I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to Rooster Teeth.

Chapter 8

Waking up, Weiss was surprised that the first thing she felt was something fluffy against her cheeks. As she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself cuddling close to Ruby, whose ears had come out. Blushing from how close the two of them were, she felt an unmistakable urge to pet her between the ears and scratch them. So… she slowly moved her right hand over and playfully began to scratch them.

As she heard a soft giggle come out of Ruby's mouth, followed by her pulling her even closer, she began to pet Ruby between the ears, eliciting a soft sigh from the werewolf, followed by her resting her head against Weiss's shoulder. As she petted her further, Weiss heard a murmur from Ruby.

"Mmmm… not now Yang…. Wanna sleep some… more…"

Hearing Ruby so affectionately bring up her sister made Weiss feel… rather melancholic. She never really got to spend with her own sister, Winter. And seeing as how she had practically disappeared from her life a few months after their father went insane, she didn't have much hope of finding her again.

As Ruby snuggled her head closer to Weiss however, she quickly found herself taken out of her thoughts as Ruby's ears began to brush against her cheeks. Blushing madly, she found herself unable to say a word before she patted Ruby's back, getting her to wake up suddenly and hit Weiss in the chin.

"Oof!"

"Owww… Yang could you warn me next time I- Oh! Oops! Sorry Weiss! I-I-" Ruby began before Weiss held out her hand and rubbed her chin.

"It's okay. I was the one who woke you up anyway… you mentioned Yang just now. Were you… dreaming about her?"

"Yeah… I just… I miss her." Ruby said, her ears dropping as she looked down onto the bed covers. "All this mess with my memories, me not knowing where I am, my feral side just going all haywire and that… monster who tried to make me kill you... I just.. I wish she was here right now."

Noticing a couple of tears fall onto the bed covers, Weiss pulled Ruby by the shoulders into a hug and whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry Ruby. If I can do anything to help… just let me know."

"Then please stay with me Weiss… you've the only good thing that's happened to me ever since I lost Yang. I don't want to lose you too." Ruby replied through sobs, her tears falling onto Weiss's shoulder cutting deep into her heart.

"You won't. I'm not planning on leaving any time soon." Weiss said, patting Ruby's back.

As Ruby let out a sigh and pulled away, Weiss wiped away her tears before gently holding her hands in reassurance. As they stayed there for a few minutes, Weiss eventually decided that it was time they got up and actually figured out what was going on with Coco.

"That friend of mine I was talking about, the person I called on the phone? She came home yesterday."

"Wait… was she the woman who attacked you? Did I…" Ruby asked, her expression turning into shock before Weiss cut her off and spoke.

"No! No! I don't know who that witch was. I mean that while you were knocked out, my friend came and helped me get you back to normal. Her name is Coco and she's actually the one that got you all fixed up."

"Ohhhhhh."

"Mhm… she told me she was going to explain everything to me in the morning and since we're both awake, maybe we should go out and talk to her?" Weiss said, offering Ruby her hand.

"I… mean, if she helped me out, then I think I can trust her." Ruby replied, accepting her hand.

Leading the way across, Weiss headed out of the bedroom and into the living room, curious as to what Coco had to say.

Ruby was feeling… rather strange all over. That fog that used to clog her memories, stopping her being able to properly remember them was gone. But… given what those memories seemed to be; she wasn't quite sure if she was ready to relive them. Especially not if it meant being stuck in her head again.

As Weiss squeezed her hand, taking her out of the moment and reassuring her that she was still there in the normal world, she took a deep breath and walked out into the living room… which was quite predictably… a complete mess given how she ended up… thrashing the place just the night before.

The couches were overturned, the pots had been smashed, the table had a crack in the glass and all in all the room needed some rearrangement. Looking to Weiss, she found that her friend was instead gazing intently at the sleeping woman on one of the couches that had somehow managed to avoid being knocked over by her rampage.

"Is that?" Ruby asked, pointing over to the woman.

"Yup. That's Coco."

"Whoa… I didn't imagine her looking like this at all! For being all magical and all." Ruby said, surprised that the extremely well fashioned woman was in fact Coco!

"At this rate, I'm willing to believe almost anything is real." Weiss said, sighing as she let go of Ruby's hand, which unnerved her at first before she calmed down.

"Coco?" Weiss said, tapping on the sleeping girl's shoulder. "Wake up."

"Zzzz… gimme a few minutes… I'll be up." Coco replied, sleepily making Weiss sigh.

"Well… I suppose we may as well try to make breakfast." Weiss said, walking back towards Ruby and gesturing her towards the kitchen.

"Alright." Ruby said, moving her hand over towards Weiss. Gently holding Weiss's hand, Ruby immediately felt a lot better knowing Weiss was by her side. Letting out a sigh as Weiss gently squeezed her hand, the two of them walked towards the kitchen to make whatever they could find for breakfast.

