The entrance opened without her having to knock.
She felt the warmth embrace her in an instant, although the insulated heat was the only thing that greeted her inside. One of the servants rudely gaped at Weiss, judging her appearance as she walked herself into the estate. She did feel bad for the cleaning lady though, noticing the trail of rain and dirt her shoes were leaving on the otherwise pristine hardwood floor.
"Miss Schnee!" A familiar voice startled her. Weiss flinched as the elderly but shrewd butler strode into the foyer, his beady black eyes glowering down at her.
"Where have you been?" He asked this in a sincerely angry manner. Not knowing that anyone would have minded, or cared, Weiss felt even more guilty for not having called a second time.
"I was just..." The truth was impossible to say. "I was just enjoying a nice walk."
She prepared for the worst, breathing in the short silence as the air filled with the collective sound of rainfall. Being reminded of the weather, the man looked outside the window and then spotted her clothes with a mixture of anxiety and disdain. "You're drenched from head to toe."
"It's um... It was raining for a little while and I didn't have an umbrella." Weiss concealed the battered contraption behind her shadow, worried by the sort of questions its sight would provoke. "I'm sorry for making you worry."
"Next time, it would be kind of you to inform us of your whereabouts," he resumed with his lecture, albeit with a softer tone. "Your father wouldn't want you to stay out too late. It's dangerous for a young lady to roam around at night."
"Why? Is he here?" She shot back, and within the inquiry she could already detect the cynicism.
"Well... No." The answer seemed to be compressing the butler into a sorely uncomfortable position. "Your father had to attend an important engagement tonight. But he would be concerned for your well-being, miss, if he were here."
"I'm sure," Weiss said flatly, in fake understanding. "Thank you for telling me. But, if you'll excuse me, I would really like to go up to my room and change. These clothes aren't very comfortable to be in."
Abiding to her wishes, as if summoned, one of the female servants stepped forward, ready to escort her up the stairs. Weiss paled in comparison.
"I don't think I'll be needing any help getting dressed," she hinted, keeping a civil tone to be polite.
"Very well." The butler grunted reluctantly. "We won't disturb you."
"Right..." Weiss huffed. "Um, good." Then as awkwardly as humanely possible, she twirled around, keeping her back hidden from view as she took a few steps towards the staircase. Most of the servants retreated to their other duties. The old man, however, kept an oddly suspicious stare on her figure. When he was distracted enough by a phone call, Weiss pivoted violently on her feet, nearly tripping again before racing forward in a tense hurry.
Reaching the top floor, panting, Weiss cursed all the days she spent without any exercise. Her legs had been through enough already. Vowing to become more fit in the future, Weiss swallowed down the fatigue and entered her living chambers, alone like she had requested.
The room was quiet, but the eerie silence had fooled her once before. Weiss knew better than to trust it anymore. Tossing the umbrella onto the ground, she kicked it under her bed, hiding the ruined parasol away from view. She inspected the bed - which had been made, the closet - which had been closed, and the window - which had been sealed.
There was a corner of red fabric flickering in between the closed white curtains. Making a wild guess, Weiss hastily moved towards it and then pushed the drapery aside.
Ruby was waiting for her, standing on raised heels, all four of her limbs somehow clutching onto the building creases for dear life. After showing what she was capable of doing with the creature, Weiss was not at all stirred.
"Sorry," she said, quickly unlocking the window as the girl shivered while waiting. "I forgot that I locked it before I left."
"It's fine." Ruby laughed weakly, flicking water off from her hair and cape before climbing inside. The action bore striking resemblance to a dog, drying himself of moisture and muck after having taken a light swim at a lake. "Thanks for letting me in."
"...You have five minutes," Weiss asserted, re-shutting the window as she made her reasonable demands. "Five minutes to convince me that you're not insane and then you're gone."
Ruby nodded slowly. Hopping off from the ledge, she walked carefully into the center of the room. Looking around with a vacant expression, the girl took her time exploring. Weiss, meanwhile, sat at the corner of her own bed, watching the girl like a cautious hawk. Once Ruby did bestow a glance in her direction, Weiss hardened her glare. This had a promising effect, since her visitor did not dare sit directly next to her. Instead, she plopped herself down on the floor, several feet away from touching distance.
"Well?" Weiss goaded her on.
"...I'm not sure where to start," Ruby finally confessed.
"Why don't you start off with how you got here?" She suggested, still recovering from the shocking memory of their initial meeting.
"Like I told you before, I was heading towards Mistral with Ren, Nora, and Jaune-"
"Hold up. Who are these people you keep mentioning?" interrupted Weiss, keen to understand every detail. If she was going to listen to this girl's story, she was going to do it properly.
"...They're our friends," Ruby said glumly. "We all met at Beacon Academy, remember?"
"Where exactly is this Beacon Academy?"
"It's in the east side of Vale," the girl explained thoroughly. "You cross the river with an airship and it's right there."
"But..." A heavy sigh escaped her throat. "Where is Vale?"
Ruby's expression turned blank, possibly out of exhaustion, and possibly out of personal defeat. "I don't even know how I'm supposed to answer that," she eventually mumbled.
"Okay then..." Weiss eyed the girl doubtfully as she tried for another direction. "Then... Beacon Academy. This is supposed to be some sort of school?"
"Yeah. It was a school," Ruby replied slowly. "Dedicated to training the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses."
"Hunters?" It was a rather unorthodox picture the girl was drawing. Weiss immediately imagined a big cabin in the woods, with teens adorning themselves in strange medieval costumes. The present adults were brandishing their pocket knives, teaching young children how to use a crossbow and skin squirrels.
