Hey people! The next chapter! And this one has a lot going on in it. I apologize if it seems to be all over the place, but these things were all happening around the same time, so keep that in mind. So I released my next one-shot! It's called, "The Panther Sinks Her Claws." It's the black rose one I was talking about at the end of last chapter. It has Futa!Ruby in it so be aware I guess.
Now on to the story!
Chapter 14: The Hardest Night
Ruby was shocked, and worried. She hadn't heard from Ozpin or Glynda that there was another vampire at the school. So why was one showing up now?
'Is this another one of his tests? Like the Velox-Mortems? Why can't he just tell me these things?' Ruby then goes on, impersonating Ozpin's voice.
'Hey Ruby, just thought you should know, there's another freaking vampire at the school, heads up! Ughhh!...' Ruby groans in her head then calms down. 'I guess I'll just have to ask her.'
Ruby forces herself to relax, still not taking her eyes off of the new vampire. "Maybe we should find a new place to talk instead of the middle of the courtyard?" Ruby gives her a look of disapproval.
The girl with the shades just rolls her eyes and shrugs. "Sure, it's not like anyone's out here though. Let's go, short stuff." She leads Ruby behind the school's main building, near a garden. The new girl takes a seat on a bench and crosses her legs, looking at Ruby still from behind her shades.
"Well, you going to take a seat? I won't bite. At least not you anyways." The older vampire grins at Ruby, trying to be as non-hostile as possible.
"I think I'll manage standing over here, at least under this tree." Ruby says, as she walks next to the bench that is facing the one that Coco is on. A tree providing shade for both of the vampires. Ruby removes her hood, still looking to the cool-brown themed girl, as she keeps smiling at Ruby.
"So what's your name, at least? I'm sure you already know mine." Ruby asks, shrugging, thinking she's someone who is out for trouble. Maybe working for Cinder as a spy.
"Actually, I don't. Ozpin didn't give me your name. He just said to be on the lookout for a girl with red and black hair who wears a cape. I'm sure you know that Ozpin is a bit of a greedy bastard when it comes to information. It's like he trusts no one." She shakes her head. "My name is Coco, Coco Adel. My family is on the Counsel. And we've been with Ozpin on the Counsel for almost a millennium now." Coco gestures for Ruby to introduce herself.
Ruby takes a moment to think about this. 'Not much to lose by my first name. Maybe she won't push for more?' Ruby sighs. "My name is Ruby. I honestly don't know how long my family has been involved with the Counsel. My mom…didn't live very long after she sired me." Ruby showed a beat of sadness then schooled it back in the face of a stranger who could be trouble.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, kid. But your mom was on the Counsel? She died recently?" Coco starts to think that could only be one female that died recently on the Counsel. The eyes of Ruby also suggest this theory is true.
"I don't know if she was on the Counsel, she didn't talk much about it. I think she was keeping us out of it for our protection. But I know she at least worked for them. Why do you ask?" Ruby asks, feeling skeptical.
"Because I know of only one clan on the Counsel that has those unique eyes." Coco pulls down her shades and looks directly into Ruby's eyes.
"So my clan is on the Counsel, not just involved?" Ruby asks, wondering how much she doesn't know about her clan.
"Well, they were. After Summer died, no one has been there to fill the void she left. I don't really know what Ozpin is waiting for. The longer he waits to fill the seat, the weaker the Counsel is. Although, my guess is, he's waiting for you." Coco nods in her direction.
"Me?" Ruby's eyes go wide.
"Yeah you, no one else is part of the Rose clan. At least that we know of. This is just speculation on my part, but I think that might also be the reason he brought you here. Training is one thing, but you're very important to him, too important to be unguarded." Coco smirks.
"What do you want?" Ruby lowers herself in a defensive stance, putting her hand behind her back for her scythe. She misunderstands her point to be a threat.
Coco sees this and puts her hands out in calming. "Easy, red. Calm down, I just want to talk." After Coco says this she drapes her right arm over the back of the bench, getting comfortable. Showing she means no harm.
Ruby relaxes, but doesn't take her hands off of Crescent Rose. "Talk about what?"
