Well… This story is being written out a whole year earlier due to a donation incentive being reached during our stream for Extra Life. It was, well, awesome. I know I have a lot of stories going on already, but this was an incentive reached, so I'm keeping my word and working on this.
Here's chapter 1, everyone.
"Weiss, what's wrong?" Ruby asked when she walked in the dorm and saw her partner staring out of the window. The team leader walked over when the heiress didn't respond, so she rubbed her shoulder. "Weiss?"
The white haired heiress gasped when she felt Ruby's hand on her shoulder, so she turned to face her partner. "O-Oh, I didn't know you were there, Ruby. Did you need something?"
Ruby frowned, since it was clear that whatever Weiss wasn't able to pay attention to her words. "No, but you were kinda staring out the window… Is something wrong?"
Weiss knew she couldn't hide much from Ruby at that point, so she sighed a little and looked back out the window. "Ever since I changed back, I've just… I don't know. I've missed it." She blushed in embarrassment about what she admitted.
"Missed it? Wait, do you mean you miss being a kid?" Ruby let out a smile, as she found it quite adorable that her partner liked being a little kid.
The blush on the heiress' face reddened as she noticed Ruby's smile when she turned back around. "D-Don't give me that look, you dolt!" She whined while standing up. "I simply… enjoyed not feeling so stressed out with-."
Ruby hugged her partner to calm her down, surprising the heiress. "Weiss, you don't have to mask yourself. We got to spend time with you and had a lot of fun! So it's okay to admit that you enjoyed being a kid again."
Weiss' heart panged for a moment as she shook her head at Ruby's comment. "T-That's just it, Ruby. It wasn't again." The heiress pulled away from the hug. "It was for the first time. I got to experience it for the first time… and it was so short compared to everyone else who had a childhood."
"O-Oh." Ruby's soft smile had changed to a frown, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from trying to help her partner feel better. "You know, you can still do all that stuff we did. I don't see why not, Weiss." Her smile was regained as she wanted to assure her partner that she could still enjoy those times they had, but as a teenager.
"T-That's not so easy, you dolt. I had no idea who any of you were, or where I was, or… or anything! I simply just did what I was told and enjoyed most of my time." Weiss explained, feeling saddened that her own inability to express herself was getting in the way.
Ruby took a step forward and took Weiss' hand in her own, not feeling nervous to do so since she confessed her feelings to the heiress weeks ago. "Don't think of it as anything but us spending time together, Weiss. Yang and Blake too. If you don't think so hard on it, it can be real easy."
"You say that." Weiss simply responded, not wanting to say that it was harder doing something than saying it.
"Yup! And I say it cause I know that it can be easy when you have us helping you." Ruby said with her bright smile, one that Weiss had grown used to seeing, to the point where she even enjoyed it.
"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Weiss asked, still not letting go of Ruby's hand, but her blush was evident, though Ruby wouldn't comment on it since this was more serious.
"Nope." Ruby said as she pulled Weiss over to her bed. "Sit down." Weiss didn't as soon as Ruby let go, but she did sigh after a few moments, nodding as she sat down. "Now wait there while I go get Blake and Yang." Weiss' eyes widened when she said that, but before she could stand up to stop her, Ruby used her semblance to speed tackle her partner on the bed.
"Ruby! Get off of me, you dolt!" Weiss whined when she was tackled on the bed, slightly scared of the top bunk falling on top of her.
"Nuh uh! Unless you stay put and let me bring Blake and Yang over so we can have a fun day together." Ruby said as she looked down at her partner, holding her down, but after realizing how close they were, she blushed heavily.
Weiss herself blushed harder as well, both staying still and saying nothing for a few moments. "Uh… I suppose I can wait… but you're a little close."
Ruby yelped and got off of the heiress, looking away at the door. "Um, right! Well I'll go get Blake and Yang! Stay right there!" She bolted out the door and left with rose petals staying behind.
All the heiress could do is stand up, walk over and pick up one of the petals. She was still blushing, but after a moment, she let out a smile while looking at the small petal.
While running down the halls, Ruby thought about her white haired partner. It made her stop running since she remembered the day she confessed her feelings to her. "Weiss…" She couldn't help but smile. "I'll do whatever I can to make you smile more."
With that, the scythe wielder made it a mission to find Blake and Yang, hoping both would be willing to spend the rest of the day with the heiress. Luckily for Ruby, it didn't take long to find the rest of her team, since they were outside in the courtyard. "Blake! Yang!" She called out to them, wanting them to notice her as she ran over.
Blake was the first to look over after she heard the rose girl shouting. When Ruby got over, she started to pant a bit. "Is this how easy it is for you to lose fatigue?"
Ruby chuckled a bit and caught her breath. "No, I'm just excited." She looked over at her sister, who was sitting by one of the fountains with her headphones on. "Has she been there all day?"
