn't that weird, was it? Everyone had those days where they'd sleep in!
The white-haired girl rolled her eyes upon seeing the team's leader drooling in her sleep; she wrinkled her nose upon the sight, ignored the blurbs of chocolate chip cookies that the younger girl adored and had been muttering about, and sighed in resignation. Might as well wake her up, Weiss dryly thought. Despite their differences, Weiss practically promised that she would be the best teammate Ruby would ever have, so what better way than to wake her up?
Whether Weiss regretted making that promise now, she didn't know.
"Ruby?" Weiss began, gently shaking the girl on the shoulder. "Wake up," she huffed.
"…mmh… five more minutes…" Ruby muttered quietly, her eyes slowly fluttered open before closing tightly again.
Weiss twitched at Ruby's response before vaguely remembering the words that Yang had said to Ruby when the silver-eyed girl was sleeping in for once. "If you don't wake up, there might not be any cookies left," she said thoughtfully. However, instead of the instant reaction that Yang received, Weiss saw a look of a sorrow-filled hope on Ruby's drowsy face.
"…mom…?" Ruby whispered, tiredly looking at Weiss. "Mom!" she whispered desperately as she immediately grabbed onto Weiss's white sleeve, her eyes flashing with hope to see her mother. "Ah… you're not…" Ruby froze for a moment, her drowsiness beginning to slip away as she now began to realize that it was just Weiss, her friend and teammate. "Oh… good morning, Weiss!" Ruby cheerfully said, acting as though nothing happened.
That one particular morning made Weiss realize that perhaps there really was more to Ruby than what she first believed.
Despite trying to focus on their afternoon class as was expected of her, Weiss found herself unable to focus in any way possible. Rather, she had ended up being far more aware of Ruby no thanks to that very morning that her mind briefly wandered back in time to when she first teamed up with Ruby at the initiation.
"Stop acting like you're perfect!" Ruby said, frowning as Weiss glared at her with a mixture of frustration and irritation.
What made Ruby think that she was perfect of all people? A simple-minded child like Ruby wouldn't know perfection until it stared her straight in the eyes, Weiss thought haughtily. Weiss, in her mild frustration with the younger girl, spoke without much thought, nor did she hold back, "I'm. Not. Perfect." Taking a step back, she resisted a smirk at her next set of words. "Not yet, but I'm still leagues better than you."
It was then that Weiss turned around to walk on ahead in a random direction, no longer keeping eye contact with Ruby, yet she didn't bother heeding the younger girl's words that seemed to drip with hurt and sorrow. Instead, Weiss ignored Ruby's quiet words that now seemed distant to her then when they were first spoken.
"…You don't even know me…"
At least, she didn't bother with those words until now. Here she was, friends with a girl she had never been fond of upon their first meeting, part of team RWBY under the younger girl's leadership even if she was a dunce at times. Yet despite all of that, Weiss really did know next to nothing about Ruby, just that she loved cookies and weapons, and that Yang was her older sister.
Even though Weiss wanted nothing to do with Ruby from the very beginning… was it bad that she was now curious about the girl's mother? That now, she wanted to know more about Ruby?
She felt terrible for what she was about to do, in all honesty. Although… if everyone knew about the Schnee Family, what's the harm in looking into Ruby's family? Considering that the team now knows of Blake's faunus heritage. Surely nothing could go wrong… but it might've been better to ask Yang or Ruby directly. Besides, didn't the two sisters have a different surname?
Vaguely, she recalled hearing that their uncle and father were hunters, so perhaps if she looked through the yearbooks here at Beacon, she could find their father… maybe, and that was exactly why she was here, sitting in the library all while looking through some of the yearbooks.
"Ugh not here… hmm… team AZUR… huh…? Team STRQ…?" she stopped, staring at the picture of team STRQ. "Summer Rose… Taiyang Xiao Long… Raven Branwen, and Qrow Branwen…"
Weiss had instantly recognized Ruby's mother who must've been Summer Rose without a doubt. They both seemed to have the same silver eyes with their signature hood, even if Summer's was a white hood while Ruby's hood was red. The two of them both had red and black hair; their resemblance to one another couldn't possibly be a coincidence.
