Immediately following the completion of Take it Back, I began writing this. However, i quickly found i wasn't liking how the story was progressing. When i was writing this work, i was not in the best mind set. I won't get into it because I am not a fan of making my problem known to others.
I ask that you read this work with a grain of salt. I do not think this work is very good, I'm not even sure if it is deserving of being posted, it is written terribly and I can barely stand re-reading it. But at this moment I feel that it would be better to post it in the hopes that maybe one or two people will like or enjoy it, rather than dropping it in the trash and erasing it forever.
Also, when i initially wrote this it was around 12 individual chapters. I also had two different endings written, one was pretty meh and the other was a little bit better. Somewhere along the process of compiling all 12 chapters into one document I accidentally used the wrong ending. I only noticed recently because I finally brought myself to read the reviews of this crappy story and I was informed that I posted the wrong ending.
The ending has been fixed, the nurse thing was an accident. The ending i had intended to give this work is now included.
Nothing else to report, so enjoy. EDIT: Now with the fixed ending.
Come Back to Me
Beacon Academy is one of the most prestigious medical schools in existence. It is one of the few academies that are known to strongly encourage interdisciplinary cooperation. Within this academy there are students who are studying to enter various expertise within the medical field, including nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, as well as medical engineers.
One such student has been hailed as a true genius in nearly every medicinal field within this school. Her name is Ruby Rose.
Ruby was offered to be advanced into her "3rd Professional Year" and thus become a "P3" within Beacon's doctoral program, but declined the offer. When Dean Ozpin asked the young girl why she responded, "School is something you only get to experience once in your life time, I don't want to skip any part of it," and so the young girl remained in her "1st Professional Year," or as a "P1."
In hindsight the Dean of Beacon Academy should have seen Ruby's decline as something to be expected, after all the young energetic prodigy had been offered early graduation from high school when she was 16 along with early admission into Beacon, but declined that offer as well. Back then Ruby wanted to strive to enter into Beacon's professional programs through the traditional route, which consisted of submitting her application and interviewing for acceptance.
Little did she know, Ozpin already had a position within his school set aside for the young girl and Ruby had been accepted the moment she sent her application through the mail. The Dean of Beacon had allowed the girl to go through the entire process of applying to the school even though she was the only applicant to be accepted outright.
During Ruby's application interview Ozpin chose himself as one of the three interviewers, he knew how stressful these kinds of things could be for applying students and wanted to give Ruby a familiar face to help her relax a bit. Unfortunately, as soothing as Ozpin's presence was to Ruby during the interview, the overwhelming stress that the Dean of Beacon exerted on the other two interviewees produced some disastrous results.
The interviews are organized so that three applying students are sitting across from three interviewing staff members. The staff members would ask the students questions one after the other, going down the line. During the interview, Ruby was surprisingly calm and collected, she even smoothly drank from the bottle of water provided to her. Her other two interview partners were faring poorly. The one that was sitting next to Ruby was a young man who appeared to be one or two years older than Ruby. He had blonde hair and was dressed in a button up dress shirt and dark blue dress pants. The blonde boy did not carry himself with confidence and was shaking like a leaf all throughout the interview.
At the start the three students were told to introduce themselves, Ruby just barely caught his name under his nervous mumbling as "Juane Arc." Unfortunately for Juane, halfway through the interview his nerves finally got to him, forcing him out of the interview room and to the nearest garbage can.
Ruby, as well as the interviewing staff members all cringed at the awful retch that could be heard from just down the hall. Even to this day, Ruby is convinced that the interviewers admitted Juane into the program partially due to sympathy for the young man.
As for the other student that shared his interview with Ruby and Juane … well, Ruby couldn't pick up anything noteworthy about him. Her was a slender young man dressed in a full suit with long black hair and one pink lock of highlighted hair on his left side. He was exceptionally quiet, answering questions with short answers, all the while maintaining a superior look of professionalism and poise; he had introduced himself as "Lie Ren."
All in all, Ruby felt she had absolutely nailed the interview. Although, when she and her interview partners stood to leave at the conclusion of the interview, Ruby saw that the Dean had her file open on the desk. The young girl noticed that it already had the stamp of approval on it, while Juane's and Ren's did not. She was kind of disappointed that she was getting special treatment, butshe felt that even if she hadn't received early acceptance from Ozpin, she would have made it in the traditional way.
Ruby was a widely known genius and had received full ride offers from a number of places. Her choice to attend Beacon stemmed from a couple personal interests.
Firstly, her late mother Summer Rose graduated from Beacon and had met her husband while in school. Shortly after giving birth to Ruby, Summer was the victim of a terrible accident. The doctors did their best, but they couldn't save her.
While Ruby does not blame the doctors who tried their best to save her mom, she has always used her own suffering to motivate herself to pursue a career as a medical doctor, so to help protect others from suffering like she did.
Beacon Academy is also home to one of Ruby's last remaining family members. A couple years after Summer Rose died Ruby was introduced to Yang Xiao-Long, her older half-sister. Ruby's father had been married once before and had another daughter with his wife at the time, Raven. This new older sister's name was Yang. Raven and Taiyang separated several years before he met Summer.
Ruby was hesitant to be introduced to her new family member, fearing that Yang would blame her and her late mother for stealing her father from her at a young age. But the blonde girl did nothing of the sort, she accepted Ruby with open arms and the two became close very quickly. As it turns out, Yang's mother disappeared right around the time when Ruby's mother passed away, the two bonded over their mutual loss.
Yang's own mother graduated from Beacon Academy as well, and the blonde is striving to follow in her mother's footsteps to become a physical therapist. Yang herself is an incredible fit and athletic young woman who absolutely loves two things, sports and Ruby. In pursuit of a career in sports, her favorite being boxing, that is financially stable and has good promise of earning her a well paying job in the future, Yang immediately took to the field of medicine that is often associated with athletes, physical therapy.
Yang was thrilled when she found out Ruby was planning on attending the same Academy as her. Ruby had very quickly claimed a large portion of her heart and became her precious baby sister. Yang swore to both herself and to Ruby's late mother, Summer, that she would watch over the younger girl and protect her.
Yang had entered Beacon Academy two years before Ruby, and was now in her 3rd Professional Year. Had Ruby accepted Dean Goodwitch's advancement offer she would have been placed in the same professional year as her sister and they would have had several classes together.
Yang respects Ruby's decision to remain a P1, but is slightly saddened that she won't be able to share any classes with her precious baby sister. Yang's best friend and roommate, shares the same feelings concerning Ruby but for completely different reasons.
Shortly after entering into Beacon, Yang was introduced to her permanent roommate, Blake Belladonna. It took nearly one full year for Blake to trust Yang enough to reveal that she was a faunus, in hindsight Blake had nothing to worry about. Yang accepted Blake's heritage with open arms and without a single shred of discrimination, this happened again halfway through their P2 year when Blake revealed that she isn't attracted to men, again Yang held to animosity. Now as P3's Yang and Blake are the closest of friends who share everything with each other.
Blake grew up with discrimination. Her parents were killed in a peaceful protest turned violent, leaving the young 6 year old girl an orphan. For the following 12 years Blake drifted from foster home to foster home. The last home she stayed at that, which she remained at until her 18th birthday, was with Glynda Goodwitch, the Associate Dean of Beacon.
When the young faunus finally became a legal adult, Glynda offered Blake an opportunity to a prosperous life. Shortly afterwards, Blake was admitted into Beacon Academy as a student in the Physical Therapy program.
Due to Blake's own lack of family, Yang often brought Blake to her home during winter and summer break. It was during these times that Blake interacted with young Ruby Rose.
In the beginning their interactions were small, Blake had the tendency to be distrusting while Ruby's overwhelming hyperactivity made her socially awkward. Though, after the first couple weeks Blake and Ruby developed a fast friendship. They discovered their mutual passion for reading, even if Ruby preferred the more fantastical stories while Blake preferred more … adult themes.
Ruby, in the eyes of Blake, was a big ball of adorable energy stuffed into a cute, tiny, little package. The younger girl's seemingly childish mannerisms and behavior, which began as a slightly annoying quirk, slowly became endearing to Blake. The raven-haired cat-faunus constantly caught herself staring and smiling at the bubbly young prodigy.
At first Blake brushed off these newly emerging feelings as her developing sisterly affections for the younger girl. But as time progressed, these feelings grew in intensity until Blake felt the insatiable need to check in on the girl on a daily basis, whether that be calling Ruby on the phone, or setting up a video call to chat for hours on end.
As time passed, Blake realized that she had fallen in love with Ruby. At first she was elated at the idea of finally being able to place a name on these confusing feelings. That was until Blake realized that she had fallen for her best friend's younger sister.
Of course, Yang knew all about Blake's crush, considering she knew the cat-faunus as well as she did, there is no way she would miss the longing stares, the compassion in her eyes when she spoke of Ruby, nor did she miss the searing blush that would bloom over Blake's face when she would insinuate anything less than innocent about her little sister. In fact there was one such time when Yang had nearly broken Blake.
"-and she said that she thinks she nailed the interview! I hope she gets in … it'll be amaz- … really cool if Ruby were to go to school with us." Blake averted her eyes when Yang smirked. The blonde didn't miss the sheer excitement Blake displayed at the prospect of Ruby attending Beacon. It easily exceeded the enthusiasm that a friend would have.
