AN: Here's the continuation. Good stuff shall happen. Also this was originally called Return of a Rose but Ghost of a Rose sounds cooler.
Ghost of a Rose
The first thing Weiss noticed when she awoke was how weak she felt. Ugh what happened? She then realizes she's bound. As her vision clears she figures out she's in a large warehouse...somewhere. It's probably Atlas but who knows where that psycho took me. Said psycho had her back turned to Weiss about 4 feet away. She turns around and notices Weiss is awake.
"Ah you're awake. Good."
"What do you want with me?" Weiss tries to activate her semblance but is unable to even conjure a glyph. Frick forgot my aura dropped during our fight.
"You need not worry your pretty head Miss Schnee. I'm merely holding you for my boss." she says with a crooked smirk "although you will help me dealing with a little thorn in my side. You see we have a… mutual acquaintance. She holds out Weiss' scroll near one of her bound hands "Unlock it and call your new friend Azure"
"And why should I do that for you?" Weiss protests
"The reason is twofold. One cause no one knows where you are at the moment."
"They'll find me"
"And two I have about 3 snipers up there" she points to the tower of crates. "While they won't kill you I can have them injure you. May I remind you I dropped your aura during our little skirmish?" Weiss hesitates for a second and suddenly feels an extremely sharp pain in her right arm. She screams out in pain then grits her teeth. "Ugh fine." she unlocks the scroll and pulls up Azure's number with her good arm (which was still hard given how she bound) and the woman holds it up to her ear.
Ruby sat in the back of the First Banana, happy to get a short break after the morning rush ended. Suddenly her scroll goes off and she notices Weiss is calling.
"Hey Weiss what's going on? You ok?" she answers.
"Oh Azure I didn't you know you cared" the woman answers.
Carmen Ruby realizes "What have you done with Weiss?"
"Oh don't worry she's perfectly fine Azure Reese." the woman says with a chuckle "oh where are my manners. I shouldn't use that horrendous fake name you go by" Azure's not her actual name Weiss thinks to herself what is it then? Her question is answered with the woman's next words "We do have a score to settle Ruby Rose" she says placing emphasis on the name Ruby? It can't be her. Can it? Despite her best efforts her eyes widen at the mention of that name, which doesn't go unnoticed by the woman "oh looks like that name sounds familiar to the Schnee. Possibly an old friend? Teammate? Or perhaps something more… romantic?"
Damn it. Ruby curses to herself this is bad "What do you want?"
"As I said Ruby we do have a score to settle. South docks. Warehouse 6. If you don't want your precious Weiss hurt I suggest you come alone. Also abandon those ugly contacts you wear. Green really doesn't suit you." she hangs up and turns to Weiss "Now we wait."
The First Banana
As soon as the call ends Ruby uses her semblance to dart up to the loft and change, not going unnoticed by Sun, who followed upstairs stopping near the top.
"Ruby what's going on?"
"I've got to go Sun. That woman I've been looking for has Weiss."
"I'll come with, let me grab…"
"NO!" Ruby shouts "They'll hurt her if I don't go alone. If I'm not back in like an hour call the cops. Warehouse 6, south dock."
"Alright be careful Ruby." she nods and darts off towards the south dock.
South dock, Warehouse 6
The front was unguarded as Ruby approached be on your guard Ruby. This smells of a trap. Nothing happens as she enters the main area. Most covered in darkness except a small area where she saw Weiss sit, bleeding from her arm and bound crap she's hurt Ruby rushes up to her wounded friend.
"Azure what is going on? Are you…"
"Weiss I'll explain later let me get you out of…" a shot behind her interrupts her
"Rose I suggest you don't do that just yet" Carmen says from behind her, her weapon smoking from the shot she just fired. Ruby whipped around and drew Rose and Thorn.
"I'm here Carmen, let her go."
"Nah I'd rather her watch as I kill her former fiancé. But first why don't you let her see your real hair? That wig is tacky, and blue just doesn't fit you like black and red." Weiss watches as Azure reaches up and pulls off her blue wig, revealing familiar black and red hair.
"Rurururuby" Weiss stammers "it's really...you"
"Weiss I'll explain later but first let me deal with her" she says pointing one of her daggers at Carmen.
"Oh come on Rose you couldn't beat me 5 years ago with that overgrown gardening tool, what makes you think you'll stand a chance here?"
