Notice Me, Ruby!
Chapter 8: Time With Rubes
It had been a couple of days since Yang's latest plan had failed, causing her to get punished by not only Beacon's staff but by Ruby as well. The redhead had decided to take it upon herself to see to it that her blonde teammate was properly punished for what she had done. This punishment consisted of both girls going to the combat training arena for some "sparring," which mostly consisted of Yang doing her best to not get hurt too badly.
Today had been the last day Ruby was going to use for punishing the older girl, as she thought that Yang must have by now learned her lesson. When the brawler was told of this, she let out a couple of tears of joy, before getting carried back to the dorm by Weiss and Blake. Ruby just hoped that she wouldn't have to do anything like this again with any of her teammates.
After her last sparring session with Yang, Ruby had gone to the library to study. She didn't want to be near her teammates at the moment, as she could feel herself getting a headache just by being near them. Unfortunately for the redhead, she wasn't able to really do any studying, as her mind was too occupied by thoughts on her teammates, especially Yang. She couldn't understand just what had gotten into the brawler to make her act like this. It just didn't make sense to her.
"I just don't get it. I give her what she wants and suddenly she is all over me, doing everything she can to annoy me," Ruby muttered to herself while staring at the book in front of her, not really reading any of the text. "I was certain that she would be happy that I decided to give her, Weiss and Blake the space they wanted, but no. Instead, it feels like they are determined to make MY life a living hell! What I also don't understand is the goal of all the things they've been doing. What did Yang hope to gain by taking my test?"
As she was thinking about her teammates, the young team leader suddenly heard someone walking towards her. She looked up and saw none other than Glynda Goodwitch approaching her. However, instead of the usual stern and serious look on her face, the blonde teacher's expression was much softer, like she was concerned about something.
"Ms. Rose, can I talk to you for a moment?" Glynda asked her student. "There is something I want to discuss with you."
Ruby simply gave a small nod, as she was somewhat intimidated by the teacher. The reason for this was the lecture the redhead had gotten from Ozpin, where Glynda had been present. The lecture had been about Ruby's behavior in the "Deathstalker incident," which had honestly caused a lot of the professors to be upset at team RWBY, especially it's leader. While Ozpin had been the one to do the lecturing, Ruby was still reminded by the whole thing by just seeing Glynda, who served as a reminder of that time.
After sitting next to her student, the blonde witch noticed the obvious discomfort her student was in. It didn't take her long to realize why the girl must have been feeling like that, so Glynda decided to do something to calm Ruby down a bit.
"Ms. Rose, I know you must be thinking about... THAT incident, but I want you to know that I am not here to lecture you," the professor explained. "In fact, I've been meaning to talk to you about what happened with Professor Ozpin that time. In all honesty, for the first time in my life, I feel like HE was too harsh."
"W-What? Really?" Ruby asked with wide eyes, unable to believe that Glynda Goodwitch of all people saw someone as being too harsh. After all, the blonde teacher had been known for how strict and harsh she was.
"Yes. In fact, I do understand somewhat why you had your little... incident, so to speak," Glynda said with a gentle smile. "You actually remind me of myself when I used to be a student here."
"Do you really mean that?" the redhead asked in complete surprise. Never even in her wildest dreams would she have considered hearing such words from the teacher.
"I mean that with all my heart," Glynda answered. "You see, back when I used to be a student here, I was somewhat of a weakling. No one believed that I could become an actual Huntress. Even my own teammates and my partner didn't believe in me. Because of this, I pushed myself into my studies and practices harder than anyone did, which eventually allowed me to rise above those who doubted me. Before I knew it, I had become one of the most recognized Huntresses in the world."
"That... does sound like me," Ruby said as she looked down sadly. "I might have been accepted here because of my skills, but no one seems to see it that way. I can hear people whispering around me about how I got here on sheer luck, and that I don't belong here. Even my own team is like that."
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but even I had my doubts about you joining our school early," the blonde woman said with a hint of regret in her voice. "When Professor Ozpin decided to let you join two years in advance, I was certain he had made a mistake, even if he was the person whom I had followed without a question until then. But as I saw how well you performed in classes, I understood that he had not been wrong. It's especially obvious these days with how exceptionally well you are doing. In fact, if you keep this up, I feel like there might be something really good for you in your future."
"Really? What is that?" the young team leader asked.
"That is unfortunately something better left for the future. But if you keep up your incredibly good work, I assure you that you will find out soon enough," Glynda answered. "However, there is another matter that I wish to discuss with you."
