As you've most likely noticed this took a long while to come out. This is the normal speed at which i write these chapters. I began writing the main story back at the beginning of summer vacation, so you can tell it took me a really long time to write this work. I'll most likely be employing the same method for my next work, which is writing the entire thing before posting any of it.

As for this work, I plan on writing one more Epilogue to end it. I already have a plan/prompt for my next work. It'll be a similar set up with Team RWBY, same pairing(s), just different plot. However, like i said above I'll be writing this new work completely before posting it. So do forgive me if it takes a while. I also plan for the new work to be longer than this one, possibly.

This is probably the longest pre-chapter note I've ever written, I'll end it here with the usual disclaimer, I do not own any of these characters.

Lastly, enjoy.


Take it Back – Epilogue 2


How Ruby found herself in this predicament, she did not know. From her point of view there was no way out. She could only do one of two things, wait or go for it. If she waited there was no guarantee that she would be safe, if she went for it then she was at even more risk.

Blake stood guard over her sleeping form. Except, the younger girl wasn't actually sleeping. She had woken up when she felt a subtle dab of some thing warm and wet hit her exposed thigh. She wasn't sure what landed on her leg, but her mind was more occupied with what to do about Blake. Blake's sudden confession seamed too surreal. Her body felt abnormally light, like she was dreaming. Her skin had grown numb to tactile sensations, and she felt like breathing was no longer necessary, that was until she fainted. After making a mental note to never stop breathing Ruby returned to contemplating her plan of attack.

I could throw the blankets over her head and make a break for the door, but what do I do after that? Oooh! I don't know what to do! I realize she confessed to me, but that doesn't mean she wanted to confess to me. She may just be feeling guilty after finding out that I still like her. Blake is such a nice person … she must be confessing to me just so that she doesn't hurt my feelings by rejecting me again.

Ruby couldn't hold back a sigh, but saved it at the last second by turning it into a sleepy yawn. That was until Blake's gentle voice broke the silence that followed.

"How long are you going to pretend to be asleep?" Ruby sighed before sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"How did you find out?"

"There are plenty of cues, but really I just had to notice your breathing. When you sleep your breathing slows to a near crawl, but you were breathing normally just now." Ruby blushed at Blake's comment, suddenly finding her feet to be the most interesting thing in the world. Blake, noticing Ruby's sudden embarrassment and underlying anxiety, slid closer to the younger girl.

"Ruby, did you hear what I said … before?" Ruby had hoped Blake wasn't going to bring up that topic.

"Ruby …" Blake reached forward, taking the younger girl's chin in her hand and lifting her head to force her eyes onto her. Ruby's met Blake's gaze for a moment before looking away, again. A tiny squeak of a voice escaped Ruby's lips.

"Yes …" Blake released the younger girl and leaned back, Ruby had heard her confession. She did not have to relive that emotionally draining ordeal ever again Ruby knew how she felt. But when the younger girl made no sign that she was going to comment on the confession, Blake decided to speak first.

"Well? How do you feel?" Blake's voice was on the edge of breaking, like a single indication of rejection would break her heart. Something in Ruby snapped. She hated that she was forcing Blake to be this emotionally vulnerable. Blake never did anything that could potentially hurt herself, yet here she was laying out her "heart" for all to see. Ruby knew it was fake, she knew it. Blake would never- … could never like her the same way. So now Blake, ever the kind hearted, was confessing her "true" feelings to Ruby. She didn't want this; she would rather have Blake forever out of reach than to be graced with a glimpse of what they could be. Especially if she was forcing Blake to partake in something she didn't want. Ruby, unable to contain these feelings, burst out in angry tears.

"How do I feel?! How do I feel?! I feel like shit! This isn't what I want!" Blake froze, she had been expecting Ruby to jump into her arms and kiss her in acceptance, not this. She was not prepared for this. "This is something I've never wanted! What makes you think I would ever want this? Why?! Because I confessed to you once?! I'm not a little kid, I've moved on … You don't have to do this Blake!" Blake could feel tears cascading down her own cheeks. What had she done wrong? Where had she made a mistake? Why was Ruby so upset?