Ruby, however, was quick to diffuse such ridiculous thoughts. "They're the ones who protect the people from the Grimm."
Weiss knew it wasn't wise to bring up the fairy tale writers again.
"The creature that attacked us tonight," she began carefully. "Was that supposed to be a Grimm?"
"Yeah, that was a Creep, which is a type of Grimm. There's a lot more of them too." Wringing her hands together, Ruby tangled her fingers into a tight knot. "A lot more."
"...I see."
A troubling hush fell upon them. This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it felt like an hour. Gripping onto the hem of her skirt, Weiss couldn't help but perceive that with every word, with every speech given, Ruby was staring at her with a flash of stronger hope.
"And in this world of monsters and hunters... Where do I fit in?"
Apparently, there were certain things in the world that no one should ever dare to even question. Because some claims, whether or not they were justifiable by tangible evidence, had already been established as the solely existing truths of the universe. To Ruby, the idea that Weiss Schnee belonged with her and her imaginary world, seemed to be an exemplary case of such irrefutable facts.
"You're Weiss Schnee." The sentence, the syllables alone were incredibly intense, severe, like she was describing something so vital to the beating of her own heart. It was hard to believe that someone around her own age, even with a little minor discrepancy, could talk about a matter with such passion and conviction. But that is exactly how Ruby sounded as she went on. "You're my partner, my BFF. We met at Initiation. We took on a giant Nevermore together... You saved me from getting squished by a Death Stalker."
There was a whimper. A shuddering suction of breath. Then, a gut-wrenching plea. "Come on, Weiss. There's got to be something you remember. It can't all be gone."
It was a brew of emotions, too raw, too frequent; the bonds that Ruby forced upon her were burdensome, burning her like an opened flame.
"No!" She snapped, clutching her head, trying to keep it from exploding. "I don't know who you are. I don't know anybody named Nora or Jaune. I've never even heard of Vale or Beacon. You must have the wrong person."
"Then how can you have the same name, look the same way, and speak in the same manner? Weiss, I swear I'm not lying," came a feeble objection. "Something must have happened here that made everybody forget about Remnant. I don't know how but- Somebody must be behind it."
"Oh, really? Is that what you think?" Weiss returned. "You think the whole world has gone mad and you're supposed to be the sane one? What are the odds of that happening, eight billion to one?"
She really hadn't meant it to be a patronizing taunt, but the built-up frustration had to materialize in one shape or another.
"Then how do you explain the Grimm that we fought?" Ruby examined her obstinate expression, and wisely switched to another line of attack. Growling angrily, she dug into the most troublesome plot hole in Weiss's theory. "You were there. You saw it for yourself."
"I don't know what I saw," Weiss hissed in response, starting to feel endangered by the continuous accusations. "But the world we live in? It's called planet earth, not Remnant. And I can assure you, the vast majority of earth's population will tell you that what we saw this evening? That- That shadowy creature with red eyes? That's not normal."
Exasperated, Weiss was even inclined to dig through her belongings, find an atlas of some kind, and shove it up Ruby's nose.
"I'm not sure where you came from," she concluded, stating the only possible explanation she could create within the boundaries of her brain. "But this isn't the world you're thinking of."
Ruby became petrified at the thought.
"So... You're telling me that I've somehow magically ended up in some alternate universe?" Her body remained remote, but Weiss could see the girl's pupils starting to shake in distress. "Yeah, look who's crazy now."
"I'm trying to help you. The least you could do is refrain from insulting me."
"I'm sorry." The girl lifted up her sorrow-filled eyes. "I just- Isn't there anyone else we can talk to about this? Your dad maybe?"
An electric shock ran up her spine, resulting in a repulsive jerk. Eyes widened, Weiss opened her mouth in disbelief, truly surprised that the subject of her father had been spoken of so bluntly by a stranger. Ruby spoke of the man in a careful calming manner, as if she were speaking of a man she had heard stories about, perhaps not too often, but enough so that she knew the topic was never meant to be taken as lightly as a joke. If this point of knowledge did not scare Weiss, it did anger her for the intrusion of privacy.
"...That man," Weiss tried to respond calmly, "would have you thrown out of here so fast, you wouldn't even hear the doors close behind you."
"Yeah..." Ruby didn't find this threat hurtful in any way. "I guess he isn't a real big fan of me, since he took you back to Atlas."
"For the last time!" She stared without apology. "This isn't Atlas!"
An unspeakable line had been crossed. Ruby understood this since she abandoned her retorts, shooting her gaze towards the floor once again in confusion and dismay. Weiss resorted to noiselessly breathing for another minute. The silence between them was prolonged. The promised five minutes had long since passed.
"I'm sorry," Ruby went on gently, like they had been talking all along, "I didn't want to upset you, especially by bringing up your dad... I was just running out of options."
She ventured to raise her eyes.
"...Don't you have any relatives of your own?" Weiss asked this, with at least a small level of precaution and tact. After all, the topic of family was a sore subject for herself, she wasn't eager to encourage any nightmarish memories to resurface.
"I don't know where they would be..." Ruby was discouraged again. "I've tried contacting Jaune, but my scroll hasn't been working since this morning."
Weiss eyed her dubiously. "Your scroll?"
"Yeah. You have one too," said the girl, almost automatically. Weiss parsed through the little information given to her. Inferring that this scroll was supposed to be used to contact a man named Jaune, Weiss assumed that Ruby was to referring to some sort of telephone system.
