War for Ruby

Chapter 11: Cheering A Rose

The older girls of team RWBY were killing themselves from the guilt and sadness they were feeling. Their beloved team leader had become practically lifeless from her break-up with Cinder, and seeing the redhead the way she was now broke the WBY' hearts. They might not regret hurting those that threatened to take Ruby away from them, but they certainly regretted causing the redhead any kind of pain. They needed to fix this somehow, before it became too much for them to bear.

While Weiss was studying and Blake was reading one of her many ''adult'' books, Yang was on her scroll looking for something to cheer up Ruby with. She knew that a simple plate of cookies wouldn't be enough this time and she needed something more. Something that would let her just forget all of her worries and get her to have fun.

''Let's see. There are no good movies going on. The arcade isn't probably good enough,'' Yang mumbled to herself as she went through different possible places to take Ruby to. She eventually found one that seemed perfect, which made her smile widely. ''PERFECT!''

The blonde's sudden outburst surprised her two teammates. ''You barbarian, what are you howling there for!?'' Weiss asked angrily.

''I just found the perfect thing for us to cheer up Ruby with! Check it out!'' Yang said excitedly as she jumped off her bed. Her teammates gathered around her to see what she was talking about. ''A brand new amusement park just opened up in Vale. I'm sure if we take Rubes there, we can get her to cheer up!''

Blake nodded and smiled. ''I agree. I'm certain that Ruby would be able to just enjoy herself there. We would be able to get back our leader that we love.''

''I second that,'' Weiss said and smiled a bit as well.

''It's settled then! Once Ruby arrives, we'll ask her to come with us to the amusement park!'' Yang stated cheerfully.

As if on cue, the redheaded team leader stepped into the dorm. The young girl looked utterly depressed and sad, and you could almost imagine a dark cloud hovering over her head. Seeing her like this broke the older girls' hearts and they decided to immediately set their plan into motion.

''Ruby, we were planning on going to the new amusement park in the city on the weekend. Would you like to come with us?'' Weiss asked with a bright smile.

The team leader looked at her partner and shook her head. ''Nah. I don't feel like going. I think I'm going to stay here and study and start working on that essay for Oobleck.''

''That essay doesn't need to be done for months and you have already been studying enough!'' Blake argued. ''Please, Ruby, come with us to have fun! You'll forget all your worries!''

''I'm sorry, but I'm just not in the mood. Besides, even if I've been studying enough and I have a good amount of time for the essay, there's no harm in starting early and doing good work. You guys go without me and have fun, okay?'' Ruby replied in a sad tone.

Before either Weiss or Blake could say anything, Yang stepped up and said to the two, ''I'll show you guys how it's done.''

The blonde walked up to Ruby and said, ''Please come with us to the amusement park, Rubes.''

The redhead closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. ''Yang, I'm not going. I don't-''

The rest of Ruby's words died in her throat as she opened her eyes and she saw Yang. The blonde had the ''sad puppy'' look on her face and was shedding a couple of tears and even her bottom lip was trembling.

''Come with us, please? It won't be fun without you. Can you please come with us, Rubbly Roo?'' Yang asked in a sad tone.

As much as the team leader wanted to say no to the blonde's request, she couldn't. Her resistance was shattered by the look Yang gave her, making her unable to say the word she wanted to say. In the end, she had to give up and give in to her teammates' request.

''Alright, you win. I'll go with you guys to the amusement park. Happy?'' Ruby said with a sigh.

''OH, ABSOLUTELY!'' Yang yelled happily and pulled the younger girl into a tight hug. Weiss and Blake soon joined the blonde in hugging their beloved team leader. They finally had hope of getting Ruby back to the cheerful and happy girl that they loved.

It was finally weekend and the girls of team RWBY were at the amusement park. As soon as they got in, Ruby started to slowly cheer up. It seemed like the atmosphere of the place had a positive effect on her, which was something the three older girls noticed. They were going to make their leader smile again after all the heartbreak she had been going through.

