Notice Me, Ruby!

Chapter 15: Facing A LION

It was the day after Yang's attempt at getting to see Ruby at team LION's dorm, which had ended with her running away in terror from one of the third-year team's members. Today, she had decided to get some extra help and was heading towards team LION's dorm with both Weiss and Blake, even though the two girls didn't really want to. The blonde was sure that with the extra help she would finally be able to "free Ruby from the clutches of team LION".

When Weiss and Blake had returned to their dorm last night, they were treated to the sight of a very pale and scared looking Yang Xiao Long, sitting on her bed while hugging her knees and shaking badly. The two girls had obviously been very concerned over the well-being of their teammate and had asked what had happened, only for the brawler to begin telling them something about a man-eating giant living in team LION's dorm. Due to her story sounding way too ridiculous, the two girls had trouble taking Yang seriously, as her story sounded like it was made by a child talking about a monster under their bed.

Nevertheless, the monochrome duo had agreed to accompany their teammate to the third-year dorm in order to get back Ruby the next day. Even though it had only been done so that they could get the hysterical girl to calm down at least for a moment, if nothing more.

"Yang, I have to ask again, are you sure this is necessary?" Blake asked with a sigh, as the three girls were on their way to the area where the third-years lived. "I can't help but feel that it's not necessary for all three of us to do this."

"Trust me on this. Once you see what kind of monsters live there, you'll wish we had an entire army backing us up," Yang responded while trying to keep herself calm. Even if she had her two teammates with her, the thought of the giant she had met yesterday was still haunting her mind. "The best we can honestly hope for is that we somehow manage to grab Ruby and then run as fast as we can."

"I still believe you're making up this whole story about a giant," the cat faunus said with a sigh. "I mean, it was probably just a student messing with you or something. Not to mention, if there really was such a beast there, shouldn't you have gotten somebody else for this? Like some of the teachers?"

"Since you're doubting me this badly already, do you think they would believe me!?" the brawler asked angrily, frustrated by her partner not believing her. "Besides, you shouldn't worry about our own safety! While we might not be able to defeat that thing, I'm certain we'll get Ruby back and get out of this whole thing alive! Once we work together, nothing can stop us!"

"...I would be more convinced by your uplifting words, if you weren't trying your best to hide behind Weiss."

True to Blake's words, Yang was actually trying to hide behind the heiress, who was not happy about it at all. Thanks to difference in height between the two girls, the sight was actually quite comical, as a good amount of snickers and chuckles from those who walked past the three members of team RWBY would tell you.

"You oaf, would you mind and stop hanging on to my back already!?" Weiss asked angrily with an embarrassed blush on her face. "You're making us look like complete clowns!"

"Well, I'm sorry for being a bit nervous here! Remember that I am the only one of us who has seen the horrifying thing we are about to face!" Yang yelled back at the heiress. "Besides, can't you be a supportive teammate and offer me some form of comfort and security!? I'm not asking for much here!"

"Weiss, let's just try to get this done, okay?" Blake said with a sigh, before the white-haired girl could start and argument with the blonde. "I just want to get Yang to calm down about this whole thing with Ruby, so I can go back to my books. And I'm certain that you feel the same way about this."

Seeing as she was on her own, Weiss decided to give up and simply go with the flow, even if it included getting embarrassed by her teammate. After all, the cat faunus did have a point. The sooner they were done with this, the sooner she could go back to her studies.

It didn't take the three members of team RWBY to find team LION's dorm, since Yang had already been there once. Thanks to her memory, the trio of girls found the dorm without any problems, even if they had to go through numerous third-year students that were either giving them strange looks or laughing at them.

Now that they were standing in front of team LION's dorm's door, Yang had begun to shake even more from fear, as memories of yesterday kept repeating in her mind. She was still picturing the giant she had seen, although her mind was making him seem much more frightening.

"So, who will be the one to do the honor of knocking?" Weiss asked. "I would do it, but I'm afraid that I'm stuck being a certain baby's security blanket for now."

"I'll do it," Blake answered and walked up to the door, ready to knock on it. "Like I said earlier, the sooner we're done, the better."