"I have a cell phone, if that's what you're saying," she guessed, taking out her mobile to uphold her claim.
Ruby had been in the middle of taking hers out as well. However, the gadget in her hand was a bit smaller and simpler in design. Upon first glace, it was too thin to be a flip phone, and yet it had no available touch screen. It was not until the girl pressed on the yellow, diamond-shaped button in its center when the device expanded, stretching the two grips far apart in order to deploy a wide holographic screen.
Weiss's jaws dropped open, wondering how on earth such an advanced invention could have ended up in the young teenager's hands. She hoped that it hadn't been stolen.
"Yours looks so weird," judged Ruby, who had no fascination over her own, much more engaging device. Instead, her gaze shrewdly followed the outline of the plain old smart phone, intrigued for no reason Weiss could imagine.
"Here." She granted it over to the perplexed girl. "You can borrow mine to call your friend."
"Uh..." Ruby caught the phone, managed to find the home button, but then did nothing else without further instructions. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"Dial the number," Weiss said simply, presuming that there was nothing left to explain or discuss. Clearly, she had overestimated Ruby's abilities.
"What number?"
"...Have you never used a phone before?" inquired a disbelieving Weiss, condescending to Ruby as a teacher might to a child.
"I've used a scroll before!" Ruby protested. "What is this, a prototype model?"
That hardly made sense. Her phone wasn't even one of the latest mobile brands to hit the market.
"Nevermind then," grumbled Weiss, scratching out her plan to have the girl shipped away to her family. Getting up from her bed, she snatched the phone out of a puzzled Ruby's hands.
"I want proof."
"...Huh?"
"Give me a single shred of proof that what you are telling me is true," she clarified her demand.
There. She had stumped the girl at last. Weiss basked in the light of her triumph. "There's no way to do it now, is there-?"
The rest of her words were caught in an abrupt surge of wind. It blew in her direction, disarraying her hair and swathing her body in a frigid breeze. Yet the window hadn't been opened. And Ruby, who had been sitting on the ground, just a couple of inches away from her, was suddenly standing at the opposite side of the room near her dresser.
"My semblance," said Ruby, grinning victoriously.
"Your what-?"
Weiss resisted the urge to be impressed.
"Okay..." She controlled her voice, so that she could pass as being nonchalant. "You're fast. So what?"
Prodded by her calm composure, Ruby's face bore a determined glow, with excitement sinking into her skin. This time, she expected to be thoroughly watched, and Weiss tried her utmost best to keep track of the girl's fluttering red cloak. Ruby began to jog, pacing nicely around the room at first, until her circles hastened in speed, turning into a leisurely dash, and then a full-on sprint. Soon, only blurry red shadows were running laps around her four-cornered room.
Although logic and common sense have suffered a number of causalities this fine evening, Weiss was rational enough to know that no ordinary human, not even an Olympic track star, would be able to travel at such a speed, even with the assistance of a sports car or a small jet plane.
Finally, Weiss caved.
"Okay. Fine," she grudgingly conceded, allowing the tone of uncontainable astonishment to seep through. "How on earth are you doing that?"
"In our world, we all have auras," said Ruby, slowing down so that she was visible to the human eye. "It's how we separate ourselves from the Grimm. Because the creatures of darkness have no souls. They aren't capable of wielding aura like us."
It was getting increasingly harder to comprehend, but Weiss agreed nonetheless, expecting the girl to continue.
"A semblance is like a physical projection of a person's aura. Everyone has a semblance that's unique to his or her strength."
The ease with which Ruby jumped out of a third story window, the red tornado that literally popped out of nowhere in order to save her life... It was tiny, but the two occurrences made better sense to her now. "And I'm guessing that yours is...super speed."
Ruby nodded. "Your semblance is making glyphs."
"Glyphs?"
"Yeah, you had all sorts of cool ones." The corner of Ruby's lips curled into a short, amused grin. She seemed to take great enjoyment and pride in telling Weiss how great she once used to be. "There were ones that helped you run up walls, ones that sped up time. Ones that helped us shoot ice flowers."
The term "ice flowers" struck confusion, much like any other foreign phrase Ruby had been effortlessly sprouting for the period in which they had been acquainted. But to the mysterious cape-bearing girl, the expression brought forth some sort of pleasant nostalgia.
"That sounds impressive," remarked Weiss, hoping to humor the other's mood. Yet the comment, which implied a heavy lack of interest and knowledge in the subject, created the exact opposite effect. Ruby's fleeting face of joy crumpled for a second.
"Well, you always did like to show off," she added in a tame voice, fighting to keep the happiness afloat.
"You do understand that we can't both be telling the truth," she said imploringly, abandoning caution.
Ruby's barely hovering smile tightened into a hard line.
"But I did promise to help you." Weiss sighed. "So, here's what's going to happen. Tomorrow, I will take you to a store to get your phone- your scroll fixed. Then, you can call your friends or your relatives and have them pick you up. Deal?"
This was an offer Weiss had puckered up enough courage to make, after moralizing over it in her head. But everything in her proposal worked to beset Ruby somehow. The girl stared at her, a dim shadow being cast over her visage.
"Fine," she accepted, not so much in obedience, but in vanquishment.
Satisfied, Weiss immediately rose to her feet.
"Where are you going?" Ruby asked in a subdued voice.
"I'm going to get out of these clothes," she grunted. "You stay here."
"...Okay."
