DING! Ruby pulled out her phone to see a text from Nathan. 'Where are you? I thought we were going to meet at the park.' Ruby's eyes widened.
"CRAP! I'm late!" Ruby dashed out of the library and through the halls to the front door. She ran at the quickest pace she could down the steets of Metropilous and eventually hitting a park. She was exhausted from running such a long ways that she fell to her knees in the parking lot panting.
"So now you decide to show up." Nathan voice could be heard in front of her. Ruby looked up to see Nathan standing in front of her.
"S-Sorry, a lot happened today I lost track time." Ruby panted, pulling herself to her feet.
"What is it with you and a lot of things happening yet, I never hear about what exactly going on?" Nathan asked. "It makes you highly suspicious."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"If it's really not working out for you, Ruby, then just break up with me already. I get it. You don't feel the same way I do. It's fine just don't act like you love me and then cheat behind my back." Nathan stated, scratching the back of his neck. Ruby's eyes widened.
"N-NO! It's nothing like that! I promise! I just... My team and I got back together for the first time in years and my son was at my friend, Blake's house so I got to see him for the first time in seven years, a lot that happened in one day." Ruby defended.
"I thought you only had Yuki?" Nathan questioned. Ruby shook her head sadly.
"They were twins. Their father tried to kill me, he took Dylan and left Yuki and I for dead in a ditch." Ruby said.
"Why haven't you told me this?!" Nathan exclaimed.
"I-I'm trying to move on from it. All of this crap that I caused, I just want to forget it, take it back. I want to save myself, but I can't. So I try to forget it, and bringing it up, I thought it'd cause problems." Ruby explained.
"You've created a problem by not telling me anything! You mean to tell me that I can't b trusted!?" Nathan yelled.
"I never said that!" Ruby exclaimed. "I just wanted to leave the past in the past. I guess it's too late now..." Ruby felt a tear roll down her cheek.
"Too late for what?" Nathan spat.
"To marry you. It's ok, you deserve a lot better than me. Bye." Ruby said as she started to walk away before more tears fell. Nathan grabbed her hand and pull her back.
"You've got tonight to tell me everything you've kept from me. If you're willing to do that, I'll reconsider." Nathan said.
"Everything." Ruby repeated as Nathan released her arm and she walked into the park and sat down at a table. Nathan sat in front of her.
"Well?" Nathan said.
"His name was Rick. He was an apprentice to a scientist, a medical scientist. I've been sick ever since I was two and I was diagnosed with type one Nada. I heard other people had my condition, and I wanted to help, so I donated myself to a lab for research, to find a cure. I faked my death, having one of the nurses call my sister, tell her that I died in a failed surgery, sent her the ashes of some cat and claimed them to be mine. I met Rick a year after being in the 'Red Ward' as we called it. I wasn't allowed to leave the building. I wasn't allowed to leave the ward. Sometimes, I wasn't allowed to leave my room. They were practically keeping me prisoner. Rick used to sneak me sugar to enhance the taste of the mucky crap they gave me to eat. I fell in love with him and he pretended to care about me. I still have no idea why he went through the trouble, risking his job to pretend to love me. We were engaged, he promised we'd move here to Utopia where we could start a new life, start a family and be happy. I believed him, and I paid for it. He told me to meet him at the front of the building and to bring the twins. I did, I thought we were running away, finally. He hit me really hard in the head from behind, I passed out. When I woke up, Yuki and I were lying in a ditch on the boarder of Utopia and Vale. I'm actually here illegally. Blake, Queen Isabella, Rick was her brother. He lied about me, saying I died in a car crash and that he lost Yuki somewhere during the crash. By the time I had tracked down Dylan, Blake announced that she had a nephew and that happened to be my son. I gave up. I lived on the streets for a month because I couldn't get a job. This nice family took me in. Velvet and Cardin Winchester. They helped me get back on my feet. I got my huntress license and bought that house. I tried to start a new life. " Ruby explained. Nathan was now resting his chin on his hands with his elbows propped up on the table.
"Ok, so what's the deal with Yang?" Nathan asked.