There was a vague question in regards to why they held different surnames, yet she didn't question it. Right now, she was just happy to finally pin a name to Ruby's mother. Summer; it was a lovely name even if it's a name of a season. Taiyang Xiao Long—that name was no doubt familiar. Weiss recalled the time when he sent them a package that contained the most adorable dog she's ever had direct contact with, Zwei, which occurred right before their mission with Prof. Oobleck.
Placing the yearbook back onto the shelf, she walked over to a computer to search up Summer Rose. Considering that team STRQ graduated at Beacon, surely they must've gone on plenty of missions before Summer settled down and had Yang and Ruby!
Oh how wrong Weiss was when she looked it up online.
1. Raven Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long were the ones who were married—Weiss didn't know what to make of that piece of information and had been sitting there blinking at the screen for a little over half an hour because of the mere fact that Yang and Ruby had stated that they were sisters on various occasions. Was it possible that they were extremely close friends that they considered one another to be sisters? It'd make sense, considering that their parents were former teammates.
2. Summer Rose was said to have died several years ago.
3. It was obvious at this point that she had absolutely no right to look up this information online and that asking Ruby and Yang right off the bat probably would've been better and wow… Weiss was beginning to feel guilty for trying to figure out more information on Ruby's private life.
Leaning back in her seat, she let out a heavy sigh. What she did just now had no justifications… so now what should she do? She knew how Ruby must've felt now, since she probably would've tried hard to find out more about the Schnee company, but the two subjects were different. Weiss looked up something personal; Ruby would've looked up for information on Dust.
She had to apologize, Weiss thought the moment she recognized the familiar door of team RWBY's dorm room. As she opened the door, she realized that it was late; everyone had been sleeping and only the dimly-lit lamp was on. Closing the door quietly, she heard the movement that sounded a lot like Ruby's bed that still dangerously hovered over her own bed (not that they had to worry about it falling, the bed was firmly knotted and tied into place).
"Weiss…?" Ruby murmured tiredly. "Where have you been all day?" she asked, sitting up as she looked at the heiress.
"…" Weiss let out a sigh and reluctantly looked at the team's leader. "…Ruby…" she quietly muttered. Admitting that she was wrong wasn't something she made to be a habit. "I should've just asked you and… I'm sorry. I just got curious and…"
"…Curious…? About what?" Ruby blinked, interrupting the slightly older girl.
"…Summer Rose," Weiss reluctantly answered.
Ruby's eyes softened as she stared at Weiss for a moment. Sounds of Yang's light snoring was the only sound heard.
"It's alright," Ruby said, surprising Weiss. "Although like you told Blake about talking with the team first, just come talk with me if you were that curious about my mom," she happily spoke with a smile. "I mean, it's not a secret and it happened a long time ago, ha ha…" the silver-eyed girl awkwardly trailed off.
Weiss paused for a moment before sitting on her bed. "What was she like…?" she asked curiously.
Ruby gave a thoughtful look, "Kind of like… a super mom," she nodded, as if to agree with her own statement. "She was always there, and she made lots of cookies too," she hummed. "Sometimes she'd go off on missions with dad for a few days; uncle Qrow normally came over to watch over me and Yang if both of them went on a mission. Normally one or the other would stay and watch over us," Ruby said with her usual bout of prideful excitement. "Once I got to see her fight a Grimm; she was absolutely amazing…" she smiled, continuing the conversation of her mother in a fond tone of voice.
Weiss listened to Ruby as she spoke fondly of her mother; it was relieving to have the younger girl be completely fine with her researching something so… personal, and that she was even willing to talk about Summer, too.
Upon waking up several hours later due to Ruby's exclamation to wake up, she didn't realize when she had fallen asleep during Ruby's story. However, she didn't seem to mind all that much as she observed Ruby talking excitedly about the Vytal Festival's Tournament.
A/N: Thanks for reading; Reviews are appreciated!
