Day 6:
Glynda let out a groan as the alarm clock blared to life, scratching across the room as the blonde felt sheets ruffling next to her, her left arm being pulled up against the pillows as Ruby stretched her free arm out to turn the device off. The once energetic girl voiced a similar tone as she attempted to rub the sleep out of her eyes, the past few days proving themselves to be quite tiring when she looked back at them. With a slight huff, Glynda sat up with the girl, her head tilted to the side as it proved to tiring to lift it up all the way. Letting out a yawn in almost perfect sync, the two cracked their eyes open.
The first thing the two noticed was a large sleeping bag in the middle of the room, snores sounding from the makeshift bed as the two tried to remember why that was there.
It was then that the duo remembered the day before, and the conditions Yang had forced the two to agree with if they didn't want Yang to try and remove the handcuffs herself. The fact that Yang would be staying in their room was one of them.
Glynda let out a groan as she remembered all of this, while her companion slowly dragging her out of their bed. "What happened to my privacy?" Glynda sighed as she stood up. "Let's just get dressed and get this day over with."
"Yang said we couldn't get dressed without her to check on us." Ruby stated as she walked over to her sister.
Before she could place her hand on her sister's shoulder to shake her away, she was tugged back by her cuffed arm, almost falling over as she quickly regained her balance. Looking over her shoulder, she found Glynda crossed between a look of annoyance and embarrassment as she crossed her arm over her ample chest, her cheeks burning slightly as she eyed the girl she was shackled to. "It's bad enough that you need to see me in my underwear, I'm not giving her a show."
"Those were the terms we agreed to." Ruby said as she approached Glynda.
"Well then, she should think about waking up before us." Glynda affirmed before Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her cheeks to light up more.
"Glynda," Ruby began as she looked up at her teacher with worry filled eyes. "Remember what she said she'd do if we didn't follow her rules?"
Glynda felt herself larch back as she grit her teeth, her eyes growing wide as she recalled Yang's suggestion of breaking a hand and sliding the cuffs off. Something told Glynda that wouldn't have worked, and something else told her that wouldn't be the end of Yang's attempts. "Th-then let's wake her, already." Glynda said a little too quickly.
Nodding, Ruby walked Glynda to her sleeping sister, the young-blonde's back turned to the bed her sister and teacher had slept in. Hesitantly, Ruby shock Yang, disrupting the rhythm of her sister's snores. "Yang, wake up."
No response.
"Yang, wake up already." Ruby said more forcefully, shaking Yang at a greater speed. All she got out of her sister was soft grumbles. Ruby scowled at her sister before Glynda gently pushed the red-haired girl aside.
As soon as she had the opportunity, Glynda slapped her free hand across Yang's face and pinched her nose with the other, a scowl on her face as she waited for the blonde to wake up from the lack of air. Ruby, meanwhile, was clearly startled by the older woman's actions. "Y-you really shouldn't do that!"
"Why no-" Before Glynda could finish, Yang's arms quickly burst out of the sleeping bag and grabbed onto Glynda's arms. Using what little leverage she had, Yang quickly threw Glynda in front of her, dragging Ruby along with her before Yang climbed to her feet, allowing the sleeping bag to fall around her ankles as her eyes lit up red.
Clenching her fists, Yang surveyed the situation before realizing who she had just thrown. "Oh," Yang mumbled. Allowing her eyes to cool back to purple, she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry 'bout that. You guys took me by surprise."
"Part of me wants to give you detention." Glynda grumbled as she attempted to move the strapless bra back into place with her free hand, her face beginning to glow to life. "The other wants to get as far away from you as possible."
Glynda heard Ruby mumble something about warning her as Yang began stretching, groaning as she pushed her arms out. "Welp," Yang began, popping the P as she let her arms down. "You two head into the bathroom and get dressed, I'll be out here."
"I refuse to leave you alone with my stuff." Glynda growled as she looked over at her blonde student, who just shrugged in response.
"Then I'll get dressed in the bathroom." Yang stated as went into the corner of the room, grabbing a bag before turning back to the duo. "If I hear you two get up to anything inappropriate, one of you is losing an arm."
