"Mommy! Wake up Mommy! Come on you promised we'd go play today! Mommy"
"Ruby not now sweetie, mommy needs rest."
"But Mommy you-"
She quickly shut her mouth as she made eye contact with her mother. There was no love and warmth in her eyes that she had grown up with. Only desperate regret and well suppressed hatred.
Her mother had never once said anything bad to her or treated her poorly. The woman worked tirelessly for the two of them. But it didn't change the undeniable resentment she saw in her eyes. Why did she look at her like that? Was she bad? What was wrong with her to make her mother look at her like that?
Suddenly she wasn't an excited little girl jumping on her mother. Now she was a teen, terrified of making eye contact with people, especially her own mother. Eyes seemed to open up all around her, staring at her, jeering, proving her fears. She couldn't take it. Her throat was constricting and she felt like she would suffocate. Why couldn't they just look somewhere else, why did they have to judge her so fiercely.
Ruby squeezed her eyes shut. She hated this, the staring. It made her feel so worthless, maybe she was as worthless as the stares indicated. She wanted it to go away. She wanted them to stop staring.
When she opened her eyes next she was in her new room. Right they moved. New school. New home. She chalked the nightmare up to her new bed. She always seemed to have trouble sleeping when she was in a new place she had similar nightmares whenever she spent the night with Penny.
She tried to bury the dream in her memories. She didn't want to think about it today. She needed a long and cold shower.
She walked into the kitchen with a yawn, dressed in her new uniform. She had to admit the fabric was pretty nice and it did look good. But she was missing her hoodie already. Maybe Ozpin would let her wear it under the uniform, though that might get uncomfortable when it's hot out. She'd find a solution.
"Morning sweetie." She couldn't look her mother in the eyes. She hadn't in years. She still loved her mother, the woman was incredible and in many ways was exactly what she strives to be. But she had never been able to get past that vision of barely suppressed hate and hopeless regret. It made her feel like she was drowning everytime she thought about it. She was afraid, afraid that if she looked in her mother's eyes again, and saw that same hatred she might just break into a million pieces. She didn't think that she would be able to pick herself up again after that. She wasn't willing to risk it.
"Morning."
"You're up early today, excited for your first day of school? I saw that you made some friends yesterday."
"Friends?" She didn't recall making any friends, only meeting potential enemies.
"Yeah Ms. Fall and those other two girls."
"We're not friends, I don't like them they feel fake to me."
"I'm sure that's just your nerves. Give them a chance." She wasn't going to. The only friend she needed was Penny. Penny had never once looked at her with anything other than curiosity or affection. Penny wouldn't betray her trust. Those other three girls on the other hand, they would. She could tell that they would leave her alone in a heartbeat if it benefited them. Their eyes told the truth and that truth was that they saw her as something to use, and nothing more. She had gotten good at reading people through their eyes. And those three had the look of a liar.
"Right well, I'm gonna head out early. I wanna check out the school a bit more." It's not true. She had seen more than she cared for already. But she wanted out of this conversation. She quickly grabbed her backpack and headed to the front door.
"Oh, alright. I'll see you after school."
"Bye Mom, I love you." She hesitated for a moment at the doorway, waiting to hear a response. When none came she sighed and left. Just as she hadn't made eye contact with her mother in years, her mother hadn't said she loved her back in years. They were broken and pretending that things were okay.
Summer wanted to kick herself. Another day and she had once more failed to tell her daughter she loved her. Every time she tried her voice failed her.
She loved her daughter, she really did. Ruby was the one thing that had kept her going for all these years. But everytime she saw her she was reminded of the life she had to give up. She saw Qrow and Raven in her so damn much. It was painful. She couldn't stand the sight of her own daughter because of the memories that sight accompanied.
It was unfair and she knew it. Her daughter deserved a mother who loved her unconditionally, and Summer had failed to meet that requirement on more occasions than she cared to admit.
