The Night After

The silence in the school was unnatural. Roman leaned back onto the far wall in the hallway outside of Ruby's room, struggling to keep himself from storming into the room and taking Red into his arms before she could manage a protest. He wasn't used to feeling this way—on several occasions since his arrival he had caught himself starting to shake, and he had wrapped his arms tight around himself in an attempt to control it. Roman let out a sigh for what must have been the millionth time and leaned his head back; it seemed that no matter how many times he convinced himself that this was for the better, it still wasn't what he wanted. But if he could stay out here—if he could remain out of her sight until the end of the dream—they might be able to let go of each other.

Sadly it appeared that his plan was about to fall apart at the seams, for just as he'd managed to once again convince himself not to reenter Ruby's room, the door creaked open and the girl in question stepped out into the hall. Roman felt his chest tighten and he struggled a little to breathe evenly as he observed her entrance. Small bandages were scattered about her arms, and bruises colored her skin in sick little patches climbing all the way up to the light blemish on her right cheek. But the physical damage didn't compare to her composure, to the tear stains trailing down from her eyes, the way she refused to look directly at him or to the sheer level of melancholy that he could feel radiating off of her.

Neither spoke at first; it almost seemed as if she wanted to deny his existence there just as much as he wished she hadn't come out. They sat a moment more in the stillness before Ruby finally let out a cracked whisper that almost felt as broken as she appeared. "Why didn't you come in?"

Roman hesitated to answer, opting first to clear his throat in hopes that is would somehow make his voice less hoarse. "I figured you'd prefer to be alone."

"You didn't feel like taking the time to taunt me for my idiocy?"

"You don't think I've done enough?" he made eye contact with Ruby for a split moment before she averted her eyes again; the silence crept in once more and clung to their bodies like a thick fog. Roman kept his eyes on her as she fidgeted. He looked her over as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head toward the end of the hall. "Your friends…" Roman began, "what happened to them?"

"I thought you didn't care."

"I don't," he replied softly, "but you seem to."

Ruby turned her eyes back to Roman cautiously, her jaw clenched a moment before she answered. "Most of the students were able to avoid major injuries, but the student closest to the blast was killed…and…"

"And…?"

"Um…Ja-Jaune…was almost crushed under a bit of debris…Pyrrha managed to protect him, but…" Ruby trailed off and looked down—it almost seemed as if she was trying hard to regain her breath. "Pyrrha's left leg got crushed under the beam that was going to fall on Jaune. By the time the medics got there she'd gone unconscious from all the bleeding…"

Roman nodded before letting his vision fall to the floor. "Is she alright?"

"Does it even matter to you?"

"Does it matter to you?" Roman made eye contact with Ruby again, and her mouth hung open for a moment as she tried to find the word to respond.

"Why should how I feel about it mean anything to you?" she managed to croak.

"Do you care?" Roman tilted his head, "Or don't you?"

"Of course I care!"

"Hm. So is she alright or…?"

"She's not dead, but I wouldn't call being unconscious in the hospital alright!" Ruby finally snapped. "Why are you even asking?"

Roman held his gaze to Ruby's for a moment before averting his gaze and avoiding her question. "And those injuries of yours…all minor?"

"What does that even matter?! Why should you care if I get hurt?!"

"…Are they minor?"

"Why do you care?!" she shrieked, and Roman looked back at her just in time to watch her turn away from him while she hugged herself tight. He continued watching in silence, a frown marring his features as he heard her gasping for breath like her lungs refused to hold air. He barely resisted the urge to comfort her in that moment, instead he managed to quietly observe her as her breathing evened out and she looked cautiously back at him, her eyes wide while she momentarily struggled to form words. "It was an act, wasn't it?" she asked weakly. Roman averted his gaze once more and swallowed his words as she continued. "Everything you said earlier…you didn't really mean it, did you? You…you just said…things you knew would upset me…and I—I believed them…"

He could hear her body sink to the floor, and he turned back hesitantly; his breath instantly caught in his throat when his eyes fixed on her horrified visage.

