Special Thanks
Xlyra from AO3 helped with storyline development and was one of the people
who helped inspire this story! Thank you so much for the help!
Mikotizini from FF.N helped with the editing of the final draft for chapter 1 and was the other
person whose work inspired me! Thank you as well!
Sky has helped with editing and proofreading the final draft of this chapter!
(Sky is not a fanfiction author but is an amazing editor!
Make sure to give this great person some extra love!)
Give their works a look! They are truly amazing!
A Painting in the Park
Chapter 25
"Alright Weiss, it's time to head back home. I'm sure Ruby is waiting for you. Or trying to keep Yang from doing something stupid." Blake said with a smile as they gathered together all of Weiss's papers for the next couple of weeks.
"That is easier said than done Blake. Everything would have been so much easier if we had just brought a bag." Weiss said with a groan as they both grabbed as many papers as they could.
"Well, I'm sorry but it wasn't exactly the most important thing on my mind you know. It still isn't if I'm being honest." Blake replied, holding the door open for Weiss as they started to make their way out. They barely made any progress down the hall before a familiar face showed up though.
"Hey, again Weiss and Blake." Jaune said with a cheerful smile, followed closely by Pyrrha as they turned a corner. Both Weiss and Blake barely stopped before they all collided. Blake gave them both a smile and stepped a bit away, gently pulling Weiss a few steps back as well.
"Hello, Jaune. Pyrrha. I apologize for not saying anything when we passed earlier. I was in a bit of a bad mood I suppose." Weiss said, giving them both a small smile. She was absolutely sure that they didn't reach her eyes though.
"Nah, it's all good! We all have those days after all! I mean, my mother always used to say… uh, well actually that's not important! I'm glad you're feeling better though." Jaune said, causing Pyrrha to giggle a bit by the end.
"Yes, it's quite good to see you again Weiss. We haven't seen you at the gym for a little while either. You doing alright? You used to come in at least weekly." Pyrrha said with a bit of concern. Weiss gave her a smile that reached a bit further, honestly touched that someone had cared enough to notice she hadn't shown up for a while.
"I have actually been slacking off a bit on my exercise lately. I am probably going to need a bit of help getting back in shape when I start coming back if you would like to help me out?" Weiss offered, much to Pyrrha's obvious delight.
"I would love to help! Maybe you should bring that friend of yours as well. The one that was at your little party and that you seemed to enjoy spending time around. I'd like to get to know her a bit better since you two seem close." Came the response. Blake stepped in at this point though, cutting her off before she could formulate much of a response.
"I'm sorry, but we really need to get going. We're on a bit of a tight schedule, what with all this paperwork that needs to be done." Blake commented, putting on a friendly face. Weiss had known her for long enough though, to know that Blake truly didn't trust anyone other than those she personally had known for quite a long time. Neither Pyrrha nor Jaune seemed to notice though, or if they did, they didn't mind whatsoever.
"That's a lotta paper you got there Weiss. Need some help?" Jaune offered out his arms, which weren't carrying anything. Pyrrha smiled but didn't say anything. Blake just shrugged, leaving the decision to her.
"Yes, that would be wonderful, thank you. And Pyrrha, Ruby and I will come to see you at the gym sometime in the future." Weiss said, offering up the papers she was carrying. Pyrrha promptly stepped forward and took all but the smallest amount from her and splitting it between herself and Jaune.
"Don't worry yourself too much about it if you can't afford to. But if you need our help with anything, just let us know. Your friends are always around to help you know." Pyrrha offers her words with a genuine and pure smile, almost as if she can tell something unsavory is going on in her life. Blake looked a bit conflicted but didn't argue.
"Alright, well I will keep that in mind." Weiss said as they started walking towards the parking lot. They didn't go far before Blake handed off some of her own load, much to everyone's amusement. They continued to talk on their way, catching up on the small things that they hadn't talked about in a while. By the time they made it to the car, Weiss was feeling better then she had in days.
"Thank you so much for the help you two." Weiss said, taking the papers and neatly stacking them in the car so that they could easily be grabbed later. Jaune and Pyrrha both smiled and waited before speaking.
"Well, you certainly seemed like you were having trouble with all those papers. And what's a gentleman supposed to do other than help a damsel in distress?" Jaune said with a laugh as everyone else rolled their eyes.
"You really looked like you needed someone to talk to. And I get that you have people to talk to and I'm sure they do a great job of it. I just mean you looked like you needed to have a light talk with a friend without worry." Pyrrha said, motioning to Blake at first, who raised her eyebrow. Pyrrha gave her an apologetic smile before giving Weiss a quick hug and leaving with a wave.
"Well, I'm not really sure what to think about those two… They seemed pretty nice though. Wasn't that Jaune dude the same one who was always hitting on you some time back though?" Blake asked as she hopped in the car and started it up. Weiss followed not far behind.
"Yes, but he stopped when I told him about me being gay. I suggested him pursuing a relationship with Pyrrha though and that seems to be going well." Weiss said, noticing Blake get thoughtful. Usually, that wasn't good.
"How long did it take you to come out of the closet after your realization anyways?" Blake asked, causing Weiss to groan. This wasn't a question she dealt with often. Or ever, really.
"Like… the next week? I am not sure anymore." Weiss said as Blake looked at her in surprise.