"Oh yeah? I guess it would pretty rad is Rubbles came to Beacon … we could all eat lunch together and hangout …" Yang glanced over at Blake, who had a glazed look in her eyes, clearly she was daydreaming about hanging out with Ruby. An idea popped into Yang's head, she knew Blake was crushing on Ruby, she decided to tease the cat-faunus a bit … or a lot.
"Oh yeah! You'll never guess what happened over the weekend!" Yang's piercing voice broke Blake from her trance, the girl snapped to attention. Usually when Yang talked about something happening over the weekend it involved Ruby, after all Yang periodically went home to spend time with her baby sis'.
"I had just gotten up and headed over to Ruby's room to wake her up, you know how she loves to sleep in. Anyways, I was about to knock on her door when I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like a wet slap over and over again, in rhythm. I figured Ruby was playing a game and was clearly awake. But when I was walking away I heard her say your name … were the two of you playing games together online over the weekend?" Yang was terrible and she knew it.
Yang had thought she caught Ruby pleasuring herself in the morning, only to find she was in fact playing games. As for what game Yang didn't know the name of it, everything was really blocky and square. Ruby looked to be fighting a giant, hopping green cube monster that split into smaller versions of itself when killed. The wet slapping noise was the noise the creature made when it landed on the ground, but Blake didn't have to know that.
Yang looked over at her best friend to see the damage she had wrought. She was immensely pleased to find that Blake's back was ramrod straight, her jaw looked to be falling off her skull and her face had flushed a deep crimson red. Blake's eyes had the same glazed over and unfocused look, only this time they were dilated. Her cat ears were twitching around excitedly, and she appeared to stop breathing. Yang tried everything to bring her back to reality, even resorting to slapping the girl. Nothing worked. Blake didn't return to reality until later that night.
It wasn't until Yang began to really push Blake did she admit to the blonde that she was in love with her sister. It was spring break and Blake was invited to the Xiao-Long home, as usual. The two of them would sleep in the same room on different beds, and Yang was doing everything in her power to drive Blake out of her room and into Ruby's room, but the cat-faunus was not easily deterred.
Yang, desperate to make her plan work before the end of break, had resorted to making up wild and ridiculous excuses to get Blake out of her bedroom and into Ruby's.
"Your bed has been infected with bed bugs, only yours though …"
"Yang that is a flat out lie and you know it!"
Yang crossed her arms in frustration, until inspiration struck her.
"Zwei was sleeping on your bed earlier, I think he peed on it …" For a split second Blake's face contorted in horror, until her usual smooth, calm demeanor took over.
"I guess I'm sleeping on the floor tonight …" Yang pushed it further.
"He peed there too!"
"Then I'll sleep on the couch in the living room." Further.
"I saw him peeing on the couch as well …"
"The bathtub?" Blake seemed to plead almost, yet Yang pushed her lie even further.
"Nope! He peed there too!"
"…"
Blake fell silent as she stared at Yang.
Yang couldn't meet the raven-haired girl's gaze. After a few beats of silence Blake sighed, her ears falling flat against her head, and moved towards the closet. Yang was about to say the Zwei peed in the closet as well, but stopped when she saw Blake pull her suitcase out of the closet.
Yang stood from her bed and watched as Blake lifted her suitcase and placed it on the cot the she sleeps on. Blake opened it to check through her things, as if to make sure she has everything she brought, then zipped it back up and picked it up by the handle.
Blake's dejected look and flat ears seemed to intensify, Yang saw tears in the cat-faunus' eyes. Before Blake could reach the door to Yang's bedroom, the blonde vaulted towards her best friend, latching onto the suitcase to stop her from leaving.
Something was wrong. Yang could feel it.
"Blake! What are you doing? Where are you going?!" Blake glared daggers into the door, never meeting Yang's eyes.
"I'm leaving." Blake voice was devoid of all emotion, it almost sounded mechanical.
"Leaving? Why? Where are you planning on going?"
"What does it matter to you?"
"'What does it matter?' You're my best friend, I care about you! You have no where else to stay, so why are you leaving?" Blake had had enough; she dropped the suitcase, freeing herself from the blonde. The raven-haired girl glared at her blonde friend with a look that bored on rage as well as crushing despair.
"Because you want me gone! Don't play dumb Xiao-Long! I can take a hint, you don't want me staying here anymore! You honestly think I believed you when you said Zwei peed everywhere? You're trying to get rid of me! You figured it out and now you hate me! I understand … I'd hate myself too …" Blake's voice started out loud and ferocious, but progressively lost its intensity and grew soft and broken by the end of her rant.
Yang was horrified; she didn't realize how Blake was interpreting her efforts to get her to sleep in Ruby's room. But, Yang was confused, what was this 'it' she was referring to?
"Blake … I don't want you gone! You're practically family! But what are you talking about? What do I hate you for? What are you talking about?" The tenderness in Yang's voice caused the raven-haired girl to break out in tears.
Yang let Blake's luggage fall to the floor before she wrapped the crying cat-faunus up in a hug. "What do you think I figured out?"
Blake sniffled and rubbed her eye before answering. "You figured out that I fell in love with Ruby … didn't you?" Without even thinking Yang answered immediately.
"Oh! Yeah, I figured that out a long time ago!" Blake flinched and began to pull away from Yang, but before she could get too far away Yang spoke again.
"To be honest I've been trying to get you two together for quite sometime now!" Yang laughed nervously. Blake gapped at her best friend, had she heard right?
Yang knows I like Ruby and is trying to help me out? Yang doesn't disapprove of my feelings for her sister? She has been actively trying to turn us into a couple? Wait … was that what this whole Zwei thing was about?
As realization set in Blake broke the awkward silence that emerged at the end of Yang's awkward laugh.
"If I had asked if Zwei peed in Ruby's room … what would you have said?"
"Hmm? Oh, I would have said that 'that's the only room I haven't seen him go into today!' I guess you figured out what I was trying to do, huh?" Blake released a giggle she tried to hold down, soon the two of them were laughing hysterically, to the point where they both were clutching their stomachs.
After they calmed down Blake wanted to reconfirm to make sure she wasn't imagining everything.
"So … you approve of my crush on Ruby? You support me?"
"I mean … yeah! Why wouldn't I? If you and Rubes get married you would become my sister-in-law! Plus, you're already my best friend, I can't think of anyone else I could entrust my baby sis to who I know would make her happy!" Tears of happiness welled up in Blake's eyes at Yang's confession. Not wanting to ruin the mood, Blake quickly changed topics.
"So now that I know you're on board with Ruby and I being a couple, do you know what I could do to win her heart?"
Yang gave and evil smirk that almost made Blake regret including Yang, almost.
Blake was pleasantly surprised, or at least she acted like it, when Yang dragged her over to a dorm room a couple doors down from theirs. Yang knocked and an excited Ruby opened the door, flinging herself at the two girls waiting on the other side, crushing them in a three-person hug.
"Yang! Blake! You're here! Oh, I'm so excited! Oh, I forgot! Let me introduce you guys to my roommate!" Blake was still lost in the sensation of Ruby's arm snaking around her, she didn't even notice the fourth person in the room.
Yang had to jab her elbow into Blake's rib cage to bring her back to reality. Meanwhile, Ruby was recounting her and Weiss' first encounter. Ruby mentioned something about getting tripped by a stranger's luggage and falling down. Blake instantly snapped her focus to Ruby to make sure the girl didn't hurt herself and that she was okay. Eventually, Ruby's long-winded story came to an end and she made a formal introduction of her roommate.
"- so here she is, my roommate! Everybody meet Weiss Schnee!" The girl had hair so white it looked like newly fallen snow. Her skin was pale, yet her eyes held an authoritative look to them. Blake recognized the name "Schnee," but from where she couldn't place. Yang broke the awkward silence that followed Ruby's introduction, first.
"Schnee? As in … Schnee Pharmaceuticals?" Weiss nodded. "As in the corporate giant that is the single largest pharmaceutical company on the face of the planet?" Another nod. "The very same company that owns more than two-thirds of the drug patents on the market today?"
Weiss smirked at the recognition. "That's, right! And I am the heiress to my fathers company. I'm here to earn my Pharm.D. from Beacon's Pharmacy Program."
Blake spoke up this time. "Aren't you our age? Why are you entering the program two years late?"
"I took two years to earn my degree in business."
"Doesn't it usually take four years to earn a business degree?"
"Normally, but you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it!"
Blake was worried that Ruby's roommate would be someone mean or a bad influence on innocent little Ruby. She released a sigh of relief, odds are that this heiress has been so sheltered growing up they she is most likely just as innocent as Ruby, and thus would pose no threat to the younger girl.
Ruby, taking Blake's sigh as a sign that she was tired, broke the pleasant silence that fell over the room.
"Well! I don't know about you guys, but I am dead tired after moving in. So, I think I'll head to bed early." The younger girl ushered her guests out of the room, much to the verbal and silent protest of Yang and Blake.
"Just text me tomorrow when you guys are free!" Just as Ruby was about to close the door, Blake wrapped her hand around the door, placing her hand in harms way if the door were to be closed. Ruby noticed instantly and stopped.
"R-ruby … n-now that you're in B-Beacon … why d-don't we exchange numbers … you know in case Yang forgets to charge her phone again." Yang protested in the background, claiming that it only happened one time.
