Notice Me, Ruby!
Chapter 28: Truth Comes Out
After her talk with Qrow, Yang made her way back to Beacon, determined to tell Ruby everything about her father and the feelings the blonde had for her. In Yang's opinion, the redhead had the right to know about both, especially her father. The truth had been hidden from her for too long already.
Now the problem was finding Ruby, but Yang had a pretty good idea on how to find the younger girl. Knowing how she had been acting lately, it wouldn't be surprising if Ruby was either studying in the library or practicing in one of the training areas. If she wasn't at either one of those places, she would most likely be with team LION.
The idea of meeting up with the third-year team didn't sound all that pleasing to Yang, due to the animosity the older students had towards her, Weiss and Blake. However, the brawler was determined to see Ruby right now and not even an army of Grimm was going to stop her. If it came down to it, Yang would be more than willing to fight her way through team LION along with any other third-year students dumb enough to try and stop her.
It didn't take long for Yang to check both the library and the training areas, only to find no girl wearing a red cloak in any of them. This left only one option and that was team LION's dorm. With a heavy sigh, the blonde prepared herself to make her way to the older students' dorm and to hopefully find the missing redhead.
Just as she was about to start making her way towards the area of the third-years, Yang happened to meet up with her own teammates, Weiss and Blake, on the way. The monochrome duo didn't seem to be in high spirits, as they had sad looks on their faces. Concerned over the well-being of her friends, the brawler decided to first see what was up with them.
"Hey guys, what's with the sad faces?" Yang asked in a concerned tone. "Did something bad happen while I was away?"
"You could say that," Weiss replied. "Yang… Do you think we have been fair towards Ruby?"
"What do you mean by that?" the blonde asked in return.
"You see, we met up with Ruby not too long ago and we tried to ask her about all the third-years that have been trying to get into contact with her so much these days," Blake began to explain. "I hate to say this, but things got a bit… heated between us."
"What? What happened?" Yang asked, worried over what could have happened. "Did somebody get hurt or something?"
"Not physically, but I honestly would have preferred that over what we actually got," Weiss answered as she looked down in shame. "Ruby kind of tore into us. Big time."
"She pretty much pointed out how hypocritical we've been towards her, especially with our attitudes," Blake explained further. "For Weiss, Ruby was angry over her arrogant attitude and the way she considers herself above others. As for me, she was angry over me not taking others into consideration and only focusing on my own problems."
"I see…" Yang said thoughtfully. "I mean, she does have a point, but we all have our faults, don't we? I mean, no one is really perfect, right?"
"That might be so, but the way Ruby said it all, it was just really something else," Weiss said. "Just from the way she said all that to us, we just knew that she had been bottling up her emotions for a while now. But more importantly, her voice just sounded so… hurt. It wasn't so much that she was sick of the way we acted in general, but more about the way we treated her."
"Huh?" was all the brawler could say.
"Our issues weren't just general problems for her, but rather things that we had done to her. And as we thought about it, we knew that she was right," Blake explained. "We haven't exactly been the nicest people towards her. Weiss with her arrogance is something I'm sure we are all very aware of, but I haven't been the best teammate either. I do tend to view myself as the only one with problems, ignoring what others are going through. And when they need help, even if it's just a little, I tend to not give them what they need."
Yang wanted to protest and say that her friends were exaggerating, but she knew it was true. Her two teammates had done a fair share of things to put themselves on Ruby's bad side. To make it worse, she herself had done so as well, such as when they had first come to Beacon and she had suggested that they shouldn't be partners, along with not helping Ruby with their other teammates like she should have.
"I guess we have really screwed up then, huh?" Yang asked while looking down in shame. "Some teammates we are. We go and treat our team leader like garbage, take her for granted and when we try to fix it all, we just make everything worse in the end."
"You're not kidding. If there was an award for worst teammates in Beacon, I feel like we would be getting it for sure," Blake said. "Considering what just happened between us and Ruby, I think it would be best for us to give her some room and not bother her at all."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," the blonde said, surprising her two teammates. "There are some things that Ruby needs to know. That she deserves to know, and I am not going to stand around doing nothing any longer."
"Yang, wait a minute! Are you sure about this!?" Weiss asked, worried that her rowdy teammate might just make things even worse. "We just told you what happened between us and Ruby! Do you really think that's a good time to go and bother her further!?"
"It might not be a smart thing to do, but I feel like it's the right thing to do," Yang said as she started to head towards team LION's dorm. "Besides, love is not about doing the smartest things."
The monochrome duo could only watch as their blonde teammate walked away from them, not knowing what they could do to stop her.