"The next week? You do realize that some people take years to come to terms with that kinda thing. Let alone tell others. That was bold of you." Blake said, smiling and nodding her head with an impressed look. Weiss only shook her head in response.
"Of course I came to terms with it pretty quickly. You of all people should know how awkward I have always felt when it comes to the terms of society. And you should also know that I have had to come to terms with a lot of things about myself since leaving. Something like this was… unexpected and a bit hard to swallow at first, I will admit, but after I got it out to the first person it all seemed rather easy to me. Although I am sure most others wouldn't have such an easy time." Weiss continued to ramble on for a few more moments before realizing that she was still talking. Blake didn't even try to hide the smirk on her face.
"It looks like Ruby is, ahem, rubbing off on you. In more ways than one." Blake responded with a wink. Weiss started to blush at the implications and took a few minutes to stutter out a reply while Blake started the drive home.
"W-we have not started to do anything like that." Was the only thing she could say, hoping that Blake would leave things at that as they headed home. Thankfully, she seemed content to do so. Either that, or she had something much worse planned soon.
"Alright, you two, it's time we talked!" Sun finally spoke up after Ruby had her fill of giggles.
"Hmm? Ah, right. You guys probably came here for something other than to just try and bribe my sister with cookies amirite?" Yang said, gesturing towards the couch. Ruby quickly jumped into her favorite place, a spot next to a corner table that contained a picture of Yang and her with their father. The picture had a small photo of their mother in one of the corners as well.
"Thank you for the cookies by the way." Ruby said as she bounced in her seat a few times before coming to a stop. Neptune gave her a wink while Sun fired a finger gun at her, causing her to smile.
"No problem Ruby. Yang told us you liked cookies so we thought we'd bring a house warming gift this time around. If you have an idea of something Weiss'll like, we can bring those next time." Sun said, leaning in to whisper the last part before sitting comfortably next to her.
"Uhm, Weiss isn't really that into sweets. You could probably buy a set of spa tickets or coupons or whatever you call those things though. I'm sure she'd enjoy for the two of us to go there some time." Ruby said, stretching herself out in content.
"We'll keep that in mind. After all, two lovely ladies such as yourselves deserve to hit the spa sometimes." Neptune said with a wink. Ruby furrowed her eyes a bit but quickly shook and cleared her head.
"Anyways, what did you want to tell us Sun? Good news? Please be good news." Yang asked hopefully. Her hopeful look faded when they shared looks. It didn't take long before she groaned out, expecting something bad.
"Well, we don't know if we'd call this good or bad news. But we might have found out who is after you. We have a few options but first, we have a question or two for you Ruby." Neptune said, serious all of a sudden. Sun only nodded in agreement.
"Okay… um… well ask away I suppose. What do you need to know?" Ruby asked hesitantly.
"So your surname is 'Rose' right? Like the flower rose?"
"Yes. What about it?"
"We'll get to that in a minute. And you share the same father as Yang, but different mothers, right?" Ruby answered with an affirmative hum, still not understanding where things were going.
"Okay so because of that, you took up your mothers name instead of 'Xaio Long'?"
"Yeah… So why are you asking all this again?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"We're almost there. So would that happen to be a picture of your mom? And was her name Summer Rose?" Sun finally asked while Ruby continued to stare at him like he was crazy.
"Yeah…" Came the response after a long pause.
"Did she work as a police officer?"
"Among other things, I think so. It was why she died while I was young I believe." Ruby said, starting to lose patience but also trying to hide it.
"Well, then I think that the person who's after you could possibly be someone your mother arrested a while ago. There were a few people who were recently released after 15 years of detainment after being put in jail by her. Among them were people like Adam Taurus, Salem, and Tyrian. Although that last one is more of an escapee then a release." Sun said, dead serious.
"O-okay… so the person after us could be one of them? But if you know who it could be, they'll be easier to catch!" Ruby asked as Yang went stiff. Sun nodded.
"Normally it would be, but these ones are tough to catch. And Salem is slippery. We weren't really able to pin much on her when it came to court. Or so the records say. Just stay careful. I'd suggest moving to a government safe house, but we also don't want them to know we're onto them." Neptune answered as Blake and Weiss entered the room.
"So, what's going on Yang? Having a party without us?" Blake asked. It didn't take them long to fill them in on the details of what happened. Blake wasn't happy to hear those names, and Yang started giving her worried glances every once in a while.
"Oh, and by the way, Yang wanted to trash this place and make it look like we'd been attacked." Ruby said nonchalantly. Yang stared at her, mouth gaping, as the other two glared daggers at Yang.
"W-why you little…" Yang shook her head in Ruby's direction, looking utterly disappointed. Ruby only smiled at Weiss, who noticed and returned the smile, shocked a bit by everything that had happened so far, but still in a pretty decent mood.
A/N:
I swear I didn't procrastinate on this until the
very last minute! I swear! Okay… maybe I shouldn't
swear about this but still XD Anyways, I hope
you all enjoy this! And whatever awaits us in the future!
Suggestions are always welcome and I try to respond
to every comment left! Anyways, sorry this chapter
is a bit shorter, but I'm really tired now and I need sleep!
Bye bye! Love ya all and thanks for sticking with me
for so long! It means a lot to me! I'll let you all know
when or if anything interesting comes up for my plans
for my other stories :D And whoaaaa chapter 25 already.
And to think my original goal was to make it to 12 chapters _