Hello hello! Sorry about the wait, college is hard. This chapter is a little on the short side, but I'll make it up next chapter with a longer one. Enjoy!
Chapter 7: A Date with Death
"I'll tell you where he is! Please don't hurt me!"
"I'm so sorry..."
"Hey, you're not allowed to be-"
"Shut up."
"Wh-Why? What did-?"
"It's not personal, but I don't have a choice."
"Please, I-!"
Yang's entire body trembled as she slowly ascended the stairs of her dorm building. Words and images flashed through her head that she knew would haunt her forever. The extra weight in her backpack felt like it was a hundred times what it was as the guilt of what she'd done pressed down on her. She didn't want to think about the warm liquid she could feel leaking and dripping down her back, or the blood on her out that she'd somehow need to hide from her teammates.
'Thirteen minutes to midnight...' she thought, checking the time as she approached the door and let out a sigh of relief. 'I made it... Ruby's safe... Was it even worth keeping her safe? Keeping us safe? So many people have died because of me... at my hands... I can't, I just can't... I'm done. I'd rather die.'
She turned the knob and entered the room while Cinder and her crew watched. They all wore a look that was more surprised than anything, and Yang could only guess it was because they had expected her to fail. Yang removed her backpack, blood dripping onto the floor, and tossed it on the ground at Cinder's feet with a dull thud.
"There," she mumbled, sounding defeated. "I want out, Cinder. I can't keep doing this."
Cinder picked up the pack to confirm the contents, then turned to the brawler, "And what makes you think I'll let you leave?"
"I won't follow another order you give," she replied. "My sister and I are two people, way less than the body count I'll have if I stay. Either let me go or kill me, but either way I'm done."
Cinder met the girl's sullen gaze and starred for a moment, trying to read every last detail she could out of Yang. There was no hidden plan or doubt in her eyes, though; Yang meant what she said. Cinder stood up and walked over, keeping her eye contact and watching as Yang neither flinched nor looked away.
"You want out?" Cinder asked. "I'll let you out on three conditions. First, you will not blow our cover, or I swear I will hunt down every friend and family member you have before I finally kill you. Second, you owe me a favor for letting you go. Anything, anytime, anywhere. Third, I have one more task for you now. If you can complete it, then once the favor is called in, you can consider yourself out. Do we have a deal?"
Yang nodded without a moment of hesitation, knowing that this was the best, and possibly only, offer she'd receive, "Deal. What's the task?"
An evil smile crossed Cinder's lips, "I think it's time I send a message."
Two weeks passed as the semester got into full swing, and with the Vytal Festival only a month away, students were more excited than ever to excel and prove themselves to the world. There was only one student who didn't seem like herself, and that was Ruby.
"You sure you're okay, sis?" Yang asked as team RWBY walked back to their dorm after their last class of the day. Ruby had barely paid attention in any of her classes that day, which wasn't like her at all. "Ruby?"
"Ruby?" Weiss repeated, nudging the redhead a little to get her attention. "Are you listening?"
Ruby snapped back to reality and quickly looked between her teammates, "Huh? What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just um... Just feeling a little under the weather is all."
Blake frowned, "Why don't you go to the nurse?"
"It's nothing," Ruby quickly answered.
"Ruby, what's wrong?" her sister asked. "I know you, and this isn't like you at all. Not even sick you. What's up?"
"I said I'm fine," the leader pressed with a sharp bite in her tone that caught her teammates off guard.
"O-Okay... Well, you know I'm always here for you if you need, sis. Promise you'll come to me if you need anything?"
"I will. Thanks."
The girls arrived back at their dorm, and were all happy to put their things away and lay down in bed. Yang hopped into bed with Weiss, which had become their new norm, and Ruby quietly sighed to herself as they did. She didn't know it, but Yang had picked up on it.
"So what should we do with our afternoon?" Blake asked while she adjusted her bow.
Weiss smiled and kissed Yang on the nose, "We're going out to dinner with Jaune and Ren. You two are welcome to come if you want."
"And third wheel on your date night? Not a chance. I'll probably just hang back and read."
There was a pause where they waited to see if Ruby would add in her plans, but she stayed quiet. Blake picked up her scroll and typed a quick text to Weiss and Yang.
