Chapter 4
Sorrrryyyyyy about the time it took for this chapter to get out. Lotta stuff happening with me IRL. Also, a lot of planning still clashing with current material I wrote, so naturally that lead to me in a very long cycle of writing and deleting stuff that I wrote. Greater things are yet to come :)
P.S. I love my girlfriend.
NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.
▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ RUBY ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬
"For the hundredth time Ruby, please settle down!" The nurse exclaimed exasperatedly. The little red ball of energy was difficult to keep under control, and quite frankly, nothing that the nurse had ever experienced before. The girl had taken a deep sword wound through her chest, yet during the walks that she was required to take to prevent her lungs from collapsing, she insisted on running and jumping around like an excited child. Ruby looked back towards the nurse and grinned. "Sorry, it's just that I'm sooooooooo bored while I'm chained up in my bed." The nurse rolled her eyes. They didn't actually chain up any of their patients. Ruby continued. "These walks kinda have to make up for them. Can't be a huntress that does nothing, right?"
Through the attack, Ruby discovered that she had an exceptionally strong aura. While it would have taken a normal person at least a month to recover from the injuries that she had received, Ruby had recovered in an astonishing two weeks. However, those two weeks had been the worst two weeks of her life. Not necessarily because she was in any real pain, but because she was forced to do something that she hated: Sitting still.
On the bright side, she was going to be discharged from the infirmary the next morning. Ruby sighed in content and closed her eyes as she realized that it meant she was going to sleep in her own bed for the first time in the two weeks. As the sun began to set behind the horizon, she thought about what she probably had missed from her classes. Yang and Blake walked into the room.
"Heya Rubes! Excited for tomorrow?" Yang said, hugging her softly (a rare type of hug, to say the least).
"Of course I am Yang," Ruby said, grinning. "I've spent more time in this infirmary than I have anywhere else on these school grounds." Ruby turned towards Blake and looked at her. The black haired girl looked back at her. Silence. Finally, Blake rolled her eyes and with a smile, pulled out a small box and handed it to Ruby.
"Yay, you did it!" Ruby said, tearing the lid off. The cookies that were in the bag were vanquished within seconds.
"I still don't understand how she eats those things so fast," Blake said to Yang. "You'd think her semblance would be cookie eating." Yang laughed.
"Yurh oh, rhey reayy neeh ooh ah hoohies hoo heir ishert meyu," Ruby said.
"Ruby, swallow your food." Yang said. It was a normal thing. Ruby swallowed, then spoke.
"Nghhmleh, Sorry. I saaiid, you know, they really need to add cookies to their dessert menu. I mean, can it really even be called a dessert menu with no cookies?"
"We know Ruby," Blake replied. "You've been complaining to everybody about it for the past two weeks."
Their small talk continued for a few more minutes. Looking amongst her teammates, Ruby wondered where Weiss was. Since her… visit, Ruby hadn't seen Weiss for the entire two weeks afterwards. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that Weiss was avoiding her.
▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ WEISS ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬
Weiss admitted it; she was avoiding Ruby. While the pair's past history seemed to be settled, Weiss was the type of person that prided herself in her ability to maintain her stoic cool during even the most intense of situations. However, despite all of the times that she had bravely held in her emotions from the world around herself, Ruby's words had taken her by surprise. They shed light on a new philosophy that had strongly moved her. Forgiveness? It was hardly anything that Weiss had ever come close to experiencing. In her world, all actions yielded consequences. Forgiveness was not an alternative to punishment. Lessons had to be learned.
Despite being shown such absolution from the young girl, Weiss felt… uncomfortable. Not exactly because of Ruby herself, but because of the outlet of emotions that surged up within her chest whenever the Ruby entered her mind. It made her feel very… vulnerable. Unknownst to Ruby, Weiss had actually visited her while she was asleep a few days after her breakdown. Just watching her made a strange feeling rush up Weiss's head—a strong sort of tingle that she seemed to physically be able to hear. Truthfully, Weiss didn't know how to handle her mixed feelings about Ruby.
Weiss shook her head as she heard a sound near her. Weiss turned to look at the boy that had sat down next to her at her empty cafeteria table. He had a very large frame, and he was nearly two heads taller than her. However it was his orange hair that made Weiss instantly recognize the jerk: Cardin Winchester.
"Why hello there," Cardin said, leaning back and propping his arms over his head. He smelled strongly of cheap cologne. "I couldn't help but notice how lonely you looked. Tell you what, I'll help you out with that tonight. Just you and me, we'll find a nice quiet place to eat this stupid cafeteria food."
Weiss made a face. Cardin Winchester had the looks, but he was nothing but a child. He used his above average build into bullying the rest of the students into submission. Even worse, he honestly expected others to believe him to be superior to them. Even that Jaune boy had a higher chance of going on a date with her. A hundred different remarks that she could have thrown at Cardin ran through Weiss's head, but she kept her composure and remained as polite as she could.
