See Author's Note Below
Like a wolf I was, I followed the smell that trailed off to the side of the cliff. I ventured forward and crossed a small stream, continuously pursuing the recognizable scent. The further I wandered out from the school, the stronger the trace got. I took my time as I was in no rush. Blake couldn't escape if she wanted since I had her locked right under my nose.
I crouched closer to the floor and took a silent whiff. Blake was definitely nearby. Cautiously, I prowled behind the dense bushes, trying to find my target in sight. And there she was, leaning against the bark of a tree. Blake sat there with her knees hugged close to her chest. She was muttering something under her breath that my ears couldn't quite catch. Her lackluster amber eyes stared down at her shoes, unconsciously twiddling her thumbs. From my knees, I rose from the bushes to approach Blake. However, rustling leaves startled the Faunus from her trance-like state and she fumbled back onto her feet, taking a few strides back.
"Blake."
"Ruby."
As I took a few steps forward, the Faunus also took a few steps back. A heavy tension enveloped the air as she observed my every move with hostility.
"I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk," I assured. Blake's shoulders relaxed a tiny bit, but she still held her guard up. "Please Blake, I just want to talk." The Faunus never responded as she continued to stare at me with eyes of hesitation. My unwavering persistency continued as I tried to convince her. "Do it for me. Please?" Her tensed shoulder dropped back down and she let out a sigh. Blake sat back down to the tree and leaned back with her knees tucked to her chest again.
"For a quiet person, you have a good taste in secluded spots," I complimented as I sat beside her. Blake never responded, allowing a brief silence to capture the air. My eyes wandered around the small luscious forest, indulging in the beauty of nature. The sun peeped through the trees, bathing a few spots of grass with its rays of warmth, and the leaves fell naturally from its branches, swaying side to side in the air.
"Why are you here?" Her voice softly whispered.
"To talk," my lips curled into a reassuring smile.
"Even though I was affiliated with the White Fangs?"
"Yep," I popped the 'p'. A brief moment have passed and I opened my mouth again. "I certainly thought about it for awhile. When I asked myself what I would do when I see you, all I could've think about was revenge." Blake stiffened upon hearing an uncomforting word. She nervously shied herself away from me as I went on. "I mean, that's logical right? It was the White Fang's fault that went missing for five years." The raven hair girl eyes widen in a brief surprise. Her guilt consumed her as she attempted to tug her knees more than her body allowed her to with my past tragedy weighing heavily in her conscious mind.
"Five years...?"
"Yep, five long years."
"I'm so sorry Ruby," Blake solemnly said. "I'm sorry what they- no, what we had done to you. I-I never thought that -" I held my hand up to stop Blake from talking and continued on with my story.
"Then not too long ago, I met Ozpin and he invited me to attend Beacon. Later on, he appointed me as team leader." Then I looked back at Blake. "Do you know where I'm going with this?" Blake shook her head and kept silently quiet. "He reminded me what are the leader's responsibilities," I answered my own question. To think that I had to rely on Ozpin to recall what it truly means to be a leader. It was foolish of me to place my selfish desires first. It was foolish of me to forget the same words that I told Weiss. It was foolish of me to let Blake's grasp slip from mine. "Rather than carrying out my revenge, I'll carry your burdens."
My bright silver orbs looked at her, and the corner of my lips perked into a genuine smile. "I'm sure you came to Beacon bearing a baggage full of scars and secrets just like me. From the difficulties of being a Faunus, to the days you were in the White Fang, and even in the future, I'll shoulder them all for you Blake." The Faunus was taken aback with my honesty as she couldn't sense a single lie from our talk. Her lips quivered and she clamped her mouth with a hand.
"Why?" She whispered again.
I leaned my head back against the trunk with my eyes roaming to the sky of trees. "To put it simply, you're my teammate. But if you really want to know more, it's because I can't call myself a team leader if I'll be letting you down. It's my job to protect you, not to hurt you." My arms snaked over her shoulders comfortingly. "Hurting my own teammate is the last thing I ever want to do. I'll put away my resentment only for you, but I won't forgive the other White Fang members." I paused and my brows wrinkled. "You're still not in the White Fang are you?" I glanced over to her, dispelling the heartfelt conversation that we were having. Blake shook her head and I released a breath of relief that I didn't know I held.
"Thank you, but I think the others will have a harder time accepting me," Blake sighed.
"Weiss might be a tough one, but I think Yang will have the heart. I'm sure you'll be fine, I'll be here." I hoisted myself and held a hand out for her. "Come on lets go back. You already missed one day of class." Smiling, she took my hand and we made our way back to the dorms. By the time we reached to the airship bay, we noticed two figures idly waiting.