Considering the girl's specialty in stalking, Weiss thought it was a safe precaution to take, warning the girl that there would be severe consequences if she were to find another figure wandering around in the bathroom when she got out of the shower. Thankfully, Ruby didn't move from the spot, even as Weiss closed the door on her to enter the sanctity of her washroom floor.
Calm down, Weiss told herself. It's only for tonight.
The product of today's discussion echoed inside her ears. When she was younger, Weiss also had a lively imagination that could rival Ruby's. The childhood version of herself would be dying to learn more about this mysterious character and her magical world.
Regardless of the past, Weiss was grown up now, and reality had long since uprooted such fantasies from her mind. Fairy tales didn't exist. Much of what she saw this evening could not be recounted, her visions could not be explained. A part of her had been convinced by Ruby, but a majority of her brain urged for more proof.
"A human can't move that fast," argued Weiss. "A human can't fight a creature that size with an umbrella and then live to tell the tale!"
Her mind scoffed. What is she then, a vampire? A demi-god? Those don't exist!
"I never believe anything I can't see," she muttered to herself. "But I saw it for sure this time."
Your mind can't be trusted at the moment.
Besides, it hadn't been the fantastical element that was hardest to digest. The credence of that was much stronger in comparison to the rest. Ruby, though discouraged, still insisted that she wasn't just Weiss Schnee. She was Weiss Schnee - a huntress of Beacon Academy, destroyer of the Grimm, and the caster of magical glyphs.
Ridiculous. Weiss imagined that many others would go to sleep praying, wishing that they could be so lucky to have some supernatural element enter their lives and brighten up everything that had been dull and mundane. Yet in spite of all this, Weiss was adamant that no amount of sorcery or the existence of fearsome monsters would be enough to spruce up her life, to transform it into a life of purpose and excitement.
Tomorrow, she'll be gone. She promised.
Tomorrow, she will be gone.
A warm bath had never felt so cold. She didn't simmer in it for long, worried that one of her father's servants would come upstairs and find a dazed stranger sitting by the foot of her bed. Vigorously rinsing and scrubbing, Weiss thoroughly washed the filth off of her pale skin, and then dried off her body, along with her cumbersome long hair.
Wrapping a towel around her chest, Weiss couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something crucial. Her wet uniform was drying on a white shelf. She hadn't left the water on, and nothing about the bath tub was out of the ordinary. She wiped away a section of the foggy mirror, peered into her naked reflection, and then realized her childish mistake.
Amidst the confusion, and the desperation to get out of her state of wet discomfort, she had forgotten to bring in a batch of fresh clothes. Weiss groaned at her own stupidity. Turning the doorknob, she peeked out of the vertical gap, and to her dismay, Weiss found Ruby still sitting on the floor, guarding her previous position. She was as static as a statue, immersed in thought. Weiss hoped that the girl wouldn't notice if she slipped by, but the smell of soap and the thick cloud of steam instantly gave her secret away. Ruby glanced up when Weiss reemerged, but the eye contact was temporary. Immediately, the red hood dove the other way, cheeks growing stunningly crimson, matching the outline of her vivid clothing. Weiss, acting unperturbed and unnecessarily dignified, wrapped the white towel closer to her body.
"Don't look!" She ordered shrilly.
"I wasn't going to!" Ruby squeaked, incredibly embarrassed.
Weiss quickly ran to her closet door in order to change. It took longer than it should, due to the energy spent shooting dangerous daggers in Ruby's direction and attempting to hold up the towel and simultaneously pull a nightgown over her head. Eventually, she managed to complete the task, huffing and tossing the towel onto the floor when she was done. Ruby never budged, her hands covering her eyes and her nose burrowing into her opened palms. Quite frankly, the action was a bit cute. Weiss gave Ruby one more appraising stare before moving to her wardrobe and clawing through her belongings.
"You can open your eyes now."
Ruby, only after hearing this statement, dropped her hands back to her lap.
"Here."
The girl caught what had been thrown at her: a pair of cotton pajamas Weiss only seldom wore on laundry day. In return, Ruby provided her with a quizzical expression.
"You weren't thinking of sleeping in those?" Weiss said rather peevishly, not wishing to spell out every act of kindness she did.
"Uh..."
"Leave your dress to dry in the bathroom," she suggested briskly. "There's shampoo and soap by the shower curtains."
"...All right."
Roles reversed, Weiss was the one to wait by the door, with a demeanor that carried the very opposite definition of patience. When Ruby did reappear, she was cleaner and more content. Perhaps the girl had been even more filthy than Weiss imagined, because with the washed hair, and the set of normal 21st century clothing, Ruby could have just as easily passed as a regular citizen, a pretty one at that.
"Thanks for lending me your clothes." The girl grinned appreciatively.
"They do seem to fit pretty well." Weiss nodded approvingly, pretending like she hadn't been blatantly staring. "And thank you."
"For what?" Ruby observed herself. "For wearing your clothes?"
"I meant thank you for rescuing me," she expanded tersely, a harsh edge entering her voice again.
"Oh. You're welcome." The recognition only rewarded Weiss with a crooked, slightly incredulous, grin. Oddly enough, Ruby acted like she was unfamiliar to expressions of gratitude.
"What?" Weiss had to ask, not understanding the bizarre nature of the gesture.
"Nothing. It's just rare for you to be thanking me." Ruby merely extended the length of her strained smile. "Let's just try and get some sleep," she instead stated, and then advanced towards the bed.
"Excuse me?" Weiss choked, stepping forward with a warning finger raised in the air.