"What would that be?" Ruby asked.
"It's about your team. Especially about the way they have been acting lately," the teacher replied. "I have to say that even after working here for years, I have never seen behavior like that from any other student before. Mind explaining what's behind it?"
"That's something I would like to know!" the redhead answered in a frustrated tone. "I just don't understand why they're acting up like this! Especially Yang! I have no idea as to what is going on with them!"
"I'm afraid I have no idea either, but I feel like you are the only one who has a chance of finding out what it is," Glynda said thoughtfully. "I know that you are frustrated, if not angry, with your team, but you shouldn't give up on them. You were all placed on the same team, after all. It would be a shame if your team were to break up on it's first year."
"The only reason we're in the same team was because we happened to grab the same chess pieces during the initiation!" Ruby said with a huff. "That doesn't really make us a specially made team with a purpose! In all honesty, I'm starting to feel like it was all just a big misfortune that had all of us on the same team and that's it!"
"It may seem like that, but I don't think so. I can tell from experience that all of the teams that have been formed through these methods have turned out just fine. Even if they have had problems at some point. You shouldn't give up on them just because of some mistakes they have done."
"Even when those mistakes are some of the biggest mistakes they could have done?"
"Yes. You remember how I said how my own team didn't believe in me?" Glynda asked, getting a nod from her student. "Well, once I showed just how capable I could be, they apologized and wanted to make up for it. I eventually patched things up with them and they became such good friends they were practically family. I feel like something similar can happen with you, if you give it a chance."
Ruby looked down in thought, considering what she had just been told. Even if she had been irritated and hurt by her teammates for some time now, they still held a special place in her heart. In all honesty, the redhead couldn't really imagine a life without them, especially when she remembered some of the good times they have had together. Maybe the blonde teacher was speaking the truth.
"Thank you, Professor Goodwitch. I'll think about what you just told me," Ruby said and bowed her head a bit to the teacher.
"It's no problem, Ms. Rose. This is why we teachers are here, after all," Glynda said with a smile.
Meanwhile in team RWBY's dorm, Weiss and Blake were looking over Yang, who was laying on her partner's bed in pain. Her latest "sparring session" with Ruby had left her exhausted and bruised, which is why her two teammates had to practically carry her back to their dorm to rest. The blonde wasn't making any sounds either while laying down with her face buried in a pillow, except for pained moans and whines she made upon trying to move even a bit.
"Sheesh, Ruby really went overboard with you this time," Weiss said while looking at her blonde teammate.
Yang simply let out a pained whine as a response.
"You're lucky that this was the last sparring match for your punishment," Blake added. "Otherwise, I'm not sure if you would survive for much longer."
The brawler let out another pained whine while trying her best to nod her head.
The monochrome duo looked at each other in concern, thinking the same thing. So far, this whole operation of getting back the old Ruby had not been working at all. In fact, it had only caused them nothing but trouble and pain. It was probably for the best to quit the whole thing, before things got more out of hand than they already had.
"Yang, it might be a good idea to stop finally," Blake suggested. "No matter what we have tried, we have made no progress at all and have only angered Ruby. If this keeps on, I fear what-"
"I DON'T CARE!" Yang suddenly yelled as she jumped from the bed and stood in front of her teammates. "Do you think I'm going to give up!? Do you think I'm just going let things be the way they are!? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I will not stop until I have gotten back the old Ruby, whom we all love! And I don't care what I have to go through in order to get that!"
"Yang, this is insane!" the cat faunus yelled at the blonde. "After everything you've had to go through, you still want to continue!? At this rate, I fear what might happen to you! Ruby is already angry enough with you, and you really want to risk making her even angrier!?"
"I will take any risk necessary, until things are finally back the way they're supposed to be!" Yang argued. "How am I supposed to just sit back, when Ruby has turned into something she isn't!? It's not right and-!"
The brawler's rambling was suddenly cut off by a punch to the face, which caused her to fall to the floor. Her eyes were red as she turned to glare at her attacker, only for her rage to disappear upon seeing Weiss glaring down at her with tears falling from her eyes. Even Blake was staring at the heiress with wide eyes.
"Would you listen to us for a moment!? Can't you see that we are not only worried about you, but Ruby as well!? And how damaged the relationship between her and all of us has gotten!? And you are willing to take a risk that can make things even worse!? Have you lost your damn mind!?" Weiss ranted at her teammate. "Do you have any idea how we feel from seeing you practically destroy yourself like this!? Let me tell you, it doesn't feel good at all!"