Ruby blushed bright red, and then nodded vehemently. A few short minutes later, Blake walked away from Ruby's dorm room, her phone clutched in her hand against her chest. Yang broke the cat-faunus' happy silence.
"Day one and you already have her number? Congrats Blakey!"
Blake didn't trust her vocals at this time, so she simply nodded and smiled.
Later that night, after Blake and Yang had showered and were about to settle in for bed, Blake's phone buzzed. Puzzled, Blake checked her phone, finding that Ruby had texted her.
"G'night Blake :)"
Blake's heart skipped a beat and suddenly she didn't feel so tired. In the background of her dorm room she faintly heard Yang whine that she didn't get a 'goodnight text' from Ruby. Blake noticed she had been staring at her phone for a long time, worried Ruby may be offended by her lack of response, she quickly texted back. In her rush she nearly sent, "Goodnight Ruby, sleep tight. I love you!"
Luckily, Blake caught the slip up and fixed it. She did a once over the text, smiling to herself, before sending it.
"Goodnight Ruby, sleep tight. See you tomorrow!"
"Say, Weiss?" The white haired heiress cocked her head to the side, pointing her ear towards her roommate, indicating that she was listening. The heiress' eyes never left the textbook in front of her, nor did her hands leave the pen and paper off to the side.
"We … we're friends … right?" The heiress immediately dropped what she was doing. Something was wrong and she would be damned if she wasn't there for Ruby like she had been for her earlier in the semester.
Weiss had trouble acclimating to the heavier workload of Pharmacy School, and began cracking under the pressure. Stress and sleep disturbances pushed the heiress into depression. Ruby caught the heiress doing research on the death rate of falling off a building depending on how many floors you fall from. Even though the younger girl hardly knew her, she scolded the older girl with a tear stained face and a voice broken by sadness.
Weiss and Ruby sat together and talked about a lot of things, including Weiss' suicidal planning. Ruby displayed her unconditional love and support for the heiress, and the two of them managed to get through it together. In the end, both of them found a life long friend.
So when Ruby was looking at her with such a sad look, questioning something that the heiress thanked the gods for and was eternally grateful for, she instantly gave the younger girl her full attention.
"Of course we are! We're best friends! You can talk to me about anything!" Weiss reached out and wrapped her hands around Ruby's smaller ones. Weiss shot the girl a concerned look when she realized that the younger girl's hands were shaking terribly. Ruby took a shaky breath before speaking up.
"How … How do you- … How do I fall out of love?" Weiss' brows furrowed at the questions.
"What do you mean?"
"How do I move on? How do I forget about a crush and move on? How do you forget that you love someone?" Weiss panicked for a brief moment, thinking that Ruby liked her, but the far off look in the younger girl's silver eyes told the heiress otherwise.
"Who is it?" Ruby's eye snapped back to the heiress and she began pulling her arms away, but Weiss tightened her hold. She pulled on the younger girl's arms as she asked again, "Who do you like?"
Ruby released the tension in her arms, the limbs falling slack. Only the heiress' grip on her hands kept the limp appendages in a horizontal position. Ruby sighed in defeat; the sad sound in the younger girl's breath nearly broke Weiss's heart, before the younger girl mumbled in response.
"Blake."
The heiress wanted to reassure the girl, tell her that Blake is a wonderful person who would be happy to have her, but the younger girl's mood didn't improve. Worry gripped Weiss' heart.
"Isn't this a good thing? To fall in love is one of the most wonderful things to experience! Or so I'm told." Ruby shook her head in response, her eyes welling up with tears.
"No, its not. Maybe if you fall in love with someone you're supposed to, but not for me. Blake … Blake is perfect-"
"No body is perfect, I learned that the hard way." The heiress' warning glance and tone fell on deaf ears.
"But she is. She's drop dead gorgeous, I've have literally never seen someone so beautiful-" Weiss tried to lighten the dark mood hanging over Ruby by displaying mock hurt, but the younger girl's downcast eyes saw nothing except the floor. "She's super smart. She got into beacon without even going to high school. She can go toe-to-toe with Yang and knows how to handle herself in a fight. She always knows what to say, regardless of the situation. She knows all the best jokes and knows how to make people laugh almost as much as Yang does. And to top it all off she is a nicest person in the world. I mean, she is super busy with her studies and everything else and still makes time to babysit me." Weiss' eyes widen at Ruby's comment.
The heiress hasn't really had a lot of time to spend getting to know Yang or Blake. But of the little she saw of the raven-haired girl, which was only really at lunch, she always seemed super happy to see Ruby. Yet, why did Ruby say it like that?
"Blake is nice, so nice that she puts up with my annoying rambling and irritating habits, even when she doesn't have to. She's so super-duper nice that she even gives me little treats sometimes. But, I know … I know those cookies or books or blueprints are just to get me to shut up and leave her alone. I know she wouldn't hang out with me if I weren't Yang's little sister. I don't know if those two are an item or not, but I know its because of Yang that Blake is even paying any attention to me …" Weiss was stunned into silence. There is no way anything that Ruby was saying was true … right?
"I know all this, and yet I couldn't stop my stupid self from falling for Blake. I know its really stupid to fall for someone who will never return my feelings, and I hate myself for it. I was stupid and naïve, much like I am now-"
"You're not stupid-"
"I am." Ruby's voice was weak and broken. She was giving up on herself and closing off her heart. Weiss went through the same thing before; it put her in a really dark mindset, one that nearly drove her to suicide. She didn't want to see Ruby like that.
"You're not, you got a full ride to go to this amazing university-"
"Only because my mother knew the Dean. That's the only reason I'm here … my Mom was the genius prodigy who graduated from this school in record time. The only reason people think I'm a genius is because my mother was …"
"Ruby, you are the smartest person I have ever met. You. Are. Not. Dumb." Weiss desperately tried to get the younger girl to realize she was wrong, but she failed. Ruby sighed in resignation before speaking again.
"It's okay Weiss. You don't have to lie to make me feel better. I'm not a little kid who needs to be lied to." Weiss inwardly berated herself for not answering more carefully, now Ruby would see everything she said with that mindset.
Rather than speaking, Weiss pulled the younger girl into a hug. After a few moments, Ruby returned the embrace, before breaking out and sobbing into the heiresses shoulder. After she calmed down, Weiss spoke one last time.
"Just- … just promise me you'll come to me to talk? Whenever you start feeling this way again, even if you think I see only see you as a burden or a little kid. Please find me and talk to me, like an adult. Promise?" Ruby scoffed at Weiss' request, thinking she was treating her like a kid again. But when her eyes rose and locked with icy-blue iris brimming with authority, Ruby couldn't help but nod and promise to talk to the heiress.
"Alright, so you understand the plan?"
The other occupant of the room nodded with determination. The first spoke up again.
"When the coast is clear, just go for it." Another nod.
"Just remember, so long as you hold the cookies she won't be focused on anything other than you." Yang's eyes sparkled with a mix of determination and mischief.
Blake was about to attempt an extremely dangerous mission, if she succeeded she would easily become the happiest faunus on the face of the planet, but if she failed … she didn't want to think about failure. Blake's nerves began to take over once more, her courage quickly draining from her being, Yang noticed this and stepped in to give her another pep talk.
"Hey, remember! You have my unconditional blessing in this. I will approve of no one other than you when it comes to dating Ruby-" Blake cut off Yang in her debilitating anxiety.
"But when has Ruby ever come to you to ask if it was okay for her to date someone? Oh dust! What if she's dating someone right now? Its not like you keep tabs on her! What if I confess and she says that she's in a relationship?! Then, not only would I lose my friendship with her, but I'd also have to sit there and watch Ruby date someone else!" Blake's run-away imagination had gotten the better of her. She started to tear up, but Yang interjected before her imagination destroyed what little bravery remained.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down Blake! Ruby isn't dating anyone! You know how much of a chatterbox she it! If she was dating someone you or I would definitely hear about it." Blake released a shuddering breath; in her mind she knew Yang was right, yet her heart would not calm down.
She really liked Ruby, she had never wanted anything as much as she wants to be with the younger girl. Just the thought of Ruby already being taken sent ice cold jolts through her body. Although, she knew that the longer she waited the greater the chance was of someone swooping in and stealing Ruby from her.
Blake found herself slowly growing very possessive of Ruby, always claiming the position closest to her: siting next to her at lunch, walking next to her in the hall, picking her up after class.
If she didn't exercise control over herself she probably would follow Ruby wherever she went, she is already glued to the younger girl's side whenever they aren't in classes, any more and she risked scaring her off. She didn't want to creep Ruby out, let alone clue her in to her less than platonic feelings. Yang had proposed that Blake just 'seal the deal' as she put it and ask Ruby out. Blake wanted to, but her nerves and self-doubt always seemed to sabotage her efforts, this time would surely be no different.
Ruby was in the cafeteria with Weiss, who had become fast friends with the younger girl. Yang's job was to keep Weiss busy while Blake confessed to Ruby.
When the two of them walked in, Blake was holding a brown paper bag that held the cookies; Weiss and Ruby were eating at a table, just the two of them. Weiss had a number of books opened and scattered all across the table, obviously she was trying to study and eat at the same time. Yang gave Blake a thumbs-up before walking ahead of her to the table.
Ruby and Weiss both looked up to greet Yang.
"Yang! What are doing here?" Yang raised an eyebrow at that.
"What? I can't drop in on my baby sis to say hello?" Weiss responded first.
