Chapter 9-
A silent conversation took place between the two of them but this was interrupted when Mia spoke up. "Is it to do with the same energy I can see between Ruby and Neo? I can see it between the two of you but much stronger." Mia said innocently.
"You can see energy?" Mizu asked in a confused manner.
"It's her semblance, she can see energy between the two. I have a theory that she may potentially be able to control energy in some sort of fashion. But currently she can see it between people or around them. When we first met, she mentioned she could see a silver glow around my body." Ruby answered for Mia.
"Really? That's astonishing!" Mizu said excitedly, "Can you see this silver energy around Summer?" Mizu asked.
"I can but it's less apparent as it's overtaken by a sort of blue energy while you're overtaken by silver but the two colours mix together." Mia answered.
"Oh, this is simply amazing. What can you see around Ruby now?" Mizu asked as her mind started racing with ideas.
"Um, silver but also a few other colours as well." Mia replied but as she finished speaking she yawned a little.
"Mia, sorry mother but it takes a lot out of her to look." Ruby explained as Mia yawned again and lent back against Ruby more.
"I apologise Mia, but it's fascinating. I'll love to learn more about it." Mizu said but her wife quickly changed the topic.
"Neo, how much do you know about the power of the Silver Eyed Warriors?" Summer asked, knowing that it was a very old legend and barely anyone knew about it. She only knew as the story was passed down in her family.
"Other than the fact that they are warriors and extremely powerful, I don't actually know anything about them." Neo answered honestly.
"Well, you are right that we are powerful but there's a lot more to it than that." Summer replied. "The history has been passed down with my family because the Rose name has been associated with the power for generations." Summer continued saying.
"But simply put our power suppresses that of the Maiden's and while it is mostly said about the Grimm, it doesn't strictly stay with them but in all our fighting and it also affects our entire lives." Summer explained and for a moment she looked at Ruby before she revealed anything more.
Ruby slowly nodded as the silent conversation took place between the two of them and this didn't go unnoticed by Neo.
"It defines who and what we are, the same as if we were Faunus. We are the only beings in the world that have a soulmate. Perhaps I should rephrase that, we are the only ones to have a soulmate alongside our mates who also feel the bond." Summer explained.
"Soulmates?" Neo asked in surprised.
"Yes, someone we feel a complete and utter bond to, we love them like no other. Oh, we can have other relationships but as soon as we see our mate we simply can't love another or even try anything with another and if we do, we simply grow sick. Badly." Summer answered briefly.
"What about the other person? Oh, and how do you know you become sick?" Neo asked quickly.
This time Ruby spoke up which surprised Neo with just how softly she was speaking, "The other person doesn't know. They may perhaps have an inkling towards the person but they won't until the bond is complete. And we know about this from the stories but also because I have suffered this before." Ruby explained.
"So, you know who your mate is?" Neo asked in surprised.
"I do." Ruby confirmed.
"Who is it?" Neo asked.
"I'm not saying. We try and not let anyone know who our mate is in case it affects them in some towards their feelings." Ruby answered.
"I see." Neo replied as she was unsure. "May I ask then what you did to make yourself sick?" Neo asked.
"She didn't listen to me." Summer stated bluntly.
"I wanted to simply forget and attempted something with a random person I found at a club. We both wanted it but I simply couldn't in the end." Ruby answered instead, glaring at her mother.
"I see. Could I also ask why you left Vale though? It's confused me ever since you left." Neo asked, which was the time when Mizu and Mia came back down as it seemed Mia was more awake then she was earlier.
Joining them again, Mia climbed onto Ruby's lap as said woman simply held the girl and leaned back and shortly followed by Neo leaning against Ruby's shoulder.
"I think it's best to start from the beginning. Not long after the battle with Salam and the hybrids, when I started locking myself away." Ruby began to answer.