"I—I'm such an idiot…" she squeaked, "I didn't even hesitate…I…I just stopped trusting you at the first opportunity…"

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Roman mumbled, "It's not like I've given you much of a reason to think better of me."

"Why…why did you say all those things if you didn't mean them…?" Ruby whimpered, a few tears falling from her eyes while she continued to stare up at him.

He sighed, his eyelids falling over his eyes as he considered withholding the full truth once again. Sadly he could bring himself to. "I…had a particular…friend over that wasn't supposed to know about you," Roman breathed.

"Wh-what?"

"The faunus that was in the room with me when you stormed in and shouted at me works for the White Fang," he explained, "You may remember him as one of the grunts that brought you to me back when we were in the caverns. He's the one I called Perry. Funny thing about the leader of the White Fang…is that he loves knowing all the little details of his members' personal lives, and since they began working together he's been rather buddy-buddy with Cinder. Never really took to liking me though…I think he has a particular distaste to anyone he sees as expressing anti-faunus sentiments."

"So you had to lie."

"I wouldn't call what I did lying. I only withheld a few details. Most of what I said was true."

Ruby's eyes wandered his form for a moment before she sniffled a bit and rubbed away a few tears. "Which part did you leave out?"

Roman hesitated; his eyes then opened a few seconds later and gazed somberly at her. "Well for starters…you asked me if I care about your friends. I don't."

She winced. "You told me that already."

"However…" he continued, "I do care if what happens to them upsets you. I also told you that I don't care what happens to people that I don't know or don't like…I didn't lie. I don't care."

"Why…can't you manage even some level of empathy…?"

"You mean the way you do? I may be a bit of an extreme case, Red, but honestly? I'm hardly a rare breed. There are plenty of people who only extend their sympathies to select few, and plenty of people who don't care how many suffer the consequences of their actions. I'd go as far as to say that little miss Ice Queen in there is at least one of the former persons, if not also the latter."

"Don't speak about her like that, you don't know her," Ruby snapped.

"I'd like to think that I have a basic understanding of her, but I could be wrong," Roman admitted. "My point…is that most people aren't about to truly care about every casualty that occurred today. Most people aren't even going to see past the loss of their own circle unless they happen to witness another's pain. So maybe I do take it a little bit further, but truth be told, in this scenario, you are the odd one."

"What do you mean by that?" she murmured.

"Look at yourself, Red," Roman spoke softly as he pushed off the wall and walked towards her, "You've got tear stains an inch thick, you look like you haven't slept in days, you can't bring yourself to smile, and every time you speak…your voice sounds like broken glass."

"N-None of that matters…" Ruby mumbled as he crouched down in front of her.

"It does matter, because you matter," Roman replied softly, and her eyes met his in an instant, widening somewhat with the sudden shock. He smiled lightly as he lifted a hand up to brush away a few stray tears on her unbruised cheek. "You matter to me, so if seeing others in pain is going to hurt you, then you have no idea just how much I care." He tilted his head a moment while she closed her eyes and tried to even out her breathing. "One last thing, Ruby. When I…when I said that I should have killed you, I..."

"You weren't lying, were you?" she managed to choke out as she feigned a smile.

"I wasn't," he answered. "Chances are that if I had, we would have both been better off."

"Funny, I think death would disagree with me…" she managed shakily.

"But if it's any consolation…" Roman continued as he moved his free hand to hers and laced their fingers together, "I'm glad…that I didn't."

