A/N: Okay, started working on side projects, but before I could finish those first chapters, this thing called me back. So this all took rather a lot longer to get out than I had expected. Doesn't help there's only a modicum of combat in this one, since I can produce battle scenes at a frightening pace. Now originally in the chapter plan, there was a big centrepiece battle, but this part became far larger than expected when I actually got around to writing it, and the transition into the battle was too jarring. So, that will not be the premise of Ch 11 and this becomes its own chapter. Honestly, I think it worked out better this way, because it gives this chapter a much tighter premise.
There is a note regarding the opening two scenes in the author's note at the end of the chapter, so if you read the first two scenes and go 'wtf!?', do read the note at the end.
Thanks to everyone for their patience. Writing, editing and proofing these chapters takes a lot of effort and time, so I don't get to update to a set schedule like I would love to be able to do. Scene five, in particular, was the product of no fewer than three distinct re-writes. Makes for a "it's done when it's done" approach.
Massive thanks to my proof-readers, which are my wife, SLtheThird, and Leviticus Wilkes. Also thanks to my readers as we've hit the 12,000 view mark and the 100 follows mark between chapters. I'm hugely grateful to everyone out there who has read, reviewed, fav'd or followed!
All feedback welcome, I do try and reply to all reviews. Enjoy!
Well, today was the day. It had been arranged the night before through a series of furtively typed out text messages that had winged their way through the aether between the dorms, hidden from prying eyes. Prying eyes like the Schnee blues or Malachite greens. Everything had lined up nicely for them. Everyone else in their class was back in their dorms after the mid-morning lecture to prepare for a Bullhead ride out into the wild with Professor Port. But all the other first-years would be off at lectures until lunch time, two hours from now.
So all Ruby Rose had to do, was to leave her dorm without arousing suspicion. Easier said than done.
"Are you two sure you got enough sleep?" asked Ruby worriedly as she looked up from where she was putting away the supply of red Dust Weiss had recently donated her. The team leader had been custom packing her own rifle rounds, a practice she had adopted recently at her partner's suggestion.
Yang laughed at her, waving aside the concern. "Come on, Ruby, we were back barely after midnight and we got to sleep in," she reassured. The blonde girl turned towards her partner and the playfulness in her look faded, replaced with an odd thoughtfulness. She opened her mouth to say something, but stayed mute. Blake looked back at her with a raised brow over a honeyed eye. Yang blushed and turned away quickly to face Ruby again.
"Have you got new shell strips yet?" followed up Ruby, not noticing the silent exchange. "You've gone through a few of them this week with sparring and training."
Her big sister turned and gave her a bemused look. "Of course, sis, I've been doing this for ages," she explained. The brawler paused and raised an eyebrow, asking, "What's up with the checklist?"
"I've got to go run errands in a little while," explained Ruby in a perfectly earnest voice. "I'll be meeting you guys on the platform, so I wanted to make sure my team was ready for action!"
"Ah, okay, Rubes," accepted Yang. She fished into a bag of gear that sat on the floor next to her bunk. From it she withdrew and held up a fistful of shotgun shell strips to display for her sister. "All set!" she proclaimed.
"Me too," volunteered Blake quietly, looking up from her bed. The faunus girl had been trying and failing to read a book, constantly losing her concentration from paragraph to paragraph as she glanced up to look speculatively at Yang. The blonde had begun to notice the looks and felt her cheeks redden again.
"Alright, Team RWBY is on the ball," declared the young leader as she finished stowing her Dust and ammo. She grabbed a backpack and set it on the communal desk.
"You're not going to ask me?" asked Weiss quietly from where she sat on the edge of her bunk, next to Ruby.
Ruby turned to her partner and smiled. "Weiss, you're always organised," she explained. "If even you can get into a muddle, the rest of us may as well all give up now."
Weiss blinked in surprise and didn't know what to say. She ran her hand through her ivory ponytail self-consciously, but she was secretly thrilled to have been recognised that way by Ruby. Her enjoyment was slightly curtailed but by no means extinguished by Yang laughing and making a joke to Blake. Though she couldn't actually make out what was said, she felt self-consciously sure it was aimed at her. "Well, of course," she heard herself say in response to her leader eventually. Inwardly she cringed that that was the first thing she had thought to say.
The girl in the red hood suppressed a giggle at the arrogant reply. "I'll take that as a yes, you're ready," she declared as she began to stuff her battle dress into her backpack. As she zipped up the bag she looked at Weiss. "Did you want to go into Vale again this weekend?"
"I'd love to," said Weiss, "But I have an event in the city my father is forcing me to attend on his behalf. If it was something I thought you'd find interesting I'd have asked you along already," she lamented.
"Aw, rats," complained Ruby earnestly, folding her arms.
"Yeah, I know. Remember, I'm still entitled to take you to dinner," pointed out Weiss. "That's still happening." A flash of memory bolted through her mind and before her normal good sense could restrain her tongue she added, "And get you some new exercise shorts, Miltia was staring at your old ones."
Ruby blinked in shock and reared up, but it was Yang who spoke first. "So?" she said with an amused snort.
"Of course you wouldn't see that as a problem, Yang, you dress like that all the time," sighed Weiss, even as she inwardly pleaded with herself, 'Stop digging, please stop digging.' When she saw her team leader hoist her bag upon her shoulder, Weiss began to fidget uncomfortably. "Ruby?" she prodded.
"I'm sure she was just rolling her eyes at the state of them," deflected Ruby. As much as she knew it wasn't true, for some reason she just didn't want to suggest to Weiss that she understood; certainly not that she was pleased by the thought! There was something about making that admission to Weiss that gummed up the words in her chest.
"Melanie would be the sort to do that," interrupted Yang as she rolled her eyes. "But if it was Miltia, then I bet she was getting an eyeful." She smirked with an easy grace, but something dangerous sparked in the depths of her lilac eyes. "Well, if she's only going to look, then whatever. But if she touches then I'll-"
"Yang," admonished Blake with a word, getting an instant freeze from the vivacious student. The chastised girl saw Ruby with her hands fixed upon on her hips, a dangerous look on her face.
"...I'll let you take care of yourself because that's what we promised," finished Yang in an awkward rush, rubbing at the back of her head uncomfortably. "Sorry, older sibling instincts." She couldn't see it, but she knew Blake was shaking her head at her behind her back. Yang's smile twitched slightly.
Ruby gave her sister an admonishing look with hands on hips. "Yang Xiao-Long," she addressed, voice sharp. "That sounded suspiciously like the start of a Dad moment. Do you mean to tell me that you have already forgotten our talk?"
"N-no," protested the older sister, holding up her hands.
Ruby leaned in towards her sister, not noticing the wide-eyed looks Blake and Weiss were giving her. "You promised, remember. If something, or someone, turns out to be a mistake, then fine. But it's my mistake to make, and I can live with that. Can you please try and respect that?"
Silence fell over the room for several seconds as the two sisters held each other's gaze. Weiss looked on anxiously, while Blake observed from behind her the cover of her book.
"Okay, Rubes," sighed Yang, trying to ignore the niggling suspicion her sister had her eye on some massive mistakes already.
Blake looked back up from her book upon hearing the distressed note in Yang's voice. "It doesn't really matter, does it? Miltia is already going out with Alice, right?" Her eyes went wide and she regretted speaking up when the other three girls swiveled to look at her.
Weiss was the first to speak up. "They're not actually exclusive. That Miltia is a total commitment-phobe, according to Alice." She rolled her eyes. "So Alice is there, hoping they'll become an exclusive item eventually. It wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't blow up in Miltia's face at some point."
That little revelation caused Blake to glance at one of the more risque books in her collection. "I … I see," she muttered.
Anxious to get a move on, and short circuit the conversation before it grew any more dangerous for her, Ruby walked towards the door. Just prior to reaching it she paused and glanced at Weiss, who was regarding her pensively. "Is your dad's stuff going to tie you up for the whole weekend?" she asked.
"No, I guess Friday is clear but…," trailed off Weiss.
"But what?" was the reply.
"I may get more White Fang attention with the SDC event on," she admitted. "I don't want to risk putting you in that danger again."
The young leader smiled, part-patient, part-sad. Her strong, calloused hand settled on Weiss' shoulder. "If you're in danger there, then that's where I want to be," she declared.
The team leader gave her partner one last smile laced with cookies and innocence and then left, backpack over her shoulder. She looked back once, at the last moment before disappearing around the corner, a fleeting flash of silver. Weiss stood there for a few seconds after that, a touch of frost upon her spirit. After that she turned to look at her other two team-members with a piercingly shrewd look. 'Alright, Ruby got away, but you two have been acting odd since you came back,' she thought to herself, 'Time to find out what's going on.'
Out in the hallway, Ruby was walking quickly down the carpeted paths. She made her way around the corner, moving through the dorm building as she looked for an unfamiliar door. She passed team MAVM's room, where Nora and Aurea were talking by the entrance. What those two would have to talk about Ruby could only guess, though whatever it was they were quite animated. Nora tried to get her to stay to join the conversation, but Ruby begged off and walked on; places to be, errands to run after all.