"Well, I wanted to say thanks for saving bunbun. Er…Velvet. She's my girlfriend. Look, she told me what you did to Cardin for being a dick to her, so thanks. She's way too nice to defend herself, you know?" Coco smiles to show her gratitude towards Ruby.
"Um…You're welcome." Ruby blushes. "G-Girlfriend?"
"Yeah? Is there a problem with that, red?" Coco gets defensive very quickly after that. Leaning up slightly from her lax position to stare at Ruby from above her glasses.
Ruby steps back, now behind her bench to the side. Her eyes widening in fear she offended her. "No, no! I don't have a problem with that. I was just a little…taken aback." Ruby shakes her head. "So, you aren't like some of the vampires my mom talked about? The one's who see humans as a food source and nothing more?" Ruby mumbles.
It's Coco's turn to be taken aback. "Hell, no! Those jack asses? They're no better than the Schnees with faunus!" Coco's knuckles start to turn white. She shakes her head. "I don't have any tolerance for people who think themselves better than others simply because they are a different race!"
Ruby meekly puts her finger up to get a word in and Coco stops. "Well, I agree with most of that, but Weiss isn't that way." Ruby shakes her head. "She's a nice person, really! She helped me stand up to Cardin when he was bullying Velvet."
"Really, the heiress?" Coco gets skeptical, but leans back again. "That's surprising. Velvet didn't mention that. Probably because she was too shook up from thinking you were a vampire." Coco then remembers something she should probably tell Ruby if she hasn't already been told. "Right! Um, about Velvet noticing you as a vampire. If you don't already know, faunus tend to pick us out as different from humans." At this, Ruby gets panicky.
Coco tries to put her worries to rest. "Not necessarily a big deal! At least not always. If they notice you have better senses than the rest of humans, they may think you are a faunus in disguise. But seeing as we don't smell like faunus, they don't really know what to think. So try and be careful broadcasting your senses around other faunus. Velvet's obviously Ok, but others? Not so much."
"So be on the lookout for faunus when using my senses, gotcha." Ruby gives her a thumbs up. "But why are you telling me this? What are you my babysitter that Ozpin sent?" Ruby crosses her arms, offended.
Coco chuckles. "In a way actually, yeah. You don't have to look at it that way though. I'm also going to have your back as much as I can in case Cinder shows her face." Ruby looks shocked again. Before she can ask, Coco just explains. "Yeah, I know about the pyromancer from hell. Ozpin filled me in. I'll be around when I'm not on missions. I won't be stalking you or anything. But you will have to keep me updated with where you are while I'm in Vale."
"So you are my babysitter." Ruby sulks.
Coco laughs at her reaction. "It won't be so bad! We can hang out too. Not very often I get to meet a kindred around my age, it should be fun!"
"Yeah, maybe. It would be nice to have someone my age I could talk to about all this." Ruby mutters, taking a seat, finally feeling safer. "But what did you mean, 'pyromancer from hell'?"
"Well, Cinder's semblance is pyro kinesis. She spent enough time under Ozpin that he learned of it. He was the one that sired her after all." Coco informs like it was basic knowledge.
Being bored, Coco wanted to get to the ground rules of being on the same school grounds with another vampire.
"So, just to let you know. I only feed off of Velvet. Just my personal preference and she seems to enjoy it." Coco smiles. "Just don't tell her I said that. She doesn't like me talking about it." The both giggle.
"So do you have someone like that?" Coco asks, just wondering. If Ruby was drinking something though, she would have done a spit take.
"W-What!? I-I…" Ruby gets flustered.
Coco laughs. "Wow! It's was a simple question. Calm down. It's not too uncommon to become attached to one person for blood. Some people prefer the variety, though. And it's usually because they are the ones who see humans as food, otherwise calling them 'sanguiners'. You know what that is, right?" Coco asks, wandering how much she doesn't know instead of how much she does know.
Ruby shakes her head, looking confused. Coco sighs, not liking having to explain so much to someone who should already know this already. "Alright. Well, it's a very derogatory term for humans. It's basically the equivalent of animals for faunus. You get it? I would never use it if I were you, especially around me. I don't tolerate it." Coco shakes her head.