Ruby rose up further, until she was kneeling on the mattress, Blake was still sitting a few feet away. "Do you honestly think that I'm happy about this? Really Blake? Tell me, why are you doing this?! The real reason!" Blake was so confused, she obviously did something to upset the younger girl, but what she couldn't remember.

"Tell me!" Ruby's broken screech snapped Blake from her thoughts.

"R-Ruby, I don't- … What- … What are you talking about? I don't understand …" Ruby glared at Blake with eyes lit with fury.

"Your 'confession' … why did you do it?" Blake immediately answered.

"Because I lov-" Ruby cut her off.

"The real reason …" A sad tone bled into Ruby's voice.

Blake was lost. She didn't understand what she had done wrong, so she tried again.

"I do love you, Ruby … why won't you believe me?" Ruby was shaking her head.

"This isn't what I want Blake. I don't want this … I don't want something that won't last!" Blake was getting agitated at Ruby's behavior.

"You think I 'won't last'? That I'll leave you after I've had my fill? After I've been satisfied, you think I'll toss you aside? Like trash? Do you really think so low of me?" Ruby ducked her head in shame, hiding behind her bangs.

"I know it won't last … something built off of lies and deceit could never last."

Blake was losing her patience, Ruby was avoiding saying what was really bothering her.

"What lies? Ruby! What lies? Do you think I'm lying when I say 'I love y-"

"Yes! You're lying! You're lying and I know it! …" Ruby was openly sobbing now, tears were staining her cheeks, her eyes were broken and filled with crushing despair. The sight broke Blake's heart. Ruby continued in a much softer voice, "I know what you are trying to do Blake … I would rather us just remaining friends than forcing you into a relationship with me … I'm sorry for falling for you-" Blake's heartache robbed her of the ability to speak, "… and I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to move on."

Blake could take no more. She lunged forward, grabbing the shaking Ruby by the shoulders and slamming their lips together. Ruby fought against Blake's grasp, struggling to get free. As Blake was starting to lose her grip, she threw her arms around the younger girl, securing her in place. After a few minutes of struggling, Ruby went limp, not in surrender but in defiance. Blake broke the kiss when she realized that Ruby wasn't kissing her back. Once there was breathing room between them, Ruby spoke.

"Don't do this Blake … please. I know you don't really like me … I know your only doing this because you feel guilty about rejecting me before. Please, I would rather go my whole life never knowing what it would be like to be with you, than make you partake in a forced relationship with me all because I'm a little kid who doesn't know how to let go. Please, Blake, I could never be happy forcing y-" Ruby's head snapped to the right, her cheek stung. Blake had slapped her; it was the only way the older girl could think to cease Ruby's accusations of her lying. Ruby clutched at her red cheek, looking at Blake through teary eyes. Blake took a deep breath; it was her turn to speak

"Ruby … I don't know why you think I'm lying when I say 'I love you' but it's the truth. I don't know any other way to say it. I know I have no right to say it, especially after what I said to you on the roof. But nowadays I find myself drawn to you, I feel happy when you are, and sad when you feel down. My heart skips a beat when you smile at me, and I can hardly contain this feeling in my chest whenever I look at you. When I saw you with that woman last night … I … I lost it … I nearly beat her to death, just for touching you. I couldn't stop myself. Seeing you in the arms of someone else was too much for me. Seeing her touch you made my blood boil, I was fully prepared to kill her for even looking at you! I get this uncontrollable urge to ravish you … to make you mine, to mark you. I'm afraid I'll chase you off with these uncontrolled feelings; I felt I would lose you if I ever told you any of this. I know I have no right to think of you in the way that I do … but … but I can't help it. I love you, Ruby. I really do … I'm sorry you don't believe me, but please never be sorry for liking me or for confessing to me, because I am forever grateful that you did. I've lead a less than perfect life and I've made a lot of mistakes through the years, mistakes that I would give everything to take back. … Yet at the same time, I would make every single one of those mistakes a thousand times over if it meant that I could take back the one mistake I regret the most … rejecting you." Blake was having trouble speaking, a husky whisper replacing her voice at the tail end of her rant. Ruby was silently watching the cat-fanus. A small glimmer of hope was rising in Ruby's chest, maybe Blake really did like her. Blake took a shaky breath to continue.