When she turned another corner and counted three doors on her right, she stopped and knocked. It was a nervous wait, glancing at the corner while hoping no one walked around it. "Come on, come on…," she muttered under her breath, before sighing in relief as she heard the door unlock. The great hardwood door swung slowly open. "Alice."
"Miss Ruby," greeted the girl at the door with a cheshire smile. "Please come in."
Ruby smiled back, an absolutely illicit thrill coursing through her. Several months ago, this would have been nothing out of the ordinary for her. Except, of course, the girls she knew at Signal certainly looked nothing like this society heiress. Alice was in a silk, royal blue mini-dress with spaghetti straps and barefoot in the comfort of her own dorm. She still wore her pretty, silver pendent, now nestled at the top of her breasts.
"Morning," greeted Ruby, the slightest husky note in her voice courtesy of her nerves. She dropped her backpack at the foot of the bed she presumed was Alice's. Ruby figured the presence of a long case labelled "Cheshire Silver" beside the bed was a good clue as to who it belonged to. As she heard Alice close and lock the door behind her, she looked over the wall behind the girl's bed-head, eyes first catching on a couple of more risque glamour shots of celebrity singers or huntresses she had pasted up.
Alice glided up behind her smoothly, her presence raising tiny hairs on the back of the younger girl's neck. The blonde girl's hands slipped in under Ruby's blazer and smoothly slid the garment off.
"I wondered if you would follow through," mused Alice. "I'm very glad you did. I'm far too competitive to ever enjoy losing a duel, but if I had to lose one, this wasn't a bad one for it." Ruby looked over her shoulder at the taller girl, her eyes wide and shimmering. "And maybe," mused Alice as she returned the look. "Maybe it will turn out to be a good one to have lost. We shall see," she whispered.
The girl leaned in and Ruby shivered as blonde locks fell across her. Alice's right hand came up under her chin, the other sliding around her waist. Ruby closed her eyes as she was kissed, melting in the embrace. Her arms snaked up and her fingers combed through the gorgeous, golden hair above. 'Her hair's so soft…,' she thought to herself. It was just a taste at first; her lips were parted for a moment, and then Alice was gone. But Ruby pulled her back into the embrace and they kissed again, long seconds slipping languidly by in the stillness of the room.
Finally they parted again and Ruby turned to face Alice as the other girl stepped away. For a moment she panicked as the older girl turned her back, but she needn't have worried. Alice put a hand to her own lips and twirled for a moment, the loose skirt of her dress flaring liquidly with the motion.
"Oh, oh, you kiss like her, you kiss like my Millie," breathed Alice as her eyes sparkled. "You're so young, wherever did you learn how to kiss like this?" she demanded as she came to a halt, facing Ruby.
The dark-haired girl laughed self-consciously, running a hand through her hair. "Well, I had plenty of practice, at Signal you see," explained Ruby with a little curl of embarrassment across her cheeks.
"Just so?" mused Alice, as she began to circle around her lady caller. Her hands were clasped behind her back, her legs poised and balanced like a ballerina as she side-stepped. She leaned in, blue eyes sparkling, cheshire smile taunting and enticing. "You didn't learn that in the Academy classrooms," she contended.
Ruby blushed and shrugged. "Aha, well, actually, I did learn some of it in classrooms," she admitted. "Not while the faculty were there, though…" She looked up at Alice and pushed away some of her nerves, relaxing slightly. "Been a while, so, I'm glad I haven't, uh, lost my touch."
With her back to the bed, Alice stopped circling, and stepped back, dragging the youth into her wake. "Do not fear that, Ruby. To be quite honest, you curled my toes." A devilish little snicker escaped her lips. "And to think I had worried that this would be an awkward juvenile fumble. Or that I would have to play the teacher to your eager student," she said, finishing smokily.
The dark-haired girl said nothing, just watched Alice's eyes intensely as her fingers nimbly unbuttoned her vest. The encumbering garment was tossed to the foot of her bed, leaving her in her uniform skirt and white shirt. She stepped next to Alice, looking up at the girl with a wicked heat in her gaze.
"Tell me how far I can go," asked Alice lyrically. "Petting session is a touch ambiguous, you know."
"One of the girls in my circle used to describe it as making out, but with hot sauce," explained Ruby with a smile as an air of mischief seemed to wind around her. She stepped into Alice and put her hands on the girl's waist, tucking in just where the valley began to swell out. It was a firm and confident touch and the older girl's breath caught in surprise.
'I've been here before,' Ruby told herself. 'In this first enchantment, with Bistre, with Viridia, with a dozen girls. Older girl, younger girl, I know what I'm doing. Even if none of them were built like Alice … or Miltia.' A curious little quirk slipped through her mind, and she thought, 'Some of them were built like Weiss though.'
Startlement swept Alice's face as Ruby pulled her in tight. She could feel the heat of the girl's body suffusing her, a lovely fire that flickered and twisted within, leaving her wanting more. It wasn't a dominant touch, nor a submissive one. Rather, as Ruby rose up onto her toes and leaned in, Alice recognised it as an inviting touch. She swiftly accepted the silent offer and leaned in to meet her halfway, raising her hands to cup the other girl's cheeks.
The kiss meant nothing. Ruby knew she would walk out of this room and that would be the end of the matter. A transactional tryst, an affair for the simple pleasure. A win-win for both girls.
Yet the kiss meant everything. Ruby felt the chains of her anxiety bend, contort, snap. It was such a simple joy; the soft lips, the soft figure, the soft bed beneath them as they slowly descended to sit upon it. Months had passed in her Beacon-induced dry spell. For a girl well-used to contact and intimacy and who had relied upon it to unshackle herself from her stress and guilt, it had been a bitter moratorium.
A joyous shiver passed through Ruby as Alice's fingertips fluttered across the back of her neck. The older girl broke the kiss and leaned across to nip at her earlobe while Ruby freed her hands to wander, one drifting up her back, the other sliding down, cupping under the back of Alice's thigh. Together they overbalanced and fell sideways onto the mattress. Ruby pushed aside the curtain of blonde hair and kissed her again, sliding above her.
Time warped and frayed as they embraced atop the sheets. For Ruby the experience was like slipping in and out of a dream. She would lose herself to the lips and then slowly crest the surface once more when she came up for breath. Nothing was rushed and she let herself flow lazily alongside her temporary partner. The silk of Alice's dress felt magical to Ruby as her hands glided across it with playful intent. The dark-haired girl murmured and whispered something that Alice was sure was another girl's name as she dragged a gentle trail of kisses across her neck.
And then Alice was pulling her up from the sheets. Ruby was in her lap, thighs on either side of the blonde girl's waist. When it was her shirt had become unbuttoned, she could not say. For that matter, which of them had pulled Alice's arms free of her dress straps was also a mystery. Both topics seemed entirely uninteresting compared to the teeth that nipped at her collar.
"Easy, Alice," she murmured, but the older girl only laughed sultrily and then her lips were at Ruby's neck. "Haah!" Her hand fell low on Alice's collar, offering a less-than-half-hearted protest as she felt the girl tease at her neck. "You're going to get me into so much trouble," whimpered the dark-haired girl.
"Just wear your hood a little tighter," offered Alice as she shifted places on the girl's neck. "I can't help myself," she purred wickedly.
Ruby groaned as cushiony lips worked back along her neck, finally hitching her weight forward and dragging Alice back down to the mattress. Alice gasped and laughed, until Ruby claimed her lips again. As they had all morning, they took and ceded the lead in their little dance, neither ruling the other, but rather both tumbling together throughour. Once more things began to drift out of time and space for Ruby, leaving her with just an awareness of heat and blissful sensation. She simply let go and slipped into the passing river as it bore her along.
This luxurious jettisoning of responsibility was cruelly cut short with a ferocious buzzing from her scroll, which she had at some point put upon the bedside table. Ruby groaned in utter dismay, knotting her hands against the sheets. Alice twisted around and dropped down alongside her, laughing.
"You should probably listen to it this time," suggested Alice in a breathless whisper.
"This time?" asked Ruby in surprise.
"Well, yes," said Alice with a perplexed expression. "You snoozed the last alarm. Don't you remember?"
Ruby sat straight up in bed, eyes wide with alarm and a surge of adrenaline cutting through the lustful fog. "Oh no…," she groaned, hopping up and grabbing her backpack. "Mind if I borrow your bathroom to change?"
"Be my guest," offered Alice as she sat up and began to try to sort out the tangle of her silk dress. The girl hopped up and disappeared through the bathroom door. Alice stood up and exhaled deeply. "Well," she said aloud to herself, "That was unexpectedly entertaining. It would appear I made the right choice."
Alice walked over and sat on the bed on the far end of the room. "Tell me, Ruby," she called through the door between them. "Is Weiss buying your clothes?"
"What?" came the muffled reply. "Yeah, some of them." There was a pause and then an irritable, "Oh my god, Alice, I'm never going to be able to hide these hickeys. Ugh. Anyway, why do you ask?"
"Well, you see," mused Alice. "You don't seem like the sort of girl to hunt down eight thousand Lien dresses."
There was a stunned pause. "Is that how much that dress cost?"
