Chapter 30: Something More
February 7, 2683; 0900 Hours
Remnant, Mistral (Camp Vorbeck)
How Ruby managed to fall asleep was well beyond her, but somehow she did. Ruby somehow managed to remain calm and collected around Weiss when she and Winter returned from their walk around the airbase… at least, she hoped she was collected. If Weiss thought anything different, she didn't say anything about it.
She, surprisingly, woke up first. Usually, she was sluggish waking up. Today was vastly different, however. Not only was it her best friend's birthday, but she had something planned. As her silver eyes shot open in excitement, she found herself to be looking at the back of Weiss' head, peeking over the covers slightly. Her ivory hair was slightly disheveled from turning in her sleep. Ruby grinned as she stood up, quietly, and made her way over to her side of the closet, pulling the small white box out from beneath its concealment under one of her dresses that she haphazardly tossed into the closet.
Silently, she made her way back over to the bed, and sat down cross-legged on the mattress. She set the box down behind her, and lightly shook Weiss' shoulder. "Weiss… Weiss, wake up." She half-whispered, hoping not to irritate the girl.
It was quite evident that her strategy worked, as Weiss rolled over, one eye cracked open. "Yes, Ruby?" She asked, sounding only slightly irritated in her still-groggy state.
"Happy birthday!" Ruby said, her smile broad.
"Thank you, Ruby." Weiss said, sitting up and letting her hair straighten itself out slightly. She pushed the ivory locks back behind her ears as she sat upright, seeing that she had slept in a bit.
"I… erm, I got you something!" Ruby said, happily. "Well, two things, actually."
Weiss gave her partner a look that showed just how serious she was. "Ruby, you know I don't like making a big deal about my birthday."
"I know, I know." Ruby said, holding her hands out. "But you're twenty now, and I really wanted to get you something special. It's nothing huge, I promise."
Weiss simply smiled at the act of pure kindness and thoughtfulness. She had come to expect things like this from Ruby, and was so unbelievably happy that she had someone like this as her friend. "Alright, only if you absolutely insist." Weiss held a finger up to accent her next point. "But I swear, Ruby Rose, if you spent a lot of Lien on this…"
"It's nothing crazy expensive, I promise." Ruby consoled, reaching a hand behind her back and producing a small white box, wrapped in a pale blue ribbon. "Happy birthday, Weiss."
Weiss took the box in her hands, then glanced up to Ruby, who was looking at her expectantly. Weiss suppressed a light laugh at the sight of Ruby's almost puppy-dog look, and set to unwrapping the gift. As she carefully pulled the ribbon off from the box, she lifted the lid off. She was absolutely stunned by what she saw sitting on the red velvet bottom of the box.
It was a silver necklace, the pendant in the center almost looking like the Schnee family emblem, but the edges of the snowflake were more resembling that of an actual snowflake. In the center of the snowflake was a small flower, looking to be a rose. Around the edge of the snowflake, there looked to be blue Dust infused into the metal itself, giving it a slight blue glow. Around the edge of the rose, red Dust was infused, causing the rose to have a slightly glowing red outline to it. Weiss was stunned, it was beautiful. "Ruby…" She started, finding herself cut off by the energetic brunette.
"Do you like it?" Ruby asked, excitedly. "I saw that you stopped wearing that little necklace when you got back, and seeing you without a necklace was kinda weird, so I got you-"
"Ruby, I love it." Weiss said, pulling the small piece of jewelry from its container and holding it in her own hand. "It's beautiful."
"It's not the only thing that's beautiful." Ruby thought to herself as Weiss smiled, snapping the necklace into place around her neck. Ruby blushed as she found herself pulled into a hug by Weiss, a hug that she returned with no hesitation. "I'm glad you like it… it took forever to find the perfect one."
"Well, it's the perfect one." Weiss says, releasing Ruby. The blush goes unnoticed in the still somewhat dark room. "This second gift you mentioned better not be expensive either."
Weiss definitely noticed the blush this time, her eyebrow cocked in a questioning manner. "Trust me… that one's straight from the heart, no money involved."
