AN: I'm keeping this short. Thank you guys for making this story as successful as it is. I honestly do not see any end in sight for this and I'll keep this story going as long as I can. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for reading.
Weiss waited patiently for their ride to arrive at Beacon. She sat next to Ruby, who was hyperactive as usual, and on the other side of the room sat Yang, who simply read a magazine in the meantime. Weiss knew that she was going to be in for an, interesting time, as she put it, not really knowing what to expect from Ruby's family. Ruby didn't actually tell her much, which surprised the former Heiress, so Weiss felt like she was gonna be going in blind. 'I wonder what's taking so long.' Weiss thought to herself.
Right on cue, as if some kind of higher power was having an effect in the world, Ruby got a message from their ride. "He's here." She stated, jumping around even more that she usually did. Weiss calmly grabbed her bag and grabbed a hold of Ruby, who then proceeded to grab her bag as well. Before they left though, Blake walked back into the room.
"Hey, I figured you guys would have left by now." She stated, surprised to see them.
" We were just about to leave actually." Yang said, walking over to Blake and giving her a hug. "You have fun on your trip." She said.
"You too, and you and Weiss as well." She said to Ruby and Weiss.
"Bye Blake." Ruby said.
"Be careful Blake." Weiss said, she seemed to always expect some kind of trouble. Blake just nodded and the trio left. As they walked through the halls, Ruby couldn't help but bounce around, full of energy, clearly excited about the break. Yang seemed to be pretty happy herself, though something troubled her, at least from what Weiss could tell.
'I wonder what's on her mind.' Weiss thought to herself as she walked out of the dorm. In front of them sat a modest car, capable of fitting them all in it, while leaving enough space for bags to be placed in it as well. Ruby and Yang seemed to bring back a pretty decent amount of stuff, while Weiss kept her possessions down to the minimum of what she felt she needed.
As they walked towards the car, a man clearly aged yet showing signs of strength and vitality came around from the side, and giving Ruby and Yang a huge grin. Ruby saw who it was an ran over to him, nearly tackling him to the ground. "Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted, as she hugged him. Yang walked over more calmly and joined in the hug.
"Ruby, Yang, how are my two beautiful nieces doing?" He asked.
"We're doing great." Ruby said, pulling Weiss over to him. "Uncle Qrow, you remember Weiss right? I introduced you to her when you dropped me off after the summer."
The man laughed. "I remember all right, the first second you saw her, you tackled her right down to the ground." He laughed for a bit more, causing Ruby to blush. "It's a pleasure to meet you again Miss Schnee." He said.
Weiss noticed the fact that he called her by her last name. "It's funny, I don't remember my last name being mentioned when we were last introduced."
He laughed again. "That's true, then again, someone as well known as you would understand that some people would know who you are without them having met you at all." He started to move into the car, all of the bags packed up. Yang rode up front with him while Ruby and Weiss sat in the backseat. "That being said, Ruby I wanted to ask you something."
"Uh, sure what's up?" She said, wondering what was going on.
"When were you gonna tell me that you were dating your partner?" Ruby and Weiss both froze as Qrow started the car, and began to drive off.
'How in the hell did he find out? Did Yang have something to do with this?' Weiss finally snapped out of her thoughts. "I don't mean to be rude, but what gave you that sort of impression?" She was told by Yang that Ruby still hadn't mentioned the two of them dating to her parents, so Weiss seemed confused by the whole thing.
"Oh well, when she tackled you before during the last time we met, I could tell that there was something going on between you two, but I figured Ruby would want to say something about it herself. So I apologize if I was wrong about that." Weiss knew that Ruby wanted to be the one to tell him, so she didn't respond to that, before she heard a little meek voice coming from her left.
"Well, I was actually going to tell you guys about it over the break." She seemed scared about the whole ordeal, which Weiss understood perfectly. Not everyone would have approved of their relationship, so she was being very careful of who found out. "I was just scared that some of you guys would think lowly of me." She said.
Her Uncle Qrow looked over to Yang, who subtly nodded, confirming his suspicions about who she was talking about. "Well, as long as your father doesn't mind, then you don't need to worry about her at all." He smiled, not concerned at all about the fact that she was a lesbian. "I know that I don't plan on changing my opinion of you. You are what you are, and I'm just glad you found someone who from what I can tell cares a lot about you." He laughed again, leaving Ruby to sigh in her seat and slouch down, relaxed after finally being able to tell someone in her family.
"Oh my god you have no idea how much it means to me that you don't think of me as a freak just because I'm a lesbian." Ruby said her confidence returning. "I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders." Ruby grabbed a hold of Weiss' hand, and held it gently, giving Weiss a very slight shade of pink on her cheeks.
"You're a part of my family, and I know that who you are is who you are." He said to her. "So, how long have you two been dating exactly?"
Ruby responded pretty quickly, which surprised Weiss that she knew the information. "In about a month and a half, it will be exactly one year for us being together." Even Weiss didn't realize that it had been a year since they were together, a year since she took that leap of faith that landed her in a spot where she became the happiest of them all.
"Wow, that's impressive, and I'm surprised you didn't tell us about it sooner." He said.
"Yeah I didn't find out about it until the day before we left for summer break. And she didn't even tell me, I saw the two of them kiss each other." Yang said.
"Wow, not even your sister knew for a long time." Qrow said.
"5 months without telling me. Though I can understand why they did it." Yang said to her uncle.
"I suppose so." He said, before turning his attention back to Ruby and Weiss. "So Ruby, when do you plan on telling your father and Vanessa?" At the mere mention of the woman's name, Yang grumbled in disapproval. "Yang I know you and Ruby don't get along with the woman, but she is still with your father so you should at least behave somewhat around her."
