Chapter 10
[Ruby]
Six days after the incident

She'd overslept! Ruby had planned to be out of the hotel by eleven in the morning so that she could get a head start on her journey and hopefully pick up some small Grimm hunts along the way. She'd arrived at the hotel near 5 when the sun was just beginning to rise, it was now eleven-thirty and she'd planned to be out by ten, surviving off of five or less hours of sleep. That was fine, though. Her body was already accustomed to her wonky sleep schedule considering she was a huntress; the longest she'd ever slept in was the night of her engagement, that was only because she'd been exhausted from the night's activities. Her fiancée was insatiable. . .

Although, it had been the best sleep she'd had in years.

Finding nobody at the front desk to take her room key, Ruby glanced around for a worker. She should've left it back in the room, it would've been picked up by an attendant Maybe she could leave it on the desk? She wasn't sure what to do without her scroll. . .

"Are you leaving?"

Ruby turned around when she heard a masculine voice coming from behind her, she found a tall, lanky man with beige-colored hair and tan skin standing at the staircase with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. Her gut was telling her to turn around and walk out, put as much distance between herself and the man as she could. "Um, yes I am," she replied reluctantly, "do you know where I can find a worker? I need to turn my card in."

She didn't like the look in his eyes, "No," he came closer to her, "since you can't find anybody, how would you like to stay another night?" Ruby wasn't stupid, she knew exactly what the stranger was implying. "I can show you to my room?" He went to drape an arm around her and Ruby moved away.

"I'm engaged." She said bluntly, hoping he would back off, but he only came closer wearing a smirk that caused a wave of discomfort to wash over her. Oh dear Gods, he's one of those guys. Why can't they just take a hint? When he got closer, she noticed that his breath reeked of alcohol.

"He doesn't have to know," he whispered seductively, making Ruby want to gag, "come on, it's just one night. Let me show you a good time, then you can return to your. . . beloved."

Ruby glanced down and raised a brow, noting the belt that he was wearing. An idea struck her and she smiled, "You know what?" She took a step towards him, tilting her head up slightly to meet his eyes. "Sure, why not? I haven't had a 'good time' in ages."

The man's eyes lit up and moved his arm to wrap around the woman's waist, Ruby had to resist the urge to pull away and deck him square in the face for daring to touch her. "I knew you'd come around! I'm going to do you so hard you'll forget about your fiancé."

She wanted to vomit right then and there, another part of her wanted to throw his arm off and stab the blade of her weapon into his stomach. She held back, knowing that she had to keep her composure so that she didn't destroy her career; attacking a defenseless man when he has shown no indication of harming her would not look good on her record. "Can't wait. . ." She whispered instead, swallowing the growl bubbling up in her throat.

Ruby followed him up the staircase, down the hall, and into the room on the third floor. The moment she stepped into the room, her senses were attacked by the stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke. How had this guy not been kicked out yet?! Ruby cast a quick glance to the bed, noting that the sheet was half pulled out from under the mattress and the blankets were in a pile on the floor. Weiss would have a heart attack if she saw this. The guy approached her again with a sly smirk on his face, his shirt was already unbuttoned. She frowned at him as he reached out to her, saying something that went unheard.

The moment his hand touched her shoulder, Ruby put her plan into action and activated her semblance. She snatched the sheet off of the bed and grabbed the man's belt, wrapping him in the sheets until he was fully immobile and tying his belt to the cloth. When she made a mad dash towards the door, realization struck her a little too late; the door was shut and she crashed through the glass. Shit. . . Ruby stopped herself before she flew off the balcony and twisted her arm so that the man flew out the door behind her and over the railing. Ruby tied to the other end of the belt to the bars, a tug on the sheet reassured her that he hadn't fallen.

"What the hell was that?!" The man exclaimed in astonishment and fear, "Let me down from here, crazy lady!" Ruby glanced down at him and smirked when she noticed that he was upside down, his dark face turning red as the blood rushed to his head.

Ruby smiled and loosened the belt, "Well if you want down," she chuckled as the sheet dropped a little bit, the man swinging slightly, "I'd be happy to oblige." Really, she would love to drop him and watch him fall to his death, but that would be murder.