Ruby nodded once in recognition as she hung her head, and as she paused Roman shifted so that he was sitting next to her. She let out a soft laugh and took a moment to squeeze his hand in her own before speaking. "You were right," she murmured, "you…you aren't a good person…you've…you've done awful things, and you haven't done anything to make up for it…" Ruby inhaled sharply, her words catching a moment before continuing. "And you're selfish, distrusting, disrespectful, and way too sarcastic. You tease me too much, you're childish to a fault and you have no manners…"

Roman frowned as she gave his hand another hard squeeze and let out a shuddered breath before speaking again. "And I hate...knowing that you won't care who gets hurt because of you. I hate the sort of things that you've done to this city. But…" Ruby finally looked over at him, her eyes watering as her bottom lip began to tremble. "I was lying when I said I hated you. I…even after all the horrible things you've done, I can't…I can't even regret being in love with y—"

Roman dove for Ruby's lips before she could finish, his composure breaking in an instant. She kissed him back while he unlaced his fingers from hers and pulled her closer by the waist; his other hand tangled into her hair just as his tongue tangled around her own. Roman held her lips to his a while longer before breaking away and taking her into his arms. He gasped for air for a few moments, even though he felt as if a wretched weight had been lifted from his shoulders it seemed as if every ounce of air had left with it. "I'm sorry," he rasped softly while his arms wrapped tightly around her frame. "I'm so sorry, Ruby."

Roman felt himself trembling once more as he felt Ruby's hands climb up to his shoulder blades as she returned the hug. "I forgive you," she whispered. He let out a shaky sigh of relief, his eyes squeezing shut a moment before he let out another broken sentence.

"I suppose I'm not ready to let you go."

oooOOOooo

It was still early morning when Ruby awoke from the dream. Dawn hadn't even started to light the horizon, yet for one reason or the next, Ruby couldn't get back to sleep. She supposed that the reason was, much like in the days prior, Roman had a need to rise early, and as a result, so did she. Ruby stared up at her ceiling, contemplating the end of the dream in a very serious manner until the buzzing of her scroll finally caught her attention. She rolled towards the edge of her bed and slid off, stumbling haphazardly all the way to her desk to see who in the world thought it was a good idea to text this early. When she read the message, her eyes widened a little in surprise.

[Guess what horrible thing I did today.]

Ruby blinked, hesitating only a moment before unlocking her scroll and immediately sending Roman her code message. She sighed, relaxing just enough so that when her scroll started ringing, she nearly jumped out of her skin and dropped the vibrating object. Ruby's eyes narrowed as she recognized Roman's caller id and she paused a second before letting out a short huff and picking up the call.

"You better have a great reason to call this early, Bowler man," she said a little more forcefully than she'd intended.

["Uh…forgive me if I'm wrong, Red, but didn't we just sort everything out? Or did I do something wrong again already?"]

"Well I don't know if you noticed, but you're calling me at like, four in the morning!"

["Ah yes, about that. I forgot to ask you something earlier."]

"And you couldn't wait until a less ungodly hour?"

["Well I would think it a matter of importance…Red, if you don't mind my asking, how many bombs went off in Beacon yesterday?"]

Ruby's brow furrowed at that. "One…"

["Thought so. Listen, according to Perry, Cinder put two bombs in Beacon. There's another wave set to explode today and I would guess that that second bomb is set to go off in that second wave."]

"So that means…"

["It means that you aren't safe quite yet. Tell Ozpin to evacuate the students and have a few bomb experts search the campus. Sadly I can't tell you where she put it, but I could tell you where I'd think to look."]

"And where would that be?"

["Well let's see…which classroom got hit yesterday?"]

"The sparring hall."

["Right…I'd suggest checking your mess hall, Ozpin's office, and out of curiosity, does your school have a medical ward?"]

"Yes…?"

["Then check there too."]

"Do you honestly think that your boss would want to attack a medical ward?"

["Are you doubting my criminal expertise?"]

"I'm just not seeing the motive behind it…"

["Ah…my dearest Red, you have just proven once and for all that you are not cut out for the crime business. Cinder wants anarchy and destruction, and to get that you have to strike where it hurts. So if she wants to leave you leaderless, she'll go after Ozpin. If she wants to put a dent in your numbers, she'll hit the mess hall. And last but certainly not least, if she's aiming to damage your facilities and make recovery from later attacks difficult, she'll attack the medical ward."]

