Someone yell at me to finish chapter 19-21, please
"Stay!" She looked over her shoulder as Weiss' hand locked around her wrist in a tight iron grip, the singer's face became remorseful. "Please?" Weiss murmured pleadingly, her grip loosening in case Ruby pulled away. The brunette sank to her knees, whispering her quiet response and watching as a grateful, serene smile formed across the woman's lips.
Pyrrha's voice grabbed their attention, a warm smile on her face. "Should we tell Edan and his crew-"
A deafening sound erupted all around them and Ruby's brow furrowed as everything was washed out by different, indescribable colors. She could hear her heartbeat and the ringing in her ears was unbearable, she turned her head to say something to the person next to her when she noticed shadows forming around her where her friends once were. Confusion and fear rolled through her simultaneously, everything around her was so slow… A bright light caught her eye and she squinted, trying to turn her head away as the light became increasingly brighter.
She smelled smoke.
A soft clicking sound rang in her head momentarily just before the world around her sped up. Her friends were back, all of them diving down with their hands over their head as debris flew towards them. Wait, debris?!
Ruby let out a pained grunt of surprise when a small, but heavy piece of concrete collided with her side at full force, causing her to double over and her back to slam against the ground. "Ruby!" A vaguely familiar voice screeched, she winced in pain as the world became a blur of unintelligible colors and screams. She could hear collateral explosions echoing all around her, she could feel the ground rumbling beneath her.
"Ruby! Move!" The voice shrieked again, her view was suddenly blocked by the shape of someone looming over her, shielding her unprotected body with their own. "Get up!" They hollered again as the world became considerably clearer and she returned to her senses. "Ruby, Ruby! Can you move your legs?" The figure over her asked worriedly, Ruby let out a quiet hum of confusion.
The sky was an odd reddish black color and everything reeked of smoke. Those black clouds in the sky were… Smoke.
Something was heading towards them.
The figure above her lifted their head for a moment before a shrill scream snapped Ruby back to reality..Something warm dripped on her and her body jolted upwards, wrapping around the person just in time to shift her weight and rolled them beneath her, cradling their head as an attempt to protect them just as they had done for her.
"Weiss!" She heard herself scream just before a dull thud vibrated through her skull. Her vision became dark.
Silence. Blackness. There was a quiet, faint ringing in her ears.
"Help! My friend, she isn't waking up! She's hurt!"
"It's okay, we've got her. Find the others!"
She vaguely remembered opening her eyes to see a slow-moving black blur around her, and a panicked blue gaze looking back at her.
"What're we going to do…?"
"You two can head home with her… I'll stay with Ruby."
Then, everything was quiet.
Her eyes blinked open and instantly closed, shielding her silver orbs from the blinding white light above her. She let out a breath and hesitantly opened her eyes again, blinking as an attempt to adjust them to the light. There was a dull throb in the back of her head, becoming increasingly more painful as her head moved. Her blurred vision locked on a distinctly familiar white shape across the room from her, she squinted as an attempt to see them better.
"Ruby?" The shape murmured in surprise, almost sounding like she was in disbelief. "She's awake!" The white figure called down the hall, carefully making their way over to her.
Weiss.
She was at home… Why was she at home? More importantly, why was Weiss here?
"What happened?" Ruby murmured almost disorientedly as Weiss sat down next to her, keeping a reasonable distance between the two of them. Ruby fixed her gaze on the singer and her forehead wrinkled when she noticed the bandage over the girl's eye, "Wh-wha-? Are you okay?" She asked, lifting one weak hand to examine the injury.
Weiss' fingers wrapped around her wrist tenderly and placed her hand back down, "I'm fine," she offered her a strained smile, "I'm more concerned about you, you took a pretty hard hit to the head…" Her soft fingers came up to touch the artist's forehead and a warm feeling rolled through the brunette, almost like calm waves crashing upon the shore. "How does your head feel?"
First, she wanted her question to be answered. "How does your eye feel?" She countered. Weiss was briefly taken aback, "What happened?"
The singer reached up to carefully remove the bandage and Ruby prepared herself, fearing that she would see a gruesome, bloody image in the place of her eye. She watched in anticipation, her fists curling up in the sheets below her. Ruby's breath hitched at the sight of a fresh, diagonal, crooked scar stretching down Weiss' left eye.
It was… Kind of beautiful.
The woman's gaze became sorrowful. "It's hideous, I know." She murmured shamefully.
"N-no!" Ruby yelped, the singer flinched and she let out a groan, her head throbbing abruptly. She sighed, refixing her attention on Weiss. "I like it," she whispered softly as means not to startle the timid woman, "I think it suits you…"
Weiss' cheeks became red and she offered her a tiny, shaky smile, "Thank you."