"From memory, yes," replied Alice. "I'm fancy weapons more than fashion, I'll have you note, but I do know my designers like any good society girl. For that matter, the fact you have a three thousand Lien bra yet fifty Lien knickers, well, clearly your wardrobe isn't very balanced."
"Yeah, Weiss is starting to help me out," admitted Ruby.
"So you aren't from money yourself," deduced Alice. "I'm dying to know, Ruby, my curiosity is getting quite out of hand. How did you purchase the parts for Crescent Rose?" When there was no reply for a few seconds she frowned and continued on. "I mean, if I sold your scythe, I could fund my other white dust needs for the rest of my time at Beacon."
The door opened abruptly and Ruby popped her head out with an intense expression on her face. "Alice, you weren't … were you?"
"High?" asked Alice with a cheshire smile. "I debated indulging all morning, but in the end I refrained."
Ruby disappeared back behind the door. "Don't ask me about the Lien," said Ruby bluntly.
Alice was taken aback, blinking repeatedly. In the girl's voice had been a sepulchral steel that sent a fearful shiver straight up her spine. She knew girls who could sound like that, through the gala scene in both Vale and Atlas and they were all deadly. A girl had to go a long way down the dance to sound like that, where her voice conveyed not just a potential of death, but a resumé of it. The blonde girl looked at the door in amazement.
"Weiss has begun to weave quite the metamorphosis on you," noted Alice, taking a different tack. "Slowly making a society girl out of you, I should say."
Ruby laughed, the sound echoing in the bathroom. "What me? I don't think that'll ever work."
"I've seen the footage," pointed out the older girl. "You looked the part, you dressed the part, you duelled the part. You slipped into the role like a second skin. Personally, I think it's fascinating; we don't try and bring just anyone into our circles."
For a while there was no response, and no sound of activity. When Ruby finally spoke up there was a guilty note that coloured her voice. "It was fun, but I hardly want to be a leach on Weiss like that. Why do you think she's doing it?"
"She wishes to share with you the world she knows," said Alice carefully, wishing she could just come out and say what she thought. But she knew that Weiss' bite could cut deep. This wager alone had put her on more than enough thin ice. "Don't you think that is interesting?"
"I don't think I could be as mean as that," demurred Ruby. "Weiss scared me silly when we went to brunch at that hotel. She terrorised half the room just on the way to our table!"
Alice looked up and smiled nostalgically. "The path to the perilous heights is paved with the littlest expressions of power," she recited to herself softly. More loudly did she say for Ruby's benefit, "Oh, you don't need to be mean to be a society girl; it just helps. Still, I think it's fascinating how much Weiss is pulling you into her orbit like that."
"I guess," said Ruby, a little anxiously, "She just wants someone she can trust, no matter what, to keep her company. It seemed pretty sneaky and mean out there."
It was all Alice could do not to groan at Ruby's conclusion. 'Well aren't you two a pair,' she thought to herself. 'How am I ever going to get you off the market?'
The door opened and Ruby walked out in her full panoply of battle, including Crescent Rose riding at her back. "Hold onto my backpack for me, would you? I'm running late and need to go straight to the landing pad."
"Of course," said Alice.
Ruby handed over the bag with a smile and Alice began to walk her to the door. But as they approached it, Ruby happened to glance once again at the small array of pictures fixed upon the wall. This time something caught her eye. Amidst the few promotional weapon pictures from Sgathan House, a glamour poster from a famous Huntress Ruby recognised, a pop group she didn't recognise, a picture of Alice and her team at the beach, something else tucked in the corner made Ruby's eyebrows shoot up. It was a small print of Alice and three other girls posing together with arms around each other's shoulders as they leaned into the camera. Weapons were clearly visible in the photo. One of them was holding a white half-mask daubed in red markings. But what caught her eye was that one of the girls in the middle pair was none other than her partner, Weiss Schnee. The date in the corner marked it as a little more than a year old.
The girls were centred around a trio of White Fang masks. The young team leader's eyes went wide as she walked up to the picture. Ruby reached out to touch it as she looked back at Alice. The blonde society girl just gave her an enigmatic smile.
"You followed her," stated Ruby.
"I did," agreed Alice in a careful, polite voice.
"You fought the White Fang together."
"We did."
Ruby put her hands on the hips and gave Alice an exasperated look. "I didn't realise you used to be that close."
"I was comfortable enough with Weiss to tell her all about me and my Miltia," pointed out Alice with a smile. "That should have been a clue."
"Then what happened?"
"Mistral happened, Miss Ruby," replied Alice as a very sad cast came over her smile. "But that isn't my secret to tell. You may wish to let it safely lie. They were tumultuous times. Suffice to say, Weiss is progressing well in her recovery from a very considerable substance abuse problem. When someone does that, ofttimes their old friends necessarily are pushed to arm's length." Alice shook her head. "Weiss knows I would drag her back into that lifestyle in a heartbeat."
"That's horrible!"
"I can be none other than what I am," said Alice honestly, spreading her hands.
"Still," said Ruby pensively. She gave Alice a probing look but could perceive nothing in the girl's facade. "I wouldn't forgive you."
"You should trust Weiss," answered the older girl earnestly. "If she goes back, it will be because she chooses to, for her own reasons. She is not so easily swayed."
Ruby nodded and exhaled. As Alice dropped off the backpack by the foot of her bed, Ruby put her hand on the door knob. "Alice," she said with a glance over her shoulder.
"Yes?"
"Thanks," said Ruby quietly.
"It was fairly won, Miss Ruby," said Alice with a smile.
"Field trip, field trip!" trilled Nora as she waltzed her way out through the doors of the dormitory complex ahead of her team. After her in their full battle regalia came Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren, boots crunching at the pavement as they stepped into the sunshine of the beautiful day.
"Nice to see the enthusiasm," noted Jaune with a smile.
"How would you like your Grimm, monsieur?" asked Nora by way of reply. "Exploded, diced, fricasseed, or pulped?"
"I don't think it matters, Nora, they all just fade away anyway," laughed Jaune.
"Just means you have to get in fast to get a nice juicy Grimm-steak," retorted Nora. With a whip-fast movement she brought her warhammer up to rest upon her shoulder. "Good thing Magnhild is an extrovert, because she'll be meeting lots of Grimm."
"Well, hopefully there won't be too many to meet," answered Jaune a little hesitantly. The sound of a weapon shifting transforms caught his attention and he turned away from Nora to see Pyrrha holding Milo in longsword form, grinning at him. "Uh, Pyrrha?" he asked, before he yelped and twisted aside as the weapon's point thrust in at him.
"Cram session, Jaune," declared Pyrrha, sidestepping with an innate grace to stay in front of Jaune as he walked. "Nice dodge, by the way," she complimented.
The young lad grinned wryly. "I know how much you slowed that strike," he pointed out. But he drew Crocea Mors and gave it a twirl for reassurance.
Ren smiled as he watched, pulling StormFlowers from his sleeves and holding them in reserve just in case the sparring spilled over. "Don't rough her up too much, Jaune," he deadpanned.
Jaune stumbled and half-turned to stare at his friend in disbelief. "R-Ren, did you just...?" he asked in surprise. Before he could finish the question, however he felt the flat of Milo come to rest against his cheek. His eyes flicked down to catch sight of the coppery metal and panned down the length of the weapon to the attached arm, before finally tilting up to the red-headed girl beyond. Her smile was bold as brass. Ren was pushed to back of mind as he shoved his elbow up to disengage his partner's blade before he whipped his own sword in underhanded.
"Better!" declared Pyrrha as she casually sidestepped the blow.
The two students twisted to and fro as they began to spar across the campus. Pyrrha would test Jaune out and then withdraw a few steps to assess his response. Then she would go in again to worry away at the edges of his weaknesses. Her blade did just enough to make him aware of these weaknesses, at least subconsciously, as though she were a vaccine rather than a lesson.
As they watched their fellow partnership twist and weave their steel, Ren and Nora exchanged a look. "I didn't expect that," noted Nora quietly as she leaned in.
"Yes," replied Ren slowly. "Although I trust Pyrrha. And we both know Jaune still needs to work on his swordsmanship."
"No, I meant you," denied Nora, eyes sparkling. "You, making a joke?" Ren shot her a look, which Nora grinned at.
The young woman turned back towards their comrades as Jaune threw his shield out to batter down a blow, and only narrowly staying ahead of Pyrrha's stern test. Nora knew, just as Ren did, that there were some odd gaps in Jaune's knowledge and skills. Of course, his Aura was easily Huntsman standard, and he was a good person and a friend, so they followed him without issue. But damned if it didn't make them wonder from time to time. Pyrrha was easily dictating the fight, and she was busy walking backwards the whole time.
"That looks fun," said Nora, patting at the head of her warhammer. The bass thump of Milo into Jaune's shield was something she felt deeply. It called to her, like a Siren on a drum solo. Without conscious thought she drew up her weapon into readiness. Crocea Mors flashed, parrying point down. Wrists rolled and steel clattered twice over. Jaune ripped his blade back and pushed his shield forward, forcing Pyrrha to recover and change her steps. Steel flashed brightly, enticingly in Nora's eyes.