"No! Wait!" He panicked, lifting his head to look at her. Ruby raised a brow, "What the fuck is wrong with you?! I'm going to call the police for assault!"

Ruby couldn't help but laugh and examined the man's position again, another chuckle escaped her. "Oh really now? How would you do that? You're not exactly in a position to do anything," she reached into her pocket and carefully removed the scroll she'd stolen from him, "plus, I have your scroll." She wasn't going to keep it, she'd probably just drop it off at the front counter so he could pick it up later.

He scowled at her, "Fine! Get me untangled and I won't tell anybody what you did to me!" Ruby blinked at him, "Okay, whatever, I won't tell anybody what I tried to do. What is it that you want?" Ruby glanced back into the room and hummed thoughtfully. Although he was an alcoholic, he did seem to have quite a bit of money.

"I'm making my way to Atlas," she informed him, glaring down at the man, "give me just enough to reach Argus, and I'll give you your scroll back and I won't tell anybody what happened here." He huffed his agreement and Ruby pulled the sheet back up, unhooking the belt and allowing him to unwrap himself.

She placed his scroll on the bed. "You also need to tell your wife what you tried to do." He looked at her in bewilderment, "You have a ring on your finger," she pointed out as he grabbed his wallet, begrudgingly handing her the lien, she accepted it, "I know this qualifies as mugging you, so I sincerely apologize. It wasn't my intention at first, I just wanted to frighten you a little bit."

The man grunted, "Just get out of my room, you maniac."

Ruby rolled her eyes and turned to quickly leave the hotel room, shutting the door behind her and jogging down the staircase and into the lobby. Finding somebody at the desk this time around, Ruby slid her room key over to the room before slapping the lien down. "This belongs to the man in Room 361. I'd appreciate it if this could be returned to him." The woman smiled and nodded, apparently she wasn't exactly in the mood to be at work, but Ruby wasn't finished.

"The balcony door to Room 361 is broken, would you mind sending the cost of the damage to the SDC?" She asked and the woman grunted her response, "Alright, um, thank you!" Ruby quickly made her way out of the hotel and started down the sidewalk, heading out of the city. She removed her map from her bag and skimmed over it, sighing when she noticed that she still had a ways to go.

I'll get to Argus somehow. . . Glancing towards the sky, her heart dropped inside of her chest, I hope I won't be too late. . . The thought of Weiss marrying this 'Liam' fellow caused rage boil inside of her, quickly followed by heartache. He wouldn't cherish her like she would; she'd be lying if she said she didn't fear losing her beloved to somebody who'd simply use her for her family name.

Jealousy burned inside of the young woman.

He would never know how beautiful those light blue eyes were when they lit up with pure joy, he would never see her heart-stopping smile, he'd never hear the sound of her laughter. A smirk came to the woman's lips; he would never meet her Weiss. All he knew her as was the perfect daughter who did absolutely nothing wrong and went along with what everybody said, and that's all he'd ever see her as at this point.

Ruby glanced up as she left the little town, walking out of the city and onto the dirt road leading her into the countryside. She fiddled with the ring on her finger, her thoughts running as she tried to think of a quicker way to get to Atlas. She could go with her previous plan and take on a few small Grimm hunts, but she didn't know how long that would take. She also didn't know when the wedding would be, all she knew was that she had a limited amount of time to get there and steal her Princess away before it was too late.

Her silver eyes flickered to her ring and she smiled, Weiss had insisted she wear her own engagement ring and purchased one for her. Ruby made sure that it was kept clean and polished as she didn't want anything to happen to it; the golden band was flawless, save for the bit of dirt that she would have to wash off later, and there were only a few nicks in the red rose adorning the ring that she'd received from her fall, the ring was topped off by a sapphire diamond placed in the center of the rose.

If she knew her fiancée, the ring was probably custom-made. It was beautiful. . . It made her heart skip a beat every time she looked at it; perhaps she could still wear it after they received their wedding bands?