Things were going surprisingly smoothly for the teammates, as the WBY didn't fight a single time for the right to sit next to Ruby on the different rides. Before they had arrived, the three older girls had come to an agreement in which order each of them got their turn to be next to Ruby. After all, they were trying to make the younger girl feel better, which wouldn't be achieved if they were fighting. However, this still didn't stop two of the three older girls throwing angry and jealous glares at the one who was sitting next to the team leader.

The members of team RWBY had a fun day altogether. The only time things seemed to get messy was when they went to the bumper cars. The way the WBY were crashing at each other made it almost look like they were trying to kill each other, not just have fun. Their little battle stopped once someone bumped into Ruby quite roughly and the three older girls spent the rest of the time trying to crush that person.

It was getting late and the park would soon be closed. The four girls were walking around, trying to think of what to do before leaving.

''So, you guys wanna go have a last ride at the roller coaster or something?'' Ruby asked. She honestly didn't care what they would do as their last thing. She had so much fun already that she was honestly satisfied.

Yang was about to suggest something, but then she noticed that they had wandered to an area that had all sorts of stands around them. These had different games where you could win all sorts of prizes. The blonde had an idea on how to end this day and took a hold of Weiss' and Blake's hands, which earned her confused stares from the two girls.

''Actually, we have a little surprise planned for you, Ruby. We'll go get it ready and come back later, okay? We won't take long,'' Yang told the younger girl and dragged her other two teammates with her, before they could protest in any way.

Once the three older girls had gotten far away from Ruby, Yang let go of her two teammates, who were visibly displeased by the way the blonde had treated them just now. Both Weiss and Blake were glaring at Yang and looked like they were ready to punch her.

''You brute, why did you suddenly drag us all the way here!? And what is this surprise you were talking about!?'' Weiss angrily asked.

''Here's the thing, Weiss. I want to propose a contest,'' Yang answered with a smirk.

''A contest? What kind of a surprise is that for Ruby?'' Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

''The contest itself isn't for Ruby. Look around yourselves,'' Yang told her teammates. The other two girls did so and saw the stands. ''It would suck if none of us got closer to Ruby, right? So I suggest that we go and try to win the best possible prize for Ruby. Whoever gets her the best one, wins.''

Weiss and Blake glanced around themselves and thought about it for a moment. They then gave a quick look at each other, before turning back to Yang with determination in their eyes.

''Count me in,'' Weiss stated.

''Same here,'' Blake said.

Yang grinned. ''May the best girl win.''

The three older girls of team RWBY set out to find a perfect stand for them to compete at and win a prize from. They came upon a small stage that had a karaoke machine and a monitor on it. The trio immediately decided to go and give it a try.

Yang went first. She picked up the microphone and chose an energetic rock song as the one she would sing. While she did put energy into her singing, she was unfortunately horribly off-key and not able to sing properly. It was more like drunken screaming instead of singing. Every person around covered their ears, if they didn't run away. In the end, she was forced to stop by the person who was managing the karaoke machine. He turned off the machine while Yang was still trying to sing and told her to never use it again.

Once Yang had shamefully left the stage, it was Blake's turn on the mic. While she didn't cause as much horrible noise as her partner did, she kept messing up the lyrics and couldn't put enough strength to her voice. It was like listening to a little girl awkwardly mumble her lines at a play. In short, it was embarrassing for almost everyone present, with the exception of Weiss and Yang who were laughing.

After Blake's humiliating performance, it was finally Weiss' turn on the mic. All of the spectators expected it to go just as well as with the two previous singers, but the heiress surprised everyone by singing in an absolutely beautiful voice. Her performance was so stunning that some spectators were actually brought to tears. Once Weiss had finished her song, the crowd around her erupted into cheers. It was clear which of the three girls had won this competition and she received a small stuffed snowman toy as a prize.

Weiss walked up to her two teammates with a cocky smirk on her face and her prize in her hands. ''Did you see that? Grace, elegance, beauty and skill. All embodied in me. Try to beat that, why don't you?''

Considering how enraged Blake and Yang got, it was surprising that they didn't strangle Weiss right there.

The trio of girls walked away from the karaoke machine in search of their next stage for their contest. They eventually came upon a stand that had a ring tossing game. The goal was to throw a plastic ring so that it got caught up around a small wooden pole. The three girls decided to try their skills at that.

