Weiss woke with a start. The immediate thought in her head was just 'LOUD NOISE' and her instincts set her into fight mode—or rather, take cover mode. She summoned a series of glyphs around her like a shell and immediately looked around for Myrtenaster.
That look around was the refresher she needed to remember where she was.
Right. In her r—well, her team's—room. In her bottom bunk bed. Yang was dashing across the room, eyes on and beelining to Ruby's bunk, pausing just long enough to give Weiss and her semblance shell a puzzled glance before bounding up into the bunk above Weiss's head.
Ah. The loud noise was Ruby screaming. It was shrill, hoarse, wild.
She sounded terrified.
Weiss could barely make out Yang speaking softly, trying to sooth the screaming girl, not to much avail.
Yang had told her what to expect but…
Weiss hated the sound Ruby was making, and hated even more that Ruby was the one making it. Fearless, headstrong, doofus Ruby sounded like…
What did she even sound like? Weiss had never experienced anything comparable to this. This wasn't the quick scream from a jump scare in a horror movie or anything. This was a sound of pure, sustained terror, and it was getting long enough now that Weiss could actively hear Ruby's throat going raw.
She was tired, and when she was tired she got grumpy, but she forced away her displeasure at being woken up. It was a small potatoes issue compared to what Ruby was dealing with.
There was a brief moment of quiet as Ruby stopped her screaming to heave in a massive breath. Yang's shushing persisted, the absence of screaming making it seem unnaturally loud now.
Weiss dropped her dumb shell of glyphs and swung her legs around. Should she stand up? Let Ruby see her, maybe talk to her? Or should she leave this to Yang? She had no idea what she was supposed to do here.
Blake was apparently struggling with the same question because she was sitting up, pulling her blanket on and off her legs nervously as she looked across the room at Ruby's bunk.
She met Weiss' eyes and heard the unspoken question, answering with a shrug. She had no idea what to do either.
'If only there was a handbook for being a good teammate.'
"Get… off!" she heard Ruby grunt.
That was enough to get Weiss to stand up and look at what was going on above her. If Ruby was pushing away Yang hugs, something was definitely wrong.
Ruby was indeed trying to p[ush Yang off of her, which left Yang with an increasingly perplexed and worried expression.
"It's just me, Roo," she pressed urgently, trying to get her arm back around her little sister's shoulders.
Ruby wiggled away from it though, muttering, "She killed Mom."
"No, they di—" Yang started. "Wait, 'she'? She who?"
"... The angry lady?" Ruby responded, her hesitant tone saying she wasn't too confident in what she was saying.
"... Ruby, it was just a bad dr—"
"Nooo!" Ruby shouted, almost shrieked, as she threw herself away from Yang. "I need to… I can't forget! Get off!"
Ruby dove off the bed and fell to the floor with a thud, and it said a lot about the mental state she was in right now that she didn't think to or want to use her semblance to break the fall. She landed on a knee, hard, and let out a yelp that turned into a hiss of pain as she hugged her bruised joint.
"Ruby!" Yang cried out, hurrying down from the bunk. Weiss was closer, though, as Ruby had fallen down right in front of her, and she reached down to help Ruby up and…
And Ruby shoved her away. As soon as Weiss' fingertips touched Ruby's shoulders, the girl flinched and pushed Weiss back, right into a bedpost.
Weiss was so stunned she just let herself bounce off the frame and flop down onto her mattress with a "Huh?!"
Ruby was completely unfazed and half-stomped-half-limped over to her desk where she flicked on her desk lamp and pulled out her notebook to start scribbling on an empty page with the colored pencils that were strewn around the desktop that she insisted on never putting away.
Yang dropped down to the floor and briefly met Weiss' eyes with bewilderment and shook her head in an 'I have no idea what's going on' kind of way before rushing over behind Ruby.
"Rubes, you o—"
"Can you stop!" Ruby shouted, turning to slam her hands into Yang as the blonde was grabbing her shoulder. The push must have been way more forceful than the one she'd given Weiss, but the impact only made Yang take a single step back.
It also made her stop there, though, frozen with her arms in the air and no idea what to do.
Ruby, on the other hand, paid her sister no heed and immediately turned back to her desk, scribbling furiously.
Weiss and Blake both slowly walked up to stand next to Yang. Blake tugged on Yang's arm to get her to turn so Blake could give her a wide-eyed 'what the sweet heck?' look, but still Yang was stumped, and that clearly made her anxious.
The three of them stood in uncertain silence watching the back of Ruby's head for a long moment.
"Have to… remember," Ruby muttered to herself.
"R-ruby?" Weiss asked tentatively, glancing at Yang and getting a 'go on' gesture before she continued. "What is it… exactly… you're trying to remember?"
"The…" Ruby started, waving a hand and then realizing if she did that she couldn't draw, so she immediately brought it back down to the page. "Um… Ssss… Say…? I don't remember her name… The witch lady."
Weiss turned to Yang and mouthed, 'witch?'
Yang just gave another helpless shrug.
"Where did you see this... witch?... Ruby?"
"Hm?"
"Where was this witch?"
"In muh dream."
Weiss closed her eyes briefly in order to resist the urge to roll them. "Right, and where were you in your dream?"
"I don't know, I'm trying to draw it!" Ruby yelled, slamming both her hands on her desk in anger.
Weiss jumped back several feet from sheer instinct. She hated shouting and slamming. She was immediately put into a mindset of appeasement, not-so-subconsciously desperate to find a way to please Ruby to soften her mood.
Like she did with Father.