"Ruby! I've been looking all over for you!" Yang's voice rang in her head and the image of her younger self flashing her brand new engagement ring came to her mind, she proudly announced that Weiss had gotten her a one to match her own. Well, sort of, but she got it. "Oh, Ruby. It's gorgeous! Oh my Gosh. . . I still can't believe my baby sister is engaged!"

Wait for it. . .

"Let me get this gay - heh, get it? Weiss has a snowflake ring and you have a red rose ring. It's so perfect! So what name are you two taking? Schnee? Rose? Schnee-Rose? Rose-Schnee?" Yang smirked and Ruby glanced at her, unsure of what to expect. "What about. . . Schnose."

Really, what should she have been expecting? "Yang. Stop."

Weiss' voice replaced her own and Yang's and Ruby's heart filled with affection as the memory washed over her, "I kind of like the sound of Weiss Rose. . ." She'd never forget the shock she'd felt that day, she'd been so happy that her fiancee was willingly giving up her name, a name she'd fought so hard to restore the honor to, for one with no fame or riches to it. Of course, she made sure Weiss was one-hundred percent positive with her decision before finally agreeing with her, the white-haired woman was insistent.

I hope she still feels that way. . .

A few hours later, Ruby found herself trudging into yet another small town she had not seen on the map. This one seemed rather old, the roads were dirt and the buildings were made of wood, but still seemed to be very well taken care of. Upon closer inspection, the town seemed to be deserted, abandoned. Oh great, she'd wandered into a ghost town; ghost towns seemed to be the perfect location for a Grimm nest, or a hideout for the White Fang.

Though the White Fang had been cleared out almost a year ago, their allies and former members still roamed Remnant and caused unnecessary chaos. It was like all of their common sense flew out the window when the group of terrorists had been disbanded, not that they had much anyway.

Ruby withdrew her weapon from her bag, clicking a button on the staff so that a thick blade shot out from under it, the pole retreating back into a pistol-like form. There were bound to be Grimm in there area, there always was when an area was abandoned.

The smell of smoke drifted into her nose and Ruby shifted her attention to a thin train of smoke rising into the air over a building she assumed was once a hospital. Ah, so the town was recently abandoned, maybe she could scavenge for supplies if the area was vacant of Grimm.

A low growl came from behind her and Ruby released a sigh, turning around to face an approaching Beowulf. Why is it always Beowolves? She thought as the young Grimm padded closer, parting its jaws and snarling as countless more wolves seemingly came from out of nowhere. They should know by now that they don't stand a chance. One of the young, black wolves pounced at her, roaring as it extended it's claws and aimed to swipe at her.

Calmly, Ruby thrust the blade upwards and decapitated the Grimm with ease, letting it drop to the ground; it disintegrated into black smoke and Ruby faced towards the rest of the pack, "Alright, let's get this over with." She sighed, activating her semblance and barreling towards them in fury of rose petals, ripping the thick blade through the wolves' soft skin, tearing them apart limb by limb. The feeling of her weapon slicing through skin and bone was not unfamiliar to her, she hardly even noticed it anymore.

Fighting young Beowolves who had not yet grown their armor was a decent warm up, but Ruby preferred more of a challenge. Ruby's eyes glanced to the last few surviving wolves and chuckled, young Beowolves were relentless and didn't know how to stand down, they would fight until their entire pack was destroyed. Kicking the last standing wolf, disarmed, to the ground and her weapon to pistol mode, Ruby waited just a brief second before shooting it through the mouth.

The crimson-haired woman sighed, attaching her temporary weapon back to her side.

A rustle and the sound of metal hitting the ground caused her to whip the weapon back out, clicking it back into the sword-mode as she started towards the noise. It sounded like it came from inside a building, was there another wolf hiding in there? Ruby whipped around the corner, switching the weapon to the pistol in one swift move, preparing to shoot at a Grimm.

Ruby lowered her weapon when her silver eyes met with a familiar blue pair, she frowned in pure confusion. "Jaune?"

Jaune grinned, "Hey! Guys! I told you I heard somebody!" He hollered back through the building, "It's Ruby!" The woman put her weapon away as the rest of team JNPR entered the room, the look of bewilderment on Pyrrha and Ren's faces matched her own. "I knew she wasn't dead!" Jaune exclaimed.