She was aware of Ruby's anxiety about being stared at. But she had never been able to afford a therapist for her daughter, and how was she supposed to broach the topic when she herself was the thing that started the whole problem. The memory was blurry for her, but she had barely gotten any sleep that day. Or the previous. She had finally had a good chance to rest and her previously hyperactive daughter wanted her to make good on her promise to spend time with her. She had let her facade slip one time, by accident. And her daughter had recognized it all. She remembered the gasp of shock as her daughter fell back. She hadn't managed to stay awake long enough to comfort her.
Things changed for them after that. Ruby drew into herself and had started refusing to look her in the eye. And Summer had slowly begun to lose her mask of true unconditional affection. She loved her daughter, she really did. But it wasn't as all encompassing as a parents love should be, and that fact always had her drawing a blank when Ruby told her she loved her. She was sure it only made things worse for her. It made her feel endlessly guilty.
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. If only Raven were here, then they could have raised their daughter together. They could have been happy together. She didn't understand why Raven had to join Qrow. Surely the woman could have just let her brother take over alone. But they had both left and they had taken part of her with them. She wanted to be happy, but she wasn't, she wanted to love her daughter unconditionally, but she couldn't, she wanted to be free but she wasn't. She wanted to die but she couldn't do that either. She laughed bitterly, gods she was miserable.
She sighed once more and set out. She had a classroom of thirty teenagers to face, and thinking about how much she hates her life wouldn't help. Especially not when she's teaching kids how to perform advanced dust reactions.
"Salutations friend Ruby! 8D"
"Hey Penny"
"Do you enjoy the new school?"
"Not in the slightest"
"What is wrong, friend Ruby? According to my calculations there is a 73.8% chance you should be enjoying it." Ruby had no idea if that was some kind of joke or if Penny actually had some weird way of calculating her enjoyment, either way she was wrong.
"I think I'm somehow caught in the cross-hairs between three older girls. I'm worried they'll target me"
"If they do I am combat ready!"
"Thanks Penny"
"Of course friend Ruby! XD" Ruby laughed, Penny was a strange one, but she was a wonderful friend. "Be sure to tell me about the new school. I would love to talk about cute boys with you!"
"You know I'm not into boys"
"Yes but we can still talk about them as friends do."
"Well I'll be sure to let you know"
"Sensational! 8D"
"Who's got you smiling so much?" Ruby snapped her head up from her scroll and was met with golden eyes. Her smile wilted instantly as she made eye contact with the older woman.
"I, uh." Stop staring. Stop staring. Stop staring. Please stop staring at her. She could feel her skin crawling and sweat begin to gather on her palms. Just stop staring at her. Why wasn't she stopping?
"What's wrong, Ruby? There's no need to be scared."
"Don't stare." She mumbled it out, but if the twitch of the woman's ear was anything to go by she had heard it.
"Oh sorry, didn't realize staring bothered you. I'll be careful in the future."
". . . Thanks."
"Of course, what are friends for?"
Ruby didn't answer. She didn't consider the golden eyed girl her friend. She was friendly, sure. But all three of the girls she met yesterday didn't feel trustworthy. She could see it in their eyes. They didn't give her the same look as Penny. There was no curiosity, not in her as a person or as a new student. No all three of them had looked at her with a look that was analyzing her. She hated it. Why did they have to stare. Did she wear her failures that obviously? Of course she did, it's why her mother didn't love her and looked at her like that.
"No pressure, I understand if you're not ready to call us friends yet." Ruby looked at Blake in surprise. Normally people got offended when she rejected their offers of friendship. Maybe the girl was offended and was hiding it well. It was hard to say. "But hey since we're together we might as well walk to school together right?"
With much hesitation Ruby nodded. She didn't really want to, but what was she going to do? Make Blake walk ahead or wait for her to get a head start? She didn't just want to stand there awkwardly for however many minutes and she was sure the older girl didn't either. The thought was worse when she considered the possibility of her mother driving by.
"So I guess you live near here right?" Ruby nodded carefully, her apartment was a few blocks away. "Cool, I actually typically carpool with a friend, but he couldn't pick me up today so I had to walk."
"Do you live near here too?"
"Nope, I actually had to get up pretty early to make up for the lack of a ride." The girl didn't seem upset by that fact, or if she was she didn't make it obvious.
