HNNNG! Short chapter! Aaah, let me know what you think, anyway. . .
[Yang]
Yang had her fair share of young romances, most of them would be described as 'puppy love', though, but none of her past relationships lasted even three months. It was either because her partner wanted to get serious and she did not, a disagreement about their plans for the future, and her most recent one because she'd left for Beacon and her partner was unable to attend.
"So, Yang, are you going to have a lil' school girlfriend or boyfriend at Beacon?" Ruby had asked her as they packed to leave in the morning.
"Not planning on it," she'd replied, "I want to focus on my career, first. Besides, I won't have time for romance."
Yang's lilac eyes trailed towards her girlfriend seated in the hotel room sofa, her nose buried into a book she'd rented from the local library. Oh how wrong she'd been. . . A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as her mind returned to the time she'd asked the other woman out; she'd practically been forced to by their other two teammates, but it worked out for the best.
Her heart ached inside of her chest, causing her eyes to sting with unshed tears. "You helped me with Weiss, I'm just repaying the favor. Now, go ask her out, leader's orders!" She'd been a stuttering, blushing mess when she'd finally asked Blake out on a date. She'd never been so nervous in those situations before! Ruby had rubbed off on her. Her little sister had grown up during their time at Beacon, having been put in charge of a team and sent out onto dangerous missions, having faced the shit life outside of regular combat schools throw at you. . .
Yang grit her teeth, anger bubbling up into her chest as a certain memory came to the front of her mind.
"You'll protect her, right?" Yang whispered, approaching Weiss' side as she finished loading Myrtenaster with dust. The white-haired woman glanced over her shoulder, "I know she's fine on her own, but I can't help but to worry about her, you know?" Weiss hummed her agreement, clipping her weapon to her side as she turned to face her. "She's a Silver-Eyed Warrior, she practically has a target painted across her back."
"She'll be alright," the smaller woman replied, "this is Ruby we're talking about. Besides, it's not like she'll be alone."
"I know," Yang shrugged, "something just tells me. . . Well, never mind. Just, promise me you'll protect her, that you and her both will return alive."
Weiss stared at her for a moment, "I promise."
She should have listened to her gut and convinced them to hold off on the mission, or to even abandon it entirely. Then again, that wouldn't have worked because Ruby would have reminded her that people's lives were at stake, reminded her of their jobs as huntresses and would have gone anyway. She'd put her upmost trust in Weiss when she'd asked her to protect Ruby, and logically she knew it wasn't Weiss' fault that Ruby was dead, but her heart told her otherwise.
Part of her wanted every memory of her little sister to be stripped away from the heiress, and that anger had briefly been shown when she was informed of what had happened to Weiss. The other side knew her teammate was grieving just as much as she was, so she'd come to accept the fact Weiss was not to blame. Although, she'll probably always hold her responsible in some way or another.
She'd trusted Weiss with her sister's life, and now she was dead. . .
"What are you thinking about?" She glanced over to Blake and noticed that the faunus had set her book aside, "Still thinking about Ruby?" Blake asked as she stood to her feet and approached her, climbing onto the bed beside the blonde. Yang hummed her response as her girlfriend set her chin on her stomach, her ears twitching when Yang spoke.
"Yeah, I just can't believe she's gone. . ." Blake watched her, "First Mom, then Summer, and now Ruby. She disappeared like Summer did, there was no trace of her. I don't understand." She still remembered Qrow returning home wearing the same expression Weiss had worn when she'd informed her of Ruby's death, she'd had to break the news to Ruby that her mother had passed. Now, she had to tell their father that Ruby was dead.
Blake hummed, "We all miss her, Yang," she whispered quietly, "she was one of my best friends, I almost considered her a sister." Yang sat up and Blake rolled to the side, "Yang, are you really sure you want to make the trip to Mistral?"
Earlier that day, they'd received a letter alerting them that her father had moved to Mistral with his new girlfriend and he wanted them to meet her. By them, he'd meant Yang and Ruby. . . "Yeah," Yang replied, "I need to. Have you changed your mind?" Blake had chosen to stay back in Atlas, despite the discrimination she would face, to support Weiss in case things went downhill. Judging by what had happened earlier, she was already in a bad place.
Frankly, Yang didn't care what happened to the white-haired woman at the moment. "You're more than welcome to come with me," Yang whispered almost pleadingly, worrying for her partner's safety, "you don't even have to ask."