She shook her head. No, that was wrong. Ruby wasn't Weiss' father. If she was acting like this then…
Then what? She honestly had no idea what it meant, and apparently neither did Yang, which… which meant this hadn't happened before?
Blake walked back over to Weiss, giving Yang a tug to bring her with.
"Whatever she was dreaming—or, nightmaring—" Blake paused to cringe at herself "—about was worse that whatever she's had nightmares of before."
"Not worse," Yang muttered at her feet. "If it was worse she'd still be screaming."
All three of them looked over at the still scribbling Ruby.
"Not worse, but different," Weiss stated quietly.
"Mm."
"Who's the witch?" she asked.
"Why is it different?" Blake asked instead.
"I dunno and I dunno," Yang answered tersely.
"Product of her environment?" Blake posited. "Maybe being at Beacon or… or just away from home made her dream something else?"
"Maybe being at Beacon where her mom was is affecting her?" Weiss tried.
"Wasn't she living in the same house as her mom had for years?" Blake countered.
… True. Weiss shrugged. "Maybe Beacon's different?"
"I mean, it must be, right?"
"Why is she yelling at me?" Yang cut in.
Neither Weiss nor Blake had a response ready for that. It took a few seconds for Weiss to find a good, albeit empty, platitude. "She's shaken, Yang. Whatever she—"
"Usually me being there with her makes her feel better," Yang interrupted. "But now she's…" She waved a frustrated hand at the scribbling girl.
Weiss was a bit miffed at being cut off, especially when she'd been trying to make Yang feel better, so she promptly stopped trying to do that. Instead, she slowly ventured closer to Ruby to peer over her shoulder.
The drawing was… well, confusing, for one. Ruby was both not a terribly great artist and also apparently trying to fit three images all on the one page. The first, at the top, looked like a black castle that… maybe was supposed to be in ruins? It was hard to tell what was a crack and what was just a random squiggle. The sky was red and there were what were probably supposed to be Grimm (going solely on color scheme) walking towards the structure, a couple getting hit by lightning along the way.
The second, in the bottom left, was drawing of a person, probably. They had a head with a weird helmet and arms, but their lower half made them look like they were half blob. Or something. There were lines coming from the person-blob to four rectangles, two on each side. They were wearing a black robe or dress and had red eyes.
The last image, in the bottom right, was the one Ruby was still working on, and the best quality. It was a closeup of the person's face it seemed from the identical shape of the helmet. It looked like a woman, screaming, with angry red eyes and black veins visible running up her neck and jaw. From the amount of detail and time Ruby was putting into this part, it was either the image most clearly burned into her head or the one she wanted to remember the most.
It was creepy, either way.
"Are those horns of some sort on her helmet?" Weiss asked quietly.
Ruby jerked in surprise at the noise, but then settled a bit and turned to blink at Weiss with a confused expression. "Horns? Helm-what?"
Weiss pointed.
"Wh-oh. No, those are hair loopies," Ruby explained like it was obvious.
"Ah," Weiss said. So that meant… "She has white hair? Like me?"
This couldn't be some evil, creepy Weiss that Ruby dreamed of, right? Like Weiss wasn't that scary. Her father? Sure, she could probably see him as having glowing red eyes and screaming like a horror movie villain, but this person was clearly female and also why would Ruby be dreaming of Weiss' father?
"Yeah," Ruby replied simply.
Behind Weiss, Yang and Blake crept closer to look now that it was clearly okay to do so. They squinted at the pictures and each other and Weiss in confusion, a sentiment Weiss expressed back.
Ruby was still drawing, trying to add more details to the woman.
"So… who is she?" Weiss asked.
Ruby shook her head. "I don't know… I didn't—she didn't s…" Ruby's head cocked to the side suddenly, like she was trying to listen to something. "Salem?" The way she said it, more a question than an answer, made Weiss look over at the others to see if they'd had a better time of deciphering that response.
They hadn't.
Ruby wheeled around to stare at Weiss with wide, almost scared eyes. "Did you say that?"
"Say what?" Weiss replied, confused.
"Salem!" Ruby almost-shouted impatiently.
"N-no," Weiss stammered, thrown off by the yelling again. "You did."
Ruby huffed in dissatisfaction at that reply and turned to Yang and Blake. "Did you guys say that?!"
"No!" Blake squeaked.
"Ruby, what's going on?" Yang asked.
"I HEARD SOMEONE SAY HER NAME!" Ruby shrieked. The volume and frantic handwaving that accompanied it made Weiss stumble back in fright.
Yang had the opposite reaction, rushing back up to her sister to grab at Ruby's tiny wrists and pull them together despite the girl's struggles.
"Ssshhh! Rubes, we didn't say anything!"
Ruby pulled against Yang's hold like she was in a panic. She even flickered red at one point, trying to semblance away, but Yang evidently had her aura up because the effect dissipated and Ruby was left in her chair.
"Stop! No! I heard… I…" Ruby's head swiveled around erratically, trying desperately to look at something behind her and not finding it.
"Rubes!" Yang kept hold of Ruby's wrists. It was clear she wanted to hug her sister but couldn't because of the chair, so she settled for keeping Ruby contained. "Hey, it's me!" She waited for Ruby to settle down enough that they made eye contact. "Hellohi, it's Yang. 'Member me? Big sister? Tall, strong, great at making pancakes?"
Ruby just blinked rapidly and looked behind her again. She hadn't even registered the words.
