Poll Update: Under the Cherry-blossom and Beach are tied at 3, Hot-air balloon is at 2, and no one's voted for the movie. Is that because of the cliche-ness, or is it something I said? (Probably the latter)
Disclaimer: I own RWBY as soon as I convince the world that my name is Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth at the same time.
Disclaimer 2: Small poll update at the end, and a long AN. Be sorta prepared.
I would like to again thank my amazing beta, Mr. Nobody or YARN.
Chapter 10: Secrets, Surprises, and Suddenly Sprung Sadness
The next day, Team RWBY was early for breakfast, surprisingly. So, when Team JNPR came down to the dining hall, they were met with the sight of the other team's common shenanigans; Yang and Weiss were once again arguing (this time over Weiss's constant and over-the-top study habits), and Blake was reading, once in a while turning to a notebook to doodle in a sketch or take a note. Surprisingly, Ruby was pushing her food around on her plate, looking completely untouched. Then again, she was still recovering from a stomach virus.
"Hello, everyone!" greeted Pyrrha with a wave.
Ruby was the first to lift her head towards their direction. "Hey, guys," Ruby replied, a smile present on her face.
"You feeling any better today, Ruby?" Jaune asked while sitting down next to her, "From what I heard, it was a pretty violent sickness."
Ruby waved him off. "Nah, I'm fine now. If anything, the medicine was worse than being sick." This drew a small chuckle from the rest of the table. "That reminds me," Ruby wondered, "where's Daniel?"
Nora shot a teasing smirk in Ruby's direction. "Of course that would be your first concern." This drew a bright red blush from Ruby as the table once again laughed at her expense.
"It's good to care for you friends, right?" a voice spoke behind Nora, emphasizing the 'friends' part.
Ruby's face lit up with a bright smile. "Heya, Daniel!"
Daniel returned a smile of his own. "Hey, Ruby, he greeted. Another glance swept over the rest of his friends. "Hey, guys. Did I miss anything?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "No, we just arrive a few seconds ago," she replied.
Daniel turned to Yang. "You guys been up to anything?" he asked offhandedly.
Unexpectedly, Yang flinched at the sound of Daniel's supposed accusation. "What makes you think that?" Noticing his suspicious gaze, she added, "I mean, it's not anything big, just a sort of side project."
"Uh huh." Daniel huffed, cocking an eyebrow. "Yep, definitely the truth," he commented sarcastically.
Yang rolled her eyes, but on the inside, she was panicking. "Fine, it's just a little surprise we're keeping." she lied, "It's nothing to worry about."
But Daniel wasn't buying any of it. As the week passed by, the majority of Team RWBY was unusually secretive. Blake, Yang, and Weiss talked in hush whispers while giving Daniel and Ruby occasionally subtle glances. Well, Blake and Weiss were subtle, but Yang didn't have the same elusiveness as the other two. Even though he knew them for less than a few days, Daniel knew that something was going on with their team. On Friday, he finally caught Ruby alone in the library, studying. Daniel decided to tag along, his excuse being: "I might as well find a new study partner."
After about a quarter of an hour into their study session, Daniel couldn't help it. He had to ask. "Hey, Ruby?" he spoke up.
Ruby peered over the top of the book she was reading. "Yeah, Daniel?" she replied.
"Do you think something's happening in your team?" he asked tentatively.
Ruby's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Why would you think that?"
"Well, for the past week, your team's been giving us weird glances," Daniel admitted.
Ruby rolled her eyes. "Is that anything new?" she remarked.
Daniel chuckled softly. "No, not like that." he clarified, "It's been a lot more secretive peeks and hushed whispers. If they wanted to annoy us, they could've done it a long, long time ago."
Ruby tilted her head in thought, somehow making her frown lopsided. "Now that you mention it," admitted Ruby, "they haven't teased us for a while. I thought it was because they realized how annoying it was getting."
Daniel leaned his chin on the backs of his hands. "You might want to bring it up with your teammates," he advised. "If there's something going on, you might as well find out as soon as possible."
Ruby smiled. "Thanks, Daniel!" she exclaimed, giving him a tight hug from across the table.
Daniel just chuckled as he awkwardly patted her on the back. "Alright," he chided. "let's get this stuff done first." With that, they proceeded with their schoolwork, the atmosphere a lot lighter and less tense than before.
