DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY or any of it's characters. RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth and was created by Monty Oum.
Hello! Before we begin, I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to Nahee The Brave and Scoundrel Bones for being there since the beginning, and for all of the wonderful advise they have given. It means a lot to me, and they have helped keep me inspired to continue this fic. I would like to thank not only them, but all of you wonderful viewers for giving time to read Roses and Thorns, as it means so much to me to know that people are able to enjoy it. So thank you, thank you, thank you all for everything, and I hope you will continue to enjoy it. :]
Now, without further ado, Chapter 8!
Roses and Thorns
Chapter 8: A New Scroll ...and Detention
Light scratching of pencils on paper was the only sound that filled the room, save for a few bits of coughing here and there. To some people, the silence was peaceful… concentrating; but for people like Yang, it was irritating.
She bounced her leg up and down in her seat, doing anything but focusing on filling out her detention form. She had her pencil resting on her puckered lips, trying to keep her makeshift mustache from falling. 'I mustache you a question.' She thought to herself. 'I'd love to hear it, but can you shave it for later? Ha! Ha! Haaaaaa I am so bored.' Yang slumped in her seat and rested her chin on her desk, somehow managing to keep the pencil in place. 'I wonder what Ruby's doing right now… I hope she didn't get lost… oh yeah, I also have to tell her why I haven't told Blake that I like her.' Yang glanced to the left at the raven haired girl. She was quietly filling out her detention form, and Yang noticed how her bow twitched slightly. Yang smiled warmly at that, causing her pencil to lose its balance and fall on her desk.
Ruby and Yang have known about Blake secretly being a faunus for years now, and ever since then Yang has noticed a lot of small things the girl accidentally does to show it. Like how her bow will twitch every once in awhile, meaning that her cat ears were itchy or she heard something move; and like how she always has tuna in her lunch, and how she likes to play with the loose thread on her shirt. Yang has also noticed how Blake will sometimes subconsciously slowly push a cup off of a table, but will catch herself and stop before the cup actually falls. Yang has only ever seen that happen twice, but finds it to be the cutest little thing Blake does. But the funniest thing is whenever Blake hangs out at Yang's house and always has trouble avoiding Zwei, because the little corgi loves getting her attention.
Yang rested her cheek on her desk while still looking at Blake. She felt her heart pounding heavily in her chest, as it did every time she thought about the girl. She didn't know when she started to fall for her, but she knew that what she felt for her was genuine love. Heck, she loved every little thing about Blake, and wanted more than anything to be by her side. Yang wasn't really the clingy type, but it always made her day so much brighter whenever she was with her. It gave her a warm, welcome feeling, and even though Blake wasn't one for physical contact, Yang somehow always managed to sneak in a hug. One time she was actually able to pet her ears, but of course that came with the sacrifice of the silent treatment for a week.
Yang giggled quietly to herself, remembering her greatest accomplishment; sneaking the bow off Blake's head wasn't easy.
"You need something?" Blake whispered to her, noticing how Yang was looking at her.
"I can't focus." Yang played cooly.
"Well, try harder," Blake said. "you wont be able to leave detention until you finish your form."
"I can't concentrate without something to listen to." Yang complained. "And they won't let us listen to music."
"Well then I don't know what to tell you." Blake said calmly. "Just try your best."
Yang groaned softly, but complied. She picked up her pencil and started where she left off. Shortly after she began writing, she became distracted again and started playing with her pencil.
Blake sighed and went back to her work, giving up on trying to help Yang anymore. The girl was always distracted by something when it came to school work, and Blake always had to be the one to put her back on track.
'Why did I have to fall in love with such a slacker?' she thought. She glanced back at Yang, who was now trying to balance her pencil on its eraser. Blake smiled and went back to her form. She had many reasons.
Ruby walked beside Principle Ozpin through the halls, admiring all of the stories he told her about the school.
"That actually happened?" Ruby gawked.
Ozpin chuckled. "Yep. You should have seen the look on his face; it was priceless!"
"I bet!" Ruby laughed.
"I just wish I had taken a picture of it. It was the best senior prank ever pulled, in my opinion."
"I just can't believe they got away with it though."
"Oh, that was because of a little secret." Ozpin smiled.
"What's that?" Ruby asked.
Ozpin leaned over and spoke in a fake whisper. "I was in on it too."
"What, really?!"