"I'm not sure whether or not to be concerned that you can explain that."

["What can I say? It's an impressive skill. You know, it's a shame that you can't come over for breakfast. I don't mean to brag but the eggs smell delicious."]

"Roman, it's four in the morning."

["Four forty-five, actually."]

"Details," Ruby smiled, "Either way, I'm still not hungry yet."

["Well you're missing out on a good meal. In any case, I would tell your headmaster about the second bomb as soon as possible, if not right now. The second wave starts at the same time as yesterday."]

"What about the ones in the city?" Ruby waited in silence until she heard Roman sigh audibly on the other end.

["Red, I…can't tell you where those are."]

"Can't or won't?"

["Can't, unless of course, you'd like to find my corpse tomorrow morning. Matter of priority, Red. It's bad enough that I'm risking my skin to tell you about one bomb. If anyone even remotely close to Cinder overheard this phone call, I would be so screwed over that you would be lucky to find a body by the time Cinder is done with me."]

"Okay," Ruby murmured, "I suppose that's a good excuse. Have…have you considered the meeting at all?"

["Is the offer still on the table?"]

"I think he'll be willing to give you some time to figure things out after today…"

["Well in that case…I'm afraid I'll need a little longer to think about it."]

Ruby groaned. "Roman."

["What?"]

"Professor Ozpin was generous to offer his help as it is. And after yesterday I'm sure that his generosity has a shelf life."

["…Can you ask him to give me a month to think about it?"]

"Roman!"

["Just one month. My neck is the only one at risk if I agree to that meeting and I need some more time to think it over."]

Ruby sighed as she closed her eyes and rocked back and forth on her heels a bit. She considered his point a little bit—on one hand, Ozpin might be reluctant to wait that long, but on the other, Roman wouldn't be alright with being rushed to a decision. "Fine," Ruby mumbled as she stepped out of her dorm room, "but you actually have to consider it. Don't just wait a whole month to say yes or no."

["Reasonable enough. Well Red, as much as I'd love more time to chat, you have a headmaster to warn and I have a breakfast to eat, so I'm afraid this is where we part ways."]

Ruby's mouth formed into a thin frown as her thoughts focused on the dream from the night before, and after a slight pause she spoke up again. "Roman, wait a second."

["Hm?"]

"What you said earlier…about not being ready to let me go…"

["What about it?"]

"I—I didn't get to say it but…" Ruby took in a deep breath before continuing, "I'm not ready either. To give up on you, I mean." She waited a moment for Roman's voice to break the silence, swallowing down her anxiousness before he finally spoke up.

["See you tonight then"]

oooOOOooo

Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in. Oh the plans I have after this, just you wait—

So um, this chapter was hard as balls to write and I still don't feel too great about it, but is the best I could do and hnnnng this is it. I'm not fixing it you CAN'T MAYKE MeE. In any case. Reviews.

To the person sending a lynch mob after me: That thing was a joke, I am a college student, time is limited, cool your jets.

To KidRodent and Fourze…you two. Go sit in a corner, think about what you did. Become friends.

Also…Fourze…is butterfingers your strange code word for angst…?

To the person concerned about the update speed…you weren't here when the first chapters were released…were you…?

April fool's joke? Lol nope.

To the person who wanted to know if they'll ever address Blake's anti-human outburst…they will. But not in the immediate future, if that's what you're expecting.

To inviter…honey, if you speak French like I suspect you do, please feel free to post your reviews in French. I'm equipped with google translate, a sister with a vague understanding of the language and a Canadian friend that can all help me.

To the person who got the last chapter right after vacation…oops.

To the person who wanted to know whether or not Roman topped with Perry…bit of both, actually, though he greatly preferred being on top.

To the person who wants a PerryxRoman drabble…uhm…maybe…but I usually keep any level of drunk sex smut that I write to myself….as for the baby Roman drabbles, those are well on their way.

So…updates? Nah, not really. You can find me at alice—with-a-bowtie dot tumblr dot com, like always…so. Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.