"Hey." Yang waited for Ruby to look at her again before continuing. "It's just us, Peanut." She pointed over her shoulder, still keeping hold of Ruby's wrists so she pulled Ruby's arms along with the movement. "Look, it's Blake. 'Member her? She likes reading even more than you do, but her books suck 'cause there's no pictures in 'em."
"Well that was just uncalled for," Blake muttered jokingly.
"And look!" Yang pointed over her other shoulder. "It's Weiss! Your partner? You're convinced she's a princess even though her dad's a dick, not a king."
Weiss gave a nervous little wave. She didn't have it in her to speak. The comment about her father was pretty accurate.
Ruby blinked blankly at Blake and Weiss in turn, then looked back at Yang.
"Just us," Yang repeated. "Teeeeeam RWBY."
Slowly—very slowly—Ruby's eyes started to focus on what was in front of her until she was finally seeing her sister in front of her.
"Yang…" she croaked.
Yang's relief was evident in the way her shoulders slacked. "Hey, Cap. Talk to me. What's going on?"
"I…" When Ruby pulled her hands back this time, Yang let go. Ruby rubbed at her temples. "I think… Mom is in my head?"
Weiss couldn't see Yang's expression from here but the stretch of silence said plenty. She glanced at Blake who looked back at her with widened eyes. Were they thinking the same thing? That their team captain might be going a little crazy?
Hearing voices was a symptom of schizophrenia, right?
"... Okayyy…" Yang said slowly. "Can you explain?"
Ruby nodded vigorously and sat up a bit. "That dream. It was… I think it was Mom's memory."
"Uh-h…" Yang stopped herself from giving a dismissive 'uh-huh' and switch to an almost comically thoughtful "hmmm". She looked over at Ruby's drawing again. "Mom's memory of… a freaky witch lady in a suuuuper depressing castle?"
"Yeah," Ruby said simply, not hearing or ignoring the humor Yang tried to inject into the conversation. "I think… it was her last one. I think this Salem lady…" Ruby's voice dropped to a whisper, "killed her."
She hadn't really been moving before, but Yang visibly, noticeably froze in place. "Killed… her. Meaning… Mom is dead?"
For a moment, Weiss was confused by the question because Yang had said their mom was dead, but then she realized that wasn't what Yang was asking. She was asking if Ruby thought their mom was dead because she'd been apparently convinced that wasn't true for years.
So if Ruby was recognizing that then that was… big?
Ruby slowly nodded, looking morose and reluctant.
Yang reached up to push the girl's dark hair back. "Rubes… you know this sounds bananers, right?"
"There's more!" Ruby piped up like she'd been expecting to not be believed. "I saw other… memories or whatever earlier today! Like when we were fighting and I tripped up? It's cuz I randomly started reliving one of Mom's fights with her team!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! She was fighting with Uncle Qrow against Dad and Raven."
There was a brief lull in the conversation at the mention of Yang's mother, but then she recovered. "Who won?" she asked with forced lightness.
Ruby scrunched her eyebrows together. "I… don't remember. It's like trying to remember a dream. That's why I was all freaking out to try to draw this one." She looked down at her feet. "Sorry for yelling at you."
"'S'okay."
"I got to see Dad's full semblance," she perked up.
"More than the gauntlets?" Yang asked, looking curious.
"Yeah! I got to see the, uh, like, pauldrons and greaves and helmet and chest... plate?"
Yang was speechless for a moment. "... Huh… Assuming this was really… one of Mom's memories." Her tone was loaded with skepticism.
"I… yeah." Ruby's head hung again. "There was another memory before that too, of me and—Mom, I mean… And Dad. And… us." She looked up at Yang. "We were fighting over that old Titamium—er, Titanium Man action figure. When we were little. The one Zwei ripped the arms off of when he was a pupper."
"You saw Baby Ruby from someone else's point of view?" Blake asked.
Ruby's eyes widened a bit at the reminder that there were other people in the room, then nodded.
"That sounds…"
"Surreal," Weiss finished.
"Yeah," Blake agreed.
That just made Ruby shrug. "I 'spose. I didn't think anything of it at the time… 'cause I wasn't really thinking. Just… experiencing."
"So you felt what Mom felt?" Yang asked.
"Yeah. I don't… that memory's really blurry now, but I 'member she loved us lots." Ruby stared at her knees as she said it.
Yang reached over to pull Ruby's head forward and planted a kiss on the top of Ruby's head, and Weiss was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that she was intruding on a private moment. She looked away as Yang whispered, "Of course she did, Rubes."
"And…" Ruby started, then stopped. The silence stretched long enough that Weiss' curiosity made her look back.
Yang pulled back to look at her sister. "... Yeah?"
"I remember the way Mom felt about Dad was… different than what I expected."
Yang's brow furrowed. "Whachu mean?"
Ruby shrugged again. "I 'unno. Like… like they were best friends, not, like… in love or whatever."
If Weiss didn't have her own experience reading microexpressions with her family, she wouldn't have noticed the subtle way Yang's expression smoothed over ever so slightly.
"Well of course they were best friends, doofus. That's, like, part of being married."
"Oh."
"'Sides, what would you know about what feeling in love is like." Yang tussled Ruby's hair as she said it, meaning it jokingly, but Ruby frowned a bit, considering.
"... I 'unno," she said again.
The conversation died there, nobody really knowing what to say.
It was almost a minute before Yang decided to blatantly state the obvious, as was her way.
"I don't know what to say, Ruby."
'I can't believe I lost a fight to this baboon,' Weiss sighed to herself. She was still feeling bitter about that, though… there were some distractions preventing her from dwelling on it right now.
"I… me neither," Ruby agreed.
