Ruby gave a wild cry as she swung her scythe, voice full of anguish and hate as she struggled to reach her comrade. She had seen Weiss go down under the tidal wave of Beowulfs that had ambushed them.
The sound of Yang's gauntlets, Ember Celica, rang out repeatedly, her sister giving constant enraged shouts as she fired shot after shot. She had to be nearly out of ammo, but in her current state of mind, Yang clearly no longer cared. Blake spun fluidly through the clumsy creatures that fell under her swift but sure blows, keeping back the monsters that threatened to overrun Yang, who cared little that they were so close to death.
She mashed her fist into the gut of an overzealous Beowulf, it's back blowing out as the Dust covered buckshot punched through the flesh. Blake tried to snap her out of it.
"Yang, we need to move, now."
"YOU WANT SOME, YOU MOTHERFUCKINGPEICESOFSHIT!" was Yang's only response. She either couldn't hear Blake, or decided to ignore her. Her path was marked by a wave of shimmering air,caused by the flames breaking out around her.
Blake tried one last time, "Yang-" but she was cut off as Yang dove past her, her gauntlets slamming down onto the head of one of the Grimms. The Grimm exploded.
A foul stench filled the air as Grimm flesh flew, dissolving as it went. Blake flinched as a bit of skin smacked her in the face, disappearing a second later. In the moment of distraction, one of the Beowulfs got a shot in, throwing her back. She landed at Yang's feet, and their eyes met. Blake found herself hypnotized by the solid scarlet color of her partner's hatred-filled eyes.
Yang leaped over her, tackling the Beowulf, straddling the creatures chest and punching it's face repeatedly. It was dissolving even as she continued to punch, and Blake had to drag her off the carcass. She jumped back as Yang almost swung at her, her vision blurred by her anger, and Blake wondered briefly which one had touched her hair.
Ruby reached Weiss, her scythe spinning as she flung back the creatures that stood over her partner. Luckily, Weiss's aura had held, just. She reached down, lifting Weiss, who winced at the pressure on her arm. Ruby had her in a death grip.
She shrugged her off, shouting "I told Yang it was a bad idea to go this way!" Her rapier, Myrtenaster, flashed in her hand, and a line of fire incinerated half a dozen of the beasts. Ruby merely shook her head, resigned to her best friend's capabilities for shrugging off the horror of seconds before.
"Come on, we need to get back to Blake and Yang," she said, fighting her way through the shallow group of enemies that had closed in between her and her team mates. Blake had managed to widen a circle around Yang, and the pair managed to slip into it.
the group moved back to back, the pack withdrawing as it prepared for a secondary assault. Yang cocked her gauntlets, the spent shell casings flying out with a resounding 'ping', before burying themselves in the snow at her feet, the semi-liquid hissing at the touch of the hot metal.
She had calmed the slightest bit, and she loaded her last belts into the gauntlets, realizing that she had wasted too much on the few she had actually managed to kill. Blake dropped the empty magazine from Gambol Shroud's hilt, sliding in another as she assessed the situation. Of the group, she had the most ammunition left in reserve, though it was all normal rounds, having spent her last Dust rounds protecting Yang.
She was glad, in a way, that she might go out this way, fighting along side the only real family she had ever known. Weiss was calculating, trying to decide if she could use what little Dust she had left to try carving a path through the creatures, but she knew she didn't have enough. Ruby was calm, despite the exhaustion gnawing at her insides. she trembled slightly, a testament to her training.
"Yang, I want you and Weiss to focus on finding the Alpha. If we can put it down, we have a chance. Blake, you and I will try to hold the attention of the pack, since we have the best weapon reach and arc. Alright, GO!"
Yang nodded, shouting "I'm on it, sis!" as she took off, using twin blasts from her gauntlets to launch herself into the air, landing on a glyph that appeared beneath her. Weiss made a ring of glyphs around the crowd, and Yang began to dash along them, her eyes scanning the massive crowd of black fur and red eyes. Whenever she saw a plausible target, she fired a concentrated round at it, killing it and wounding anything within 3 feet of the blast.
Ruby dug the blade of Crescent Rose into the snow at her feet, and began to fire from a standing position, Beowulfs falling in scores as the bullets passed through at least three before slowing in velocity. Due to her growth spurt, she had been forced to increase the caliber and powder charge of Crescent Rose's rounds, to make up for the extra weight she had to maneuver when performing her acrobatics. The Beowulfs made a second advance, pushing forward to try and rip the girls to shreds.