"What?" Ruby frowned. "Did you want me to sleep in the guest bedroom?"
"We've known each for a day and you want us to sleep together?" Weiss uttered sharply. Yes, the mattress was big enough to fit both of them quite comfortably, but she was beginning to grow tired of this exercise of trust.
"I've known you for a year, Weiss," countered Ruby, with a momentary flush upon her face. "And we used to share bunk beds all the time."
But after receiving another scathing glare, the girl surrendered the cause. "Fine. Fine. I'll just sleep on the floor."
Weiss felt conflicted, but upheld her decision nonetheless. It wasn't too cruel of her. She had to draw the line somewhere.
Ruby was the first to lie down; she made peace with the ground, though Weiss couldn't imagine it being even close to comfortable. In slight pity, she threw one of her spare pillows and then crawled into her own bed, without waiting to hear another "thank you."
It had been forever since she slept in a room with somebody else, Weiss noted. The sound of another's breathing became more prominent as she laid awake, feeling peculiar against her ears that had grown accustomed to solitude. Its presence, along with the presence of rain lashing onto the roof and the window sill, rendered pangs inside her heart. The creation of an abnormal sensation, both plaguing and calming.
The last occasion had been with her mother at the hospital. In retrospect, the incident was even less pleasant than the current situation.
"Hey, Weiss?"
"Hmm?" She vaguely responded, still in miserable thought.
"I just realized," Ruby said quietly. "You don't have a scar."
Weiss paused, and then tilted her neck, facing the girl who was now lying down. Raising her head from the pillow, she stared at the girl with a puzzled expression. Quite possibly, Ruby was more confused than she did herself.
"What happened to your scar?" Inspecting her face, she repeated in a meek manner. "You used to have one across your left eye."
"What are you talking about?" She deliberated for a moment. "I never had one."
"Oh." The word was inadequate, considering that the girl had been the one to start this absurd accusation. Weiss waited, but the girl didn't seem to be able to find a better response.
"Okay" was the rather plain feedback she garnered next. There was a twinge of emotion at the rear end of it, a slight quivering, akin to fear if Weiss had to hazard a guess. A reaction that, like many others, did not make sense to Weiss.
But, perversely, she bit her tongue against the flood of questions. Her reasoning was probably flawed by exhaustion; she hoped that by postponing the discussion, and taking a long nap, she could formulate a better solution in the morning.
"Go to sleep," muttered Weiss. "You can figure it out tomorrow."
Ruby complied, setting her head onto the floor. She laid sideways, pressing her left cheek on the wood, keeping a conspicuous stare on the bed posts. Nervously, Weiss glanced away, not being able to escape from the prickles running along her skin. Fluffing her pillow, she attempted to close her eyes and relax.
Weiss spent a night of restless sleep, this time for different reasons than usual. And judging by the tosses and groans coming from her restless guest, she wasn't the only one who would be tired the following morning.
A little bird chirped outside, alerting the beginning of another weekday. Weiss groaned, mentally communicating for it stop making that ungodly sound.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Miss Schnee?"
Weiss scowled at the disruption, burrowing her face deeper into the softness of her pillow.
"Psst, Weiss!"
"Mmph?"
"I think someone's about to come in," hissed Ruby, appropriately urgent.
There was another series of knocks, and then there was the turning of an old doorknob. Reality jolted inside her, shooting sparks into Weiss's inane brain.
"Wait!" She shot forward in her bed, flipping back and forth between Ruby and the opening door. "Don't-!"
"Don't what, miss?" A middle-aged woman, wearing a thick sweater and a white apron, asked as she entered the room. Her behavior seriously lacked in any color.
Weiss tried to clear her vision of the lingering effect of last night's slumber. Even once she did, she remained blind, for her eyes, which had evidently seen Ruby Rose sitting at the corner of her room just a few seconds ago, could no longer locate the girl anywhere in the near vicinity. Her room was clean and spotless of suspicion.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, no. I just-" Weiss blinked furiously. "It's nothing."
"Well, your father wanted us to check on you," the woman said, with a sympathetic smile. "He wished to speak with you before heading to work this morning."
"Um, all right." Weiss attempted to fix her bed hair. "I'll be down as soon as I get ready."
The woman nodded kindly, and then scuttled out of the room, thankfully, with good manners, shutting the door behind her as she left. Once she disappeared, Weiss could afford to search around her room with a clearly befuddled visage.
"Uh... Hello?" She called out, feeling remarkably stupid. "...Ruby?"
"Is she gone?" The familiar female voice echoed out, but to Weiss's frustration, the owner remained invisible.
"Where are you?" Disbelief laced her tone as she spoke. "How are you doing that?"
"Relax," snorted Ruby. "I'm right here."
A subsequent thump alarmed Weiss. She surveyed her left, steering herself towards the source of noise. It had been the closet door popping open to reveal Ruby, sitting on top of her clothing, treating them like they were cushions. The girl was already fully clothed in her usual eccentric attire. Her silver eyes were alert; she must have been awake for minutes, even hours.
"How did you get in there so fast?"
"Do I have to remind you again what my semblance is?" said Ruby, maddeningly smug.
"I would rather you didn't," retorted Weiss, feeling very sluggish and uncooperative this morning. "How long have you been up?"
"Not that long." This seemed to be a harmless lie.
"Well, it's a good thing that you're dressed." Weiss grunted, forcibly hurling herself out of her warm sheets. "We have to go."
"Go where?"
"To school."
She shook her head mechanically. "Our school got burned down by the Grimm, remember?"
