Two Sides to a Coin Ch. 20: Tension
RTX IS NEXT WEEK {or the RWBY 2 premier}! I am going to RTX, so if anybody here is going and would like to meet me, just let me know through PM's or reviews or something of that sort. We may get to meet and you can maybe bring me free shit {I'm kidding}! Also, thanks to damian-lucius-black for giving me my first ever piece of fanmail! It's a pendant of Ruby's symbol, and I am loving it. Finally, thanks to everyone for getting me to 120 followers and 90 favorites! I'm really close to 100 favorites... Anyways, let's turn our attention back to this story.
Blake carefully took the last tray of food from the woman in charge of the cafeteria, and looked over at Yang. While they both were there to pick up food, and it would've been technically easier to carry them by splitting the trays up two a piece, Blake pointed out that somebody had to open the door. Immediately after she said that, Blake called dibs on being the one to open up the doors, leaving Yang with three trays of food.
"Are you doing alright?" Blake asked.
"This is a little difficult," Yang said. "I think I'll have to readjust a few times along the way." Blake nodded, and started to walk forward. She carefully guided her partner to the halls, and Yang had to stop at one point to rest. They continued on for a little bit longer, and Yang had to pause as they climbed up the first flight of stairs. Yang rested again, and sighed.
"How many more of these do we have?" Yang asked.
"Two more," Blake promised her. "I didn't think that these'd be that big of a challenge?" Yang picked up one of the trays and carefully placed it on her chest, then she picked up the other two and slid the tray down from her chest and onto the crook of her arms.
"This is just extremely tedious," Yang said. "It requires a lot of balance." Blake nodded, and looked over at the stairs. "Well, there's nobody in the halls right now Blake. Mind if I ask you a question?" Blake flashed a glance at Yang and shrugged. "What did you talk with Roxanne about?" Blake felt herself grow nervous, but kept a camp composure outside.
"What do you mean?" Blake asked.
"Don't even try to lie to me," Yang said. "I heard you tell Roxanne you wanted to talk with her, and I heard you walk her out. You may be clever and sneaky, but you're not that clever and sneaky."
"It was for an estimated recovery time for Weiss," Blake said. "I didn't want Ruby to hear it, she still blames herself for what happened." Yang nodded, and then remained seated.
"If you want to tell me the truth I'll be here," Yang said. "Otherwise, the food stays with me."
"Why're you being difficult?" Blake asked.
"Because you're my partner," Yang finally said. "You're the person I trust the most here, apart from Ruby. You've helped Ruby and I so much that I don't think that I could ever repay you fully. I know that there are things that you've done, and maybe things you'll continue to do, that I don't know about and that's probably for the best. But this... I don't think you were asking her for an ETA, I think you were asking her about something else that concerns our team. So please Blake, just tell me." Blake hesitated, and that was enough for Yang to smile. That smile meant that Yang was right, and Blake knew it just as much as her partner did.
"I asked if she could cure Onyx," Blake said in a quiet voice. "The thing is a freaking virus, I wanted to see if I could kill it like one." Yang paused, finally seeing what Blake tried to do. "But Onyx isn't a virus. It's apart of Ruby just the same as my..." Blake paused, and looked around her. Nobody else in the school was aware yet of what Blake was, but she was planning on telling JNPR soon. She stopped checking, and lowered her voice. "The same as my cat ears. No matter how badly we want it gone, those marks will be there until Ruby dies." Yang sighed, and rose to her feet.
"Thanks for trying Blakey," Yang said. "I really appreciate it." Blake mumbled something, something that Yang didn't catch. Before Yang could ask what her partner had said, Blake turned he sights back to Yang.
"All I said was that if you kept sitting around here, Ruby and Weiss will have a cold breakfast," Blake said, reading Yang's mind. Yang shrugged, and rose to her feet. Blake started to walk up the stairs, and just thought over Ruby and Onyx. There had to be a way to separate them, right?
Team RWBY's Dorm
Weiss had finally finished crying. She was curled up in a ball, her throat dry, eyes red, and heart hurt. She felt like something had gone wrong, somehow she had done something wrong. She had done something in a way that would be considered imperfect, and she was convinced that it was her error.
She had kissed Ruby. All that had happen was that their eyes met, and she had kissed Ruby. Weiss just thought that she had seen love in Ruby's eyes, want. Now Weiss knew, she had planted it in her own mind. She had hurt Ruby again. She just sat up, and looked down at her lap. Her thoughts had finally become a little less muddled, and one thing occurred to her.