Blake began her complex motions, Gambol Shroud blazing in her hands as she flung it, cutting into a mature male Beowulf, the pistol in the hilt going off with it's usual almighty bang, flinging the blade the opposite direction as Blake began to dance with it, slicing beast after beast to ribbons. The smell of gunpowder burned her nose, her heightened senses scorched by the heat of battle.
Blake and Ruby took turns playing offense, allowing one of them to catch their breath while the other was in the midst of the fray.
Yang finally spotted the Alpha, huddled in the middle of a group of large males, and she cocked her arm to fire. But before she could, a Beowulf leaped up underneath her like a shark, slashing it's claws through the glyph, ripping it apart. Yang's shot went wild, slamming into the ground at Weiss's feet, then blowing up in her face.
Weiss was thrown backwards, barely managing to keep her balance as she slid to a stop. Yang fell towards the crowd of Beowulfs below her, spinning in the air as she redirected her blasts straight down. The explosive metal peppered the Beowulfs, blowing them to pieces, but she felt the slight unhappy vibration in her wrists as her gauntlets ran dry, the last of her ammunition wasted.
'Fuck' was her only thought as she back flipped along the ground, stopping next to Weiss, who was not happy.
The edges of her pony tail were singed, and she shouted, "watch where you point those things, you dolt."
Back at Beacon, such a comment would have sent Yang into an explosive rage, but now the words were hollow, a shadow of a habit. Her voice was dry, trembling from exhaustion.
"Pay more attention to the enemy, then," was Yang's reply, her attempt at a snarl coming across as an exasperated wheeze.
Ruby flinched as she heard the audible click that meant she had miscounted how many rounds she had fired. She dropped the spent magazine, reaching for another only to remember that it had been her last. She readied herself to go close quarters, but could already feel her muscles burning from exhaustion.
They had been on the road for months, and none of the group had had a decent nights rest in more than 2 weeks. Suddenly, she found herself wondering if it was the end. 'One stupid mistake, and I get my entire team, and remaining family, killed' she thought to herself, raising her scythe to strike at the incoming hoard.
But before she had the chance, something blazed above her head, and she heard a familiar sound. Almost unable to believe it, she looked up, seeing something that was much more terrifying than the sea of Grimm creatures bearing down on her.
Nora came streaking down from a tree, giving a wild laugh as she brought her hammer down on top of a Beowulf, crushing it into the world's largest (and most disgusting) pancake. Right behind her was Ren, Storm Flowers blazing as they fired Dust rounds at a cycling rate Ruby had never been able to duplicate. Scores of Beowulfs fell under the withering hail of explosive ammunition.
Pyrrha followed soon after, her spear and shield, Miló and Akoúo, in the form of a Roman Gladius, glinting in the dying light of the evening sun as it decapitated three Grimm in a single blow. A Grimm rose up behind her, claws raised as it prepared to slash, but Ruby jumped onto it's back, scythe crashing down onto the Beowulf's head, crushing its skull.
Pyrrha gave a nod of thanks, then turned back. The hoard had dwindled since the fight had began, but was still of formidable size. Nora swung her hammer with both grace and tenacity, crushing Grimms with ease under the heavy instrument. Ren danced around her, always covering her back. His guns shifted in his hands, and suddenly he was holding a pair of long knives. This was a surprise to the members of RWBY. It hadn't done that back at Beacon.
He showed unsurprising skill while wielding the deadly blades. Nora's erratic, yet powerful moves looked quite plain next to his graceful, spinning slashes and stabs. Yang and Blake jumped in with them, and the quartet began to push their way through the dwindling pool of enemies.
Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha held together in a tight group, with Weiss in the middle, shooting out various elements from her sword, while Ruby and Pyrrha fought around her, cutting through the Grimms. Ruby was beginning to get her second (or was it her seventh?) wind. Her arms were no longer trembling, and she found she had the strength to use some of her more acrobatic moves.
She slammed the blade point into the icy ground, the whole scythe spinning like a fast forward watch hand while she hung from the handle, feet slamming into Grimms as she spun past them. With an expertly timed lash, she sent one flying, which landing an the end of Pyrrha's sword.
Suddenly something huge and heavy grabbed Ruby's foot as she tried to complete her maneuver. She found herself being lifted straight up, then slammed down onto the snow covered ground, her breathe whooshing out, her lungs crumpling like a plastic bag on the end of a vacuum hose. Her vision was slightly blurred, but she felt something hard, cold, and very, very sharp pressed against her throat.