"Of course she isn't dead!" Nora laughed, throwing an arm around Ruby, "This is Ruby Rose we're talking about! She's practically invincible! I didn't doubt her for a second!"

"I don't understand," Pyrrha muttered as Nora returned to Ren's side, "we looked for you everywhere. Where were you?"

Ruby sighed, falling into the floor and leaning against the wall to rest her body. "I don't know, actually. All I remember is taking out the Deathstalkers, an Alpha Beowulf showed up, and suddenly I was in a cave." She glanced over to Ren and Nora, the image of a pink and green airship came to mind. "Was that your airship I saw?" She asked quietly as Jaune took a seat beside her, activating his semblance to check her aura. He muttered something about her aura being low and overworked, but Ruby ignored him.

"Yeah! Weiss called us to help look for you since Blake and Yang were still on their mission!" Nora explained, her face turning into a frown, "But we couldn't find you. . . Ruby, Weiss thinks you're dead."

"Last I heard, her father forced her into an arranged marriage the day after you supposedly died." The pink and green duo took a seat across from her.

Ruby growled, "I know, it was all set up." JNPR's faces twisted into confusion.

"How?" Pyrrha asked, and Ruby began to explain.

[Weiss]

Weiss hadn't stepped out of her bedroom since Winter left late that night, she'd tried to go to sleep many times and relax her tensed body, but the nausea rolling inside of her prevented her from doing so. Why did she feel so ill? Perhaps she'd eaten something bad at the restaurant? Probably, but why would it be affecting her now?

The woman stopped in her tracks as a brief pain nudged at her abdomen, she grunted and forced her body forward again. Had she not yet recovered from the miscarriage? It'd been three days since she'd lost her baby, and maybe her brother was right. . . How could she grieve for a child she never even knew? She hadn't expected the experiment to work, she hadn't had time to develop an attachment to the unborn, so why did it hurt so much?

It'd been almost a week since Ruby died, so she should be over it by now. Right?

"You cannot just sit here and grieve."

That's exactly wanted to do. She wanted to shut the world away, break contact with her remaining friends, call the arranged marriage off, and lock herself in her bedroom. She wanted to break, she needed to break, but she couldn't. . . She had a reputation to uphold, her family's legacy would soon be passed down to her if she could keep her damn emotions in check.

"How could you possibly mourn for a child you didn't even know you were expecting?"

The thought of becoming a mother made her heart flutter with happiness, but also twist in fear that she would become her parents. Ruby made sure to remind her that she would be nothing like them, promising her that she'd be with her every step of the way.

Weiss paused and drew in a deep sigh, letting it out slowly as she swallowed the nausea bubbling up inside of her throat. She was restless, but she also felt so worn out that she could fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

She shook her head and glanced to her window, the rays of the morning sunshine pouring into her isolated bedroom and illuminating it. A knock at her door caught her attention and she sighed again, "Enter," she muttered as formally as she could manage and the door slid open, "good morning, Klein. . ." Weiss smiled weakly as the short man entered.

"I believe it's time for your fitting, Miss Schnee." He offered her a kind smile, but Weiss just frowned.

"My what?" A scowl replaced her frown as irritation pricked at her chest. "He chose my wedding dress?" Of course he did, why wouldn't he? The wedding would be rushed as her parents and Liam's are planning everything, they were expected to roll right along with it. If they decided the wedding would take place within the next few weeks, then there was no stopping it.

Reluctantly, Weiss followed Klein out of her bedroom, not bothering to ask him to wait outside and change into a presentable outfit. She'd just be changing into her wedding dress, noting any required alterations that would need to be fixed before the wedding so that it properly fit. She would return to her room afterwards, ignoring any further demands from her father.

Whatever the butler said to her fell deaf on her ears, but she glanced up to find that she'd been lead to a guest bedroom where some of the house staff was waiting for her. Her eyes drifted towards the white silk wedding dress draped across the unused bed and her heart fell; the sight of the dress slapped reality into her face once again.

Ruby was gone, and she was marrying a man whom she did not love.

This was her reality now. . . She had to accept that.