Chapter 11: Morning Of
Well that was unexpected. When Weiss awoke this morning to the shake of her own bed and Blake nowhere in sight she blushed, gulped and cursed to herself, calling the lewd act taking place above her inappropriate and indecent before climbing up the ladder, bracing herself for a psychologically scarring image and inhaling heavily ready to give Blake and Ruby a piece of her mind.
There was no lewd act. There was also no Blake. What was happening was Ruby was tossing and turning, her eye lids fluttering and squeezing as she winced occasionally. Weiss's face dropped and her heart stung slightly, her sleeping partner looked terrified, whatever she was dreaming about seemed to be cutting deep into Ruby's emotions. Pulling herself up she snuggled into Ruby whispering soft words and stroking the usually petulant and annoying teenagers arm in an attempt to soothe the still thrashing girl.
A few seconds later Ruby bolted upright, her entire body shaking, a shrill scream escaping her lips before she began to whimper, fighting back sobs. Her shaking subsided for a short moment when she felt tender arms embrace her and a body press against her side, offering her warmth, support and a comforting shoulder for her to rest on. Ruby bent her head slightly to the side, her cheek resting on the soft fabric. Soft, soothing hushes calmed the girl as callous yet tender finger stroked her bare arms, eliciting the odd giggle from the ticklish teen.
Shortly thereafter Ruby managed to calm, content to just enjoy the presence of whoever was offering her support. "Thanks Blake…" she murmured lovingly before feeling the body she was resting against tense slightly. "Blake?" she murmured once again, finally peering up to see the ivory princess that was her partner.
"Shhh…" Weiss whispered in response, her body relaxing once more as she convinced herself that it was perfectly natural that Ruby would expect it to be Blake cuddling into her, or at the very least Yang. "It's okay Ruby, everything will be fine now, I promise." Ruby cuddled in closer her own arms now embracing Weiss as she collected her thoughts, reliving the nightmare.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, still gazing into Weiss's calming blue eyes as they narrowed questioningly. "I'm sorry that I thought you were Blake…" she appended before snuggling in slightly closer.
Weiss shook her head at the girl, feigning disbelief at Ruby's apologising for assuming it wasn't Weiss. Who could blame Ruby? After all even now, after several months of partnership with Ruby and teaming with Yang and Blake she still barely spoke to Yang, she'd only just stopped pushing Blake away last month and this was the first time she had ever willingly made first contact with Ruby outside of formal or combat situations. Weiss was that last person that even Weiss would expect to be hugging Ruby. She appreciated the sentiment secretly though but Ruby didn't need to know that right now. What Ruby needed was someone to be there for her, and that's exactly what Weiss promised Ruby all those months ago. "You want to talk about it?" she asked, not really knowing what to expect in response.
She got a shaking head, Ruby's cheeks rubbing against her shoulders, the rough fabric of Weiss's nightdress seams slightly marking the soft skin. "It's nothing, really." said Ruby with a certain air of finality that prevented Weiss from daring to push the matter further. Just then the door creaked open and Blake walked in, taking almost baby steps whilst looking up at Ruby apologetically, earning a judgmental stare from Weiss in return as she read Blake's expression.
"Come on then Ruby…" Weiss began trying to best find the words to get the redhead to take action, deciding that using her own obvious lie against her would be the best route, even if it did make the heiress feel slightly guilty. "If it's nothing then we should be getting ready for school, class starts in two hours, might as well get a move on." Ruby nodded an obvious tone of defiance in her body language as she shrugged away from Weiss, descended down the ladder and disappeared into the bathroom following a smile and a kiss to Blake's cheeks, the black haired woman unmoving during the exchange.
Weiss waited for a few seconds after the bathroom door closed and listened intently for the shower to burst into life before sparing one last glance over to the out for the count Yang and dropping back down to her own bed. "What the hell was that?" she chastised in a whispered shout, Blake's obviously rushed bow came undone and fell away as her cat ears flattened against her head, guilt and regret were plastered on her usually unreadable face.
"I don't know. I-I-I didn't know what to do…" she admitted, stammering occasionally as she tried to explain abandoning a clearly terrified Ruby mid-nightmare. "I just saw her shaking and she wouldn't stop and I-I-" she trailed off, her voice breaking slightly as her behaviour devolved into minor, quiet sobbing. Weiss failed to maintain her angry face as her heart strings were pulled. Blake was just as, if not more scared of what she saw in Ruby than whatever Ruby was so frightened of in her dream.
