Prompt: Ruby dies and WBY tries to cope with it.
Yang was finishing her seventh glass when she finally appeared. "You're late. You usually come two drinks ago." She said. Yang heard a disappointed sigh as her sister sat down at the bar next to her.
"You can't keep doing this." Ruby said. Her voice sounded as weary as Yang always felt these days.
"I can't sit down for a few drinks with my sister?"
"Not when she's your dead sister. This isn't good for you. You're drinking all day before coming here to have even more every night. You've been drunk more often than Qrow since the battle."
Yang slammed the drink in her hand down onto the bar, and the sound of shattered glass rang through the room. "So what? If this is the only way to see you, this is what I have to do."
Ruby grabbed her hand, but there was no warmth in the gesture, no sense of her presence. If Yang closed her eyes, she would think that some inanimate object was sitting on her hand. "You're not seeing me. You're seeing a phantom."
"It's better than nothing. It's better than being alone." Yang's voice finally cracked, and she knew the intense pain she felt was finally coming through in her tone.
"You aren't alone. You have Weiss, who needs you as much as you need her. And you have Blake, the woman you love with all your heart."
"But not you. I don't have the sister that grew up with me, that fought beside me, that kept me going whenever I wanted to give up. The purest soul in my entire life. All because I got you killed."
"We were surrounded, and you were watching my back. You couldn't watch in front of me too. That Beowolf was my responsibility, but there were too many of them." Ruby reached over, grabbed Yang's chin, and lifted her face until their eyes met. Those silver pools held a world of compassion. "All I ever wanted was to be a Huntress. You helped train and protect me my entire life. You're the reason I got to fulfill my dream. But we always knew it wasn't a safe dream. Huntresses die, Yang. That's what happens. It isn't anybody's fault."
Yang shook her head. "This battle was way too dangerous for us. I never should have let you go."
"If I knew before the battle that it would kill me, I still would have fought. My efforts there saved countless lives. Don't diminish my sacrifice by blaming yourself."
Yang wasn't entirely sure when she had started crying, but she could feel tears running down her face. "I don't know if I can do this without you." She sobbed.
"I do. You're the strongest person I've ever met, Yang. It's not going to be easy, but you and Weiss and Blake will find a way to keep going." Ruby stood up. "You won't see me again. If you want to drink yourself to oblivion, I can't stop you. All I can do is hope."
"I love you." Yang said.
"I love you too." Ruby smiled at her, and then she disappeared forever.
Yang wiped the tears from her eyes before waving the bartender over. "I'm closing my tab." She said.
"Are you sure? It's easier to keep it open when you come here every night."
"Yes. I won't be back."
/
Weiss rolled over in bed to see her partner staring at her. "Hey you." Ruby whispered. It took her a few seconds of confusion to recognize what was happening.
"This is a dream." She said.
Ruby laughed and kissed her forehead. "Sure, but it's a good dream, right? Let's enjoy it together."
"Okay." Weiss laid her head next to Ruby and enjoyed the warmth radiating off her. She breathed in deep the slight scent of roses her partner always wore like a perfume. "I miss you. Every second of every day."
"Me too. That's the problem, Weiss."
Weiss gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"You're barely eating, you haven't left the house in weeks, and last night was the first real night's sleep you've gotten in forever. You're wasting away."
"So what if I am? At least then I'll see you again."
Ruby looked at her with eyes full of disapproval. "Stop it. You didn't survive a war so you could die in bed."
"What's the point of surviving if you're gone?"
"How about remembering me? Weiss, all that's left of me in this world are memories. The times I shared with my friends, my family, and my love. You, Weiss Schnee, are the only one in the world who knows how it feels to be in love with me, to hold me close, to kiss me." Weiss blushed at the last one, and Ruby let out a laugh. "If you die, you're killing those memories. You're ripping a part of me out of the world forever."
Weiss was crying now. "I don't want memories, I want you. You were the love of my life."