"That not what she meant … don't PT students have class now?"
"Hmm? Oh! Nah, it got canceled … Any who … Weiss! I need to practice some PT things on a mock patient, you willing to be my partner?" Weiss opened her mouth to respond, but Ruby interrupted her.
"Oh! Oh! Pick me! I love getting a massage!" Yang simply chuckled in response.
"Sorry Rubbles! I need to practice on somebody whose not as limber as you, you've been my guinea pig so often that you're at the peak of flexibility. I need some fresh meat!" Yang laughed to herself at the end of her explanation, although it sounded forced. Ruby whined before turning to Weiss.
"You should do it, Yang gives the best massages!"
"What do you say Princess?" The heiress sighed before standing up again.
"Sure, why not?"
"Sweet, follow me!"
As Weiss and Yang made their way out of the cafeteria, Ruby felt a momentary pang of loneliness. She wished Blake was here, Blake always made her feel better. Despite her growing feelings for the cat-faunus, Ruby made sure to keep her clingy nature to a minimum around Blake. The last thing she wanted was to scare her off, Ruby often resorted to attempting to disillusion herself of the impracticality of her crush.
The age gap between us is too great, I'm too much of a kid, Blake is so beautiful, mature and … and ... ugh! Blake is just perfect, there is no way she would ever want to be in a relationship with a little brat like me …
She tried to resign herself to the fact that she and Blake could never be a thing and did her best to maintain their friendship.
She hoped to one-day find someone she could share a more intimate relationship with, but at the moment the only person she felt such a pull towards was Blake. Unfortunately, in her eyes the chances of that ever happening were zero.
Ruby was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice that Blake was right behind her, only the sudden emergence of the scent of cookies from the brown bag caused her to break from mentally berating herself.
She spun around to find Blake standing awkwardly a short ways away. A brown paper bag sat in her hands and the heavenly scent of cookies wafting from the bag made her mouth water.
Blake was muttering something that the younger girl couldn't discern. So she spoke up to welcome her secret crush instead.
"Hey Blake! What'cha up to?" Blake's eyes snapped to hers, then diverted a moment later. The older girl took a deep breath to respond.
"HiRubyImadethesecookiesforyou!"
Blake had her eyes closed and the bag out stretched towards Ruby. Ruby, being the sporadic spaz that she was, understood Blake perfectly and happily accepted the bag before sliding out the chair next to her with her foot and patting the seat for Blake to sit down and join her.
Blake happily slid into the seat, propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her up turned palm to watch Ruby as she excitedly devoured the cookies.
To Blake, Ruby was such a free spirit. She was so free from the cloud of self-doubt and self-consciousness that she shined like the sun and radiated her own eternal happiness and joy to those around her. To Blake, this was probably one of the many reasons she had fallen for this sporadic, hyperactive, small ball of energy; Ruby never failed to lift Blake's spirit and bring a smile to her face.
Blake's own consciousness is always under constant attack from her own doubts and insecurities, but when she was with Ruby all that fear and anxiety melted away. Blake loved spending time with Ruby because it was never boring, never exhausting, and never anything other than pure bliss.
Blake always did her best to make sure Ruby enjoyed their time together, so she would often gift Ruby with small things that she knew would bring a smile to Ruby's face, whether that was a bag of cookies, or a newly released book about a valiant hero in a fantastical fictional world, or a new schematic from one of the bio-engineering majors. Ruby loved bioengineering; If she weren't currently trying to become a medical doctor, she would be pursuing her passions for all things mechanical and healthcare related.
Each of Blake's gifts carried a little bit of Blake's heart with them, so every time they were received with a splitting grin by Ruby, Blake would feel a little bit of herself commit itself to Ruby just a like bit more.
After a while, Blake knew she was long past the point of no return and that she was completely and hopelessly in love with Ruby, with no hope of ever being able to change her feelings. She knew she was setting herself up for unimaginable pain and sorrow should Ruby not feel the same way, but Blake could hardly care, for at this moment she loved Ruby with all her heart and would willingly give everything to keep seeing that innocent and blindingly pure smile.
Blake loved Ruby so much it hurt. Her heart would be torn from her chest every time the two of them were forced to separate, only to be stitched back together whenever they would be reunited. Blake would be riding a euphoric high just by being in the same room as Ruby, and in the next instance be struggling to breath under the crushing weight of despair when Ruby mentioned anything to do with someone she looked up to, or admired, or liked to spend time with that wasn't Blake.
Such extreme emotions were threatening to drive Blake insane. Only daily doses of Ruby's presence kept her demons away and allowed her to remain sane. So sitting there at the table, watching Ruby obliterate the bag of cookies she was given was the most therapeutic experience for Blake.
For those few moments everything was alright, Blake wasn't a stuttering, nervous mess who was hopelessly in love with her best friend's little sister, and Ruby wasn't subject to the enthusiasm killing self-doubt that plagued her mind when she was alone.
Blake, in her daze, jumped in surprise when one of the cookies she baked was floating in front of her face. Ruby was holding it up to Blake, when the older girl looked past the treat with a confused look Ruby opened her mouth to explain.
"This one is for you! Its no fun to eat cookies alone, so I hoped we could share?" Blake smiled warmly at the younger girl. That one small gesture, that single innocent and kind offer by Ruby made Blake fall for the younger girl all over again.
Her heart stuttered and tears welled in her eyes, she loved this girl so much. Blake took the circular treat and bit into it happily. Ruby beamed back at her before returning to the rest of the cookies in the bag. Blake ate slowly, so to prolong the time she could spend eating cookies with Ruby.
Once the cookies were gone, Ruby sat back with a victorious smile on her face. Soon both girls erupted into giggles. Blake was so happy and content, the original plan was lost on the older girl, she simply let her confession fade to the back of her mind and enjoyed this blissful time she had with Ruby.
"So …"
"So?"
"So … Yang, what's the story with you and Blake?" Yang's ministrations on Weiss' calf halted for a moment.
"Not much to tell … Blake has been my roommate from freshman year and she's my best friend! Why the sudden interest?"
"Oh! No reason!" Yang leveled a blank stare at Weiss, clearly the blonde wasn't falling for the heiress' claim that it was idle small talk. Weiss sighed before she continued speaking.
"Fine! I ask … on Ruby's behalf!" That piqued Yang's interest, her raised eyebrows spurred Weiss to explain.
"Ruby … ugh, she made me swear to never tell anyone this! So you have to swear to me that you'll never repeat this!" Yang held up her hands in surrender, clearly complying with Weiss' demands.
"Ruby … likes Blake …" Yang gaped. All brain function halted in the blonde, leaving her to stare at the heiress. After a few minutes the lights behind Yang's eyes fluttered back to life, her brain underwent a reboot and began starting up once more.
Unfortunately, her voice was not completely prepared for organized speech, as a result she stuttered for a few incoherent sentences before grasping the English language once more.
"I … w-what … like … Ruby? … to Blake? … she? … Blake? … WHAT?!" Weiss worried she accidentally broke her friend's older sister, Yang's eyes went wide, her breathing became ragged and her whole body began to tremble.
Suddenly the muscular blonde was wrapping her arms around the heiress and hauling her up into the air and spinning around. Weiss squawked in surprise, but the look of pure happiness that was plastered across the blonde's face brought a smile to her own.
Eventually Yang put the heiress down again, Weiss was about to ask why she was so happy, but Yang beat her to the punch.
"I can't believe it! They like each other!" It was Weiss's turn to be surprised, she knew immediately what Yang was talking about. After being the perfect listener for all of Ruby's worries and anxieties, Weiss was convinced that Ruby's concerns were well founded, that Blake truly had no interest in the younger girl in that way. But somewhere deep in the heiress' well-guarded heart, she had truly hoped that Ruby was wrong, that Blake really did care for the younger girl just as much as she did her.
So, to hear that her new friend, no … her best friend's crush returns her feelings, was such an uplifting feelings that all of the heartache she felt on behalf of Ruby, from listening to the younger girl berating herself, was whipped away in an instant. This time Weiss hugged Yang back, tears of happiness prickled in her eyes.
"She does? Blake likes Ruby?" Yang nodded vehemently.
An idea stuck Weiss in the next instance, "Oh dust! What do we tell them?" Yang frowned at this, instantly killing Weiss' momentum.
"I don't think we should tell them anything. It's great that they both like each other, but we have no business beyond giving them advice or creating an opportunity for them to get together. Up until I've never crossed that line, all the help I've given Blake was only up to the point of helping create an opportunity for her to confess. Funny enough, this-" Yang pointed to the both of them, "-is just that. I'm serving as a distraction to get Ruby and Blake alone, so that Blake can confess." Weiss' jaw dropped as all the pieces fell into place, until something Yang just said jumped out at her.
"Wait … What do you mean you have been helping her to confess? Has she tried to confess to Ruby and failed?" Yang nodded solemnly.
"Yeah, Blake always backs out of the plan at the last second and ends up not confessing. I think we've tried at least 20 or so times since the start of the semester." Weiss pondered this before responding.
"Then do you think that maybe Ruby should be the one to confess? Instead of Blake?"
"Yeah, but how do we get Ruby to confess?"
"… that's right … Ruby doesn't think she deserves to be with Blake, she thinks so little of herself that she is convinced that Blake could never be interested in her … I don't think Ruby will be confessing any time soon, so long as she has those self-demeaning thoughts." This was news to Yang, a sudden wave of self-loathing washed over her.