Ruby didn't say anything more not really interested in keeping the conversation going. She silently thanked Blake for respecting that and allowing them to fall into silence. She would rather the other girl not be here so she could go back to texting Penny in solitude, but this was the second best option given the circumstance. At least the older girl had taken her request seriously and wasn't looking at her. Or if she did it was while Ruby wasn't paying attention.
They had arrived at school in a timely manner. Ruby had set out with time to spare (mainly as a result of not wanting to have a discussion about making friends). Other students were filtering in to the campus as well and Ruby was already intensely aware of the stares being sent her way. She knew whose fault it was. The cat Faunus on her left drew attention and she was receiving some of it just by proximity.
"I-I'll see you later Blake." She didn't give the older girl a chance to respond as she quickly walked away. She hated this. It felt like everyone was glaring at her. Didn't they have anything better to do than stare at her? Ruby was quickly developing the suspicion that being seen with any of the three girls she met yesterday would prove a massive nuisance. She was sure Weiss drew attention just by virtue of her name alone, not to mention her rather exotic white hair. She wasn't sure how but she figured Cinder must draw a similar amount of attention. It would help explain the bad blood between the three.
Ruby quickly found a secluded part of campus and dug through her backpack for her schedule. She quickly reviewed it and set out for her first class. She hoped beyond all hope that her teachers wouldn't bother trying to introduce her to the class. She doubted it would work, but a girl could hope. Her first class was on the history of Remnant. Ugh, she was going to be so bored.
Well as it turned out she didn't get a chance to be bored. Instead she was too busy spending most of the lecture frantically writing notes to keep up with the speed of her teacher. Dr. Oobleck. She didn't understand why he was making his students call him Doctor. Sure he had his Doctorate, but he was teaching High School. Ruby felt it would make more sense to argue about the degree commanding respect when actually being applied to something more meaningful. Of course she wouldn't say that to his face, but the thought was there.
Fortunately the man had been kind enough to at least let her go by without having to introduce herself. The most attention she had received was when he called names for attendance. She had received a few looks being a new face and a new name at the end of the roster, but outside of that that was all the attention she got. It had been like a weight lifted from her shoulders when the man dived right into his lecture.
She couldn't say the same for Mr. Port's class. The man had been about to launch into some rant about the literature they were currently reading and analyzing, but then of course Cinder arrived and had to say something. Ruby looked at the older woman who was smiling sweetly with hate.
"Ah my mistake! Class we have a new student joining us today. Please Miss Rose, come to the front and introduce yourself!" Ruby's glare towards Cinder only turned harsher. She would have been able to get by if Cinder hadn't spoken up. Ruby slowly stood from her seat at the back of the class and made her way to the front. If she could have she would have just disappeared into her seat never to be seen or heard from again. Instead she had to live in the real world where hiding in her seat would just piss her teacher off and make things worse for herself. "Excellent. I'm sure we would all love to hear more about you!"
"R-Right. I'm, um, Ruby Rose." She hoped that would be enough. She took one look at the class and saw a seemingly endless amount of eyes staring back at her. She felt her pulse spike and she blinked rapidly. There were no horrific eyes watching her every move. Just her classmates looking bored. She had to tell herself that that was the case, and that they weren't secretly looking at her with poorly hidden contempt.
"And where are you from?" Port couldn't leave well enough alone could he? Old bastard.
"M-Mistral."
"I see, you're quite far from home!" He seemed to finally pick up on her discomfort as he said, "Well you can return to your seat. Everyone will have ample time to get to know you in the coming months! Now I believe I was about to regale you with tales of. . ." Ruby zoned out as she returned to her seat. She refused to meet the gaze of any of the students in her class. That had been terrible. She flicked her eyes to Cinder who was staring at her. She didn't think the girl had been perceptive enough to realize her problem or if she was then she was malicious enough to intentionally put Ruby on the spot. Either way it only reaffirmed Ruby's belief that nothing good would come of associating with her.
"Hey Ruby, wait up!" That girl had practically sprinted out of the classroom. She knew Ruby heard her, but the girl didn't stop moving. Cinder growled as the petite girl kept walking. It wasn't hard to catch up, longer legs and an athletic build had a way of making it easy to catch up with out of shape shorties. Not to say Ruby was fat or anything, but it was clear the girl hadn't been properly exercising for a while now. And she clearly hadn't been eating enough if her somewhat gaunt appearance was anything to go by.