"Shshshshh… Come on Blake; it's okay, everything is okay now." Weiss whispered, her voice much softer than before as she shifted beds to cuddle into the Faunus girl, her nightdress absorbing Blake's tears. Talk about a rough morning...
"It's not though is it?" Blake choked out between sobs. "I should've been there for her; I shouldn't have just left her trembling… I-"
Weiss cut her off with a simple word. "Stop" it had become a near unwritten rule that than when Weiss wanted you to shut up and listen then that was the word you'd hear. Blake obeyed, peering up from the very same shoulder Ruby had leaned on for comfort just moments before. "Blake, no one can blame you for buckling under pressure." Weiss chastised herself for poor wording as Blake flinched. "What I mean is, this is entirely new to you, to my knowledge you've never once had someone else play the vulnerable one, you've never had that little sister or that loved one that has got themselves in such a state that you enter a near fight or flight mode. Fleeing was what happened this time, it won't happen again… You won't let it."
Blake sniffed, her eyes scanning nothing in particularly as she absently gazed around the room, nothing but Yang's snoring, the showerhead blasting Ruby with warm water and Weiss's controlled breathing filling the air. Finally Blake nodded. "Yeah… next time things will be different. Next time I'll be there for her." She squeezed Weiss in a tight bear hug, entirely uncharacteristic of the black haired girl before releasing her, curiosity threatening to kill the cat. "But how did you, you know…"
Weiss stared for a moment trying to figure out what Blake was dancing around before it finally clicked. "Oh… daddy… only twice have I ever seen him display any emotion that wasn't rage in the last five years. The first came thirty five months ago, there was a knock on the door; a young man stood behind it with a letter and handed it over. "I'm sorry…" he said before disappearing. The pain that I saw in his eyes that day as he read that single sheet of paper is something I will never forget…" Blake just continued gazing at the heiress, the ice princess shedding a few of her own tears now, hands reaching up to wipe them away and continuing, not wanting Blake to speak on the matter.
"I wouldn't see that kind of agony, despair or sadness again for another two years. Operation Snowfall I believe was the name." Blake winced, swallowing down a lump in her now dry throat, her hands beginning to fiddle nervously, the cat Faunus hoping the heiress wouldn't notice. "That was what finally prompted father to let me pursue my dreams; he knew that, rather ironically, I'd be safer facing the trials of Beacon Academy than I ever would be within the walls of White Castle." She wiped away a few more tears and took a deep, calming breath.
"That goodbye was the most difficult of all. I could see the doubt, the fear in his eyes as he watched his only daughter, the sole heiress to a legendary legacy, board that jet and commit her life to becoming a huntress. I always hated goodbyes. That's why I never said the words; all I told him as I watched those tears flow for the first time in two and a half years was that I'd see him again soon. He never was one for believing that which he couldn't see though…"
A short silence descended over the duo, the only audible sound was now the faint blast of water hitting either Ruby's body or the shower floor. Blake gulped once more as she built up the courage to speak. "Weiss, I-"
"No..." Weiss said softly yet commandingly. "This isn't an attempt to gain your pity Blake, I've never needed it before and I'll be damned if I let you offer it now." Weiss's voice was now slightly agitated as she got to her feet and moved back over to her own bed, grabbing her combat skirt and a towel before moving to the silent and shocked Blake. "Ruby wouldn't tell me about what she was dreaming about, but one day soon, she WILL need someone to talk to her about it. She can't keep it bottled up forever, it'll destroy her…" she paused for a minute, realising that she had no idea what was actually going through her partner's mind. "I think..." she said questioning herself before snapping her mind back to the issue at hand "Please Blake, for the love of God; please just make sure you're there for her if or when she needs you…"
As if by magic, the minute Weiss finished her rant the shower knob screeched and the shower stopped, moments later and the bathroom door creaked open, introducing a drenched redhead to Weiss and Blake. "I need to grab a shower, do me a favour Blake and TRY and get Yang out of bed…" and with that Weiss stepped into the bathroom leaving Blake and Ruby alone with the still unconscious blonde sister of Ruby's.
Blake offered a small smile to Ruby, whom simply smiled back. I think we both just want to forget this morning… evaluated Blake.
