I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.
It was a normal day, if not, actually a very uneventful one at that. The sky was amazing, pulling Ruby into an amiable mood, ready to get through the day with enthusiastic vigor as always. Except.. her teammates weren't in the same page, so she was left alone to fend off with herself. Not that she could really blame them, it was the weekends, naturally anyone would want to spend some relaxing time with themselves, or do things they never had time to do in the weekdays.
And of course, as their ever so amazing and dependable team leader, Ruby decided to leave them alone for now, choosing to walk around the campus in hopes of finding something interesting to do. It was no biggie, she liked her own alone time as well anyway.. just not as much as the others, for she'd rather spend time with her friends to be honest.
Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts away and looked around the academy as if she was seeing it for the first time. She had been roaming around the place for almost an hour now, greeting some familiar folks with a cheerful hello, until she came into a hallway she didn't think she had been to before.
Hmn.. maybe? Sometimes she didn't really pay attention to where she was going.
She was whistling a random tune as she walked leisurely around the hallway, which was strangely deserted for some reason. Soon, she found her whistling die down the moment her eyes landed to the door beside her, seeing different hues of lights fading in and out from the crack of the door, fully catching her attention.
She looked up to see that it was the Dust Chemistry Room II.
It was the weekends, what could possibly anyone be doing in there at this morning hour?
Letting curiosity get the best of her, Ruby slowly pushed the ajar door open, making as little noise as possible until she had a clear enough view of the very peculiar scene inside. The moment her eyes had adjusted to the weird lights, they widened.
Wow.
There was.. a person inside the chemistry room, making dust components as if she was orchestrating the damn equipment to her will. Almost resembling Scar in his Preparation scene, with all those light shows, villainous grins and dark echoing laughs. She even had a slight manic look on her face, which made Ruby swallow.
It spooked her—like she had never seen someone this fascinated about dust chemistry, but found amusement in it nonetheless. The girl was wearing round glasses that glazed underneath the puffs of smokes her dust solutions were making, an excitable grin on her face as she sprinkled a little bit of green dust in her shiny cauldron—her cylinder. Her hair was up in a messy bun, had a lab coat on, complete with rubber gloves, but other than that she was nigh unrecognizable due to the foggy mess that was her large spectacles.
If this were any musical show, she was probably singing the infamous antagonist song. With all those haunting orchestra and her back up singers—composed of her lackeys, as she pranced around like a glorious dork in their lair of utter evil. She seemed to be enjoying what she was doing though, and too caught up in it to even notice her if she may add, so Ruby decided to leave her alone for a moment.
Still, she made a mental note to come back here a little later, which she didn't exactly know why either.
Walking a familiar path without really noticing it, Ruby found herself in front of the library door.. where a certain someone usually spent their weekends in. It wasn't really her scene—the library she meant.. but occasionally she would make special exceptions for someone who barely even gave her a second glance, and it was all just for the sake of seeing them.
Stupid, right?
Yeah well.. it was her misery to bear, and she chose to just be content with that.
Nothing she could do about it, not with the way she thought about her.
But maybe today would not be one of those days, maybe she should break the weekend visiting streaks and think about something else. Who knew, maybe she could also forget about these stupid feelings she knew would never.. become acknowledged.
Except, it seemed like fate had already decided for her.
For the person who opened the door was none other than; Weiss Schnee, who was looking at her with the same look of surprise on her face. Ruby swallowed, not exactly prepared for this moment, then noticed the handful of books over her arms.
Without thinking it through—a terrible habit of hers—she spoke, offering help as she pointed to the books, "W—Want me to help you with those?"
Unfortunately, the heiress refused with a small huff, looking prideful as always, "I am perfectly capable of doing this myself."
"Oh," Ruby put down her hands, suddenly speechless.
As if it wasn't enough, there she received Weiss Schnee's harsh phrase of the day, "Don't you have better things to do than to bother me?"
Sadly, it actually got to Ruby this time, unexpectedly feeling a rush of hurt and anger flood her chest. Why was she so.. difficult? She didn't understand! She just wanted to help! How could someone so pretty be so incredibly.. mean!
However, unknown to her, Weiss strangely had a look of guilt and regret over her face, but Ruby didn't notice any of those for she was too swept up with her own thoughts to register anything else.
Shaking her head, Ruby narrowed her eyes to the girl before responding in a surprisingly loud voice, "Oh I do!" before storming off, leaving a baffled Weiss to think about her annoying Weissy ways through.
Ruby sighed deeply as she walked back to the deserted hallway earlier, after all.. it was the only interesting thing that she happened to chance upon this day. She was walking the place almost aimlessly, her thoughts drifting back to what happened near the library. It wasn't like she meant to let one of Weiss' phrase of the day get to her, maybe it was because of the suddenness of the situation that caused her to be so emotionally unprepared.
But yeah, sometimes she could be really harsh.
She shook her head, she should stop thinking about it now.
Ruby's eyes averted to the Dust Chemistry Room II and slowly looked through the door. Her face fell when she saw that the girl had already left, but before disappointment engulfed her, she saw the equipment left on the table. It appeared that the girl only left momentarily.
Looking left and right, Ruby walked in without giving it much thought, but it wasn't like she had anything else to do anyway.
Besides, she was just going to take a little peek.
She checked out the equipment, silently looking at them in awe. Wow, there were so much containers for these things, and she didn't even know how to use most of them. Though, it wasn't like she had the need to use chemistry for some of her contraptions. Yup, she was kind of inventive herself, always tinkering with machinery and what not, but she couldn't exactly apply the same to chemistry. There was just something even more complex about it that she couldn't make it work with her crafty skills. It didn't matter though, it only solidified the fact that she liked creating things with metal rather than liquid.