"This time it's different Carmen!"
"Why? Cause you've had a solid rest? Or because you have some puny knives you call a weapon? Face it Rose without your original weapon you stand no chance. Our fight 5 years ago proved that. I believe I left it in several pieces her and her friends" she motions back to Weiss "found."
"No not cause of that. Because last time I was fighting for my life. Now I'm fighting for something more, my friend."
"Have it your way." she says charging forward, bringing her sword down in an overhead strike. Ruby uses her semblance and darts away from the blow, firing several shots from Rose at Carmen, who blocks it with her weapon, then follows up with shots of her own. Not having a big enough weapon to block them, Ruby takes a few shots to her Aura before she is able to dodge out of the way, taking cover behind some boxes. "You can't hide from me forever Rose. I know the layout of the place. And even if I can't find you." A sniper shot hits the box right next to Ruby, causing her to jump "I've got some backup, while you're alone. They won't interfere unless you run like this so I suggest you come out, because the next shot won't…" She's interrupted by a tornado of roses flying towards her, colliding into her as Ruby thrusts her weapons forward. Carmen is knocked back several feet as the tornado continues pass, landing on top one of the smaller piles of boxes.
"I'm not hiding Carmen. I wasted too much time hiding, I'm ending this here." She turns into another tornado and darts forward, intent on doing something similar. Unfortunately Carmen sees it coming and connects with the tornado, sending Ruby flying back with a shot powered strike.
"You know Rose I should be thanking you. Our last fight gave me some interesting uses of my shots." Ruby stands up, still defiantly holding Rose and Thorn out. "Ever the persistent pest aren't you?"
Can't try that again. Ruby thought to herself. At least she's looking winded. I wonder if Weiss was able to hurt her aura at all. I doubt she went quietly. She notices Myrtenaster on Carmen's hip. She's pulled out of her thoughts as a gunshot alerts her that Carmen's weapon is flying towards her. Barely able to roll out of the way, she darts forth, almost as if to stab her. Carmen prepares to counter with her fists when suddenly Ruby darts sideways, grabbing Myrtenaster and tossing it towards Weiss, landing only a few feet from the chair Weiss sat in. hopefully she'll find a way to use it. Weiss seems to get the idea and starts trying to inch the chair towards where her weapon lay but a shot stops her. Damn the snipers. Where did that shot come from? Scanning the upper area of the warehouse she is able to locate one of the snipers, the one who's currently trained on Weiss, by the slight shine of the gun. You guy's forget I used a sniper most of my career. Going tornado again, she starts storming towards Carmen, who picked up her weapon during the whole debacle. She prepares another strike but Ruby veers up towards the sniper, taking another strike to the stomach as she misjudges the distance. Fortunately the sniper is too focused on Weiss to see the red tornado plow into him, knocking him off the boxes to the concrete below. The other 2 snipers, in a panic, start shooting at the tornado as it barrels around the top of the warehouse, giving away their position. Zigzagging across, she takes out the 2 remaining snipers before landing several feet in front of Carmen, extremely winded. Ok note that took a lot more out of me than I expected. Unfortunately her exhausted nature doesn't go unnoticed by Carmen or Weiss.
"Feeling a little tired Rose?" Carmen snarls "If you give up now I'll promise to make it painless… maybe"
Ruby isn't going to win this. Carmen's reading her like a book. Weiss realizes. At least with the snipers gone I can maybe help. She begins concentrating hard, trying to summon anything, even if it's just a barrier to protect Ruby. The redhead starts shooting with both daggers, darting around with short bursts of her semblance, managing to catch Carmen with a couple bullets. Carmen's reactions to the shots tell Ruby her Aura's getting low At least we're both low on Aura. Ruby thinks to herself. Realizing this she decides to charge forward, shooting all the while, changing her aim slightly to try and sneak past Carmen's guard. It works somewhat but not enough as Ruby ends up running out of bullets, and runs right into a strike, the force field of her Aura dissipating as it empties, before flying several feet back. She's quickly pinned by Carmen's foot, the blade of her weapon right at her throat.
"I told you Rose you had no chance here. 10 years ago you stuck your nose where it didn't belong. 5 years ago I thought you perished, but this time I will make sure you…" she's interrupted as she's sent flying by an icy claw, her own Aura dissipating, a large claw mark appearing across her face from the strike. Looking up Ruby sees the disembodied claw of an Ursa, floating out of one of Weiss' glyphs. It disappears as fast as it appeared.