Yang looked down, thinking about what the white-haired girl had said. It was true that she had been way too focused on Ruby to even consider how her other two teammates felt, even when she herself had made them part of her plans and everything. It must have been horrible for the monochrome duo.
"I... I just wanted things to get fixed between Ruby and me. That's all I wanted," the blonde said sadly. "And I can't just give up on that. I just can't! What am I supposed to do?"
"How about you try something calmer and more rational for once?" Weiss asked as she offered her teammate a helping hand to pull her up. "Instead of all these crazy plans of yours, how about something much simpler? Something that doesn't risk making her hate you?"
"Like what?" Yang asked.
"How about you simply try to spend time with her?" the white-haired girl suggested. "And before you say how you have already tried to do that, I don't mean that you should go to an amusement park or to the movies with her. How about you simply join her on one of her study sessions? Something that she herself likes to spend her time with?"
"I don't know, Weiss," the blonde said with doubt in her voice. "While I guess I could use that to finally get close to her, I just don't know if I could use it to really get a closer relationship with her. Not to mention, that sounds so boring-"
Yang was cut off by another punch this time on the top of her head. Weiss had a look of anger and frustration on her face while holding her shaking fist.
"Didn't you just say that you were ready to whatever it takes to get back the old Ruby!?" the heiress practically growled. "Honestly, does everything need to be crazy and stupid with you!? Or is the great Yang Xiao Long defeated by a simple study session?"
Rubbing the sore spot on her head, Yang thought about it. Perhaps Weiss had the perfect idea after all. If Ruby agreed to have her join on her study session, she could use the opportunity to possibly fix at least some of the bridges that had been burnt between her and the redhead.
"You're right... Yeah, you're right!" the blonde said with enthusiasm, feeling hopeful about her situation. "This could possibly work! There shouldn't be any reason for Ruby to not let me join her on her study session, so I can use that to my advantage! Great idea, Weiss!"
"It sure is," the white-haired girl said with a smile. "Not to mention, maybe you can use the opportunity to get some knowledge through that thick skull of yours for once!"
"Yeah, that could be- HEY!"
Both Weiss and Blake laughed a bit at their blonde teammate's expense, who had a blush on her face from both embarrassment and anger. However, she decided not to blow up, since her two teammates had been helping her greatly, especially Weiss just now. There might be some hope of getting team RWBY back the way it was.
Just then, the door opened with Ruby stepping inside. The three older girls turned to look at the younger girl, who in turn stared back at her teammates in silence. No one said anything, as an awkward silence fell over the room.
"Ummm... I'm just here to go to bed," Ruby said, breaking the awkward silence. "I've been studying in the library the whole day, so I'm pretty tired."
"About that studying of yours, Rubes," Yang suddenly said while taking a step closer to the redhead. "I was kind of wondering about something. Do you think I could join you for your study session tomorrow? I promise I won't be a bother."
Ruby gave a strange look at the blonde. Never would she have ever expected that she would hear such words from Yang's mouth. When it came to studying, the brawler tried her best to avoid it even more than the young team leader used to. To hear that she wanted to join a study session was almost unbelievable.
"Are you sure you're the real Yang?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. "The way I remember it, the last thing Yang Xiao Long liked to do was study. Where did this sudden want to work on your academic skills come from?"
"Hey, even I can study for the sake of my grades!" Yang said, slightly offended by the way the younger girl had just described her. "I just... really want to do it, okay? I feel like it could be of great use to me. So, is it okay if I join you?"
The scythe-wielder thought about it for a moment. At first, she didn't see any harm in it. In fact, maybe having her teammate join her on her studies could even help her improve even more efficiently.
However, then Ruby remembered that this was Yang Xiao Long they were talking about. And since her latest experiences with the blonde girl had been nothing but disasters, there was a high chance this would be as well. It just didn't seem like a risk worth taking.
"As... interesting as that sounds, I'm going to have to say no," the redhead replied after thinking it over. "I'm just afraid that-"
"Ruby, please!" Yang suddenly yelled desperately, catching Ruby off guard. "I really need this. Can you please let me join you?"
The scythe-wielder looked at the brawler, still somewhat taken aback by the sudden outburst. She looked at the older girl's face and saw the desperation in her eyes, telling just how serious she was about all of this. This caused Ruby's resolve to start breaking apart. There was also the things Professor Goodwitch had told her earlier that caused her to doubt her first answer.
