Hello all, and welcome back. By popular demand, this fic will continue, so thank you for all the support. Constructive criticism always appreciated. Now, without further ado, on to the story. Enjoy.
The clatter of keys on a keyboard was the first sound Blake noticed as she was slowly pulled from her slumber. Blearily blinking her eyes, she yawned softly, causing the clatter to cease momentarily.
"Oh, Blake. I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" Ruby queried, unable to stifle a yawn of her own. "I should have tried to be quieter." Blake merely waved off her apology.
"It's fine," Blake replied, pushing herself up to a sitting position on the edge of her bed. "What are you still doing up anyway?" Ruby rubbed one of her eyes as she closed her laptop.
"Just working on an essay," she yawned and clambered off her precarious bunk to plug the laptop in. "Didn't realize how late it was." The faunus gave her a suspicious look that went unnoticed in the dark room.
"Your essay, or someone else's?" Blake noticed the shorter girl pause. "Why are you still working on that for her?" Her keen ears picked up a small sigh.
"I mean, it's already almost done, and it's too late for her to do it on her own so I might as well finish it," she explained. "I don't really want her to fail. She's still my sister after all." The faunus could only blink at the younger girl.
"Really?" she asked incredulously. "After all she's put you through you're still going to help her?" Ruby went quiet for a moment.
"I don't want to see her fail," Ruby repeated. "Maybe I should, and maybe I should hate her, but I don't. There's no way she could get this done in time now, so I'll just finish it up for her." Blake sighed.
"You can't keep letting her push you around," she insisted, drawing a sigh from the smaller girl.
"I know, I know. This is the last one, I promise. I just..." She sighed again. "I don't know if I can stand up to her alone."
"You don't have to do it alone," Blake said. "If you need me, I'll be there with you. Will that make it easier?" Blake could make out a small smile forming on Ruby's face.
"Would you really?" Blake nodded. "That would make it so much easier. Thank you so much Blake."
"It's not a problem," the faunus replied. "Now, we should both probably get some sleep. It's quite late." As if on cue, the smaller girl let out a hearty yawn.
"Sounds like a good idea," she agreed, flicking off her bedside lamp. "Goodnight Blake. Sweet dreams." Blake smiled.
"Goodnight Ruby."
Blake gazed idly ahead, twirling her pen in her fingers and tuning out the lesson. She spared the occasional glance at the shorter girl seated directly next to her. The red-cloaked girl was currently in the middle of a nap, unnoticed by the rambling Professor Port. The faunus smiled at the drop of drool slowly making it's way out of the corner of the girl's mouth, and after a moment's hesitation, she reached over with her free hand and wiped the saliva away with her thumb. Unfortunately, the bell decided to ring at that exact moment, prompting the slumbering huntress in training to jolt awake.
"...I am not a crook!" Ruby announced sleepily, blinking blearily before her eyes focused on the now giggling Blake. "Hey Blake," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head. "Did I miss anything important?" Blake shook her head slightly as she composed herself.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," she replied after a moment, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Though Port did remind us that our Grimm anatomy essays are due next class." Ruby's smile faltered momentarily, but she immediately perked back up.
"Well, it's a good thing we have out essays done, isn't it." Blake wanted to comment, but decided not to put a damper on Ruby's mood.
'No point in bringing up Yang, that would only bring Ruby down,' Blake thought, slinging her back over her shoulder and following Ruby out of the classroom. She was sure to stick close to Ruby to ensure she wouldn't get ambushed by Yang. It seemed to be working, as Yang hadn't bothered her the entire weekend. Unfortunately, upon making it a moderate distance from the classroom, the pair found themselves startled by a bubbly call of:
"Hell-ooo!" Blake kept up neutral expression, but was scowling at the blonde inwardly. Ruby seemed to shrink upon hearing her sister, moving slightly behind Blake.
"Hello Yang," Blake greeted coolly. "Do you need something?" Yang was thrown off for a moment, but quickly regained her cheery demeanour.
"Uh, not much. Just wanted to talk to Ruby about something real quick." Blake's eyes narrowed slightly, but then she felt Ruby's hand on her shoulder and she turned to her curiously.
"If it's about the essay for Port's class, don't worry about it," Ruby told her sister. "I've got it done." Yang raised an eyebrow at her before clapping her hands together.