Blake shrugged and sat up, "I'm not defenseless, Yang," she knew that, "I really do want to come with you, but I know Ruby wouldn't want Weiss left alone here. . ." Yang was aware of the promise her sister had made, but she failed to see exactly why Weiss couldn't be on her own. It wasn't like she was fragile. "She needs somebody here, someone familiar and close to her. I don't mind being that person."
She'd made up her mind. "If that's what you want. If something happens-" Blake cut her off.
"I'll give you a call, I promise. But we'll be fine, and if it helps, Jaune and his team will be arriving soon after you leave for Mistral, so I won't be entirely alone." Yang nodded, brushing her paranoia aside to trust her girlfriend.
"That's good to know. . ."
[Ruby]
"Hey! Hey, excuse me!"
She'd been on the move all night, fleeing from Mistral as quickly as she could. It was now almost sunrise, and oh how her feet ached. . . It'd taken her forever to find a nearby town. She should've brought a map with her, why didn't she think of that? She could have everything planned out, everything prepared, and she would leave for a mission - and forget a dang map. Weiss used to have to triple check to ensure she brought one with her when they'd moved in together, she sometimes included a spare in case Ruby somehow lost the one she'd given her.
"Yes Ma'am?" A man turned around to face her and Ruby smiled, she quickly asked where she could find a map and he gestured towards a hotel, "They usually keep some there for the travelers, like yourself." Ruby thanked him and he nodded, she rushed off towards the hotel and relief washed through her. Good, she wouldn't be lost! Sure, she could check her location on her scroll (if she had one. . .) but she could be in a place without signal, it's happened to her many times before.
Perhaps she should rest there, too. Ruby removed the lien from her pocket as she entered, quickly counting it to make sure she had enough to afford a Room. Her silver eyes scanned the hotel for the maps and grabbed one from the rack next to her. "Oh hello, do you need a room?" A lady at the counter caught her attention and Ruby approached her, setting the remaining lien down on the counter. "Room for one, correct?" Ruby nodded, "Alright!" The woman took the lien, skimming it before reaching into a drawer in front of her. "Do you have a scroll?"
"No, I lost it on my way here." Ruby replied and the woman handed her a card, informing her that it would work as a key and briefly explained how it worked to her. As if she didn't already know. . . She was given her room number, the second floor and room 117. Now that she had a chance, she took a moment to inspect the hotel; it seemed as though it were well-kept, but there was an odd odor in the air that she couldn't place.
Quietly, she made her way up the staircase towards the second floor and found herself standing in front of her room within minutes. Ruby unlocked the door and stepped into the small room, she closed the door behind her and examined the place she would be staying the night.
The walls were a pastel yellow, pleasing to the eye as it would not be too bright against the sunlight that would drift in through the lonely window in the morning. A single bed was placed in the middle of the room, a desk and a chair to the side of it while a TV stand sat across from the bed. To her right was the bathroom, which was a simple white with a tiled floor with the regular bathroom necessities.
Ruby sighed and hauled herself to the bed, taking one second to glance at the time before collapsing on the mattress. Not only was she exhausted, but now she was bored without her scroll or anybody to talk to. Well this was going to be a fun trip. . .
She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling, remembering the first time she and her team were sent on a mission far from their school. They'd stayed the night in the first hotel they'd found, having rented a small two-bed hotel room had it's disadvantages; one of them being that they had zero privacy. . .
It was a miracle they hadn't been kicked out from noise complaints, especially considering the Bumbleby duo had gotten a little too frisky. Ruby had practically begged the hotel staff to escape it, and thankfully they'd been kind enough to give her a room to herself. Of course, she'd brought Weiss with her and the team remained separated, when at the hotel, for the rest of the mission.
The pillow fight they'd had while sharing one room was rather fun though, it'd started with Yang making an innuendo about the White Rose pair and Ruby stuffing a pillow into her face. Yang had grabbed her own pillow and defended herself, only for Weiss to come to her partner's aid. Blake had tried to stay out of it until Ruby had accidentally whacked her book out of her hands.
The fight had ended in destroyed pillows that Weiss had paid to replace, and Ruby may or may not have created Weiss a feather crown. . . Who even used feathers for pillow stuffing anymore? They'd looked beautiful on her, though. Yang had taken pictures of them and uploaded them to her Twitter account, much to her and Weiss' dismay. Ruby couldn't remember exactly what the pun was, but Yang had made one about the feathers they wore.
Having their own room had an advantage, though it did get lonely at times.