While looking over the stuff with wide curious eyes, her gaze landed to a strange vial of sparkling dust.. before making the mistake of touching it in pure wonderment. She didn't notice that the vial was actually on the verge of tipping off, not placed properly on the rack, causing the vial to drop and crash on the ground.. which made her scream in panic beyond belief.
Holy pignut..
She just destroyed the thing!
..now it turned into liquid and seeped into her shoe!
Jebus?!
She quickly tried to shrug her shoe off while chanting ew ew ew over and over again, inwardly panicking like a maniac. But it didn't help at all that she was wearing boots so she couldn't really take it off in time. By the time she got it off, the shining shimmering splendid crap was already gone, as if it didn't just disappear in her boot at all!
Widening her eyes in pure horror, she quickly patted herself all over her body, checking if she was still physically fine or not. Like, dust do not do that right? They don't just turn into liquid and fuse with her boot.. maybe even her skin! The thought made her shiver, she tried to feel all of her being, because the inkling that she did in fact feel a little weird nagged on her brain. Oh my god, what if she lost her semblance because of that dust? She ran outside the room using her semblance, feeling relieved that that wasn't the case.
But what was it that felt so different?
She felt fine, but at the same time she didn't.
It was a confusing feeling like her feelings for—okay stop right there Ruby Rose.
Sighing, she leaned her hand against the wall of the chemistry room, before seeing a freckled girl with deep brown eyes, looking at her with an incomprehensible look on her face. Her round glasses almost slipped off the bridge of her nose, as she stared at the shattered vial, then to Ruby, then to the vial, then to her—
"Did you..?" the spectacled girl asked, almost fearfully, to which Ruby nodded sheepishly.
This made the girl gasp before apologizing furiously, "Oh I am so sorry!"
Ruby looked confused, why was she apologizing? It was her fault that she touched her things in the first place, if ever, she should be the one apologizing! She was about to speak her confusion.. until something incredibly unexpected happened. She absolutely did not mean to actually sing whatever it was she was supposed to say, and most especially, she did not mean to sing any lyrics at all!
"What do you mean," she sang, sounding almost monotone, the expression on her face not matching her incredible voice, "When you nod your head yes, but you wanna say no—" slapping her hands over friggin cursed mouth, Ruby looked at the freckled girl in absolute horror and mortification.
She didn't even like Justin Bieber!
The girl fixed her glasses nervously, her soft voice a little shaky with uneasiness, "It must be the dust, I don't really know its effects myself yet but.. I guess that's what's happening to you right now.." she finally looked at her in the eye, as if she just said Ruby had cancer, "It's making you sing songs about what you're feeling at the moment."
Bewildered beyond belief, Ruby opened her mouth only to sing again.
"What the hell," she sang, her voice a little deep until it went high at the second verse, "Why do you think I come 'round—"
The sound of slapping hands to mouth came again.
The girl sighed at Ruby's current predicament, tapping her head slightly as if to reprimand herself, "I quickly need to make an antidote for it."
She gave Ruby an apologetic look, "I advise that you should probably stay away from people right now.. if you don't want to literally sing your heart out to them."
Ruby nodded, before gesturing with great difficulty if she could watch. Fortunately for her, the girl picked up on things easily, who nodded in agreement as they went back to the chemistry room.
The girl was already preparing the necessary ingredients, while Ruby sat across the girl, a chin over her palm as she inspected everything once more. When the girl was already too deep in her science to even register her presence, Ruby roamed around the room to look freely.
Suddenly in her unbridled stage of curious wonderment, the urge to sing became too much, causing her to unconsciously begin, "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collections complete—" she slapped a hand over her poor mouth again as if she just uttered an incredibly taboo word, before turning to a giggling spectacled girl in mortification.
Involuntarily, she sang again as if to defend herself, "I can't stop the feeling!"
Looking at the poor cursed girl a little more firmly, the spectacled girl spoke in a soft inquisitive voice, "Can you control your singing urges about your feelings?"
Ruby shook her head no vigorously, making big gestures about how haaard it was.
It made the girl giggle girlishly, before turning back to her chemistry.
Ruby sighed as she collapsed down to a chair, before staring at an uninteresting blank spot, which she somehow couldn't take her eyes off of, or maybe she was just too lazy to avert her gaze somewhere. Nevertheless, she ended up staring into nothingness for at least a minute, until the feeling of needing to go jingle at the comfort room became too apparent.
She looked at the busy girl—who was in the midst of creating the antidote with that villainous look again.. wait, come to think of it, she never got her name. Still, she thought more about on how she was going to tell her that she needed to go, until her wide vast collection of stupid songs did the talking for her.
For the love of Oum, she was like a broken jukebox today!
"My mind's telling me no," she started, horrified that she just sang that song—with an actual growl tone and all that emotional singing techniques! She never even knew she had those inside of her, she sounded amazing, but she hated the fact that she was singing in the first place! "But my body's.. my body's telling me YES!"
Ruby wanted to cry, her embarrassment today was off the roof, of all songs to sing..!
This time the girl burst out laughing, before also slapping a hand to her mouth, also embarrassed of herself. She coughed into her hand to compose herself, then began to apologize profusely, "I'm sorry, I have no right to laugh.. when it's my formula's fault you're acting like this in the first place."
Ruby wanted to reassure her she did no such thing, but decided to keep quiet this time lest she sang again. The girl already knew what she was trying to say earlier anyway and let her go, it wasn't like she was particularly keeping her around or anything. Ruby could only give her a thankful smile before leaving in a hurry.
Of course, a previously mundane task such as walking along the hallways was not going to be a piece of cake. Not when she had just become a walking musical slave, and most especially not when the hallways were suddenly filled with people! The very entities she was desperately avoiding at the moment!
Universe! Give her a break damn it!
Taking a deep breath, Ruby kept her eyes low and denied any sort of eye contact—lest she ended up singing about how cool their weapons were, or on how she was definitely out of her mind. Now that, would definitely be very embarrassing.