"No thank you." She said, matter-of-factly. "I think I'll keep my options open for now."
Cardin's face turned dark. Then he scoffed and got up. Weiss heard him mutter to his friends "Yeah they're right. She's a total bitch." They laughed and began to walk away. Weiss looked down, a slight expression of defeat displayed on her beautiful face. What was happening to her? Two weeks ago, a comment like that would have just made her laugh. She was used to the scorn. Something had changed within her.
"Hey, that's not how you're supposed to treat a girl," a voice called out. When Weiss turned, she was even more surprised than Cardin when realizing who the voice belonged to. It was Jaune, looking angry. "Didn't your mother ever teach you—"Jaune paused as Cardin began to tower over him.
"Teach me what, dirtbag?" Cardin leered at Jaune. Jaune chuckled awkwardly and began to back away. Then he caught a glimpse of Weiss's eyes. What he saw took him by surprise. Instead of the cold, accusatory glare that often was present in the way she looked at him, it was replaced with melancholy. With emptiness. With misery. Weiss quickly looked away, realizing that she had exposed weakness. Then she hastily stood up and left. Jaune watched her leave.
"Aww, looks like your little girlfriend there left you all alone." Cardin said, laughing. He pushed Jaune to the floor and left, still laughing.
Jaune was confused. "What was that?" he thought to himself as he got up. Then he shrugged and headed towards his dorm. Maybe Pyrrha could explain to him the way that girls acted.
▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ RUBY ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬
"I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" Ruby called out loudly to nobody in particular, entering her room with Yang and Blake. "Man, this place hasn't changed at all!"
"Ruby, you've only been away for like two and a half weeks." Yang said. She turned to Ruby. "Besides—What the?" A flash of red and Ruby was gone. Yang looked around. She heard a squealing sound above her. Looking upwards, she found Ruby on top of her bed, squeezing her corgi pillow.
"Ohhh, I've missed you so much!" Ruby said, hugging it fiercely. Blake and Yang exchanged looks, smiling. Ruby's presence was like the electrical outlet that the room needed to stay energized.
Ruby looked down at Weiss's empty bed. "Still no Weiss," Ruby thought to herself. "Dinner's already over… Why isn't she here? Did I… do something wrong?" Ruby looked around again. Yang had gone into the bathroom, getting ready to go to bed. Blake was reading a book, waiting for Yang to come out of the bathroom.
"Heya Blake… I think I left something in the library. I'm going to... um… go look for it." Ruby said. Blake raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything as Ruby slipped out the door. Blake stared at the door for a bit. They had gone to the library to pick up some books for the classes that Ruby had missed, but as far as Blake could remember, Ruby hadn't brought anything to the library. She shrugged and went back to her book. She was a few words in when Yang burst from the bathroom.
"Aaalllllllllllllllright!" Yang exclaimed. "I'm done Blakey. You can use—wait, where's Ruby?" Blake looked up.
"She left something in the infirmary," Blake replied, thinking of a better cover. "I'm sure she'll be back soon."
Knowing Yang, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell her the truth. Blake could clearly see the dissonance between her and Weiss. She only hoped that Ruby would find her and return fast enough not to arise too much suspicion.
"In her pajamas?" Yang asked, skeptically. Then she smiled. "I think I'm rubbing off on her a little too much."
▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ WEISS ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬
Weiss heard the door open. She sighed. The reason why she even came up to the roof was to be alone. Hastily wiping her eyes, she looked up to see who it was.
"Ruby?" Weiss asked, shocked. "What are you…? How did you know I was up here?"
"Well you weren't in the room, and I didn't see you when we went to the library," Ruby replied. "During the attack, I doubt that the bad guys drew you up to here by themselves, so I figured that you got here before they arrived."
Weiss sighed again. The girl that was standing over her was more observant than Weiss had first thought.
"Weiss… What's wrong?" Ruby asked, looking concerned.
"Nothing is wrong," Weiss replied back airily.
"Is that why you were crying?" Ruby answered calmly. Weiss cursed inwardly that she had noticed. Weiss looked at the ground, saying nothing. "Does it have something to do with me?" Ruby asked.
"No," Weiss lied. "It has nothing to do with you Ruby."
Ruby slid down the wall next to her. "Well, talk to me then. I'm here for you, aren't I?" Another rush of emotions hit Weiss, bringing about another tingle attack.
"It's… really not that serious. I guess I'm sort of struggling to adapt to living such a… public life." Weiss said.
"What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked.
Weiss bit her lip. "I was homeschooled for my entire life before applying for Beacon. I guess the amount of people around me at all times is a little bit more… overwhelming than I expected it to be."