"Good." Weiss said. "I'm not letting you spend any more of your money on me."
"O-okay." Ruby managed to make out. "Let's go see if everyone else is up." Everything still looked to be going to plan.
XXXXX
February 7, 2683; 0921 Hours
Remnant, Orbit (ONI Planetary Headquarters, Designation: Remnant-2)
Thorne stormed through the metallic halls of Remnant-2, the orbital installation designated for ONI's use. It was a massive sprawling orbital construct, containing high-value prisoners, criminals, ONI targets, ONI personnel, and a full garrison of ONI agents, many of them SPARTANs, ODSTs and Marines placed under the direct command of ONI, or civilian contractors from the Core Worlds and Inner Colonies. Today, his job wasn't to file paperwork to send back to Earth, he had a far more important job.
He walked through the Detention Wing of the station, two SPARTAN operatives in black armor walking on either side of him. He had waited over a year to finally wrap this charade up, and reading that order from the President gave him an almost childish glee that he hadn't experienced in years.
He walked up to one of the heavily reinforced titanium doors on the cellblock, placing his cybernetic retina against the scanner and letting it confirm his identity. After a momentary scan, he was cleared for entrance. As he stepped back, the door slid open, and he strolled inside. Lying down on a metallic bed, with only a thin sheet separating the woman and the metal, was Emerald Sustrai. The two SPARTANs stood on either end of the door, as Thorne set about to unbuttoning his suit's jacket. "Have you given my offer some thought?" Thorne asked.
"It's either talk, or you 'Compose' me… whatever that means." Emerald said, staring at the wall from her lying position. "Pretty one-sided offer."
"Answer the question."
"I'll talk, fine." Emerald muttered, sitting upright and staring at Thorne, whose jacket was draped over his right shoulder.
"Good." Thorne said. "Go on."
"Cinder never outright said why she was doing this… but she always said that she wanted to be strong… wanted to be feared." Emerald explained, earning a nod from Thorne. "One time, I overheard her talking with someone… she called them Salem."
"Salem?" Thorne asked, his posture relaxing somewhat. Try as he might, he couldn't see any sign that Emerald was being dishonest.
"I've got no idea who that is… neither does Mercury. She was talking to Neo."
"The mute?"
"Yes." Emerald responded, nodding.
"You know nothing else?"
"No… And Neo won't talk, she never has." Emerald answered.
Thorne nodded, surprised that Emerald and Mercury corroborated the exact same story. Either Emerald was a very good lair, and had this entire story planned out from the start, or this was the honest truth. He was leaning towards the latter. Her story had changed several times since she arrived on this station. Eventually, the story started to mirror Mercury's almost identically. Now, they were carbon copies of one another, despite having no contact the entire time. There was no way they could ever have had contact, Mercury was detained over Earth.
"Good…" Thorne said, staring at Emerald. "Finally, I get something that matches Mercury's story out of you. He's been far more… receptive to us. I'm glad you've finally come around."
"That means I'm not getting 'Composed', or whatever you called it?"
"Indeed."
"Will my sentence be changed?" Emerald asked, the slightest glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"That was never a part of the deal." Thorne said.
"So what, public execution then?" Emerald asked, the sudden realization of her impending doom slamming down on her.
Thorne scoffed. "Please, don't be ridiculous. We aren't savages." Without missing a beat, Thorne's free hand drew a M6S Magnum from its holster on his right side. In a blindingly quick motion, he leveled the handgun towards Emerald, firing seven shots in quick succession, all of them slotting in clean through her forehead. Unceremoniously, her body slumped over onto the bed, blood pooling from the exit wounds in the back of her head.
Thorne let out a satisfied sigh, slotting the magnum back into its holster. "Vent her into the star and get this cell cleaned up."
"Aye, Sir!" One of the SPARTANs said, nodding as Thorne made his way out of the cell. He still had a schedule after all, he couldn't be the one flying all the way over to Remnant's native star to dump a corpse into the nuclear crucible. He had a party to attend, after all.