"Hey!" I waved my arms side to side. My ears and tail flopped around as I actively jumped to catch their attention. They both turned around and Yang waved back at me with a smile. However, Weiss looked like she had a stick up her ass. "Hey Weiss, what changed your mind?"
"Yang," she grumbled in a malice tone of voice. I looked at Yang for more details but she only mischievously grinned. I wonder what my sister do to convince Weiss. Maybe Yang did shove a stick up her ass to persuade her. Tension arise in the air as the heiress and my sister were glaring at the ex-White Fang member right next to me.
"Blake."
"Weiss."
"Blake."
"Yang."
Before the two girls could say anything, Blake opened her mouth first and began sputtering, "I'm sorry, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fangs. Back when -" The blond brawler held her hand up to stop Blake from babbling. I nervously gulped, hoping my sister wouldn't throw Blake off the cliff. Yang would definitely do something like that now that she's more protective of me than before.
With her hands on her hips, my sister squared up to the raven haired girl and kept her eyes glued to her. "If my sister can forgive you, then I can forgive you. But if you ever hurt a single hair on Ruby, then you better pray that she will be there to stop me." My tense shoulders relaxed back down, glad that it turned out to be a civilized conversation instead of a blood bath,
"Of course," Blake simply nodded and smiled. Then she looked at Weiss and her heartbeat picked up. She was nervous because the heiress kept silently to herself the whole time. Not to mention, the cold expression she always wore didn't do it justice either. "Weiss?"
The heiress leaned on one leg and looked her dead in the eye. "We may have accept you, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have my trust. If you want my trust, then you earn it." Now, trust worked in funny ways. Sometimes they were easy, or hard, to gain and definitely quick to lose. Eventually, I knew Blake could earn Weiss's trust one day. It may be tomorrow or it may take a few months.
Blake understandingly nodded with a wide grin on her face. It seemed like a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders, freeing her from the anxieties she carried. Seeing that Team RWBY didn't falter within 24 hours, I let out a happy sigh.
"We should celebrate! Team bonding!" I enthusiastically exclaimed, pumping my arm in the air.
"No, we're studying," Weiss deadpanned.
"What?" I was flabbergasted with an ajar mouth. "Who studies on the first day of school!"
"Us, since your attention span today have been inadequate. I do hope you'll join us soon Blake. After all, you missed the first day of class," Weiss said adamantly. "This includes you too Yang."
"Yeah yeah Ice Queen. How about you and Ruby get a head start. We'll catch up... Later," my sister suggested, trying to hide a sly smile. My eyebrows pinched together and I mouthed a 'what' to Yang as she practically threw me under the bus.
"Then I better see you at the library." Weiss took the back of my collar and dragged me back to the academy's main building. My ears wilted back and I started whimpering. I mouthed a 'help me' to Blake in hopes that she would come to my rescue, but my efforts were fruitless as she mouthed an apology back.
It was hopeless.
I have been forsaken by my sister and my teammate for study duty. On a positive note, I get to spend more time with Weiss. That was an incentive right? Oh who am I kidding, Weiss will be getting more than she bargained for. I'll probably be the shittiest student here. Never in my life have I studied, took proper notes, or have taken a written test. This will probably be embarrassing.
By the time we reached to the library, I sat down in a chair while the heiress sat across from me. She gracefully took out her book unlike me who grumblingly threw the book onto the table, slamming it open to a random page. My eyes flicked back up to Weiss as I watched her take out few pieces of paper, pencils, and pens. Silver orbs trailed back down to the grimm anatomy book, flipping to the correct assigned reading page.
I scanned through the page and mentally scoffed at the reading Port had assigned to us. He was making us study the body structure of a beowolf. My eyes skimmed around as I flipped through the remaining assigned pages in the textbook. Majority of the facts he wanted us to learn were about beowolves and ursas. A part of me felt like there was no point in reading today's homework. I already had my fair share of beowolves and ursas from that five years. Slowly, I closed the book and slouched back into my chair.
"What are you doing?" Weiss whispered. She stopped scribbling her notes and looked up.
"I think I'm done studying for today," I answered in defeat.
"Ruby Rose, we haven't even sat here for ten minutes." Her quiet voice was a bit harsher than usual.
"But Weiss, he's making us read about beowolves and ursas. I'll start studying when he assigns us about nevermores or something." I wasn't sure how much a textbook could inform me compared to my firsthand visual analysis. I had examined more than enough beowolves and ursas to the point that I could practically write a book about it.
"Then get a head start," she hissed.
Head start? What am I suppose to do? Read the whole damn book? I groaned loudly at the good student and earned a shush back from the scowling librarian. My cheek rested against my palm and I opened the book again. I mindlessly flickered through the pages, pretending to be doing something. If there was such thing, I would earn a gold medal for being the worst student ever.