It had only been two days since she had gotten all the recovered documents from Salam's base and already half her room was filled with boxes. She had even forgone her bed for extra space and simply had a desk and a comfortable chair in the room alongside an inbuilt closet but that was it.
Now after being given the files by Ozpin they were all over the floor now. Anyone looking around her room would think that it's a bombsite with paper everywhere but Ruby knew exactly where everything was.
She locked herself away for two weeks scouring the files. She barely ate other than the fact when Ozpin would unlock her room and practically force her to eat. During this time though she had everyone coming to her door asking for her to come out but so far, none of them had even seen her new room.
By far the hardest to turn away was Neo. Her body practically hurt whenever she heard the woman begging for Ruby to come out of the room or at least open the door. She was the one who tried the longest, Ruby was her closest friend at Beacon but Ruby barely managed to ignore her, ignored her begging and Ruby's body punished her for ignoring her.
After just over two weeks of scouring the files she finally found something that gave her a glimmer of hope. But in the same time, it made her angry as she read the information.
Quietly getting ready. She had a bathroom so she kept clean but wasn't always completely dressed so she got dressed and grabbed her weapons before making her way to Ozpin's office, paper in hand.
"I went to Ozpin for answers and found out about Mizu and the mate bond she shared with my mother. After that I tracked her down and together we could find her and I stayed with them for a while before we talked about what I wanted to do in the future. With the Grimm, more or less extinct now there wasn't much need for another Huntress." Ruby finished explaining her story, though she left some parts out as she didn't want to tell Neo.
"But how did you get Summer back? Where was she?" Neo asked.
"Remember that mountain we jumped down along? There was a compound underneath that contained hybrids and surviving Grimm. Mizu and I alongside Altas soldiers raided the compound and we managed to find and save my mother." Ruby answered.
"So how did it come about with you becoming a doctor then?" Neo asked.
"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and I was actually studying medicine on my own because I was curious and well, I got talking with both of my mothers and from there I got into it. They even got a private tutor for me and I ended up becoming a doctor in about a year." Ruby said as she smiled a little.
"A year?" Neo asked in surprise.
"She's smart and has a horrible work ethic in which she'll just study and study until I was practically force feeding her food as she wouldn't eat." Mizu said rather cheerfully, though she glared a little at Ruby.
"This is a lot of information." Neo stated as she was confused at it all.
"I know and I apologise. I didn't expect conversation to be this heavy so I'm sorry for this." Ruby apologised.
"Are you hungry? Tired? Thirsty?" Mizu asked rather quickly as she stared at Neo in concern.
"I think I need some fresh air." Neo asked as she started to feel a little light headed as all the information finally settled in her mind.
"Here, let me take you down to the lake. It's rather relaxing there." Ruby replied, smiling warmly towards Neo as she offered her hand to her while Mia climbed off her lap.
"Hey Mia, want me to show you some old photos of Ruby?" Summer asked as she spotted that her daughter wanted some time with Neo.
Ruby nodded towards her mother as she took Neo's hand into her own and started heading outside towards the lake.
"I'm sorry again, I know it's a lot of stuff to discover." Ruby said.
Neo didn't know what exactly to think because as soon as she touched Ruby's hand she immediately felt more relaxed, as if some foreign power was helping her.
"Thank you." Neo said unconsciously at the feeling as she leaned into Ruby's body.
"Come on, let's have a seat. The lake's rather peaceful and just nice to sit by." Ruby commented and together they sat down peacefully, simply watching the lake move and fish swimming around inside the clear water.
"Could you tell me anymore about the mate bonds?" Neo requested quietly.
Ruby smiled warmly as she laid down on the grass, inviting Noe to do the same. "Most of what I know is from my mothers, though some of it is from experience."
"It's alright, I'm just curious on whatever you can tell me." Neo replied.
"We know instantly who our soulmate is, as soon as we see them we can't physically love another. If we try we get sick, it's not a pleasant experience." Ruby explained, going over partly what was already said.
"Sick how?" Neo asked.