Ruby gulps and nods. "R-Right. It sounds terrible anyways, I would never call Yang something so mean." Ruby mutters, thinking she was too quiet to be heard, she was wrong.
"Oh~! Who's Yang?" Coco gets a smirk as Ruby blushes.
"N-no one! Mmmmh…" Ruby gets upset from calling Yang a 'no one'.
"Hahahaha! Wow, they must be someone special for you to feel bad about that!" Coco laughs at her blushing.
Coco calms down, looking to Ruby from above her glasses, wanting to know more. "So? Who is Yang?" Coco isn't giving up on this.
Seeing that Coco isn't giving up, Ruby relents. "She-She is my sister. My…adoptive sister, actually." Ruby squirms in her seat, embarrassed.
"Wow, that's a nice sister you have." Coco smiles thinking about how funny this next part is. "You know usually, both parties of the feeding will eventually develop feelings for…one…another…" Coco's smile and voice trail off as she watches Ruby squirm more. "Oh! Really? That's…wow. That's gotta be rough." Coco says, feeling genuinely sorry for Ruby and her unrequited feelings. She then tries to pick up her spirits.
"Well hey, maybe she likes you back? You never know? Have you tried yet?" Coco asks, trying to help.
Ruby shakes her head, feeling worse. "I haven't." Ruby gets determined again. "I'm going to try though. I have to. It's not fair to me, or her!"
"I'll be cheering you on, kid." Coco says with a smile. "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about getting into each-other's 'turf' then, considering we both feed off of one person. But here's a very important rule." Coco takes her glasses off to make sure Ruby is paying attention. "Neither of us touches the other's teammates, for any reason. Got it?"
Ruby nods, not flinching. Feeling like she can definitely get behind that rule to protect Yang and her friends. She trust Coco, somewhat, but the rule definitely helps with her confidence.
"Ok. Now…Who have you told about vampires? Anyone at the school yet?" Coco still looks deadly serious.
"No one. The only one that knows is Yang and of course Ozpin and Glynda. I haven't told anyone, yet. I'm planning on telling my other teammates though. They need to know in case they get targeted by Cinder. It's only fair." Ruby answers with seriousness in turn.
Coco nods and puts her glasses back on. "Ok. Well, the only one who knows I'm a vampire is Velvet. The less my team knows about this stuff the better. Your situation is tricky though, I don't blame you for wanting them to know. Some of the teachers and other staff on Beacon also know of us, as well. But just to be safe, still don't mention this stuff to anyone besides the ones you are absolutely sure already know."
"Got it!" Ruby gives a nod and smile. 'She seems like I can trust her. At least she's good to Velvet. That's something.'
"Alright." Coco says, as she gets up. Ruby following her lead. "Well, I guess I'll see you around. Remember, keep me updated. Here's my scroll." Coco pulls out her scroll and holds it out for Ruby.
Ruby takes her scroll out and does the same 'handing out motion' to Coco and they press them together, back first. A beep goes off and they have each other's contact information.
"Oh, right! And one more thing." Coco remembers. "We should probably say that we know each other when we are seen together. Like old child hood friends or something. A reason why we seem to know each other, even though we have only met today."
"Ok. That seems like a good idea. I guess our families knew each other then. I should probably tell Yang about this then. She already knows I'm a vampire so she should be on it too." Ruby agrees.
"Alright. Catcha later, kid." Coco waves, walking away.
"Thanks!" Ruby smiles and waves to Coco as she walks off.
Ruby makes her way to the dorms, seeing if Blake is finally done with her 'thing'. She sees Granite at the desk and she waves to him.
"Hey, Ruby." Granite replies back with a soft smile. "I'm sorry about my brother. How's the nose?" He asks, worriedly.
"Oh, it's fine! Trust me he got it so much worse." Ruby laughs and then stops realizing what she said. "Oops! I'm sorry if I took it too far. He may be out for a while." Ruby mumbles, feeling bad about hurting his family.
She's pulled out of her sorrow from him laughing slightly. "Hehe…Don't worry about. Cardin had it coming. I told you if you wanted to you could handle it yourself, didn't I? Just don't do permanent damage is all I ask. A few broken bones is what he deserves after being such a tool." Granite crosses his arms, shaking his head at his stupid brother.