"I love you, I can't say it any other way, it's the closest I can come to expressing all of these feelings to you through words. But if it's still not enough, then let me prove to you with my actions that this-" Blake reaches out and clasps their hands together, fingers intertwining, "- is something I want and that I will never willingly let you go." Blake squeezed the younger girl's hands once for good measure.

After coming so far, and going through so much heartache, Blake didn't know how to convince Ruby that her feelings were genuine. So she decided to be as honest with herself and Ruby as possible. All the while her carnal desires told her to take Ruby right here and now. They screamed that the act of making love would surely convince Ruby of her devotion to her, but Blake's rational mind was fighting the urge. She wanted Ruby to want to be with her in that sense, rather than forcing it on the girl in the hopes that she would be receptive to her advances in the future. Worse case scenario, Ruby would be traumatized by the act, thinking of it as rape, and coming to hate and avoid her in the future. That thought alone was more than enough to stay her hand and cool her burning core. Not even her more instinctual desires that bordered on nymphomania would risk forever losing Ruby to a sexual trauma.

Ruby, in the mean time, was stuck in the middle of a tug-of-war in her heart and mind. She desperately wanted to believe that Blake was telling the truth, that she really did like her the same way Ruby liked her, but her mind was fighting back with cold logic.

If Blake really did like me, why would she have waited this long to tell me? Why wait until now to confess? Unless she has been feeling guilty about rejecting me before … but …

Blake squeezed Ruby's hands once more. The feeling drew Ruby's eyes from their hands to Blake's face. Blake's brows were knit together, her ears flat against her head, and her eyes glistened with mounting tears. Her mouth was a thin line, constricted in worry. Ruby felt heat creep into her cheeks when she realized she was staring, her eyes flicked back down to their intertwined hands, the younger girl gasped when she truly looked at Blake's hands. The sudden sound scared the older girl, causing her to draw back her hands from Ruby's, but before they could wrap around the cat-fanus' person Ruby latched onto the wrist of one. Using her unnatural strength from swinging around a dense metal scythe, Ruby brought one of Blake's hands back into the light. Ruby's breath was caught in her throat at the sight. Blake's knuckles were raw and caked in dried blood, fresh scabs forming over the torn skin. Ruby's own fingers began tracing the wounds that would no doubt form into scars. Ruby's motions proved to be incredibly soothing to Blake, who closed her eyes and enjoyed the younger girl's touch. Blake almost fell into a deep slumber, but a hushed whisper brought her back to her senses, "why?" Before Blake could even fully register the question, she blurted out the only answer she felt deserved being said.

"Because I love you." Ruby's ministrations stopped. For half a second Blake worried she might have set the younger girl off again for not sounding sincere enough. Blake didn't know how to react when Ruby slowly began to approach her. The younger girl's head was dipped; the bangs on her forehead hanging down like a curtain, shielding her eyes. Blake held her breath in anticipation, until she felt Ruby's arms snake around her body, instantly Blake's own arms encircled the younger girl. The next instance the two girls were locked in embrace. Ruby's mouth rested just next to Blake's ear. Blake could hear the younger girl suck in a breath of air, she found herself holding her own breath in anticipation.

"I love you, Blake." Blake screwed her eyes shut and squeezed the younger girl tightly before responding.

"I love you, Ruby."


Epilogue End


I write this while writing the next and final chapter, I think I'll make the last one deserving of the M Rating that this work is labeled as. I don't have much experience with that kind of writing, but I feel it will be satisfactory. This is just a heads up, see you at the end.