As Ruby left the library two hours later, she couldn't help but mull over what Daniel said from before. Were they hiding something from her, she wondered. As she stepped into their room, she noticed it was eerily quiet for their team. Usually, Weiss would be fussing over their schoolwork as Yang would laugh and continue to mess around, interrupting her concentration every half an hour, and Blake would just be quietly reading a book on her bed, only the occasional page turn signifying that she was awake. Not now, though. That evening, the three were all on their beds, facing each Ruby with a surprised and concerned look. "Guys," Ruby spoke tentatively, "is there something wrong?"
When no one spoke, Ruby got more anxious. "Yang, are you guys hiding something?" she implied.
Yang rapidly waved her hands in front of her. "No, no, no," she denied, "we aren't hiding anything."
Ruby didn't believe her which made her crestfallen. Yang never, ever in their lives lied to Ruby this blatantly. "Yang, stop lying!" she shouted with tears in her eyes, "Why are you guys keeping secrets from me!"
Yang looked around the room, desperate for anything to cover up their problem. She looked at her teammates who gave her no help; they were lost in their own trains of thoughts. She stared at the homework laying on the desk, the calendar, and eventually the floor. "I'm a horrible sister," she mumbled. As was loathing lying to her sister, Ruby followed her gaze everywhere and put two and two together.
Yang expected a lot of things when her sister finally figured it out. What she didn't expect was for Ruby to squeal in delight and rush over to give her sister a ginormous hug. "Oh, Yang," she exclaimed, her voice muffled by Yang's shoulder, "you shouldn't have!"
Yang blink at her sister, her face blank. "What?" she asked in disbelief. Her teammates also looked at the interaction with confusion.
Ruby smiled at her friends. "Come on, Yang." Ruby giggled, "You don't have to keep acting dumb. I know what you're doing!"
"You do?" Yang parroted.
Ruby smiled widely. "Of course, silly!" she jibed. "You're planning a surprise party for me!" So apparently, Ruby didn't put two and two together, but rather three and three.
"We are?" Blake and Weiss repeated, eyes wide in surprise.
Yang glanced at the calendar again, and her brain short-circuited for a few moments; her sister's birthday was a week away, and she didn't notice. "Dang it!" she complained, exaggerating a bit too much, "It was supposed to be a surprise!"
Blake and Weiss then narrowed their eyes at Yang. "Wait, what?" they questioned, completely unaware of the situation.
Yang gave a forced smile to the two girls. "Come on, guys," she chided, "knock it off. The jig is up; Ruby found out about the party."
"Party?" Ruby squealed, her arms trembling with excitement.
"Party?" Blake and Weiss mimicked.
Yang gave her teammates a small look that spoke volumes. "Play along. Or else."
"Oh, fine." Weiss drawled with a small sigh. "I guess we can tell her now."
Ruby rushed over to give her a tight hug. "Aw, guys!" she squeaked, "You shouldn't have!"
Weiss gave her a half-hearted frown and pried her partner off of herself. "Get off me, you dolt!" she ordered. Once she was out of the iron trap that was Ruby's hug, she huffed, "Why not invite Team JNPR over today to discuss your birthday? I think they would like to be a part of your birthday."
Ruby beamed at Weiss. "You mean, like a sleepover?"
Weiss's brows knitted in confusion. "When did I ever imply that it was-?"
"Sure, Ruby." Blake interrupted, giving Weiss a pointing look, "It will give us more time to discuss what we should do for your birthday."
Ruby's arms shot up in the air, shouting, "Yay!" Her teammates couldn't help but smile at the small girl being this excited. "Hold on." Ruby started, "I'll go tell them right now!" Being the speed demon that she was, her body was out the door and in front of their roommates' doors in an instant.
When Ruby was out of earshot, Weiss and Blake turned back to the older sister. "What did we just do?" Weiss asked.
"I think," Yang said, unblinking, "Ruby may have just thrown a surprise birthday party for herself."
Meanwhile, in Team JNPR's room, their days were winding down as they relaxed after another week in school. Ren was meditating with Nora right beside him, trying and failing to copy his serenity. Jaune and Pyrrha were studying on their plethora of subjects when they heard a knocking on their door. Confused at who it might've been, Pyrrha answered the door to find a hyperactive Ruby bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Hello, Ruby." Pyrrha greeted politely, "Do you need anything?"