"Well, she raised me. My mom just kinda dropped out when I was diagnosed with Nada. By the time Yang was seven, she was cooking, cleaning, and taking care of me full time. Mom only occasionally came home. She moved in with an old friend from her years at Beacon so she didn't have to see us. We lived happy in that apartment though, Yang and I. We grew a lot closer because of our mom abandoning us. Closer than a lot of sisters. Yang was my mother, my sister, and my best friend all wrapped into one. Then our mother died and we had to leave the apartment before social services separated us. We ran away and lived on the streets, running from place to place, looking for something to eat. Winters are a lot colder in Vale if you remember. Well, Yang and I took refuge in an old man's attic, but it wasn't warm enough. I was very sick and we were both losing hope for a tomorrow when the old man, Crow found us. He got me to the hospital and adopted us. I skipped two years and was able to go to Beacon with Yang, where I met Weiss and Blake." Ruby explained. "I think that catches you up. Wait! My father. He's the headmaster at Beacon. But, he still thinks I'm dead. Otherwise, now you're caught up."
"Well, that's a lot of confessions." Nathan commented.
"Y-Yeah, a lots happened in my life." Ruby stuttered.
"Glad to know my fiancé's a trooper." Nathan grinned. Ruby's eyes lit up.
"Really?!" Ruby asked excitedly.
"Yep! I just was seeing how honest you were willing to be. I had every intention of marrying you." Nathan said. Ruby pouted.
"So you made me feel sad for no reason."Ruby huffed, her cheeks puffy out in her pouty face.
"AW! Yang was right, you are too cute." Nathan giggled. Ruby playfully glared at him. Nathan walked over and kissed the top of Ruby's head. "C'mon, let's go get Yuki. I'll drive you home."
"Ok." Ruby nodded as she followed Nathan to simple car. "Hey, Nathan, do you think that the kids will fit?" Ruby asked.
"Yuki and Jade will fit." Nathan gave Ruby a confused look.
"You forgot one." Ruby chuckled.
"Oh, right, Will." Nathan said. "Maybe it's time he goes back to his mother." Ruby glared at him.
"Will IS going back to Weiss. I meant DYLAN." Ruby corrected.
"Oh you're going to share custody of him aren't you?" Nathan remembered about the whole twin thing.
"I'm doing everything in my power to make sure Dylan gets away from that awful excuse for a man. He's a murderer, Dylan's found some of his test subjects. I'm going to do everything I can to get my son out of there and make sure he's with me." Ruby said.
"Good to know I won't be the only man." Nathan said. Ruby nodded.
"You're going to have to meet him, I'm sure he'll like you." Ruby said as she got in the passenger's seat. Nathan sat in the driver's seat and looked over at Ruby.
"We'll make it work no matter what. It sounds to me Dylan's been tormented long enough. If he has problems at first, I'm sure we can all pull him through." Nathan said, putting a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"Ok." Ruby nodded as Nathan started to drive off.
...
"Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed as Ruby and Nathan walked back into the palace. "Where have you been!?"
"Uh... I was with Nathan." Ruby said, motioning to Nathan.
"Why?" Weiss asked, glaring at the couple.
"We just got engaged. We needed to talk about some things." Nathan answered. Weiss' eyes widened.
"I hope it works out for you two. " Weiss managed to muster before turning around and walking down the halls to the balcony. Ruby shrugged, figuring Weiss was being... Well, Weiss. Nathan and Ruby walked over to the library where Yuki and Dylan were looking over a comic book. Ruby cleared her throat, grabbing the twins' attention.
"Oh, hey Mommy, hi Nathan. Can I spend the night here so I can spend more time with Dylan? Auntie Blake said that it was ok if it was ok with you." Yuki asked. Ruby thought it over.
"Yeah, but we need to go to the house and pack your stuff." Ruby said.
"Can Dylan come with us? So he can see his new house and all." Yuki asked. Dylan's eyes lit up.
"Can I?" Dylan asked.
"Sure, I'll go tell Blake." Ruby said as she walked out of the library and found Blake standing in the hallway.
"Hey, is Yuki spending the night?" Blake asked.
"Yep, I'm taking her home to get her stuff. Is it ok if I take Dylan too? He wants to tag along." Ruby asked.
"I don't see why not, you're his mother. I'm pretty sure you don't have to ask me this." Blake answered.
"I just wanted to make sure since you have them for the night." Ruby said.