"WAIT!" Yang quickly called out, stopping her partner from knocking. "First we need to make a plan! If that giant appears again, we need to-"

"Oh, will you shut your mouth!?" the cat faunus said angrily and knocked on the door. "I'm tired of hearing about giants from you! I don't even want to hear that word again!"

Now that one of them had knocked on the door, the three girls waited for it to be opened. They soon heard someone walking towards it and beginning to open it, causing Yang to try hide behind Weiss even more, much to the heiress' displeasure. Although, even the blonde's two teammates were waiting in somewhat of an anticipation to see what appeared from the other side of the door.

However, once the door opened, it didn't reveal a terrifying giant. Instead, it revealed a small boy that was shorter than Ruby, who seemed to be somewhat scared of the three girls.

"H-Hello? C-Can I help you?" the boy asked in a quiet voice.

"...Wow. Some really terrifying giant, Yang," Blake said sarcastically as she gave a slight glare at her partner. "I can see why you were so scared all this time. I'm honestly fearing for my life here."

"That's not the thing I saw yesterday!" Yang yelled. "I swear that when the door was opened for me, there was this gigantic monster on the other side!"

"W-What?" the boy wondered, not understanding what was going on.

"Sure. And then there were unicorns flying on a rainbow with little elves throwing cookies around," Weiss said sarcastically, as she stepped away from her blonde teammate and walked up to the boy at the door. "Hello there."

"Umm... Hi," the boy greeted somewhat awkwardly.

"We came here to look for someone. Are any of the people that live in this dorm currently here?" the heiress asked kindly with a small smile. "Are you perhaps here to visit an older sibling or something? Could we perhaps speak to them?"

"Huh? I'm not visiting anyone," the boy said in a slightly hurt voice. "I live here. I'm one of the students of this school."

"Now now. It's not nice to lie," Weiss said in a slightly scolding tone. "Not only are you too young to be a student of Beacon in the first place, this dorm belongs to a third-year team. I'm sure whoever it is that you're related to here would be very disappointed in hearing you make up such stories."

"B-B-B-But I'm not making anything up! I know I'm young, but I'm a real student here! I even have my student ID!" the boy cried out and took out his Scroll, showing a picture of himself with his student information next to it. "See!? You can't get one of these, unless you actually are a student here, so-!"

"I would advice you not to show that to anyone. While it looks very convincing, forging a student ID can get you into a lot of trouble," the white-haired girl said, causing the boy to look heartbroken. "Now, the person I want to see is-"

Weiss didn't get to finish, as the boy simply went back to the dorm and closed the door. The three members of team RWBY stood in silence for a moment, having not expected that to happen.

"Just what did you do, Weiss?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were going to ask about Ruby, not scare some poor child."

"Hey! What was I supposed to do!?" the heiress yelled. "You saw him! There's no way that he was actually a-!"

Weiss was once again cut off, but this time it was due to a sound they heard coming from within the dorm. It was the sound of someone stomping angrily towards the door.

"ALRIGHT, WHO HAS THE BALLS!?" a dark-skinned girl yelled as she opened the door. Her face was one of pure fury and anger. "WHO IS THE ASSHOLE THAT JUST MADE NILO SAD!?"

The WBY were a bit taken aback by the angered girl's yelling, but managed to compose themselves. Weiss decided that she should speak up.

"I'm sorry if I caused any trouble, but-" the white-haired girl began to explain, only to be cut off yet again. This time, it was because the third-year girl grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her close, so she could glare at her straight in the eyes.

"SO IT WAS YOU, HUH!? YOU'RE THE ONE AT FAULT!" the dark-skinned girl yelled. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this so much...!"

"Hey, let go of Weiss!" Yang yelled, getting the older girl's attention. "She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Not in my books she hasn't!" the third-year student yelled, as metal claws appeared from one of her sleeves. She was ready for a fight. "Now, if you want to join her in getting your ass kicked, you're more than welcome to do so!"

"Isabella! Please stop!" the boy from earlier cried out as he pulled on the back of the girl's shirt, hoping to stop her from doing anything violent. "It's not really that big of a deal! There's no need for this!"