"Ruby, you're awake!" Ruby turned her head to see her father jogging into the room, his eyes wide, watery, but grateful. He didn't spare Weiss a single glance, it was almost as if she wasn't even there. "How do you feel?" She was fine, why was everybody asking her that?
"I'm fine, Dad," she muttered as he knelt down next to the bed, "can someone tell me what happened?"
The air around them became heavy, something was pulling her chest down like dead weight.
"There was a bombing at the concert," Tai explained reluctantly, his eyes downcast, as if he hadn't really wanted to be the one to break it to her. "After the investigation, it was confirmed that the White Fang had set numerous bombs around the studio, disguising themselves as security guards." He looked back up at her, "When your girlfriend ran offstage, they took that as their opening and set them off." Ruby's heart did a small flutter at the mention of the word 'girlfriend' and her eyes drifted towards Weiss, "You got hurt, fell unconscious and she got you out of there…"
It was Weiss' turn to speak. "You protected me," she murmured, her voice soft and hesitant, "it was the least I could do…"
Tai sighed, "Many, many people got hurt, Ruby." His hand came to rest on hers, "A few people lost their lives… Dozens, actually." His eyes watered for a moment and Ruby's heart tightened.
Weiss leaned in, "Eden and Pitch were right in the middle of it all." So, they were… Dead? "We were lucky enough to have been a few feet away from the building."
It was taking all of Tai's willpower not to lose his composure. "W-when, I, um-" He took a moment to clear his throat. "When I heard of it on the news, I was worried that you had been among them…" Her father thought she may have died, "I started towards the city and, and I was trying to… Prepare myself for the news, before uh," Tai glanced at Weiss and he remained silent for a long moment. "And then she found me…"
Ruby looked at the singer, who offered a tiny smile in response. "She told me you were okay and brought me to you, she… She was injured, but… She was a lot more concerned about your wellbeing than her own… She's here because she wanted to keep an eye on you," he informed her, "and, well, she didn't have anywhere else to go."
Wait, what? She knew Weiss had a large, fully staffed mansion to return to, so why couldn't she have taken advantage of-
Ah, right…
The man rubbed his forehead and stood up, his eyes sad. "Yang wanted to come down, but her college wouldn't release her. She's very worried… You should probably call her tonight." He made to leave the room, "I've made some tea if you girls want some."
"We'll be down soon. Thank you…" Weiss answered.
"We should go." Ruby slid out of the bed, grunting as discomfort rolled through her body when her foot touched the cold floor.
"Hold on-" Weiss stopped her and the brunette looked back, their eyes meeting. Weiss cleared her throat, pulling herself back together. Weiss gestured accusingly at the artist, "How does your head feel?"
Ah fuck.
"Fine, I guess," Ruby answered meekly. "It throbs a little, but other than that… I'm fine." Weiss looked like she wanted to say something else, but opted out of it. The artist sighs, wincing as a short jab of pain struck her. She rubbed her forehead. "Alright… Tell me what happened… All I remember is you running off stage..."
The singer hesitated. "Your father just told you."
Ruby frowned at her. "He told me about the attack, not what happened before."
Reluctance flickered through her icy blue eyes and the singer visibly grimaced. "Weiss…?" She avoided eye contact with her, Weiss' body was trembling ever so slightly.
No, no she couldn't cry. She didn't want her to cry... She had to do something. Ruby's heart rate picked up and she shifted, reaching to place her hand on Weiss' knee as an attempt to console her. "I-I'm sorry…" Was that helpful? Probably not…
Ruby panicked as the vocalist readjusted her sitting position, briefly causing the brunette to wonder if she'd said the wrong thing and Weiss was leaving. A pair of warm arms embraced her and Ruby swore her heart stopped. Weiss was… Hugging her?
No, she had to help her- she'd come to her for comfort. Now was not the time to get distracted!
'Focus, Ruby!'
"It's all my fucking fault..." Weiss whimpered at last, her voice barely audible, Ruby strained to hear her. "I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect…" If I hadn't been a damn coward," yep, she did not like that word, "maybe if I had warned everybody about the White Fang, we could've reinforced security… But I was… So focused on the stupid, fucking concert."
She was asking about her breakdown. This is not what she meant-
Wait a minute, Weiss was blaming herself for someone else's negligence? What?
"Now, so many people are dead because I didn't-"
Ruby frowned and her hand shot up, she popped Weiss' nose scoldingly and a rush of humiliation when Weiss glanced at her, confusion written all over her face and her eyes watery. She cleared her throat. "It's not your fault," she started softly, "you hired security… You doubled security, too…" Weiss opened her mouth to protest, "Bah-bah-bah!" Ruby poked her forehead multiple times, silencing her. "All you needed to do was worry about the concert, Weiss… It was Henry's job to make sure security was doing theirs."