There was a sigh at her side. "Go easy on him," said Ren.
Nora laughed. 'Ah, he knows me so well!' she thought. "Watch my back, Renny-pie," she said, before reaching out and tapping him on the nose. "Boop."
Ren rolled his eyes, but the ghost of a smile haunted his lips.
"Jauney-boy, think fast!" cried Nora as she joined the fray from behind and to the left.
A reflex move took over Jaune's reactions, the fruits of Pyrrha's labours. He brought his shield up, but sharply angled towards Nora, with his sword hand tucked in just out of the student's sight. Magnhild hit the shield a glancing blow, deflecting down and away from Jaune's body. In a reaction faster than he knew he was capable of, Jaune thrust out hard with his sword, and drove it point first into the girl's face.
Realisation of what he had done made Jaune freeze up instantly. He needn't have worried of course as Nora laughed through the painful hit before sweeping his legs out from underneath him. He landed on his back with a startled whump, suddenly looking up at his teammates.
"Don't freeze, Jaune," beseeched Pyrrha. "That blow was perfect!"
"Perfect!?" blurted Jaune as he winced on the ground. Slowly he began to sit up. "I whacked her in the face!"
Nora leaned towards Ren and whispered from behind her hand, "And who expected I'd get a faceful of Jaune's sword before Pyrrha did?" Ren shot her an admonishing look, but Nora's grin was shameless.
"And?" asked Pyrrha of Jaune.
Jaune fell silent as he processed his thoughts. When he glanced at the 'victim' of his riposte, he found her smiling nonchalantly, absolutely none the worse for wear. Nora's Aura had absorbed the energy of his strike without issue. "Right," he muttered. He looked down at the hand wrapped around Crocea Mors' hilt.
"Seriously, Jauney-boy," chirped Nora, "That was an awesome move. I think you'd have whacked even Pyrrha with that."
"Yeah…," said Jaune awkwardly. "I suppose it was pretty cool."
"All you'll need to do on this field trip, then," continued Nora, "Is just imagine they all have my face and you'll be fine!"
"N-Nora!" protested Jaune.
Melanie was nervously activating and withdrawing her elbow blades, as if in a tic. She stood on the edge of the flight platform, watching as Jaune's team arrived. Team RWBY was present as well, bar their leader. The white-clad Malachite girl was trying as hard as she could to hide her anxiety, but she knew her teammates were seeing through her. There had been field missions and sparring before, but this would be the new class's first mission deep into Grimm infested territory with both Miltiades and Ruby together.
Their last mission had seen them encounter one Beowolf, which Pyrrha had dispatched with merry abandon. But from what they had been told, on this mission they would be lucky not to have to face a hundred of them. Worse, Professor Port had his heart set on finding something old and scary out there before they went home. Nightmare scenarios ran through the young leader's head.
"Everyone except Ruby is here now," noted Miltiades to the group softly. "I wonder where she is?"
"Isn't she usually the first one here?" asked Velvet.
"Yeah," said Melanie with a frown. She looked over and was surprised to see a blond swordsman walking her way. Pyrrha who had been talking to him, watched him go. "Hey, Jaune," she called as she got near.
"Hi Melanie," he said in reply. "You guys ready to fly?" he asked.
"Of course," replied Melanie as she folded her arms, a little professional pride stiffening her voice. "And you?"
"So far," said Jaune. He lowered his voice slightly for Melanie. "Hey, why don't you guys try and go mingle with Ruby's team? Might be good before we go on our mission."
Melanie turned a little more to face Jaune straight on, fixing him with an imperious gaze. The fight Jaune had to wage to keep his composure and dignity as a team leader was outrageously hard; the deep cleavage produced by her battle dress felt like a gravity well to his eyes. But to his credit he managed it, and thus got a civil reply.
"I really wish that didn't make sense," accepted Melanie as she sighed with feeling. "Do you know where Ruby is?"
"Not a clue, was about to go ask them," replied Jaune with a shrug. "I'm sure she'll be around soon."
"Okay, we'll join everyone in a moment," promised Melanie. Her peer smiled and gave her a thumbs up before stepping away to rejoin his own team. Melanie turned around again to face her team and inhaled deeply, before gathering herself up and setting her shoulders.
"You look like you're preparing for battle, not to go say hi," noted Velvet with a quirked brow.
"Velvet, anytime I have to go talk to Weiss it's a battle," pointed out Melanie with a weary little smile. "No blades, only words, but much the same apart from that."
"Weiss has never been mean to me," pointed out Velvet. "You guys really need to … I don't know, sit down and try to clear the slate?"
"What?" asked a very startled Melanie.
"Like, maybe if you keep your eye out out there and if you can help Weiss out with the Grimm," suggested Velvet, scratching at the base of her ear with embarrassment, "You could try and … you know, patch things up a little?"
Melanie's jaw worked soundlessly for a second as she processed the idea. "Patch things up?" she repeated in surprise. "With that bullying princess!? Whatever..."
"Look," said Velvet, holding out her hands, "I've been watching her for a while now and I'm just not seeing the horrible person you've been saying. Maybe she was that person, but it seems like she's changed. You're friends with Pyrrha, try going through her."
Melanie folded her arms up under her bust and fixed her teammate with a wickedly dangerous look. But Velvet held her gaze, confident she was right, an attitude that paid dividends when Melanie cracked first, nodding at her teammate with a grimace. Melanie wouldn't allow herself to vocalise a concession, however, instead looking to just move on.
"Alright girls," said Melanie as she turned away. "Let's go steal the scene."
The quartet spilled out of their huddled formation to go join their classmates. With a glance at each of her allies in their full battle regalia Melanie bolstered her self-confidence. The teams merged together, converging on the rather surprised trio of Yang, Weiss and Blake. They exchanged a glance, but did not resist the intrusion.
"Hey there," said Yang to Melanie, before echoing the sentiment for the other MAVM girls.
"Hello, ladies," greeted Melanie, her smile steady and confident. "Big mission today, isn't it? I can't wait, going to to be good to try out my new pretties."
Weiss eyed up Melanie speculatively. Her gaze was all that was necessary to immediately fracture Melanie's imperious facade, introducing an uncertainty to the dark-haired girl's expression. "I suppose so," mused Weiss. "Certainly it will be worth plenty of this unit's grade. For those who care about that sort of thing, anyway." As Melanie focused on smiling and not balling up her fists, Weiss glanced at Pyrrha. "Although I suppose that's just me and you as far as this class goes."
Aurea folded her arms and snickered nonchalantly. "Don't know what you expect, this is a class that thrives on action, not lectures. And we can do our part fighting Grimm."
"Going to be good to finally have a chance to prove that to you guys," noted Velvet, leaning on her stave.
That was a welcome attitude to Yang, and she smiled optimistically. "I'm looking forward to it," she acknowledged.
"We'll certainly do our best. My claws could do with an upgrade, though," sighed Miltia. "Hopefully I can get close to a few Grimm before they all get shot. I need to start putting together some bounties," she added with a nervous look at the others.
"Say," began Jaune hesitantly, "Where's Ruby off to?"
"Errands," answered Yang with a shrug. "She said she would be here in time, and I doubt she'd ever miss out on a ride on a Bullhead with lots of Grimm at the other end."
"Nora and me saw her walking by earlier," added Aurea with a shrug, resting her cudgel like a cane.
"She seemed real busy," elaborated Nora, gesticulating with unnecessary wildness. "She wouldn't stay and talk to me, even! But I'm sure she'll be back."
"Speaking of whom," said Ren quietly as he glanced over his shoulder and making a subtle nod in the direction of the Academy. The group looked that way.
Ruby Rose was walking up the boulevard towards them, as cheerful seeming as she had been since arriving. Her smile was broad and her silver eyes shone. There was a weightlessness to her step, a girl carefree in the sun's embrace. The red hood was affixed more snugly than usual, the rich, red fabric carefully enshrouding her neck. Some distance behind her, Professors Goodwitch and Port could be seen.
"Hey sis!" called out Yang, waving an arm. Ruby raised a hand and smiled back at her. "She looks cheerful," noted Yang happily. A moment later her eyes narrowed and a deeply suspicious look came over her. "Was her errand to the cookie vendor?"
"She certainly looks like the cat who got the cream," observed Melanie with a smirk.
"Does it matter?" asked Jaune with a frown. "Given how she was looking after the fight in the city, I'm just glad she's smiling."
Yang reached out and put an arm around Jaune's shoulders. "I always knew I liked you for a reason, Vomit Boy," she praised.
As Jaune struggled to escape Yang's grip, Miltia moved towards the edge of the group. "So she didn't say what her errands were?" she asked, but Blake just shrugged.
"No," she replied. "But we didn't ask her, either. We didn't really have a reason to." Miltia rolled her eyes, but didn't inquire further.
"Hey guys," called Ruby as she reached the perimeter of the class. "Sorry for being the last one here," she apologised with a goofy grin. A chorus of greeting came from the assembled girls and boys, which she gamely replied to. Everyone soon returned to the jumble of conversation in the groups however.