After a bit of running she managed to catch up and grab the smaller girls wrist. Finally she turned and glared at her. "What do you want?!"
"I just wanted to say sorry about that. I didn't realize that you hated attention so much." It was true, she had thought the girl was shy, but it looked like she would have a panic attack at any moment if she had stayed at the front any longer than she had. Cinder was many, many, terrible things, and had done many terrible things in her life. She had absolutely no problem mercilessly ordering someone beaten or tortured for failing to pay her the money they owed, or for pimping out girls even younger than Ruby or for ordering people to kill a targets loved ones just to break them. She was an awful person by most standards and she knew it. It came with the job (although she did enjoy her job a great deal).
But her targets were something different. Perhaps calling them targets were misleading, it would be more apt to call them conquests, targets had a rather murdery connotation, and she never murdered a conquest. She wanted to seduce them, to make them love her. And then to leave them. She felt it made them all the more beautiful when they were obsessed with her. When she would remember them for how they were right at the moment that obsession developed. Longer relationships would just make her view of them decay. They would lose their luster, their flaws as humans would become more prominent and they would become worthless. So she rid herself of them before those imperfections could ruin them. But she didn't like to hurt them in the process of the conquest (outside of having them isolated to only be able to rely on her, but really that's not so bad, at least by her standards). So the last thing she wants is for Ruby to feel like she intentionally tired to give her a panic attack. It would not only make things more difficult for her, but she also genuinely hadn't intended for it to happen.
And one should apologize when they make a mistake, no?
"Well now you do. Please leave me alone." The smaller girl was trying to yank her wrist out of her grasp. Cinder sighed and did as requested. She would love to keep holding onto the silver eyed girl, but the goal wasn't to take her by force. She had no doubt that if she really wanted to she would manage. After all she could just send some people to kidnap her on her way to school. But that wasn't the goal. It did seem that it would be harder to conquer Ruby than previous conquests had been. But that only made things all the more thrilling.
"Again, I'm sorry. I'll be more careful in the future." Silver eyes met her own. Something flickered across the face of the other girl.
"Y-You couldn't have known. J-Just be careful." The girl didn't say goodbye but Cinder couldn't help but smile as she watched the girl leave. She had to give the girl credit, she was better at reading people than Cinder had thought. She had clearly seen that Cinder actually meant it and had forgiven her. Or maybe she hadn't and was simply weak willed. But Cinder was suspecting it to be the former.
Good, that means she wouldn't be restarting from square one then.
Weiss looked at the woman that would be taking over the position of teacher for advanced dust manipulation. Mrs. Peach had entered maternity leave and wasn't intending to return, so the school had found a new teacher to replace her fairly quickly. Of course all that wasn't what made Weiss interested in the woman. No it was much simpler. She looked quite a bit like Ruby Rose. And given the name written on the board says "Summer Rose" It wasn't hard to see the connection.
She wondered for a moment if Ruby would have the same passion for dust manipulation that she had. It wasn't particularly useful outside of wanting to enter research and development, or teaching, but Weiss had found it a relaxing hobby. Of course she was well aware that her status as heiress of the SDC made it all the easier to acquire and partake in her hobby, but she had no shame in that.
The woman seemed to recognize her. Although Weiss was unsure if that was because she had seen her with Ruby yesterday, or if her reputation as heiress precedes her. Either way it wasn't terrible to receive recognition, she had lived her whole life with it and she would go the rest of her life with it.
The woman was clearly confidant in herself and her abilities with the volatile material. She wondered why Ruby was such a nervous wreck then, if the mother was so confidant. Surely she would have been able to raise her own daughters confidence, right?
She didn't know. She supposed it doesn't really matter. Right now all that mattered was that she doesn't mess up the dust reaction and cause an explosion. They weren't in the main building. They had a separate building specifically for all dust based lessons offered at the academy (although the dust itself was stored in yet another secure facility, don't want to keep all that volatile material in the same place it's being experimented with.)