"You know, you have a very strange relationship with your brother." Ruby looks at him, cocking her head to the side.
"Yeah, I know. It's tough love. He's got to learn that when he's in the wrong, his big brother isn't going to bail him out of trouble." Granite gets an idea. "Hey, since you're in the same year as him, how about you do me a favor and keep him out of trouble while I'm gone on missions? Just put him in his place when you see him being stupid."
"Yeah, I can do that. Sounds fun!" Ruby grins.
Granite laughs again. "Ok, just make sure not to kill him. Ok, red?" Granite smiles.
Ruby pouts. "Why does everyone call me that?" She crosses her arms.
"Probably because you wear all red." Granite chuckles at her getting more pouty.
After seeing him laugh, Ruby starts to smile again. "Well, I should get started on my homework. Seeya Granite!" Ruby waves bye to him as she skips towards the stairs. She turns around and sees the elevator there, no more tape over it.
"Hey, Granite? Did they finally fix the elevator? That was quick. I was just here." Ruby turns back to Granite to question him.
"Yeah they did. They found something stuck in the counter-weight chain. They said it was a stale pancake of all things! Isn't that weird? How did that get there?" Granite shakes his head.
"That is weird. Oh well. It's just one floor up for me, I don't really need to use it." Ruby walks by the elevator to go up the stairs.
"Seeya!" Granite calls out to her. Ruby responds in turn as she makes it to her dorm.
She walks in and sees Blake on the couch, reading her book. 'Yep, that book. She sure does love her ninjas.' Ruby smirks and then calls out to her.
"Hey, blake!"
Blake looks up to Ruby smiling. "Hey, Ruby."
"I take it, you took care of what needed to be done?" Ruby smiles innocently.
Blake puts her book down after marking her place to answer Ruby's question. "Yeah, I needed to talk to Weiss." At this, Weiss walks in the living room.
"Hey, Ruby." Weiss greets.
"Hey, Weiss!" Ruby cheerfully greets Weiss. She then turns back to Blake, still on the couch. "What did you need to talk about?"
"Well, me and her are going to hang out Friday. We uhh…want to see how it goes." Blake answers looking to Weiss to make sure it's Ok to talk about.
Weiss has a blush, but nods. "Yes, I c-confessed to Blake today. I like her." Weiss looks to Blake at the end and Blake slightly blushes at the open statement.
They are then interrupted by Ruby squealing. "Wow! I never knew! That's great! I'm so happy for you two!" Ruby looks to them both grinning from ear to ear.
"Th-thanks, Ruby." Weiss stammers out. Not feeling very comfortable in this situation.
"I can't wait to tell Yang about this!" Ruby then remembers something. "Oh, right! Do you two want to see Yang with me? Pick up some food?"
Blake gets upset about Yang finding out. "Um…yeah. That's fine. I think we should get our homework done first though." Blake covers up being upset well enough for Ruby, but not Weiss as she already knows.
"Yes, we should all go. But homework first." Weiss agrees, moving behind the couch to put a hand on Blake's shoulder to comfort her. Blake instinctually grasps her hand on her shoulder, returning the feeling. Blake smiles to Weiss and she returns it. Their reverie is interrupted by Ruby squealing again.
"Dawww…That's so cute!" Ruby jumps up and down at their display.
Weiss and Blake get flustered, sputtering negatives.
"Sh-shut-up, Ruby! Don't you have homework to do?!" Weiss takes her hand away, embarrassed and stomps her foot.
Ruby laughs. "Alright. I guess we should get on it!" Ruby bolts to her room to start.
The monochrome duo relax after she leaves. They both sigh at the ridiculousness of their leader.
Blake looks up to Weiss, smiling. "Thanks, Weiss. For calming me down. I still don't know about Yang. And…I'm sorry." Blake looks back down, away from Weiss. Feeling like she hurt her.
"It's Ok, Blake. I understand. I'm not happy about it, but…I understand. You need to figure it out. And that's Ok. As long as we still go out Friday." Weiss ends with an authoritative tone.