"I was out here wanting some peace and quiet myself, then she showed up. I told her I didn't want to do much besides reading, so she opted to do that instead. Honestly surprised she's been so peaceful about it." Blake commented as she closed her book.
"Huh, well music is one of the few things Yang can stay quiet for. But anyways! I wanted you guys to come over to the dorm. Is that okay?" Ruby was a little worried that Blake wouldn't want to.
Blake raised an eyebrow. "Back to the dorm for what? I was really hoping to just spend a day relaxing honestly."
Ruby frowned in response. "O-Oh, well it's about Weiss. She really misses what we did when she was a kid."
The cat Faunus' ears twitched in response, thinking about their time taking care of the heiress. "She misses it? You mean spending time with us?" When Ruby nodded, Blake let out a small smile. "Well I guess I can take another day for myself some other time."
Ruby let out an excited gasp at that. "Awesome! Thank you, Blake!" She hugged her teammate, who chuckled a bit since she was much more open to her team after last year.
Blake patted her head and they pulled away from the hug. "If you want I can bring Yang over so you don't need to bother asking her. Head on back to Weiss so you two can get ready."
"Ready?" Ruby seemed confused, but realized what she was going for. "Oh, right. Yeah… I still need to think of what we should do for today. Um… any ideas?"
"Ruby, you know who you're talking to here, right?" Blake said in a sarcastic tone, making the rose girl groan.
"Come on. You can think of stuff. Remember when you took care of… Weiss… and… uh, never mind." Ruby forgot about how Blake didn't enjoy being reminded of the day Weiss was hurt on her watch.
Blake sighed and lightly tapped her book on top of Ruby's head. "Don't feel bad about it. I've come to terms with what happened that day. I just didn't know what to come up with for us to do."
Ruby rubbed the top of her head and still felt a little guilty bringing up that day, so she simply nodded. "Right, well, um, I guess I'll think of something on the way back. Hopefully."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something, but if you don't, we still have you know who to come up with a fun idea." Blake said, pointing her thumb over to the sitting blonde.
"Hehe, yeah you're probably right. Yang always has fun ideas." Ruby sighed in relief, but a thought had hit her. "Ooh, I just had an idea. Maybe we can go to Patch this weekend."
"Patch? Your home?" When Ruby nodded, Blake thought about it for a moment. "Hmm, I don't see why not, but are you sure a weekend is enough? The way you said it, it sounds like Weiss wants more than just a short weekend."
"It doesn't have to be the only thing we do. I'll find more fun places we can bring Weiss to so… so she can be happy. Like when we took care of her." Ruby said with a blush.
Ever since Ruby told Blake about how she likes Weiss, the cat Faunus always found it cute to her Ruby talking about the heiress in such a way. "Seeing how you confessed your feelings to her, I'm sure she'll be happy no matter what you guys do."
Her blush reddened and Ruby shook her head. "No… You weren't there to hear how she sounded, Blake. I found her staring out a window and she seemed so sad… Like the one chance she got to have a fun childhood ended too early for her."
Blake's ears flattened against her head. "Oh. I guess that would be hard to deal with, but Ruby, we can't just fake it for her. Weiss can be happy just spending time with us."
"I don't know… Being able to experience a childhood she never got. I can't imagine what goes through her mind when she thinks about it." Ruby said in a somber tone.
At that point, Yang had noticed her sister was standing next to Blake. "Ruby?" She got up and took her headphones off. "Hey, sis. Didn't think you'd be out here." The blonde brawler said as she walked over. "What's up?"
Ruby grew a little hopeful with her sister now talking with her. "It's Weiss. I'm worried about her."
"Explain, little sis. You know I'll help out how I can." Yang said with an assuring smile.
"She misses being a kid." Once Ruby answered her, the blonde knew that wasn't going to be an easy issue to deal with. "I told her we can help… And I wasn't lying, we could, it's just that I'm not sure if what we do will be enough. She doesn't just miss being a kid, she misses having a childhood."
"I don't blame her, Ruby, but it doesn't mean we can't have-." Before she could finish, Yang was cut off.
"I know, have fun. I said the same thing, but thinking about it, I don't know… What if she's still sad after we spend a day together? I just… I want her to smile." Ruby whimpered a bit.
Yang let out a light chuckle and held her sister's shoulder. "You can easily make her smile by just being you, Ruby. Don't sell yourself short."
Ruby took in her sister's words for a moment, but she was still not completely convinced. "I, I guess. I still don't know what we should do though."
"Bring her to the park, music store, skating rink. Anywhere we took her and you'll see that smile so fast you might miss it." Yang grinned, trying her best to lighten her sister's mood.
Ruby giggled at that when her sister lightly ruffled her hair. "Yeah, that could be fun. Alright! Let's get back to Weiss. Today we're gonna have fun!" The rose girl exclaimed as she turned around and marched back inside.
Yang playfully rolled her eyes and followed her sister, with Blake closely behind.