While Weiss was able to get a couple of rings around the poles, most of her rings missed and she was unable to win anything. However, she was doing a lot better than Yang, who was unable to get even one ring to get caught into one of the poles. She either used too much power and threw them way over the poles or she used too little and they pretty much fell to the ground. To say that the blonde was frustrated would be an understatement.

Although the other two girls failed, Blake was able to impress everyone around them with her skills. She took all of her rings in her hands and threw them at the same time and managed to get each and every one of them around a pole, earning her a small, black stuffed cat toy as a prize.

Blake turned to her teammates, who were staring at her with wide eyes. The cat faunus smirked. ''Did you say something about grace, elegance, beauty and skill, Weiss? I think I've got those in the bag.''

Weiss let out a huff and Yang gritted her teeth from anger. The blonde was starting get furious from losing against her teammates.

The WBY went on their way and found their last stand to compete at. It was a strength game, where they would have to hit a lever with a mallet that would then make a puck rise up a tower and hit a bell, which would indicate that they had won. The three girls agreed that it would be their last competition for the day.

Weiss was the first to try her strength. The heiress took hold of the mallet and tried to lift it up, only to be unable to even get it off the ground. She tried with all of her might, but the mallet would not lift. As she was doing this, the stress caused her face to turn red and her to make all sorts of pained expressions, which Blake and Yang found quite hilarious. Eventually, Weiss did manage to slowly lift up the mallet, but soon dropped it on her foot. Her two teammates practically roared with laughter as they watched Weiss jump around on one foot while holding the other and letting out some rather colorful language.

Blake was the next one and she did manage to lift up the mallet, although with a lot of trouble. She walked up to the lever and lifted up the mallet to strike it down, but soon fell on her back from the mallet's weight. This caused Yang to laugh out loud, which in turn angered Blake. The cat faunus lifted up the mallet again for another try and managed to actually hit the lever this time. Unfortunately, the puck didn't even go halfway, which gave Yang another reason to laugh like a lunatic.

Finally, it was Yang's turn on the game and she walked up to it. The person managing it offered her the mallet, but the blonde simply shook her head. Instead of using the mallet to hit the lever, she actually used her bare fist to hit it. However, this was more than enough to lift the puck up to the bell, as it flew up to it with such speed that it smashed through the bell. While Weiss and Blake were staring at Yang with wide eyes, the blonde went to collect her prize from the shocked person managing the game and received a small, yellow stuffed dragon toy.

Yang walked up to her teammates with a wide grin on her face. ''You guys can talk about the things you have, but a Huntress is worthless without strength and power, which I have. Along with beauty and skill, too.''

Weiss and Blake decided not to dignify the blonde's statement with a response and just grumbled instead.

With their prizes collected, the trio of girls set out to find their beloved team leader. They were planning on giving Ruby the stuffed toys they had won and see which one she liked the best. The three girls searched around the area they had left the redhead at, but were unable to find her. They were starting to get worried, when a sudden voice caught their attention.

''Hey! Over here, guys!'' Ruby yelled as she ran towards her teammates and waved her hand. She was also carrying a small paper bag with her. Relief washed over the three older girls as they saw their team leader.

''Ruby, where were you? We've been looking for you!'' Yang asked with a wide smile.

''Sorry. I was playing this one game,'' the redhead explained. ''What were you guys doing?''

At the same time, the three older girls presented the toys they had won to Ruby.

''These are for you, Ruby,'' Blake said with a gentle smile.

Ruby stared at the offered toys with wide eyes. ''R-Really?''

''Oh, absolutely,'' Weiss said. ''You deserve so much from us that something like this is nothing. We came here to make you feel better, after all.''

''Oh my gosh! Thank you guys so much! Hang on a second!'' Ruby said excitedly and started to dig through the paper bag she had with her. She pulled out three stuffed toys and offered them to her teammates. ''These are for you!''

The three older girls looked at what Ruby was offering them. For Weiss it was a small, red sun with a smiling face on it. For Blake it was a small, red tiger. And for Yang it was a small, red robot. The three girls accepted the gifts with big smiles on their faces.

''Oh, Ruby. You didn't need to do this,'' Yang said happily and hugged the toy she just got.