Ruby gave Pyrrha a large grin. "Yep!" she replied, "I'm gonna have to need your team come over to our room tonight for a sleepover. We're discussing my birthday party, which I hope you know about!"
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "Ruby," she started, "I don't think we knew-."
"Hey, Pyrrha?" Jaune intervened, "Mind if I take this one?" When Pyrrha stepped back and gestured towards Ruby, Jaune took that as his cue to take her place at the door. "So, Ruby," he started again, "mind telling me how you know about this alleged birthday party when it's supposed to be a secret?"
Ruby gave him a small smirk. "I may have had some help with Daniel," she responded.
"And, when's your birthday, exactly?"
Ruby smiled. "Next Saturday," she answered.
Jaune tried not to show the surprise on his face. "Does Yang want us to help plan your birthday at this sleepover?"
"Yep," Ruby responded.
"One last question: does Daniel know about this?" Jaune asked with a small smirk.
Ruby froze at this. "Umm… not yet?" she half stated, half questioned.
Jaune laughed at this and turned to his teammates. "Hey, guys." he shouted, "You wanna have a sleepover at Team RWBY's?"
Nora popped out of her "meditation" and jumped on Jaune's back like a little kid. "Can we? Please, please, please?" she asked ecstatically.
Pyrrha came back into Ruby's view, smiling at Nora's behavior. "I don't see why not." she stated, "Ren will probably come along with us once he's done meditating."
Ruby smiled. "Great! So, meet us in our room in about 15 minutes." she insisted, "Meanwhile, I'm gonna have to make a call to someone. Okay, bye!" And Ruby sped off, closing their door with a slam.
Pyrrha turned to her partner. "Why didn't you mention that we had no idea it was her birthday?"
Jaune sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "When you live with seven sisters, you pick up on these things really quickly. If Yang has something to keep from Ruby knowing, it's best to let her sort it out by herself."
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "Why would you think she has something to hide?"
Jaune snorted. "Like I said," he repeated, "living with 7 sisters makes you pick up on a few things."
Ruby found Daniel wandering the hallways back from the training arena. "Hey, Daniel!" Ruby greeted with a small wave.
Daniel smiled back. "Hey, Rubes!" he responded, "So, you figured things out with your team yet?"
Ruby gave him a thumbs up. "Yep; they wanted to throw me a surprise birthday!"
Daniel's eyes widened in shock. "Your birthday's coming up?" he half asked, half shouted.
Ruby nodded. "Yep," she said, popping the 'P', "Next Saturday, in fact."
"Well, that's half of the mystery solved." Daniel pointed out, "But why were they staring at me all week?"
Ruby shrugged. "Probably because you would tell me as soon as possible." she assumed with a small smirk.
Daniel put a hand to his chest, letting out an exaggerated gasp. "You don't think I could keep a secret?" he accused mockingly.
Instead of the usual response, Ruby wanted to drive the nail home. She lowered her head slightly with a coy and sad look on her face. Giving Daniel her best pout, Ruby asked in a sniffling voice, "Would you keep secrets from me?"
Daniel just stared at the pouting figure in front of him for a few seconds. "Yang was right." he proclaimed, "I would've broken in under two seconds flat."
Ruby smirked deviously. "Yep." she quipped, "You can't keep a secret."
"Can too!"
"Cannot!"
"Can too!"
A few seconds later, Ruby and Daniel were found on the ground in the middle of the hallway, rolling around and laughing uproariously. Once they calmed down, Daniel brushed a tear away from his eye. "So, what do you want for your birthday?"
Ruby tapped her chin in thought. "Hmm," she hummed, "I don't know yet. Oh, by the way, we're having a sleepover with Team JNPR tonight! Want to join in?"
Daniel raised an eyebrow at her. "You're having a sleepover with 9 people in a room built for 4." he pointed out.
Ruby sobered up at that fact. "Oh." she acknowledged.
Daniel ruffled her hair. "Hey, don't sweat it." Daniel paused, "You know, you guys could hold it in my room. It's almost empty except for an empty bookcase, a desk, and my bed, since, you know…. my friends."
Ruby nodded. "That could work. I'll ask my team first. Do you want to come with?"
Daniel waved her off. "Nah, I'll probably have to tidy up a bit before you guys come. See you in five?"
