WARNING: Blood! Again! This chapter may feature someone getting sliced clean in half! You know that video of the guy slicing water bottles with a katana? Yeah imagine that but like with a person. Yeah. Its real quick tho! Just, letting you know its there in case you really hate that stuff! Also thanks for reading. Love y'all.
Weiss struggled against the larger guys hold, but it was no use. A wave of fear washed over her, the fear you get when you're stuck in a tight place and can't move. The person in front of her pulled on one of Weiss's arms, holding out a knife. Weiss didn't know what he was planning on doing with said knife, but whatever it was couldn't have been good. The hand of the guy covering her mouth held her a little tighter, covering her nose by accident. Weiss couldn't breath. She kicked and kicked, but still to no avail. Her vision started to blur and the knife touched her forearm.
A spluttering slashing sound graced Weiss's ears. Huh? Something hard crashed onto her side, and she realized she'd been thrown to the ground. Weiss sucked in a deep gulp of air, gasping for breath. A metallic scent filled the room. Weiss shook her head and quickly sat up, trying to get her bearings. She was sitting in something wet.
As her head cleared she was able to see what was happening. Well, ostly. Two figures were fighting not 10 feet away from her. Weiss frantically scrambled back, scooting up to the farthest wall from them. The pale moonlight lit up only patches of the room, making it difficult for Weiss to tell who was winning, much less who they even were. But she could assume that one of them was the person who had just been holding her. But, where was her second captor?
There were two lumps in the opposite corner of the room, Weiss saw. Could they be the second one? But there were two lumps there, not on–... Oh. Oh god! Weiss covered her mouth and stared. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see exactly what those two fallen lumps were. A body sliced straight through the waist into two. Weiss just barely managed not to scream, and a second later flung her hands away from her mouth, wiping them on her clothes. As she expected, the wet feeling that had been on her hands left dark stains. She shuddered at the thought of how messy her face must have been.
A loud crack sounded, as the larger of her two captors fell to the ground with his arm bent an unnatural way. And the one who had made him like that, bathed in silver moonlight, was Ruby. Ruby panted heavily, her red claws dripping a dark liquid Weiss didn't want to admit was blood. The claws started to shrink. Weiss watched in awe as all of Ruby's semi dragon features slowly shrunk into non existence, leaving behind only the cute messy girl Weiss had fallen in love with. Well... At least they had the half dragon sickness thing solved now! Ruby's clothes were torn and soaked red, and the poor girl was exhausted. But she seemed happy. Ruby turned her eyes to Weiss, childish glee shining brighter than the sun ever could.
"YOU'RE OK!" She croaked, her voice cracking halfway through. Ruby threw herself onto Weiss, knocking her down into another puddle of sickly smelling blood. Weiss grimaced, but wrapped her arms around Ruby all the same. Ruby had saved her. Weiss didn't want to admit it, but she'd been so scared, confined and unable to breath, that was something she never wanted to experience again. The only closeness she was willing to accept right now was a hug from Ruby.
Ruby propped herself up a bit above Weiss, staring down into her eyes with a wide smile. She closed them a second later, nuzzling Weiss's forehead with her own. Weiss felt a pang of sadness in her heart. This girl had literally just killed someone for Weiss, but all she was concerned with was Weiss safety. She was so happy just knowing Weiss was alright. What lengths would she go to for Weiss? Weiss didn't want to become like an 'owner' for Ruby. She had to help this girl become a little more streetwise, maybe give her some lessons on common sense. You know, take it slow. Ruby's smile was so dazzling. Take it slow. Weiss definitely didn't want to pressure her into anything, Ruby needed to learn proper human morals. Take it slow. Now wasn't the time for anything sentimental.
Ah, to hell with it.
Weiss raised her head just a bit, and pressed her lips against Ruby's. She held the gesture for 2 seconds, then lowered her head back down. Ruby's mouth hung open after, and Weiss thought she saw her lick her bottom lip a littllllle aaaaAAAAHHHHHH WAIT WAIT Weiss flipped herself out from under Ruby and rolled onto her stomach, covering her face. NOOOOO THAT DOESN'T COUNT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SOMEWHERE ROMANTIC NOT IN A PUDDLE OF BLOOD AAAAAA! Weiss screamed at herself in her head, the sane part of her mind kicking in just after the kiss had ended. She kicked her legs a little in frustration.
"K-kiss! Kiss! We kissed! Wait, uh, let's do it again! I wasn't ready!" Ruby returned to her senses as well, but didn't seem to share the same viewpoint on what situation was romantic enough for a kiss with Weiss.
"Not here! Dolt!" Weiss half screeched.