But Weiss eschewed the conversations in the group, walking away from Melanie silently, much to the former bodyguard's surprise. As her partner approached, Weiss noticed the stress-free composure that radiated from the girl. It was uplifting for the heiress to see the girl be so untroubled when she had seen her so stressed and frustrated in recent times. Enough so, in fact, that the rest of her mind didn't quite kick into gear straight away.
"Errands all done, good to go?" asked Weiss as she walked over to Ruby. She nearly stumbled as she arrived next to her partner, however, having noticed an unusual scent on the girl. She looked at her heels and muttered something angry sounding to cover for the slip.
"Yup," reassured Ruby. She patted Crescent Rose's holding form and smiled, a little anxiously as she glanced at her partner.
"That's a really interesting perfume, Ruby, something a bit different for you?" asked Weiss, just between the two of them. Something in her voice warned Ruby there was an dangerous hook in there somewhere.
"I'm not sure what you mean?" replied Ruby, carefully keeping her nerves out of her tone.
"I mean you smell like perfume," prodded Weiss with a frown. "I just happened to be curious about it. I could suggest one if you were looking, after all, something a little more affordable than the scent you're currently wearing for instance."
Ruby held her tongue for a moment, tilting her head at the heiress. "And what am I currently wearing?"
"A designer label popular among girls on the Atlas society scene," informed Weiss, lacing her fingers behind her back and leaning in. "But it's rather rare in Vale, in fact, the only person that I can think of who wears it in Beacon would be…"
"Alice, I guess," finished Ruby calmly to get on the front foot. "I ran into her."
'Ran into her and tumbled across the floor a couple of times by the smell of it,' noted Weiss to herself silently. She took a moment to decide where to go from here in approaching this new curiosity. Emotions seemed to fill her chest in a jumbled torrent, as if poured out of vessels from on high. There was something about this that Weiss really didn't like the feel of but couldn't quite figure out yet.
"That's right," said Weiss. "It was what she was wearing the other … night…," she added, trailing off into silence as something horrible clicked. "You had a bet. You asked about high-stakes society wagers. You … Oh my god, Alice Sgathan I am going to kill you," she breathed, hand over her mouth.
"Weiss!?" blurted Ruby in shock, instantly mortified and ashen faced.
The Schnee girl's blue eyes were wide as saucers, her face flushed with fury. The hand over her mouth stayed, pressed tight as she willed herself to not embarrass herself further. She shook her head, all but trembling herself to pieces in situ. When Ruby prodded her again, Weiss finally let the hand drop. "Ruby Rose," she said in a voice strained by incandescent jealousy. "Did you sleep with that treacherous, vile, deceiving corrupter?"
There was an annoying little rational voice in her head that told her that being upset made no sense. As Ruby had insisted to her sister, she was her own girl. And Weiss already knew that Ruby had been active on the dating scene; she would have to be a fool to think that had never amounted to anything beyond holding hands. But the emotional reaction she felt was visceral and undeniable.
"Would you keep your voice down!?" hissed Ruby, this time replacing the hand over Weiss' mouth with her own. She looked to see if anyone heard but it had gone unnoticed. "Okay, two things, one, it was a make out session for the love of Dust, I didn't sleep with her," she asked, to which Weiss shook her head intensely. "And two, don't you think you're being a little hard on Alice?" she protested before sighing and saying, "Bonus point three, I'm single, my romantic prospects are completely hopeless, and I knew I could beat Alice. Did you really think I was going to say no?"
A moment of silence passed between them, until Weiss asked quietly, "What makes you think your romantic prospects are hopeless?" Within an instant Weiss stiffened with shock. 'Wait, no, that did not come out right,' she thought to herself in alarm. However, she needn't have worried.
Ruby brightened and replied, "Thanks for the encouragement. I guess I shouldn't let myself get down about it."
Weiss blinked and opened her mouth to reply but before so much as a syllable could emerge the Professors had arrived. Their appearance was heralded by the booming voice of Professor Port, whose crude-looking but inarguably effective blunderbuss axe lay over his shoulder. By his side was Professor Goodwitch, crop in hand and as stern as ever.
"I see everyone is here, just what I like to see from a first-year class," declared Port. "Eager to come to grips with the dread foe, one and all."
The students fell out of their conversations to present in an informal line, two ranks deep. Weiss stepped up to stand next to Ruby. Without quite realising what she was doing, she pulled Ruby's hand into hers in what those who saw it assumed was just a friendly gesture between the two students. But there was a possessiveness to the touch that made Ruby shiver.
"This is going to be a dangerous field assignment, students," explained Professor Goodwitch. "To refresh your memories from yesterday's briefing, we will be heading to the deeper parts of the Emerald Forest by Bullhead and looking for elder Grimm."
"Big, ugly, deadly ones," interjected Port. "So make sure you bring your best and do Beacon proud as Hunters and Huntresses-in-training! Or else you will die, setting back your chosen careers considerably," he concluded with a jovial fist pump for emphasis.
A disquieted whisper swept the students, except for Ruby who was all but bouncing on her heels at the news.
"Flight time is approximately one hour each way," continued Glynda. "Once we get there, Team Maven will take lead alongside Team Juniper, while Team Ruby will operate as the reserve and rearguard. Don't protest, Miss Ruby, you should not have the slightest concern about not having enough to do on this trip. You will be well-challenged."
"Yes, ma'am," sighed Ruby.
Professor Goodwitch took another five minutes to go through details of assignments and positioning, before finally finishing with a concise, "Good luck, students. Team Juniper will fly with us, Teams Maven and Ruby will share the second Bullhead. Everyone except the team leaders, fall out to the aircraft."
Weiss stepped away and turned for the aircraft. She soon found Yang at her side, nudging her with a gentle elbow. "Hey, Weissy, everything okay?" she asked.
Weiss blurted out a quick, "Huh?!"
"You look pretty freaked out," noted Blake, appearing at Weiss' side opposite Yang.
"I'm fine," lied Weiss. Her friends both gave her a look and she sighed. "Look, ask me after the mission. It isn't something I want to discuss on the eve of battle."
Yang and Blake exchanged a glance. "Alright," said Yang. "Don't be holding out on your teammates though, we're here if anything is freaking you out."
"I know that," complained Weiss as she rested a hand anxiously on the pommel of her rapier.
As they made their way to the aircraft that were to ferry them to battle, the three team leaders clustered around Professor Goodwitch, who used her scroll to convey the latest details of their intended landing zone.
"As I mentioned, Miss Ruby, your team will be held in reserve," reminded the staff member. "I would ask you to keep in mind that I want to give Team Maven every opportunity to demonstrate their suitability at this level. Your team, along with Team Juniper, have already shown an ability to deal with Grimm on this sort of scale. Miss Melanie, I am looking forward to you taking the fullest advantage of this opportunity."
"Of course, Professor," replied Melanie. "Me too."
The students dispersed again to join their comrades; Jaune heading to the Bullhead on the right, Melanie and Ruby off to the one on the left. Ruby watched as Miltia leaned out of the airship and pulled her sister up into the cabin. To the scythe-wielder's surprise Miltia then turned and offered her a hand as well.
As she approached Ruby placed a boot up on the lip of the Bullhead's passenger cabin, then reached up to take the proffered hand. Miltades' grip was firm, and she hauled her up swiftly. Ruby was surprised by the speed and collided with Miltia as she embarked. The two girls grabbed hold of each other for support. For a moment, Ruby sighed in relief as she stopped, but then realised to her dismay that her hood had been dislodged, which bared her neck.
"Wow, girl, where did you get those?" asked Miltia softly, fingers brushing against the bruises on the younger girl's neck. The team leader moved like lightning to restore the covering of the hood to her neck. "And while you're at it, why do you smell like my girlfriend?" added Miltia, her voice blossoming with anger.
"I happened to bump into Alice, alright?" said Ruby defensively. "And those are my own business." With that the young team leader bulled past Miltia and into the cabin to stand with Yang.
Miltia recoiled with a little 'oof' at the impact, and watched the girl disappear, an expression of complete bewilderment on her face. "She couldn't have…," she whispered to herself. The older student was staggered, and shook her head in disbelief. No, surely not?
"Are you okay, Miltia?" asked Melanie as they began to feel the powerful engines of the Bullhead begin to generate the immense forces that would grant the team flight. The frame began to vibrate around them. "You look all freaked out."
"Fine," said Miltia in an unconvincing voice. "I'm fine, Mel." With that she moved to the back of the cabin next to Velvet, gnawing at her cheek.
But to the girl's dismay her partner took one look at her face and said, "Wow, Miltia, what happened?"
"Ask me later, okay?" replied the Malachite girl. She shook her head in dismay and sat down with her back to the wall and legs folded up under her.
"... is it related to Alice, your sister, or to Ruby?" asked Velvet, taking a stab in the dark.
Miltia looked over balefully at her faunus partner and shook her head again. "I don't know for sure," she said, earning an odd look. Her scroll buzzed and made her startle. When she checked it, a message was waiting for her.
'[Alice Sgathan] : Best of luck today, Millie, I'm so glad you're getting back in the field!'