Blake looks back up to her and laughs. "Yes, ma'am!" They both giggle.
They then go to their room to start on the homework so they can see Yang and eat without worrying about the time.
When they start, Weiss interrupts to ask something of Blake. "So, Blake? When are you going to tell them about you being faunus. I know it's a sensitive topic, but they should know as well. Don't you think?" Weiss asks, uncomfortably. Not wanting to push Blake, but needing to say it.
"Yes, they should. But I'm not quite ready yet. After telling you I'm a bit emotionally spent for one day. Maybe tomorrow?" Blake shrugs.
"As long as you do tell them, it doesn't matter to me." Weiss smiles and goes back to work.
Blake smiles back and does the same, thinking though. 'Maybe I'll tell Yang on partner day, then tell Ruby after that. The point is to get to know each other better.' Blake smirks.
Ruby locks the door to her room after entering. 'Ok, time to get some blood.' Ruby moves over to her closet and opens the 'trunk', taking out one of the blood bags and drinking it. Refilling what she lost from healing Yang today. "Ahh…Still not as good as Yang's but it will do." Ruby then gets to work on her homework, snuggling with Wolfey while she works on her bed.
Ruby finishes first and goes across the hall to ask her teammates if they are done.
"Yes, just about!" Weiss answers.
They then head out to see Yang together after the other's finish. Ruby informs them that they finally fixed the elevator on the way down the stairs. They were weirded out by the pancake story as well. Ruby feels like she forgot to mention something while they head over there though. She didn't remember what until she saw Yang again. Without her cast on her arm.
"Hey, Guys!" Yang waves both of her hands, happy to be able to move them both again.
Blake and Weiss look at each other, then to Ruby, questioning if she knew. Ruby looks down rubbing the back of her head.
"Uhh…Did I forget to mention that Glynda healed Yang's arm today? Heheh…" Ruby apologizes afterwards.
"It's fine. At least she's better now. I see she still has her leg in a cast though. Why didn't she heal that?" Weiss asks.
"Because she doesn't want me straining myself." Yang says in a mocking tone.
"She's right, Yang! Your leg should come last. Anything to keep you from hurting yourself again!" Ruby scolds.
Yang sighs in defeat. "Alright, fine. You win, Ruby." Yang smiles at Ruby and gestures for a hug with both arms.
Ruby smiles back and jumps into her arms. 'It's been a while since we hugged like this.' Ruby softly hums into Yang as she wraps Ruby up in her arms.
"So what happened today?" Yang asks her sister and friends.
"Oh! Oh, yeah… um…I forgot to tell you earlier when I was here with Glynda but…" Ruby gets nervous not wanting to upset Yang.
"What happened?" Yang gets worried.
"Well…In sparring class today. Uhh…" Ruby looks to Blake and Weiss for help. They just nod their heads, telling her to continue with the story. 'You guys are the worst!' Ruby mumbles in her head. "Cardin, may have tripped me on the stairs in class…" Ruby closes her eyes preparing for the yelling but nothing comes.
She opens one eye to see Yang. She's still there, no emotion on her face. Still staring at Ruby. She gets worried she broke Yang until she speaks up again.
"I'm going to kill him…What the hell did he do that for!?" Yang starts to struggle out of the bed. Ruby holding her down now.
"Yang, please stop! I already paid him back! And my nose is already healed! You didn't even notice it earlier. I'm fine and he was adequately punished, so stop!" Ruby continues to fight her struggles until they start to die down.
"What an asshole! You're sure you are Ok?" Yang asks, looking at Ruby's face for any bruises or scuffs, seeing nothing.
"I'm fine, Yang." Ruby smiles warmly. "Thank you though, for worrying."
Yang looks into Ruby's eyes. "Of course. I'll always worry about you. You're…you're my baby sis." Yang pulls Ruby into another hug, stopping herself from confessing.
Ruby pulls back so that she can give Yang her food. They sit and eat together, Ruby eating a few cookies.
"How is that a proper meal?" Weiss asks about the cookies.
Yang answers for her. "Oh, don't worry about her. She mostly just fills up on junk food. It fuels her semblance." Yang says like a rehearsed line.