For a moment, she thought she was doing a good job with coexisting with the crowd, but of course, the universe would always prove her wrong.
At least for this day.
Because.. she unfortunately bumped into a human being, which she just swore to herself to never be in contact with!
Even worse, she found herself on the ground like an idiot, as if she was begging for eye contact because obviously the perpetrator would help her up! It was like, Beacon standards—the majority of kind people in it she meant, it was annoying! At least in this moment!
With an aggravated groan, she inevitably looked up to see the owner of the hand being held out to her, imagine her surprise to see that it was Pyrrha Nikos of all people, giving her a kind apologetic smile. She swore sometimes there was a halo above her head for being so nice!
No! Pyrrha stop smiling like that! She was going to make her speak!
But it was already too late to control, not when her stupid inner jukebox had already shuffled itself, causing her mouth to open against her will, beginning to sing again, "Is it too late now to say sorry?"
She sang in perfect tempo, with even a little bit of vibrato near the end, yet her face looked like it was about to cry for so many different reasons all together. Of course.. it only served to make Pyrrha even more confused—than she already was, and looked absolutely muddled on what was happening.
But one thing was for sure, she felt responsible for Ruby's inner breakdown, "It's okay, it's okay! It's my fault! You don't have to feel so upset about it. I'm so sorry!"
Ruby stood up, back on her own two wobbly feet—due to utter embarrassment. After a moment of tense staring, she hugged herself as if she was ashamed of her existence, before her mouth sang without permission again. Jebus! The more she sang, the harder it was to control! "I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing."
As expected, Pyrrha looked incredibly stupefied—if not a little amazed—that she was singing in front of her right now.. looking all sullen like that as if she really meant it. Had she really hurt Ruby that much? Was she carrying a problem too heavy for her to handle? All these questions.. it needed to be answered! She was about to speak her thoughts—when suddenly Ruby's face went bright red, before immediately running away in a speed Pyrrha knew she would never catch up to.
But it didn't matter, for she knew she had to make things right!
Ruby was already in the bathroom, staring at her aghast reflection, and on the verge of uprooting her hair follicles. She felt stressed out of her wits! She'd never felt so much embarrassment in just one day, and she had a feeling it wouldn't end now. Ugh, she swore she was a good person! A huntress in training fighting to better the world! What did she do wrong? She sighed, before staring at the streaming water on the sink, she turned the faucet off as she pulled the plug out letting the water drain.
Until she sang again, as if it was her cue to have a moment in some sort of stupid musical show.
"I've been staring at the edge of the water.." she was scowling at herself in the mirror while singing, it really was getting harder and harder to stop her mouth from moving, even if she just opened it with the slightest bit of movement, "..'long as I can remember, never really knowing why."
She was trying her hardest to stop right there.. but imagine her ultra super duper freaking surprise when someone actually sang back!?
"I wish.. I could be the perfect daughter," the actually really good voice came from one of the cubicles, making Ruby create a surprised noise—that sounded like pure horror—as she quickly faced the rows of cubicles before her, eyes darting frantically to search from which cubicle that person's—now haunting—voice was. After a moment of panicked silence, the suspense from both her unknown duet partner and her musical condition driving her crazy, she finally got her answer.
Wait now that she thought of it, that high pitched voice sounded familiar..
As if to fully confirm her suspicions, she saw her mystery duet person slowly opening the door—dramatically—on the cubicle in front of her as she sang in velvety falsetto, "But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I tried."
Ruby widened her eyes.
Orange hair.. oh my god, it was Nora!
The said girl was grinning widely at her now, eyes twinkling excitedly as she waited for Ruby to continue, and for some reason, she did. What the hell was happening, was this some sort of sick musical joke?! They were huntresses in training, in the prestigious Beacon Academy, which was definitely not a musical academy!
She never even knew Nora sang!
She didn't even know she herself could!
"Every turn I take, every trail I track—" she started, wanting to tear her mouth off at that moment.
It only made Nora even more giddy, "Every path I make, every road leads back—"
In each syllable, Ruby was taking backward steps toward the door, trying to escape this musical spell they brought themselves in, "To the place I know where I cannot go—"
Amazingly, Nora made her verse sound angelic, "Where I long to be.."
Ruby ran outside, the door slamming the wall due to excessive force—which only served as an opening cue to the chorus, but she didn't activate her semblance, she just.. ran mindlessly. She looked back to see Nora chasing her with a crazed look on her eyes, as she sang the god damn chorus! With her face showing the intensity of an Olympic player with their game face on, "See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me!"
They avoided a befuddled student, it was Yang who followed their frantically running figures across the hallway with her wide shocked lilac eyes, her jaw nearly touching the floor, "And no one knows, how far it goes!"
Their loud musical singing voices echoed the hallway, and Ruby could not be anymore embarrassed.
Because she still kept singing!
In public!
"If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me!"
Astonishingly, they sang the last line harmoniously, while running too!
"One day I'll know, if I got there's just no telling how far I'll go!"
However, just as they finished singing that god forsaken song—or at least the first chorus, Ruby just had to bump into someone, again! With an oof, she found herself back square on her bum across the floor for the second time that day. She rubbed her bottom, before looking up to see who it was.
P—Pyrrha?! It was her again!
Why was this happening?!
The two were just looking at each other with startled looks on their faces.. until she heard Nora pant behind her, finally catching up, before laughing by herself with a tired huff, "Phoo! that was fun, why were we singing again?"
No! Why was this happening again?!
She was about to blow up into another explosive singing mess, until she saw the same hand held out to her just one literally heart racing song earlier, it was of course Pyrrha, who now strangely looked.. determined for some reason?
A tense moment later, Ruby felt her jaw go slack.. because she had never expected Pyrrha of all people to sing too!
Was her singing contagious?! Was she making them sick too?! Was the dust in her body infecting everyone she walked near?!