Ruby smiled as she walked away. "See you in five," she confirmed. It took a few seconds for her to realize a flaw in their plan. "Wait." she pondered, stopping in her tracks. "Where's your room again?"
"A floor above yours, Room 313," Daniel responded.
"H'okay!" Ruby said as she kept walking, a small skip to her step.
"Well, time to hide basically everything I own in the closet." stated Daniel as he trekked back to his room.
When Ruby entered her room, she saw her teammates dressed in their everyday sleepwear (every-night?): Blake and Weiss in their nightgowns and Yang sporting an orange and yellow t-shirt and black shorts.
"Alright." Yang exclaimed, cracking her knuckles, "Let's get this party started!"
"Not yet!" Ruby blurted, digging for her own sleepwear. Once she was dressed, she gathered a pillow and one of her room's sleeping bags. "Alright, now it's starting!" she announced, starting to walking out of the room.
"Hold on." Weiss called, "Where are you going?"
"To Daniel's room." Ruby answered, not noticing Yang's not so subtle glare."
"And why would you go there when there's a sleepover being held here?" Weiss questioned with an eye roll.
"Because this room's not big enough for nine of us. So, we decided that-."
"Hold on." Blake interrupted, "Nine? Who's the other person, and who is this 'we'?"
Yang's eyes widened in realization. "Ruby, did you invite Daniel to this?"
Ruby blushed lightly. "Maybe?" she answered.
The rest of her team groaned. "Great. Just great." Yang exasperated, "We can't stop you from going on with this, can we?"
"Nope." Ruby quipped. She opened the door to leave their room. When she opened the door, Team JNPR were outside, each holding a sleeping bag bundle. Jaune was in his classic bunny onesie, Ren was dressed in a much more comfortable pajama version of his regular clothes, Nora had on a 'Boop' t-shirt and pink shorts, and Pyrrha had on a red nightgown similar to Weiss's. "Change of plans!" Ruby stated, walking past the four, "Meet us in Room 313."
Jaune turned to the three girls in the room. "Umm," he said, "who's room is that?"
Yang replied, "Daniel's." Noticing Jaune's forming smirk, she added, "And don't think about it like that, idiot!" She then followed her sister to the stairs, her teammates trailing closely behind her. Weiss turned around and gave team JNPR a small shrug before continuing on their way.
Jaune turned back to his team with a smirk. "Who thinks this was Ruby's idea?" he asked.
Pyrrha giggled slightly. "Well," she offered, "when you put it that way…" Pyrrha just smiled and went with the others.
Nora caught up quickly, a bounce to her step. "Isn't this exciting?!" she asked, "It's our first double team sleepover! I mean, since Daniel's here, it's technically three teams… But does one-person count as a team? I mean, a team is supposed to be a bunch of people, and since it's one person-."
"Nora," Ren interjected, "we get it. Let's just call it a 'two team plus one sleepover'."
When Team JNPR opened Daniel's door, they were greeted with quite a sight. In the far corner of the room, Ruby was jumping on Daniel's bed gleefully, apparently having unending reserves of energy. Blake was perusing through Daniel's bookcase on the opposite wall, ordering them according to her preference. Yang and Weiss were setting up the sleeping bags, lightly arguing about where to put them (Weiss did most of the arguing; Yang was just having a blast, looking at the different shades of red Weiss's face was turning). Daniel, wearing a plain black long-sleeve and red cargo shorts, just sat at his desk placed at the foot of his bed with his head in his hands, muttering about why he suggested this idea and how his room was cleaner before Team RWBY came.
Nora squeaked in delight and joined Ruby, jumping on the bed with as much enthusiasm. Ren chuckled softly while walking over to try and calm his childhood friend down. Jaune sighed with a smile still present on his face, helping Pyrrha set up their own places to sleep. When they were finished, the floor was littered with eight sleeping bags and pillows, the exhausted bodies of Ren, Nora, Ruby, and Daniel, and various board games that the three teams dug up from their closets. "So," Daniel started, "has anyone even been to a sleepover before? I have no idea what I'm doing."
In unity, Ruby, Yang, Nora, and, surprisingly, Jaune all raised their hands and echoed, "Yep." A few heads were turned towards Jaune in suspicion (Gee, I wonder who could it be *Cough, cough, Weiss). "What?" exclaimed Jaune. "Seven sisters" was his only explanation, which actually made a decent amount of sense to the others since they all nodded in understanding.