"This idea that Mom is in your head is… crazy, Ruby."
Ruby started getting animated, her volume raising as she replied, "It's not that crazy! We both have a Rose Dimensiony power! Maybe she's still, like, in there or something and I'm connected to it, I dunno! Semblances can be weird. Look at Weiss! Her semblance is inherited. Who knows what could be going on with Mom!"
Weiss flinched reflexively when her name was almost-shouted. Her social anxiety itch got even worse when everyone turned to look at her after Ruby was done speaking.
'Are… they looking at me for an answer?'
"... Am I supposed to… say something?" she asked. "Because I have no idea, for the record."
She wasn't sure which made her madder: Yang's eyeroll or Ruby's disappointed pout. The eyeroll was infuriating because it felt so dismissive and derisive and Weiss wanted to help. And the pout… made her feel guilty as hell for not having an answer for Ruby even though that was ridiculous because there was no reason to expect her to have one. She had no idea what was going on. This wasn't something she'd ever learned about.
A part of her was pleased that Ruby was looking to her for answers even about something like this, though it was a quiet part, and a part that Weiss actively wanted to shut up. Now was not the time for her ego.
And now she felt disgusted with herself, on top of everything else.
"I don't want to go back to sleep," Ruby said quietly.
"Yeah," Yang said simply.
That prompted Weiss to take stock of herself and she found that she was remarkably awake for having been woken up in the middle of the night. Probably the adrenaline of being shouted awake and all the emotional turmoil that's followed since.
But she should be tired. And she would be tomorrow.
"Well…" Blake started, "we've only got Professor Ozpin's class tomorrow, and it's at two, so… we could all stay up with you for a bit? If you want?"
Ruby gave a tiny smile. "Yeah?" She looked at Yang, who nodded easily.
"Heck yeah, sleep is for the weak."
'But I like sleep,' Weiss thought. She didn't say it, though. That was a trap. So when Ruby looked to her, she nodded too.
Ruby looked at her feet. "Wanna watch Revengers?" she asked the room.
'Oh dear.'
"In the TV room?" Blake worried. "What if we disturb the other teams?"
"Meh," Yang waved the concern away. "It's almost four, they're all asleep."
"Is it really?" Weiss grumbled. She walked over to the nightstand where her scroll was charging and rolled it open.
Yes, yes it was almost 4 am.
An idea popped into Weiss' head, though she wasn't sure she would like it. "What if… instead of watching a movie that would probably keep us up for a while… um… what if we went downstairs and relaxed in the lounge? I could play the piano and, um… maybe that would help you sleep, Ruby?"
"I guess," was Ruby's reply, the corner of her mouth pulling down.
Alright, well that wasn't very energetic. "Movie, then," Weiss amended.
Ruby nodded.
When they got out to the common room, Weiss stutterstepped as Ruby broke away from Yang to go plop down in the lone chair that Weiss had sat in the last time they'd had a movie night. Yang stopped in surprise too, giving out a confused, "Heh?"
"'S it okay if I take your spot, Weiss?" Ruby asked, not even turning to address her.
"No!" Yang and Weiss both exclaimed together, then squinted at each other.
"You need snuggles," Yang declared after a moment.
But when she marched over to the chair to wrap an arm around Ruby, the smaller girl pushed her away.
"No, I don't! I j—"
"Yes, you do!" Yang insisted.
Ruby shoved her away again, hard this time.
"No! Can you please just give me some space?!"
The words made Yang freeze in place, a sequence of emotions slowly rolling across her face. First hurt, then anger, then confusion, then shame.
"... 'Kay. Sorry." She flopped down onto the couch where Blake sat next to her and patted her hand consolingly..
Ruby opened her mouth to say something, then paused, struggling for words. A moment passed, then she turned back to the tv and curled up into a ball to stare at the black screen, waiting.
Ruby was in her own head, Yang was sulking, and Blake was preoccupied with the sulker, so Weiss took the initiative to pick up the remote and… realized she didn't know how to get to the movie Ruby wanted. She didn't even know what movie Ruby wanted.
"Um… how do I… do the thing?"
Yang wordlessly, grumpily held her hand out for the remote and Weiss let her take over. She looked around for a place to sit and when Blake noticed and patted the couch on her other side from Yang, Weiss begrudgingly obliged. She wasn't totally comfortable sitting so close to people, but… fine. Any concerns that she'd had days ago that Blake might randomly decide to maul her were gone.
The movie started loud and action-packed, not really Weiss' thing, though she had to admit it was pretty entertaining and interesting. When the good guys ended up accidentally making an evil robot Weiss had to roll her eyes a bit, but the idea that the greatest threat to people were people was interesting. The movie didn't really explore it too in depth, opting instead for big action sequences and some silly plot to drop Atlas onto Remnant like the Atlesian army would ever let that happen, but still, interesting. She'd always considered Grimm to be Remnant's biggest threat because… well, duh, but when she thought about it, most of the big conflicts and loss of life that Remnant had suffered were people against people. Humans against faunus or kingdoms against kingdoms.
Hm.
It wasn't clear if Ruby was even really watching the movie (though to be fair, she'd probably memorized it). Last time they'd watched her movie she'd been reciting lines as they happened and jabbering to give Weiss and Blake context for what was going on and this time she was… just silent. Understandable, really, but still worrying.
As engaging as the movie was Weiss was starting to blink for longer and longer when they were getting close to the thirty minute mark. Just as her head was starting to nod into Blake's shoulder, though, Ruby abruptly stood and turned to face them.