She didn't understand anything anymore!
What was one plus one again!?
Ruby swallowed the moment she heard Pyrrha's voice.
"You with the sad eyes.." she sang soft, gently, like a mother coaxing a troubled child as she slowly took Ruby's hand, making her stand on her own two feet with the utmost care ever as if she was crippled. The latter was too mesmerized by her voice—that she didn't even notice Nora cackling as she walked away from the scene, "..don't be discouraged."
Okay hold on a minute, was it just her.. or was everyone in Beacon amazing singers?! Like yes! She knew that even Yang sang amazing, what about the others?! So far almost all of her friends knew how to sing! That was crazy! This was crazy!
At this point, Ruby had become nothing but a jumbled mess of thoughts inside her poor karaoke brain, and everyone had stopped to stare at the thing going on between them in the middle of the hallway. Soon when the second verse was about to come, one particular dude who was conveniently holding a guitar snapped out of his daze, and began to pluck to the song—looking a little thrilled while doing it.
Why was everyone going along with this like it was normal?!
It wasn't normal!?
Singing along with the melody, Pyrrha continued looking into Ruby's wide incredibly distraught and frightened silvery eyes, "Oh I realize, it's hard to take courage."
Gesturing slightly to the crowd, "In a world full of people," she placed a gentle hand over Ruby's stiff shoulder, "You can lose sight of it all."
"And the darkness inside you," then pointed to her chest, Pyrrha's emerald eyes staring straight into her wavering soul, "Can make you feel so small.."
Ruby was blushing, and she didn't even know why she was blushing! Nobody had ever sang this directly to her like that! So gentle too! It reminded her of mom and it was.. she didn't know what to feel right now! Even everyone was like aww! But all Ruby wanted to do was hide under a rock somewhere, and never show her face again. It wasn't aww this was madness! Where was Weiss when you needed her intimidating persona!
Ruby was having another inner breakdown, until another voice cut in, a mystifying voice if she may add, "Oh, misty eye of the mountains below.."
Going rigid at the all too familiar voice, Ruby slowly turned around, her eyes widening to see Yang's serious face as she sang. The rest followed her gaze, looking equally just as surprised, probably for different reasons, "..keep careful watch of my sister's soul."
Yang narrowed her eyes, particularly to Pyrrha who looked undeterred, "And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke," as if in cue and to prove a point, her hair lit into fire, her eyes flickering red for a brief second.
"Keep watching over.. Summer's child."
Ruby gulped, the look on Yang's face rarely showed business, but it was on right now—much to her horror, "What is this? Are you courting my little sister?"
Pyrrha shook her head with pursed lips, "No.. that wasn't my intention."
"Then what is it?" Yang only narrowed her eyes in an accusing manner.
Ruby looked at them back and forth—looking frightened herself—to see that they were now squaring each other up. Oh my god! What was with the heavy dramatic act?! Ruby did not understand! But still, even with the increasing tension between the two well known fighters, everyone seemed to be digging this strange impromptu musical performance! They even looked invested! The butt cheeks clenching type of invested!
And that intensified when oh look! Another challenger joined the damn fray!
Walking inside the circle which the crowd had created, imagine Ruby's utter surprise to see who actually joined in. Those alabaster tresses, and off center ponytail.. she could recognize that anywhere. Weiss!? Why on remnant would Weiss Schnee join in something like this! She was one of the least person she expected to appear!
However, her manic train of thoughts stopped, when Weiss looked straight into Ruby's wide pitiful silver eyes.
Once again, Ruby swallowed when the heiress began to open her mouth to... SING?!
You know, at this point she shouldn't even be surprised anymore.
"I've made up my mind.. don't need to think it over—" she walked closer to the trio, their eyes now fixated on her determined face, "If I'm wrong I am right, don't need to look no further."
"This ain't lust, I know.." silver and ice blue gazes met, almost as if there was a deep connection hidden behind them, "..this is love.."
However, unfortunately for her, a certain blonde was not having it.
The crowd looked excited, like vibrating bees trying to keep quiet.
"But!" Yang cut in her verse, making Weiss glare at her, yet she just sang in her face, with a taunt—like intensity like never before. If the audience were sitting right now, they would've been on the edge of their seats, with their fists clenched as if they were having constipation, "Who do you think you are?"
"Running 'round leaving scars?" she took one intimidating step towards Weiss, who stood her ground, although she still seemed a little affected by her direct lyrics, "Collecting your jar hearts?"
She gestured to a startled Ruby, which made Weiss widen her eyes at the next line, "Tearing love apart."
Everyone was quiet as they let that line sink in, and Ruby could only look down at her feet.
It seemed like she was the main target for gestures today, but she couldn't help but feel a little affected herself. After all, she did like Weiss that way, but the way she treated her sometimes actually stung quite a bit, and Yang knew. Of course she would know, she was her big sister, who had an immediate access to her feelings sometimes she never even thought much about. Sometimes she disliked it, but most of the time she was thankful.
Because she had someone to talk to.
Even if Yang had a troubling temperament at times.
Humming a little trance inducing tune, now it was Ruby's turn to sing, looking from a scowling Yang, to a contemplative Pyrrha, then to a slightly downcast and sullen Weiss. Making her decision, finally her mouth opened today out of her own volition, "You've got a hold of me.."
She looked at Weiss, who was surprised by her own input, "Don't even know your power."
"I stand a hundred feet.." she averted her gaze, her last line full of feelings, "..but I fall when I'm around you."
There was a slight pause, and everyone's breathing hitched at that heartfelt verse.
Yang eyes widened because she never thought her sister would actually lay out her feelings like that, in a song too!
Weiss' lips were pursed, looking guilty of pretty much.. everything, but kept on listening.
"Show me.. an open door," Ruby continued, and even more shockingly, her expression turned emotional and fierce that nobody dared to make a sound—that would soil her beautiful singing voice, "Then you go and slam it on me."
