I do not own RWBY or the characters
Forever Fall was beautiful. The golden orange leaves floating down to the ground caused Ruby's mood to lift for the first time since last night. Her silver eyes were alight with wonder. She smiled catching a leaf as it floated by her. Seeing her leader happy Blake finally allowed herself to relax. Her ears twitched under her bow and caught Cardin's arm as he passed her.
"We need to talk," the fanus said seriously giving him no room to argue. Cardin blinked but fell to the back of the group he watched the girl closely and smirked when he saw her bow move.
"What's up kitty cat," he asked and enjoyed the way her face paled. Blake stared at him in horror before idly thinking she could get rid of the bow. It really did nothing to hide her ears.
"What did you do yesterday," she asked not being able to take his arrogant look any longer. She wanted to take her claws and tear him apart. He was just like every bigoted human she'd fought in the White Fang.
"I protected our little rose," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What did you do to me," she asked and couldn't stop herself from curling her fingers into fists, "one minute I was fine and then-"
"It was like all you could do was focus on your anger. Your rage toward the heiress and you couldn't stop your bodies movements until you were already behind her," he said finishing her sentence. Seeing the realization she suddenly had he decided to cut off her rant, " I apologize about manipulating your emotions."
"Emotions," she repeated softly, "you can control emotions."
"No I can amplify them," he corrected with a smirk, "if you hadn't already been angry at Weiss then I wouldn't have been able to tap into it."
"Why did you," she asked getting back to the topic at hand and trying to ignore his words. She did have a grudge against the heiress but it was mainly against the Schnees as a whole.
"What do you think would have happened if you weren't there to stop her," he asked fully prepared to let her figure it out herself.
"She would have attacked," she said then growled. He'd used her to protect himself. She watched him closely with her golden eyes narrowed, "did you also use your semblance on Ruby."
Cardin froze for a second his smirk fading into a frown. The anger on his face surprised her. She took a quick step back as his eyes screamed murder, "I have and never will use my semblance on Ruby. She's much too interesting to manipulate."
"You care for her," she accused. The fanus just couldn't picture the indigo eyed boy caring for anyone.
"That is not a topic we're going into," he said denying he line of questioning before she even got started. Blake nodded allowing him to keep some secrets.
"We should get back," she said and was surprised when all he did was give a nod. Walking back to the others they were both trapped in thought. She wanted to say he was just a bully that didn't care for anyone but that wasn't true. He cared for Ruby enough to protect her from Yang and since the two leaders made their deal, he hadn't been horrible to be around.
"Blake," Ruby yelled as the fanus came into sight, "I was just about to go looking for you."
Ruby was happy to finally have her team together. She danced around the older girl her eyes bright with happiness. Blake watched her excited leader in amusement. When the girl finally tackled her she was ready. Watching Ruby gush over Blake, Cardin couldn't help but wish he had the same relationship with his team.
"I'll help Jaune," Cardin said before walking over to where Jaune was training. He passed Pyrrha on the way and grinned at the warning look she sent him. Ruby waved him off without concern. She knew that he wouldn't hurt her team.
"You shouldn't trust him so easily," Pyrrha cautioned as she joined the other two girls. Ruby sighed. She knew her team didn't like Cardin at all. Blake hated his arrogance, Jaune couldn't forget the sparring incident, and Pyrrha just didn't like him. It was amazing how he could get one of the most accepting people in the world to hate him just by existing.
"Cardin won't hurt us," she defended although a small part of her agreed with her partner, "I trust him because he trusts me."
Blake watched them argue but didn't hear the words. Was it really that simple for Ruby to make room in her heart for the Cardin? Did she not have any doubts about his intentions? The fanus tightened her grip on Ruby before saying, "how do you know he won't let you down?"
Ruby pulled away from Blake and glanced over at Cardin for a second. Should she tell them? The terms of the deal were not really secret but so far they'd kept it to themselves. Looking back at the faces of her team she pushed down the guilt of keeping a secret from them. When Cardin was ready they would tell the two teams the truth, but she refused to betray his trust by blabbing.
"He's just changed a lot you know," she said keeping her voice light. She spotted Yang's bright hair. Should she talk to her sister? It wouldn't be a good idea to leave this gap between them. Blake followed her leaders gaze and wondered if Cardin used his semblance to make Yang explode at Ruby. Then she couldn't help but remember what Cardin said earlier. If the anger wasn't there he couldn't amplify it.
"You should go talk to her," Blake stated encouraging the younger girl, "you never know how long you'll have with her."
Ruby thought about Blake's words and decided she had a point. Waving goodbye to her team she stalked over to talk to Yang. When the blonde saw her coming she couldn't stop the tears from gathering in her eyes.
"Hey Yang," Ruby said hesitating. What if Yang still hated her? What if the older girl couldn't even stand breathing the same air? Seeing her sisters fear and sadness Yang couldn't stop herself from drawing the girl into a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered and was pained when Ruby pulled away.
"Did you mean it," Ruby started to ask, "do you really not think it's true I'm your sister?"
"I-" she started to say but couldn't finish. Yang had found out years ago that Ruby wasn't her real sister. She still remembered hearing her dad telling her when he was drunk. Of course, Tai didn't remember any of this the next day and left Yang to deal with her emotions over everything on her own.
"I see," Ruby said her voice sounding defeated. She loved Yang despite the fact that they were cousins and not sisters. She just didn't think she could be around the older girl at the moment. Gathering herself to leave Ruby said, "well I'll see you later."
Yang wanted to call her back but couldn't seem to find the words. She'd let her resentment for a lie cloud her relationship with her sister and now she didn't know how to fix what she'd broken. Ruby walked back toward her team with her head down.
She wanted to cry again. Bumping into someone she looked up to apologize. All she saw was green hair before she felt a sharp pain in her side and something slam into the back of her head.