"...I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" the young team leader muttered to herself. "Alright, you can join me on my study session tomorrow. However, I expect you to be on your best behavior. Understood?"
Yang's face lit up with the biggest and brightest smile she had ever had, and she pulled Ruby into a powerful hug.
"I will! I will! You can count on me to act like a model citizen tomorrow!" the blonde yelled happily while spinning the younger girl around in her arms. "Oh, thank you so much for this!"
While Yang was joyfully hugging Ruby, while Weiss and Blake were watching them with smiles on their faces, the redhead was already starting to have doubts on her decision. Not only had the brawler's behavior not been of the best quality lately, but there was also the fact that Ruby could feel her bones breaking from the hug that made her have doubts. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.
On the next day, after the classes had ended, Ruby was heading towards the library with Yang following behind her. The blonde was skipping happily along with the younger girl, who had a doubtful look on her face. She still wasn't fully behind this whole idea of having the older girl join her for a study session. Ruby just hoped that nothing too bad would happen.
Once in the library, the two girls found themselves an empty table that was a good distance away from the other people and sat down. They then took out their books, opened them and began to study. However, while Ruby was busy reading through the pages of her book and taking notes, Yang was too busy stealing glances at the redhead. Right now was the chance she had been hoping for. The chance to get closer with Ruby and possibly fix their relationship.
"Man, this stuff can be dull," the blonde said in a somewhat joking manner. "I mean, why do we need to even learn all this stuff? What good does it do to us to know all of the things written here, right?"
"Seeing as how our main role is to protect people from the Grimm, I think it should be obvious as to why we are studying the biology, habits and physical traits of Grimm," Ruby answered without looking up from her book. "After all, how can we possibly expect to fight something, when we don't even know a thing about it?"
"Well, I usually just punch the things that are threatening people and things seem to turn out well enough! I guess you could say I take care of things with a Yang!" Yang said with a small chuckle, hoping that she could get the younger girl to laugh a little. Unfortunately, all she got was an annoyed stare. "Uhhh... Was I trying too hard?"
"I think your problem isn't trying too hard. It's that you're not trying at all!" Ruby said sternly. "This stuff is important, Yang! Every bit of knowledge could mean life or death out there! You should be taking this a bit more seriously!"
Having not expected such a lecture from the younger girl, Yang was taken aback quite a bit. The only people so far that had talked to her like that had only been teachers or her dad, but never had the brawler expected Ruby of all people to be like this. Having the redhead act like this just reminded Yang of how far apart they had grown, which broke her heart and made her feel like crying.
"You've really changed, Ruby," the blonde said almost inaudibly. "What made you like this?"
"Like I've told you already, I've decided to take my studies seriously and aim to become the best Huntress possible!" the redhead said with anger in her voice. "Seriously, do I really need to explain that to you again?"
"Not really, but that's not what I'm talking about," Yang answered. "I was talking more about... us."
Ruby stopped reading and looked up from her book at the older girl. There was an expression of confusion on her face, as she wondered what the brawler was talking about.
"Just what do you mean by that?" the scythe-wielder asked. "The way I see it, nothing has really changed between us all that much."
"Yes, there has. We are not like we used to be," Yang said, looking up at Ruby. "Back in the day, we used to do so much together. No matter what we were doing, we would do it with each other. I mean, remember how we used to ride our red wagon down the hill when we were kids? You would always hold onto me as tightly as you could, while screaming in horror."
"Hey, at the speeds we were going, I think anyone would have screamed the way I did. Not to mention, I was at best seven years old at the time," Ruby said in her defense, before looking down in thought. "But we did do a lot together. I can't remember a single game that we played where we weren't together. Like the way we used to pretend to be Huntsmen."
"Right!? I remember that!" the blonde said excitedly. Her hopes of reaching the younger girl seemed to be possible. "We used to come up with all these cool hero names for ourselves and made Grimm out of cardboard for us to fight! What were those names again?"
"I believe you were "The Godly Golden Dragon Of Awesomeness" and my name was "The Red Meteor." Or at least something along those lines," the young team leader said with a smile on her face, thinking back to the old days. "Didn't we make Zwei into one of our Grimm opponents as well?"
"Oh yeah! The nefarious Monster Fluffy!" Yang said and let out a laugh. "God, we were such dorks! How could we come up with such names?"
"Well, I'd say that I at least had some taste when it came to names," Ruby said with a small smirk on her face. "I mean, I could honestly see a Huntsman going by the name of "Red Meteor", but I doubt anyone would use a name like the one you came up with."