"That's great sis! Wouldn't want you falling behind on your assignments." Blake had to resist rolling her eyes. "That's all I was worried about. Have fun you two." With that, she sauntered off, leaving the two bookworms alone again. Blake turned to Ruby after a moment and raised a questioning eyebrow. Ruby rubbed her shoulder and looked away.
"I... I'll have to work up to it," Ruby explained. "I wasn't ready right now. Plus there's still a few people around. I'd prefer if it were someplace a little less, uh, public." Blake nodded and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Alright, but sooner is better than later," she replied simply. Ruby sighed lightly before giving Blake a nod in return.
"I know."
The pair soon arrived back at the dorm, finding it empty. Ruby immediately dropped her bag on the floor and leapt up to the precarious perch of her bed, flopping onto it with an audible sigh. Meanwhile Blake set about unloading the books from her bag before taking a seat on her own bed. She was about to pull out a novel before glancing up at her tiny leader. Stricken by a flash of curiosity, Blake retracted her hand from her shelf of novels cleared her throat. Ruby sat up and glanced over at her curiously.
"Ruby, do you know why Yang treats you the way she does?" Blake asked. The red-clad girl gave her an odd look.
"Uh, no, not really. Why? Do you?" Blake shook her head.
"No, sorry. It's just that most people who bully others do it to hide some insecurity they have, so I was just wondering if you might have some idea." Ruby flopped onto her back, hands behind her head.
"I've never really thought about it before," she admitted. "I kind of assumed that's just what she's like and left it at that." Blake nodded after a moment and dropped the subject, and was about to reach for a novel once more before she was interrupted by Ruby.
"Hey, Blake?" she asked, rolling back into a sitting position. "You want to go outside and do something? The weather is so nice, it'd be a shame to let it go to waste." Blake glanced out the window for a moment, before finally nodding.
"Sure. What would you like to do?" At that, the shorter girl placed a finger on her chin. After a moment, her stomach let out a low rumble. Grinning somewhat sheepishly, she hopped off her bed and stretched.
"We could get something to eat, then go out after," she suggested, drawing a bemused grin and eye roll from Blake.
"Sure," she agreed after a moment. "I was getting a little hungry anyways." Blake was about to open the door, but had to step back slightly when it opened on its own. Blake tensed slightly, but relaxed when she saw it wasn't who she thought it would be.
"Oh, sorry Blake. I didn't see you there," Weiss apologized as she made her way into the room and dropped her bookbag onto her bed. Blake glanced at Ruby and raised an eyebrow while gesturing to the icy heiress, to which the shorter girl merely shrugged.
"Hey, Weiss," Blake started, catching said girl's attention. "Ruby and I were just about to head to the cafeteria and grab something to eat. Would you like to join us?" Weiss blinked at her.
"No thanks," sh replied. "I have some homework to catch up on, so if you'll excus-" she was cut off by a growl from her own stomach, prompting her to shut her mouth and blush profusely. Blake gave her a small smirk.
"Weiss, you should probably come get something," Ruby suggested. "It's not a good idea to let yourself go hungry. Even if it's just a small snack, you shou-"
"I get it!" Weiss snapped, interrupting Ruby. "I don't need to be lectured by a child." Ruby immediately went silent, while Blake's eyebrows furrowed.
"Weiss, what the hell?" Blake snapped back, surprising the heiress. "That was extremely rude and uncalled for!" Weiss seemed taken aback.
"What? I mean, she is..."
"Young she may be, but she's still one of the smartest people in our year, so her age is no reason to disregard what she has to say," she continued. "Even if she wasn't though, that's still no reason to bite her head off for trying to be helpful." Weiss was silent for a moment, before she let out a heavy sigh.
"You're right, that was uncalled for," she admitted after a moment. "I hope you'll excuse me, but I've just had a lot on my mind recently." Blake nodded.
"Alright," she stated simply.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ruby chimed in. We're both here for you if you need to talk about anything." Weiss blinked at her before shaking her head.
"No, I'll be fine, but... thank you," Weiss replied slowly, a small smile ghosting across her lips. "I will accompany you two to the cafeteria though, if that's alright." Blake let a small smile of her own form, while Ruby did nothing to hide her grin.
Absolutely!" she replied enthusiastically, making her way to the door. "Let us be off."