'Is she okay?' the Faunus girl asked.
'No idea,' Yang answered. 'Keep an eye on her?'
Weiss typed her response, 'I'll message Nora and Pyrrha and see if they're busy tonight. Maybe they can keep her company.'
Yang nodded at the idea, and Weiss went ahead with texting their friends. "Hey, Ruby?" Weiss ventured after a moment. "Nora and Pyrrha asked if you wanted to join them for a game night."
The leader wordlessly stirred in her bed for a few moments, then rolled over so she was looking off the side, "Yeah, that sounds fun. Tell them I'll head over after I shower."
The rest of the team breathed a collective sigh of relief, and started getting ready for their respective evenings. Blake changed into her robe while Weiss and Yang both did their makeup. Ruby stayed in bed for a little while before she hopped down and got in the shower.
"I wonder what's bothering her," Yang said once she heard the water running. "Did anything happen in the last couple days that would've upset her?"
Weiss shook her head while she thought, "Nothing comes to mind. Did she do poorly on an exam or something?"
"Just the opposite, actually," Blake added. "She aced our fairytale exam, and didn't she get an outstanding in combat fitness?"
"Then what's got her so down?"
A knock at the door interrupted their train of thought, but Jaune was quickly to get it back on the rails as he and the rest of team JNPR entered the room. "Ready to go?" he asked, then decided to add to the conversation from what he'd heard in the hallway. "And I think I know what's got Ruby upset."
Yang's attention was instantly on him, "You do? What is it?"
"Easy. She's head-over-heels for Blake but knows it won't happen, all while watching you two be happier than ever."
"That... makes sense, actually," Blake somewhat quietly replied, her ears folding back and making her bow do so as well. "I hadn't even considered that."
Yang frowned, "Me neither... Do you think it would help if we rescheduled tonight? We could-"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Ren interrupted. "If we do, then she'll only assume it's because we're trying to cheer her up, and I don't think that will cheer her up at all."
"So what do we do?" Weiss asked.
Pyrrha smiled and looked over at Nora, "Leave that to us. I think we can turn that frown upside down."
"YOU BET!" Nora exclaimed. "I have SO many ideas."
"Poor Ruby," Blake teased, earning a middle finger from Nora. "Well don't let us hold up the double date. You guys have fun."
Yang and Weiss nodded as they grabbed their purses and headed out with Jaune and Ren close behind. Ruby came out of the shower soon after in a towel, and looked incredibly shy when she saw that Nora and Pyrrha were in the room.
"Oh, hey," she blushed, pulling her towel a little higher over her chest. "Didn't expect to see you."
Nora couldn't help but giggle, "We just thought we'd come over. You don't have to be all nervous around us. I've seen you naked in the gym showers how many times?"
The redhead's blush intensified, "Well... yeah, but that's different. Lemme slip into my pj's quick and we can start game night."
"You sure you don't wanna join, Blake?" Pyrrha asked while Ruby got dressed.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You guys have fun, though.
"Okay, I'm ready," Ruby smiled as she came out of the bathroom in her tank top and pajama pants. "Have fun reading, Blake."
She followed Pyrrha back to team JNPR's room, and the two sat around their table while Nora rummaged through the games they had.
"Hmm... Uno?" Nora asked. "Risk? Strip poker?"
Ruby and Pyrrha laughed at the last option, knowing it was a joke. "Not a chance," Ruby chuckled. "Last time I played a strip game I ended up sleeping with Weiss."
"True, but Nora and I don't do drugs," Pyrrha grinned. "Wasn't that the biggest factor?"
"It was just weed! It's not like we were shooting heroin!"
"We're just teasing you," Nora smiled as she joined them at the table with a box in her hands.
Ruby leaned over so she could read what it was, "Hold 'em and Fold 'em? Never heard of it. How do you play?"
"It's pretty easy," Nora reassured her. "It's the same rules as Five-card Draw, but three cards in each suit have special rules on them. Each player can play one per round, starting with who has the worst hand when we reveal them. If two people have the same kind of hand then we just go clockwise. Like, this one says 'Swap one of your cards with someone else unless they do ten push-ups.' First to win six hands wins. It's a ton of fun!"