She found herself enjoying Summer's lesson. The woman didn't mince her words and expected the students to know what they were doing. Weiss, had prided herself on her ability to study and vast knowledge, as such she had no trouble following along. She hated to admit it but it did feel good to know that she was succeeding where others were failing. It was petty and she knew it, but it didn't make it feel any less satisfying.
The class passed quickly and the bell soon rung. It was her last class of the day so she thought it would be fun to stick around and dive deeper into a conversation with Summer.
"Ms. Rose! Do you have time? I'd like to get your thoughts on mixing gravity dust and hard-light dust."
"What about the mixture, as far as I'm aware it always leads to the hard-light dust collapsing." Weiss swelled with anticipation as Summer gave an actual answer on the effects. Mrs. Peach had never been one to engage in discussion. "Although it is thought that there is a stable ratio that would allow for the creation of hard-light gravity dust." Weiss nodded, in the past several years many research papers had cropped up claiming that mixing the two successfully might somehow allow humanity to achieve a source of limitless energy. It was frankly a little outlandish, but at the same time it was an entertaining thought to indulge in. If it was true then they were on the cusp of a massive technological revolution comparable to the invention of agriculture in scale. Far more likely it would remain something entirely theoretical that would never be achievable by humanity.
"Hey Ruby!" She ignored the sigh of annoyance from the younger girl. "Do you want to go out with me?"
"I. . . What?" Oh she hadn't thought about how that would sound.
"Er, I mean hang out."
"Why?"
"Because I want to get to know you."
"Why?"
"Because I want to be your friend."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I thought it would be a good idea!" She sighed as the other girl huffed. She clearly was under the impression that Blake was approaching her with some ulterior motive. She really truly did want her to be a friend. She also happened to have an ulterior motive, but she was telling the truth. Just not all of it. But for the most part she was just bored, Ilia and Adam had work to do under Sienna's orders, so she had no one to hang out with after school today. It seemed like a good opportunity to work on cracking the nut that is Ruby Rose.
"Okay." Wait she really agreed?
"What?"
"Do you want to hang out or not?"
Blake agreed in an instant. "Of course! I'm just surprised, I thought you hated me."
"I don't hate you. I don't hate anyone." The latter half of the statement was said in a whisper. Ruby likely hadn't expected her to hear it, but hey the extra pair of ears came with benefits.
"I'm glad, I thought you didn't like me." She wasn't close enough to the girl to really be effected if she didn't like her. But she did feel like she had an obligation to protect her from the menaces that are Weiss Schnee and Cinder Fall. Of course that wasn't really true either. There were plenty of girls she had let Cinder use without caring about, and there were plenty more she didn't bother to stop Weiss from turning into her little puppets. But something about Ruby told her that it was worth protecting her from the two of them. In a way she reminded her of someone she used to know, but she wasn't really sure who it was, but the feeling was nostalgic. "You ready to go?" The smaller girl nodded and they quickly set out.
Ruby didn't really care much for hanging out with Blake. But it did have one advantage. She could claim she was making friends to her mother, and then wouldn't have to deal with being forced to meet people she hates. And Blake wasn't a bad choice, the girl had taken her request earlier in the day to heart and hadn't stared at her once in the entire time they had spent together. Ruby was silently thankful for that.
They were calmly walking through the city side by side. Blake had said they wouldn't go to far from the area around the school, out of respect for the fact that Ruby wanted to be within walking distance of her apartment.
Things had been fine, there was a nearby diner and Ruby had quickly found out that they made damn good pancakes. At least so Blake claimed. Apparently one of the students at Beacon was working there at the demands of one of his friends, because he needed to share his recipe with the world. Blake had assured her that she would introduce her to the duo one day.
Ruby wasn't sure she wanted to meet them, but she had agreed out of politeness. Plus Blake had payed for her meal (Ruby hadn't thought about going out when she left and hadn't remembered to bring any money) so she wasn't about to reject the girls kindness.
The sun was slowly setting and Ruby figured she ought to be getting home. She said as much to Blake.
"Want me to walk you home? The streets of Vale can be pretty dangerous at night."
"I'll be okay."