The duo remained still for what seemed like an eternity despite it only being a couple of seconds before Ruby glanced back to the bathroom nervously, finally realising that she was still only wearing a towel. The red-haired girl turned to face the door "Wait Weiss, I haven't gotten-" she began before being cut off by the shower once again starting up, her voice grew quieter, and developed into a slight groan "dressed yet…"
Blake laughed, her girlfriend's attention finally switching back to her. "We're all girls here Ruby…" she finally said, taking a surprising amount of pleasure from seeing Ruby flush redder than the shower had left her. "What are you worried your girlfriend might end up seeing you naked?" she asked, a wry smirk crossing her face as an eyebrow raised. Ruby got even redder and stared down at her feet. "It's okay, I'll go make Yang some bacon in the kitchen, I promise not to peek…" she finally relented, a smile still plastered on her face the interaction distracting her from the morning's events thus far.
"Actually, could you leave the room for just a second Blake?" Ruby finally asked earning a quizzical look from her girlfriend who'd moved over to the kitchen area and pulled out some meat from the fridge, placed a few rashers in a pan and was now placing it over the larger of the mini-stoves two hobs.
"Umm… okay…" she finally responded switching the ring on and bringing the bacon sizzling to life before leaving the room. True to her word Ruby called back a few short seconds later which reinforced Blake's questioning over exactly what Ruby could do in such a tiny timeframe. Opening the door she saw that Ruby was still in a towel but had seemingly used it to quickly dry her legs and had slipped on a pair of her signature stockings despite still being drenched from head to assumedly hip. "You are so weird…" she quipped before once more tending the bacon earning a nervous chuckle from Ruby whom had seemingly forgotten the dream.
Twenty minutes later and everyone was up, ready and waiting. They still had an hour to kill and so Pyrrha and Nora had been invited round whilst Ren and Jaune finished up their own preparations for their mission today. They'd been given a free pass from the two hours of Professor Port lectures Team RWBY would be subject to and had even managed to avoid having to learn about how to plant and grow vegetables. Why they had to learn such stuff was beyond even Weiss whom had already placed her bets on how long Yang would stay awake for before surrendering to her boredom.
The previously heavy atmosphere born of Ruby awakening from a seemingly petrifying nightmare and the resulting talk between Weiss and Blake had dissipated and a light-hearted, warm chatter between the group of girls had took over, blanketing the room in a much lighter mood.
No one had told Yang about what had happened prior to her being woken up with a bacon sandwich, not even Ruby. There were a few tell-tale signs like Blake being unusually close to Ruby, almost as if she was overly protective of the girl or the occasional worried glance Weiss shot her younger partner whenever she believed she could get away with it, but no one would notice them unless they were consciously searching, and Yang wasn't.
Right now everyone was perfectly content enjoying, or at least pretending to listen to Nora's recent tale of how she and Ren both stared down two Deathstalkers before a giant Nevermore plucked one of the Grimm creatures from the ground and flew away with it allowing the eccentric redhead and her calm, collected and quiet partner to deal with the remaining monster. It basically sounded a lot like a more exciting and highly exaggerated version of the initiation, and Weiss assumed that that was exactly what it was… or it was another dream, she could never tell with the resident lunatic unless Ren was around.
Blake had switched off around the time of ursa surfing even though she knew that that was likely the only part of the story that was actually true. It wasn't as if the cat Faunus hated Nora, on the contrary she liked her a lot, more so following the advice she had given the stubborn, denial ridden black beauty many moons ago but even still the redhead was a little grating at times, and this was one of those times. She liked stories; she liked science fiction and fantasy. However if she was going to be subject to such an insane story she'd much rather be reading the actual action scenes from one of her beloved books. One thing caused her ears to perk up though, the mention of the words "cat" and "Faunus" in the same sentence and the gaping mouths of her slack-jawed teammates as their gaze darted from Nora to Pyrrha and back again in worried disbelief.
Nora laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, the cross-legged girl sliding ever so slightly backwards as if that extra inch of carpet would really make Blake reconsider killing her. "It's alright." said Pyrrha, waving her hands in the air uncaringly "I already know, Nora kind of let it slip a week or so back. I didn't want to say anything until Blake did but…" That was when it finally dawned on Blake that she had yet to properly speak to JNPR since she and Ruby became an item. She also hadn't yet thanked Nora who was now apologising profusely whilst still maintaining that same level of bubbliness despite her worried urgency.