"I was your first love." Ruby corrected. "That doesn't mean I have to be your last." She leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. "I'll always love you, and some part of you will always love me. That doesn't mean you should be alone. There's someone else out there for you, someone incredible who can share the rest of your life. After everything you've been through, you deserve happiness. You can't be happy pining over a ghost."
"How could I ever move on to someone else? How can anyone compare to you?"
"You won't be comparing us. They'll be different from me, and your love will be different than with me. There's nothing wrong with that." Ruby smiled at her. "Enjoy your time with them. When you do reach your end, we'll be reunited, and you can tell me all about the incredible life you've led. Tell me about all the things I could never experience. But if your story begins and ends in this room, I swear I'll refuse to talk to you." Ruby said the last part in her mock serious voice, and Weiss couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face.
"I suppose I can do that for you."
Ruby laughed at her expression and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Goodbye for now, Weiss." Weiss blinked, and when her eyes reopened Ruby was gone. She wiped the tears off her face and got out of bed. She had too much to do to spend more time lounging in her room.
/
Blake was taking a comforting walk in the woods when she saw Ruby leaning against a tree waiting for her. "Great, now I'm hallucinating." Blake said.
"Well, maybe. I could be a figment of your imagination, or I could be something else. There's no real way to know. Which is rather the point." Blake was going to keep pushing her on that but decided against it. There wasn't much of a point in getting into a philosophical debate with herself.
"So why are you here then? I miss you, Ruby, but I'm dealing with it. Unlike some people." That was, at the moment, the more pressing issue in her mind. She knew she needed to grieve, but she could deal with her own feelings later. Right now she was focusing on not losing the rest of her teammates. Not that she'd actually been able to come up with anything to help them.
"I know, but I wanted to see you. It wouldn't be fair to say goodbye to everyone except you. You might not have been my sister or my girlfriend, but you were one of my closest friends." When she heard those last words, Blake froze. It took her a few seconds to realize what was happening. She focused on her hearing to confirm it, and when she did fury began building inside her.
"Fiancée." Blake said quietly.
"What?"
"Ruby was Weiss' fiancée. She proposed a few days before the battle. You're not a ghost or a figment of my imagination. You, "Ruby", aren't breathing." Blake turned and stared at an empty patch of ground. "But I can hear you loud and clear."
"Oops. The small details are the hardest to get right." Emerald said as Ruby disappeared.
Blake started stalking towards her. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you."
"Because I was trying to help."
"Bullshit!"
"I told you I already visited the rest of your team. You know that both were doing their best to self-destruct. I knew "Ruby" could get through to them, and I was right. Yang is no longer drinking herself to death, and Weiss isn't wasting away in her room."
Blake stopped moving once she processed the words. The fury was still there, but hope sprang up to cover it. "Why would you help us? We're your enemies."
"True, but Yang saved me. She didn't have to do it. She probably shouldn't have, but she risked her life for me anyway. I needed to repay her."
"Using Ruby like that was wrong."
"Sure, but it was effective. You were her friend. Do you really think she would mind me doing it if it saved the people she loved?" As much as she hated to admit it, Blake couldn't deny that she had a point. Ruby would be okay with it if it helped others.
"You could have slipped away while everyone was dealing with the Grimm, but now that chance is gone. You're on the most wanted list of every kingdom in Remnant. The people hunting you won't bother to keep you alive. This stunt probably killed you."
"Maybe, but what's the point of surviving if I can't sleep at night? I won't live like that again."
It sounded plausible, but Emerald could still be lying. Then again, if she really helped her team Blake didn't particularly care about her motives. "I'm not going to stop you, but if any of us see you again we will kill you. Understood?"
"Yes." Emerald said before walking away. Blake turned and started running back. If Emerald was lying, she wanted to start hunting her as soon as possible. If she was telling the truth, Blake needed to see her team snapped out of their depression. Then she could finally let herself grieve for her dead friend.
Normally I wouldn't use the same concept twice, but since my last prompt happened to be about Emerald stopping them from coping with Ruby's death I couldn't resist twisting it around. Consider this Mirror Universe B where Emerald is a slightly better person.