Glynda let out an annoyed groan as Ruby sighed, the blonde quickly disappearing behind the bathroom door as the duo climbed to the feet. Ruby rubbed her now aching cuffed wrist as Glynda guided the younger girl to her, now their dresser. "… Cybernetics are kinda cool." Ruby mumbled as she looked at Glynda with nervous eyes.
All she got in response was a glare, causing her to sink into herself slightly. "Never mind." Ruby mumbled once more.
"Wow, this place is awesome!" Yang called out from behind the door.
"Don't touch anything!" Glynda growled back.
For once, the cuffed duo was able to get through their morning routines without much difficulty. There wasn't any unfortunate events between the two that caused their faces to catch on fire, no brawls with other students, even having Yang one room away didn't seem to provide any conflicts as she teased the duo on their predicament. It seemed as though the morning had decided to go easy on them for once. For this reason, the two were able to walk towards Pr. Peach's classroom without any sort of pits in their stomachs.
Though that was quick to change once Peach unveiled the collection of Grimm corpses they had collected a week prior, along with a collection of Dust powders.
"Oh…" Ruby grimaced as she glanced over to her cuffed arm, currently strewn across Yang's shoulders once more. "We're doing that this week, aren't we?"
"Now, I know most of you seem to have problems with dissecting Grimm corpses like these," Peach began, muttering to herself how she failed to see how. "But I believe you'll all find this assignment very interesting. While whatever bodily processes the Grimm once possessed are mostly dormant, their bodies still possess a unique reaction to most types of Dust. I want you to simply cut open Grimm's stomachs and place small dosages of each Dust type into them, and note how the two react to each other."
Ruby felt the knot in her throat tighten as the pink-haired professor finished speaking, she once again glanced at her cuffed arm with a worried look as the professor continued. "Now, I want you all to divide into groups of two – With your partners, obviously – And prop the Grimm carcass of your choice across your tables. Don't worry, I made sure they're dead."
Ruby felt the weight her hand was rested upon shift out from under them as Yang stood up behind the two, hearing Blake's chair squeak as the black-haired girl stood up with her partner. Before allowing anything to happen, however, Yang grabbed onto the handcuffs' link and yanked Glynda towards her. "The length of these cuffs is the absolute minimum distance allowed between you and Ruby, got it?"
"We'll be working on cutting into a Creature of Grimm's guts, Ms. Xiao Long." Glynda began as she returned Yang's scowl. "What makes you think I'd try anything under these circumstances?"
Glynda hadn't even finished as Yang backed away, still scowling as she pointed to her eyes with two fingers before pointing them at Glynda. The blonde teacher just rolled her eyes as Weiss stood up. "Suppose I'll get the corpse, given your situation." Weiss stated. "You two can carry the Dust vials."
"Y-you want me to handle the Dust?" Ruby asked nervously.
"The containers are perfectly air tight, Ruby." Weiss stated as she began towards the collection of corpses.
Ruby swallowed as Weiss walked away from the duo, catching Glynda's attention with her nervousness. Glynda would have lightly gripped Ruby's cuffed hand, had it not been for Yang's prior instructions, leaving her only with her words to offer the girl some comfort. "Relax, Ruby. I'm a trained Huntress, I'm well versed in safe usage of D-"
"It's not that." Ruby began, looking over to the green-eyed beauty. "Well, not just that. Allergies, remember?"
"Ah, right." Glynda muttered. "You have safety equipment to help with stuff like that, right?"
"Of course, it doesn't stop me from getting nervous." Ruby stated.
"Well, seeing as to how I haven't heard many reports of any incidents with you, I'm sure it will be fine." Glynda stated as she stood up, once again almost taking Ruby's hand in hers. "And if it makes you feel better, I can carry the most volatile Dust samples."
"Okay, okay." Ruby muttered as she reached into her bag with her free hand, gripping her safety equipment as best she could. "Just give me a minute."
Glynda couldn't help but stare at the equipment covering Ruby's face, something about the way her mouth was covered by the surgical mask, nestled under a set of goggles felt strange to the blonde. The light blue gloves seemed to add to the effect as Ruby held up her hands in the way a surgeon would before preforming an operation. Looking back at Glynda, Ruby gave her the best smile she could, which consisted mostly of her eyes. "Okay, I'm ready now."
"Okay then." Glynda mumbled as she stepped to the side, allowing Ruby to slide out.
"What, is there something on my face?" Ruby asked.