XXXXX
February 7, 2683; 0912 Hours
Remnant, Mistral (Camp Vorbeck)
Ruby and Weiss made their way out of their room, looking around the dark hallway. Surprisingly for Weiss, all of the lights in the house were off, and it was absolutely pitch darkness, even all of the windows were closed and the shutters were drawn. "What in the world?" Weiss asked.
"Maybe everyone went out?" Ruby asked, trying not to sound obvious. She had planned all of this, after all.
"Yang going out… at nine in the morning?" Weiss asked, her eyebrow cocked.
Ruby shrugged. "Maybe."
The two felt around for the railing of the staircase, slowly making their way down the darkened steps. Once they reached the bottom of the steps, Weiss heard Ruby clear her throat for some strange reason. A moment later, it became clear why she did.
All of the lights in the living room turned on. Everyone that Weiss had come to call a friend over the past few years popped up from behind furniture, singing.
"Happy birthday, congratulations.
Happy birthday, with salutations.
Happy birthday, may your skies stay blue!
Happy birthday to you!"
Weiss simply stared as Yang and Blake placed a white cake down on the coffee table, grinning wildly at the Heiress' incredulous look. "Happy birthday, Weiss!" Everyone shouted.
Weiss blushed, seeing that all eyes were focused on her. She was certainly taken aback by the suddenness of it all. She simply looked over to Ruby, who had also joined in on the singing. "Did you put them all up to this?"
"No comment." Ruby responded, smiling.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Dolt."
"But I'm your dolt." Ruby responded.
Weiss smirked. "That, you are."
"C'mon!" Ruby said, tugging Weiss over to the celebration.
Weiss was amazed that she actually enjoyed the small celebration for her twentieth birthday. She had gotten to celebrate her eighteenth at Beacon, which was a very small affair among Team RWBY. It went nowhere beyond wishes of a happy birthday, then the day's classes, and that was it. Her nineteenth was spent at the Schnee Estate in Atlas in absolute misery. That was the day she was reminded of her place in the Schnee dynasty, had her precious rapier stowed away in her room, and was confined to Atlas unless her father gave her express permission to leave. This one was markedly different.
She was spending her twentieth birthday with friends. Not phony businessmen, but actual friends that would, and sometimes have, thrown themselves into danger to protect her. These friends had stood by her for almost her entire time at Beacon and beyond. It almost felt like a dream, being torn away from her home in Atlas to be reunited with all of these wonderful people. Above all, she was just happy to… be happy again. Perhaps standing over everything else, was her finally being reunited with her wonderful, bubbly, happy, and caring best friend.
So far, no one other than Ruby had given her a gift, but she didn't care. Simply being around everyone she cared about was more than enough of a gift for her after enduring absolute hell for a year. She watched as the clockwork of Remnant kept ticking, even without her, for almost a full year, and she wanted so desperately to be a part of it again. Now, despite her initial reservations over the UEG handing her company over to Misriah for the time being, she couldn't be happier. She was back with the people she cared about, doing something that actually mattered: fighting.
As the celebration eventually died down into casual conversation, everyone with the exception of Ivan seemed surprised as the soft tone of the doorbell rang out, prompting Ivan to excuse himself and move to open the door. From outside, Agent Thorne walked in, a cardboard box cradled in the crook of his right arm. "Looks like I'm a little late. Sorry, got tied up at the Office."
"Thorne?" Weiss asked, looking over. "What're you doing here?"
"Ivan told me that it was someone's birthday today." Thorne answered with a shrug. "Figured it was only proper to at least drop by for a few minutes before ONI shipped my ass back off to Patch for a few weeks. I brought a few presents, too."
"What's in the box?" Weiss asked as Thorne walked in, placing the cardboard box down on the edge of the breakfast bar.
"A few things that we dug up in the investigation that I figured you'd want." Thorne answered. "Not really gifts, since they were yours to begin with, but close enough." Thorne rummaged around inside for a moment, producing a Scroll. "For one, I found your old Scroll locked away in a safe in your Father's office. He installed a pretty intense security system on it, but Merlin managed to crack it." At a look of concern, Thorne tossed the small device to Weiss, who deftly caught it. "Don't worry, nobody's looked into what was on the Scroll, not even Merlin. Hasn't even been turned on since we cracked it."