"I can't take anymore.." her voice turned soft, a heart hovering over her chest before looking into Weiss' eyes, "I'm saying baby—"
"Please have mercy on me.."
Everyone felt their eyes widen, along with the dude who held the guitar, finally accompanying Ruby's soulful voice.
"Take it easy on my heart—" she averted her gaze, looking like she meant all those lyrics through her heart, "Even though you don't mean to hurt me."
"You keep tearing me apart.." her voice turned mellow, elongating the word with amazing soul sucking vibrato as if to signal the end of her song.
Everyone was quiet, not even a single sound was present, but for the four in the middle, they almost feared that everyone would hear the crescendo of their hearts.
Especially Weiss, who felt like her heart was going to burst with regret and other emotions.
Nora was watching the performance with used tissues on her hands, actually feeling a little emotional for the first time in her hyper active life, oh she didn't use the tissues for herself though. It was for Velvet who was crying for some reason beside her. She didn't really deal well with crying people, but she just had to wipe off the snot and tears from the faunus girl—so that she could watch this amazing spectacle.
Ever since then, Velvet spoke never ending praises for their wonderful performance.
Taking advantage of the silence, Pyrrha could only shake her head before dismissing herself, saying she was not needed at the moment. She joined Nora before getting her own packet of tissue and giving them to a sniveling Velvet.
Three people were in the middle once more, but was surprisingly joined by a person they never thought would allow herself to even join such a debacle such as this. They were probably the most quiet person Ruby had known, who also preferred as little company as possible.
So.. what the heck?
It was Blake, who was now currently walking out from the wall of crowd, her amber eyes intense and serious as always. Everyone looked at her with bated breaths, waiting for her to sing her song about.. something.
A song of love? Betrayal? Friendship? Or maybe forgiveness? Oh the possibilities were endless!
When she opened her mouth after a deep breath, everyone clenched their butt cheeks in suspense that some particularly disturbing smell of gas escaped, only to see her expression change, a brow rising at them in amusement saying..
"What are you guys doing?"
The audience groaned, some even falling to the floor at the heart dropping disappointment.
Her tone was the epitome of buzzkill.
But Ruby took that as the opportunity to leave, running as if her life depended on it.
"Ruby wait!" she heard Weiss' call out her name, but it fell straight through her other ear as one thought circled her mind.
Oh my god, she just confessed to Weiss!
Well.. sort of, but holy crapola! What was even this day?!
How did everything elaborate into this.. musical mess?!
She ran until she was at a familiar hallway, where all these cursed singing stuff began. The god damned Dust Chemistry Room II, not so strangely anymore the hallway was empty, probably because most of them students were back there.
Ruby breathed frantically, feeling a panic attack come on. Fortunately, she saw that the girl was still there, in the process of sprinkling green dust to her vial, creating a puff of smoke that made it the shining shimmering splendid crap it was. Marveling at her work, the girl actually noticed something else rather than her science, and it was Ruby's distraught face against the door.
The spectacled girl spoke, her face lighting up at Ruby's—abrupt—appearance, "Oh, you're here just in time, I've finished the antidote," the excitement in her voice slowly faded, when she actually paid more attention to the condition of the poor girl, looking like a child lost in the middle of her emotional vortex.
She furrowed her brows, before slowly walking over to Ruby—who looked really stressed, more than a normal teenager should be.
"What happened?" she finally dropped the inquisitive bomb.
Ruby took a big lungful of sigh, before looking at the spectacled girl into her deep brown eyes, almost looking like she was in need of dire help.
"I confessed to Weiss.." she admitted, not even caring that she was telling a stranger anymore, everyone knew already anyway, it didn't matter.
"Really?" strangely the girl looked elated at her confession, "That's great news! Oh and congratulations!"
Ruby looked at her incredulously, mouth hanging open, "What do you mean congratulations, I'm doomed!"
The girl shook her head, a smile still on her face, "No I mean, congratulations! You're not singing anymore! "
Ruby of course, looked shocked upon this realization, when did the curse wear off? How? Because she ran? Or because she confessed? She didn't even notice she wasn't singing anymore! She was too hung up with the Weiss incident, that she was unable to grasp that she was actually already talking like a normal civilized human being.
So many questions!
As if the girl had read her mind, she spoke, "It seems like the effect only lasts for a few hours," she looked over to the shining vial in the chemistry room, her head shaking slightly with a sigh of relief, "You won't be needing that anymore."
Ruby sighed as well, before asking her curiously, "What were you actually going to do with that anyway?"
The girl shrugged nonchalantly, as if what she just created was nothing, "I was bored, and I wanted to make something interesting. You know, a formula that made people act upon their feelings," because it was super frustrating when people dance around their feelings involving their significant others, why couldn't they just freaking confess and get it over with? But of course she wouldn't say that, it was too much information.
Ruby wanted to say something, but thought against it since she could relate with her anyway, "Touche."
After all, she was like that as well when she was left alone in her tinkering mood.
"So, what did I miss?" the girl asked, interest twinkling in her brown eyes.
"We kind of had this.. impromptu musical performance in one of Beacon's hallways," Ruby saw the girl's eyes widen, with the look of no way etched on her features.
The two talked about the things she had missed, and the girl actually looked upset for missing the whole thing.
With a defeated sigh, the girl shrugged in resignation, "It's okay, I deserve this, because it was my fault you got into those kinds of situations in the first place."
Now was the time for Ruby to tell otherwise, "No, it's not your fault. It's mine, I was snooping around and even broke one of your things!"
Raising a hand nervously, the girl clarified, "Uhm, that wasn't actually mine, it was the school's property."
"Oh," Ruby looked stupefied.
"I cleaned it up though, I'll just replace it," the girl spoke as if it wasn't a big deal, but it was to Ruby.