Here she was, Ruby's older sister, dancing happily with a near stranger while her baby sis' is struggling with such depressing thoughts. Weiss saw Yang's worry and stepped in before it got out of hand.
"Stop that! You are not to blame for Ruby's suffering. She decided to keep it to herself rather than bother you … regardless, you cannot blame yourself for something that she decided herself, instead you should feel proud that she is taking on new responsibilities … even if you think she should have shared this with you."
Yang understood what she was saying, she got that, but it still tore her up that Ruby didn't feel confident enough or trust in her older sister enough to come to her to talk. Weiss noticed that her words were having little effect in helping the blonde.
"Remember, Ruby isn't alone in this! She has me! I may not know Ruby very well and I may not have been with her for a very long time, but I really care about her! Ruby … Ruby is amazing, innocent, pure of heart, a genius, and I would do anything for her. She has already accepted everything about me, the least I can do is accept her and be there for her. So, if you're worried that Ruby is suffering alone, she's not … she has me, her other big sister!" Yang had a blank look on her face for a moment, then a jaw splitting grin. She placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder and nodded her head once.
"Thanks, Weiss."
Several weeks later, Ruby was walking through the halls of Beacon. She was slightly out of place, in the sense that every one of these lecture halls usually hosted students in their final professional years.
Ruby always loved a good challenge, and thus got into the habit of sneaking into lectures for classes she would be taking in the future. Needless to say, Ruby understood almost anything from a single glance and thus knew nearly everything that was being taught in these advanced lectures.
To avoid being caught Ruby would always try to sneak out before class ended, as a result she was walking back to her dorm alone. After a few minutes, Ruby stopped, she recognized this area.
This is where Yang and Blake have some of their PT classes. Maybe I'll run into them and we could all go down to the cafeteria for lunch!
Ruby rounded the next corner and saw a flash of onyx hair. She immediately knew who it was. She was about to call out, until she saw a young man with ruffled blonde hair standing next to Blake. He had his arm around her as the two of them walked towards the cafeteria. He said something in a low voice, making Blake giggle.
Ruby's world came crashing down over her head. This conduct was not how two friends carried themselves, they were too close together, their actions were too intimate.
Ruby could see the admiration and love in the boy's eyes, as well as the blush that dusted Blake's cheeks. Soon enough, the edges of Ruby's vision became blurred. It took the young girl a few seconds to realize that she was crying, her breathing was ragged and that she was clutching at the wall to stay upright.
The strange boy said something else that Blake found funny, causing the onyx haired girl to laugh out loud. Ruby's heart shattered on the spot, the tiny broken fragments fell to her feet, scattering all across the floor. Her body became heavy and numb, her limbs no longer followed orders and her senses began to fade.
For a brief instance, Ruby's eyes locked onto Blake's golden irises, only those liquid pools of gold were fixated on the boy half-hugging her, her eyes filled with mirth. Ruby knew she was going to either going to end up sobbing her heart out or end up fainting from the stabbing pain in her heart, so she turned on the spot and ran, with all her might.
She didn't stop until she found herself standing on a cliff edge near the border between campus and the large expanse of the wilderness that surrounds it. The cliff was several hundreds of feet high and could easily serve to end her suffering, not that the small girl hadn't thought about it.
She nearly vaulted off the cliff when the image of that boy's arm around Blake shoulder resurfaced in her mind. Her heart ached so much that the impact from the fall seemed to be the only way to get it to stop hurting. Only thoughts of what such an action would do to her family kept her from taking that extra step, but as the darkness seeped into her mind, the cliff grew attractive to the younger girl.
Deep within the recess of her mind Ruby could picture her own funeral.
It would probably be raining and cold. Yang would be sobbing and clutching my casket, Dad would most likely be trying to not cry and trying to sooth Yang, but failing at both. Blake would most likely be there, if for no other reason than to be there for emotional support for Yang, maybe she would bring her boyfriend for a shoulder to cry on, if she felt like it.
Weiss might show up, only out of courtesy to me as a roommate, there is no doubt in my mind that Weiss would be calling me a hypocrite. First I stop her from killing herself, then I do the same thing, but Weiss has so much to live for while my existence is worthless.
That would be everyone, no one else even knows I exist, no one else would even care if I lived or died. Really, my death would only bring temporary sorrow to two, maybe three people … but they would get over it. Dad wouldn't have to pay for my living expenses anymore; Yang wouldn't have to look out for me all the time. She could live her own life, with her own friends rather than constantly babysitting me.
Blake … Blake might feel bad about what my death would do to Yang, she would probably start hating me … who am I kidding, she probably already doesn't like me … I mean I'm really only annoying to her … sure she's nice to me, but she just acts that way because I'm Yang's-little-sister to her … yeah, that's exactly right.
With every self-deprecating thought, Ruby inched closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Clouded by depression, Ruby's mind was skewing the friendships she had made with those around her and had convinced herself that life was not worth living and that if she ended it here and now, it would ultimately bring more happiness in the end than sadness it would cause at the start. Ruby was so lost in her own self-deprecating thoughts that she couldn't hear the voice that was calling out to her.
It is in the best interest for everyone if I didn't exist. Weiss could have the room to herself, Yang would be free from me, Blake wouldn't have be forced to be nice to me, Dad wouldn't have to care for the bastard child of his affair … I know that's the only reason Dad took me in, because I'm the unwanted child that he never planned on creating, but he feels guilty for siring a bastard into this world. I know deep down Yang hates me too. She hates me because my mother and I destroyed her family. If I was never born, Yang's Mom probably would have stuck around to raise her, rather than running away in the face of having to raise a child that wasn't hers. I know they don't really love me.
Ruby took one step closer to the edge of the cliff.
I know that they would be happier if I was never born.
And another step,
I know I'm too late to prevent my own birth,
And another,
But maybe I'm not too late to rectify that mistake; maybe I can fix all of this.
Her toes were hanging off the cliff, only her heals remained on solid ground,
… maybe I can fix all of their suffering by doing what should have been done when mom got pregnant …
Ruby pitched forward, beginning the tumble that would end her life.
A pair of arms shot out from behind the suicidal girl, wrapping around her small frame and yanking her backwards, towards solid ground. The sudden change in direction from nearly free falling to being propelled back wards caused the younger girl's head to swirl in dizziness. The impact on solid ground resulted in Ruby's head thudding against the solid earth beneath her. The impact, combined with sudden sense of vertigo and the emotional toll her suicide attempt took on her caused the small girl to pass out.
The body beneath her was openly sobbing. Strong, well-toned arms tightened around the unconscious girl, a mane of blonde hair was strewn across the ground, but its owner couldn't care less.
All that mattered to her was the fact that she had just witnessed her precious baby sister try to kill herself. She made the right choice to follow Ruby when she saw her crying and running through the halls, just the thought of being a second too late and seeing Ruby's limp and broken body at the foot of the cliff was intense enough to cause the blonde to sob harder and clutch at Ruby stronger. In her hysterias crying, Yang pulled out her phone and dialed the number that connected to Taiyang's cell phone.
Taiyang Xiao-Long knew something was wrong. Yang never called him during school hours, only at night when she was back in her dorm would she check up on him. So he dropped everything else and immediately answered the phone, the sound of a sobbing Yang blasted through the phone, dread shot through his entire body at the sound. Yang never cried for anything other than Ruby. Forgoing the usual phone greetings Taiyang bellowed through the phone to ensure his daughter heard him.
"Yang! Sweaty? What wrong?! Its about Ruby right?! What happened?!" The response he got back was a series of stutters and a sentence broken by Yang's non-stop sobbing.
"Ruby! … Cliff! … Help!" Taiyang didn't even end the call properly before he shot off to his car, on his way to Beacon academy he called several of his good friends in the police force, as well as Beacon's headmaster to inform them that his daughters were in trouble somewhere on campus. The campus security beat him to his daughters; by the time he arrived both of them were placed onto one stretcher and were being loaded into an ambulance. He hopped into the back with the EMT's, explaining that he was their father. The ambulance sped towards to academy-affiliated hospital.
Blake is very beautiful, thus it didn't come as a surprise when some brave individuals popped up trying to win her affection. Of course, she had already devoted herself to Ruby and thus gave none of them even a glimmer of hope, but one such boy was extremely persistent.
He was different from the rest of the group that fancied her, his name was Sun and he was like her. He had lost his parents too and he was a faunus as well, so Blake saw a comrade in him, but nothing more.
Unfortunately he had the tendency to be very flirtatious and had the nasty habit of always hitting on her. She had turned him down so much that she stopped trying to dissuade him. After some time she found his non-stop flirting to be funny, rather than annoying and persistent.
Unsurprisingly she found herself walking back to her dorm with Sun's arm over her shoulder. As usual he was hitting on her. However as time passed, and he was quickly running out of flirt material, his comments started getting more and more quirky and desperate. At one particularly dirty joke, something about cleaning herself since she was a cat, Blake's mind went to a very dark and inappropriate place involving Ruby and her. Just the thought alone was enough to send a blush across her face. She was about to tell Sun to shut up when a flash of black and red shot down the hall from the corner of her eye.
Ruby?!