Just as a fight was about to start, a single person managed to stop everyone before a punch was thrown.

"ENOUGH!" came the strong command of Elaine, leader of team LION. Immediately upon hearing her yell, everyone froze still. The five people at the dorm door turned to stare at the redheaded third-year and saw Ruby and Oliver with her. "What is going on here!? I left for ten minutes in order to check up on the details on our assignment and somehow THIS happens! Did you do something again, Isabella!?"

"HEY! They're the ones who started it!" Isabella yelled in her defense. "I was just reading my comic books, when someone knocked on the door! Nilo went to open it and came back all sad because of those three!"

"WHAT!?" Elaine yelled, now full of rage as she was glaring at the WBY.

Luckily for the three first-year students, Oliver was there to stop his team leader from going on a rampage. He grabbed her by the back of her shirt and lifted her up, not allowing her to do anything stupid.

"Ellie, I think you need to calm down," the giant boy said in a slightly scolding tone. "I know how protective you are of Nilo, but you can't just let your anger take you over like that. Now I want you to calm down and act like you're supposed to."

"B-But-!" Elaine tried to argue, but her arguments were ended by Oliver giving her one stern glare. "Okay..."

"Ah! There he is! The giant!" Yang yelled while pointing a finger at the tall third-year student. "I told you he was real!"

"I have to say, he is quite tall," Blake said while staring at the giant boy with wide eyes. Even Weiss nodded in agreement with her faunus teammate.

"Hmmm? Hang on, don't I know you from somewhere?" Oliver asked while staring at Yang. "Oh, that's right. You're that weird girl that came to our dorm yesterday, before running away suddenly."

"I wasn't running away! It was a tactical retreat!" the brawler tried to argue.

Before the arguing between the two teams could get any worse, Ruby decided to step up. She walked towards her teammates with a frown on her face, clearly unhappy with what was going on at the moment.

"Alright, what have you three done now?" the scythe-wielder asked, her voice dripping with accusation. "What sort of a mess have you caused now that is most likely going to give me a headache this time?"

"We haven't done anything wrong, Rubes!" Yang whined. "I've just been trying to get in touch with you, but I haven't been able to do it, because of this new team you're hanging out with!"

"For some reason, I highly doubt that," Ruby said as she shot a glare at the blonde. "Now, would one of you tell me EXACTLY what happened here?"

"I think I can somewhat explain all that happened here," Blake quickly said, hoping to get things cleared without her team leader getting angrier. "You see, Yang was really bothered by not having you around yesterday, so she decided to come here personally. However, when Weiss and I returned to our dorm, we found her looking she had seen a ghost or something. Because of that, she pleaded us to join her, when she came here to find you this time, as she told us about a "horrifying giant" that lived in this dorm."

"First of all, I am deeply angered by the way you speak of Oliver," the young team leader said in a stern tone, surprising everyone around her. "He is a great guy, which you would know, if you bothered to talk to him. Just because he looks different, doesn't mean you can treat him like some sort of a monster. Do you have any idea how hurtful that is to him? I believe YOU should know a thing or two about being treated badly, Blake."

"I-I wasn't the one who called him that! It was Yang who did!" the cat faunus quickly said in her defense, causing her blonde partner to glare at her. "Anyways, once we came here, the door was opened by a boy, who seemed too young to be a student here. We assumed that he was here to meet a family member of some sorts. Unfortunately, Weiss caused him to get upset, which angered that other girl there."

Now Ruby turned to glare at her partner, who felt herself shrink underneath the younger girl's gaze. By this point, Isabella had let go of the heiress, as she was more interested in seeing where this went.

"Mind telling me what you said to Nilo, Weiss?" the redhead asked as she was barely holding back her anger. "For some reason, I feel like you might have said something completely out of line to him."

"I-I did nothing of the sort!" Weiss quickly said in denial. "He was just so young that I couldn't believe he was an actual student here! Let alone a third-year! How am I in the wrong for that!?"