"Anyways," Yang continued, "what do you guys want to do first?" She pulled out a variety of different of board games. "We've got… who brought these games here? These are for five-year-olds!"
"Hey," yelled Jaune, "I resent that!"
"You brought chess! Chess! To a sleepover!"
"Hey, chess is a blast! How am I supposed to know what you guys do at your sleepovers!"
Yang let out a disappointed sigh. "Well, at least we have good classics like Spin the Bottle," she said as she took out a metal canteen with the Beacon logo on it.
As she set it in the middle of the circle of friends, Daniel just stared at the bottle blankly. "No." he proclaimed.
"No?" Yang echoed, "Why not?"
Daniel looked up at her. "Because there're three guys and six girls here. Odds are that it's gonna be extremely weird, uncomfortable, and half of us won't be able to look at each other for a good week-and-a-half."
Yang smirked deviously. "That's the plan!"
Daniel sighed. "Whatever," he said with a small wave, "just make it quick."
"Umm," Pyrrha interjected with her hand raised, "what's Spin the Bottle?"
The rest of the group turned sharply toward her. "Wait, you don't know what Spin the Bottle is?" Nora clarified.
Pyrrha blushed in embarrassment. "No?" she responded.
With that, Nora burst into a long and drawn out explanation of, what she called, 'The Rules and Science of Bottle Spinning'. As Pyrrha slowly became more and more confused when Nora began to talk about mass displacement and torque of the bottle's center of mass (she started to understand that Nora didn't even know half the words she was spitting out [AN: neither do I]), Jaune pulled her aside with a much simpler explanation. "One person spins a bottle, and whoever the bottle points to in the end has to kiss the person that spun."
With that explanation, Pyrrha started the first round. Before her hands touched the bottle, though, Ruby called out, "Hey, no cheating!"
Pyrrha looked at Ruby in confusion. "Excuse me?"
Ruby pointed at Pyrrha accusingly. "No Semblances, only destiny guides the bottle," she said in a mystical voice.
Daniel sighed as he pulled a random plastic sports bottle and replaced the canteen with it. "There, satisfied?" he exasperated.
Ruby lowered her hand with a smile. "Yep." she approved.
With a devious grin, Pyrrha once again placed her hand on the bottle and spun it. The nine watched it make a full rotation. Then another. And another. It eventually slowed to a halt pointing to… Daniel. Daniel just sighed, got up from where he was seated, and just walked out. From outside the hall, they could hear him shout, "This is why I hate this game!" His friends just burst into laughter at that comment.
When he came back, Daniel's mouth was stretched into a small, thin line as he walked in. Without a word, he stood next to the sitting Pyrrha and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "Wuss!" Yang shouted teasingly.
Daniel gave Yang a small glare as he went back to where he previously sat. "Alright," he seethed, "who's turn is it?"
Nora smirked. "It's your turn, silly! Don't you know the rules?"
Daniel sighed. "As long as it isn't Jaune or Ren, I think I can handle it." Daniel slapped the end of the canteen and watched it spin. Apparently, some higher being (AN: Me) wanted him to have a horrible life, and it ended on Yang. Yang looked up at Daniel with a smug, Cheshire grin as Daniel, once again, got up and headed for the door. "Nope, not handling it."
Pyrrha, deciding to go along with Daniel's psychological torture, used her Semblance and motioned for the door to close and locked the doorknob. Without losing stride, Daniel just put his hands in front of him, a familiar blue light emitting from his palms. When they made contact with the door, the wooden surface crumbled and spread out so it looked more like a double-door than a single one. As he sulked away, the eight people in the bedroom lost it, rolling on the floor at Daniel's expense. "Okay," Yang managed between gasps, "who rigged the bottle?"
"What are you talking about?" Pyrrha asked rhetorically, taking off a small, metal chip she placed on the bottle the first time she spun. "I'm shocked you would accuse us like that? Have you no shame?" This brought another bought of laughter from the friends as Pyrrha beamed at them.
Daniel came back to the room, noticing the bottle was placed aside while the everyone but Ren excitedly planned Ruby's party. Well, Ren was excited by his standards, but he managed to hide it well. "So," Daniel heard Weiss speak, "We're holding it in Daniel's room since our rooms are too cramped."