"Hey, you watch your mouth! I am very confident in how cool I have always been!" the brawler said in mock anger. "Besides, I'm willing to bet that there is someone going under at least a somewhat similar name like the one I made!"
"Sure. One who doesn't get any work at all."
"HEY!"
Both girls were smiling and laughing at their childhood memories. It seemed like all the bad things that had happened between them had been forgotten, as they were now just enjoying each other's company. Seeing Ruby so happy and relaxed warmed up Yang's heart and made her smile.
'How long has it been since the last time we were like this?' the blonde thought to herself. 'It feels like an eternity since I last saw Rubes in such a good mood. I better make sure the mood stays like that!'
"Hey, I'm gonna go get us some snacks, alright?" Yang said while standing up. "There was a vending machine near the entrance, so I'll get the stuff from there. What would you like to get?"
"Oh, there's no need for you to do that," Ruby said as she started to get up herself. "I can be the one to get us-"
"No, I insist," the older girl quickly said, cutting off the younger girl, and gently pushed her back to her seat. "After some of the... less than nice things I've done, I feel like I should do this."
"If you insist, then sure," the redhead replied with a small smile. "Could you get me an energy drink? Preferably strawberry-flavored. I think I'll need it for the study session today."
"Coming right up!" Yang said happily and went to get the snacks. She even decided to get Ruby something besides the energy drink, just in order to be extra nice.
It didn't take long for the brawler to find the vending machine at the library's entrance. She looked at what the machine had and quickly found the drink Ruby was asking for. She even saw a small package of cookies, which brought a grin to her face. Getting the scythe-wielder her favorite type of treats would surely warm things up between them even further.
After deciding what she wanted to buy, Yang took out her wallet and started to put money in the machine. With the cash in, she pressed on some of the buttons, making her order. Now all she needed to do was wait for the machine to give her snacks and she would be ready.
However, nothing was happening. Nothing came out of the vending machine, not even the blonde girl's money. The machine wasn't even making any sounds to indicate that it was working. Instead, it was completely silent. It didn't take long for Yang to start getting irritated.
"Hey, what's the big idea!?" the brawler asked angrily and shook the vending machine a bit. "You just took my money, you greedy bastard! You're supposed to give me the treats I want! The least you could do is return the cash, you lazy hunk of junk!"
Seeing as shaking the machine lightly didn't do anything, Yang started to shake it more violently. When that didn't provide any results, she started to bang on it with her fists and even kicked it a couple of times.
"Hey! Do something, you useless piece of crap!" the blonde yelled and increased the strength behind her punches, causing dents to appear on the machine's surface. "Give me the stuff I want or I'll take them from you!"
Back with Ruby, the young team leader had returned to her studies once Yang had left. However, upon hearing strange noises coming from the direction of the entrance, she couldn't help but stop what she had been doing and listen. At first, the sounds had been very light and not all that bothersome, but it didn't take long for the noise to get much worse. Now she could tell that the sounds came from some metallic object getting hit, along with what sounded like someone cursing.
Not being able to focus on her studies with the noise, Ruby decided to get up from her seat and go investigate what was going on. What she found made her eyes go wide. Near the entrance, Yang was punching and kicking a vending machine with all of her strength, causing it to get dented and trashed beyond repair. As the blonde girl was doing this, she was yelling angry curses with a face red from anger.
"Alright, that does it! I am getting that stuff, no matter what!" Yang roared as she pulled out her gauntlets and some special ammo for them. "And remember that you made me do this!"
Ruby's face turned pale upon recognizing the special ammunition the older girl had pulled out. They were special Fire Dust rounds that would cause flames to come out upon impact. If they were used in the library, it would lead to a disaster.
"YANG, DON'T!" the redhead yelled, hoping to prevent the brawler from doing what she feared, but it didn't work. Before Ruby could do anything, Yang had already smashed her fist into the vending machine and fired her shot, causing flames to shoot out. The brawler pulled her fist out of the wreckage, holding a bottle of the energy drink Ruby had asked for and held it up in the air, like she had just torn the heart out of an opponent.
"HA! VICTORY IS MINE!" Yang cheered proudly while holding her prize. She then noticed the redhead standing nearby, staring at her in shock. "Check it out, Rubes! I got the drink you were asking for!"
"YOU IDIOT! Do you really think I care about the drink at this point!?" Ruby yelled angrily. "Right now, we need to put out those flames, before they activate the-!"