Ruby's eyes shifted to stare at the ceiling and she released a quiet sigh, closing her eyes momentarily before reaching over to grab the map sitting at the edge of the bed. She flipped it open and traced her finger from her location mark to Atlas, groaning when she remembered how far away she was. She was out of lien, too. Perhaps she could take up some small Grimm jobs around the towns she stopped and visited, use the lien for travel purposes such as hopefully taking the train so she wouldn't have to walk to Argus on foot. She'd also need money for the flight to Atlas. . .
If she hadn't lost her scroll, she could've made a call and had a ride waiting for her. Ruby let out another loud groan as a thought suddenly occurred to her: She could've called Yang and had her meet her somewhere! But nooo, the realization just had to hit after she'd left Mistral. She was out of Mistral, right? She eyed the map, finding that she was on the outskirts of the city, she sighed in relief; at least she'd made it this far. . .
[Weiss]
"You know Mr. Greer almost called the engagement off, correct?"
Weiss was seated across from her sister, whose icy eyes were locked on her with a stoic, almost unreadable expression. The older woman had entered her room and had coffee delivered to them, they'd sat in silence for the longest time until Winter finally decided to speak. Of course the first thing she said referred to Weiss' unwanted engagement. . .
The younger woman simply glanced up to her sister, her expression matching Winter's. "Yes," she replied dully, "but I don't care. I never wanted this." If her actions, despite them being unintentional, aggravated the Greer family, then she would do it all again to get rid of Liam.
Winter sighed and rubbed her forehead, "Weiss," she muttered underneath her breath, "I know you're hurt, but Ruby's dead. . . Liam seems nice, and he appears to care about you-"
"No." Weiss snarled almost immediately, cutting her sister off, knowing exactly what she was suggesting. How dare she?! How could she even suggest that?!
Winter met her eyes again, it was as though she was challenging her. Normally Weiss would have stepped down, accepting that she'd been defeated and silenced when her sister sent her that glare, but the anger boiling inside of her prevented her from doing so. "Weiss, you cannot just sit here and grieve. You knew this would happen-"
That was it. Something snapped inside of Weiss and she was quickly on her feet, the bottled up frustration she'd been concealing had been unleashed. "So you get to act like your entire life was ruined because he left you, and because Father took your children away?!"
A few years ago, Winter had revealed to her that she'd been keeping a secret from her: she'd been expecting children. She'd refused to tell Weiss anything about the father, but all she knew is that he'd worked alongside her in the military and had fled when her pregnancy test came back positive. Weiss could only assume that the man was wanting to work his way into their family, but his plans were destroyed and he'd taken the first chance he seen to escape. Winter had triplets, one of which was born dead, the other given to a maid to take to the orphanage (the woman ended up keeping the child to raise as her own), and their father had taken her daughter to raise as a Schnee, telling Winter that she was lucky the child could pass off as a pure-blooded Schnee.
Her sister hadn't been the same since. Weiss barely knew her anymore, she'd never even been informed that Winter had been in a relationship, despite having trusted the older woman with hers. After years of hardly speaking to each other, Winter just walked in and began acting as though she cared about what was going on in Weiss' life.
"Weiss, that was unnecessary." Winter scolded, "Calm down and-"
"You expect me to just forget about her! How does that make any sense?"
"I'm not telling you to forget, I'm telling you that you need to move on, even if it does hurt."
"How do you move on from the person you were in love with for five, almost six, years?!" Weiss snapped, "I can't forget! All of this is my fault! Had I just kept up with my training, I could have protected her! I shouldn't have even agreed to go on the mission anyway!" Weiss paused, drawing in a deep breath to calm herself and glancing at the ring she wore on her finger, "We had a wedding to plan. . ."
Winter sighed from behind her, "I'll be in the lounge if you need me. . ."
Weiss looked back at the older woman as she approached the door to leave, "You still never told me why you're here." Winter met her eyes.
"Classified."
"As expected."
I can't write for Bumbleby, and my writing inspiration is spent. Does it show? Ha! I know it shows. . . I'm sorry.
Context for the Winter part:
My friend has an OC they wanted added into the story, but not as a main character, just as a side character who assists with the final chapter. So we opted for a child belonging to Winter so that she had a blood relation to Weiss. She will be revealed here soon, but don't get attached to her, remember: She will be a minor character for the story like Rusty and Amra. I deeply apologized for all of the minor characters. . . And Liam.
Team JNPR will be making an appearance in the next chapter!