Ruby then takes the time to change the subject. "Ooh, Yang! Blake and Weiss are going out Friday!" That shuts Weiss up from asking too many questions. Both she and Blake blush.
"Uh…Yeah. It turns out, she likes me and I don't know how I feel for her, so…We want to find out." Blake can't look at Yang while she says it, too nervous how she will react.
"Well that's great! Maybe you can teach Weiss to not be such a stick in the mud, right Blakey?" Yang jokes, laughing as Weiss gets offended. She doesn't notice the way Blake lights up at the nickname.
"Uh, right. Thanks Yang." Blake recovers and smiles at Yang. She smiles back, happy to see she's happy. They continue to eat and chat about the classes lately and Ruby brings up the promise to help Yang catch up like they talked about before. Weiss and Blake agree to help too, seeing as they are on the same team.
"Aww…You guys are the best! Thanks, I'm going to need the help. That's a lot of work." Yang sighs, exasperated from the full week of school she's going to have to catch up on.
"It's no trouble, Yang. You're our teammate, we would expect the same from you." Weiss says as she crosses her arms and nods as she's done eating.
"She's right. Of course we would help you, Yang." Blake smiles as she gets up, also done eating. "Well, I think we should go. It's getting late." Blake and Weiss go to the door to leave but Ruby stays by Yang.
Ruby looks back to them. "Hey guys, I'll catch up later. I have something to tell Yang. It will just take a second, but its family stuff." Ruby lies, looking to them hoping they understand.
"Alright, just don't take too long. We have school in the morning." Weiss says as she opens the door.
Blake laughs. "You sound like her mother." Weiss lights up, scarlet.
"B-Blake! That's so rude!" Weiss slaps Blake on the shoulder.
Blake just continues to laugh. "Sorry…lets go back to the dorms." Blake gives Weiss a sincere smile. Blake then looks to Yang and Ruby, not seeing the blush Weiss has. "I guess we'll see you later."
Blake and Weiss leave to go back to their rooms to shower and prepare for bed, leaving Ruby and Yang. Yang looks to Ruby wondering what she wanted.
She nudges Ruby on the shoulder. "What's up?" Her eyes showing Ruby she's worried.
Ruby shakes her head, putting her at ease. "Well first, I forgot to tell you that Ozpin has been supplying me with blood bags so I can continue to heal you without taking your blood. It would be rather counterproductive if I fed off of you just to use it to heal you. It would just make you weaker."
Yang looks down, saddened. "Oh, yeah. That makes sense." 'I've been missing our bonding…The feel of her teeth on my neck.' Yang feels a shiver go down her spine at the thought.
Ruby doesn't notice the change and just continues with the update. "And I wasn't able to mention it last time I brought it up because our partners were there, but when uncle Qrow was here, he told me that the vampire clan that me and mom are a part of is immune to blessed silver. Apparently all other vampires are dangerously weak to it besides us."
"Wow. I always thought that was just a myth that vampires were effected by the stuff. That's amazing, Ruby!" Yang smiles, amazed that her sister is so special.
Ruby smiles back to Yang, but then gets serious again. "Also. It's nothing overly bad, so don't worry. But, it's just that…I ran into another vampire today." Yang's eyes widen in worry, not caring what Ruby just said. But Ruby put her hand out to calm her down.
"It's not a big deal! She's a nice one. I think we can trust her. I'll need to talk to Ozpin about her first before I completely do, but for now…She says that her family is on the Counsel. And that Ozpin asked her to watch out for me if Cinder…Um, the one who is doing all of this…Attacks me." Ruby fills Yang in on what she learned from Ozpin and Qrow when he was here. Now that it's just them two, she's free to talk about vampire stuff.
"Are you sure you can trust her? Be careful sis." Yang grabs Ruby's shoulders, holding her in place. Showing her that she's worried.
"Yeah, I think so. Do you remember the bunny faunus? The one I helped out against Cardin?" Ruby ignores Yang tensing up at the mention of Cardin and continues when Yang just nods. "Well, it turns out that the new vampire, Coco, is girlfriends with her. Her name is Velvet."