Thorne pulled a small piece of black metal out of the box, rolling it around in his hand. "I found this picture… Looks like all of you in front of a certain SPARTAN's home in Sydney." He gently placed it back into the box, turning back to Weiss. "Beyond that, we found a few other pictures from Earth, what looked like some parts to your rapier, some notebooks, a UEG Credit Chit with some transactions from Sydney on its record, and other small miscellaneous stuff that I figured you might want."
"Oh… thank you, Thorne." Weiss said, surprised at the gesture. She slid her old Scroll back into its proper home in her pocket.
"No problem." Thorne said, waving a hand dismissively. "I'd say I'm like this planet's Santa Claus, but it's February."
"What else have you delivered to the good boys and girls of Remnant, Thorne?" Yang asked.
"Not much, but I've dropped some pretty big, fast, and deadly lumps of coal down from Orbit on more than one occasion." Thorne fired back with his own witty remark.
"You said that you were going back to Patch…" Ruby noted. "What for?"
"A few… meetings." Thorne responded. "Classified, otherwise."
"Of course it is." Yang said, smiling.
"That's the name of the game with ONI." Thorne returned. "By the way… you might want to avoid the public eye for a bit, Weiss… unless you like the paparazzi, that is."
"Why?" Weiss asked.
"ONI officially released the story on the SDC's investigation last night." Thorne answered. "Media's been going crazy here on Remnant."
"Thanks for the warning." Weiss responded, sighing. "I've dealt with them before."
"I wish you luck." Thorne said with a smirk.
Thorne joined in on the celebration for a short while, simply sitting on the couch and talking with everyone. For the first time, everyone present saw Thorne not as the shady ONI Agent that gave them their missions, but as a genuine friend. He seemed far more relaxed than usual, and far more informal. About an hour after his arrival, he sighed and stood upright. "Alright… I need to get going, timetables and all."
"Bye Thorne!" Ruby called out as Thorne recovered his suit jacket from the back of a chair.
"See you guys later." Thorne said, giving Ivan a nod as he walked towards the door. "Try not to cause too much trouble while I'm on Patch."
"No promises!" Yang called out.
"I've come to expect nothing less from you, Yang. Keep an eye on them, please." Thorne directed to Ivan and Winter.
"Harder than it might seem. There's like fifteen of them." Ivan said,
"I wish you luck then." Thorne smiled, giving a final wave as he walked out of the front door.
XXXXX
February 7, 2683; 1302 Hours
Remnant, Patch
Thorne strolled up the cobblestone walkway leading to the rather large house that Tai Yang called his own. His two hour flight from Mistral was, thankfully, rather short by comparison to what he was used to. He still had the energy to carry out the first part of his objective today.
Finally arriving at the front door, he pressed the small button next to the doorframe, causing the soft tone of a doorbell to be audible through the wooden portal. After a few moments, the door opened, revealing Tai Yang on the other side, who looked surprised to see a suited ONI Agent at his front door. "Thorne?" Tai asked, eyebrow raised. "This is a bit of a surprise… is there something I can do for you?"
"There is, actually." Thorne affirmed, removing his sunglasses and sliding them into his coat. Sure, he didn't need sunglasses, his eyes automatically polarized. He just wore them out of habit. "Is Qrow here?"
"Yeah, he's just inside." Tai said, stepping aside. "Come in."
"Thank you." Thorne said, stepping inside and into the air-conditioning.
Sure enough, he spotted Qrow sitting at the counter, a glass of whiskey sitting before him. There was another glass in front of the adjacent seat, showing that Tai was sitting next to him when Thorne first arrived. Qrow gave him an inquisitive look. "Something I can do for you, Agent Thorne?"
"I just wanted to talk." Thorne said, walking over and sitting in the third stool by the counter.