"Ruby." Weiss spoke up, not taking her eyes from her book. "That's not studying."
"Can't you throw me into a pit of ursas and beowolves? I learn better like that," I pleaded. "Or even better, throw me into a pit of goliaths or something." Weiss raised an eyebrow at my ridiculous request. "Okay, maybe not goliaths but you get what I mean." Fighting a raging goliath that was several times bigger wasn't the smartest idea. I've seen one up close before, but I wasn't dumb enough to use my tiny scrapped sickle to tickle it.
"Here then study this," she sighed. I read the title of the vomit colored book that she slid across the table. Dust for Dummies.
Wow.
"Thanks Weiss," I muttered in a sarcastic disdainful voice. "I appreciate your kind generosity." I grudgingly accepted the book and scanned over multiple pages of the table of content. My eyebrows furrowed to the amount of content that the book had.
What the fuck.
How can this be for dummies? The textual font was barely visible to the naked eye. There were long paragraphs with barely any breaks in between. Hardly any colorful pictures. Sophisticated vocabulary beyond my comprehension. Who the hell even made this book? I flipped back to the front cover and read the publisher.
Schnee Dust Company.
I silently closed the book again as it was a forlorn attempt to understand the facts that the book offered. My head subtly tilted up to the snowy white haired heiress. Her piercing icy eyes browsed through the grimm study textbook as she jotted down notes. She had diagrams of a beowolf with organized details of its anatomy. I inspected closer at her outlines, turning my head as I tried to read her neat writing.
"Ruby," her voice sounded weary and her pencil stopped moving. My back stiffened as I was caught red handed. Long manicured nails tapped slowly against the polished wooden table as her frigid eyes left her book and met mine.
"Y-Yes Weiss?"
"You're a leader, so please act like one."
"But Weiss, this book is shi-," I coughed to mind my manners. "So long and hard to understand. How about this. I'll teach you about the grimm and you can teach me about dust."
"And what can you possibly teach me that the book can't?"
"That this is wrong," I pointed out to the mistake on her paper.
"Wha-"
"Yep."
"How?" She did a couple of double takes between the book and her notes. "But the book says-"
"Nope, the book is wrong. Here I'll show you." I scooted out of my chair back to sit right next to the heiress. Using her pencil, I started drawing the body structure of a beowolf. Comparing the two pictures, the physical structures were the same but muscles and organs were a bit different.
"And how can you prove that?" She skeptically looked at me.
"Next time we go out grimm hunting, I'll dissect you a beowolf."
"That's nonsense! You can't dissect a grimm!" The librarian immediately shushed the heiress, displeased about our boisterous voices blaring in the room. Weiss embarrassingly shrunk back into her seat and lowered her voice, "We all know they disappear after they die."
"Not if you dissect while they're still alive," I lightheartedly giggled. The platinum haired girl was appalled and looked at me in disgust. "What? You've never done that before?" The girl shook her head still horrified that I would even go far to put my life in jeopardy just to dissect a lowly grimm. "I guess I know what we're doing when we see a beowolf."
"Until I see hard evidence, I'm still using the book as a reference."
"Suit yourself," I shrugged at her. "Does that mean you're going to teach me about dust?"
Weiss rubbed the corner of her eyes and sighed. "I suppose it could prove beneficial for you. What do you know about dust?"
"That there's way too many colors," I snorted. Her eyebrows knitted and she flicked my forehead as punishment for my frivolous answer. I let out a small yelp and immediately cupped my mouth with my hand. My head tensely turned to the librarian who was seething at us. I nervously waved an apology at the older woman behind the table, and jerked my head to Weiss who had a shit-eating-grin. She was trying really hard to fight back her laughter.
Glad to know that my misfortunes brings her joy.
"Okay, umm... Oh I know! Combining two dust is definitely bad," I chuckled. A flash of memories played in my head of myself experimenting with dust. The amount of times I had exploded couldn't be count with both hands. Weiss buried her face into her hands, shaking in exasperation.
"How do you take your coffee," she mumbled.
"Pardon?"
"What would you like in your coffee?" She paraphrased.
"Uhh not sure? I guess cream and five sugars. Why?" I curiously asked.
"If I'm going to teach you about dust, then we're going to be here for awhile."
I grinned as the heiress stood from her chair and proceeded to grab two cups of coffee.
Maybe studying wasn't too bad.
I'm going to take a break from writing fan fiction for around a week. I do feel like I rushed bits and pieces of the story, but I guess i'm working on that. I have to admit, there are some parts about this whole story that I don't particularly like and wish could've done a better job at.
Feedback would be great~
I'll see you guys next chapter.