That catches Yang's attention. "Girlfriend…?" Yang blushes slightly, but Ruby doesn't notice.
"Yep! And she cares about Velvet a lot! She wanted to thank me for looking out for her! Anyways, the reason I needed to talk to you was because me and Coco are going to need to pretend to be old friends when we meet each other and hang out. And since you're my sister you should 'know' her as well. Get it?" Ruby smiles at Yang hoping she's Ok with it.
Yang starts to think about it, not liking having to trust another vampire. "Well, why do you plan on hanging out with her? Wouldn't it be better to avoid each other to not raise suspicion?" Yang gets a bit protective of Ruby, not liking someone else spending time with her.
"Well, I don't know another vampire around my age. It would be nice to have a friend who knows what I'm going through, you know? Besides, she has orders from Ozpin to look out for me, so it would be easier sometimes for her to just tag along when I go out to Vale or something." Ruby gets hopeful that Yang will allow it, really wanting to make a vampire friend.
She hasn't had anyone share in the feelings of being cursed. Ozpin and Glynda are way beyond her years to be like Ruby and not get it. And of course she always wants to make new friends, now that she has some really good ones.
Yang feels so hurt by this. 'Have I not been helping her deal with this well enough? Does she not trust me to protect her? Ruby…?' Yang looks at her hands in her lap, feeling useless in this bed. Suddenly her hands are cupped by another pair. She looks up to Ruby's smile.
"Yang? Please?"
Yang sighs, never being able to say no to Ruby. "Fine. But just be careful, please." Yang asks pleadingly, pulling Ruby into a hug.
Ruby hugs back smiling into Yang's chest. "I will. I promised."
They lose themselves to the hug, not caring how long they sit there in each other's embrace. Eventually Ruby pulls back. "I should go…" Ruby says, not wanting to. Yang looks like she doesn't want her to either.
Yang concedes anyways, knowing she needs to go. "Yeah…I'll see you tomorrow, Ruby. I love you." Yang gives her a smile as best she can, feeling like her heart stopped beating after the half confession. Ruby does the same and smiles as she walks to the door.
"I love you too. Bye, Yang." Ruby leaves with a heavy heart, feeling terrible she hasn't fully confessed yet. She wants to say it for real, but feels it's best to wait, still not confident Yang feels the same way. She can't hold back the tears as she turns away from Yang and walks out.
Yang watches as the door closes before throwing her head back into the bed to sulk. "Ughhh…This sucks…" Yang softly mumbles. 'I can't do anything for her! I can't protect her from this bed like this and I can't make her feel more secure with her vampirism. She still doesn't accept herself yet! I'm such a lousy sister…' Yang clenches her eyes closed, trying to keep the tears in. It doesn't work as some slip past.
All four of the girls have trouble getting some sleep that night. Yang couldn't accept that Ruby needed someone else's help instead of relying on her big sister. Ruby missed Yang being closer, the space between them and the loneliness catching up to her as she slept alone in her bed big enough for two.
Weiss was worried that Blake was never going to get over her feelings for Yang. It didn't seem that Yang cared at all for Blake in that way and she was also worried Blake would be crushed if Yang ever found out and turned her down.
Blake was conflicted with her feelings with Weiss. She knew something was there. The way she always wanted to help Weiss with her problems and be near her had to mean something, but if that was the case, why does she still feel this way for Yang?
Yang practically cried herself to sleep, as did Ruby from feeling so lonely. Weiss and Blake just had too much on their minds. But neither said anything to the other as they stayed awake, meters apart. That night was the hardest night of their lives to get sleep. Things were becoming so unbearable.
"Ozpin…Ozpin! We need an update! What has Cinder been up to as of late?! The people of Vale are terrified to leave there homes! You need to put a stop to this, now!" A voice came out of Ozpin's desk holo-screen as he was snapped out of his revelry. He sees Glynda came back from healing Yang and is present for the Counsel meeting beside him.
He took a deep breathe to calm himself. He was used to getting yelled at by now. The Counsel never seemed to be pleased with the situation. He took a sip from his flask, actually filled with blood. He could use the pick-me-up right now. Ozpin knew that what Abendrot said about the people was an exaggeration, but not by much. The people were scared and something needed to be done.