Weiss handed her a wry expression.
"Oh, you mean your new school," said Ruby, disconcerted. "Why would I go there?"
"Well, you can't stay here. If one of the servants catches you..." She shuddered at the possible scenario. "Meet me outside of the house, in front of the main gates."
Ruby was frowning at her, but did nothing to contradict her. Weiss was just beginning to get used to the girl's presence. And if one fact about Ruby had been solidified over a single day of observation, it was that the girl was always willing to listen to her if she urged strongly enough.
Within her peripheral vision, she saw a brooding Ruby clambering out of the window. A second passed and she was gone.
Free to change, Weiss rushed to get dressed. Most of her uniform had finished drying during the night. Her cardigan was still slightly dirty and soggy; Weiss decided that she could live without it for a day. She would do laundry in the weekend. Combing her hair and brushing her teeth, she was ready in record time. Her aching body rushed itself down the stairs, speculating over what her father would want to speak to her about.
Reaching the main floor, she was guided through the corridor she discovered yesterday, the one that led to the large dining hall. It was spacious, like all other rooms in the Schnee mansion. A huge mahogany table took up half the space. It was both wide and long in structure, decorated by a lengthy cloth of linen.
Her father waited for her at the center end. Despite being in comfortable home attire and eating from a plate of round bread, his posture remained that of a businessman, a chairman of the board officially calling the meeting into order.
"Weiss." The man addressed her as she walked. A breakfast plate - containing cooked eggs, bread, and a collection of fruit - had already been placed by a seat close to her father's side. Reluctantly, she sat where her food had been designated.
"Good morning, father," she greeted him stiffly. Somehow, the succeeding encounter felt even more awkward than the first.
"You're going to school already?" He asked, folding his newspaper which read today's stock values. Weiss noticed that most of his breakfast remained untouched.
"Yes, I wanted to exercise," Weiss answered, half-honestly. "And I like to be early."
"Good," said her father, claiming to like what he heard. "How are your classes so far?"
"They're fine," she gave the customary response. "Challenging, but I'll catch up somehow."
The chitchat died for several still minutes. Weiss succumbed to the smell of her toast and took a few nibbles as she lingered in her chair.
"I was told you arrived home late last night."
Weiss sat rigidly, interpreting the statement to be a subtle manifestation of his disapproval.
"It wasn't too late," she tried to argue, but it seemed as though he had already developed an opinion regarding the matter, much earlier than her own arrival.
"Your curfew will be set at eight. I want you to eat dinner at home from now on," he settled the issue, with a tone of indisputable authority. Her father calmly chewed on a piece of sliced sausage, as Weiss opened her mouth in disbelief. "Winter will be visiting soon as well. I'll let you know the date once the details are decided."
Her attendance was mandatory - this was the hidden message.
"...All right." Wearing an expression too bleak to hide, Weiss quietly placed the buttering knife back onto the table. "May I be excused?"
"Yes," he granted after a session of brief meditation. She had already escaped her seat by the time he confirmed his decision. Weiss made some weak endeavors in the beginning to endure his company, but they were too hopeless to be persisted in.
Fearing no consequences, she grabbed her belongings, her school bag and her wallet, and then swiftly headed out the front door. Running to the gates, she found that a driver hadn't been stationed for her convenience. Weiss was forced to wonder exactly what it was her father expected of her. If staying out late created such repercussions, she didn't even want to think about what he would say about her latest actions: ditching school, fending off a rabid beast in the middle of the street... Weiss doubted that her recent interactions with Ruby would ever be deemed as acceptable.
"Why are you going to school so early in the morning?" The hooded girl did not hesitate to pounce on her as soon as she left the mansion. "It's only seven o'clock."
"Because there was a crazy girl staying at my room," Weiss growled rather fiercely, "and she brought along a creature that could have nearly killed me." She went past Ruby, knowing that the girl would travel alongside her, regardless of being asking or not.
"That wasn't my fault," fought Ruby, completely unfazed by the blame and the former's irritable mood. "The Grimm feed on negative emotions, like fear. You must have been really upset for it to follow you around like that."
"And whose fault is that?" Weiss opposed, mortified by this new piece of information. "You almost gave me a heart attack at the library yesterday."
"What library?"
Weiss turned on Ruby, stopping entirely and wearing a face that was all business now.
"I swear, I never followed you into some library!" Ruby attempted to defend her feeble reputation.
"Oh, please," cut Weiss, refusing to acknowledge yet another impending squabble. "I don't want you near the school grounds, all right? There will be no talk of an insane cape-wearing, umbrella-wielding girl over there. Do I make myself clear?"
Ruby rolled her eyes, patently giving up on the matter. "As crystal," she muttered reluctantly.
"Good," breathed Weiss, trying to modulate her voice. "Now. I have to go to school. You can do whatever you want, but I will meet you here afterwards, around four... If you still need my help that is." She added that last part in with a slight twinkle of hope.
"I do." Ruby's expression was vulnerable, yet her voice remained unrelentingly firm. "I'll be here."
"Fine," grunted Weiss, unavailable to hide her honest disappointment.
The two marched down the avenue, then onto the main road. Weiss didn't like the weird looks she was receiving from those who were walking by the streets. Most of their stares were directed towards Ruby, who was proving to be an even bigger drag than the previous morning. Disgruntled, she trudged off onto the different side of the road, yearning to distance herself to the furthest extent as she departed.
"...European immigrants were crucial to America's economy at the time. So to answer your question, yes," Mr. Oobleck nodded, "the Irish Potato Famine will be on our final exam at the end of term. And here's why!"