"Nobody likes it when their skills and achievements are questioned, Weiss. I should know, since you've questioned quite a few things about me," Ruby said in an accusing tone, causing the white-haired girl to start sweating. "Didn't he show you his student ID as proof of being an actual student here?"

"Well, he did, but I assumed that it was fake, so-"

"WHAT KIND OF A MORON ARE YOU, WEISS!?" the scythe-wielder suddenly yelled, shocking everyone around her. She might have looked angry before, but now she looked downright furious. "Do you have ANY idea of what kind of a horrible accusation you've made!? Forging a student ID for Beacon is a crime that can get you at least ten years in prison, if not more! You just accused Nilo of being a horrible criminal! What made you think that was okay!?"

"W-W-W-Well, I didn't say he made it himself. I-I assumed that someone else-"

"POSSESSING AND USING A FAKE ID ARE STILL SERIOUS CRIMES THAT CAN GET YOU INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE, IDIOT! DIDN'T THAT CROSS YOUR MIND!?" Ruby yelled as she walked up to her partner and grabbed her by the front of her shirt. "Had you said that to the wrong person, Nilo could have been put under investigation that could damage his potential future as a Huntsman! If that were to happen, how would you fix it!? I doubt you could use your family's influence to do that!"

"Rubes, calm down!" Yang quickly said, hoping to ease things up before anything too bad happened. "I know that we messed up here, but-"

"NO! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU THREE!" the redhead yelled while grabbing the front of the blonde's shirt with her free hand. "For days now, you three have been nothing but a big pain for me! But it's not bad enough for you to make things hard for me, you have to drag my new friends into it as well! All I want is for you three to stop and let me be happy, BUT YOU SIMPLY CAN'T LET ME BE!"

Needing to take a deep breath after yelling so much, Ruby let go of her two teammates and turned her back on them. The three older girls of team RWBY were still staring at their team leader with shocked expressions on their faces, having not expected the younger girl to get this angry with them. Even the members of team LION were watching the first-year students with wide eyes.

"R-Rubes... We didn't mean to-" Yang began, but was quickly cut off by Ruby.

"Why don't you three just leave?" the redhead said so silently that her teammates almost couldn't hear her. "I already gave you three what you wanted, so why can't you do the same for me?"

"Wait, what do you mean-?" the brawler tried to ask, but didn't get to finish her question.

"I SAID LEAVE!" Ruby yelled as loudly as she could with her face red from anger.

Seeing how upset their team leader truly was, the three older girls of team RWBY decided to do the smart thing and left. Yang still gave one glance at Ruby, before walking away.

With the three members of team RWBY now gone, Ruby was left alone with team LION. The third-year students were still in somewhat of a shoch of what they had just seen and were simply staring at the young team leader.

"Ruby, that was-" Elaine began to say, but was cut off.

"I'm terribly sorry for what happened here," Ruby apologized sincerely. "As the leader of team RWBY, I take full responsibility over the actions of my teammates."

"...Huh?" was all the older team leader was able to say, as she was once again surprised by her new, young friend.

"I swear that I had no idea that my team would do something like this. Not only have they insulted some of your teammates, but they have also accused them of serious crimes without any proof," the scythe-wielder said in a sad tone, as she bowed her head down. "I know my apologies cannot make up for what they have done, but I sincerely hope that-"

Now it was Ruby's turn to be cut off, as she felt a hand get placed on her shoulder. She looked up to see Elaine looking at her with a big smile on her face.

"Ruby, there is absolutely nothing that you should be apologizing to us for," the older team leader said. "I've known you only for a short time, but I know that you're someone who knows how to show proper respect to those who deserve it. While a team leader has to sometimes take responsibility over their teammates, you don't have to do it over every dumb thing they do."

"Yeah, Ruby, don't worry about it!" Isabella yelled with a grin, agreeing with her teammate. "In fact, after seeing you handle them the way you did, I think you've more than shown your capabilities as a team leader! You were so cool and badass that even I was impressed!"

"I-I agree! Y-You were amazing!" Nilo added with a smile on his face. "I-I'm honestly h-happy that I got to m-meet someone as g-great as you. M-Makes me feel great about w-working together with you."