"Want a drink, Thorne?" Tai asked. Thorne had become quite familiar with the Xiao Long family ever since Beacon fell. He had visited Yang, Blake, and Ruby whenever he got the chance. As much as he may have tried to fight it at first, he had grown attached to that rag-tag group of Huntresses that called themselves Team RWBY.
"I'd love one, thank you." Thorne said, giving Tai a smile and a nod as a glass of whiskey was slid his way.
"So…" Qrow said, stopping himself to take a drink from his own glass. "What did you want to talk with me about?"
"I want to know why you and Ozpin kept information from me." Thorne stated, incredibly bluntly, as he looked back to Qrow. His bright blue cybernetics seeming to stare through Qrow's very being.
If Qrow was at all startled by the accusation, he didn't show it. "What do you mean?"
"Salem." Thorne responded, taking a drink.
"Where did you hear that name?" Qrow asked, his voice shifting to a deathly serious tone.
"Emerald, before I splattered her brains on a metal wall." Thorne said. "Now answer my question. Why have you been hiding information, information that is vital to the UNSC's operations here on Remnant, from me?"
Qrow looked over to Tai, who looked like a deer in headlights. He looked almost as if he was still processing what Thorne had just dropped on them. Qrow's attention shifted back to Thorne, whose eyes still bore holes through his own. Sighing, he made a split-second decision. There was no use in hiding this anymore, not with Thorne already knowing the important bits. "That information is only known to Ozpin's inner circle… but since he's not around, I'll talk with you."
"Why keep this hidden?" Thorne asked, his glare wavering now that Qrow was cooperating.
"Letting everyone know about the Grimm's 'leader' would have only made our job harder… the less people that knew about the Alpha Grimm, the better."
"It's a helluva lot more than the 'Alpha Grimm', Qrow." Thorne retorted. "This 'Salem' creature is hyper-intelligent. You hiding this for as long as you have could have jeopardized this entire planet, and everyone on it."
"So now you think you're the expert?" Qrow asked, growing somewhat irritated at the lecture on morality.
"When it comes to the Precursors, I know that I'm the fucking expert!" Thorne shouted. "This godforsaken thing is an eons-old creature that a cretin would call a fucking god. Its kind, quite literally, created the Human species."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Qrow asked.
"Salem is a sick, twisted perversion of a Precursor." Thorne explained. "Precursors are creatures, the only that we know of that have ever achieved a Tier Zero civilization. They are barely distinguishable from gods, Qrow. They only take on a material body when they want to."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Qrow asked, obviously still not grasping the gravity of the situation.
"I'll tell you exactly what this has to do with our current situation." Thorne began, the glare returning. "Because you've neglected to share information on Salem, I have unknowingly sent your nieces and their friends to hunt down a god's pawn."
"We always knew that Cinder was a pawn in Salem's game." Qrow defended. "You're not the only one with agents, Thorne."
Thorne huffed. "You still don't get it… with ONI knowing the information from the beginning, we could have saved Beacon. Ozpin would still be here, and all of this would be a hell of a lot easier than it is now. I've got agents scouring this fucking planet, looking for any leads at all on Cinder, and now you tell me that you have an agent? What else haven't you been telling me?"
"That's everything we know." Qrow said, still leaning on the countertop.
"Bullshit, Qrow." Thorne retorted. "You've got an agent that told you exactly what Cinder's role is. I know she's looking for all of these 'Maidens' with the intent to steal away some mystical power. I also know that you held one of these Maidens in stasis underneath a goddamn school. If you want this solved, if you want any chance of winning, you need to start working with me."
As Qrow looked over to Tai, he saw his brother-in-law give him a nod. Qrow sighed. "Fine… You already know almost everything, why the hell not?"
"Christ, thank you!" Thorne said, exasperated. "Only took you two years to finally start sharing this with me. First off, I want to talk with this agent of yours."
"That can be arranged… She'll tell you everything she knows once you meet with her." Qrow said, nodding. "But, promise me one thing."
"What?" Thorne asked, having had enough of Qrow's games for one lifetime.
"Do not tell Yang when you meet her." Qrow said, earning a questioning brow-raise from Thorne.