Being a stubborn girl she was, she insisted, "No I'll pay for it, I'll replace it! You've already done enough.."
"No I insist," unfortunately for her, the girl was also a stubborn girl.
"No I insist."
They kept going on like that, bickering like children. Ruby was first to break the childish spell, before deciding to change the subject instead. A thought she'd been meaning to ask for a while, appearing in her brain, "I've never gotten your name, haven't I?"
The spectacled girl was about to answer until they heard footsteps near them, making them turn their attention to the newcomer. It was a panting Weiss, who looked a little surprised to see Ruby talking to someone they never knew.
Ruby swallowed at the sight, contemplating whether to run or actually ask for answer, because she really owed her a lot to not know her name, and it was rude too! Her conscience would never allow her. So she chose the latter, choosing to ignore Weiss' existence for a second and turned to the strangely amused looking girl.
"Uhm.. your name, I didn't get it."
Weiss was unconsciously squinting her eyes at the stranger.
"Oh," the girl reacted, as if realizing she was just being spoken to, "It's Moe."
"Moe?" Ruby repeated, before speaking without thinking, "What an adorable name!"
The girl laughed a little, acting like she was used to it, "Yeah, I get that a lot."
Feeling Weiss' looming presence once more, Ruby's nervous silver eyes darted between Moe and her—with a look of indecisiveness on her features. Weiss had her arms crossed as she waited for them to finish, although refused to meet her gaze, choosing to look to the side with a frown over her forehead. She wanted to straighten things out with the heiress.. but at the same time, she did not want to talk to her right now.
Sighing, she finally resigned to her fate.
Ruby turned back to Moe, who seemed contemplative herself, "I guess we'll see each other around."
Moe nodded, a look of understanding flashing her features, knowing fully well that the two needed to talk. To be honest, throughout this whole ordeal, Moe had nothing but thoughtful for her. She also had been incredibly easy to talk to, because really, usually Ruby would be a stuttering mess when dealing with strangers.
But when she met Moe, there was none of that.
Maybe it was because of the circumstance when they first met, but it was still a nice feeling.
She hoped that they could be great friends somehow, and that this wouldn't be their last meeting.
Soon she saw Moe fix her glazing glasses, before giving her a small wave and a knowing smile, "See you soon."
She left, but not without giving her a discreet tap on the shoulder, and a soft, "Good luck."
Ruby could only give her a weak smile.
Now it was only the two them, and the hallway continued to be annoyingly empty. How could hallways be empty anyway? The universe was so plotting against her today. Ruby just stood like an idiot there, unable to form a coherent sentence.
Of course, because of them refusing to speak, an awkward silence began to engulf the two. Which made Ruby feel uncomfortable, she wasn't exactly sure what to say after.. that. Though Weiss seemed to be on the same page, having somewhat confessed earlier as well—which Ruby of course, refused to believe. But despite that, she knew she had to straighten some things out, before repeating how serious she was about that.. everything about them.
It was now, the moment of truth.
Their hearts pulsed in an annoying rhythm that almost hurt, and it intensified when they ended up opening their lips at the same time.
"Ruby/Weiss.." of course, the ridiculousness of that happenstance, made them turn into embarrassing human beings. Ugh, why was communicating so difficult sometimes? It wasn't like it was a life or death situation.. m—maybe?
No, Ruby. It wasn't.
But it felt like it!
Coughing into her hand, she tried to regain what little composure she had left, "Y—You go first."
Fortunately, Weiss did so without much complaint.
After whispering an inaudible and soft, here goes. Weiss took a deep breath, and finally spoke, "Ruby.. I'm.. I just wanted to say.. I'm sorry.. about everything.." she started, voice meek and surprisingly straight to the point. She saw the girl listening to her intently, though not quite meeting her in the eyes, "I'm sorry for being such a.. bitch to you. For berating you in everything wrong you did.. for making you feel inferior.. for belittling you.. and frankly, for many other despicable things."
She pursed her lips, the more she listed her wrong doings, the more she realized how much of a horrible person she was.
"I'm sorry, but I hope you can forgive me.. I hope you can look past this.. terrible me. It's just that, I never really knew how to handle my feelings, my thoughts, m—my heart.. especially around you," to be honest, she wasn't really used in opening up like this, and it made her feel a little embarrassed. She was surprised herself that she was even being this remotely honest.. to the person she had wronged the most, Ruby.
Still, she looked at her in the eyes to project her sincerity.. who just looked shocked by this revelation.
"I never felt the way.. I feel about you now," Weiss' cheeks began to flare up slightly, soon her eyes averted upwards in her own avoidance, "And it made me resort to my horrible habit of.. basically pushing people away," she admitted with a sigh, Ruby simply kept quiet as she listened.
"It made me uncomfortable, because I didn't understand it.." she looked down, rubbing her arm absently, "At one point, I didn't want to understand it."
"Because I myself couldn't accept it."
"But.." she turned back to Ruby who looked contemplative, "Now I've already come to terms with it."
"And I'm also willing to understand this time.." she said softly, before looking into her eyes this time.
"That is.. if you would forgive me."
She looked determined for a second, until her voice slowly became uncertain, if not a little fearful for her answer, but she kept on, "If you would give me another chance.." her eyes went downwards once more, but it shimmered with.. hope, almost as if she was asking for permission.
"I want to make things right between us.." she finished, now taking notice of the looming silence between them, for a moment, she was afraid of seeing the look on Ruby's face right now.
But she knew she had to face whatever consequences she had for her stupid actions.. and she should accept that. With a deep breath of preparation of what may happen, she hesitated briefly, before finally looking into those silvery pools which surprisingly.. regarded her with warmth.
Not a hint of contempt, malice or even doubt.
Just.. warmth.
It made Weiss' jaw go slack.
She was expecting more of pent up anger, or frustration directed at her. Even hatred for everything she'd done! Of all reaction Ruby would have, this was the least she expected, and it completely caught Weiss off guard..