Ozpin laughed to himself. "I had to get my revenge."
"For what?" Ruby asked.
"I didn't get my paycheck that week."
They both started laughing again, and Ruby had to wipe away a tear.
"You've gotta be the coolest principal ever." She chuckled.
"I try." Ozpin smiled. "But I am curious as to how you feel about the school. Have you had a good first day? Find anything exciting?"
By now they were near the principal's office, and Ozpin dug around for his ring of keys.
"Well, it was a day alright." Ruby sighed. "But I can't really tell if it was good or bad… the point system is really cool though."
"Ah yes, the point system." Ozpin found what he was looking for and held a silver key. He unlocked the door to his office and held it open for Ruby. "We've had that since I was a student here."
"You used to go here?" Ruby asked as she entered his office.
"Why yes. A large number of the teachers that work here used to as well." He shut the door behind him and walked over to his desk.
"Was that planned?" Ruby asked jokingly.
"Actually, yes." Ozpin sat down in his chair and motioned for Ruby to sit in the guest seat.
"Waoh, really?" She asked with a look of shock. "I was only kidding."
Ozpin smiled at her. "Indeed. Long story short, she school was in danger of being shut down because a vast majority of the teachers were retiring, and no one else was looking into working here. So some of my fellow students and I all agreed to become teachers and work here, that way Beacon could continue to be the prized school it is."
"Who are the other teachers?" Ruby asked as she sat down.
"Well, to name a few, Glynda, James, Peter, Barthamellow, and Qrow."
Ruby tilted her head in confusion. Ozpin looked at her for a few seconds then realized his mistake.
"Ah sorry, I meant Goodwitch, Ironwood, Port, Oobleck and Brawnwen."
"Ooh." Ruby said, but then she jumped in her seat. "Wait- Qrow Brawnwen works here?!"
Ozpin nodded once. "He teaches Criminal Justice and works as a security guard. If my memory serves me correctly, you have his fourth period class tomorrow. I assume you know him?"
"He's my uncle." Ruby answered.
Ozpin's raised his eyebrows in shock. "Well, it's a small world now, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Ruby smiled. "But I actually haven't seen him in a few years."
Ozpin smiled. "Then I'm sure you two will be glad to see each other again."
Ruby hummed in agreement.
"Would it be alright to ask why? My curiosity has gotten the best of me."
"Why we'd be happy to see each other?" Ruby asked with confusion.
"No," Ozpin chuckled, "why it's been a few years since you've seen him. He's explained to me before that his family met up every summer, but you said it's been a few years since you've seen him?"
"Oh." Ruby blushed slightly at her misunderstanding, but it quickly faded. "Well, a year ago, he had to cancel because of something with work,"
Ozpin hummed and nodded his head. "I remember that. Someone broke into the school to try and steal money from the cafeteria registers, only to find out that we use points instead of lien."
"Is that another reason why you have the point system?" Ruby asked.
"Not at first." Ozpin smiled. "And that reminds me, I need to get you a scroll. But first, please continue."
"Ah, right." Ruby looked up in thought to remember where she left off. "Anyway that's why we didn't see him that year, but this past summer, Mom and I were supposed to meet Dad, Uncle Qrow and Yang at the beach in Mistral, but we had to cancel the meeting last second because Yang got really sick."
Ozpin hummed in understanding. "So why did you move here, if you don't mind my asking."
Ruby's shoulders slumped a little. "Well, since we had to cancel our meeting in summer, Mom took a week off of work so she and I could meet up with them at their house three weeks ago… but…" Ruby felt tears beginning to form in her eyes, but she fought them from falling. "On our way there, we got in a pretty bad car crash."
Ozpin's posture changed slightly at hearing that.
"When… when I woke up in the hospital, the doctors explained what happened, but Dad… he was the one who told me that Mom didn't make it." Ruby had to stop and close her eyes. She took a few deep breaths and Ozpin waited until she was ready to speak again.
"So, we decided that I was going to move in with my Uncle, Dad and Yang, and I've been there for two weeks now, but I only started going back to school today..."
"...I see." Ozpin said it so softly he thought he didn't say it at all; he was at a loss for words. She had only lost her mother three weeks ago, so the pain of losing her was still fresh. "I'm sorry to hear that… I didn't mean to ask about something so sensitive."
"It's alright," Ruby wiped her eyes, "You didn't know… and… I have Dad, Yang, and my Uncle to help me through it... and… I'm here for them too."