XXXXX
February 7, 2683; 1731 Hours
Remnant, Mistral
Weiss hadn't expected the surprise party when she woke up this morning, and she certainly didn't expect to be taken to a very nice restaurant in downtown Mistral. Ivan telling everyone to make sure that they dressed well for tonight was a bit unexpected, but when she arrived at the restaurant, it all made sense.
It was a beautifully decorated establishment. Crystalline chandeliers hung from the ceiling, all of the walls were trimmed with ornate golden patterns, and there was soft piano music playing from somewhere. It was a restaurant that served traditional Atlesian food, operated and owned by a world-renowned chef from Mantle. She knew this place was far from cheap, and she had no intention of letting Ivan and Winter get away with paying for everyone.
Everyone was dressed to the nines. Weiss wore a long blue, glittering dress and her normal heels. She had the necklace that Ruby had given her earlier that day clasped around her neck as well. Blake wore a simplistic long black dress and black heels, hiding her ears beneath that familiar black bow. Yang wore a mid-length white dress and white heels, going for simplicity. Ivan and Winter both wore their formal Dress Blues, sans the medals and rank pins. Both of them, despite missing their identifying markings and medals, could easily be distinguished as soldiers. Teams JNPR and CFVY both seemed to favor their old prom attire, with the exception of Jaune, who seemed to be wearing a more angular suit that would have been commonplace on Earth. The person that truly caught her eye, however, was Ruby.
Ruby wore a dress that was quite similar to the one she wore to the dance all those months ago. It was a relatively short red dress with a black sash tied around the waist. Her longer hair was done up in such a way that the red trimmings in her hair seemed to curl inwards. To Weiss, she was absolutely stunning, so much so that she felt her stomach knot up when she saw her in the full ensemble back at the house.
Despite Weiss being somewhat irritated at the fact that everyone had gone to such great lengths for her birthday, she couldn't help but enjoy herself. She was enjoying herself so much so that she almost missed the constant glances in her direction from the other opulent patrons… almost.
It seemed that Thorne was far from wrong. She had seen several major news sources cover the ONI investigation over the course of the day. Mainstream media on Remnant was practically abuzz with speculation, given that ONI still had not released why they had arrested her father. Thankfully, the paparazzi hadn't found her yet, but thanks to the many people that seemed to be 'trying' to stealthily take pictures of the group, she figured that was going to change very soon.
She pushed the chilling thought of the paparazzi down, instead choosing to focus on the conversation that was buzzing lightly from her end of the table. "I thought you didn't drink, Ivan." Yang commented, causing Weiss to glance over to the SPARTAN. Indeed, he had a glass of red wine in his hand.
"I figured I'd make an exception for our favorite heiress' birthday." He said, giving Weiss a smirk.
Weiss gave a playful eye-roll, but found her attention grabbed by a question from her sister before she could give a sarcastic remark. "I just noticed, Weiss… is that a new necklace?"
Weiss smiled, her hand instinctively moving up to lightly rub a thumb across the textured rose. "It is… Ruby gave it to me." Ruby, in her infinite spastic-ness, gave a happy wave.
"Oh… really?" Winter asked, the design of the necklace's small pendant causing a grin to split her features. "It's very beautiful." Winter gave Ruby a small smile. Once she saw that Weiss' attention was directed back to Ivan, she gave the red-headed Huntress a quick wink. Ruby gave a small smile in return.
"So Weiss…" Ivan began, redirecting the Heiress' attention. "Enjoying the attention?"
Weiss gave a scoff in response. "Please…that was one of the good things about being in Atlas. The press was a lot less invasive."
"I know what you mean." Ivan gave a nod in return. "There's someone in particular that's been looking back over here for around twenty minutes." As Weiss started to look around, Ivan cleared his throat, causing her to turn back to him. "Don't look for him."
"Why?" Weiss asked.
"I don't want him to think anything of it." Ivan said, taking a sip from his glass. "Black braided ponytail, white suit, yellow eyes, human. Something about him rubs me the wrong way."