A bit later, Yang had made her way to team LION's dorm. She stopped at the door for a moment and took a deep breath to calm herself. This was most likely going to be difficult, no matter what. Either the brawler would have to struggle with the third-year students just for the chance to say anything to Ruby or her conversation with the younger girl could very well turn ugly very quickly. Whatever the case was, she just hoped that she would be able to say what she came here to say.
After steeling her resolve, Yang firmly knocked on the door and waited for it to be opened. It didn't take long for the leader of team LION to open it, and as the brawler would have expected, the redheaded third-year immediately glared at her upon recognizing her.
"What the hell do you want, Xiao Long?" Elaine asked, clearly not in the mood to deal with the younger student. "I don't remember inviting you here, so why did you feel the need to bother us?"
"I'm looking for Ruby. Is she here?" Yang simply asked without her voice wavering even a bit.
"Yeah, she's here alright, but you're not going to see her," the third-year student replied with venom practically dripping from her voice. "She has had to deal with her idiotic teammates enough for today, so I think it would be fair for you to leave her alone."
"I didn't come here to fight or argue with you, Elaine," the blonde said with unyielding resolve. "All I want is to talk with Ruby and that's it. Once that is done, I will leave."
"I don't think you're getting this through your thick skull here, blondie!" Elaine almost yelled as her anger began to rise. "You and those other two have done enough damage to Ruby, so I refuse to let you make things worse! Now do yourself a favor and beat it!"
"I will leave only after I've talked with Ruby and nothing will change that. I will stand here and wait for her for as long as I have to in order to make that happen."
The third-year team leader was about to start yelling at the younger student, but a hand on her back stopped her. She looked behind her to see Ruby standing there.
"It's okay, Ellie," the younger redhead said. "I'll see what she has to say."
"Are you sure about that, Ruby?" Elaine asked, concerned over the younger girl's well-being. "You know that we are willing to defend you no matter what, right?"
"I know and I do appreciate that," Ruby answered. "But I feel like whatever Yang wants with me is something that I won't be able to avoid, no matter what. It's best to just get this over with as soon as possible."
"Okay, but call us if things get bad, alright?" the older redhead said. "Just ask us and we will come to your aid immediately."
"I will. Thank you."
Elaine stepped out of the way to let Ruby get out of the dorm while giving Yang one more glare. Now that they were left alone, the two first-year students walked away from the third-year dorms, so that they could talk in private.
Once the two girls were far enough from the dorms, they stopped walking. Ruby turned to look at Yang with a frown on her face.
"What do you want now, Yang?" the redhead asked angrily. "I'm really not in the mood to deal with either you or our other teammates."
"I heard what happened with you, Weiss and Blake, and I'm sorry," the blonde apologized. "I didn't know you felt that way."
"Well, now you do," Ruby said simply. "Was that all you wanted to see me for or was there something else as well?"
"There is quite a lot actually. In fact, I needed to see you because of two things that I needed to tell you," Yang explained. "I was originally looking for you to tell you these things."
"What are they?" the young team leader asked with a raised eyebrow, now slightly curious.
"First, I just had a talk with Uncle Qrow about certain… things that I need to talk about with you as well. However, he told me something that you not only need to know, but you have a right to know," the brawler began. "It's about your father, Ruby."
"My father?" Ruby repeated with wide eyes.
"Yes. His name was Ruben Woods and he was a student of this school at the same time your mother was here as well."
Yang told Ruby everything she had learned from Qrow regarding the redhead's father. How he had been a prodigal team leader back in the day in Beacon and how he had gotten to know Summer as a fellow team leader. She also told the younger girl about how her father had been treated by both his own teammates and Summer's team, which included Yang's parents, and how it had eventually led to Ruben Woods' death.
Once the blonde finished her story, she looked at Ruby and saw just how badly she had been shaken to the core by this revelation. The redhead's face was completely pale, her eyes were wide and she had a horrified look on her face. Ruby's body was also trembling slightly and she eventually fell to her knees.
"All this time… All this time I had no idea as to who my father was or where he had gone to. I didn't even know if he had ever loved or if he had just left me," the young team leader managed to say as her voice began to crack and tears began to fall from her eyes. "And now I find out that the reason I never knew anything about him was because he is dead, after being betrayed by those he trusted."
Seeing how badly these news had affected Ruby, Yang moved closer in order to hug the younger girl, only to get violently pushed away.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Ruby screamed angrily as tears were freely falling from her eyes. "Don't you dare lay your hands on me! Hasn't your whole family done enough to hurt me already!?"