"I've been informed by Qrow that she is in Vale, with her henchmen at her side. We don't know yet, how many she has working for her. We know that the missing people are her doing, but we don't know why yet. I think it would be a good idea to enact a curfew in the city. It would be effective Monday and we would increase patrols around the city to keep watch over the citizens at night. What does the Counsel say?" Ozpin asks the monitor. Looking at the other seven faces of the Counsel.
It takes a moment and then he hears pinging as the Counsel votes for the proposition. As the head of the Counsel, Ozpin's vote counts for two tallies. And he votes yes. The final number comes up on his screen and they are mostly in favor of the idea.
Abendrot Adel comes back on to speak again. "And what of the replacement you mentioned? The one that shall replace the late Summer Rose."
"You know that no one could ever replace her, Abendrot. But her sired is improving immensely. She's not ready yet, but she will be." Ozpin then leans closer to the monitor to get everyone's attention. "But what would you all say if her sired, Ruby Rose, were to deal with the Cinder problem? Would she have her place on the Counsel?" Ozpin smiles at the shocked faces of the Counsel.
Uproarious shouting of, 'you can't be serious?!' and, 'She's but a fledgling! Even Summer couldn't defeat her!'
Ozpin puts his hands up to calm them down. "It's true that Ruby isn't on Summer's level, not by a long shot…" Ozpin is interrupted by a female of the Counsel.
"Then how is she going to defeat such a dangerous threat to our peace?!" The lady aristocrat shouts.
"Because, Violet…She won't be doing this alone. Summer was ambushed as we all know. Lured away to her demise by Cinder. We should have seen it coming. But we were too slow." Ozpin shakes his head. Someone shouts, 'It was Qrow's fault! He should have went with her!'
Ozpin slams his hands on the desk. Stopping the direction this conversation was headed. Putting blame didn't solve anything. And Ozpin needed to make that clear. "Qrow had no idea what was awaiting his partner!" Ozpin rarely shouts, and he certainly doesn't like to. He takes a calming breathe and continues. "Qrow had his own mission to attend to. And Summer's 'mission' that she went on should have been so simple for her. Neither of them saw it coming, even Summer the Clairvoyant. We can't afford to fall into Cinder's traps again. We need to be ready for what she has planned and I have Qrow working day and night on reconnaissance." Ozpin relaxes as he is done.
"Now, is that all for this meeting?" He asks, looking to each members face on the screen. None of them speak up. "Then I believe that is all. Good evening." Ozpin's holo-screen collapses and the call is cut. He sighs as Glynda walks up to him.
"Do you believe this is the right move, sir?" She asks, never doubting Ozpin, merely making sure that he doesn't doubt himself.
"Involving Ruby?" Ozpin asks as Glynda nods. "I do. She isn't ready for the duties of the Counsel yet, but she will be. And I believe that with her allies she can win against Cinder."
"Of course. Let us hope so." Glynda walks to the elevator to leave.
Ozpin gets up and stares out the window to his office, thinking about when this all turned for the worst. Cinder's ambush. 'Never again.'
So we learn some about the Counsel! Abendrot Adel, hmm...wonder who that could be? :p So Coco wasn't lying about being with the Counsel, that should clear her name right?...right? xD I'm having fun with this.
So they all are feeling emotionally exhausted at this point. That can't be good. Yang feels useless, Ruby feels lonely, Weiss is worried about Blake, and Blake is confused on her feelings now. Great!
When Coco was covering that important rule about no touching each other's teammates, she didn't mean just feeding. She wanted to cover all her bases. She doesn't' know Ruby well, and she wanted to make sure Ruby wasn't' going to hurt any of her friends through other means, like seduction and toying with them. Coco is like Yang when it comes to her teammates. Coco seemed to be pretty nice, though. Watching out for Ruby. That should be fun. But like she said in this chapter, she won't be stalking Ruby. Therefore she won't be in every chapter.
Speaking of chapters, the next one is going to be special. We finally get to see what happened with Summer and the last mission she went on. Until then, peace!