Why did Ruby apologize? Weiss asked herself. She had no reason to be sorry. Did she do something? Did Onyx do something? Weiss' mind became even more confused, and she wanted to get up and go looking for Ruby. Sadly, there was no such luck. She was still on bed rest, especially with some of the side effects the shots gave her.
Team JNPR's Dorm
Ruby had also just finished crying. It was unbeknownst to her at that moment in time what Weiss was thinking, but Ruby would've felt worse if she knew that Weiss blamed herself. Pyrrha had been incredibly gracious as a host, allowing Ruby to stay and cry away from her dorm. Now that Ruby was finished, Pyrrha moved a little closer to her friend.
"What happened exactly?" Pyrrha asked. "I'm happy to help you Ruby, I really am, but I need more if I can help."
"I did something bad," Ruby said cryptically. "I-, well I don't want to say what I did. But I did something really bad." Ruby sniffled a little, and used her cloak to dab away at the tears. "I did something I shouldn't have after I did the bag thing. It made everything worse, and I'm just destroying my team." Pyrrha sighed, and put her hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"You're not destroying them," Pyrrha said. "You have a great eye, no pun intended, for strategy and detail. You know more about Grimm then anyone I know, and-. Are you okay?" After Pyrrha brought up Grimm, Ruby's face grew pale and her eyes wide. Her mask prevented Pyrrha from seeing, but Ruby knew more about Grimm then any man or woman alive. That mask kept up the barrier, the false image that everything was fine with her.
"It's okay," Ruby said. "It's just that I don't know what to do. I really don't know if I should go back in there and face Weiss."
"Is it just Weiss?" Pyrrha asked. Ruby nodded absently. "Then do it now, before anyone else gets back in. Now is your best chance." Pyrrha stood up, and Ruby sighed. She knew that Pyrrha was right, but she was still afraid.
"Thank you so much," Ruby said. "I can't ever do enough for you in return."
"You could take me on one of your famous walks," Pyrrha joked. "However, anytime you need me, I'll be here." Ruby wiped her eye one last time, and opened up JNPR's door. She walked over to her door, and reached for the handle.
"So all of that was for nothing," Ruby heard. She turned around, and saw Yang holding three breakfast plates in her hands while Blake had one. "We could've split it 50/50 the whole time."
"I think that I still get enjoyment out of this," Blake said. "Ruby, would you mind getting the door for your sister?"
Later, Ruby thought. I guess I have to do this later. She awaited a reply from Onyx, but got none. Onyx? Still nothing. Ruby felt herself grow fearful of the absence by her normal companion. She didn't want to know what this meant, at least not yet.
"Uhm, Ruby?" Yang asked. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Ruby said. "I just realized that I forgot my scroll." Yang shrugged, and looked at Blake. Blake calmly gave her scroll to Ruby, and she unlocked the door with it. Yang walked in first, then Blake, followed by Ruby.
Weiss looked up from her bed, and Blake instantly noticed that her eyes were red.
"What happened Weiss?" Blake asked. Weiss shifted her stare around the room. First Yang, then Blake, then Ruby. She took in a deep breath, and looked over at Blake.
"I accidentally bit down too hard on one of my new teeth," Weiss said. It kind of erased the numbing shot, plus the new wave of pain. I cried a little bit, something I'm not proud of. It's all gone now." Ruby felt her body grow weak for a brief moment at Weiss' words. That was a lie, a blatant lie. Ruby knew why Weiss was crying, and she had just said something like that to... To do what? Was it to protect Ruby? Herself?
"Yikes," Yang said. "Sounds like you've got a good bite. Why'd you do it?"
"I tipped her glass," Ruby blurted out loud. "I didn't mean to, I just sat down with Weiss so we could talk a little bit. She was drinking water, and my elbow hit her glass at one point." Weiss nodded in agreement, and Ruby felt herself breathe a sigh of relief.
"It looks like Onyx didn't fully upgrade all of your abilities," Yang said. "You're still a klutz." Ruby paused for a moment, but nothing was heard.
"Onyx actually hasn't been here today," Ruby said blankly. Blake and Yang exchanged nervous glances. "I think it's just resting."
"This is unusually long," Blake said skeptically.
"It is," Ruby said. "I can go to sleep and find out if it's there or not."
"Don't," Yang said. "Onyx can wait. If it's not there, then it's peace for you. It still can't fully leave you, right?" Ruby nodded. "Good, then let's enjoy the peace and eat some breakfast." Ruby just nodded, and Yang handed out the food trays to everyone.
"Are you sure that I should be eating in my bed?" Weiss asked.