For a moment Miltia didn't breathe. A part of her unfairly complained about the gall of the girl. Velvet was at her side again, asking something Miltiades tuned out. Instead, as the Bullhead began to lift, she tapped back a message of her own: 'So how was she?' She hesitated a moment but stabbed the send button. 'This is going to blow up really ugly if I'm wrong,' she lamented to herself.
There was a pause before the reply came. The distant girl attempted to deflect, writing, '[Alice Sgathan] : Whatever are you talking about, dear?'
'I'm talking about you and Ruby,' wrote Miltia, eyes narrowing at the evasiveness. 'She smells of that perfume that you're oh so fond of and there are love bites on her neck. So what was she like?' She sent the message and bit her lip, now in the lamentable situation of hoping like hell this nightmare had in fact occurred, lest she find herself in the doghouse for a month.
But she wasn't wrong, and a prompt reply arrived, even as the Bullhead began to start its forward momentum. '[Alice Sgathan] : Oh! Dear me, I see the ability to lie perfectly doesn't necessarily translate into discretion. Silly girl. Don't let it bother you, Millie, it was just making good on a foolish wager made during sparring class. PS: She kisses like a little kid on the playground, it was horrible, you wouldn't like it at all.'
A low, frustrated, miserable moan escaped Miltia's lips. 'Oh you have to be kidding me!', complained Miltiades silently. 'Of all the girls in Beacon, you went with her? Argh!' She felt a hand on her arm, and the shadow of one of Velvet's ears dipped over the screen of her scroll, but she ignored it for now. 'Please don't do that again, Alice, she's not safe,' she sent to her increasingly distant girlfriend. A minute later, as the signal on her scroll began to dwindle, a reply came.
'[Alice Sgathan] : Miltiades Malachite, do not talk to me about that! You don't want to commit, then okay, to the measure that you will allow me, I will be with you. Painful as that can be sometimes. You want me away from Ruby because you want her yourself, and don't pretend otherwise. But I want to keep you away from Ruby because I don't think you'd stop at just a taste and I am scared, understand?'
It felt like the whole of her chest was collapsing in on itself, like the metal weaves of her battle dress had all shrunk, strangling the life out of her. "That isn't true," she whispered insistently to herself. "No, that isn't true! I'm not being… I don't…!" Her eyes narrowed angrily.
To her surprise another message arrived shortly thereafter. "Alice...," she muttered as she read it. '[Alice Sgathan] : PPS: Okay, my last PS was a complete lie, I'm sorry. Whatever you choose, don't hurt me (or her) in the process. Look, please, you're about to go into battle, forget all this, focus on the Grimm and please, please stay safe. You can come back and yell at me as much as you like. You mean the world to me, Miltia.'
'I'll be safe, Alice,' typed up Miltia. She bit her lip and self-reflected a little guiltily and added, 'Sorry for asking like I did. You're wrong though.' She confirmed the message with a hesitant tap. Moments after it successfully sent, her scroll announced it was out of signal range. The girl returned her phone to its little sleeve and ran her hands over her face, brows knitted together in frustration.
"Talk to me, Miltia," urged Velvet.
"I'm fine," refuted the student as she began to rub at her temples.
"You don't like fine at all, you look like you've been run over," asserted Velvet crossly.
"I am not okay to talk about this here, Velvs," protested Miltia. "After the mission, okay? I'm actually going to want to talk to someone about it, so I'm not just fobbing you off. But for now I have to put myself in the right headspace."
"Alright, Miltia, if you think that's what you need. I'll hold you to it," promised Velvet. "If you need to talk, I'm all ears," she said, before throwing in a little attempt at levity when she pointed up at her faunus ears and forced a grin.
"Look, it's about me being a coward and a hypocrite," explained the former underworld enforcer bitterly. "I'll tell you the rest later."
Miltiades looked up and across the cabin, her gaze seeking out a youth in a dark dress and red hood. Ruby was happily chatting with Blake and that oafish sister of hers, seemingly oblivious. As if by sixth sense, however, she seemed to feel the observation almost immediately. The girl looked over her shoulder to find Miltia glaring at her, and caught her eyes. Emotion ran riot over Miltia's face for a moment, but Ruby's gaze was steady, confident and bright. Embers smouldered in the look that Ruby gave her, a brief primal glimpse into what lay just beneath the surface that seized Miltia by the scruff. And then, without anyone around her being any the wiser, Ruby looked away, and Miltia released a breath she had not realised she had been holding.
'You are a complete vixen, Ruby Rose.'
"What a surprise, your mutts couldn't find anything on little Red," drawled Roman. "And they seemed so well trained, too."
Cinder Fall propped herself up on a crate in the corner of their makeshift office, and slowly drew up and crossed her legs. Silky flesh glided against itself with a whisper that teased at the edges of Roman's hearing. Outwardly he didn't react but inwardly the pressure was intense.
'The woman is completely unfair,' he thought to himself in dismay. 'It's hard enough to match wits with her when you don't want to pin her ankles back to her ears.' But the infamous Torchwick was a gentleman thief, and those goddamned sinful legs could do as they pleased, she wouldn't get the satisfaction of knowing it affected him.
They were joined in their little meeting by Cinder's off-siders, Emerald and Mercury, while Roman had Neopolitan sitting politely at the table, smiling with a pleasantry no one with a survival instinct would trust. Cinder had been fashionably late out of the five of them. As a result Roman had been forced to put up with listening to Neo and Emerald verbally joust, sparks flying between them while they exchanged barbs like only wicked girls could.
"I suppose they did, I was very disappointed in them," lamented Cinder, her voice barely distinguishable from a feline purr. "I was perfectly surprised though, I would have thought a girl who so nonchalantly took life would have left more of a splash. Nonetheless, I am not comfortable in our ignorance about this little fly in our ointment."
"Does it matter?" asked Roman. "We don't need to be in her way, she doesn't need to be in ours."
"Darling, I'm going to be in Beacon," admonished Cinder. "Just as soon as I figure out what to do with Emerald's foolish exposure. And I have little love for ignorance. This was not our first encounter with that girl, and I wish to be sure that when we meet a third time I hold the cards."
Contemplative silence settled upon the meeting. "Well, if you need information in Vale and actually want competence, I know the gentleman," he said. "Although if you want henchmen, I would suggest somewhere else. They're a bit of a budget option, I'm afraid."
"Oh, him," said Cinder, frowning a little dismissively. "Does Vale truly have no better options?"
"I'd like to say we have an underworld as sophisticated as that of Mistral," said Roman with a nonchalant shrug. "But alas."
"Fine, I'll see this-," began Cinder, before Roman sat up straight and held up a hand.
"My dear, allow me to see to the details," protested Roman. "Your boy Mercury here," he began, smiling as he got an angry grunt at the word 'boy' from the lad, "Has already shown the dangers of over-exposure for your team. Let us take care of these things."
Cinder took a moment to reflect, running a hand down her luxuriant hair to buy time for herself. Mercury found himself on the end of a very irritated glare. "Point taken, Torchwick," she said tersely, still looking at Mercury. "Very well, see to the details. I want to know who this pretty little killer is before I step onto her dance floor."
As the echo of her words hung in the air she stood and walked towards the exit, her colleagues standing to follow. But just before she could reach for the handle, she paused and looked back to examine the shortest attendee. The colourful girl shifted a little anxiously under the gaze from one of the very few people in the world who she knew could kick her ass.
"Have you ever wondered how you would look as a blonde, Neopolitan?" she mused aloud. Emerald and Mercury both reared back, but whereas the former then giggled at the expense of her colleague, Mercury was absolutely fuming. He knew Cinder wasn't bandying beauty tips. His place in a crucial mission was at stake. Yet he knew better than to protest.
Neo blinked, her eyes going pale with alarm. "Well, I've never thought about it. I quite like my hair as it is. Why do you ask?"
Cinder declined to reply, however, and left the room with a smile. Neo cocked an eyebrow at Mercury when he turned to give her a filthy look. And then they were gone, with the door shut firmly behind them.
Roman glanced over at Neo after a moment's pause and tapped the table in front of her with his cane. "Did you seriously never meet Blondie's sister?"
"Never, I'm afraid," admitted Neo. "I wasn't interested in her family, you see, and she wasn't interested in mine. Shipping contraband to militant groups is perilous enough without exposing your relatives to it."
"Hmph. Well, I best see to this now," said Roman, picking up Ruby's photo from the table.
But to his surprise, Neo reached out to put a hand on his own. "Let me," asked Neo. "I'm interested enough for my own purposes anyway."
Roman smirked and released the photo with a gentlemanly nod of the head to his accomplice. "With pleasure."
The Bullheads had landed in a meadow clearing deep in the forest, and Professors Goodwitch and Port were busily fussing about, preparing beacons for later pickup. They were also setting up operating stations for the recording drones that would shadow every movement the students made in the field. Students were informed of the drones, being told they were there to assist in providing feedback afterwards, as well as to coordinate teams in the field. That they also were important for disaster analysis was left unsaid.
However, in addition to video records, the drones kept a transcript of all chatter that was carried out in the field. Velvet thus knew she had to get to the bottom of this mess before they flew. So as soon as Ruby began to walk away from a quick conference with her fellow team leaders, the faunus girl pounced quickly.