Blake made a detour to the cafeteria, hoping she could catch Ruby to explain what she saw, but she had no luck. She checked the library and Ruby's favorite courtyard bench. She even tried calling the younger girl, but the phone just kept ringing. When she tried contacting Yang she got the same result. She contemplated calling Taiyang, but didn't want to worry him over something that could be nothing.
As Blake was on her way to the dorms, she caught sight of a flashing red light outside of a window. Upon closer inspection, Blake realized that it was an ambulance that was parked on the campus grass several hundred feet from the building she was in.
That's right next to the cliff … I hope no one is hurt …
Blake felt as if someone had stabbed her with an ice chilled knife, and twisted it into her beating heart. At that very moment an image of Ruby leaping from the cliff flashed through her mind, just the mere thought of it made Blake's heart ache and caused bile to rise up her throat.
After a few minutes of telling herself that Ruby would never do such a thing, Blake went back to the window. She could see a man with bright blonde hair jumping into the back of the ambulance before it sped off into the distance.
That man … he looked a lot like … Taiyang … no … no … neither Ruby, nor Yang would do something like that.
Blake thought back to the black and red blur she thought she saw in the hall earlier, while it reminder her of Ruby, she never caught the person's face so she couldn't be sure.
Still feeling a bit queasy, Blake made her way back to her dorm to go to bed early. She would interrogate Yang when she returned to the dorm.
Blake waited all night, but Yang never showed up. Blake finally drifted to sleep with images of Ruby jumping off that cliff in her head.
Taiyang knows more loss than most. He was devastated when his first wife asked for a divorce, although in hindsight he knew that neither of them loved each other any more.
His heart was ripped out of his chest again when his second wife was killed, he nearly chose to end his own life with her, but the pleading, teary eyes of his two daughters kept him going. He initially had some misgivings about introducing Yang to Ruby. He feared that Yang would blame Ruby for her mother's disappearance and their separation, but he thanked all the dust in the world when was she first introduced to Ruby.
Ruby, barely one year old, was silently crying over the loss of her mother. She wasn't old enough to understand everything, but she knew something was wrong. Yang was but a toddler at the time and still had angry tears to shed over her own mother's disappearance. Taiyang contemplated lying to little Yang out of fear of what the surprisingly strong toddler could do to a weak and defenseless infant Ruby. But he knew that cresting the hill down such a slippery slope would undoubtedly come back to bite him in the end, so he tried to explain to Yang the best he could.
Taiyang kneed down on the ground a few feet away from where Yang stood.
"Yang, sweetie … I'd like to introduce you to someone …" Yang stomped her foot on the ground in frustration.
"I don't wanna talk to nobody!" Tears slowly slid down the toddler's face, the sight made Taiyang's eyes water, but he continued.
"Her name is Ruby … she … she just lost her mommy too …" Yang's red eyes rose to meet her father's. "She's a little younger than you … and she's really, really, really sad and really scared … She could really use a friend right now." Yang sniffled before whipping her nose on her sleeve. "Can you do that for me sweetie? Can you be her friend? C- … can you be her big sister?"
Yang's eyes snapped to her fathers. Her knew he was taking advantage of Yang's feelings here. Yang had always pestered him and Raven to have another kid so that she could be a big sister. But he figured that this way she wouldn't lash out at innocent little Ruby. Yang sniffled once more before answering her father.
"W- … where's she? Where's Wooby?" Yang took a step towards her father. Taiyang couldn't help but chuckle at Yang mispronunciation of Ruby's name. After patting the girl on the head for her efforts he rose to his feet and took Yang's hand, walking her over to the baby carrier that sat on the couch of the living room.
Taiyang stopped short, letting go of Yang's hand and watching as the small toddler made her way over to baby Ruby. Yang wasn't tall enough to look at the baby from the ground so she climbed up on couch. When Yang crested the edge of the portable crib, teary pools of liquid mercury stared back at her own lilac ones.
Yang peered down at baby Ruby, the older girl noticed the tearstains that ran down her face and frowned at them. Taiyang had to hold back his nervous voice when he saw Yang reaching down to pick up Ruby. The toddler was strong for her age, but she struggled to lift the baby. Yang eventually settled down with Ruby sitting up in her lap, her arms wrapped around her back to keep her from falling backwards off the couch. Yang looked at the infant for a moment before breaking out in a jaw splitting grin, the first to have graced young Yang's face since the her mother left. She turned to her dad.
"Can we keep her? Can we? She's so~ cute!" Yang spoke a little too loudly, the noise startled Ruby and she began to wale.
Taiyang immediately snapped to action, moving to take baby Ruby from Yang to soothe her, but he stopped short. Yang started bouncing Ruby on her knees, all the while humming a tune that sound familiar to Taiyang.
Ruby stopped crying.
He soon realized that the tune was one that Yang's mother would hum to her before bed. Ruby fell silent, looking intently at Yang, Yang simply smiled back at Ruby before she started whispering to the younger girl.
"Hi, my name's Yang. I heard from Daddy that you lost your mommy … I lost my mommy too." A tear fell from Yang's eyes, Ruby started tearing up again, but stopped when she was pulled into a hug by Yang.
"Shhh, don't cry Wooby. We both lost out mommies, but now you have a big sister … and I've got a little sister … I promise I'll look out for you, I won't let nobody hurt you." Taiyang's heart swelled when he saw Yang settle down on the couch with Ruby, both girls exhausted from crying, it didn't take long for them to fall asleep like that. Taiyang carried the two girls to Yang's room and set them down to sleep, curled into each other.
The sight before him bought on such nostalgia that Taiyang lost himself in his memory of Yang and Ruby's first meeting.
Yang was lying down on a hospital bed with her arms around Ruby. The unconscious blonde held a death grip on the younger girl that could not be undone even by the strongest of the hospital staff. Eventually they gave up and performed their assessments of the girls as they lay there together.
Much to the relief of Taiyang, both girls were unharmed for the most part, Ruby had a minor concussion and would need to remain at the hospital for a few days. Yang had some scrapes and bruising on her back but was otherwise fine. Taiyang nearly fainted in relief when the doctors told him the good news.
But not all of his worries were whipped clean, he still didn't know why Ruby and Yang were so close to that cliff, and he still didn't know why Yang called him sobbing, nor what her message meant, "Ruby! … Cliff! … Help!"
Whatever it was that was going on, he resolved himself to remain at the hospital until both his daughters woke up and explained the situation to him.
"Ruby! Ruby! Ruby wake up! Please wake up!" Yang's screams tore Ruby from her dreams. Yang had woken up late at night to find Ruby unconscious in her arms and barely breathing. The sight nearly scared the life out of Yang, causing her to frantically shake Ruby and yell at her to wake up.
Ruby cracked her eyes open to peer at her assaulter, a mane of frantic blonde hair swayed in front of her blurry eyes.
"Yang?"
"Ruby! Oh dust, you're alive! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for being alive and okay!" Yang broke down in tears, hugging Ruby to herself. The sound of a sobbing Yang forced Ruby to sober up immediately.
"Yang?! What's wrong? Why are you crying? What hap-" Ruby's memories from the day before came rush back to her.
Shame.
Ruby's heart filled with shame. Shame of what she was putting her sister through, shame that she couldn't finish what she decided was for the best. Shame that her father is now going to have to expend more money for the bastard child that he doesn't love.
Ruby's self-loathing resurfaced stronger than before. In a fit of rage and fury, directed at herself, she shoved Yang off of her. Yang, being much heavier than Ruby, remained on the bed while Ruby propelled herself off the bed. Yang snapped to attention at the sudden movement, she scrambled to the side of the bed only to see Ruby sobbing on the floor, Yang reached a tentative hand out to her younger sister.
"R-Ruby …?" The sound of her sister approaching her shook Ruby from her sorrow, she spun and sprinted from the room. Yang was left dazed for a moment, before memories of seeing a crying Ruby running towards the cliff resurfaced in her mind, she vaulted off the bed and made a dead sprint after her fleeing sister.
Ruby desperately ran. Her legs protested against the sudden movement, but she willed herself forward. She heard heavy feet behind her, no doubt Yang was chasing her. Ruby rounded a corner and was about to redouble her efforts to escape, but ran straight into a Taiyang, who was on his way back from the cafeteria. The older man yelped at the sudden impact, then gapped at the sight of his youngest daughter, sprawled on the floor with tears streaming down her face.
The older man fell backwards; colliding with a doctor that was just behind him, the doctor attempted to spin to the right to avoid the incoming body, but was still clipped by Taiyang. The glancing blow sent his clipboard, which was in his hands, flying forwards. The pen clipped to the top of it tumbled out onto the floor.
Ruby spotted the sharp object and lunged for it. She knew human anatomy well; she knew that if something sharp were to cut through her carotid artery, she would bleed out in minutes. So she grabbed the pen and lifted it high above her head, poised to strike.
All of the surrounding witnesses froze in shock and time seemed to slow.
Taiyang and the doctor stared on in horror of what they were about to witness, neither of them had recovered from their fall yet to stop her. A passing nurse was rushing towards the young girl, but she would not make it in time.
Just as the cold metal of the pen tip was about to pierce Ruby's neck, her body was slammed forward. Yang saw what Ruby was planning on doing, the prospect of almost watching her baby sister die twice in such close succession pumped pure adrenalin into Yang's veins. The older girl sprang forwards with all her might, the action causing several of the muscles in her legs to stretch and tear under the strain, tackling Ruby to the ground. In the impact Ruby's grip on the pen failed and the metal object tumbled several feet down the hall.