"You will do no such thing" Weiss gasps out "Not while I'm alive."
"YOU BITCH!" Carmen shouts charging towards Weiss, blind with rage. "YOU BOTH WILL DIE FOR THIS!" As she approaches Weiss closes her eyes, prepared for the finishing blow. It never comes as a single shot rings out, followed by a short gurgle and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Opening her eyes she sees Ruby, holding one of the rifles wielded by the snipers, smoke of a fresh shot ringing out. Looking down she sees Carmen, a single bullet right between her eyes. Having overexerted her Aura even more Weiss faints, the last sight she sees is Ruby moving slowly towards her. Suddenly a large explosion rocks the building. Realizing the place was going to collapse Ruby picked up the pace, untied, and grabbed the unconscious Weiss. She must have had a dead man's switch or something. She realizes as more explosions rock the building. She darts out to the street when suddenly she's surrounded by police.
"FREEZE. PUT THE WOMAN DOWN!" A cop shouts
"SHE'S BEEN SHOT WITHOUT AURA, SHE OVERUSED HER SEMBLANCE, AND SHE NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION!" Ruby yells back gingerly placing Weiss on the ground.
"WE'LL GET HER THAT, BUT STEP AWAY FROM THE SCHNEE WITH YOUR HANDS UP" Ruby does so and the cops handcuff her, securing her weapons in the process.
"Do you have any sharp objects other than your weapons?"
"No."
"Do you have anything in your pockets I should worry about?"
"All that's in there is my scroll and wallet." She's searched, put into a police car, watching as an ambulance puts Weiss' unconscious body into the back of it. Please be ok Weiss. Ruby thinks as the squad car she's in pulls away from the ruined warehouse.
Atlas Police Station
Ruby sat in the interrogation room, bandaged up but conscious, a young male cop staring her down, a small file on the table in between them.
"So… Azure Reese is it?" he says reading off her ID. Ruby nods. "Odd how in this picture you have blue hair, yet you sit before me with black and red. Plus we found this." He tosses the remains of the blue wig on the table. "Amongst the rubble. Plus there seems to be no record of an Azure Reese until about 5 years ago. So how about you try again. What's your name?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me. Or do you have a reason to hide? Perhaps you have some sort of…"
"That's enough!" a woman's voice interrupts him, the door opening to reveal a tall woman with long white hair in a ponytail, wearing a general's uniform.
"General Schnee?"
"I will take over this interrogation. You are dismissed"
"But Ma'am…"
"I said you are dismissed."
"Yes Ma'am." The cop darts out. Winter takes his seat and stares down at Ruby, who's currently wishing she was wearing her cape to hide her face. She was always shy and awkward around Weiss' sister but this was increased due to the circumstances.
"So… Miss Reese." Winter begins "Care to explain what happened today?"
"Basically I got a call from Carmen…"
"The woman whose body we found at the scene?"
Ruby nods "Yea. Apparently she had kidnapped Weiss to get to me. We have a bit of history together. Although I don't think that was the only reason. Seems like she had plans beyond drawing me out."
"And why would Weiss be perfect for this."
"I mean I had befriended her recently. So I guess…" She's cut off by Winter slamming her hand on the table.
"Try again Miss Reese. Because we both know that isn't the only reason."
"You know why!"
"I want to hear you say it"
"Because I'm Ruby Rose her ex-fiancé and she knew I'd do anything to protect her and now Weiss is hurt and I don't know if she'll be ok and I was too slow…"
"Miss Rose please calm down" Winter's voice softens slightly before standing up and walking over to Ruby. "Look. I have a lot of questions regarding your whereabouts these last 10 years, but there is someone who needs an explanation more right now."
"Weiss…"
"Exactly. Given the situation I see no reason to hold you. If anything you should be commended for saving her. " She holds out a bag containing Ruby's goods. "Go see her. She's at Atlas General. You'll need this" she hands Ruby a packet of papers. "To see her. Given the circumstances she's under heavy security."
"Thank you Winter. And" Ruby pokes her fingers together in nervousness "you all deserve an explanation eventually. But for now just know I didn't do it by choice." Winter nods and Ruby heads out towards the hospital.