Wow.. was she an angel..?
Noticing the silence that persisted.. Ruby finally spoke. With a shake of her head, and a small sigh escaping her lips, proceeding to dissolve all the fear and worry.. Weiss' overthinking had planted in her heart, "What are you talking about..? I've already forgiven you a thousand times."
Weiss widened her eyes, astonished.
Hearts skipped as Ruby continued to speak, her soft sweet voice earnest as it had always been, "I knew.. somehow I knew you don't really mean the things you say, although they do hurt a bit sometimes," Weiss looked crestfallen at this revelation, but Ruby simply gave her a gentle smile of reassurance, "But its okay."
"I also want to make things right between us.. " she ended, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, yet still exuded sweet sincerity that Weiss had become to adore so much. After all, she had never met someone as honest as Ruby in her life of seclusion.. and it was nice.
The heaviness of the silence had lightened considerably, but of course one of them still had to break it.
Which Weiss did by coughing into her hand for composure, a slight blush on her cheeks, "So uhm.. " she held out a hand awkwardly—which made her inwardly cringe at herself, but held it in, "..friends?"
The gesture made Ruby grin widely—unaware of her inner turmoil, before taking her hand gently and shook it.
"Friends."
Smiles were exchange, and so was mutual understanding.
They knew they didn't need to rush things, after all.. they were still trying to learn more about each other, about their differences, their quirks, likes and dislikes. They wouldn't make haste, they would take all the time they need.. until the day where everything was crystal clear and absolute between them..
Ruby would not mind confessing once more..
..and this time, using her own words.
The night time was nigh, and so the students had began to prep for either bed, snacks, studying.. or more snacks. But not so strangely, this evening in particular was not a snack-a-ton for Ruby Rose. Why? Oh everyone knew why.. well, maybe only a certain dust chemist did.
Wait.. now that she thought of it, was Moe even a student? She had never really seen her before prior to this crazy day, if she were a professor though she would probably know but.. no, she knew nothing about this mysterious person at all. Maybe she was just an upperclassman that she had never crossed paths before.. that seemed more like a plausible thought.
But other than that, the strange girl never rang any bell in her time in Beacon, which was almost a year to be honest.
Deciding to let go of those troubling thoughts, Ruby sighed and simply closed her eyes.
She was tired, like dead tired. She had never had a day so eventful like this, that each and every memory was still fresh in her brain, despite feeling absolutely drained out of any speedy energy she usually harbored. She was beat tonight, and nothing could rouse her back up.
Well.. maybe a bit of freshly baked cookies could.
But still, she was exhausted.
Her vocal chords particularly, she had never sang that much or even that high before. It was so weird, and she even still couldn't believe what had just transpired throughout her whole day today, it almost felt like a dream.
Ruby rubbed her face with her palm, before sighing again and letting her arms plop spread beside her on her hazardous bunk bed, staring idly on the creamy ceiling. After a moment of basically blanking out, the sounds of pen gliding against paper caught her attention, causing her to turn to the sound's general direction.
Only to spot one Weiss Schnee—probably doing some homework she didn't even know was given—over their round little coffee table. The heiress had an ever so perpetual look of seriousness over her features, clad in her night wear as her let down hair cascaded lustrously down her shoulder blades, like soft majestic curtain.
The sight made a smile slowly creep Ruby's lips, as a flashback of the earlier events went back to her.
Yup, definitely not a dream.
They were the only two in their dorm room at the moment, yet now the silence that once suffocated Ruby, had become quite comfortable between them. Ahh.. this was really nice, she liked this so much better, where they were more at ease, relaxed. No unnecessary fighting and all that, just utter peace. And it made Ruby immensely happy—to get so much development with Weiss in just one day.
..which she had been trying to achieve the same thing for months!
She never thought that little vial incident would lead to this.. now beautiful mess.
Looking back on it, maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
Ruby released a content sigh from her lips, the sounds of scritch-scratching from Weiss' dexterous fingers almost lulling her to sleep.. until they heard their dorm's door open rather extravagantly, revealing the amiable face of Yang, and the passive look of Blake. Naturally, their eyes landed to the two of them, collective looks of varying degrees of wonderment on their faces.
But of course, Blake would be the first one to let it go, choosing to shrug nonchalantly as she went over to sit on her bed, rummaging through her pile of books to grab something to read, like always.
It was fairly quiet, Weiss continued on with her work as if nobody else existed except her, Ruby was resting her poor musical soul, while Blake was on the way into the same state of solitude as her white themed teammate. Yang was left alone in front of the door, looking at her two particular teammates with a thoughtful look on her face, though surprisingly, she let it slip with her own shrug.
Ruby didn't acknowledge—or rather, ignored—the newcomers as she focused on emptying her mind, until Yang's chip voice broke through her feeble mind barriers effortlessly, "Oh by the way, that was fun Ruby," her older sister spoke so casually, as if what she just said made sense. She was going over to her closet to get some sleepwear, when Ruby made a confused noise in response, not quite sure on what she was referring to.
She frowned, "What was fun?"
Yang turned to her as if she was puzzling her as well, "The musical thing? You started it right?" the blonde questioned, a handful of clothes now resting over her arms.
She received a nervous smile.
"Yeah.. " came Ruby's answer of uncertainty.. which of course Yang never noticed.
"It was really fun, every one thought the performance was amazing!" her older sister spoke so excitedly, that she almost dropped her yellow bra on the floor, earning a slightly disturbed look from Weiss. The heiress only ended up shaking her head in displeasure, before muttering so shameless under her breath and began to focus back on her book.
However, Ruby was rigid at her sister's speculation.
"Wait.. what performance?"
Finally Yang noticed her strange reactions, tilting her head in muddlement, "You mean.. you didn't plan that?