Weiss was sitting on her bed still, but she still thought about what she went through during her time as a little heiress. "Winter… Ruby, Blake, Yang… Everyone. They were all so nice, and… supportive." She felt a tear fall down her right cheek, gasping lightly as she brought her hand up to her cheek, feeling the tear. "I'm crying?" The heiress shook her head and groaned, feeling a headache coming on. "Ugh…" She held her head in pain and the memories of her child self began to invade.
The first memory to appear in her head was when Blake took off her bow for her, since she hated the idea of Blake hiding her ears. It only lasted a moment until the next memory occurred. It was when she was crying and yelling at Ruby about losing her mom. The third memory was when Yang told her she'd be a big sister to her. The next was with Winter, holding her as she cried in front of her mom's grave. More memories kept invading, but the ones that hurt her head the most were when Ruby, Blake, Yang and her sister were there for her.
More tears fell as fear set in. The fear of those who took care of her not showing her that same love and compassion now that she was back to her normal age. "No… They wouldn't do that… They wouldn't be father…" She hugged herself as she couldn't hold back the tears, but after a few moments, she couldn't handle the pain anymore and got up, leaving the room immediately.
Her first thought was to go to the doctor who was involved in checking on her condition when she was first brought to the infirmary that day, but on the way, the headaches were getting harder to deal with and she had to hold herself against a wall, sliding down it as she cried. "Stop… Please stop… Don't go away…" She wasn't talking about the pain, but the idea of everyone she cared about leaving her.
"Weiss?" The familiar voice of the rabbit Faunus made the heiress look up with tears still falling down her cheek, making Velvet worried. "Weiss, what's wrong?" She kneeled down by the heiress and tried to reach for her.
"I can't… It hurts…" Weiss looked down and held her head again, so Velvet helped her up and began walking her to the infirmary. "W-Where-."
"The infirmary. I'm not about to leave you in the middle of the hall like this. I'll contact your team too." Velvet gently held Weiss' arm, not wanting her to fall over in pain. "You'll be okay, Weiss. I promise."
The heiress said nothing and allowed the rabbit Faunus to help her to the infirmary, as she remembered when Velvet helped out during her condition.
"Huh? Where's Weiss?" Ruby started to worry when she looked around the dorm and didn't see her partner around. "I told her to wait…"
"Maybe she just went for a walk, Ruby. Don't jump the gun yet and-." Yang was cut off when Ruby's scroll went off.
The scythe wielder pulled her scroll out and saw that Velvet had sent her a message, confusing her a bit, but when she opened the message, her eyes widened. "Weiss is in the infirmary!" Blake and Yang were shocked, and Ruby wasted no time, running out the door to get to the infirmary.
Yang and Blake were close behind, with the blonde feeling a lot more worried. "What the heck could've happened… Last I saw Weiss today she was sleeping like a rock."
"If we could've asked Ruby what the message said, we'd know, but for now we just have to get there and see." Blake replied, while not showing it, was still worried for the heiress.
Ruby obviously showed it, running past some students as she left behind her rose petals, not caring about anything else.
As soon as she got to the door to the infirmary, she almost pushed it open, but she was greeted by the rabbit Faunus when she walked out. "Ruby." She smiled and let her in. "Try not to worry too much. Weiss is going to be okay."
"What happened?" Ruby asked, fear of her partner's health showing on her face as she walked inside. She noticed a few nurses walking around, and one specifically going into one of the rooms. "Is she in that one?" The rose girl pointed over at the door.
Once Velvet saw which door she pointed at, she nodded. "I found her sitting against a wall, crying." Her ears drooped a bit. "It was a headache, most likely a migraine actually. I just helped her into that room, so the doctor will check on her and let us in soon."
Ruby sighed in relief at hearing she'd be able to see her partner soon, but she also felt sad that she wasn't there to help her.
"Ugh, Ruby, you can't just run off after saying Weiss is in the infirmary." Yang said, panting as she walked through the door with Blake.
"S-Sorry." It was all Ruby could say, but something made her shoot her attention forward, seeing the door to where Weiss was staying in fly open.
It was the heiress herself who had used a glyph to push the door open. "Leave me alone!" Weiss yelled at the doctor as she still had tears falling down her face. The team and Velvet gasped when they saw the white haired heiress was now in the middle of the infirmary, holding her head in pain.
"Weiss!" Ruby ran over and grabbed her arms before any nurse could, looking at the frantic heiress. "Weiss, I'm right here! What's-."
The heiress gasped when she saw it was Ruby who was holding her arms. "R-Ruby? Ruby…" She cried harder as she pushed herself forward and cried into her partner's chest. "Help… Please…"
So there's the first chapter done. It was… not that easy writing this up. Honestly though, I don't mind too much. I have several ideas on how this will go and wonder if you guys will pick up on what is going to happen.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 1. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 2.