"But I-"
Ruby interrupted. "Nope!" She shook her head. "I'm not going to let you blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault."
Weiss let out a heavy breath and closed her eyes, "Alright…" She slid off the bed to approach the beanbag she'd previously been sitting on. "Ruby?" Weiss whispered, approaching the artist. "I managed to save this." Ruby looked down as a familiar, ashy sketchbook was placed in front of her. The cover was scorched, but otherwise it looked fine…
Her drawings were saved…
Wait a minute. Her drawings. Weiss.
Ruby's head jerked up and she quickly scanned her room, dread forming in the pit of her stomach when she remembered that her bedroom was flooded with Ice Flower merchandise- most of them being her own art she'd hung up on display. Hold up. Weiss was in her bedroom. Her eyes darted back to Weiss, Ruby swore her soul left her body. 'No, no! Not right now.' She could wallow in her own humiliation later, then rip down every Ice Flower poster and merchandise she owned.
She should burn it. No, wait, that was excessive. Okay, she'll stick everything under her bed. That'll work! 'She's already seen everything, you fool.' A little voice in the back of her head muttered bluntly.
Well, she'd might as well start digging her grave tonight. She had a good run.
Gods, she hurt all over. Her head throbbed like she'd been hit by a baseball bat, her entire left side from the waist to her hip was bruised black and blue. She couldn't hardly put any weight on it. Her arms, her knees down to her ankles were littered with little cuts she could only assume she got from flying glass that stung like constant little bee stings.
When she'd stood up off the bed, she'd felt like she was crushed by a thousand heavy boulders. Weiss helped her downstairs and she'd even offered to grab a plate for her so she didn't need to walk too much. She was always asking if she was okay, or if she needed something. Weiss didn't know where anything was, but she insisted that she would find it.
Ruby had also tried to give her sister a call earlier, but the two times she'd attempted to contact her with three hours in between, Yang's phone went straight to voicemail. She just figured maybe she was busy with her studies, trying to keep her mind off what happened to Blake.
"Ruby?" She lifted her head to see Weiss approaching her wearing a concerned expression, "Are you okay?" Weiss had asked her that question too many times to count. "You seem to be lost in thought…"
Ruby let out a heavy sigh, pushing herself away from the table to put some much needed distance between herself and Weiss. "You're being nice." She said bluntly, watching as the woman's face twisted in pure confusion. "This isn't like you… You're usually walking around cursing the world for my very existence."
It was like she was worried over the most minor of things… Weiss was worried about her.
Then again, the white-haired woman did blame herself for the entire incident and Ruby had been injured, she was probably holding herself responsible and assigned herself as Ruby's caretaker as an attempt to ease the guilt. It wasn't like she really cared for her, right?
Why else would she be treating her so nicely? During the tour, Weiss had made it blatantly obvious that Ruby was a simple roadie she couldn't care less about, she'd said it to her face multiple times.
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Weiss murmured softly, carefully pulling a chair out to sit across from the artist. "You're my friend, I care about you-"
"I care about you."
Ruby's entire body became numb as her heart painfully throbbed, tears stinging at her eyes. Her gut twisted as her throat tightened. Now she knew exactly why Weiss had come to Patch… She wasn't done toying with her heart, and the temporary separation from the band would provide her more time to break her. Ruby shook her head and hid her eyes, swallowing her cry before she could show any signs of weakness. She knew very well that she meant nothing to the singer, she was a simple pawn to see just how far Weiss could go.
"Why do you keep doing this to me?" Ruby asked, her voice devoid of any sort of emotion. Weiss' brows furrowed, "You keep acting like you care about me," she lifted her eyes to look at the singer, "but I know you don't…"
Gods, if she could reach inside herself and switch off the affections she felt for the older girl, she would without hesitation. She knew Weiss didn't love her, and she never would. It'd be easier to simply turn away from it-
"Of course I care about you," Weiss whispered again, "why wouldn't I?"
Ruby glared up at her. "The way you treat me." Weiss frowned. "You treat me like I'm beneath you, and every time I think… Maybe I'll be more than just the roadie who happens to be your childhood friend," she averted her eyes, her chest burning with hurt, "you go and show me that I never will be."
"Ruby, I'm not-" Weiss started.
"If you're not finished playing with my heart, just please go ahead and rip it out." Ruby pushed herself up and away from the table. "It'll be the nicest thing you've ever done for me."
"Ruby," Weiss called after her, her voice cracking. "Ruby, wait… Please."
She ignored her.