"I changed my mind," she announced. "Weiss, is… would it be okay if we went downstairs and you played the piano?"
Weiss tilted herself back upright and forced her eyes open. "Hm? Me?" It took a moment for her brain to register what Ruby was asking. "Oh, right. Yes, of course." She agreed automatically, reflexively, though after a moment of contemplation she grew concerned that her exhaustion might… adversely effect her performance.
Ruby would probably still like the music anyway. Weiss could lose two fingers and miss all their notes and Ruby would still be her personal cheerleader. Although in her current mood…
"Yay, thanks," Ruby said quietly before waddling out towards the stairs to the lobby.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang all looked at each other for a moment, then followed after Yang turned off the television.
When they got downstairs, Ruby flopped unceremoniously onto the big couch, laying her head on the armrest and staring blankly at the piano. Weiss headed up to it while Blake and Yang stood around awkwardly, trying to figure out where they should sit.
"Hey, Bob?" Ruby called out.
A moment later the robot butler walked over from where he was idling behind the curved desk on the far side of the room. "Greetings… Miss Rose," he said haltingly, taking a moment to recognize Ruby's voice. "How can I help you?"
"Do you have any chocolate milk?" Ruby asked, her voice mumbling a bit.
"Yes. We have a carton of. chocolate milk. in inventory."
There was a brief pause, probably Ruby expecting the robot to pick up on what she wanted but it didn't because… well, it was a robot.
"... Can I have some?"
"You would like a glass of. chocolate milk?"
"Yus, please."
"Very well." The robot lumbered off to the storage room behind its desk.
There was another stretch of awkward silence. Was Weiss supposed to start playing or wait for the android to get back? Now that she was sitting at the piano she really wanted to play, but this was for Ruby… Maybe she'd want the chocolate milk first? Should Weiss wait for her to finish said chocolate milk before playing, or play while she drank it, or—
"You gonna play?" Blake asked from the short side of the L couch where she'd laid back.
That was all the prompting and direction Weiss needed.
"Right, yeah."
"... Shit, what do I play?"
The first thing that popped into her head, for whatever reason, was a piano arrangement of 'Halo' and she just went with it. If it didn't go over well then she could just switch to another song, right?
She started the song, the slow, melancholy chords making her feel sleepy (sleepier, rather), so hopefully it worked for putting Ruby to sleep too. She glanced over to the others.
Blake was enjoying the music, it seemed, nodding her head side to side with the beat with her eyes closed. That felt good. Yang was sitting on the solo seat, looking disgruntled as she watched her sister. Ruby was still lying on her stomach, one arm dangling over the side of the couch, blinking slowly in Weiss' direction, eyes unfocused.
Hard to tell if she was enjoying it, but she wasn't complaining nor screaming about mysterious memories and voices in her head, so… win?
A little ways into the song, Blake opened her eyes and exclaimed, "Wait, I know this song!"
"Yeah, dummy," Yang huffed out with a soft laugh. "It's 'Halo'."
"Riiiight."
Weiss wasn't sure how to feel about all that. Blake had been enjoying the music but hadn't even recognized it and Yang had recognized it but wasn't even paying attention. So was Weiss playing well or…?
"Remember those walls I built," Blake mumble-sang softly.
It made Weiss want to facepalm a bit because she was on the third verse now, not the first, but it was nice that someone was getting into the song.
"Well, baby, they're tumblin' down.
They didn't even put up a fight.
They didn't even make a sound."
Why had Weiss picked this song again? It was so sappy and completely unrelatable.
Blake didn't end up singing much further into the song because she had to yawn (understandable) and didn't pick back up afterwards, so Weiss switched songs. A classical piece, 'Fur Elise'. She glanced over to find Ruby still blankly staring into space.
Hm.
When she got to the B theme of the song she abandoned it.
'What would put Ruby to sleep?... A lullaby?'
That sparked an idea. A long time ago, back when her mother had been… herself, Weiss had loved a little lullaby her mom used to sing. She didn't know if it was an established song or if her mother had made it up, but that just made it better and dearer to Weiss.
Just needed to figure out a piano accompaniment for it. It was in E. She knew the step patterns and chords that would go with it.
She started her little improv. It was nerve-wracking with an audience, but if there was one area in her life where she had any amount of creativity, it was in music. She had no idea if it would sound "good" to others, but she was at least confident enough in her understanding of music theory that the composition would at least have musical integrity.
She played through several bars of the note pattern she'd come up with, just refining it down while singing the couple of verses in her head to make sure the vocals and piano matched up together. Once she figured out the notes, she was able to put her fingers more or less on autopilot. Now she just had to… sing.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she began in her soft, tenor voice.
"Hush your cries
Close your eyes
Stay with me…"
She snuck a peak at the others. They were all looking at her, and it was hard to tell without fully turning but it seemed like Ruby was actually seeing her now, not spaced out.
Weiss was so nervous. Which was dumb. She shouldn't be. She'd performed in front of way bigger crowds filled with complete strangers.
… She'd been nervous then, too. This was different, though. The judgement of those random people had only mattered because there were so many. They didn't matter themselves, Weiss was incredibly unlikely to see any of them again. But here… this was her team. She was going to live with them for… at least four years.
So if they didn't like her singing, that would… suck.
"Let's just dream
Quietly
Of what might be…
Calm your fear
I'll be near
To you I'll cling…
Rest my friend
Time can mend
Many things…"
Nostalgia crept its way into Weiss' heart. Memories of a simpler time, when Weiss had been younger and less worried because she'd been more ignorant of the world. She'd had a family then. Well, her father had always been unpleasant, but it was more subdued in her youth.