As Weiss moved further into the kitchen, Ruby opened up the fridge to see if there was anything there. Unfortunately for her, she didn't end up finding much besides some fruits, milk and peanut butter. Pouting at the lack of suitable things for her to eat, Ruby merely shut the refrigerator and opened up the freezer where she ended up finding a huge box of cookies and cream ice cream.

Eyes widening as she had finally found something to eat, she pulled it out, mouth watering at the possibility of eating ice cream again. Right up until, Weiss ended up catching her in the act, making Ruby flush in embarrassment.

"Uhhh… Weiss. I can explain." Ruby said, holding up her hands as the spoon she picked up fell to the floor.

"... I don't think ice cream is a very good breakfast." Weiss said, holding a coffee maker and looking at Ruby with the most confused stare she had ever seen. And was that bit of red on her cheeks? "And even then, I… uhh... I've got you some cookies. It should be by the door."

"Wait. That's what was in the bag you brought? Before the whole mess?" Ruby asked, almost jumping in joy as Weiss mentioned cookies.

"Yes. I think I placed it on a table." Weiss said, her face going red again.

"THANKYOUSOMUCHWEISSICOULDKISSYOURIGHTNOW!" Ruby let out, as she nearly bounded to the living room in excitement over hearing about cookies being on the table.

"Uhhm… Uhhh… I'm just gonna… make some coffee for the two of us."

To say Weiss was completely flustered was an understatement. A better description was that she was completely unable to make a single thought as she took in what Ruby said. Surely, she didn't actually mean that right? She must have meant that in the moment. It wasn't like she actually wanted to kiss Weiss, right?

Even then, how would it feel? How could it even happen? Was it something she-

'Slow down Weiss! This is already much too fast for both of you. Just focus on making coffee.' Her mind spoke, somewhat more neutral than the last time she heard her inner voice.

Taking a few heavy breaths, Weiss eventually put down the coffee maker and took out three cups. One for her, one for Ruby and one for Coco. Her order was rather simple. Black coffee, no sugar. Ruby's was a little more… unique, but nothing she couldn't already handle, sugar with milk. Lots of sugar. As for Coco, she was a little unsure about her tastes. After all, it had been a couple of years and she hadn't particularly decided to take an interest in Coco's eating preference due to her simply not understanding just how freeing friendship could be.

But that was something she was going to have to make up for. But for now, she was going to try to make something anyone might like. A basic latte, with the option of putting in sugar.

As she got to making the coffee, Weiss felt… strangely content. Here she was… making something as simple as coffee for two of her friends. Something that… her father simply wouldn't have understood. Why bother with friends? Why make something yourself?

And yet… as she smelled the aroma, she felt so much happier and content with her life. Having two people around with whom she could feel safe and comfortable with. Sure… there were still a lot of questions in her life. And what she was going to do with her life. But despite all that, it was nice to have a place where she could just… slow down and relax. A place where she could feel like her life actually had something to look forward to.

And that was something she could treasure.

Hearing something bound its way into the living room, Coco woke with a jolt. Shaking her head as she saw a blur of red finding it's way onto a bag, she was surprised to find it was the were from last night. The one she saved with Weiss's help. The one she called Ruby.

"Uhm… hey Ruby? Is that you?" She asked, rubbing her eyes as she stared down the were who looked at her with a sheepish grin.

"Uhh, hi! Uhm… Coco right?"

"Yeah. That's me. How are you doing? Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah! Much better actually, thank you so much for that. Seriously, I don't even know if I would've been here if it wasn't for you." Ruby replied, nearly bounding up to her and excitedly shaking her hand in gratitude.

"Anytime. Anyone who can make a friend of Weiss, is special indeed." Coco replied, smirking slightly as she shook Ruby's hand.

"Aw come onnn, she's not that bad. Just a lil… closed off?" Ruby replied with a pout.

"Whatever the case be, I think it's great that she's found another person she can trust. And judging from what little I've heard from her, she's certainly changed a lot from when I last heard of her and probably for the better, thanks to you." Coco replied, thinking of Weiss's surprising openness in calling her up on her own accord.

"That's... really nice of you. Thanks Coco." Ruby replied, blushing up slightly. "But I do think Weiss also deserves some credit for changing herself."

"Hey, I'm only reporting what I'm seeing, and to me it seems like much of that change came from you coming into her life. It's… nice to see Weiss like this." Coco said, patting Ruby's shoulder to which she tensed up.

"Mhm!"

"Oh… uh… sorry. I'll try not to do that." Coco apologized, quickly moving her hand away.

"It's… alright. Just… some bad memories that came back… I'll get over it eventually." Ruby replied, looking onto the floor in shame.