She could just make out the Alpha male of the pack standing over her, it's white and red armor it's most notable feature. It's eyes burned with a conscious hatred, handed down through it's fore fathers. It opened it's mouth, preparing to either howl or bite. Ruby looked the creature right in it's eyes, calm spreading over her. She knew she had no energy to fight this. She waited for the inevitable.
"UNHAND HER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Something white and silver appeared in Ruby's vision, the entire length of Myrtenaster sliding neatly into the top of the Grimms skull. A single miniature glyph spun silently at the end of it's hilt. 20 yards away, Weiss stood unarmed, breathing hard, a look of utter and complete rage decorating her beautiful features.
Ruby had a detached thought. 'She is a lot scarier than I thought'.
She stood, looking around at the remains of the ambush, which had turned into a slaughter.
In minutes, the tables had turned, the two teams managing to fight off the assault. The last Grimm was nothing more than a melting shadow at Yang's feet, who's eyes were returning to their usual violet color. The two teams converged, smiles on their faces as they exchanged the greetings that had gone unsaid for almost a year.
"Long time, no see," Yang said, hugging Pyrrha and Nora, who reciprocated warmly. Ren stayed silent, but his smile was large and genuine. Ruby followed her sister's lead, hugging the three saviors, while Weiss huffed, saying "we could have handled it... But thanks anyway, I guess."
Blake hugged them all and said "it's good to see you, but why are you away from the front lines? And how did you know where to find us?"
Pyrrha responded, saying "when Yang called ahead and mentioned you were coming this way, we decided to try to meet you en route. But then we heard the shots, and rushed here as quickly as we could. Looks like it was just in time, too. It is a good thing you guy's put on such a show whenever you fight."
Ruby nodded, feeling both the physical and emotional drain from the battle telling her to sleep. To block out the voice, she asked "where's Jaune?"
"He's still on the front lines. Kinda hard to get away when your the general of an army" Nora said, flicking a piece of Grimm fur from her shoulder. Her skin was flushed from the exertion of the fight, and the look behind her eye was almost fevered.
Yang caught the scent of Nora's favorite pre-battle drink, a shot of Grimm's Blood, one of the most potent alcohols developed by human hands, on her breath. She winced, realizing that Nora would be more than a little unpredictable for the next 8 hours.
Ren nodded, saying "we will take you to him. He'll be glad to see you."
Then Weiss noticed the glinting gold band on Pyrrha's finger.
"He proposed?" The question was sprung as much from surprise as happiness.
Pyrrha nodded, a happy, but restricted, smile spreading across her face. "I'm as surprised as you are. I thought I was going to have to do it."
Ruby picked up on the tone in her voice, a strange tension that was unlike Pyrrha. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
Pyrrha responded unhappily.
"It's a little hard to explain. You'll have to see for yourself."
The mood turned somber as the newcomers took in the sight of team RWBY. Their clothes were heavily torn and patched, streaks of blood from Grimm knew how many sources splattered across them and their meager belongings. Yang had a slight limp in her leg and a soiled cloth bandage tied around her thigh, made all the more noticeable as she limped around, collecting their belongings from where they had been tossed when the fight had started.
Ruby had numerous smaller bandages covering rips and slashes in her older outfit (merely an altered version of her outfit from when they had been in school). Much of the cloth was stitched, restitched, or patched. Several of them looked like they where the only thing holding the outfit together.
It was obvious they had been on the road for a long while, too long. Even Weiss's usually perfect getup was crisscrossed with all manner of gore.
In a way, they actually looked quite... Noble, was the only word Pyrrha could come up with. They looked like they had actually been fighting the war, unlike many of the soldiers in the 'posh' positions, protecting the important people. They looked like hell, but they also looked like they kicked hell's ass.
Together, the 2 groups headed back to the army's main camp, trying to be upbeat as they trudged through the snow.
It had been only two years since their graduation and departure from Beacon. Upon graduating, unlike many groups, RWBY and JNPR had chosen to stay together, splitting the money from jobs and living relatively close together in one town or other. A downside to the Hunter's life was constant moving throughout the world, following each job as it came by.
They were never home sick, although that in itself made them sad, since none of them ever really had a home in the first place. Since their uncle Qrow was a huntsman, he shared their current life style. Before losing contact, he had been in Haven, helping to stem the flow of Grimm in an evacuating red zone.