"You accomplished your duty as a team leader admirably, far better than most other team leaders. You have a right to be proud of yourself," Oliver said with a smile and even ruffled Ruby's hair a bit. "Also, thanks for standing up for me. While I don't let my height bother me anymore, it felt great to have someone essentially protect me. I'll be trusting you to watch out for me and my team when we're out on the field."

Ruby looked at the third-year students with wide eyes, having not expected to hear such praise addressed towards herself. However, she could see that her friends were completely serious, which made her feel great inside.

"Thank you all," the young redhead said with a smile and a small blush on her face. "That means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it. By the way, is that how your team is always acting?" Elaine asked. "I know I've only met them once very briefly and heard rumors about them, but I have to say that they seem to be quite a handful. Are they always causing trouble like this?"

"I almost wish that was the only problem," Ruby said with a sad sigh. "There has been no end to the grief I've felt thanks to those three."

"Really? I mean, they didn't seem all that bright, but they didn't seem that bad," Isabella wondered. "Just how bad are they actually?"

"It's a long story..."

Back with the WBY, the three girls had just gotten back to their dorm and were each sitting on their respective beds. They were thinking about how badly they had messed up with Ruby once again and just how bad their mistakes had been.

Not only had they insulted members of team LION, who had done nothing wrong, but Weiss had also accused one of their members of some very serious crimes. While the heiress hadn't actually intended to make any accusations, she had unfortunately done so. This had not only been a big insult against the team LION member, but could have been interpreted badly depending on who had heard Weiss speak.

This all had also led to the three girls antagonizing an older team, which wasn't a good thing in any possible way. Not only were Huntsmen and Huntresses supposed to be trying their best to work together, but making enemies out of older, more experienced students was never a good idea.

However, the worst part had to be the fact that they had once again angered their team leader. While they had certainly done so before, this time it felt worse. The way Ruby had been angry at them told them that she was honestly tired of the three older girls and their antics. There was also the fact that the young redhead had been angered for the sake of her new friends that somehow bothered the trio of girls. For some reason, it felt like Ruby cared about her new friends of team LION more than her own team, and that really hurt the WBY.

"We... really messed up, didn't we?" Weiss asked in a sad tone. "I know we have been getting on Ruby's bad side for some time now, but I feel like we might have really done it now."

"We sure did," Blake responded. "We really need to clear things up between ourselves and Ruby for this. After we let her be for a bit. No point in going to talk with her while she's still mad at us."

"How long are we going to wait?" Yang asked, getting the attention of her two teammates. "For some time now, I've been told that I need to "wait" and it hasn't helped at all! Just how long are we going to wait this time!? As far as I can tell, waiting does nothing!"

Weiss and Blake were surprised by the blonde's outburst, but understood what she meant. They had been telling her to wait and things would get better, but this time it just wouldn't do. The three girls would actually need to do something, if they wanted things to get better.

"We're just going to wait until tomorrow, Yang," Blake said to her partner. "If we try to talk to Ruby now, it's not going to end well. She is still most likely mad at us and doesn't want to even see us, so it's best we let things calm down first. However, the first thing we do tomorrow is going to be walking up to team LION's dorm. Then we will apologize for our behavior and hopefully make things right between us and Ruby once again."

Yang simply nodded at the cat faunus' suggestion, knowing that she was correct. However, one thing was still playing vividly in her mind. It was how Ruby had said that she "had given them what they wanted". The brawler couldn't help but wonder what this meant. Just what was it that the redhead thought her teammates wanted? And what was it that put the idea in her mind?

Yang could only hope that she would find the answer tomorrow.

Author's notes: Next chapter won't be the WBY confronting their team leader yet, but it will actually deal with them finding out just how bad things are without Ruby around. I know that I haven't put much focus on Weiss and Blake, but I hope to at least somewhat correct this in the next chapter.

I wanted this chapter to be about the WBY confronting team LION, which gets them on Ruby's bad side again. This would then lead to the three girls feeling somewhat jealous over the fact that their team leader was sticking up for another team, instead of her own. Hope you guys liked the chapter.

Until next time.

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