Ruby giggled. "Later then? If that's ok?" Ruby moved over and sat on Weiss's back, tapping at her head.
Weiss kept her head down, trying to calm her blush. A few seconds later, Weiss felt a tickle behind her ear. She could hear Ruby's breath, so close. She jolted and yelped a little as she looked back at Ruby. "Hey!"
When Weiss turned her head, Ruby's tongue rubbed against her cheek. "I'm cleaning your ear! Its got blood on it. It's not good to get stuff in your ear!" Ruby said, like it was common knowledge.
Woa, Weiss didn't even know it was possible to want to kiss someone again and punch them in the face at the same time. How interesting! "Ruby. There's this thing called bathing. That us humans do." Weiss said, still trying to push down her blush.
"Oh yeah, that's right. We should do that." Ruby stood, and held out a hand to help Weiss up. "Wanna go?" Ruby stopped and looked at her own stretched out hand. "Ah! I'm cured! Weiss, look! I don't have claws anymore!" Ruby twirled a little, checking to see if her tail and other dragon features were gone as well. "Yay! Now I can go outside with you whenever again~!" She jumped in place happily for a moment.
Weiss got up on her own, and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder to calm her. "Let's try to get back." She said softly.
"Yeah! We can go to another city now! Oh, it'll be so fun to have you try riding me again! I can go so fast! You know, you've seen it!" Ruby chatted enthusiastically as Weiss took her hand and started back towards the hole in the wall she had originally come into the room from.
This time, Weiss didn't let for of Ruby's hand for even a second. As they navigated the maze like halls, Weiss thought to herself. She had to keep Ruby safe. Had to keep Ruby safe. Ruby... Wait. Had Ruby ever really been in danger? It seemed like, Weiss herself was the one always in danger. And Ruby kept saving her. The bandits at the first town, the first time she met Henry, Ruby had even calmed Blake down a bit on their first meeting so she wouldn't stab Weiss. Oh. Oh no. Wasn't Weiss just continuously being, a damsel in distress?! That was the exact thing she'd been running away from! The stupid role she was supposed to play, an obedient princes wife, no! No no no!
Why did that keep happening? All these situations where Ruby had to save her? Was the world just like that? No, otherwise women would have gone extinct. Was it her hair? It was pretty noticeable. That could paint her as a target. But wait, besides a reason for those things happening, why couldn't Weiss get out of those situations herself? Think back. What happened, what went wrong.
The bandits. Over numbered, caught and cornered.
Blake. Tricked, caught and cornered.
The ninja. Taken by surprise, caught and cornered until she tripped.
Henry. Cornered verbally.
Just now. Outnumbered, caught off guard and cornered again.
...Weiss was beginning to see a pattern here. The problem, the root of the problem, was she just kept letting people catch her. It would make sense that she had this problem.. As the only things Weiss had ever trained against were Winters summoned beasts and practice dummys. Never had Weiss had a real battle with another human that could think, until she left the castle. People weren't that different from animals. Weiss should have been able to beat them. The problem, was that they could think.
Weiss had some level of skill and experience, but that was no match for the raw strength Ruby possessed just by being alive. It didn't matter if your enemy could think if you could crush them in a second. But Weiss couldn't do that. She needed to train with a real person to get over this hurdle. ...unfortunately, Weiss only had 3 friends. None of which were human. Ffffffffff uhhh well Blake was close enough. Right. Weiss made a mental note to ask Blake to help her learn to fight a bit better. She was an assassin, she'd have to know some useful things!
The girls continued on, Weiss stewing in her own thoughts. To get back took them until sunrise. There were so many hidden passages, and they had to be even MORE careful avoiding people, because they were covered in blood. Ruby's red cloak helped with hiding their bloodiness, but still, it wasn't really made for two people. Luckily Yang was sitting on the steps of the inn, and easily flagged down with a wave of Weiss's hand and a few rocks thrown.
Yang marched over mime strangling Ruby and Weiss. "I swear to GOD you two will be the death of me!" She said through clenched teeth. A second later Yang leaned over and wrapped Ruby in a tight bear hug. "Uuuu... Stupid Blake... Hanging out with her is making me care about the ones I love to much!"
A book smacked Yang on the head lightly. "And that's a bad thing?" Blake came up from behind Yang, and gagged when she saw Ruby and Weiss. "Oh woa. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing for you. I could excuse it once, but if it's gonna continue." Blake gave a half smile and stepped back so she wouldn't be dragged into a messy hug.
"Can you get me a blanket or something? Ruby's got her cloak, but, I don't think I'd have such a good time walking across the clearing like this." Weiss ignored Blakes playfull jab.