Daniel threw his hands up in exasperation. "Apparently my room doesn't require my opinion!" he broke in as he repaired his mangled doorway.
"Oh, it probably does." Yang commented, "We just chose to ignore it for now. So, Daniel, now that you're here after your unexpected departure," Yang smirked as she ducked Daniel's wing that was supposed to cuff the back of her head, "can we use your room for the birthday party?"
"Well since you asked so nicely." Daniel sassed, stressing each syllable with a tilt of his head. He then shrugged and responded, "Sure, it also means you've technically invited me to Ruby's birthday."
"Drat!" Yang exclaimed, looking over that detail.
"And it looks like Weiss has influenced Yang slightly." Blake pointed out dryly.
"What are you talking about, Blake?" Yang asked with an innocent smile, "I think I'm Yang-ing on to my beliefs. Xiao Long have you thought about this?"
"I stand corrected." Blake declared with a small sigh and a shake of her head.
"So, back to Ruby's birthday." Jaune suggested, "Cake type?"
"Chocolate," Ruby answered immediately.
"Balloons?" Jaune asked, rapid-firing his questions as he typed their responses on his Scroll.
"Definitely not," Blake said with a slight shiver (AN: Cat racism. Sorry).
"Activities?"
"Keep it simplistic." Weiss instructed, "Cake, presents, and maybe dinner out in the city."
"Sounds good." Commented Jaune, "Wow, you guys really thought this out considering it's all spur of the moment." Blake, Yang, and Weiss looked at Jaune imploringly and suspiciously, the others following their gazes. Noticing the dead silence from the three girls, Jaune looked up from his device to the stares of the rest of the room. "I mean," Jaune stammered, "you guys probably were too interested in keeping this a secret from Ruby than actually planning it, right?"
Most of the friends accepted this, but the three secret-keepers were still curious. "Yeah," Yang agreed reluctantly, "how'd you guess?"
Jaune chuckled weakly. "Well, having seven sisters really helps in a lot of things." he reasoned, "Not at being a Huntsman, but at a lot of other skills around the house – for example, party planning."
Jaune released a breath he didn't realize he was holding once Team RWBY looked at each other and shrugged. "Any presents you want in particular?" Jaune asked tentatively, keeping one eye on the three.
Ruby shook her head violently. "No, no, no, that's not how it works! You don't tell or ask what the birthday girl wants to get- it ruins the surprise!"
The rest of the night was spent debating over the finer details of the party and their insights on the upcoming Vytal Ball ("It seems too sophisticated for some of us." Weiss would argue). Eventually, Ren and Daniel suggested to wind down and finally sleep after a few hours of staying up- Daniel mostly hoped that his room wouldn't look so much like a mess in the morning. Ruby tried to be rather modest and sleep closest to the door, where most of the draft came through from. Daniel had none of it and gave up his perfectly comfortable bed to Ruby, stating that sleeping on a bed made his wings cramp. Though it still drew a few amused raised eyebrows from Pyrrha and Jaune and a small, suspicious glare from Yang.
For the rest of the night, everyone had a fitful rest for the weekend. Well, all of the but two. At about 2:00 in the morning, Daniel woke up with a painful throb in his side and his wing, but not by what he slept on. Turning to lay on his side (bad move on his part since it made him wince even harder), he saw the open door to his room with a figure just leaving his sight, unable to be identified by the briefness of Daniel's vision. Daniel looked around the room rapidly to see if anyone was missing, only for him to realize that his bed was devoid of any sleeping body. Quickly grabbing his and Ruby's unusually left behind cloak, he ran towards the stairs to catch up with the retreating figure. "Hey, Ruby." he quietly shouted, not wanting to wake up anyone in the other rooms, "You alright?"
When he didn't hear a reply as Ruby climbed the stairs, Daniel's eyebrows furrowed together. "Ruby." he hissed a little louder, "Rubes. Hey, Rubes." Apparently, repeatedly calling her name didn't work, as she promptly kept going up the stairs towards the roof. Racing to catch up, Daniel bolted out of the doorway to see Ruby halfway between himself and the edge of the roof, not slowing down whatsoever.
"Ruby!" Daniel repeated, standing in front of her and placing his hands on her shoulders, "What's wrong?" Then, he noticed the expression on her face. Ruby's eyes were closed, her expression neutral, but tears streamed down her face as she pressed her lips together tightly, making a small straight line. She shrugged Daniel off and kept walking towards the edge of the roof, stopping barely a hair's length away.