Ruby nodded, "I like it! Let's play!"
Pyrrha dealt their hands, and Ruby looked over her cards. 'Pair of kings, pair of queens,' she confidently thought. She gave her last card back, which was a six, and picked up a new card that happened to be another queen with the stipulation "This card can count as any card if you tell a secret."
"Ready?" Nora asked, getting a yes from the other girls. "Flush of hearts."
"Full house; two's and nine's," Pyrrha added.
Ruby smirked, "Not bad. Full house of kings and queens. I wi-"
"Not so fast," Nora interjected, picking up one of her cards, which was an eight. "'Swap this card with someone else's unless they tell an embarrassing story.' Ruby?"
"Ummm... No thanks."
Nora snatched one of Ruby's kings and put the eight in its place, giving the hand to Pyrrha. A few more hands by without anything crazy happening, until Ruby was against Nora with a straight flush, while Nora had four of a kind. Nora read from one of her cards, "Turn one of your opponent's cards into anything else until they agree to a dare."
"Damn it," Ruby huffed. "Fine, what's the dare?"
"You have to... OH! You have to go kiss a boy."
Ruby blushed and stammered, "U-Uh... Okay... Who do I have to kiss?"
Nora shrugged, "Any boy you want. I would've said to kiss anyone, but I know you would've gone right to Blake."
"Shut up!" Ruby both laughed and and blushed. "Any boy I want... Umm... Well, I guess Neptune is kinda cute. I choose him."
Ruby stood up while Pyrrha and Nora exchanged a cheeky glance, knowing their plan had worked. They followed her over to team SSSN's room and knocked on the door.
"Hello?" Sun answered, and was immediately pushed to the side. "Hey, what-?"
"Sorry, doing a dare," Ruby replied, walking over to Neptune and giving him a long kiss on the lips. She turned to Nora when they separated, blushing heavily, "Happy?"
"Yup! Back to the game!" she giggled while Neptune watched them with a dumbstruck face. "Thanks, guys!"
"Y-Yeah, sure," Neptune blushed before the girls shut the door and walked off.
They all burst into laughter as they walked back. "Did you see his face?" Pyrrha smiled, and Nora nodded.
"Priceless! Ruby, you win the hands. That's what? Four for you, three for me, two for Pyrrha?"
While the three of them had a blast finishing the game, the point was never to have Ruby win, or even to just cheer her up for the moment. They had been texting Blake the whole time, seeing if they could figure out of Ruby had a crush on anyone else, and sure enough, her kiss with Neptune gave them a fairly good indication that she liked him. Ruby went back to her room with a smile on her face, which Blake was happy to see.
"Welcome back," the Faunus girl smiled. "Have fun?"
Ruby smiled and nodded, "You bet! We played this card game Nora had and I won!"
"So I heard. I also got a video from Pyrrha of you making out with Neptune. How was that?"
"U-Uh," Ruby shyly stammered, turning bright red. "It was fine. And we weren't making out! It was just a kiss!"
"Uh huh, suuuure. That was pretty long for 'just a kiss.' If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you-"
"SHHHHHH!" Ruby interrupted, blushing even harder. "It was just a kiss!"
Blake smirked, "If you say so. Get over me that quickly?"
"Oh shut up. Just because I like you a lot doesn't mean I can't like other people too."
"So you do like Neptune?" Blake grinned, knowing she had her leader corned. The redhead leapt into her bed with an answer, hiding under her blankets. "Relax, you know I'm just teasing you. But if you like him, go for it! What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well... He could turn me down too."
"I didn't technically turn you down, I'm just not into girls," Blake chuckled. "But as far as I know, Nep is into girls, and I don't see him turning you down."
"Really?" Ruby asked, poking her head over the side of her bunk so she could meet Blake's gaze. "Why's that?"
"Call it a hunch," she smiled.
"Okay, Jaune was wrong; she's sick," Yang said two days later when Ruby was bedridden with a fever of one hundred three point five. "How do you feel, sis? Want me to get you anything?"
Ruby shook her head while she shivered under her blankets, "N-No, I'm okay. Well... maybe some juice?"