"Calm down princess, the crumbs won't be terrible," Yang reassured her. Ruby took her tray into her bed, and started to eat silently. "See, even Ruby's going to do it." Weiss shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Ruby, and Yang looked questioningly at her sister. Ruby just shrugged. Yang sighed, and walked towards her bed. Blake had already taken her seat, and was beginning to eat. Yang immediately started wolfing down her food.
Ruby and Weiss also began to eat, their pace much slower then their teammates. Yang and Blake finished, and picked up a casual conversation. Ruby and Weiss occasionally joined in, but neither of them really picked up conversation with each other. The tension was getting thicker by the minute, and finally Yang couldn't be in the same room.
"Oookay, I don't know what happened but I'm going to go out and grab a coffee," Yang said. "Blake, care to join me?"
"Absolutely," Blake said. She stood up, and looked over at Ruby and Weiss. Weiss finally looked over to Blake and Yang, and just stopped for a moment.
"Will you pick me up a coffee?" Weiss asked. "Oh, and a hot chocolate for Ruby?" Ruby looked pleadingly towards her sister, and Yang sighed.
"Sure thing guys," Yang said. "Let's go Blake." Blake stole one last glance at her other teammates, and sighed. She followed along just behind Yang, and they closed to door shut behind them.
Weiss and Ruby watched their teammates leave, and sighed. They simply stared at their beds for a few minutes. Then both of them started to study. After Ruby had finished studying, she started running through maintenance on Crescent Rose. Weiss finally set aside her book, and leaned back. Ruby looked down at Crescent Rose, and realized that it was also complete. She set it aside, and stared down at her hands.
"We need to talk," Ruby said suddenly. She looked up and felt herself flinch in surprise of her own words.
I didn't want to say that, Ruby thought.
"We do," Weiss agreed. She hadn't wanted to say anything, but Weiss needed to talk. She just had to know. "Ruby, I tried to pretend before that nothing had happened. I almost died, Yang almost died, we can't do that again." Ruby just nodded, and remained in her bed.
"I'll start then," Weiss said sadly. "Ruby, I love you so much. I was never angry at you, and I snapped at you. I know that I told you all of this before, but I need to have you know... When I stared into your eyes, I thought I saw something there. Please Ruby, don't hate me for what I did."
"I don't," Ruby said blankly. "I don't feel anything bad about you. I feel... I feel guilty and horrible." Weiss looked over at Ruby, and her face grew questioning and confused.
"I love you Weiss," Ruby finally said. "I told you before, but you were only just conscious. I love you so much, and I realized it that day." Weiss felt her heart grow, but she knew that something had to follow.
"I heard you say how you didn't remember anything about it," Ruby said. "I just heard that what I had said had been cast away. I knew how you felt, but after all of this I needed to feel love. I needed... I needed it's physical presence. After all that had happened, I had to feel it. I... I sought out help. I went to Onyx. I sought some cheap form of love because I was hurt," Ruby continued" Weiss' face twisted, and she stared at Ruby with pain.
"Why did you go to Onyx?" Weiss asked, her voice filled with pain. "Didn't it... Didn't it rape you?" Ruby stared down at her hands. This was the one part that she never said out loud, but the one part that she was absolutely sure of.
"It didn't rape me," Ruby said. Weiss' face filled with shock, and she backed up further in her bed. "I wanted it to do what it did to me. I just... I didn't realize it. What it did after that wasn't me."
"So you were never raped," Weiss said. She sounded hurt, betrayed, and angry.
"No," Ruby said. "And I wanted to feel that feeling again, but I wanted to feel it with love. I... I was with Onyx again." Weiss shot a glare at Ruby, and her face just became a single mask of pain and hatred.
"I sought some cheap form of love instead of going to you," Ruby said. "Then I... Then we kissed. I just felt so guilty, I couldn't do anything. I had to run." Weiss let Ruby finish, and she rose to her feet.
"Where did you go?" Weiss asked.
"Pyrrha," Ruby said quietly. Weiss opened up the door, and looked back at Ruby.
"Tell Yang and Blake that I'll be there," Weiss said. "And that I don't know what I feel for you anymore." Weiss slammed the door shut, and Ruby stared at it.
You knew this was coming, Onyx said. Ruby jumped in surprise, and she just blinked back a few tears. I had to influence this faster, while Weiss may still feel guilt. But you knew that your actions would receive consequences.
"Why did you let me?" Ruby asked, her voice finally giving way to the pain.
Because all children must make their own mistakes.
End: I will be doing a live write {which is essentially a livestream of writing} in the future. I am letting all of you vote on it. The poll is on my profile, and more details are also in my profile. It'll remain up for two cycles, so the next chapter update will be the last before the poll is closed. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.