"No, it's just…" Glynda began, trying to think of how to phrase it, moving with the red-haired girl as they began towards the samples of Dust at the front of the class. "I understand why you have all that stuff, but I just feels weird seeing it all on you."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Ruby remarked.
Approaching the racks filled with Dust samples, the presence of the blonde teacher caught the attention of Pr. Peach, the pink-haired woman smirking upon seeing her. "Pr. Goodwitch, so nice to see you today. I do hope you'll stay for today's experiment."
"I'm not in the mood for any jokes, Peach." Glynda stated as she and Ruby took a tray into their hands, the pink-haired woman chuckling to herself.
"Yeah yeah, just couldn't pass up one." Peach stated as she moved her gloved hand away from her lips. "Just make sure you wear proper safety equipment along with your new friend."
Glynda hummed as she noted the sense of relieve that came about as for once, someone didn't poke fun at her feelings for Ruby. The duo slid the tray out of its rack, carefully noting that the more dangerous Dust samples were in Glynda's arms, and were ready to head back to their desk before Peach spoke up once more. "Oh, and don't spoil the surprise, G."
Glynda rolled her eyes as she and Ruby turned away from the professor. The red-haired girl, meanwhile, cocked an eyebrow as she looked up at Glynda. "What does she mean by 'surprise?'"
"You'll see." Glynda sighed.
"… They aren't going to come back to life, are they?!" Ruby asked, much more concerned as she and Glynda left Peach's earshot. Either that or the pink-haired woman didn't care for the conversation.
"Of course not." Glynda said as she and Ruby set the tray of Dust on the table. "She may be a mad scientist wannabe, but she's not that mad."
Immediately after Glynda finished her sentence, a loud thump shook the table, causing the linked duo and the Dust vials to jump as Weiss set the carcass of an Ursa on the table. Weiss brushed her hands together as she rolled her shoulder blades, the corpse of her team's find proving heavier than she remembered. "Okay, do you want to cut into this thing, or should I?" Weiss asked, looking over towards her partner.
Ruby looked over at Glynda as the blonde exchanged her usual set of glasses for a set of safety glasses. As she allowed the clear plastic to rest upon her face, Glynda turned her attention back towards the red-haired girl, cocking an eyebrow slightly at the way she was looking at her. "I'm sure I won't get in the way too much." Glynda stated after running over the conversation in her head.
"Okay, okay." Ruby stated, breathing the second confirmation silently as she and Glynda slid to the other end of the table. As Weiss moved in to prepare the Dust samples, Ruby looked between the many scalpels and knifes provided to them, attempting to remember which one was for what.
Okay, Ruby, it's a simple procedure, don't embarrass yourself in front of her. Ruby though as she gripped one of the knifes before looking back at the Grimm body. Taking one last look at the patterns on its mask to make sure it was, in fact, still dead before slowly pushing the blade into the dark flesh of the Grimm's chest.
Diligently, Ruby pulled the knife down the Grimm's torso as she and Glynda walked along side it, ending at the bottom of the Grimm's stomach. Silently swallowing, Ruby set the now black blade down on the table before gripping one end of the incision with her free hand before looking at Glynda over her shoulder. "Can you… Handle the other side?"
Nodding slightly, Glynda grabbed onto the other half with her free hand as Ruby moved towards the other side of the Grimm, pulling up her trapped hand before counting off from three. As soon as she formed a fist, she and Glynda pulled the hole open, revealing dark purple organs with bulbous, black veins. Once they felt the hole was big enough, the two let go, Ruby doing so much more hesitantly as she struggled to pull her eyes away from the Grimm's organs.
"Why do we need to do this?" Ruby asked, feeling uneasy at the sight of the beast's internals. "What does this have to do with kill Grimm?"
"'Know thy enemy.'" Glynda quoted as she turned her attention towards the various tools, reaching for a small saw. "Understanding how the Grimm work makes it much easier to fight them."
"I guess." Ruby mumbled as Glynda presented the blade to her.
"I'm not sure why you have a problem here." Glynda began as Ruby hesitantly gripped the handle, briefly brushing her fingers against the blonde's as Glynda let go. "Didn't you decapitate a giant Nevermore during initiation?"