Ozpin smiled warmly. "I have to say I admire your strength, Miss Rose. To have to go through so much in so little time, but remain strong; you don't see too many people like that these days."
Ruby returned the warm smile. "My mother always taught me that good things can come out of the bad ones, you just have to treat the situation right." Ruby thought about her mother's saying, and softly repeated it to herself.
"Every rose has it's thorn, and it may hurt. But if you take good care of it, and treat it right, it will bloom into something beautiful."
"That's very wise." Ozpin smiled warmly.
Ruby returned a small smile. "She always was."
There was a moment of silence. It wasn't awkward, but peaceful, and it let the mood settle down.
"Shall we get you a scroll?" Ozpin asked after a while.
"Sure." Ruby smiled.
Ozpin smiled back. "Alright then."
He calmly stood up and motioned Ruby to follow. He led her to the other side of his large office to a door that said "Staff Only". He pulled out his ring of keys and used the light blue one to open the first lock, and a bronze one to open the lock on the nob.
"We try to keep this room as secure as possible." Ozpin explained to Ruby as he dialed a set of numbers in a keypad, unlocking the last lock. "We don't want just anyone getting in here."
He opened the door and the lights came on automatically, showing another large room filled with file cabinets and important documents. Ozpin walked over to a large cabinet labeled "Scrolls" and used another key to open the second drawer.
"Do you know the basics?" He asked Ruby while pulling out a scroll.
"Yeah, Yang and Blake explained most of it to me."
"That makes things easier than." He smiled. He handed the scroll to Ruby and shut and locked the drawer. They exited the room and Ozpin locked it, resetting the keypad.
Ruby examined her new scroll and noticed it didn't have a color scheme like Blake and Yang's. She also couldn't get the thing to open. "Uh… I can't get it open." She said.
"That's because I haven't unlocked it yet." Ozpin smiled. "Here, let me see it."
Ruby handed him her scroll and he sat back down at his desk. "We keep all the scrolls locked so no one can get into it." He explained.
"Oh, so it's like a one use password to get in?" Ruby asked.
"Precisely." Ozpin pinched the two longer sides of the scroll and it beeped once. He cleared his throat and spoke each syllable clearly. "James-Iron-wood-has-a-big-head." The Scroll beeped again and it unclicked, letting him open it all the way.
"That's the password?" Ruby chuckled.
"For now, yes. I change it every month."
"Does Mr. Ironwood know about it?"
"Nope, and let's keep it that way."
Ruby chuckled again and Ozpin logged onto his computer, opening up the scroll database.
"Now we just need to hook up your scroll to the system." He opened up a few links and typed in a few codes, opening up the Student Database.
"The neat thing about this is that it hooks up wirelessly." He turned on the scroll and the holographic screen blinked on, asking for a password. "What would you like your four digit code to be?"
Ruby looked up in thought for a minute, then came up with a password. "In all caps, 'R.W.B.Y.'."
"That's quite unique," Ozpin smiled, "do the letters stand for something?"
"Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang." Ruby answered. "My name, and the names of my some-what friend, best friend, and sister."
"I see." Ozpin dialed the code into the scroll, and it automatically set it as the password. He turned the screen off and back on setting it back to the password screen, and handed the scroll to Ruby.
"Here, give it a test run."
Ruby typed in her password and the screen changed the home screen. "It worked."
"Excellent." Ozpin typed a few other things into his computer, and Ruby's scroll beeped once. "There, all set."
Ruby looked dumbfounded. "That's it?"
"Yep. The rest hooks up automatically. You just have to wait two hours before you can use it." Ozpin stood up and walked over to the door. "Do you have any other questions?"
"How do you change the color scheme?" Ruby asked.
"Just go into the settings and go to 'display'," He smiled, "anything else?"
"Nope. Thank you for the help."
"My pleasure." Ozpin opened the door for Ruby and she exited the room. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No, that's alright." Ruby smiled. "Thank you."
"Absolutely… and Miss Rose?"
"Yes?"
"Welcome to Beacon."
Ruby hummed and nodded. She waved to him as he closed the door, then went to wander around the school again. After walking around for some time, Ruby found a nearby clock on the wall that read '4:15 PM'.
"The hour's up already?" She asked aloud. Now that she thought about it, the day did go by pretty fast. She begun to head back to the detention room, but came to a quick realization.