"Coming right up," her sister smiled. Weiss followed her out to the store while Blake stayed to take care of her sick leader.
"You're sure you don't want to see the doctor?" she asked for the fifth time, and again, Ruby shook her head. "But you could have the flu! Or pneumonia! That fever is high enough that you should really-"
"Blake, I'm f-fine," Ruby reassured her teammate, then went into another spell of intense shivering.
Blake raised her eyebrows, "That's not very convincing."
"It's only been a day. I-If my fever doesn't bre-eak in another day or t-two then sure."
"I guess you know your body better than anyone else," Blake replied, although she didn't sound very confident. "You're sure you don't want anything? Some medicine? A cold cloth for your head?"
"A cold cloth sounds nice," Ruby smiled, and Blake was happy to get her one.
Blake went into the bathroom and picked up a clean washcloth from under the sink, and started to run it under some cold water. She happened to glance in the trashcan while she did, and did a double take when she saw it was full of bloody paper towels. "Hey, Ruby?"
"What?"
"Did you have a bloody nose or anything?"
"No, why?" Ruby weakly replied, but then her tone shifted to one more normal. "Is there blood somewhere?"
Blake nodded despite her leader not being able to see it, "Yeah... A lot of blood..." Her eyes moved from the trashcan to a white towel hiding in a pile of others that had a small red stain visible. She cautiously walked over and pulled it from the pile and gasped when she saw that almost half of the cloth was soaked with blood. She shrieked and dropped it, backing up with shaky hands.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked, on her feet despite her illness to come to Blake's aid. She gasped when she saw the towel and covered her mouth. "Wh-What...? Why is...?"
"I-I have no idea..." Blake stammered, a dozen scenarios running through her head while she tried to picture how this had happened, but nothing made sense for it. "That has to be Weiss or Yang's, right? Nobody else uses our bathroom."
"I'm gonna be sick..." Ruby said, and moved toward the toilet.
Blake shut the door to let her have some privacy. She immediately pulled out her scroll and sent a text to both Weiss and Yang to ask if they knew what had happened. 'It has to be one of theirs, right...?' she thought to herself. 'I don't know who else would be in there. That... That's so much blood, though... There's no way it was a period accident... How do you bleed that much and be okay? And why hide it?"
Weiss and Yang ran through the door a moment later with Ruby's juice, and a look of urgent concern. "We got your text," Weiss panted. "What do you mean there's so much blood in the bathroom?"
"When Ruby's finished throwing up I'll show you," Blake replied, then knocked on the bathroom door. "Ruby? You okay?"
"Y-Yeah, you can come in," the leader replied.
She opened the door to find Ruby wiping some blood off her hand and chin, only adding to her confusion. "Wh-What...?"
"I slipped when I got up and got some of the blood on me," she explained, wiping her chin and then her hand on a clean towel. "I'm okay, I'm okay. It's not my blood. Weiss, Yang, what happened? It had to be one of you, right?"
Both girls shook their heads as Weiss replied, "N-No, it wasn't me... That... That's so much blood..."
"Then who was it?" Blake asked, looking between everyone with very concerned eyes. "Someone had to have hurt themself really bad to bleed that much. Why our bathroom? How did they even get in?"
Yang shook her head, "I-I have no idea... Ruby, you should get back in bed. Your juice is on the table. Um... Should we call the police or something?"
"No way," Blake said. "What do we tell them? We found a mysterious bloody towel in the bathroom? They'll assume we... well..."
"I get the picture," Yang sighed, being a very convincing liar. "Weiss, can you go back out and get some bleach so we can clean this up? Blake, grab a big trash bag to put this in."
The girls all nodded and Ruby got back in bed, sipping her juice and not shaking as bad anymore. Yang sighed, 'Holy fuck, that was too close. What was I even thinking leaving it in here? I should've thrown the towel out right away. Alright, alright, let's just get this cleaned up, and hopefully my team doesn't put two and two together when policy find the body. At least I'm free from Cinder now. Well, I still owe her that favor, but that's nothing. I'm finally free of her.'
So remember when I gave a sneak peek that this chapter at the end of the last one? I kinda messed up, and what I put there is from the chapter after this one. Whoops. XD Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter! Sorry about the wait. See you again soon!