"This is different." Ruby stated. "I actually need to keep looking at this stuff, poke around with their guts and it just feels… Wrong."
"Yeah." Glynda sighed as Ruby tried to get her hand to stop shaking as she looked back at the chalk white bones making up the creature's rib cage. "Not many people liked this class when I was in school." Ruby took deep breaths as she pressed the blade against the exposed skeleton, preparing to cut the cage open to get to the Grimm's organs. As Ruby began to dig the teeth of the bone saw into the cage, Glynda attempted to conclude with, "Trust me when I say you get used to-"
The blonde wasn't given much chance to finish as a loud *Crack!* sounded through the classroom, causing Ruby to jump and push the saw off of the bones and slice further up the Grimm's corpse, slicing the mask as Glynda looked towards the source of the disturbance. What she found was Nora holding up a hammer, preparing to cave in a Beowolf's rib cage as Ren tried to stop her. Glynda made out Nora saying something about not putting the Grimm back together as she turned back to Ruby, who had nervously re-positioned the bone saw.
Looking up towards her partner, Weiss set down a vial of Dust, giving Ruby a concerned look. "You sure you want to do this?"
"I'm-I'm fine." Ruby said as she pushed the blade through the Grimm's hard bones.
"Ruby, you're starting to look half-way dead." Weiss stated, noting how Ruby seemed to be turning paler than usual.
"It's nothing, it's nothing." Ruby stated, continuing to work her way down the set of bones.
"Are you sure you're fine with this?" Glynda asked gently as Weiss turned her attention back to the Dust samples she had already finished.
"O-of course I am." Ruby stuttered as she tried to cut through the bones faster, a task made much more difficult without her semblance. "I'm almost half way done anyway."
"You're not even half way half way done." Glynda noted as Ruby started sucking on her lower lip.
"I-it's fine, I assure you." Ruby attempted a smile to ease the blonde's worries, not realizing how pointless it was as her mouth was currently covered by her mask. Even then, the cluttering of the saw against the bones did little to convince Glynda.
Sighing silently, Glynda decided she didn't care what Yang would do to her and looped her cuffed arm under Ruby's arm, resting it on top of the red-haired girl's hand. Ruby felt her cheeks warm up against the mask, and felt as though for a moment they were glowing through brighter than a Christmas tree it as Glynda reached for the saw's handle with her free hand, pressing herself against Ruby's arm in the process. With a slight blush of her own, Glynda began resuming Ruby's progress, working the blade back and forth in a much more steady fashion.
By the time they had finished separating the bones, Ruby felt more light headed than she did from the start. She could feel her entire face burning up to her ears, and once Glynda had put the saw down, the student pulled her mask off in an attempt to let more air in. She heard Weiss muttering something, but she didn't hear what as she continued to attempt to process what Glynda had just done as the blonde moved her away from the corpse.
"Th-thanks… For the help…" Ruby mumbled out as Weiss summoned a set of glyphs inside the Grimm's chest cavity.
"Don't mention it." Glynda muttered back as she tried to get her blush under control. Her quick glance at the red-head turned into a more serious look as she noticed how red Ruby's face had become. "Are you feeling all right?"
"I-it's nothing!" Ruby stumbled out as she tried to turn away from Glynda, instead of allowing her face to cool off, it only pushed her to further glow like a Christmas tree.
"Like before?" Glynda asked as she placed her hand across the red-haired girl's forehead. Ruby felt her muscles tense as Glynda hummed to herself, the tune nearly completely muted by the creaking of the Grimm's ribs as Weiss pushed them apart. "Well, you don't feel warm-"
"See,I'mokay!" Ruby rushed out as she quickly slid Glynda's hand off her head and pushed herself as far from Glynda as the handcuffs would allow, hopping the extended distance would help cool her cheeks.
The bones snapped back into place as Ruby bummed against Weiss, pushing the white-haired girl to the side and breaking her concentration. The Dust tray screeched as Weiss's elbow pushed it across the table, several of the vials of Dust clinking against each other as Weiss scowled at her leader. "Watch it." She snarled as Ruby turned towards her.
"Sorry, sorry!" Ruby quickly blurted out, waving her free hand as a thin cloud of blue and red rose up next to them. Glancing at the cloud, Weiss's eyes went wide as she looked back at the now scattered Dust samples as Ruby's nose began twitching.