"Don't forget, you aren't alone in this, Ruby. Me and Weiss will always be ready to help."

"Thanks Coco." Ruby said, with a sigh, before her stomach began to grumble. "Oh! Right, it's time for breakfast. Weiss brought cookies over before everything went wrong soo… I'm planning on snacking on some of those for my breakfast. Would you like some?"

"Well, I suppose it's better than nothing." Coco shrugged, as she sat down on the couch and watched Ruby pull out two big containers of cookies.

"Woah. Are you sure Weiss didn't end up buying up the whole stock?" She joked.

"Hardly. Although, if I brought up my savings… I could've." Said a voice from behind them, which she recognized as Weiss's.

"Speak of the Ice Queen and she shall appear. Good morning Weiss."

"Good morning Coco. I decided to take the liberty of making some coffee for all of us as we eat. I hope you can forgive me for the lack of proper food. I… uh-."

"Relax Weiss. All I needed anyway was the coffee. And any coffee will do as long as it isn't spiked with sugar."

"Awww, but that's the way I like it." Ruby protested, as she already began scarfing down on the cookies, rather excitedly.

"I know. That's why I've got three cups of different kinds of coffee. One for each of us." Weiss said, laying down the coffee on the table next to the cookies.

"Which one's mine?" Ruby asked, to which Weiss generously responded by handing her a cup, quite generously lathered in cream. "Thanks Weiss!"

"Don't mention it." Weiss said, quickly picking up her cup to try to avoid a blush that Coco had long since seen.

"I suppose the last one left is for me?"

"Mhm, it's not got any sugar yet but if you want it, I'll get some for you."

"Eh, I never really liked too much sugar in my coffee anyway."

"Suit yourself." Weiss said, as she took one of the cookies also and slowly ate it with her coffee.

An awkward pause began to loom over the room as everyone just seemed to drink in coffee and have their breakfast, unable to figure out what to say until.

"Coco? Uhm… How did you learn so much about weres? And what even is the purpose of this Dust?"

"Ah right. Well uhh… long story short, it's a weird type of crystal that can in some way harness elemental energy. And many of them have some very unique effects on weres. Like possession, control, transformation and some other nasty stuff. It's still all very new and still all being tested, mostly in secret." Coco explained.

"As for the weres, I'm actually part of a NGO which is well specializing in helping out weres of all kinds. It's called the Were Upliftment Initiative."

"I think I've heard of it, there was a recent deal made by it and Beacon Academy to assist any and all weres it found in Vale." Weiss replied, a little intrigued.

"Woah, there are actually organizations now trying to help us?"

"This was our first major PR move. After this, we're planning on extending our partnerships with all the major Academies across Remnant. Hopefully in some time, we can expand to being able to make things better for weres everywhere. For now, however, we've been lacking funding which is why I've been a little busy working on something new to generate a bit more support for the weres."

"That's… very noble of you Coco. Far better than what I've been doing anyway." Weiss said, looking down into her cup in shame.

"Hey, at least you're changing for the better Weiss."

"I'll look a little more into it and see what I can do to support your cause. It's the least I can do after all the help you've given Ruby."

"Speaking of which, uhm… I'm considering staying over for a little while in between. Just to check on Ruby because I heavily doubt a single cleansing spell has undone everything that happened." Coco replied, a little concerned seeing Ruby flinch to simple touch.

"Are you okay with that Ruby?" Weiss asked, suddenly the air in the room becoming a lot more tense than before.

"Uhm… yeah. Coco's pretty nice to be around. Plus… if you can trust her, I think I can too." Ruby replied, a little nervous.

"If there's anything I do that makes you feel uncomfortable Ruby, let me know." Coco said, as her scroll began to ring.

"Uh oh, sounds like work's calling."

"Something serious?"

"Kinda. Need to finalize designs for a new were brand of clothing."

"Woah. A brand just for weres?" Ruby asked, a little incredulous of the prospect.

"Yeah, a set of clothes designed for weres to be worn with maximum comfort in mind. Stuff like extra space for tails or holes if you want to let them out, comforters for ears, fabric that doesn't shave off fur. It's something me and Velvet came up with, back when we were still in Atlas Academy. So, I gotta go. I'll be back soon though and hopefully with Velvet."

"Alright. Again, thank you so much for your help Coco. I really can't thank you enough." Weiss said, with a warm look on her face. "If you need anything from me, just ask.
"Yeah… there's not that many people who would help out weres like you would." Ruby said, passing a warm glance to Weiss. "Good luck with the project!"

"There's still a lot left to figure out but… it's nice to hear support from someone other than me and Velvs." Coco admitted as she packed up her bags. "I'm looking forward to coming back soon. Stay safe."

"You too Coco." Weiss said, her once icy demeanor now replaced with one that imbued warmth and happiness.

A change which she was more than happy to see.