"Ruby, please don't! I never wanted to hurt you!" Yang pleaded. "I know my parents hurt yours big time and I'm sure they both regret it, but I never wanted to harm you! I told you this because you had the right to know the truth!"
"You never wanted to harm me!? DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO BELIEVE THAT!?" the redhead kept screaming angrily. "But I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised over what your parents did! After all, you are just as bad as they are!?"
"H-How could you say that, Rubes?" the blonde asked with wide eyes. "What have I ever done to you that is this bad?"
"How about I give you a reminder?" Ruby asked as she took out her Scroll and played the recording of Yang's talk with Weiss and Blake.
To say that the brawler was shocked by what she heard would be a huge understatement. Yang felt her blood run cold as her heart shattered with every horrible word she heard herself and her other two teammates say. Once the recording ended, the blonde's face was one of mortified horror. Her face had an expression of a person that had just seen a ghost walk by them and her skin was completely pale. She was struggling not to burst into tears.
"H-How could we do something like that?" Yang thought to herself, as she was trying to make sense of this whole thing. "This has to be a mistake! There's no way I could do something like that! Ruby has always been everything to me, so I could never-!"
However, despite all of her attempts at denying it, the brawler knew that this was the truth. That she, along with Weiss and Blake, had gone behind their team leader's back and said all those terrible things. The recording had even reminded her of that time.
"No wonder she has been avoiding us all this time! Who would want to hang around people who talk about you behind your back like that!? All this time I thought something was wrong with Ruby and the one with something wrong in them was me all along!" Yang thought to herself. "Oh, Ruby… I'm so sorry…"
"I see you've finally realized what you did, huh?" Ruby said as she put away her Scroll. "Well, it's too late now. I'm not about to trust any of you after everything you've done."
"Rubes… Please…" Yang tried to desperately plead as she was choking on her tears. "I'm sorry…"
"I might have believed you at one point, but not anymore," the redhead said coldly as she walked past the older girl and stopped just behind her. "Besides, you won't have to worry about seeing me anymore, so you, Weiss and Blake will get what you wanted."
"W-What do you mean?" Yang asked while dreading the answer.
"I'm going to advance to the third-year students soon and get assigned to a new team," Ruby answered. "After that, we won't have to see each other ever again."
The blonde's eyes went wide as she heard that her beloved redhead was going to leave their team. She tried to desperately reach out to the younger girl to stop her from leaving, only for Ruby to disappear in a cloud of rose petals.
With Ruby now gone, Yang fell to her knees and cried. Not only did her beloved redhead hate her, but she was also going to leave her, most likely for good.
At that moment, the brawler felt like her whole world was shattering around herself.
Author's notes: Hello everybody. Sorry for taking so long before updating again. I wasn't originally going to take so long to return, but I kind of needed it. I've been dealing with depression during the time I was away and I fear I haven't really gotten all that better.
I hate to say this as it will make me sound very petty, but along with the numerous other issues I've been dealing with, the state of RWBY itself is one of the big reasons for my absence and problems with writing these stories. I just cannot bring myself to accept what RT has done with the series, especially when it comes to Miles and Kerry. I honestly despise those two and consider them to be nothing but filthy thieves.
During my absence, I've come to understand why the state of RWBY affects me so much. Not only is it one of the very few and rare series I've truly loved, it also offered me a form of escapism from reality, as I could spend hours upon hours just thinking about the stories I could make based on it. This is what led me to coming to this site, which I have enjoyed greatly. However, with the way RT has handled the series, I feel like I've lost all of that. I didn't just lose a thing I loved, but also my source of inspiration and my way to escape from reality from time to time. Not only that, now all the work and passion I've poured onto these stories now feels like a waste.
Please do not take this as me saying that you aren't allowed to like the current RWBY. If you like it, I have no issues with that. Like I've said before, this is just my stance on this and in no way am I trying to make you feel the same way at all. In fact, if I'm being honest, I'm jealous of people that are enjoying the series, as they have something I no longer have myself.
Also, to the person saying that I'm only saying all this just so that I can have a "popular opinion", let me just say one thing. Do you really think I care about having a popular opinion? Even if my opinion was "popular" like you said it was, do you think that is something I really want? Ever since I had to give up on RWBY, I've felt MISERABLE and I've been struggling to find things to be happy about, since I've lost a series that I loved with all my heart and gave me much needed relief with everything that's going on, as well as a hobby I've loved ever since I started it. But I guess in your mind being truly happy and having things to enjoy are nowhere near as important as "popular opinions."
Anyways, I am going to do my best to finish this story at least, so all the people who supported it will get to see it to the end.
Until next time.
RWBY belongs to Monty Oum.