''Well, you guys have been helping me a lot, so I thought that I should pay you back in some way,'' the team leader said while rubbing the back of her head and blushing.

''You're too good for us,'' Blake said with a smile, before she thought of something. ''By the way, which of the gifts we just gave you do you like the best?''

Weiss and Yang stared intently at Ruby, anticipating her answer. The redhead giggled. ''I honestly can't pick one over the others. Each of them remind me of you guys and you're the dearest people to me in the whole world. I could never pick one of you over the others.''

While the three older girls were disappointed by the fact that none of them had won, they were still smiling at their beloved leader's kindness. The girl was honestly too nice for her own good sometimes.

It was finally the park's closing time and team RWBY had to leave. As they were walking, the WBY noticed that their team leader was deep in thought. This made the three girls worry, since the goal of their whole trip was to cheer up Ruby. If the girl was still saddened because of something, then their trip would have been for nothing.

''Something wrong, Ruby?'' Weiss asked her partner.

Ruby shook her head with a small smile on her face. ''Oh, it's nothing. I just realized something.''

''What is that?'' Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. She, Weiss and Yang were very interested in hearing what the redhead was talking about.

''I think I'm giving up on romance,'' Ruby answered, which to three older girls felt like they had been stabbed through the heart. ''You guys made me realize that I cannot let a couple of bad experiences keep me down. There is a lot more to life than that and I need to keep moving forward. Otherwise, I'll always be depressed and I'll miss a lot of in life.''

''But- Ruby- That's not-'' Yang stammered in trying to correct the younger girl, but was unable to come up with a good response.

''Thank you guys! I honestly feel a lot better now!'' Ruby said with the brightest smile on her face, before she started to run towards the station for the Bullheads. ''Come on, you guys! We can't miss our flight to Beacon!''

As the redhead ran, the three older girls let out a heavy sigh. Their plan to cheer up Ruby had backfired at them.

''This wasn't supposed to happen,'' Yang said in a depressed tone.

''It was your idea to take her to the amusement park,'' Weiss accused her blonde teammate.

''Well, at least it was a fun day,'' Blake stated sadly.

The trio ran after their team leader. They might have been able to accomplish their goal, but it came with the consequence that their beloved Ruby was no longer interested in a romantic relationship. They honestly didn't know if they should laugh or cry.

Author's notes: Finally back with a new chapter for this story. I was too busy writing my other story, but I decided to come back to this and write a chapter for it. I hope you guys liked it!

People have been asking about who Ruby ends up getting together with in the end and I want to set this straight. I have no plans for the ending at the moment nor do I know how long I'm going to make this story. I'll write it as long as I can before coming to an ending. I can only say that I would like to leave the whole thing of Ruby getting together with anyone unresolved/open. In other words, she doesn't officially end up with anyone specifically. This is because I want everyone to be happy and not just a small part of my readers. I could have you guys vote on it, but not only do I not know how to do it, I am 100% certain that it would end up with Weiss winning. I have nothing against WhiteRose fans, I personally don't just like the pairing. I also feel like there's too much of WhiteRose and Bumblebee in general as well. I mean, pick just a random RWBY fic and I'm willing to bet that 9 times out of 10 it's either WhiteRose, Bumblebee or both. It's okay if you like them, I just don't and I'm tired of seeing them everywhere. Hope you understand. I'm not trying to offend anyone.

I also want to say that there's a high chance that when I return to Dragon Unleashed, I'm probably going to work on it until I have finished it. This is because I'm getting near the end and I want to finally finish it. I will return to this story, it's just that I want to get Dragon Unleashed done so I can work on other stories. I'll also try to figure out what to do with this story during that time. I have ideas for future chapters, I just need to figure out how to do them. So prepare for a bit of a wait.

Also, if you guys have any questions, please feel free to PM me or ask them in the reviews. I'll try my best to answer as soon as possible. However, if you leave them in reviews that I can't directly respond to, be prepared to wait a while. I will do my best to answer all questions, but if I can't send you a direct response, you might be in for a little wait.

Anyways, hope you guys liked this and please leave reviews, follows and faves!

See you next time!

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.