"Ruby?" Daniel called out again, stepping closer to the sleepwalking figure. Without warning, Ruby collapsed on her knees and pitched forward. Right off the edge.
Without a second thought, Daniel dashed over and barely managed to grab ahold of Ruby's slim fingers, his own balance being thrown off as he overshot and also started tilting dangerously over the side of the roof. Only his steady footwork kept him up long enough to buffet his wings hard enough to pull himself back on the steady ground with Ruby. By the time she was laying on the ground, Ruby awoke and started tearing up. Looking at Daniel who was still breathing heavily, her bottom lip quivered, trying to hold back sobs. Daniel was lying next to Ruby, trying to give her a smirk to add some levity, even though he was breathing hard from the sudden rush of adrenaline. "We really have to stop meeting like this," he stated.
With that, Ruby broke as she collapsed into Daniel's chest, letting loose strangled sobs. Daniel uncomfortably shifted his body so his left hand propped his body, and Ruby's, up as his other hand slowly pulled Ruby's hood over her head and fastened the small chain hooking it together. His hand then traced small circles on her back comfortingly. They stayed like this for a few minutes as Ruby bawled all of her tears, soaking Daniel's shirt thoroughly. Once it was over, Ruby wiped her eyes as she pulled back. "Sorry for getting your shirt wet," she apologized in a timid voice.
Daniel frowned at this as he half dragged, half walked Ruby over to sit by the shed-like structure that housed the door back inside. Wrapping his arms around her torso, Daniel guided Ruby to sit in his lap while enveloping her in a tight hug. "Getting my shirt wet is the least of my problems." he assured Ruby, "Come on, what's wrong?"
Ruby melted and curled into a small ball, leaning her head against his chest. "I don't know what you're talking about." she denied weakly, "I sleepwalk a lot. This one just went too far."
Daniel let out a dry chuckle without humor. "Don't play this with me. I've had the same thing happen to me. What was the dream about, or rather, the nightmare?" he prompted.
Ruby stayed silent for a few moments, debating whether or not to tell Daniel as she squirmed in his hug. "My mom." she finally said, "I dreamed about how… how my mom left me."
Daniel winced but nevertheless gave Ruby a small squeeze of comfort. "Thought so." he said with a grimace, "I thought you might've lost someone like me."
Ruby buried her face into Daniel's shirt, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Mom was a Huntress." Ruby explained, "She was the best mom in the world, but no matter what, we always knew something might happen to her. We just didn't realize how soon." A few beats of silence passed. Then, "Did you lose anybody you loved?" Ruby implored.
"What?" a startled Daniel asked.
"I don't mean your team." Ruby divulged, "You definitely cared, for them, but if you never lost someone you loved, you've never actually felt empty. For days, weeks, and months, I felt like a piece of me was ripped away, like if you guys all just decided to leave, but worse." Ruby looked directly into Daniel's red and blue eyes. "Are you sure you've lost someone now?" she reiterated caustically, bitter that Daniel still had his full family.
It took Daniel a full minute to try and gather his emotions under control as he tried to find something to say. "Yes," he admitted.
Ruby looked up, perplexed. "What?" she asked.
"You're not the only one who's had a family member die on them," he replied sourly.
Ruby nuzzled her head even farther into Daniel's body as Daniel tightened his hold. "It gets tiring when people say I'm sorry," Ruby admitted.
"It really does," Daniel agreed.
A pause. Then, "I'm sorry," Ruby sympathized.
"I'm sorry, too." Daniel echoed, resting his chin on Ruby's head. "How'd she die?"
"She went missing in action." Ruby explained, "Mom left one day and… never came back." By this point, Ruby was close to crying again, her eyes filled with unshed tears.
Daniel noticed this and gently kissed the top of Ruby's head. "I know how it feels." he confided, "Did I tell you about my dad and my sister?"
Ruby nodded her head. "That's not the same." she argued, her voice muffled by Daniel's shirt, "You can see them at any time."
Daniel chuckled darkly. "Yeah, I did say they split up from us. What I didn't say was how." Ruby sat back up straight, still in his arms, and stared into Daniel's eyes imploringly. "The reason my mom and I moved," he continued bitterly, tears brimming his eyes, "was because we were raided. By the White Fang. It didn't matter that my mom was a faunus; when a human's in your family, those guys don't care. My dad held them long enough for my mom, my sister, and me to run away, but someone snuck up on us and shot Holly. Since then, I…" he ended, trailing off as his throat started choking with sobs.