"Hey, why did you tell Weiss you were engaged?" Blake asked.
"Uh... Is that I problem?" Ruby asked. "Wait I told you that at lunch, it's just official now."
"We thought you were making an excuse to get out of trouble. And it's a bit of a problem because Weiss is going to have private investigators and spies watching him like a hawk. If she sees anything she finds suspicious she's gonna cause trouble." Blake said.
"Why would Weiss be so interested in my love life?" Ruby asked.
"She's yet to recover from the divorce. She's just going to assume he'll stab you in the back." Blake said with a shrug.
"Yang mentioned Weiss have guy drama, is that what happened?" Ruby asked. Blake nodded.
"Yeah, it wasn't pretty. I'm sure she'll rant about it later, it's really not any of my business to tell you what happened." Blake said.
"I feel bad, I had no idea." Ruby sighed.
"Chill, I'm happy for you, and I'm sure Weiss will come around eventually." Blake reassured.
"Hey, Blake."
"Yeah."
"Are you still mad at me?"
"Yes, of course I am. Are you crazy, you missed way too much. I wanted you to be there with me for so many things. Yang went insane because of what you did. I was up all night worrying about loosing her too if I took my eyes off her for a second. She would've... well you know what I mean if I hadn't kept her in check. She was hurt the most out of us, and that made it really hard to be her partner. Your own sister, Ruby. You almost took her away too. She was that depressed. I never could sleep because all I could hear was Yang crying herself to sleep if she even got to sleep. Sometimes, Yang would walk into the dorm at night slobbering drunk and she still cried over you. I watched my best friend tear herself apart because of your lies, and you want me to just stop being mad at you? Honestly, I don't get you sometimes. You can be really selfish sometimes." Blake said as she began to walk away. "Let's hope we beat the donkey enough for her to learn her lesson."
"I'm sorry." Ruby whispered to herself as Blake disappeared down the long, dark hallway.
...
"WOW! This is so cool!" Dylan exclaimed as Yuki drug him out of the car and towards the stables.
"C'mon, I want you to meet Hazel!" Yuki cheered happily. Dylan and Yuki entered the stable to reveal Hazel eating oats.
"Cool, can you teach me how to ride next time I come over?" Dylan asked.
"Uhuh!" Yuki said happily. "Let's go inside, I wanna show you my room." Yuki led Dylan back to the house.
...
"Hey, Dylan!" Yuki exclaimed, catching Dylan's attention. Dylan stopped looking through Yuki's bookcase and turned to face his twin. "We should match tomorrow! What color did you pack?"
"I packed an orange tee shirt with a green dinosaur on it and blue jeans." Dylan replied.
"Okay, so maybe I can wear... This." Yuki held up a fitted orange tee shirt. She pulled out a green tie and a blue shirt with white and orange stripped socks.
"That's cute." Dylan said in agreement.
"Glad you think so. Oh you know what we should get Mommy to buy us?" Yuki said, getting excited.
"What?" Dylan asked.
"Matching pajamas! I saw these really cute pajamas at the store the other day and they were footies that looked like teddy bears. It had a hood and that was the bears head. They also had it in bunnies, puppies, and kitties." Yuki said with enthusiasm.
"The teddy bears. We should come up with cute nick names for each other." Dylan suggested.
"OH! Bubbles! No, Bubby. No... Prince!" Yuki finally said.
"Prince?" Dylan asked.
"Yeah, because you're regal and sophisticated. And Bubbles sounds like a girl's name." Yuki said.
"All that from liking to read?" Dylan asked. He didn't really find himself regal or sophisticated. But Yuki seemed to really like the nick name. "Ok, I'll run with Prince. Maybe I can call you -"
"Oh, Will already calls me Princess so that's kinda his thing." Yuki said real quick.
"Um.. Ok. How about... Teddy Bear?" Dylan suggested.
"How'd you come up with that?" Yuki asked. "Do I look like a bear?"
"No, I just noticed you collect a lot of teddy bears. Plus those pajamas you told me about. I think it suits you." Dylan said. Yuki grinned.
"It's cute! Thanks, Prince!" Yuki glomped Dylan. Dylan returned the hug, holding Yuki tightly to him.
"I love you, Teddy Bear."
"I love you too, Prince."