As soon as the white-haired girl heard Ruby begin breathing in, she quickly made a dash away from the table, grabbing the tray in the hopes of moving it away from the blast zone. This only served to increase the size of the Dust cloud, now including various colors as Glynda quickly grabbed Ruby's nose as the red-haired girl took in a much bigger breath, covering her student's mouth along with it.
As the colors fell to the floor, Ruby cracked her eyes opened to make sure that she didn't, in fact, blast herself to smithereens. She once again felt Glynda pressed up against her, but that proved to be of little concern as the tension began to fade. Looking over her head to see Glynda looking down at her with a concerned expression, she gave the blonde a thumbs-up as most of the Dust past the table top.
Slowly taking her hand off Ruby's face, the three waited for any sort of reaction from the red-haired girl, and let out a soft sigh as nothing happened.
"Well," Ruby chuckled. "That could have been-Ah-!"
*BOOM!*
A mixture of smoke and steam trailed out of now blasted open windows as the rest of the class pulled themselves to their feet, the combination of Dusts producing a powerful blast setting off any nearby samples. The room around them was now covered in a mixture of ice, fire, and structures that could only be described as frozen fire. The room felt hot and cold at the same time as many students pulled themselves up, covered in a mixture of ash and snow.
Cracking the ice beneath her feet, and causing a lot more of it to melt as her hair glowed to life, Yang looked over towards her partner with her now red eyes, any frost caught in her hair quickly melting away and vaporizing around her. "Why do I get the feeling this is somehow Glynda's fault?"
"Just last week, you were joking about how she and your sister were meant for each other." Blake noted as she brushed a clump of white snow out of her black hair.
"Yeah, well that was before she-" Yang began as she scanned the room before her eyes went wide, quickly cooling back into their natural purple as her hair's fires died down. In an instant, Yang was running to the other end of the room. Blake looked over to the blonde with a cocked eyebrow as she pulled herself up, her face becoming much more worried as she saw what Yang was running towards.
Propped against the wall, surrounded by ice and sot, was Ruby and Glynda, the latter behind the former. The two were covered in frost as small fires nipped away at their sleeves and hair, and Blake thought she could make out a streak of red running down Ruby's face from under her hair line as Yang crouched down next to her.
Neither of them had their eyes open.
"Ruby? Ruby, can you hear me!?" Yang asked, the tears evident in her voice as she tried to shake her sister away. Yang quickly turned to Glynda after getting nothing from her sister, quickly shaking the older blonde by her shoulder. "Gl-Goodwitch, please tell me at least you're alright! Because if you're already, she'd need to be alright, right?"
Groggily, Glynda began to open her eyes, taking a moment to process the fact that Yang was right in front of her. She scrunched her eyes shut once more as she put her free hand up to the back of her head, feeling what could only be described as the worst ice-cream headache in her life. Seeing the older woman wake up, Yang quickly turned back to her sister, shaking her against Glynda a little to rough for her liking.
After a pound or two, Glynda managed to make out what Yang was saying and recall what had happened. All sense of pain in her head was lost as she too turned her attention to the red-haired girl. Running her hand through Ruby's dark hair, Glynda whipped away the thin trail of blood running down from her head. The cut didn't seem too deep, least not deep enough to cause any permanent damage.
As Yang began lightly tapping on Ruby's cheek, Glynda pulled a piece of ice off the wall behind her and pressed it against Ruby's forehead, attempting to at least slow down the bleeding and, hopefully, wake the girl up. Looking back down at the chunk of ice again, Glynda's eyes lit up as she turned her attention back to Yang. "Yang, I need you to melt this."
"What?" Yang asked, briefly prying her eyes away from her sister.
"Melt the ice and turn it into water." Glynda explained. "Let's see if we can shock her awake."
Looking back at her sister for a second, Yang quickly nodded before closing her eyes, attempting to light her hair up again. Her hair briefly glowed dimly before going out again, slowly flashing between a slight glow and no glow at all. Nervously, Yang looked back up at Glynda. "I can't, I can't focus."
Swallowing nervously, Glynda looked back down at Ruby before setting the piece of ice between the red-haired girl and her chest. "Is there any Fire Dust left?" Glynda asked as she pulled Ruby's mask up.