Ruby returned Daniel's prior gesture by holding him as close to herself as possible while Daniel poured all his tears into Ruby's shoulder. It took another couple of minutes before either of them could speak without breaking into a fit of sadness. When Daniel was finished with his tears, he still didn't pull away from Ruby's shoulder and instead snaked his arms around Ruby's back. "There." he said dryly, "Now you don't have to worry about ruining my shirt."
Ruby couldn't help it but quietly chuckle. "Of all the things you could say, you had to go with teasing me about that comment, didn't you?" she muttered teasingly. Gradually, the two of them started laughing softly. Small laughs eventually broke into rancorous fits of giggles as they held each other with happiness gleaming in their eyes.
After a while, Daniel tiredly slumped against the wall. "We're insane," he commented dryly with a chuckle.
Ruby leaned on the wall a few inches away from Daniel. "You might be insane," she teased, "but I'm not."
"You tried to walk off a roof!" Daniel shot back lightheartedly.
"Eh." Ruby murmured, her eyes starting to close, "Let's ignore that part."
Daniel smiled softly at her. "Fine." he conceded, rolling his eyes.
"Keep rolling them." Ruby sassed, noticing his small smirk, "You might be able to find a brain back," Ruby stretched her arms as her mouth widened in an enormous yawn, "back there."
Daniel blatantly ignored the comment as he walked about five or so feet away from the wall. He placed his hands on the ground, using his Semblance to create a small wall just to his shoulder level if he was standing. Then, he billowed out his cloak and turned into a hammock, just large enough to accommodate two people (AN: You know where this is going). "What are you doing?" Ruby asked drowsily, trying to blink sleep out of her eyes.
Daniel's reply was to gently press a finger to Ruby's lips, effectively silencing any attempts to speak. He then, without warning, tucked his arms underneath Ruby and carried her bridal-style onto the hammock. Ruby mumbled out a drowsy thanks just before she heaved a great yawn and pulled her cape over herself like a blanket, turning away from Daniel. When suddenly, she felt a shift in the hammocks balance. Looking back, Ruby saw Daniel carefully climbing into the hammock with her. "You know we're going to get teased from dusk 'til dawn tomorrow, right?" she asked while cuddling with Daniel.
Daniel stifled a yawn as his arms snaked around Ruby's torso, his wings once again covering their bodies. "Better than having you wake up as a mess in front of Yang," he gently mused. Ruby barely heard the last sentence as she was already asleep by the second word. Daniel smiled sweetly as he closed his eyes and basked in the starlight with a beautiful girl now resting with him. Ruby's slow and melodic breath tickled Daniel's neck as they felt each other's heartbeats.
"Yep, I like him."
"Yep, I like her."
AN: And that's a wrap for chapter 10! Hey guys, Fireflame. Again. So, here's a quick announcement about the poll. I'm going to collect and end the poll in 2 chapters. You hear me? 2 chapters until you decide on where to go.
Ok, I have to address this one guy. So, there's a Guest that's apparently destroyed my reviews, giving me half of the ones I currently have. If you have a name that I could use, just tell me in your next review or PM me. Also, your theories. They're just small theories: a Story Theory! Thanks for reading! No, but seriously, you don't know how close you came to a few of those conclusions. First, thanks for the info on "The Queen". I'm not taking much from Season 3 onwards, so she's going to be different, and not the actual Canon one. Second, Splinter Cell White Fang Group? Close, not extremely close, but no cigar. Third, Holly and her dad joining the White Fang? Shot down! Also, for character deaths, I only know the ones who are going to be actually prevalent in this story. I can probably extend that list to Team JNPR, CFVY, Taiyang, Qrow, most of the adults, but that's about it. The only reason Mercury was on that list was because I couldn't find a good way to kill him of potentially. Well, not anymore! He's off the list! Want to know why some people are on the list and some aren't? It's because not for plot line or character growth, but because I'm the author. (Insert evil laughter here).
Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! If you enjoyed it, feel free to follow, favorite, review or all three. This was a bit out of my comfort zone, so I hope it was good. Signing out, Flames of Fire.