"...I'm lost."
"Where is she?" Yang asked. She and Blake were waiting outside the detention room for Ruby, hoping she would show up. "It's been 28 minutes."
"Do you think she got lost?" Blake responded.
"Probably." Yang walked away from the wall she was leaning on and motioned for Blake to follow. "Come on, let's go find her."
Blake nodded once and followed Yang down the hallway. "Ruby!" She called out while cupping her hands around her mouth.
No response.
"RUBY!" Yang shouted, but all that could be heard was the echoing of her voice down the empty hall.
"Do you think one of the teachers made her leave?" Blake asked.
"No, she would have texted me…" Yang answered.
Blake stopped in her tracks and looked dully at Yang.
"What?" She asked.
"Why didn't we just text her?" Blake deadpanned.
Yang facepalmed and sighed. "Gah! Of course!" She pulled out her phone and opened up her contacts, but before she could find Ruby's name, her phone suddenly died, the empty battery icon flashing on the screen.
"... My phone just died…" Yang sighed.
"Do you remember her number?" Blake asked while pulling out her phone.
"... Nope."
"Nevermind then…"
Blake put her phone back in her pocket and they started to walk again. After a few minutes of searching they decided to look for her upstairs.
"Ruby!" Blake called again, but to no avail.
After another few minutes, Yang took a large breath and shouted down the hall, "RUBY DOOBY DOO! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Still no response.
"Uhg. Where is she?" Yang asked again.
"I'm not sure…"
"Girls? What are you doing here so late?"
The two turned around to see Principle Ozpin walking toward them.
"We came from detention." Blake answered. "We're just looking for Ruby."
Ozpin's eyebrows went up slightly. "Why, she was just with me not too long ago."
"She was?" Yang asked.
"I was getting her a scroll." He explained.
"Did you see her at all afterwards?" Blake asked.
Ozpin shook his head. "I did not. But she might still be around there."
"We'll go look there then." Yang said. "Thankyou Principle Ozpin."
"My pleasure. Good luck finding her." He said.
"Thanks. Come on Blake." At that both girls headed toward the other side of the school, and Ozpin went back to where he was going. After another ten minutes of searching, the girls heard their names being called.
"Yang! Blake!" The two turned around to see the lost girl running toward them, but she slowed down to a walk when she got closer to them. "I'msosorryIwasonmywaybacktothedetentionroombutIgotlostandItriedtocallyoubutitwentstraighttoyourvoicemailand-"
"Ruby!" Yang interrupted, "Calm down. What happened?"
Ruby took a deep breath and repeated what she said at a normal pace. "I'm so sorry! I was on my way back to the detention room and I got lost and I tried calling you, but it went straight to your voicemail, and I don't know Blake's number…"
Yang sighed and ruffled Ruby's hair. "It's alright. Just be more carefull next time."
Ruby nodded and took another deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "I promise."
"Good. Now come on, let's go." Yang said and the three started to walk.
"Are you coming with us too Blake?" Ruby asked.
"Yes. Yang and I have a project to work on for Literature. That's why I was looking for her this morning." She answered.
"Yep, we have to create some sort of poster that summarizes the events in our class reading." Yang said flattly.
"Well you sound excited." Ruby said sarcastically.
"I, on the other hand, actually am excited." Blake announced.
"That's because you like reading." Yang wore a board expression. "I do not."
"What book is it?" Ruby asked.
"Romeo and Juliet. What else?"
Ruby mentally gagged. "I see why you don't want to do the project."
"I don't think it's that bad." Blake retorted.
"That's because all you ever read are sappy love stories." Yang shot back.
"I do not."
"...Ninjas of Love?"
Blake stopped in her tracks and blushed furiously. "How do you know about that?!"
"You accidentally left one of the books at my house and I decided to give it a read." Yang grinned. "I gotta say Blake, I never knew you were into that sort of thi-OOF!"
Blake rammed into Yang from behind, nearly knocking her over. "Shut uP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUP!"
Yang barked out a laugh and continued to tease Blake, who kept trying to get her to stop.
"Though I especially liked the part with the Katana."
"SHUDUUUUUUUUUP!"
Ruby just there and watched the two go back and forth; they really haven't changed at all around each other. Ruby laughed lightly and sighed knowing how this would end up.
'At this rate we'll never get home.'
To be continued