"Ruby, do you have a moment?" she asked insistently, appearing at Ruby's elbow.
The youth turned and smiled, all white teeth and flashes of silver. "Hey, Velvet," she greeted cheerily. "Sure. What's up?"
Velvet bit the inside of her cheek to still her nerves, then said, "Look, Ruby, I don't know what's going on, but you seem to have done something to upset Miltia something fierce."
A fey look crossed the younger girl's face. She didn't reply directly but cast about, until she spotted Miltia leaned up against the back of the Bullhead they had arrived on. Velvet opened her mouth to speak but Ruby just held up a hand and began to step away. As she watched the girl walk towards her partner, Velvet dropped her face into her her palm and groaned, "Ugh, shit…"
The young team leader steeled herself as she walked away from the group and towards where Miltiades was resting against the aircraft. One thing she certainly didn't want was for this to become a problem in the field, so she had to say something. But no plan came together in her head as she approached. 'Looks like I'll have to wing it,' she thought to herself.
When Ruby drew near, Miltiades looked up at her. Recognition caused her eyes to flare wide and an angry heat entered her gaze. Words formed on her lips like bullets in their chambers, just waiting for the trigger. But the words died stillborn as the younger girl walked by with artful casualness. Only her eyes engaged the older girl, the silver shining enchantingly as it went by.
"You're really not going to say anything?" blurted out Miltia in surprise.
"Of course I'm going to say something," replied Ruby without pausing as she walked around the edge of the Bullhead.
Ruby smiled to herself when she heard the footsteps commence behind her as she moved on. She continued to walk, until she was halfway down the fuselage, just before the open side door. When she stopped she turned around and found the Malachite girl already looming close at hand. The young team leader nearly blanched when she saw the expression on the other girl's face, but kept her composure with effort.
"Alice confessed," declared Miltia, beating Ruby to the punch. "I'm honestly shocked at the both of you."
Ruby frowned as she looked up at the taller girl, resting her hands on her hips. "Why?"
Miltia blinked in shock, caught off guard. "What?" she asked in bewilderment. It was the last response she had imagined from the girl.
"Why are you shocked?" asked Ruby. "You don't look shocked, you know, you look angry. So I guess what I mean is, why are you angry with me?" She looked up at Miltia with a curious, inquisitive expression. "I can tell you're upset. I wouldn't have touched Alice if you guys were a closed item, but you're not. I don't know what I've done wrong."
"Neither of you should have been hopping in bed with the ordeal you've been through lately," pointed out Miltia.
"You were there at the sparring class, you saw me," argued Ruby. "I was okay. If you say you're okay with Alice not being, you know, exclusive, then I don't know why you're angry with either of us."
"Alright, look, maybe ... I shouldn't be angry," conceded Miltia, somewhat backing down on the earlier point. "But it hurt me and I get angry when I hurt, okay? That was how I learned how to deal with being hurt. You know my background, you know that's how it worked for me."
"Well, if it's jealousy you're feeling, maybe it's time you make things more serious with Alice?" suggested Ruby with a cheery grin. "Alice is really nice, and she's head over heels for you. Something to think about when we get back." But her kindly words did not have the expected result.
For a moment, the older girl wrestled with Ruby's words. They were kind and encouraging, and Miltia knew that she should be accepting them in that spirit. But it was such crap, and the brat was missing the point entirely! Miltiades looked away, taking her gaze away across the clearing to the tree line. A moment of ease began to grow again as the wind blew gently across them. If she didn't calm down she knew that she would inevitably say something she would regret. But looking out over nature gave her a quick feeling of peace.
Then she foolishly looked back to Ruby.
The other girl was tilting her head, still all cookies and innocence, bright and precocious as she offered her encouragement. Calm fled from her instantly. Instead the truth bubbled up within Miltia despite every effort until she finally blurted out, "It wasn't jealousy; it hurt because it was you that she was with!" Shock flashed across Ruby's features, taken off-guard by the sudden blast. "If Alice wants to explore new things, that's fine," continued Miltia, helpless to stop herself. "It's the fact it was you who she was exploring that is the problem with all this!"
Ruby blinked slowly, her mouth working but no words coming out. Finally it all clicked in her head and she exploded. "What!? Who died and made you queen of my dating life?" protested Ruby forcefully. "Ugh, you know, I just don't know what to make of you. You say you don't resent me over our first field trip, but it always feels like you do! When I confronted you on Sunday, at your lunch hangout, you touched me like," she said hesitantly, reaching up to touch her cheek. "…and then you turned me down. I just don't know what's what with you!" She swept her hands out wide and shook her head.
"You killed two people on the Saturday, you made this wager on the Monday," pointed out Miltiades, before she checked for eavesdroppers and then leaned in to whisper, "I know you've been there, done that, but it's been a while. It clearly affected you."
The mention of sins past made Ruby still for a moment, but her brows lowered, her eyes narrowed and Miltia began to see in her stance the violent potency she knew all too well was within the girl. First-hand experience told her Ruby was dangerous when pressed. But while the imminent sense of danger frightened her, it was also exciting for her.
"Why can't you ever be honest with me?" asked Ruby in a frustrated growl, rejecting Miltia's explanation out of hand with a fierce swipe of her hand.
"How could I be honest with you?" retorted Miltia. "Seriously. Illusion and projection are so tied up with who you are, what else could I be? I've seen you so bright and cheerful you could have stepped straight from a Saturday morning cartoon, and yet I've also seen you take life with a smile. I mean, like, what are you, Ruby?"
"Ugh, so I don't fit into a nice box, so what?" protested Ruby. "Like being hard to pigeonhole is the same as leading me one way and then telling me to go look up my old classmates. You teased me, you touched me, I thought you might have been interested, but then I get told to buzz off. And then you tell me it hurts more because it's me!"
"You really don't understand at all, do you?" demanded Miltia as she threw her hands up in the air. "God, Ruby, for all you flirt, for all that when you have a mind to, you can move like a…," she began to say before shaking her head and trailing off, not wanting to give voice to what she had in mind. "Sometimes you just don't understand."
"I understand that you're not the only one being hurt here," said Ruby quietly, a powerful intensity in her silver eyes. "Did you think this is fun for me? To feel like I never got free of that Nevermore's claws, like I'm still up there and out of control? I'm glad that I hurt y…," she began, before stopping, fighting with herself desperately.
Miltia tilted her head back and sighed deeply, stalling Ruby's reaction. Slowly she looked back at the younger girl, who pensively waited to hear what she had to say.
"I suppose hurting each other is just something we're both good at. I guess that's why our teams want us out of each other's way. But I think we'd both miss that hurt, don't you?" She set her hands on her hips and sighed, shaking her head. She actually felt lighter, relieved to have talked to Ruby like this. A little smile turned up at her lips, catching Ruby off-guard. "We better get back."
"Yeah," muttered Ruby shakily, not sure what to make of the older girl's words. She drew in a breath and steadied herself. She didn't say anything, but turned and walked away, towards the front of the ship, wondering how that conversation had gotten so far out of hand. She needed to stop and think, to make heads or tails of what Miltia had said.
"Argh, there you are!" came Weiss' voice the moment she stepped back into view of the base camp. The heiress glided over, eyes keen and hands on her waist, every fibre in her being looking admonishing. "Dunce, the camp is ready, we're about to get started, this isn't the time to be hiding."
The words washed over Ruby as she regarded Weiss thoughtfully. "Hey, Weiss," she asked.
"Eh?" said Weiss, caught off-balance by the response. "What?"
"Do you think Miltia likes me?" asked Ruby, fixing her with a look.
Weiss stared at her partner with narrowed eyes, hands still on her hips.
"No. Not even a little."
Ruby sighed and looked up at the trees surrounding the meadow. She gave a quick shake of her head and looked back at Weiss. "Suppose I needed to hear that," she said in a ghostly voice. "I guess I just need to resign myself. She's so hard to make heads or tails of, you know? But I guess that's just me with any older girl. Going to be a long two years until my class at Signals graduates."
Before Weiss could figure out exactly what her partner meant, the girl had pulled free Crescent Rose, and made a quick pair of practice swings before bringing it to rest on her shoulder. "Well, at least I always know where I stand with my sweetheart," she said, allowing herself a little smile as she rested her cheek against the shaft. "Huntress time and there's a lot of Grimm to kill. Plenty of time to think about the devastation Beacon has left of my romantic prospects later."
With that she walked off to join the rest of the class, further across the clearing around a stack of equipment. Crescent Rose sat as comfortably and reassuringly as ever upon her shoulder. She left Weiss dumbfounded at the quick collapse in her partner's morale she had brought with a single breath.
It didn't make any sense to the young heiress. How else was she supposed to have responded? Suggest that Miltia liked her? No, it was unacceptable! But the deeply depressed look that the girl had worn was proof she had somehow gotten something important very, very wrong.
"Wait, Ruby…," she called softly, but the girl was already settling into her zone and didn't stop or look back. "But that wasn't what I meant," she finished with a whisper as she turned to watch Ruby walking away. "But that wasn't what I meant!" she repeated loudly, but Ruby was already distracted by her duties.
