Ruby rose lazily from her usual deep sleep to the sounds of her team preparing themselves for the day's classes. She heard Weiss call from the bathroom.
"Hurry and get ready, you dolt, you're going to be late for class!" she said, clearly a bit agitated already.
Ruby couldn't blame her, as they had both been up late the previous night studying for an exam they had in Grimm Studies. It also seemed as if she hadn't had her coffee yet, from the dull edge her voice had.
Ruby disregarded the subtle venom in the comment. This was how she usually was in the mornings; she found it kind of endearing. Reluctantly throwing off her comforter, Ruby began to get dressed, noticing that Yang and Blake were already gone. Thanks a whole bunch, you guys. She made sure to feed Zwei, who yelped happily at her heels. She would have to buy him a chew toy or something, she hated leaving him here all day by himself. Maybe she would buy him a nice little female friend one day, which reminded her.
"It'd be a little nicer to be woken up next time, thank you very much." she said.
She smirked to herself, walking over to Weiss. There was only one sink in the bathroom, so she would have to wait. She used the time to steal glances at Weiss through the mirror. It made her stomach flutter just a bit, and she was thankful that Weiss wasn't watching.
"Besides, I can always just activate my semblance if I'm running a little late."
"Yes, but why waste the effort of sprinting to class when you could just get up a little earlier, and we wouldn't have to rush ourselves," Weiss poked back.
She was right, of course, but Ruby liked to push her buttons, if only lightly, given how early it was.
Grabbing their books, the girls headed out the door to their first class, finally ready. They were almost there when Ruby realized she had brought the wrong notebook.
"Ugh, dang it." She paused, handing her textbook to Weiss. "Can you take that in? I'll be back in a second," she said, giving her best pleading puppy dog eyes. The look really melted Weiss, but she had trained herself to keep up her frosty demeanor in spite of it.
"Hmph, fine. Just hurry up, you dunce," Weiss scoffed a little.
"Alright, thanks a bunch," Ruby yelled back, not hearing the last part of Weiss' sentence before disappearing in a red cloud.
She just sighed before heading into the classroom. Weiss still didn't know how she could stand her after all this time. But she did, and she was glad (but she wouldn't tell Ruby that).
After hurrying back to their room and exchanging the books, Ruby stepped out to find something odd; on the ground was her trademark pile of rose petals. When she activated her semblance, there was always this bit of petals, but they were usually dark red. Today, however, there were a few that were clean, monochromatic white.
Usually, the droppings would lay there, and would shrivel in a few hours, just like they would from real roses, but she had never seen them change color. Seeing the change, she felt some curiosity, as well as mild worry. What? Why are these here? She was already late for class, however, and she couldn't take any longer. Scooping up a small handful, she put them in her pocket, and she was off.
…
After class had ended, Ruby looked at the petals again, comparing the ones she had taken to the ones left outside the class. Both sets were a little wilted, having sat for about an hour, but she could still compare. Just as she suspected, there were white petals in the second pile, if not more than in the first. This didn't put Ruby at any ease.
During class, she had begun to suspect that maybe she had some sort of life threatening illness. She didn't feel like she was sick, but she couldn't explain the supposedly dead petals any other way.
She knew that she couldn't tell her team, at least not immediately, lest it be a false alarm or something. That also meant she couldn't talk to Team JNPR. They were too close her own team, so they might also spill to Yang.
There really wasn't anyone she was close to that she could ask, and so, in a fit of fear, she hurried off to find answers.
…
Ruby Rose sat quietly, and somewhat panicky, outside the large wooden doors of Professor Ozpin's office. This wasn't the first place she had gone to for help. She had of course checked in the infirmary, but the nursing staff hadn't been of any help, and after she explained her situation, they referred her to the headmaster. Being a renowned hunter, he probably knew more about semblance-related problems than the nurses did.
After an excruciating wait, Glynda finally stepped out, along with a defeated looking Cardin in tow. The head huntress sent him off before turning to Ruby.
"Ms. Rose," she said, gesturing into the office.
"Thank you, Ms. Goodwitch."
The steady murmur of the gears overhead calmed Ruby's worries a bit, but not a whole lot. It was now 10:30, and she had had a while to work herself up since that morning. She walked up to the chair and sat down, the stoic professor sipping his coffee, examining her from across the large desk. After a tense silence, he finally spoke.