The male student, who had made the senseless inquiry, sank lower in his seat, appearing guilty and responsible.
"The Irish Potato Famine! It all began when the British government placed a commercial tax on majority of the nation's domestic products. Soon, potatoes became convenient food sources that everybody can grow due to their prices and levels of availability. However, a single reliance on one crop can bring drastic consequences! This is why when the crop was assaulted with a terrible rot, the nation had to suffer from disease and hunger. Approximately two million Irish people perished as a result of this tragedy. Our textbooks, however, glaze over this fact and simply refer to it as a reason for the sudden influx of immigrants. It is true that a lot of these Irish citizens fled from their homes in order to search for jobs in America, yet the life of immigrants were never as dreamy as they imagined, especially ever since the-"
Brrrrring!
Weiss released the hard grip on her pencil, gasping in relief. The bell had saved them all from their teacher's feverish rant.
"Well! That's all we have time for today. Remember, your first drafts, comparing the lives of Irish and German immigrants, are due by next Friday. Do not plagiarize because I will know!" Mr. Oobleck swished down another long gulp of caffeine. "Class dismissed!"
The room regained its life. Students filed out of the door, happy to embrace the end of the school day. Weiss dawdled, organizing her angry notes into a neat pile and then shuffling them into a clear folder. She discerned that one another figure remained in the room, in no rush to get anywhere.
"Ahem." Weiss had the decency to nudge the unconscious blonde as she stood up from her desk. There was a short snort, an audible sign that the girl had been effectively woken up. Raising her head, a drowsy Yang glanced over her shoulders. She looked at Weiss, who had her textbooks packed in her arms, and then around at the emptying classroom.
"I think I slept through that," she mumbled.
"I think you're right," echoed Mr. Oobleck's amused voice from the classroom podium. "What was so boring about my class today, Miss Long?"
"I'm sorry, Doctor Oobleck." Yang yawned. "I stayed up all night cramming for my calculus exam."
"And how did you do?"
"Pretty well, I think." She grinned cheekily. "Blake helped me study, so she'd be expecting to see some results for her hard work."
"Well, you'd better be doing the same for my quiz next week," their teacher said, wearing a charmed grin. "I'll be expecting a solid A from you, Miss Long. Don't disappoint me."
"I'll try not to."
"And, Miss Schnee," the man addressed her abruptly, breaking Weiss out of her reverie. "May I speak to you for a moment?"
"I'll see you later then!" The blonde smiled fondly at her as she rapidly packed up her belongings. Books and pencils stuck out of her backpack, but she forcibly closed the zipper nonetheless. Tumbling out of her desk, she waved informally at them and then rushed out the door, apparently dying to leave the building.
"Yes, professor?"
"You look a bit ill this afternoon," he ogled her, square in the eyes. "Are you sick?"
"No, professor," she replied, slightly startled. "I just-"
"I prefer Doctor Oobleck," he cut in politely, "Or Mr. Oobleck."
"Mister-"
"You can even call me Bartholomew if you want," the man added playfully. "If you feel daring enough."
"Mr. Oobleck," she went for the safest route. "I'm fine. I just didn't get enough sleep last night either."
"And have you been sleeping well these couple of days?" He asked carefully, finishing the remainder of his coffee. "Or was it just last night?"
She hesitated. "...Just last night."
"Miss Schnee. I prefer to be honest and straightforward with my students," Mr. Oobleck told her, his voice earnest and grave. "And as I will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the school year, I want to do all that I can to make you more comfortable."
"You've heard things," she accused, realizing where this unforeseen concern was coming from. "Haven't you?"
Perhaps it was only natural that teachers had access to their students' school records. She had expected that a child's family and financial situation would be one of the categories marked in the books. Weiss glowered at him, aiming to bully him into confessing.
"Not at all. I've simply been observant," Mr. Oobleck denied smoothly. Her teacher stood perfectly still, as if waiting for her to burst into tears so that he could provide adult wisdom and consolation. Weiss, however, had no desire to give him the satisfaction of having done something. Because he hadn't. And this counselor charade was beginning to make her feel sour.
"If you ever want to talk, Weiss," he enunciated her name quite clearly, "my office is always opened."
"...All right."
"Well then, I wouldn't want to take up any more of your precious time," the man said, clapping his hands together. "Were you heading home now, or have you taken up any after school activities?"
"...I was thinking of joining the Literature Club," tried Weiss, after organizing a few potential options. There hadn't been many others that would involve so little socialization, attendance, and conscious effort.
"Ah!" He was delighted by the news, surely interpreting it to be a sign of academic enthusiasm rather than an excuse not to go home. "You'll have a friend by your side then. Miss Long is an active member of that group."
"Yang is?" Weiss wondered out loud. She fell silent afterwards, realizing she had sounded pretty doubtful without meaning to. Her homeroom teacher simply found her reaction rather funny.
"Miss Belladonna's got quite a bit of power over her." He winked. "Head to room 103. They should be starting their weekly meeting soon."
Weiss was clueless to what the man could have been insinuating, nor did she wish to dwell upon it for too long. There were other matters that preoccupied her mind. She quickly glimpsed over at her watch as she headed down the stairs. The digits now read 4:12. The clock was drawing closer towards the indicated time, but there was a bit of room to spare. She would hand in an application and then promptly leave.