Ruby spluttered, causing her to shoot up in a straight sitting position, her bunk-bed bouncing slightly at the abrupt movement, flustered beyond belief, "Of course not! It was..."
Wait.. they didn't know, did they?
..of course Ruby, you dunce!
They wouldn't know because you never told them! She inwardly reprimanded herself with a bonk on her head.
Imagine her surprise when it wasn't Yang who spoke next, it was Blake, looking quite puzzled herself as she rested her book over her lap, a twinkle of interest in her amber gaze, "It wasn't one of your shticks?"
Ruby shook her head vigorously, "It wasn't! Why would you think I would pull something like that?"
The two partners shared a look, before shrugging in mutual confusion.
"I don't know, you seem like the type," again, it was Blake who answered.
Ruby's jaw only slackened.
As if it wasn't enough, Yang continued, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, "The only reason we went along with it because we thought you were onto something interesting," she admitted, before walking over to the bathroom door, then turned back to the one she was speaking to.. who was her younger sister opening and closing her mouth like an idiot fish.
Looking for the voice of reason in their little team, Ruby turned to Weiss who was obviously eavesdropping in their conversation.
"Weiss?" she called out inquisitively, waiting for her input.
Of course this made the heiress jolt in surprise, before quickly coughing into her hand, ignoring the fact that she had been in fact, tuning in.
Not that Ruby paid any particular attention to anyway.
However, Weiss strangely.. turned a little tickled pink, "I went a long with it because I wanted to.. go along with one of your games, to show how serious I am in fixing our relationship..." she cleared her throat at the last part, her tone almost inaudible as if she didn't really want anyone to hear it but said it anyway.
Good thing only Blake heard it, who graciously made no comment about it, though had a smile on her face nonetheless.
Ruby looked exasperated—though appreciated the sweet thought, before rubbing her fingers over the bridge of her nose, feeling a small headache coming in. She finally decided to tell them what really happened back there.
"Guys.. what happened earlier was.. an accident."
As expected, they were all confused and bewildered.
"An accident?" Yang was incredulous, "And how exactly can you sing accidentally?"
"You see.." and so began the tale of the cursed musical Ruby Rose, her out of blue singing, and her newfound mysterious dust chemist friend, Moe—which Weiss particularly frowned at for reasons she couldn't quite understand. Hearing it, yeah it was crazy. But now it made sense, at least to the listeners.
Now that they thought of it, it was actually highly unlikely for Ruby to put herself out there like that.
So yeah..
"Wow," that was Yang.. but then suddenly her expression changed to playful—which was the look Ruby dreaded the most, "I knew there was something a little off about you little sis, especially when you literally confe—"
Immediately, with signature speed, Ruby threw a dashing pillow at her face, fortunately Yang held her clothes tighter this time, "Okay that's enough! Go take a bath, you stinky face!"
Ruby's face was almost as red as her namesake, while her older sister's face remained annoying.
Blake was of course, thoroughly amused while Weiss refused to stare at anything else that wasn't her paper, her cheeks slightly tinting pink.
Yang laughed at the look on her sister's adorable red face, "Okay okay, I'll stop. Later sis," and with that, she went inside the bathroom.
The younger of the team sighed before sprawling over her bunk bed, soon the flustered air around her had slowly dissipated, leaving her in her previous state of drowsiness. She settled more comfortably in her bed when Blake sat up across her.
Their eyes met, and the older girl excused herself with a small smile on her lips, "I'm going to go get some snacks," she turned to the both of them who did them same in attention, "Do you two want anything?"
Ruby would've said milk and cookies, but she was too tired to wait for them to arrive and would probably end up dozing off, so she just gave Blake an appreciative sleepy grin, "Thanks Blake, but I'm good for tonight."
It startled them slightly, wow she really was that tired, huh.
"I'll be fine with some water.. thank you Blake," Weiss spoke with her own tiny smile on her lips, causing the stunned dark themed girl to blink back to the reality. She nodded with a no problem before leaving, but not without bidding Ruby a good night—knowing fully well she was going to doze off sooner or later.
And with that.. they were alone again.
Weiss had already been back doing her work when suddenly.. without really thinking, Ruby spoke. All the while staring at the creamy ceiling, which slightly reminded her of her partner's pretty alabaster hair.
A soft smile slowly graced Ruby's lips.
"Weiss..?"
The heiress hummed distractedly in response.
"You have a beautiful voice."
"..."
Now Weiss was definitely even more distracted right now.. the crescendo of her heart was just getting too much for even her to handle, and the heat of her crimsoning cheeks. Dust, it was all so new and almost.. exhilarating.
But she kept her eyes straight, refusing to look behind her stubbornly.
With a sigh of her own, a persistent smile tickled her lips.. and she couldn't really fight if off very much.
"Thank you," she said softly, finally giving in to the tiny simper on her more gentle features.
"Your voice is wonderful too," and she really meant it.
Ruby laughed lightly, a silly sleepy grin on her face as her voice slowly became a little drowsy, "Mm, thanks."
"Good night, Ruby."
"Good night, Weiss."
AN: Hi guys.. okay, so even I don't know where this idea came from. It was random, and absolutely out of nowhere. But somehow I wanted to write characters singing songs, and then I thought of RWBY, then feelings, Whiterose, and.. tadah! Here came this weird ass nonsensical fic I've ever created! Still I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! It was very fun to play around with them like that, and lookie, with some cuties on the side too.
SONGS USED:
What Do You Mean - Justin Bieber
I've Told You Now - Sam Smith
Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid
Can't Stop The Feeling! - Justin Timberlake
Bump N' Grind - R. Kelly
Sorry - Justin Bieber
Breakeven - The Script
How Far I'll Go - Moana
True Colors - Justin Timberlake & Anna Kendrick
I See Fire - Ed Sheeran
Chasing Pavements - Adele
Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
Mercy - Shawn Mendes
PS: Moe is an OC. ;)