"Yeah, got it." Blake turned to Yang. "You take your sister to the bath, I'll get Weiss a blanket and help her out. Weiss, stay hidden a few more minutes." Yang nodded, dragging Ruby away from Weiss despite her protest. Weiss couldn't help but chuckle a little at her display of affection. "Be back in a minute." Blake ran off too.
Weiss now stood in the alley across the road from the inn, alone. She sighed. She reeeeally hoped her and Ruby wouldn't make getting into such bloody situations a habit. Honestly, this was the third time!
"Good morning Weiss!" A voice said. Oh fu– "Lovely day we're having, isn't it? I saw yo–" Henry stopped in his tracks, mouth agape. That was a normal reaction, Weiss supposed, to seeing someone covered in blood splatters. "Uh..." He stood still. "Are you, ok?"
Weiss covered her face and held in a groan. "I'm fine Henry. This, isn't a good time." 'This isn't a good time' really? Weiss remembered a day when she would have just straight up told henry to screw off. But too many revenge seeking suitors and isolated hours alone as punishment for such actions had dampened her more expressive ways of showing defiance. She hated that. She needed to learn to feel comfortable saying a straight up 'no' to people again. Uhg, just add that to the list...
Henry stared at her. "Uhh..." he seemed to want to help, but was unsure of what he could even do. "You look tired."
Well, Weiss had been up essentially all night. it wouldn't surprise her if she had some bags under her eyes to show for it. "I'm fine." She said.
"If I might ask, is that, your blood? Or someone else's."
"Someone else's."
"... Did, umm,YOU make them bleed?"
"No."
"Oh thank god so you're not a murderer?"
Weiss shot him a cold glare. "Not YET."
Blake came up behind Henry out of nowhere, and poked his neck. He jumped and scooted away. Blake covered Weiss in a scratchy blanket and started tugging her towards the inn.
"Do you know her?" Henry asked Weiss, as if he were ready to fight Blake if Weiss didn't know her.
"Yes Henry. Goodbye!" Weiss said as Blake ushered her away from Henry and into the inn, and from there into the inns bath area.
Blake joined Weiss in the bath, and was kind enough to help Weiss wash off, as there was blood plastered to places on her back she couldn't really reach properly. Weiss felt calmer now, around Blake. This was soothing. They sat in silence for a while, before Blake spoke up. "So, you wanna tell me how you got all this on you?" She asked, scrubbing intently at the middle of Weiss's back.
Weiss groaned. "Remember the shadow bear?"
"Yeah." Blake dumped a bucket of warm water on Weiss to rinse her a bit.
Weiss coughed a bit after breathing a tiny bit of the water. "Ahk. Ah. Well, imagine that, but instead of a bear its a person and instead of a hole its a slice clean through."
"Oh YIKES! That really happened?" Blake Winced.
Weiss nodded. "It was dark so it was hard to see, but yeah. That happened."
"And I thought Yang had problems." Blake shook her head. "Oh and, you might have a few pinkish splotches in your hair for a while. Unlike the shadow bear, this stuff had hours and hours to set in."
"Uhg. Perfect." Weiss complained, pulling her hair around front and examining some of the said pink spots.
"Just say they're from berries. Or that someone spilled wine on you." Blake shrugged.
"Hey, how do you think I should address the murder thing with Ruby? It honestly scared the hell out of me that she did that. But at the same time, if she hadn't, I wouldn't be here right now."
Blake tilted her head, and looked to the side as if remembering something. "Yang's kinda like that too. A good person, but just a little too desensitized to violence. I'm guessing it's just a dragon thing? Either that or their family line is just really weird."
"Might be a bit of both." Weiss shrugged.
Blake and Weiss got dressed and went up to the room Blake and Yang were using. Weiss borrowed Blake's comb, planning to brush out all the snarls that had accumulated in her hair from gallivanting about a bunch of secret passages.
"Want me to brush your hair?" Blake asked, her cat ears twitching. She hadn't but her bow back on yet.
"Its fine, I can manage." Weiss said, a second before accidentally dropping the brush.
Blake raised an eyebrow picked it up. "Are you now?" Weiss looked away guilty. "You're exhausted. Turn your head, come on." Blake moved Weiss closer and started gently running the brush through her hair.
"I could definitely do this myself." Weiss pouted.
"Yeah yeah. How about you think about what you're going to say to Ruby when you see her in a few minutes?" Blake said calmly. Weiss wondered if Blake had any siblings. She seemed so mothering.
"Oh. Right." Weiss put a hand to her chin and thought. Then she remembered. Her and Ruby had kissed. Weiss's eyes widened, and she felt her face heat up.
"Your ears just turned bright red." Blake observed.
Weiss covered her face and let out a half his half silent scream.