It felt largely unfair that everything about the world was so serene and ordinary, when in her own inventory there was a ticking bomb, merely seconds away from detonation. Weiss knew that all she was doing was delaying the inevitable. She was obligated to meet with Ruby, who Weiss, out of her indebted state of mind, had promised to assist. She was half-afraid of what would happen to her if she didn't comply. But then again, she had an irrational sort of instinct, telling her from the core of her bones: Ruby would never harm her. It was a raw sort of connection that Weiss could not even begin to understand why. Perhaps it was because Ruby had saved her. That fact was truly the only reason their mutual relationship was still holding together. Today, whether it be the mobile store, or the police station, Weiss would resolve the problem once and for all.
Greeting some faces as she walked around, an old science teacher helped her track the empty classroom where the Literature Club supposedly held their meetings.
She knocked, but there weren't any audible signs of life coming from the inside. She wondered if she came too early, and if the teacher had been wrong about Yang being a part of this club. Anywhere the blonde went, the air buzzed with noise and vivacity. Deciding that she would wait, she turned the handle and then went inside.
"Mmmm..."
Weiss frowned, hearing an evocative moan, which sounded nothing like somebody reading a book. If her ears had heard correctly, it was a bit...erotic. Closing the door behind her, she stepped further into the classroom, curious to know what was happening.
An appalling sight unfolded before her.
Sitting at the corner desks was a couple, both so selfishly immersed in each other's tongues that it took both the slam of the closing door and the loud gasp escaping from Weiss's throat to realize that they had been discovered.
"Oh my god!" Instinctively, Weiss threw up one of her textbooks, using it as a barrier between her eyes and the pair. "I'm so sorry!"
Now this, apart from her mother's funeral, her reunion with her estranged father, and her recent experience with Ruby Rose, was an entirely different level of uncomfortable. Normally, if one came across a couple in a heated make out session, he or she would be lucky enough not to know who the individuals were. In Weiss's unfortunate case, she recognized both. It was especially hard to forget that mess of golden yellow hair...
She took a nervous step towards the exit.
"Wait!" Yang, jerking out of her chair, flung both hands into the air, wishing to prove that they were clean of blood. "Uh, it's not what you think!"
Weiss very much hoped so. Her blue eyes temporarily twitched towards the other girl with raven hair; Blake distinctly flinched, her teeth clenching together like she was in deep pain.
"We weren't doing anything!" The blonde stammered. "Uh... She and I were just... She was only checking if I had any lipstick on my chin!"
Blake gawked at her, thunderstruck. "Yang! She's not thirteen."
"I think even a thirteen year old would know what was going on," whispered Weiss numbly.
"Right..." Yang, having failed in salvaging neither her friend's nor her own dignity, sat back down in sullen defeat.
"Okay." Weiss felt her lips run dry. "I should go."
"Wait!" The blonde yelped, panic clouding her better sense of judgment. "Um, Weiss. About what you saw... Er... We would prefer it if you know... If you didn't..."
"Are you two together?"
The two blanched, glanced at each other, and then at Weiss. For a moment, the enduring horror on their faces made Weiss think that the two hadn't discussed the meaning of their relationship prior to this afternoon. Weiss soon realized that the fault had been hers. It had been her unexpected frankness.
Weiss didn't intend to be so blunt. She was careful not to be read as aggressive. In actuality, the question had merely slipped out of her, disturbed by the sight of the only two acquaintances she had met, sucking on each other's faces. Not to rule out the fact that she had never seen two females kiss so passionately with each other. A shiver was produced by the conception of the image. Weiss didn't know if it was a indication of aversion or acceptance.
"Yeah," Yang ultimately admitted. Looking back now, Weiss felt almost dense not to have noticed. Yang seemed to be regaining that unbelievable level of confidence, although there was a slight nervous edge to her voice now. Meanwhile, Blake had lost all of the color in her skin, which hadn't been much to begin with. A ghostly light loomed over her features, her countenance being the epitome of fear and panic.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Weiss said delicately, much to the consternation of the couple.
It was a variation of the truth. Whether she was uncomfortable with the idea or not, what the two girls did during their leisure time was none of her business. And Weiss certainly wasn't friends with enough faces to spread rumors anyway.
"Oh, thank you," exhaled Yang, her tone saturated with relief. Blake remained pale and sickly, being a more skeptical character than her partner. Evidently, they hadn't known each other long enough to entrust such scandalous secrets. Amber eyes only moved to shadow Weiss, as if searching for hidden schemes and ulterior motives.
"Did you... Did you come here for the club meeting?"
"Yes." Weiss grimaced. "I thought this was the Literature Club."
"It is! But- I mean, this isn't all that we do. Uh-" A strangled cry escaped Yang's mouth, along with an exasperated sigh from Blake's. "I mean this is not what we ever do, period."
"We read," added Blake, breathing unevenly, but in a much calmer state than before. "A lot."
"Is it a large group?"
"Um, no. Not really." Yang confirmed, while her presumed girlfriend nodded. "It's just me, Blake, my sister and her friend. But everybody else was busy today, so it was going to be just the two of us."
Weiss resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The blonde didn't take much time to recover, as that statement had been a modest attempt at a flirtatious remark. Ignoring it, Weiss was about to pull out her club application form, having made her decision before witnessing the romance. At least there were two other members in the club, who would - hopefully - be less talkative than the blonde. She was just at the brink of asking for the other two's names when the door slammed open.
The desks in the classroom suffered another short quiver.
"There you are!" A jolly voice rang into the air. "I knew I heard voices."
"Ruby!" Yang jerked forward. "What are you doing here?"
Author's Note:
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