"What, are people giving you a hard time or something? Because Yang could totally beat the crap out of—"
"No, it's not that," Weiss said. She found it ironic that Ruby had mentioned Yang as the person who would protect her from people that didn't like her. Weiss took a deep breath in through her nose. She closed her eyes as she exhaled. "Ruby… I've never had any friends before." There. She said it.
"Well that's not a problem!" Ruby replied back cheerily. "Jaune says that strangers are just friends that you haven't met yet. I'm sure you'll have no problem making new friends here." Ruby didn't really get what Weiss was trying to tell her, but Weiss couldn't help but smile at the younger girl's enthusiasm. Ruby continued. "My mom used to say that it's never too late to forge new friendships."
That was the same thing that Blake had told her. "I've heard that before," Weiss said.
"Yeah, my… umm… mom used to say stuff like that all the time. She—was the really encouraging type of person.." Ruby replied, a little quieter than before.
"Well your mother sounds like a lovely person," Weiss said, smiling. Ruby mumbled something back softly. "What was that?" Weiss asked.
"Was," Ruby said, softly. Weiss tilted her head. "She was… a lovely person." Weiss was confused for a moment more. Then realization of Ruby's words dawned on her. Weiss's mouth clamped shut. "I guess you only realize how much you miss somebody when they're gone."
"I'm sorry Ruby," Weiss said. "I didn't know."
Ruby's voice shifted. "How could you have known?" Ruby replied back bitterly. "Nobody ever knows. Nobody even cares. She… she died, and—and the world just continues the way it was, forgetting everything that she did for it." Her voice cracked at the last line. It was clear that the young girl was fighting tears. This was clearly a very sensitive topic to her. Weiss had never imagined that this tone could exist in Ruby, yet here she was. "She left me Weiss. She was the one I needed… and she left me."
The normally over-jubilant girl shut her eyes, still clearly fighting the tears. Weiss didn't like it at all. Soft, sniffles made themselves clear in the quiet air of the warm night. Weiss felt her own sadness build up within her chest. The sight of Ruby in this state made Weiss want to tear up herself. The first droplet of water slowly rolled down Ruby's cheek.
Then Weiss did something that surprised herself. She leaned over and hugged Ruby tightly, placing the younger girl's head on her shoulder. Ruby didn't protest. It was Ruby's turn to quietly whimper into the other girl's shoulder. "Shh… shhh shhh…" Weiss murmured silently to the mewing younger girl. "It'll be okay. You're okay Ruby."
▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ RUBY ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬
Ruby stayed in Weiss's arms for a few more minutes, her silent sobs gradually dying down. She hated when other people saw her crying, yet… it felt different when she was with Weiss. It would be a lie to say that Yang's hugs weren't comforting, but something about Weiss's embrace made Ruby feel more at ease. Plus, she really liked the way that Weiss smelled. It was hard to describe in words the scent that Weiss had—it was pleasant; refreshing, like taking a cold shower. If Ruby had to describe it, she would have said it was like capturing the cold, sweet moment of eating a peppermint, but without the spicy flavor that attacked the tongue.
Ruby smiled and said into Weiss's shoulder, "You smell really nice Weiss." Weiss turned red, but breathed an audible sigh of relief.
"Dunce," she said. Ruby smiled and let her head remain rested on the older girl's shoulder. They remained in the position for a while. Ruby began to feel tired, as she often did after crying. She let herself start to drift off on Weiss's shoulder, but was noticed by Weiss and was shaken back into wakefulness.
"You can sleep in your room Ruby. Let's get back before Yang starts beating somebody up about you, okay?" Weiss said softly. Ruby nodded sleepily. Weiss stood up and pulled her to her feet. With Ruby's head still resting on Weiss's shoulder, the pair began to make their way back to the room.
▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ WEISS ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬
Weiss fumbled for the door key, slightly hindered by the weight of the younger girl on her arm. "What a troublesome girl," Weiss thought to herself lightheartedly. She found the card and quietly unlocked the door. Thankfully, Blake and Yang were already in bed. Yang might have given her a hard time if she walked in with a dead-looking Ruby on her shoulder. Speaking of a dead-looking Ruby, Weiss realized she had no idea how she was going to get Ruby into her bunk. The girl was practically already snoring while still standing. Weiss sighed as she lowered the younger girl into her own bed. Thankfully, she had already changed. Things would have been a little spicier—err, more complicated if she hadn't.
Weiss returned from the restroom and looked at the girl who was now completely passed out on her bed, hugging Weiss's other pillow tightly to her chest. Weiss smiled as she thought of how much Ruby had changed her in the little time that they had known each other. "I guess all it takes is a more innocent soul to create a new, unblemished perspective of life." She thought to herself. Then she climbed into Ruby's bed and fell asleep to Ruby's own sweet aroma of roses and cookies.