Ruby was initially stunned by the impact, but quickly recovered. She spun around so she was facing Yang, and so that her back was against the cool tiled floor of the hospital. She struggled to shove Yang off of her, but the blonde was having none of it, she reeled her hand back and slapped Ruby hard across the face, the younger girl's head snapped to the side from the force of the impact.
Ruby's struggling halted with the strike. Tears welled up in her eyes, but before they could fall, Yang lifted her up into a sitting position before crushing her into a bear hug. This time Yang made sure Ruby's arms were pinned to her sides in the hug. The blonde ducked her head against Ruby's shoulder as she started to cry.
Ruby sat there, stunned, unable to process what was happening. Eventually, Yang's tears stopped. She sniffled before taking a shuddering breath to speak.
"… P- … please! Stop it! Stop … just stop! I … I love you … so please! Just Stop!" Yang broke down again. Ruby began to struggle against her sister once more, but Yang pulled Ruby tighter against herself, quelling any attempts to escape. Yang picked her head up to look Ruby in the eye.
"I- … I love you! I care about you! So! Please! Stop trying to k- … to hurt yourself! If anything happened to you … I … I wouldn't be able to live with myself! What ever it is that's hurting you … please! Let me in! I swear to you I will make it all better! I promised to always look out for you and watch over you! I promised to always protect you! This is me protecting you! From yourself! … so … so … so, STOP!"
The screams of her older sister broke Ruby's resolve, and soon both sisters were crying. Yang took a chance and loosened her grip on Ruby, only for the younger girl to wrap her arms around Yang and cry even harder into her big sis'. A jaw splitting grin broke out across Yang's face, she smiled even as tears cascaded down her face.
Ruby's crying turned into wailing, her voice went horse in a matter of minutes, it lasted until Ruby passed out. Yang picked up the smaller girl and carried her back to their room, where she laid her down in the bed and crawled in behind her. Just before drifting off to sleep once more, Yang snaked her arms around Ruby's waste and pulled the younger girl to her. In her sleep Ruby spun around and clutched at Yang's shirt, curling into her big sister.
Ruby was sitting up in her hospital bed; Yang and Taiyang were sitting in chairs next to her. After Ruby woke up, Yang made her promise to not try and hurt her self anymore, to which Ruby agreed and bowed her head in shame and embarrassment. Now, the room had fallen silent, neither party wanting to broach the subject. Taiyang broke the silence.
"Alright girls … whatever this is … is something private between you two. So I'm going to go down to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat … Yang, send me a text when you two are all set." And with that Taiyang was out the door and closing it behind him. Before he left he placed a Do Not Disturb sign on the door to Ruby's room.
Yang turned back to Ruby, the girl was shivering slightly, but it wasn't because of the temperature in the room.
"Ruby … what happened before you went to the cliff?" Ruby flinched, but made no sign of answering her question.
"Was … was it Cardin? I know that prick from the nursing department can really get under peoples skin … but …" Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. So she shook her head.
"No? Are you saying it wasn't Cardin?" Ruby nodded her head.
"Then who was it?" Ruby remained motionless and silent.
"Was it one of your teachers?" Ruby shook her head.
"Was it Cinder?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "She's a senior who likes to order around those below her …" Ruby shook her head.
"… was it … Blake …?" Ruby's eyes went wide, she lifted her hand in defense all the while shaking her head. She even whispered, in a voice hoarse from crying, "No Blake didn't do anything."
Ruby's response was suspicious, so Yang pressed on with that line of questioning.
"Did she hurt you?" Yang knew that wasn't possible, Blake absolutely adored Ruby … right?
Ruby shook her head, but not before hesitating for a moment. Yang did not miss the moment of contemplation that Ruby took before responding.
"I know you like her Ruby … I know you like-like her. So you shouldn't let your feelings for her cloud your judgment. If she did anything to hurt you, you need to tell me." Ruby cleared her throat.
"Y-Yang … Blake … she … its not her fault … I was stupid to think we could ever be anything more than friends … I should have realized that the two of us were never meant to be … I … now … I just … I just want to make this pain go away. I'm sorry for trying to j-jump … at the time it seemed like the only way to make this pain go away." Ruby was clutching at her heart.
Yang on the other hand, stopped paying attention to Ruby. Her vision was going red, and her knuckles went white at the amount force she was placing into her fists. Her breathing was getting shallow, and breaths came as gasps. Before Ruby could ask if she was okay, Yang sprang up form her chair and busted down the door to the hospital room.
Yang was furious, she had gone nearly blind with rage. On her way out of the hospital, she grabbed the wrist of one of the female doctors firmly. "Send someone to Ruby Rose's room … keep and eye on her for me." Yang snarled out the command with such venom and authority that the doctor complied instantly. Yang shoved her way out of the hospital's crowded entrance and started at a dead sprint back to campus.
Yang's rage and adrenalin kept her legs moving at max speed the whole way there. She marched over to the dorm before practically busting the door off the hinges of her and Blake's room.
Blake and Weiss were inside, talking quietly. Both jumped when the door slammed open. Blake was still in utter shock when Yang came charging at her.
Before a coherent thought could even cross Blake's mind Yang reeled back her hand and punched Blake with all of her strength. The impact forced Blake's head to the left, the sudden motion caused her neck to creak in strain. She fell backwards onto the bed behind her.
Weiss jumped into action before the enraged blonde could strike again. Weiss got behind Yang and was holding her back with all her strength. The heiress was surprisingly strong and kept the fiery beast at bay.
Left with no other outlet for these enraging feelings, Yang let go of all inhibition, both physical and verbal.
"You bitch! You heartless bitch! I trusted you! I trusted my Ruby to you! You cunt! You ripped her heart out! I trusted you and you stabbed me in the back and Ruby in the heart! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Blake had never seen Yang this furious, she had never seen Yang hold such malice for anyone, and to see this new horrifying Yang trying to get to her and harm her, was the most frightening thing she had ever experienced.
Blake was so scarred she almost didn't catch who Yang was talking about. Blake raided her hands in defense in an attempt to calm the blonde down.
"Wait! Yang, what are you talking about? What happened to Ruby?!"
"You happened, you heartless bitch! You ripped out her heart!" Yang was starting to run out of steam.
"You ripped out her heart and she tried to k- … kill herself!"
The look of horror on Blake's face brought an oddly satisfying feeling to Yang, so she stopped pulling against Weiss. Instead she began leaning on the heiress for support. Her muscles began to spasm from overexertion, making standing a difficult task. Yang closed her eyes for a brief moment, before inhaling a deep breath. She spoke the moment her eyes opened again.
"You … you ripped out her heart … She loved you and you threw it back in her face … she tried to kill herself … she tried to jump off the cliff on the far side of campus … you did that. You did that to her. You are the reason my baby sister tried to kill herself, twice! Once at the cliff, once at the hospital! You fucking bitch! I trusted you! I thought of you as family! I entrusted my baby sister to you!" Yang's voice gave out on her at the end of her rant. The exhaustion from running to the dorm from the hospital was finally catching up to her as her breaths became ragged.
Blake on the other hand has lost all sense of reality. When Yang said that Ruby loved her, her breath caught in her throat, elation rose in her chest, but at the mention of Ruby trying to kill herself, all of those joyful thoughts ground to a halt.
The only words that Blake caught from Yang following the mention of Ruby's attempted suicide were that Ruby was in the hospital.
In that instant, everything clicked into place.
Ruby really saw Sun and I in the hall. She saw Sun, with his arm draped over my shoulder, and me blushing and doing nothing to throw him off me … she probably thought he and I were a couple … She loves me … she loves me and she saw me with Sun, acting like a couple … she tried to k- … she tried to k- … I can't say it! I can't even think it! Oh dust, I messed up. I knew Ruby sometimes walked through the PT wing, yet I never did anything to keep Sun off of me … maybe Yang is right … maybe I am just a heartless bitch … maybe I-
"Blake…" Weiss put her hand on the cat-faunus' shoulder, stirring her from her self-deprecating thoughts.
"... I know you truly love Ruby, you told me that for the first time a few hours ago … and I'm hoping that whatever happened between you and Ruby was just a misunderstanding … but … if Ruby truly is hurting right now because of you … then you need to fix your mistake."
Weiss' eyes held traces of sympathy, fury and pain. Blake didn't know Weiss very well, the two of them got talking after Yang and Ruby disappeared. Blake confessed to Weiss that she was in love with Ruby, Weiss confessed that she already knew. The two of them bonded over their mutual admiration for the bubbly prodigy, Weiss saw herself as a second big sister to Ruby, while Blake loved her.
In their brief conversations about Ruby, prior to Yang storming into the room, Weiss understood perfectly that Blake held nothing but the purest of love for Ruby and that she could never intentionally do anything to hurt the younger girl. So when Yang accused Blake of ripping out Ruby's heart, Weiss knew something must have happened that was an accident. She decided to place her faith in Blake.
"Blake, of the small experience I have talking to you … I know you could never intentionally do this to Ruby … so what happened?" Blake snapped her eyes up to meet the heiress'.
"She … she saw Sun … flirting with me … he's been so persistent about it that I stopped trying to get rid of him … I never considered him though! I love Ruby!"
"I know you do." Weiss gave Blake an encouraging squeeze to her shoulder.