"Simply kissing can result in being ill, having sex makes you vomit from the experience as you are not with your mate. It punishes you for not being with them." Ruby answered calmly.
"Wait, you were sick?" Neo said, surprised at hearing that.
Ruby just laughed, clearly Neo was surprised. "I attempted to be with someone, thinking I could get away with it but I couldn't. It didn't last long and well, ever since I've never bothered to try again." Ruby replied.
Neo nodded in reply before deciding to change the topic, "So does your mate have any feelings or realises who their mate is?" Neo asked.
"To a point. They feel a weird connection to the person, something they feel like exploring to discover what it is. But they don't have to respond if they don't feel anything. There is simply a desire to know more but nothing that forces them to accept the bond or feel love for the person." Ruby explained calmly as she stared up at the sky and the clouds dancing there.
"But then what about you? What happens if your Mate doesn't respond?" Neo asked the clear follow up question.
"Well, for the other person it doesn't make a difference whereas for me it would be different. I can't move on afterwards. I would long for my mate and though it would lessen in time I can't take another lover or be with someone else in a romantic sense." Ruby explained rather bluntly.
"But that's horrible. If your Mate rejects you, you can never move on or take another. Why would it be like that?" Neo exclaimed loudly in surprise, not truly believing something like that would happen.
"It is as the Fates have willed it, and well. It's not as bad as it sounds. According to my mother, my great grandmother's mate had rejected her but she was still able to have a child." Ruby answered.
"How was she able to have a child? Thinking about it. How was your mother able to have you if she would become ill from having sex with another person?" Neo asked, noticing the contradictions in what Ruby was saying.
Ruby couldn't help but smile at the fact Neo had noticed that, "That's true. I'm not sure how my great grandmother got pregnant but my mother, Summer that is. Well it pays when your Mate is Mizu Schnee. They were closest with Tai, and he agreed to donate some of his sperm. Then using a method, I don't know a lot about but they were able to combine both of their eggs together and used the sperm to impregnate Summer with me." Ruby explained easily. "If you look closely enough you'll notice in my hair that there is some white." Ruby said.
Neo looked closely and noticed this that between the red highlighted parts of her hair were strands of white hair though it was hard to spot unless you were in Neo's position. Leaning against Ruby's shoulder, hair sprayed out and mixing together with each other.
The two didn't speak for a few minutes as they laid there together looking up at the clear sky and the sounds of nature around them rather than talking for the moment. That was until Neo had another burning question.
"You told me everything else, but what about when your Mate accepts the bond? What happens then?" Neo asked.
"If." Ruby replied calmly, though Neo could hear sadness in her voice. "But according to my mother's it is a feeling of pure bless. On both sides. They feel connected to each other all the time but at the same time they are independent of each other. Apparently, they can even talk to each other telepathically but I'm not sure about that, but I do understand the part where they can feel each other during the bond. I know that's true." Ruby answered calmly, her voice was soft.
"How do you know that for sure?" Neo asked just as softly.
"When I found Mizu while looking for Summer, I could see how much pain she had been in. Simply put, she wasn't very healthy when I got to her. She was barely making it through everything." Ruby answered for her.
"I see." Neo said softly as she leaned into Ruby a little more.
Though Neo couldn't stop the one of the burning questions she had since that meal with Blake and Winter, "Why don't you like the celebration? Why don't you speak with Yang and Weiss anymore? Isn't Weiss your sister?" Neo asked.
A/N
So, a lot of information in this one, and well, a lot to think about. With the Silver Eyed Warriors, I've given myself lots of freedom in what they can do and stuff because RT haven't really said much about it and well, I've wanted to do stories about mates for a while now.
Not much more to say there, but I will be putting up a poll, which will be up now which will help me decide what to focus my attention on next story wise so if you could please vote in that, I will be very grateful. Sorry it's very basic and doesn't give much away.
Anyway, that's about it so until next time.