At the same time that Ruby went to speak with Miltiades, Blake and Yang had found themselves alone on the opposite end of the clearing. Weiss was off fuming, quite in a world of her own, and was paying the other two girls scant attention. This suited the two students just fine. Together they took a fallen log as a seat and sat facing away from the camp. Ostensibly they kept watch for the distracted faculty and to an extent that was true. Moreover they were grateful of a chance to finally talk after a tumultuous night.
Blake's hand rested upon the far side of the log to the camp. Yang's hand rested on Blake's. As they gathered their thoughts they sat in comfortable quiet, both watching the forest edge.
"So, we're a thing now?" asked Yang, still watching the horizon warily. Her voice wavered, just a little, as she looked for confirmation. "We never really said?"
"Mhmm," said Blake, sparing a glance over at her partner. "We didn't really say much on the way back yesterday."
"No," agreed Yang. "Don't think either of us expected what happened."
"I certainly didn't," agreed Blake, ducking her head.
"You okay with it all?" asked Yang. "You were so quiet after I confessed, I wasn't sure what to think."
"I had a lot to think about," answered the faunus girl.
"I didn't ask you to marry me," said Yang with a small smile. "I didn't even ask you to sleep with me, you know."
"You're a human girl," pointed out Blake. "I've never done this before. I … don't know what to do, what to say."
"All those stories you read haven't given you any suggestions?" asked Yang, a dancing light sparkling in her eyes.
Blake paused and then smiled back. "Quite a few, but nothing I've ever experienced myself before." She bit her lip. "So we're a couple now. But it seems we had the date before we knew it could be a date."
"What? Oh! That movie," replied Yang, full of life and laughter as she leaned forward.
"Yes, on the weekend."
"Oh but that doesn't really count! We should go back to that movie theatre," suggested Yang. "And do it properly. Same place, same movie, but this time I'll kiss you hello, and then kiss you good night," she explained in voice like the smoke off hot embers.
Blake shivered.
Silence wound its way around them for a moment after that. They paused and contemplated, both a little anxious and jittery. After a time Yang asked, "Are we going to tell the others?"
Blake looked over, honeyed eyes meeting Yang's. "I hadn't decided."
"I want to," said Yang. "Maybe it's a bit selfish, but I don't want to try and tell Ruby not to hide things and then hide this from her."
"Not thrilled by the idea, but I get your point," conceded Blake.
"We've got enough secrets, Blake," pointed out Yang. "I don't know about you, but they're starting to wear me down. Let's not add to the list."
Blake took Yang's words on board and paused. After a moment she nodded, a distance and another time in her eyes. "Yeah, it wears at me too." Quiet took the pair again. Blake leaned back and looked at the gorgeous blonde girl beside her. The startling human who after discovering her faunus heritage had shown her a side no different to the side she had shown before. The honesty of soul was bracing; the Yang that Blake had known was the true Yang. Deeds and secrets might lie in her past, but the core of the girl was always present, unadulterated and purely Yang. It was invigorating for Blake to meet.
"Secrets … you mean the militant sympathising?" asked Blake, prying a little. She knew she still had an almighty secret she had yet to share. Much as Yang had known she had needed to confess her work with the White Fang upon discovering Blake was faunus, likewise had Blake known that she would need to reveal her own past with the White Fang if this was going to work. And Blake wanted to make this work. Yang was earnest, passionate, a girl who made Blake want to leave her shell. Someone who had her beliefs and fought for them fiercely, whatever the cost. Blake admired her for these things deeply. For bonus points, Yang was also hot-to-trot gorgeous.
"Oh, Blake," sighed Yang as she checked her scroll to make sure the mission recorder was not on. "Yes, the smuggling. And the lying. And the killing. It's an ugly business, and I've had to do … things I regret. I have more than Junior's henchman on my hands."
"When did it stop?" asked Blake.
"A few months before I came to Beacon," answered Yang honestly. "I finally just couldn't take what the White Fang was doing anymore. I didn't feel like I was helping a group dedicated to justice, I felt like I was helping a few leaders get rich through other people's blood. There came a point where I realised things had become so warped that I was, well, breaking my principles as I tried to pursue them."
"I think I felt the exact same thing," said Blake in a voice soft and distant. A ghostly, ethereal tone. Yang looked up at her in surprise. "Ever since you confessed yesterday, there's been something I've been trying to have the courage to tell you. You might think it's terrible of me, but if it wasn't for what you told me, I'd try to keep this secret forever if I could." She could feel the intense, searching look from Yang that, hot like a brand. "I was, and I'm no longer proud of this, an operator."
"Eh?" asked Yang, not immediately making the connection.
"With the-"
"If I may have your attention students," came the voice of Peter Port in stereo upon the girl's scrolls. "The drones are aloft, and the mission is begun. Let's gather together and embark."
Blake and Yang exchanged a look as they heard the Bullhead engines begin to roar back in the clearing. Yang came off of the log and put her hands on Blake's knees, and leaned in to the girl. "Hold that thought," she whispered. "But put it somewhere safe. We have Grimm to fight."
Halfway across Vale City, in a particular night club, a young woman was meeting Hei Xiong, the man known as Junior to the underworld. For all she was a petite lass, she exuded an air of danger and violence. With every smirk and glance she promised and terrified. None of the henchmen would go near her. With good reason, of course.
Neopolitan's reputation for bloodshed was extensive and well-earned.
"Alright, if you think I can help where your own sources couldn't," said Junior, a certain smugness in his tone. "Then I'm happy to step in. Just tell me what you want to know."
The two underworld figures were seated at his bar. Being the middle of the day, there was no one around except Junior's staff, and they could talk openly. Neo sat with her back to the counter, expertly scanning across the more crowded part of the building. Junior was more at ease, a drink in hand as he leaned against the counter.
"I want to know everything there is to know about the girl in this photo," instructed Neo.
Junior reached out and took the photo, grunting as he saw it. "This little thing?" He scratched at his goatee and cast his mind back through the enquiries he had made after Yang. "Hmph, this alleyway in the background … this wouldn't have anything to do with that 'incident' last weekend?"
By way of reply, Neo's eyes narrowed, and she said, "Her name is Ruby Rose, she is the daughter of Taiyang Xiao-Long and Summer Rose, sister of-"
"Yang Xiao-Long, yes, I know," interrupted Junior. "I don't know much about the Rose girl, but her sister, Blondie, cost me plenty a while back. Tore the whole club up, cost me two of my best employees."
"The way I hear it," purred Neo, her predatorial instincts firing hot as she leaned in, "You cost yourself the twins. Stories of your overreaction are achieving legendary status."
"I did what I had to do," retorted Junior, eyes flashing as he took the bait. "I'd just had my whole operation turned upside down, the costs were outrageous. That shut-down cost me a huge contract that went straight to their old boss. I looked like a gimp. What else was I going to do?"
Neo smiled, her lips taking on the curve like they were something serpentine. "Well, I'm no underworld boss, but I certainly would never have let those two go."
Junior snorted and shook her head. "That tone, you're thinking with your pelvis again. Well, one only likes boys her own age and the other was pulling skirt like I could only dream of."
"You misunderstand entirely," said Neo as she laughed. "Unusual for an information broker. You see, once you reach the position those two were in, you either keep them, or you kill them." She blinked and her eyes changed colours to a frightening pink and brown. Her lips bared teeth in a death's head smile.
"Hmph," grunted Junior, folding his arms. "Well, I can find out about this Rose girl for you, if you give me a couple days." He paused and sized up Neopolitan before adding, "I could tell you plenty about the blondie though." All mirth disappeared from Neo's demeanour and Junior felt the thrill of knowing he had hit a mark.
"There is nothing that you could tell me about Yang," declared Neo darkly, her eyes splitting their colours with a dangerous blink.
Junior smiled and picked up the photo and walking away. "No, Neo, I suppose there isn't," he said airily. As he went, a girl in a tan and cream frilled dress appeared from the shadows after a nod from Junior.
A/N: First things first. Ruby calling in Alice's debt. I figured I'd put in a quick note here, since anything OC x Canon Character is normally rather a taboo in fanfiction.
There is a method to the madness. To be honest, in original writing, I'd have added this scene without a second thought! As a scene, it has been part of the plan for a while in order to throw the cat among the pigeons and put a 'show' to a few 'tells'. It is absolutely not the start of an Alice x Ruby arc and is certainly not OC x CC shipping. I had debated having it all happen off-page. But in the end, there are enough things that Ruby has been said to have done at Signal (heart-breaking, serial monogamy, etc) where there had been little or no on-page sign to match while in Beacon. So this dealt with a number of topics that I had on my hit list at once, while things aren't ready for the Weiss/Ruby/Miltia triangle to hit that point just yet. (Soon…)
With that out of the way, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. It was short on action scenes, but next chapter we'll be diving back into a motherlode of action. Masses of critters, explosions, lunacy, derring-do, and Ruby asks a Grimm if it fears death… Well, that's the plan, anyway, we'll see how it turns out.
Please review, as all feedback is appreciated and helps me to fine-tune things in future chapters.