Before the young team leader could finish her sentence, water started to rain from the fire extinguishers on the ceiling. Now, while any normal library would be pretty much destroyed by something like this, as all the books would get damaged by the water, Beacon's library was a bit better prepared. Since it was a school with students that had all sorts of extraordinary abilities and could even possess flammable substances, a fire breaking out in the library was something that the school had been prepared for a long time ago. This was done by the bookshelves having an automatic protection system that activated before the fire extinguishers did. This system caused protective covers to come from the sides of the bookshelves, which covered the books in the shelves from getting damaged by the water.
However, that still left many books that had been taken from the shelves to be damaged, which included Ruby's books, along with her notes.
"Ummm... I still have that energy drink you wanted," Yang said with an awkward smile on her face, hoping that the scythe-wielder wasn't too angry with her.
Ruby simply glared at the older girl with the angriest look she could muster, while she was gritting her teeth and shaking from rage.
A while later, the two girls were exiting Ozpin's office, after getting a stern lecture from the headmaster himself. While most of the books had been saved, there had still been some that were lost due to water damage. Not to mention, there was also the risk of more books getting damaged due to the moisture that was now in the library.
As punishment, both Ruby and Yang weren't allowed to enter the library for some time now. While Yang had been the one to take most of the blame for obvious reasons, Ruby had also been seen as partially responsible. Since the redhead was the blonde girl's team leader and was at the scene when the whole thing happened, Ozpin considered that Ruby should have been able to act in time to prevent the whole thing from happening, thus earning her the punishment as well.
"Man, that really sucked. I don't see what's the big deal, since only a few books got damaged," Yang said in a nervous voice, knowing that Ruby must be VERY angry with her at the moment. She then decided to try and lighten up the mood with a joke. "I guess we need to take a rain check for our next study session in the library, huh?"
Upon hearing the awful joke, the younger girl suddenly stopped. Before the blonde could ask what was wrong, Ruby turned around, grabbed Yang by the front of her shirt and pulled her face close to her own. The redhead practically had flames shooting out of her eyes due to all the anger she felt, which scared the brawler.
"Yang," Ruby said while gritting her teeth.
"Y-Yes?" Yang replied.
"Stay. Away. From. ME!" the young team leader yelled, before letting go of the older girl and disappearing in a cloud of rose petals, leaving the blonde alone.
"...I'm back to square one again, aren't I?" Yang said with a sad sigh, feeling her hopes slipping away.
Author's notes: I would like to thank Sonochu for giving me the idea for this chapter. Hope you guys liked how it turned out.
However, I do have some possible bad news regarding this story. I'm going to be taking a break from writing it in order to consider if I'll continue it. The reason for this is that it seems I've made a good amount of my readers uncomfortable with this story, which is something that doesn't sit well with me. While I personally still want to continue this story, I'm not sure if I should when considering the readers. Depending on how I see things, I will either continue or stop this story completely. This is just something I need to do for my sake, as I want to know if you guys truly want this story to continue. Thank you all for the support so far.
Also, a lot of people have been asking me to change the pairing, which I'm afraid won't happen. I have two reasons for this. First, there are obviously going to be those who would be disappointed if I were to change the pairing, so I need to consider them. Not to mention, this story did start with Yang/Ruby as the pairing, so it would have essentially been false advertising if I were to change it now. And second, I personally want the love interest to be someone from the WBY, as it adds to the story with them and Ruby being the focus. Not to mention, I haven't really planned anything for any other characters, so having one of them be the "romantic interest" would just feel hollow and pointless. There will be other characters with a bigger role, but I can't use them as the pairing for personal reasons.
I also want to bring up one comment that kind of "rubbed me the wrong way." I mean no offense to the person who said it, but I still feel it's necessary to bring up. The comment essentially said that I should change the pairing as most of my stories feature Yang/Ruby and a little change is good. While I do wish to do other pairings in the future, this story isn't one of them and I have always thought of it as Yang/Ruby. Not to mention, I see no reason to "change", when about 99% of RWBY fanfics fall under three pairings. A) WhiteRose, B) Bumblebee or C) WhiteRose AND Bumblebee.
Anyways, I'll be going back to Dead By Roselight and Securing A Future, the latter of which I'm currently working on the next chapter. I'm also considering starting some new stories, so I hope you'll check those out.
Since long AN's aren't allowed, I need to end this here. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll do my best to answer.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.