Last summer, a new threat had emerge, one unlike any they had seen. A young man, known only as Grimm's Disciple, had appeared in Vale, and had begun preaching that in one month's time, a small town on the outer reaches of the kingdom, named Frontier, would fall to a Grimm attack. After a week, he had begun to develop a following, and preachers began to appear all over the city.
With the deadline approaching, team RWBY had decided to visit the town, if only to dispel the rumors. They arrived on the day of the proposed attack, and horror was waiting to greet them. A massive convergence of Grimm creatures held sway over the town, Grimms from nearly every land and sky based family raging as they tore the town to shreds.
But the most shocking part was that the Grimms had riders, saddles, even man-made augmentations to their natural armor. And over the entire scene flew a massive Grimm, a Night Scream, a dragon shaped Grimm of proportions unseen in the last century. And on its back was the boy, the first disciple.
Team RWBY and a large group of soldiers and Hunters had managed to fight off the Grimm, but not without heavy losses. About 10 people had been apprehended, soldiers of the enemy, but all ten had been killed in one way or another before any questioning could be done.
In the week following the attack, letters were delivered to every man and woman with any governmental power, stating that the attack was the first of many, and that it was lead by the Descendants of Grimm's Blood, extremists that had long been benign, thought of as merely a group of fanatics. Apparently, the group had found a boy with the power to command Grimm, as if it was an army at the whims of it's king. Their goal was to destroy humanity, ending it's reign and ushering in a world of darkness for the Children of Grimm.
Immediately, a contingency of Hunters were assigned to join the military and fight off the threat. But the Descendants were cunning, hiding in the wild lands, where animosity and fear was ingrained into the population. The soldiers where met with passive resistance and open hatred as they attempted to get information from the populace.
The disciples ambushed the encamped army often, stealing supplies and attacking with massive waves of Grimm, some creatures that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years, others that had long since been written off as either mythical or harmless. When an attack had killed the current leaders during an emergency gathering, four teams of hunters, including team JNPR, were drafted to lead the crumbling armies.
Jaune had taken on the role of commander of his remaining troops, and his first order had been a mass regroup and evacuation of all outlying groups, bringing what remained of his army and the citizens that would listen to Vale, where he set up completely reforming the army.
His team worked tirelessly, running elite missions and training soldiers. Recently, they had managed to retake the base of operations in an overrun military base, about 20 miles east outside of vale.
The base was used generally for R&R, and housed between 450-700 troops. Jaune, brilliant man that he had been, had improved considerably as a soldier and a person, although the growth was sad in part because it had been forced upon him.
The group reached the camp, which was hardly the word for it. Massive walls, topped with automated and manual weapon systems, ringed the man made fortress in the center. It was 20 stories tall, giving it an impressive view of the surrounding plain. The top was a look out tower, no doubt rigged to an alarm system. The entire thing was covered in windows, offering some comfort for those who disliked being inside. The fortress was a monument to the utter and complete power of the military. Or it had been.
But after a few moments, the team began to notice things. The fortress had not been faring well in the war. Several of the automated weapons were in pieces, soldiers carrying them to other guns for replacing older parts. Many of the windows on the fortress were shattered, some with soot blackening the area above them, obvious signs of a massive fire. A section of the wall was heavily patched, trying to reinforce the weakening structure. Many of the soldiers sported injuries, and all had haggard looks on their faces.
Ren lead the way into the main building, opening a set of massive double doors that lead into a sort of atrium. It in itself was 2 stories tall, plain gray walls raising up, a walkway ringing the second story, black metal doors closing off unimportant or empty rooms. The smells of old food and steam were coming from the mess hall, where soldiers had just finished dinner. Blake winced at the strong smells that invaded her advanced senses.
The two teams continued to a room at the very center of the building, in which stood Jaune and a gathering of advisers and assistants. Personal combat model guard robots stood in each of the corners, watching carefully over the proceedings.
"We know where they were, and we know where they might go, but we have no idea where they ARE!"
Jaune growled in frustration, slamming a fist down on the battle map that spread out before him. Ruby winced. She had never heard him that angry. Pyrrha cleared her throat, and the blond knight turned. Ruby couldn't contain the gasp. A heavy, pronounce scar now marred Jaune's face, traveling from the corner of his right eye, down along his jawline to come to a stop at his neck, just off the hollow of his throat.