Atlas General, Main lobby
Ruby rushes into the hospital lobby and up to the desk "I need to know where Miss Schnee's room is" Ruby hands the receptionist the papers Winter gave her. The receptionist looks over the paperwork and then back at Ruby with a weird look.
"Alright, I'll let security know you're here." she picks up the phone by her and dials a number. "Yes Miss Polendina someone is here to see Miss Schnee. Yes they have proper clearance. General Schnee signed it herself. Name? A Miss" she looks back at the form "Ruby Rose. Is that a problem? Miss Polendina?" There is a pause as the nurse looks confused "Penny? Are you there?" she hangs up the phone "I'm going to assume she's on her…" she's cut off as suddenly Ruby finds herself on the ground, the heavy form of her robotic friend on top of her, the feeling of being crushed as Penny hugs her.
"UGH. Penny you need to quit doing that." Ruby groans.
"But I'm so happy to see you! It has been far too long. What even happened to you?"
"Penny I will explain later but right now I kind of need to see Weiss. Is she ok?"
Penny hops to her feet "Oh right! Unfortunately she isn't conscious right now. Her Aura being depleted plus the damage she took afterward took its toll. The doctors assured she should be okay though."
"Good to hear. Can I go see her?" Penny nods and leads Ruby down the hall. Ruby isn't too surprised to see Penny hasn't changed much in 10 years, if at all. I mean she is a robot after all. After stopping Cinder she got the chance to meet Penny's creator who had managed to salvage her friend's AI from the wreckage in Amity Colosseum, giving her a new body. Despite their concerns that the memories might be damaged Penny seemed to be intact, having memories of Ruby as a friend but beyond that not much else. When Winter took over as general from Ironwood Winter ended up putting her in charge of a small platoon. Soon the pair approached a room in the far corner, isolated and guarded by 2 heavily armed soldiers. They let the 2 through. Ruby's heart drops as she looks at the form of her partner on the bed. She's bandaged up in several locations and has a tubes coming out of her arm. I was too slow Ruby thought, a worried look coming to her face I should have known they would do something with Weiss, she's only the head of the biggest Dust supplier in the world. God damn it Ruby.
"She looks a lot worse than she actually is" Penny assured her. "The doctor said she should be up shortly."
"Thanks Penny. Is there any chance you can step out for a minute? I understand if you can't but…"
"Do not worry Friend Ruby. I will be just outside." She says stepping out, despite the protests of the guards. "It will be alright soldier. Friend Ruby would not hurt Miss Schnee." Ruby grabs a chair and pulls it up close to the bed, staring at the form of her friend. Damn it had I been faster in finding Carmen this wouldn't have happened. Ruby lamented. Soon she hears a silent groan as Weiss' eyes slowly open.
"Ugh my head." Weiss groans before looking over at Ruby her eyes widening as she realizes who's sitting next to her bed. "Ruby?"
"Yea Weiss it's me. Look I'm really sor…" She's cut off as she feels Weiss' lips collide with her own in a passionate kiss. The two sit there in a kiss for several seconds before Weiss pulls away, a look of joy on her face. The joy quickly morphs into a glare angrier than Ruby has ever seen.
SMACK!The sound echoes throughout the small hospital room as Ruby feel's Weiss' hand across her cheek. She could have easily avoided it but she didn't because she knew deserved it.
"I … deserved that" Ruby says
"YOU THINK! YOU'RE LUCKY I...I" Weiss begins to shout before losing her strength and breaking down crying. Ruby goes to comfort her but Weiss pushes her away "don't touch me." Ruby merely nods and sits back. Several minutes pass without a word from either woman until Weiss speaks up again "Where have you been? What happened? Does Yang, Blake or ANY of our friends know you're still alive? Why did you leave us? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME!? Did you not love me anymore? Did you not want to get married? Why didn't you try to talk to me?"
"No, Weiss it wasn't cause of that."
"THEN WHY RUBY!?"
"I'll explain everything…" Ruby begins
"WHEN RUBY? YOU'VE SAID THAT SEVERAL TIMES!"
"Right now. Just please calm down." Weiss leans back slightly in her bed and motions for Ruby to go on, tears still streaming down her face. "I just don't even know where to begin."
"Start with what happened 10 years ago. The night before our wedding."
"Alright."
AN: CLIFFHANGER! Next chapter will be another flashback as Ruby tells Weiss what happened to her 10 years ago.