"I think she saw us walking down the hall together. He sits next to me in my anatomy class, as we were walking to the cafeteria he put his arm around me … I shrugged him off but he did it anyway. I knew he would just keep doing it until we got to the cafeteria so I decided to just endure it ... but … she … Ruby must have seen us … I think … she thinks he and I are going out …"
Weiss looked at Blake in pity, the onyx haired girl was hugging herself and shivering in fear. Her ears, which she showed Weiss shortly after they started talking, were flat against her head. Her eyes were brimming with tears and she had started sniffling. Blake erupted in tears, letting loose a wailing cry in the processes.
"Dust! I'm so dumb! Why didn't I just shove him off of me?!"
Yang, who is still recovering from her sprint and is sitting at one of the desk chairs raised her hoarse voice into the audible range.
"Yeah, why didn't you?"
"I … I don't know …"
"Do you have any idea how Ruby must have felt? Imagine walking through the halls and stumbling upon Ruby, wrapped around some random guy's arm! Laughing and having the time of her life … without you!" Blake flinched as the mental image materialized in her head.
The sight caused indescribable pain and sorrow to blossom in her chest, she felt like she was suffocating. All this pain, simply from imagining it; the pain Ruby must have experienced must have been several times more that this.
Yang was about to open her mouth to verbally assault Blake again, but was pushed to the side as Blake sprinted from the room. Weiss called out to the retreating black form, but her calls were ignored.
Weiss turned to the blonde before huffing in exasperation. The blonde had finally hit rock bottom and collapsed on the floor of the dorm, a scowl plastered across her face. Weiss shook her head and kneeled down on the ground beside her.
"I think you went overboard there …" Yang scoffed in response, taking a few moments to catch her breath before giving a proper response.
"Nah … if anything that was almost not enough … I thought she was never going to leave … so I had to give her that last, final push."
Weiss peered at the blonde with a look of mild shock.
"So you really don't hate her?"
"Of course not … Blake is family … I already knew she could never have intentionally hurt Ruby … so whatever happened must have been an accident … but it doesn't really hurt if I give Blake some extra motivation to clear this whole thing up, does it?"
"I suppose … and what about Ruby? Did she really try to jump off that cliff?" Yang's face fell.
"Yeah … she did … I may not have forgiven Blake 100% for what happened to Ruby, but I also know it wasn't 100% her fault … I just hope that Blake can fix her mistake and that her and Ruby could be happy … and together."
Blake called a taxi and told the driver to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible. The entire way there, the only thing running through Blake's mind was the image of Ruby hanging off some other guy's arm. That thought scarred her, not only because it reminds her of what Ruby must have felt when she saw her and Sun, but it also shows what this incident may push Ruby to do … find someone else.
That thought scarred her most of all. She just found out that Ruby likes her the same way she likes Ruby, but her carelessness may have already destroyed all of that. She had to get to Ruby before her heart gave up on her; she needed to explain that Sun isn't the one she loves, that she has only ever had feelings for her.
When the taxi finally pulled up to the hospital, Blake shot out of the cab without even paying for her ride. The angry cab driver was shouting at her, but she didn't slow down. She had received a text from Weiss with Ruby's room number and set out trying to find the room.
After searching for what felt like forever, Blake finally made it. Taiyang was standing in front of the door; his phone was up to his ear. He spoke into the phone with several separated affirmatives, before hanging up and looking in Blake direction. A glimmer of recognition flashed through his eyes. He waved Blake over, before leaning down to whisper in her ear when she was close enough.
"If you ever do anything to hurt my Ruby again … I will kill you, skin you, and leave your dismembered corpse in the woods to feed the wildlife … Do I make myself clear?"
Blake nodded her head, or rather the shiver of pure terror that ran down her spine made her head appear to be nodding.
The older man nodded in approval before opening the door to Ruby's room and slapping Blake hard on the back. The force of the blow propelled her forwards, into the room. Taiyang gave the stunned girl a wink before closing the door and latching it closed, locking her within.
Before Blake had time to recompose herself, a small fragile voice called out behind her.
"Blake?"
On the other side of the room, Blake could see Ruby sitting up in a near by bed. The sight of Ruby's small frame dressed in her favorite PJ's on top of an enormous hospital bed made the already small girl look almost infantile. Seeing the love of her life looking so small and fragile, especially with IV's running into her arm, caused Blake's heart to swell with protective instinct and tears to well up in her eyes.
Without even answering, Blake sprinted forward. When she reached the bed she lunged for Ruby. The younger girl's quick reflexes were the only things that kept the both of them on the bed. Blake hugged Ruby with all her might, sobbing aloud when she felt the warmth of Ruby's living and breathing body within her arms.
"Blake? What's wrong?" Ruby didn't want Blake to be sad, but she knew that if she were to tell the older girl that she nearly killed herself after seeing her and Sun together, that Blake would ultimately blame herself.
"I'm sorry! This is all my fault!" Blake pulled Ruby tighter to her.
"Blake? What are you talking about? I fell down some stairs and banged my head ... how is that your fault?" An innocent lie to cover her not so innocent actions. Blake opened her mouth to tell Ruby that she knew what really happened, but Ruby started speaking again before she could.
"By the way, is Sun here? Is he waiting outside? Of course he'd come, he's your b-boyfriend after all!" Ruby missed the look of pain on Blake's face through the tears that were gathering in her eyes. "Sorry, I kind of saw the two of you coming back from class ..." Blake opened her mouth to tell Ruby she was wrong, but Ruby cut her off again. "You look good together!"
Ruby's compliment sounded so genuine. Blake instantly doubted what Yang said about the younger girl liking her. The painful throbs of her heart prevented her from speaking out, she felt like she was choking on her own emotions. She didn't have long to ponder before Ruby's chatterbox tendencies took over.
"To be honest I think you could do better than Sun though. Not that Sun is bad or anything! I just mean that he's kinda out of you league ... you could literally have anyone in the world if you wanted. But ... I guess you love who you lo-" Ruby broke out into sobs.
With her heart still lodged in her throat and unable to speak, Blake moved to pull Ruby against her again. If she couldn't voice these feelings, she would show them. Just as Blake brought her arm around Ruby, the younger girl placed her palms on the front of Blake's shoulders and pushed her away. Tears began to well in Blake's eyes at the gesture. The sight of Ruby curling into herself as she cried broke Blake's heart. Blake couldn't wrap her mind around what was happening, not until Ruby began clutching at her chest in heartache. I became hard to breath as realization set in, Blake's eyes grew wide in horror.
She's giving up on me. She's trying to forget her feelings for me ... No.
Something snapped inside of Blake. Before she or Ruby realized it, she was pushing the younger girl down onto the bed and climbing on top of her. Ruby released a surprised squeak when she realized that Blake was straddling her. She tried to push the older girl off, but Blake was having none of it and pinned Ruby's arms to the bed. Ruby's gaze rose to Blake's, ready to tell her to get off of her, but the look of fury in pools of amber instantly silenced the younger girl. When Blake finally spoke, her voice was the perfect example of tranquil fury.
"No. You're not allowed to do that." Blake didn't elaborate, leaving Ruby confused.
Ruby tried to lift Blake off of her again, but Blake responded by placing more weight on her arms. Ruby's body was still recovering from her suicide attempts and thus could do little to nothing against Blake. Ruby only succeeded in tiring herself out further. The younger girl licked her dry lips as she tried to catch her breath, the motion of her tongue drew Blake's attention. Her amber eyes grew dark with want as she began the agonizingly slow approach towards the object of her desires.
Ruby was left floundering at the implications of what Blake was about to do. Her thoughts were racing and she couldn't make sense of what was going on.
Blake is dating Sun ... isn't she? Why is she doing this? Unless ... Yang-
"Yang told you didn't she?" Blake's advance halted, she was close enough to feel Ruby's labored breathing on her face. "Yang told you and now you're doing something unnecessary. You don't have to do this, you have Su-"
Blake surged forward, desperate to stop the words that would rip out both of their hearts, and sealed Ruby's lips with her own. Blake pushed the kiss deeper by moving one hand to Ruby's jaw and forcing her way into the younger girl's mouth. Blake began to purr into the kiss, filling Ruby's body with the deep rumbling emanating from her chest. The intensity of the kiss and the pure bliss radiating off Blake told Ruby this was real.
Blake really was kissing her. Blake really did love her.
Ruby needed to say it, but didn't want to separate from Blake to say it. Blake could sense Ruby's hesitation and disengaged from the kiss for her. When she finally did pull back, Ruby was perfectly flushed beneath her. She breathing hard and had a glazed over look in her eyes. Blake had to hold herself back from pouncing on the younger girl again.
Blake gave the younger girl a moment to collect herself, but when Ruby remain silent and lost in her own world Blake leaned down again and nudged Ruby with her head. Ruby responded by placing her hands on the sides of Blake's head and guiding her down so their foreheads were resting against each other. Blake began purring again. Ruby took a shaky breath before speaking.
"Blake ... I love you." Blake's first response was to purr even louder, followed by her verbal answer.
"I love you too, Ruby ... so much."
Tears of love and joy cascaded down Ruby's face, Blake joining her with her own tears of the purest happiness.
A searing blush coated Ruby and Blake's cheeks, but neither girl could bother to care.
They stayed like this for a long time, gold locked with silver. Neither wanted this moment to end; yet both knew that they would experience this sensation countless times over the course of the rest of their lives together.
Come Back to Me - End