"So, Ms. Rose, due in for your yearly check-up? Students don't usually have themselves tested for such an...obscure variety of illnesses." He continued sipping from his mug, waiting for her response.
"Well, I, uh, just wanted to make sure I'm running normally," she said, rather nervously.
"I see. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but not all these tests can be done here. We aren't a exactly a certified hospital, nor do we have the kind of budget for some of the test equipment needed." Ozpin said, smirking behind his mug.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with your semblance, would it? The nursing staff mentioned that you may be having problems." He said, sitting down the drink and leaning forward, listening intently.
"Well, it happened this morning. I was running late, so I used my semblance. I'm sure it says somewhere in my student file that mine is speed. I also leave rose petals behind wherever I go," she explained.
"It would not be the first time the janitors have complained of mysterious trails of flower droppings," he commented, remembering the reports they had filed.
"Yeah, well they're usually red, but this morning I noticed white petals, too." She continued.
Ozpin was getting a vague idea of what this meant, but he needed to see them.
"Care to show me a few? You can take a run in here, if you please." He gestured to the rest of his mostly empty office. It was quite spacious, so there wouldn't be much trouble for Ruby.
After sprinting from one end to the other, she scooped up a pile, and laid it on the headmasters desk. He observed them carefully. None of them seem to be wilted. In fact, the white ones actually looked slightly fuller and healthier than their red counterparts. After a moment, he smiled inwardly, and returned his gaze to the girl.
"Ms. Rose, have you and your partner, Ms. Schnee become close since your assignment as teammates?"
Ruby was a bit surprised by the question.
"Uh, yeah." She thought back to their first encounter, remembering the explosion and Weiss' rather...frigid personality. "Why?"
"So you have become friends?" He continued.
"Yes."
"Have you become anything else? Do you feel anything stronger than just friendship?"
Ruby's heart was now in her throat. How could Ozpin possibly know if she had feelings for Weiss? She figured it wouldn't be in her best interest to lie to the man.
"I...may have a little crush on Weiss," she said, clearly not wanting to admit it. It was an awfully personal question for a meeting about her health.
"Well, there is your explanation." He smiled outwardly now, if only slightly. "As I'm sure you know, a person's aura is their energy. It is the fire inside them that brings them to life, and one's semblance is an extension of that energy," he began, carefully explaining. "When two individuals feel a strong connection, their auras begin to intertwine, slowly and deliberately. After so long, their auras become interlocked. This is why feelings reside after relationships are severed: the auras are unwinding themselves."
The realization slowly dawned on Ruby, but Ozpin continued.
"Since our semblances are extensions of our auras, and therefore ourselves, our inner feelings can affect how they manifest themselves. But in most cases, the emotions present need to be potent for them to affect our semblances." He could see her face lighten as she saw that she wasn't going to die. "In cases where the ability has a visual aspect, color changes may be present. So, if what you have said of Ms. Schnee and yourself is true, then you have nothing to worry about."
Ruby, while happy that she was okay, was also slightly embarrassed by the conversation. She bashfully thanked the professor for his help, and walked towards the door. But suddenly, Ozpin was calling her back. She turned to him.
"Before you go, Ms. Rose, I feel obligated to add that two auras cannot mix without a mutual attraction." He chuckled to himself, seeing her perk up a bit. "During your next training session, don't be surprised it some of Ms. Schnee's glyphs appear red as well as white."
"Thank you very much, Professor." She turned and left, happier than ever before.
Flying down the stairs and through the hall, she turned a corner and came to a dead stop outside her Remnant History class just as the day's classes let out for lunch period. When her team came out, Weiss immediately started interrogating her.
"Where have you been?! You just disappeared without a word!" she shot, clearly annoyed, although she didn't intend to let so much worry sneak into her voice. It made Ruby's heart beat a little lighter.
"Sorry about that, I just had to deal with a small personal crisis," she said, smirking at Weiss. "Thanks for the sentiment, though." Weiss looked gave her a glare.
"At least tell us next time," she chided, a bit sore. She handed back the textbook Ruby had given her earlier. "What was the problem, anyway?"
"Oh, nothing at all. At least not now."
She smiled as she put a hand on Weiss' lower back, who blushed, but didn't object. As they started off for the cafeteria, Ruby couldn't help but look back at the trail she had left coming from Ozpin's office.
It was now, to her pleasure, as red as it was white.