"M-maybe?" Yang responded before quickly looking around the room, darting to one end of it as soon as she saw set of vials. Looking back down at the red-haired girl, Glynda gently pinched out any flame she could. She placed her finger under Ruby's nose just to make sure they were right about this.
Still breathing. Glynda thought with a relieved sigh before quickly pinching out another fire.
In an instant, Yang was back at her sister's side, holding a canister lit with a blue glow. "No Fire Dust, but I think we can cut out the middle man." Yang stated as she threw the ice on her sister's head to the side before cracking the canister open. Covering the top with her hand, Yang quickly blew into it and gave it a harsh shaking before flinging the now liquid content at her sister.
The trail of blood quickly washed away as Ruby's entire face, and most of her uniform were soaked with the water just produced. Ruby seemed to shift from the sudden jolt of cold across her, before letting out a groan as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Oh, thank Oum!" Yang yelled as she quickly pulled her sister into one of her signature bear hugs, made all the more uncomfortable with the way Ruby's arm was placed behind her back. "I-I thought I lost you there for a moment."
"Oh, don't worry." Ruby groaned out as she noted how hard it had become to breath. "I'm sure you will if you keep this up."
Yang quickly let go of her sister, smiling joyfully down at the red-head as she placed a hand on Ruby's now frozen cheek. Her relieved expression shifted back into an aggressive one as she looked back at Glynda, grabbing the older woman by the collar as pulling her up the wall as far as the restraints would allow. "Now, what did you do?"
"Y-Yang, no, listen." Ruby sputtered out as she placed her free hand on her sister's bicep, trying to push the arm down. "I took off my mask and bumped into Weiss, it was my-"
"Because she was distracting you, right?" Yang snarled as she looked back at her sister, her eyes glowing red once more as her hair started to glow to life.
"No, she was trying t-"
"I think that describes the situation perfectly." Glynda stated as she looked down at the ice-covered floors, drawing the attention of both sisters. "I made her uncomfortable and she tried to get away from me, then the whole thing spiraled out of control." Glynda lifted her eyes back up to the red-eyed blonde, allowing Yang to see the sense of remorse within them. "It was my fault."
"Glynda, no." Awkwardly, Ruby took Glynda's cuffed hand in hers, attempting to slide closer to the older blonde as she did so. "You were just trying to help and I-I overreacted. And it was my allergies that set the Dust off."
"You can't blame yourself for that." Glynda stated as Ruby spun around, attempting to undo Yang's grip around her wrist companion's collar.
"We can for me taking my mask off." Ruby said before looking back at her sister, her hair had gone dim, but her eyes still burned with fury. "If you're going to blame anyone for this, you should blame me."
"Good to hear." The three looked up behind Yang to see the familiar figure of Pr. Peach, covered in black sot and white snow. Ruby swallowed nervously as she saw the harsh glare behind her goggles and the way her hair had become unfurled. "It's pretty hard for me to give a teacher detention!"
Nervously looking over her shoulder, Ruby saw Glynda giving the red-haired girl an annoyed glare as well. She couldn't really blame her, twice in one week, back-to-back; she'd get mad at herself too. Looking back up at the pink-haired teacher, Ruby nervously asked, "Can it at least wait until after we've gone to the nurse's office?"
You'd be amazed what can come to you as you write something. When I started writing this chapter, I had no idea how I was going to get it to the point Ruby would cause the Dust explosion, then I got to the point where Glynda helped Ruby with the saw and Ruby decided to briefly take her mask off, at which point I realized I had the perfect opportunity. Originally, I was going to have them use the Dust samples of the Grimm's stomach, then set off the blast, but I'm not sure how I would pull that off.
I was also having trouble figuring out Yang's terms from last chapter before I decided to go with what I did, which I feel does what it needs to well.
Aside from all that, I'm not sure what to say. I feel like this chapter took longer to write due to a less free schedule, but there wasn't too much delay for it. So I'll see you all in the next upload.
Also, if you follow my other story How RWBY Should Have Ended, the poll for what I tackle in the next chapter is now officially open and you can vote on my profile now. The poll set up for fanfiction is weird. I can have the poll be open, but having it be accessible on my profile is another checkbox altogether. That doesn't make much sense to me. So I'm extending the deadline to the end of this month. Now the voting can officially officially start.