Tags: we're going to pretend they had a little bit of time between 7 and 8, WhiteRose 69 Minutes, prompt: breakdown, they're soft and Ruby cries a lot, a continuation to my only other in-universe fic, Angst with a Happy Ending, post v7, pre v8
I don't know why you hide from the one
And close your eyes to the one
Mess up and lie to the one that you love
When you know you can cry to the one
Always confide in the one
You can be kind to the one that you love
Be Kind by Marshmellow and Halsey
Hours felt like days and days like months. Salem's words echo in Ruby's head in the times where silence reigns and she has no one to rescue. She keeps her distance from her team, most of all from Weiss, and it hurts. It hurt to see Weiss in the home that held her prisoner, and in the face of her father she stands strong, but for Ruby, her ghosts are bigger.
"Your mother said those words to me." It's a pulse of pain that races in her chest across her ribs and into her throat. "She was wrong too." Ruby gasps awake, sorrow etched in her heart and across her face. Across the small room they're hiding in she sees soft blue reflecting the lights from the street. Of course, she'd wake up from a nightmare while Weiss had watch.
"Ruby-" The former heiress stalls, her voice soft but it waivers. Ruby thinks about a few days ago when she found her partner wrapped in their teammates, face stained with tears about Ruby. Could she really add more to that burden? Weiss was finally growing past her family. She put her father in jail, she did it. It would be too much for Ruby to break down to her.
"It's nothing Weiss." She'd be surprised if Weiss believed her. Her tone is paper-thin, soaked in the tears she wishes to cry and shredding. "I can take watch."
Blue eyes shy away, and Ruby watches as Weiss pulls a little further into herself. It's almost a mirror of the days before their talk, and it's almost too much for Ruby to handle. "We talked about this," Weiss whispers it like a warning, a hint of the Weiss that was too haughty and proud to be Ruby's teammate.
The Weiss that sat before her now was nothing like the one that Ruby met on that first day at Beacon. The version of Weiss that cried into Ruby's arms and shared that soft kiss, that Weiss was the one speaking to Ruby now, begging her to open up.
That isn't a good idea. The worst idea really. Ruby is their leader! She needs to keep control of herself and keep them together. Salem is here, now. She would have time to think about her dead mom later.
Another arch of real physical pain jolts up her spine, digging into her lungs and her heart, and Ruby tries to suppress her gasp. Weiss is at her side in moments, holding her partner close with worried eyes. "Ruby, please-"
"You don't understand, do you?" It's bitter and ascitic, unfamiliar in her mouth so often filled with sweets. Hearing her own voice so bitter and angry makes Ruby stand and storm out of the near-empty shack. "Just leave me alone, Weiss."
She's gone, out the door and down the hill before Weiss can follow, field by her semblance. The distance isn't much, but the further from Weiss she gets the more the ache in her chest grows. What did Weiss have to do with her grief over her mother's death? With Salem? Weiss was just her partner.
Well, maybe not just. Weiss was the backbone of the team in a way. She had become the voice of reason in the last few years, and more often than not the one to hold everyone's hands when their emotions became too much. She did so with Blake, Yang, even Jaune, and Nora on occasion, but not Ruby. "Not for lack of trying…" Ruby mumbles. As the leader, it was her job to point out the weak points in their team, and if she was being honest that was her right now.
"Ruby Rose, how dare you run away from me while we're talking." The white of Weiss' dress flutters in the wind. She's probably cold without her jacket or gloves, but Ruby can't take her eyes off her flushed cheeks and gleaming blue eyes.
"We weren't talking." Her heart aches as her thoughts take control of her mouth. "You were talking. I was done."
"You're acting like a child." Weiss crosses her arms, filling her form with defiance.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you! You're always quick to remind me I'm a child!" Panic clenches tight around Ruby's chest. Her ribs are too big, or too small. Her lungs don't know how to work at a normal speed, pulling in and puffing air quickly despite the cold that prickles her throat and dries out her tongue.
"This is hardly the same." There's a pain in Weiss's eyes as she drops her arms to her sides. "I'm trying to help." It's warm and soft, a whisper that should soothe the ache tightening in Ruby's chest.
"You just don't get it, Weiss." Tears prick at her eyes, red and angry. "I'm the leader. Not you. Remember?" She steps forward with a growl, "You don't get to tell me what to do!" Weiss' eyes widen and Ruby tries to ignore the bain welling higher and higher in her chest. "I don't get the luxury of talking about my feelings! I have to hold us together. I have to make sure we're all okay. Don't you get it?" Weiss opens her mouth to speak but it snaps close as Ruby continues. "And that's not even touching on the whole silver eyes thing." She gestures angrily at the world around them, "I'm-I'm supposed to follow my mom's footsteps as leader, as a silver-eyed warrior, and she-she died Weiss."
She hasn't realized Weiss growing closer, but she's just a few feet away when Ruby feels the first few tears trickle from her eyes. "And there's Salem. She's here, and she knew my mom. She-she-"
Weiss' arms are warm, filled with a comfort that makes Ruby fall to her knees with a choked sob. "Salem killed my mom, Weiss. She's the reason I can't hug her anymore, can't taste her cooking any more. I can't even see her anymore." She's not sure if Weiss even understands the words behind her choked sobs, but her partner holds her close, rubbing soft soothing circles against her back.
"I know it's hard, we never signed up for this, but it's our job now." She feels a little bitter about the statement her silver-haired partner whispers into her neck but mostly agrees. "We're all trying to do our best, but it's hard, so we need to rely on each other a little more." Ruby feels her cheeks heat up as she hiccups into Weiss' shoulder. "I told you I was going to be the best teammate ever. I meant it then, and I mean it now, Ruby Rose."
Cool pale hands cup her cheeks, eyes still leaking tears in a steady measure. "Sorry I said those things." It's a sputter, spoken around a still present knot in her throat, and through tears.
"You can make it up to me with another kiss when we get you cleaned up." Ruby giggles. It's her first real laugh since the incident with Salem, and she feels a little lighter for it. Weiss is blushing as she pulls a handkerchief out of nowhere, dabbing lightly at Ruby's wet cheeks before handing over the moist towel for Ruby to blow her nose.
A kiss? After yelling at her, and saying all those mean things, Weiss still wanted to kiss her? "What's that face?"
"I guess it's just hard to believe you forgave me so quickly." Her partner offers a soft smile, cupping her cheek again with a warm look.
"Ruby Rose, those were hardly the meanest things someone has said to me, besides, I love you. It will take a lot more for you to get rid of me."
What? What? What? "What?"
Weiss flushes a deep pink, holding her hands close to her chest a little panicked. "I love you, Ruby."
There's still pain. It tugs and pulls, aches and scathes. Her mother's death at the hands of a woman scorned so deeply she would destroy all life to end it all. It's deep and heavy, and she'll probably cry a few more times about it, but for now-for now, she can pull her partner into another heartwarming kiss and bask in the feeling of being loved, and loving in return.
"I love you too, Weiss."