A semi-functional family, then.
Unfortunately, this was where the song ended. At least, where the lyrics did. Mother had only ever hummed the next part, something that sounded like a pre-chorus, never actually put any words to it. Another piece of evidence supporting the theory that Mother had written the song herself.
It was too short, though. Maybe Weiss could finish it.
Not now, though. She couldn't just come up with lyrics on the spot.
Instead she played out the melody on the piano, light chords taking the place of her voice to follow the tune she remembered. When she got to the last note, though, she held it, panicking.
This was all she knew. It felt like there should be a chorus here, something with a rise, but if Mother had ever sang or hummed it, Weiss had never heard.
So she'd have to make it up.
That was okay. She could make up music.
She continued playing the melody and just improvised it. It wasn't too hard. Just keep the key and rhythm and spirit of the song. For a couple minutes, she lost herself in the music, experimenting with a few different versions of the chorus to find one she liked. She'd have to put words to it eventually, of course, but for now this was fine.
When she remembered she had an audience, she looked over to find Ruby had finally fallen asleep and Blake's eyes were barely open. Yang was still grumping over her sister.
Weiss trailed off her song and it took Yang a good, long moment to realize the music had ended and look over at her.
"You done?"
"She is," Weiss answered, nodding toward Ruby.
"Yeah. That was pretty, whatever it was," Yang said as she stood up and stretched.
A swell of pride filled Weiss. She pinched her arm. "It's a lullaby my mom used to sing."
"Oh. Nice."
It was hard to tell what to make of that response, but it seemed like it was just distracted filler as Yang kneeled down to pick up Ruby. Weiss was a little annoyed that she'd shared something that she considered… really personal and important and Yang just brushed it off, but… but she reminded herself that Yang was busy big sistering.
She stood and walked down to their other heavy-lidded teammate.
"Blake?"
"Mmmmm."
"We're going to bed."
"Mm."
A long moment passed where Blake didn't move or react to this information in any way. She was practically asleep, probably in that weird twilight sleep state where she was technically hearing things around her but just incorporating them into whatever weird waking dream she was experiencing.
"Hey," Weiss said, giving Blake's shoulder a shake.
Blake bolted awake like there'd been a canon shot, grabbing onto Weiss' wrist as she pushed herself upright. The sudden movement spooked Weiss and made her jump.
"What! What?"
"Relax!" Weiss said. "It's just me. We're going to bed."
"Oh. Right." Blake slid her hand from Weiss' wrist to her hand and, after the moment of confusion it took Weiss to realize why she'd done that, Weiss pulled her to her feet.
They shuffled together after Yang.
"Ruby fall asleep?"
"Mhm."
Blake gave a dry chuckle. "I think I did too."
"Sure looked like it," Weiss responded wryly.
"Heh. Yeah… Your music was nice."
Another feeling of pride, another pinch. "Thanks."
"I can't wait to sleep in 'till noon."
That made Weiss smile a bit, though Blake wasn't looking so she gave a "Mm" to express her agreement. "Might skip my morning run," she said.
"Might?"
"Probably."
"Mm." Blake rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.
When she got to their door, Yang had to stop and wait for the other two. "Can one o' you get the door?"
"I didn't bring my—"
"I did," Weiss cut Blake off quietly, reaching over to swipe her scroll on the doors keypad.
"Weiss, can I put her in your bed again?" Yang asked as they walked in.
Grr. That was annoying, but Yang couldn't get Ruby in the top bunk without tossing her. As amusing as that sounded, it would definitely wake the girl up.
"Fine," Weiss sighed.
This sucked. Last time it had been for a nap during the day. This time Weiss needed to sleep too, which meant…
"Guess I'll sleep in her bed."
She'd never slept in a top bunk before. It seemed terrifying and unnerving.
Ruby was lucky Weiss was so nice.
Instinctively, she moved to go wash her face as she always did before bed before remembering she already had. This was the second time she was going to sleep tonight.
This huntress life was hectic.
Even just climbing up the ladder made a shiver run down Weiss' spine. It was creaky and shifty under her weight and she was fairly certain it was starting to pull away from the bedframe when she finally climbed over.
She felt like she was going to fall. Or rather, that the bed itself was going to fall. Normally she enjoyed sinking into a mattress but in this case it felt like she'd keep sinking.
And the ceiling was way too close to her face. It was so claustrophobic. Her mind flashed back to climbing through the cave with Blake.
The bed smelled nice—like roses, like Ruby—but that was the extent of its comforting factors. The falling, the claustrophobia, the unfamiliarity… Weiss liked having her things and this bed wasn't hers.
She tried to power through it but after only a couple minutes the discomfort grew unbearable.
She climbed down.
Should she ask Blake to trade beds for the night? Would she accept that?
A quick check told her Blake was already asleep anyway, and waking her up for this would be incredibly rude.
No.
Ruby was fast asleep, laying on her side facing the room. Yang had tucked her in on the far side of the bed, so… so there was enough space for Weiss.
'Oh gods.'
M-maybe the top bunk wasn't so bad? Give it a second shot?
When she stepped up onto the first rung of the ladder and felt it creak and shift under her, she immediately stepped back down.
No, that wasn't happening.
She sighed. Carefully, she laid down on her side in her bed next to Ruby, being extra careful not to touch or disturb her partner. There wasn't a whole lot of space for her. Her arms and legs had to be squeezed close. She liked to sleep facing the wall, which in this case meant facing Ruby, which was… well not terrible.