The scar was red, still looking relatively fresh, though it must have closed up almost a month before. It looked like a claw mark. Jaune smiled, but was obviously less than pleased at her reaction.
"Hey guys. Been a while, huh?"
The uncertainty, usually front and center in his voice, had long since left, replaced with a mellow, soothing quality, which in turn was hedged by a sharp, defiant tone. His sword, Crocea Mors, was still belted to his waist, his armor unchanged even after so many years, but even with the material similarities, he was so different. He was half a foot taller, his muscle mass having grown as well. Though he would never hold the same skill level as Pyrrha, he was also no longer helpless with his blade, and there was an assurance to his steps that cried of hours of training.
"Hey, it has, hasn't it? When we heard you were made a general, we decided to give you some time. I wish we had known just how long, but, you know how it goes." Ruby found she spoke quit naturally despite Jaune's facial mar. She attributed it to the years she had spent talking with Weiss. "How are we doing in this fight?"
"About as well as can be expected. We have them on the run, but they know this terrain about as well as anyone can. We were considering pulling back and guarding the borders, but then they hit us hard. Almost killed me." His hand traveled the length of his scar, his face brooding. Then he smiled again.
"Where are my manners. Come on, we have some catching up to do."
He dismissed his advisers, and the 2 teams took seats around the table, the scale battle map retracting into the table itself, solid looking panels closing less than an inch above the top of the miniature fortress. Pyrrha sat next to Jaune, and his face immediately eased. It was obvious that he had become head-over-heels for her. Ruby knew it started shortly after the inter-school dance their first year, and she felt an odd ache mixed with her happiness. Her thoughts turned briefly to her own inner turmoil about her current relationship with... but she couldn't bring herself to go there.
A ragged hole had been torn in her chest by her own feelings, her heart carved out and handed unfairly to a certain tsundere that was less than 4 feet away. Her fantasies often used the word princess instead of heiress, but the same feelings couldn't be ignored. She blushed scarlet as one of her more vivid imaginings invaded her mind. Yang noticed, but kept her peace, striking up an animated discussion with Nora.
"So, what's going on in your life, Nor?"
The nickname from their second year visibly made her perk, and she let out a loud laugh, saying "well, shortly after we left school, I manged to convince a certain someone that I wasn't following him around for fun. We all know he can't take a hint to save his life, and..." she continued on, her bubbling about finally getting Ren to notice how she felt about him (she said she had locked the two of them in a room for 4 hours before he figured it out. Yang thought she was joking until she saw the somewhat sour look spread over Ren's face,) enough to capture Blake's attention.
Weiss was carefully examining Juane's face out of the corner of her eye. It was easier then she thought, sitting on his right, and she managed to get a view of the entire line of the scar. It started at the curve of his eye, ripping down the side of his cheek to the top of his jawline, cutting down half his jawline, then curving down to stop at the edge of his throat.
Blake listened to Nora's ramblings, which had somehow wondered into a new modification she had made to her hammer, Magnhild, which allowed it to rapid fire it's grenades. Apparently, it had been Ren's idea, and Nora had convinced him to make a slight modification of his own. His Storm Flowers could now collapse, and transform into twin knives. Though it wasn't anything overly outstanding, it was huge that she had managed to get him to do anything to his precious weapons.
Blake was envious. She had had a pretty huge crush on Yang for the better part of the last year. She had never been an expert on relationships, and the few she had had were worse train wrecks than just about anything she had ever heard of. She shuddered as she thought briefly about how it had ended with Velvet, and drifted further from the conversation as her mind went unconsciously to Adam.
Her teacher, her friend (she had thought), and her (briefly) boy friend. The relationship had been more for convenience than anything. They had both had their lonely insides, their hollowness. They had tried to fill it with a meaningless relationship. She had left before anything... physical, had happened. She found a slight flush creeping up her neck as that thought flashed through her mind.
Jaune had started talking to Ruby, saying "I was thinking that when all this is finally over, we can all get together for a more, appropriate, reunion. It's been so long since we've had anytime to really catch up. What have you been up to? We lost track of you when you were headed for quadrant 7. What happened?"
"We were heading after the Grimm that tore through Hevail. It led us into an ambush, and our bag that had most of our communication equipment in it was eaten. When we were on our way back, we managed to find a working 2-way in what's left of Johntown. That's when Yang contacted you. We managed to corner the beast in a valley in the eastern corner of the quadrant. It took us 5 hours to bring the damn thing down."
Pyrrha asked, "what type of Grimm was it?"