"Yeah well she doesn't necessarily treat us well to begin with." Yang said.
Weiss seemed confused by the whole thing, but for the time being she let it play out. "Yeah, she doesn't like us as is, what happens when she finds out about me being a lesbian? You know how much she ends up getting away with, because she basically pushes dad into taking her side against us, even though he doesn't want to most of the time." Ruby stated.
"Yeah, what happens then? Is she going to make dad disapprove of Ruby because of that?" Yang said adding on to it.
Weiss clearly heard enough to know that whoever this Vanessa was, she wasn't a kind person. "Who's Vanessa?" Weiss said in the middle of the argument, reminding everyone that she was still there.
Ruby, Yang and Qrow sat silently as they drove along, thinking of a way to start. Yang spoke up first. "Vanessa is our step mother, and not a very good one at that."
"Yang, while I agree with you on that point, I think that it's better if she sees for herself what the woman is like." Qrow interjected.
Weiss looked over at Ruby while Qrow and Yang were arguing, seeing a hint of sadness in her eyes. "You ok Ruby?" Once again, at Weiss' words, Yang and Qrow stopped their arguing. Ruby looked up at Weiss, and nodded. Weiss felt like she was about to make a mistake, but she needed to know something. "What about your true mother? Where is she?" Both Yang and Qrow knew that Weiss had just asked something that she shouldn't have asked, especially to Ruby, but they weren't going to yell at her for not knowing the truth. Ruby stayed silent, looking down at her hands, quietly wishing her sadness away. The silence was all the answer Weiss needed to know. She leaned in and gave Ruby a hug, feeling bad about the whole ordeal. "I'm sorry I brought it up Ruby." She said, completely acknowledging her mistake.
As Weiss went to pull away, she heard a little voice call out to her. "It's ok Weiss." Ruby let Weiss go, before she continued. "I should have mentioned this to you sometime sooner." Ruby sat there silently thinking of where to begin. Yang and Qrow also remained silent, knowing that Ruby needed to be the one to talk about this more than the two of them did. "About 8 years ago now, my mother went out on a mission. She was a world renowned Huntress and is actually one of the biggest influences in my life. I was only eight at the time, but sometimes it feels like yesterday that it happened. She was sent to exterminate a pack of Grimm that threatened a village not that far from our home. When she got there though, she walked into a more dangerous situation than she expected." Ruby took a pause to hold back her tears. Weiss took the moment to grab a hold or Ruby's hand to reassure her that she would be ok. "When she returned, it wasn't in a triumphant victory, it was in a hollow defeat. She died in that fight, apparently defending someone from the onslaught. As she died they brought her back to a safe place before she fully passed."
'Oh my, all this time I didn't know this. I wish there was something that I could have done.' Weiss thought to herself, feeling a personal responsibility for Ruby's sadness, even though the incident had nothing to do with her at all.
"Before she died, she left a message for each of us. I still remember what her last words were. She said to me, 'My dear sweet Ruby, I'm sorry, but mommy won't be coming home this time. I want you to know, that no matter what happens, I'll always be proud of you, and I'll always love you sweetheart. Don't every stop flying honey.'" She paused, fighting back another tear. "This cloak is all that I have left of my mother, which is why I always wear it, so that she's always with me." At this point, Ruby finally couldn't hold it in anymore, even Yang was fighting back the tears. Qrow wiped his eye, a single tear existing after hearing that message being retold again.
Weiss felt herself crying too, and she wrapped Ruby up in a huge hug, one that Weiss only reserved for moments when it mattered most to her or Ruby. She stayed quiet while simply letting Ruby cry in her shoulder, electing to choose this over trying to talk to her at the moment. In all the time she was dating Ruby, she managed to learn a few things about interacting with people, and comforting others when they needed it.
The rest of the car ride went back to a more cheerful atmosphere, as Ruby pulled herself together thanks to Weiss, and simply remembered that no matter what, her mother was still looking out for her. Weiss was simply glad that she had her Ruby back to the way she normally was, though she realized that this was still a part of Ruby, and one that needed to be comforted every now and then. When they arrived at the house, Ruby was feeling nervous about the whole ordeal of having to explain to her dad about how she was a lesbian. But Weiss took a hold of her hand and reassured her that everything is going to be alright.
Once the car parked, Qrow turned to look back at Ruby and Weiss. "I want to say this now before we go inside. If you two feel uncomfortable with anything in there, especially after you tell your dad about your relationship, then you can stay with me while you are here. Just say the word, and I'll help you feel safe." It was a kind reassurance that everything would be fine, which Ruby took as him simply looking out for them.
"Ok, thanks Uncle Qrow. I just hope it doesn't come to that." Ruby stated as she got out of the car. Weiss looked at the house that stood in front of her. It wasn't a small house, but at the same time, it wasn't a large house as well. It was a modest two story house that seemed to be well kept, with a small deck at the front of the house on the upper floor. Weiss seemed to find a strange attraction to the house, whether it be because it's Ruby's house, or because it looked nice, Weiss didn't know. As Weiss brought her bag with her up to the house with Ruby, she could just see the nervousness in Ruby. Before they got to the door, Weiss pulled Ruby off to the side where only Yang and Qrow could see them, and gave her a kiss.
Ruby was surprised by the kiss at first, but she soon found herself enveloped in it, even though the kiss was over before she knew it. "I figured we get one last kiss in before we go inside. You look like you needed it." Weiss was right, Ruby did need it. It subtly gave her a confidence boost, as well as remind her that Weiss was there for her should she need it. Ruby prepared herself for the challenge that lay ahead of her, as she opened the door.