Despite—or almost in spite—of today's events and the terrible day Ruby had had, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully now. Her hands were balled up in front of her nose, her shoulder rising and falling with the rhythm of her breathing.
The scent of roses was there too. Faint, because her aura was off so it was really only her shampoo, but still there.
When had Weiss become such a fan of roses?
She turned off her 7 am alarm. There was no way she was getting up that early. She'd skip her morning—or rather, afternoon, most likely—run.. Unless Ruby decided she wanted to do it.
Grumping a bit at the preposterousness of all of this, Weiss settled in and waited for sleep to take her again.
The first thing her waking mind noticed as she pulled out of a fading dream was that her right hand was abnormally warm. And her calves. And the tips of her fingers were getting rhythmic bursts of cold. It felt like air.
Breathing?
Weiss slowly forced her eyes open, blinking past her sleepy winks.
Somehow, during the night, Ruby had gotten hold of Weiss' right hand and wrapped it in both of hers. The cold air was exhales from Ruby's nose that was only a couple inches from Weiss' fingertips. The pressure on her calves was Ruby's; their legs had tangled together. Although that was probably Weiss' fault, not Ruby's, from the way they were positioned compared to when she'd fallen asleep.
"Hey!" Weiss croaked in protest when she realized her situation. She tried to pull her hand back but the movement made Ruby stir a bit before tugging back on Weiss' hand with a grumpy 'hmph!'.
If that was enough to disturb her, there was no way Ruby wouldn't wake up if Weiss tried to unknot their legs.
It would be rude to wake up Ruby after the night she'd had, right?
Conceding the temporary imprisonment of her hand, Weiss reached behind her with her free one to grab her scroll and check the time.
Just a little past 11. They still had over two hours before they needed to leave for class. They should still get ready early, but… without going on her morning run there was no way Weiss would need to start getting ready now.
So there was no excuse for waking up Ruby. Not a utilitarian one, at least.
With a sigh, Weiss let herself relax back into her pillow. This felt weird to her, and not just because of the… intimate, for lack of a better word, contact with another person. Weiss didn't often spend a whole lot of time just laying in bed. She usually got up as soon as she woke and fell asleep quickly. It was how she was raised. So this was… different.
Not unpleasant, though. She was a loud dolt, but Ruby was also soft and warm. Rationally, Weiss knew most people probably were, but for some reason she wanted to those attributes to be special to Ruby.
From the way she was laying, she was sort of just stuck either closing her eyes or looking at Ruby, but that also wasn't too bad. Ruby was quite easy to look at. And right now she was quiet, which was a plus.
Weiss could get used to sleeping Ruby, actually.
After about fifteen minutes of just absently looking over her partner's facial features, Weiss felt Ruby stir.
"Hey," Weiss prompted her, extending the index finger of her captive hand to give Ruby a poke on the cheek.
"Mmmm hmmmmm?" Ruby intoned, nuzzling into Weiss' finger rather than pulling away like Weiss had expected.
"You gotta wake up, doofus. You stole my hand."
"Mmmmm," Ruby agreed, then proceeded to… not move. Weiss got the impression she was falling back asleep.
"Hoi!" Weiss gave Ruby's cheek another poke.
...
No response.
Weiss let out a deep exhale. "Just remember, you made me do this," she told her not-listening partner.
Focusing inward at that little seed of magic at the base of her brain, Weiss let her aura extend out. It enveloped her head, settling on her skin like a film, then she directed it to spread down her neck, shoulder, then all the way down to her hand.
A few moments after it reached her fingertips, Ruby reacted with a sudden, violent jerk away.
"Waaaah!" she whined groggily, rubbing at her nose. "Cooooold!"
Weiss couldn't help it. She laughed.
"Why… what?" Ruby grumped, rubbing some more at her nose, then sleepily at her eyes. "W-Weiss?" She seemed to just be registering that Weiss was laying in bed with her.
"Good morning," Weiss grinned.
"Did… didjoo shove a ice cube up m'nose?"
Biting back another laugh, Weiss lifted her hand up a bit and wiggled her fingers. "My aura," she explained. "You were holding my hand hostage."
"So you torture me?!" Ruby whined, scrunching up her nose in her signature adorable pout.
"Heehee! It's not that bad, stop being a drama queen."
Ruby tried glaring at her, but her eyelids were still heavy from waking up so it just looked like she was squeezing her eyes closed. "Weiss, yer Aura'sss so coooold. Like yer heart!"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby."
"Nuh-uh!" Ruby reached up to grab Weiss' hand again, then flinched back. "Turn it off!"
She had half a mind not to, to keep milking sleepy, grumpy Ruby for more of her adorable silliness, but Weiss acquiesced, making her aura flicker out instead of fade away so Ruby could see the flash of blue. As soon as she did, Ruby caged her hand in both of her own again and cuddled back into it.
"Baby," Weiss repeated pointedly.
"Nu!"
Weiss let out a breathy laugh and settled back down. Ruby shifted her legs a bit, the movement rubbing against Weiss', and it was… not horrible? Soft and smooth and… nice. It felt nice. Which was weird. Weiss would have expected to hate that feeling. To hate… all of this. But all she felt was… closer to Ruby. And that was… nice, for some reason.
She extended her captive finger again, except instead of poking Ruby's cheek this time she gave it a light rub. "You sleep okay?" she asked. This situation might be foreign and distractingly, worryingly comfortable, but she still remembered what happened last night.
Ruby frowned a little. "... Yeah. No freaky dreams. Think I… think I screamed 'em all out… Sorry about that."
"'S'okay."