"Don't know. Never seen one quite like it. It was a drakon type, you know, dragons without wings? But it was different than most. It was huge, for one thing, but it was really lightly armored. It seemed like it relied on speed over power. It had massive stamina. We only killed it because it finally tired out. That and Weiss managed to freeze 2 of it's legs." She giggled, then stopped, unnerved.
The sound was slightly unnatural, and she was surprised that just mentioning Weiss was enough to draw such a reaction from her. Weiss, luckily, was engrossed in a talk with Jaune about how his scar had healed. Ruby decided it was probably just exhaustion that was driving her crazy. She glanced at Weiss sideways, unconsciously engraving the sight of her into her memory, her posture, her clothes, her skin... her face.
Pyrrha snapped her fingers at Ruby, trying to get her attention, but the sound came out louder than she meant it to. Everyone turned to look at her, then followed her gaze to Ruby, who sat, suddenly mortified that she was looking directly into Weiss's eyes. She stood abruptly, her hands clenching as she bared her teeth, trying to control her emotions. She said "is there a place where I can change? I'd like to put on my last clean outfit."
Jaune answered before anyone could ask what was wrong. She was surprised that he had picked up on her tone. He was obviously more mature than when they had first met. He said "out the door, turn left, take the elevator to the third floor, the doors on the left are shower rooms with tubs, the doors on the right are unused officer bunks. We had them prepped when you contacted us."
She nodded curtly, then turned and walked briskly from the room. Yang half stood in her seat, but Weiss held up a hand, saying "I'll go. She's been acting off for several weeks. As her partner, I think it's my responsibility to find out what's going on."
Yang nodded, retaking her seat. Weiss left the room, looking towards the elevators in time to see Ruby hitting one of the buttons. Their eyes met, and Weiss stopped cold. There was an uncompromising look on her face, one that was filled with both unwavering hate and extensive pain. Weiss was frozen in place, a wave of irrational fear spreading through her body.
Then the door closed, and it was like Weiss was released from some sort of spell.
She could move again, but she didn't want to. She felt suddenly weak in the knees. But she knew if she didn't check on Ruby, she might not be able to. She walked slowly to the elevators, making sure Ruby's was already at the third floor before calling one. She thought to herself 'what the hell is wrong with her now?' as she waited, her fear turning to anger as she considered what she had seen.
Not only was Ruby in some sort of pain, she was refusing to tell her team about it. She spent the whole elevator ride getting more and more frustrated. As the doors finally dinged open, she was seething. It never changed. Every time something happened to someone on the team, they refused to talk about it.
She stood between two doors, trying to decide which one her partner was hiding behind. After a second, she heard the water running behind the door on the left. She opened it, too angry to think about knocking. However, she immediately pulled back. The sight that greeted her was somewhere between terrifying and absolutely beautiful.
Ruby stood in her underwear, bent slightly over the tub of an over-sized shower, one finger testing the water, steam curling up and around her slim frame. Her skin was a creamy pale, not quite as light as Blake's or Weiss's, but nowhere near her older sister's light tan. With her back to Weiss, her chest was hidden, but, despite having seen it before, something about the situation was sending a heavy blush towards Weiss's face. But that wasn't what drew her immediate attention. No, the thing that terrified her was the look on Ruby's face. It was drawn back in a human interpretation of a wolf's snarl, her eyes alight with emotion.
After a moment, she straightened, turning and walking slowly towards Weiss. Weiss had never been scared of Ruby before, but now she took an unsteady step back, iron bands closing around her chest as she tried to breathe, the fear seizing her mind, her body refusing to move correctly. Having closed the door behind her, she felt her back press hard against the cool metal door. Ruby was less than 2 steps away.
Weiss tried to apologize, saying "I'm sorr-mph!"
Ruby had thrust her lips hard against Weiss's, and she froze.
She had never expected this, not in a million years. She didn't know what to do. If it had been anyone else, she would have panicked or fought, but she found herself not wanting to fight her off, not wanting to end it.
Ruby had one hand on the door, the other holding Weiss by the back of her neck. Weiss couldn't go anywhere, couldn't do anything. So she settled for nothing. Her body stayed limp as she felt her lips being pushed around, felt, a little less than timidly, by Ruby's. After a moment, Ruby pulled away, turning her back and just standing there. Unable to decide what to say, Weiss turned and left. If she had stayed only 2 seconds more, she would have seen the tears racing down Ruby's face.
