The fog on the edge of her cup became nearly opaque. Ruby traced shapes like a heart and her symbol on the surface of the up, watching as the condensation returned slowly. Ruby bit the back of her lip and held the skin between her teeth.

She couldn't bring herself to tell Weiss. The only person she'd managed to tell the truth to was Yang, and all she can really see so far is that Weiss and Yang would disagree. Loudly. Telling the truth was the simplest way out, but was that really what she wanted?

Truth. Why does that word seem so heavy?

Ruby weighed the possibility of the truth getting out against telling her team. But where does it stop? It's not like she was about to get up on a golden pedestal and confess each and every one of her sins to the word. It's a little more sensible just to talk to the people you trust.

And it's not that she didn't trust her teammates. Ruby was more afraid that Weiss would blow up, Blake would stop talking to her, and Yang would feel betrayed. Ruby sighed—Yang. She told her what happened, yeah, but the truth? That went a little deeper. To start, if Ruby had the choice to do it again, she would choose to save his life again. She would get up, lie to her friends, and go out in downtown Vale to risk her own life for a man that probably didn't even care that she existed.

And that's another thing entirely. Not even Ruby knew what the truth was, and Ruby was thoroughly convinced that Roman had a firm grasp on reality right now. But if that were the case, Ruby would probably be dead right now. Realistically, that's exactly the problem. Nothing is happening. No one knows the truth right now, and that's why no one is doing anything.

This was probably just something to abate the tension of lying to her friends, but Ruby decided she wouldn't come clean to her friends until she herself knew what the truth really was.


Roman rolled over in his bed, pressing his face into the pillow. His insurmountable headache was topped only by the massing conflict he felt in regards to Red. He needs to sell her out to Cinder, maybe have faith that she can handle herself. But let's be honest here, if he hands Red on a silver platter to Cinder, she's fucking toast. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Red had been just about as predictable as the weather, and Roman had quite the solidified generalization of how he felt about her. Roman opened his drawer, removing a cigar from an antique box that he's had since childhood. Apparently it belonged to his grandfather or whatever. It definitely explains how he died of lung cancer.

Sitting up and adjusting the pillow under his lower back, Roman lit the end of the cigar and picked up his scroll. Junior called at 10 AM, but didn't leave a voicemail when Roman didn't pick up. Neo didn't text or try to communicate with him, but he could probably bet that she took all of his alcohol. Again.

Not that he cared. Roman was planning on making an effort not to use alcohol to solve an alcohol-induced problem. Although, if he kept thinking about what to do with Red, he might find staying dry a little difficult.

He felt like an idiot. Why was this so difficult? Pay someone to take her out. It's that simple.

Groaning, he thought to himself, No, it's actually not.

If it was, he would have killed her the moment he saw her. But he underestimated her, and he kept underestimating her and her friends, and hell, he's probably underestimating her right now! It wouldn't be the first time that underestimating someone would become his downfall.

Either way, he had to find out what exactly he wanted from Red before he did anything, even though Cinder was breathing down his neck.


Ruby opened the door at the end of a dark hallway. Inside, there was nothing but a white feather in the center of the room. The walls were made of concrete, and even though she wasn't wearing shoes, she expected to hear her footsteps on the floor.

In the corner, Ruby noticed the dark silhouette of a tall, well-toned man. He uncrossed his arms and stepped forward, but somehow, even in the light, it was still too dark to see who he was.

He reached out, hand ghosting over her cheek. His hand moved across her jaw, her neck, and her shoulder. His face approached hers, so close in this moment that all she had to do was stand on her toes.

But the moment passed, and he stepped back suddenly. He shook his head, looking at her with an apologetic glint in his eyes. In a voice all too familiar to her, he spoke.

"You don't know what it's really like."


Ruby woke up confused. Gathering the slippery fragments of the dream she just had in her consciousness, she sat up abruptly. That phrase. Ruby has heard it before, but she was never able to place the voice…until now. Ruby's eyes widened, and suddenly she realized exactly what she hasn't been saying: Ruby has a crush on Roman Torchwick.

Ruby put her hands over her face and tried to distract herself from what she was thinking. That's the truth, and now that she knows exactly what it is, Ruby has to fight to keep it hidden. Forever.