A long silence passed before Ruby said, "I think your music was really nice."
"You think?" Weiss said archily, though it was playful. She was pretty sure she knew what Ruby meant.
"I mean I know!" Ruby backpedaled quickly, making Weiss giggle. "I just meant, like, I was sleepy and distracted so I don't… really remember."
"I know, silly."
"Sorry."
"Don't be. I was teasing."
Ruby grumped. "Well stop it, you spooked me."
Weiss grinned and gave Ruby's hand a waggle. "Well, I'm glad you got some rest," she said. "And we've still got a couple hours before we gotta head to class."
"Hnnnngh," Ruby groaned, burying her head under her pillow. "Claaaaaaaaass."
"No skipping class," Weiss chastised. Last night had been rough, but Ruby seemed okay now and there was no reason for them to miss a class now. Especially Professor Ozpin's.
"I knoooow," Ruby sighed. "Do… do you think I should tell Ozpin about… you know…?"
Weiss pursed her lips. "I think… it would not be smart to tell the headmaster that gave you a scholarship and made you a team leader that you are hearing voices and seeing crazy memories that you think are your—" she almost said 'dead' but stopped herself "—your mom's."
Ruby pulled her pillow even more over her face. "... Am I crazy?" she asked in a whisper.
Immediate regret. Weiss started mentally kicking herself as hard as she could.
"No!" she said quickly. "No, you're not crazy at all." She hadn't even really considered the situation and passed any sort of judgement but was suddenly convinced of what she was saying. "I think there's something to your connected semblance idea. Your… this all seems way to specific and… new to just be a crazy person thing or whatever."
Ruby lift the pillow up a bit to look at Weiss with her big, shining eyes. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Weiss said. Decided, really. She refused to believe that the answer could be that Ruby was… what, schizophrenic? She wasn't even sure what the diagnosis would be. "That stuff about your dad's semblance? And you and Yang as little kids? Way too specific to be some sorta… episode. And this witch lady? Salem? Way to random to just be made up."
Ruby's eyes unfocused a bit at the mention of these memories. "... Yeah," she agreed.
"I'm just worried that, you know… adults in positions of authority wouldn't see it that way. They might, I don't know, make you take an eval or something and take you off the team for a bit and… I don't want that."
Ruby gave her a half-hearted smile. "Thanks."
"Yeah, well don't let it get to your head," Weiss said, reflexively trying to backtrack from her confession. "It's just 'cause we'd be at a disadvantage against the other teams if we were missing a person."
Ruby raised a dubious eyebrow.
"Shut up," Weiss ordered her.
With a smile, Ruby moved on. "Why are you here, by the way?" she asked in a tone that sounded suspiciously like feigned innocence.
"In my bed?" Weiss challenged her.
"Yeah, but like, I'm guessing Yang carried me up here and couldn't put me in my bed, so why didn't you use it? Did you wanna cuuuuuddle?" She grinned as she sing-songed the last word.
"Gods, no," Weiss huffed. "I… I tried your bed. I… I really do not like top bunks."
Ruby's smile wiped away. "Oh. Sorry."
"And when I came down here I was very careful about maintaining my space. You apparently wrapped yourself around me while you slept like some sort of deranged octopus."
That got one of Ruby's pouts. "Yeah, well… I'm comfy and don't wanna move, so as Yang would say, you can suck it."
Weiss bristled. "You suck it."
They glared at each other for a long moment.
"I'm not an octopus," Ruby muttered.
"You seem to be clingy enough to be," Weiss said, pointedly shaking Ruby's hand that was wrapped around hers.
"I'm not clinging, I'm cuddliiiing!"
"An octopus wouldn't be able to tell the difference."
"Your face is an octopus!"
Weiss chuckled at that. "It's alright, dolt. I'm not mad."
"Oh… Good." Ruby moved her head out from under the pillow and layed it back down. "Were you gonna go running today or…?"
"Or just be a lazy bum in bed for two hours?" Weiss finished for her.
"I wouldn't have put it quite like that…"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "If we must stay here… then fine. I will sacrifice my fitness and level of general annoyance for you this one time."
"Yay!" Ruby scooched a little closer and locked her legs around Weiss' a little tighter while nuzzling her nose into Weiss' hand again.
The truth was… Weiss didn't really mind this. It was… 'comfy'. Soft and warm and… the sense of… the feeling of connection she was sharing with Ruby right now was…
Good. It felt good.
"You know, I was thinking the other day…" Ruby started.
"You were?" Weiss joked.
"Yeah," Ruby continued, completely missing it. "Are peanuts a pea? Or a nut? Or both? 'Cause they're kinda like green beans, but kinda like walnuts, and I feel like that's really weird. Isn't that weird?"
The completely random, very 'Ruby' conversation swing made Weiss smile and she decided to play into it. "You judging a food for being more than one kind of food?"
"I dunno. Maybe? Are there other things like that? Like… there's, like, cookie dough ice cream. It's a cream, but also a dough…"
Weiss was tempted to interject and correct the dolt, but decided against it. Much more entertaining to let her just keep rambling.
"... And there's edamame! That's soy beans, right? So they're, like, beans but also soy, which is… wait, what even is soy? Is it a…"
Weiss wiggled in a little deeper into her pillow and prepared herself for the oncoming two hours of nonsense.
I'm sorry for the really late update, everyone. Life has been a mess. Thank you to those fans that messaged saying you were waiting for the next chapter. :) That felt really nice and pushed me to make this a priority again.
Thank you! I hope you liked the drama and sappiness in this chapter