"It's fine Nora, I don't care if Pyrrha knows… or Jaune or Ren for that matter. I've kind of been leaving the bow at home recently anyways." She pulled away the ribbon that had obscured her cat ears ready for the school day to start to reveal a pair of purple cat ears.
"They're actually kind of cute…" said Nora and Pyrrha in unison finally seeing the twitching appendages.
"I get that a lot…" admitted Blake, a hint of pride in her voice.
"That's because they are…"
Blake blushed as Ruby scooted ever so slightly closer, her hand entangling itself in Blake's sea of black hair, her index finger scratching at the fluffy ears. "Not now Ruby…" Blake managed to say between two moans of pleasure.
"Aww…" Ruby said with a pout as she obliged Blake and removed her pale hand from her girlfriend's dark hair. "Later?" she asked in her cutest voice, those silver orbs lighting up with hope.
Blake rolled her eyes. "Sure" she promised with a smile on her face earning an "Oh God…" from Weiss and a laugh from Yang, the busty blonde seemingly taking great pleasure in seeing Ruby play Blake like a fiddle. "Oh, I forgot to thank you for what you told me before all this Chimera business started Nora. It was exactly what I needed to hear… so thank you…"
Nora blushed, a rare, almost unheard of occurrence for the confident and overly energetic girl, Yang was already about to tease the flushed, boisterous redhead but earned an elbow to the ribs from Weiss before she could say anything, the cough and Yang's slightly dramatized keeling over earned a giggle from the embarrassed young woman, bringing the still cheery, if flushed girl, back to her overly cheerful self.
"Well…" Pyrrha finally chipped in. "It's 8:35, those two are probably finished getting ready by now, we should get back…"
Yang had now stood up and sat on Blake's bed, attaching Ember Celica to her wrists and retracting them back into bracelet form. "There are six girls in one room with no boys, I'm willing to bet anything that they are already at the door listening in." joked Yang half-seriously. Weiss scoffed as Nora, Pyrrha and Blake stood up, Ruby frowning as Blake left her side to see out their friends.
"Don't be so vulgar Yang!" scalded Weiss.
"I wasn't being vul-"
"Yeah Ren would never do anything like that!" Nora interrupted the blonde defending her friend and crush.
"Well maybe not but-"
"And neither would Jaune…" Pyrrha huffed as Blake reached for the handle.
"It wasn't meant to be taken-"
"Really Pyrrha?" asked Nora with a grin on her face earning a death stare from her red-haired teammate to which she giggled in response.
"CAN PEOPLE STOP INTERRUPTING ME!" shouted Yang, an almost unnoticeable explosion of fire singing Blake's sheets and slightly charring the blonde girl's school uniform. The group all laughed at the outburst save Blake whom scowled at her combat partner, Pyrrha and Ruby stopped mid-chuckle, inwardly punishing themselves out of guilt. "Oh great…" Yang huffed as Blake opened the door and Ren fell into the room cheering Yang right back up. "SEE!?" she exclaimed.
"REN!?" the majority of the girls said in unison.
"You've got to be kidding me…" muttered Weiss in disbelief, her thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of her nose as Ren scrambled to his feet. "What are you doing?" she questioned, her hand now rubbing down the side of her cheek as the usually innocent, calm and perfect student brushed himself down.
"I TOLD HIM NOT TO DO IT!" came a rushed shout from across the hall.
"Well!?" asked Weiss with false impatience, she was not truly that bothered about Ren's eavesdropping since they weren't talking about anything too private considering Blake's openness to the boys finding out about her Faunus heritage but she still enjoyed the opportunity to finally make him feel uncomfortable.
"I umm…" began Ren, her gaze avoiding the six girls as he thought up an excuse. "Came to tell Nora and Pyrrha that… that the briefing's about to start. Yeah. That."
"NO HE DIDN'T!" yelled Jaune again.
Ren was now earning slightly judging stares from the group. "I actually did..." he repeated before going on the defensive "And don't act like none of you guys would spy on six girls… Not that I did that or anything..." His lips stretched into a smile as Blake, Ruby, Yang and Nora looked down at the ground, as if hanging their heads in non-existent shame.
Weiss glanced around, sighing and shaking her head at the four girls "Savages…"