She was a bit surprised that Blake hadn't put up more of a fight about the matter. She had come to realize the Faunus girl was the overprotective type. But Ruby wasn't about to complain about the chance to finally be alone. She hadn't gotten a good opportunity to talk to Penny all day.
The walk home wasn't long but it was long enough. As evidenced by the fact that the sun had set and she still wasn't home yet.
"I hate life"
"Salutations friend Ruby! D8 What has upset you so?"
"My suspicions about the older girls were correct"
"I'm sorry to hear that friend Ruby. Were your classes at least acceptable?"
"I had to do introductions, of course they weren't"
"Well it is over now! 8D"
Much like this morning she was interrupted from her messaging. Although this time it was from bumping into someone and falling on her ass like an idiot. She looked up and met the lavender eyes of a tall blonde woman (though not as tall as Cinder). Her hair was tied in a ponytail but it seemed to have trouble constraining the long main. Most importantly was the fact that the woman was dressed in an officers uniform.
"Hey kid, you okay?" The woman said, as she reached down and offered a hand. Ruby hesitantly accepted the gesture and blinked in surprise as the woman pulled her to her feet.
"Th-Thanks."
"Anytime, it's my fault to begin with." The woman offered her a kind smile and asked, "What's your name kid?"
"Ruby Rose." She couldn't draw her eyes away from the woman. Her eyes were warm, earnest. This woman looked like she wore her heart on her sleeve. The stare almost didn't make her skin crawl, it was the closest anyone had come to being like Penny.
"I'm guessing you're a student at Beacon if the uniform is anything to go by." She smiled as Ruby nodded. "Oh names Yang Xiao Long by the way. Or Officer Xiao Long if you've got a stick up your ass. Where you headed Rubes?"
"R-Rubes?!" She practically choked on the words in surprise. The closest thing she ever had to a nickname was 'friend Ruby' and that wasn't really a nickname if anything she knew about Penny was true. And her mom calling her Sweetie doesn't count.
"Sorry, guess I got a bit to friendly there."
"I-It's alright."
"Right so once again, where you headed?"
"Home."
"Good kid, don't be out on the streets of Vale at night, cheap thrills aren't worth the risk. And believe me, I used to seek them all the time before my pops straightened me out." Ruby wasn't sure how to feel about the woman just launching into the story, but it wasn't that bad she guessed. "Anyways, I can take you home if you'd like."
"Th-that's okay. I'm close to my apartment a-already." The officer nodded.
"Smart too, alright well I'm still gonna walk you home at least." Ruby sighed and nodded. She hoped her mother wouldn't get the wrong idea.
Summer hadn't gotten any message from her daughter about where she was. It admittedly had her worried. But Ruby had a good head on her shoulders she was sure she wouldn't get into any trouble. Her thoughts were interrupted as someone knocked on the front door. She went to answer it and immediately ate her words.
A nervous Ruby and A cop greeted her. She did not. "Hello Officer, what seems to be the issue with my daughter?"
The cop looked at her surprised before laughing, it was familiar. Not familiar from the tone, but from the voice itself. It was like a ghost of her past. "Ha no worries ma'am, your daughter here was on the way home, and I thought it would be prudent to escort her since it had gotten dark out."
"I see. Thank you." She made eye contact with the cop and Summer felt her heart just about tear in two. The woman's hair color may have been different, as was her eye color. But she was the spitting image of Raven. She should have never come back to Vale. "Well come on Ruby, dinner is waiting."
Her daughter quickly shuffled inside and she turned one last look to the blonde woman. "Thank you for bringing her home safely."
"Anytime Ma'am, it's all part of the job." The woman turned to leave and Summer couldn't help herself.
"Does the name Raven mean anything to you?"
The woman turned back to her and smiled wistfully, "More than you realize." And with that she left, and Summer was alone again.
A/N okay so FFN seems to have bugged out and not shown this chapter properly as an update. So I have a weird suspicion that people aren't noticing that they got a new chapter despite following/favoriting. So I've taken down the original chapter 2 (no changes were made beside this A/N) and uploaded this version. Hopefully FFN stops being buggy and actually shows this update.
If you already read chapter 2 then you're good to go. Either way thanks for reading.