"How so?" Weiss asked. She had become rather adept at looking casual while discussing important matters, thankfully.
"He keeps glaring at Ruby and me." Ivan said.
"Should we leave?" Winter asked, already knowing the full scope of the situation thanks to her neural implant discussion with Ivan.
"Nope." Ivan said. He stopped himself as the waitress laid his food before him. He thanked her, then shifted back to the discussion once she had left the table. "Just keep acting natural." Ivan took a bite of his salmon, nodding in approval. "He's got this crazy look in his eye… something's off with him."
After a few moments, the very person that Ivan referenced walked out of the restaurant, having paid for his meal and left a rather sizable tip. "Was that him?" Weiss asked, nodding to the door.
"Yeah…" Ivan said. "It's probably nothing, just my paranoia acting up."
"Paranoia?" Weiss asked.
"I work with ONI, Weiss." Ivan said, taking a sip of wine. "I've learned to be… cautious with people like that."
"Fair enough." Weiss hummed in response. Soon after, the table returned to the quiet buzz of conversation between friends. Ivan and Winter's conversations were far more… quiet than any other.
"So… Ruby got Weiss a necklace." Winter's voice came over Ivan's neural implant.
"Indeed she did…" Ivan responded. "She told you too?"
"Tell me?" Winter asked, her amused tone coming over the silent discussion. "She asked my permission to date her."
"She did?!" Ivan asked, doing his utmost not to show any indication of his conversation with Winter. "That's adorable."
"What do you think about them?" Winter asked.
"I think they're adorable. In the most… strange of ways."
"An apt description." Winter agreed. "Did Ruby tell you anything about what she was planning?"
"She did, but I'm sworn to an oath of secrecy." Ivan responded.
"She had you swear secrecy?" Winter asked.
"She did… she was kinda embarrassed about her plan when she told me, but I think it's great."
"Do you think she'll keep it together long enough to actually… you know?"
"We'll see tomorrow, I guess." Ivan gave a noncommittal answer. Secretly, he was grinning inside.
XXXXX
February 7, 2683; 2051 Hours
Remnant, Mistral (Camp Vorbeck)
Weiss tossed her scroll onto her desk with a huff. She had always hated the attention that her family name had gotten her, and that hatred was truly exemplified by the sheer amount of people that were waiting outside of the restaurant with cameras. With another heavy sigh, she flopped down on the bed. She heard the familiar sound of a Scroll clattering onto a desk, and craned her neck over to look at Ruby. Ruby looked over to her, and gave a small smile. "Tired, Weiss?"
"Like you wouldn't believe…" Weiss said, sighing. "I had fun, though."
"So did I." Ruby replied, sitting down next to Weiss. As she sat up, Weiss found herself pulled into a tight hug by Ruby. "Happy birthday, Weiss."
"Thank you, Ruby." Weiss said, her voice slightly muffled by her friend's shoulder. "Thank you for putting all of this together. And thank you for the gift."
Ruby's face brightened. "I totally forgot! The other gift!" Ruby's sudden outburst startled the heiress.
"I thought the party was the second gift?" Weiss asked.
"No, no… that was everyone's gift to you." Ruby explained. "Mine's straight from the heart, just like I said."
Weiss cocked an eyebrow as the slightest of blushes crossed Ruby's face. "Okay… so long as it didn't cost you anything."
"Weiss, I swear to you that this is not something that you can buy." Ruby said, her tone far more serious. "Now, close your eyes."
"Ruby…" Weiss began, but she was cut off by her bubbly partner.
"Close your eyes." Ruby reaffirmed.
With a light huff, Weiss closed her eyes. She really had no idea what to expect from this, but she figured that she could at least humor her friend.
Ruby's heart was pounding in her chest. She was committed now, so there was absolutely no turning back. She took a deep breath, closing her own eyes for a moment. Slowly, she closed the distance between their faces. Her blush immediately lit up her face when their lips lightly pressed together.
It took Weiss a minute to realize what was going on. Her blue eyes shot open in surprise. She couldn't believe it, Ruby had kissed her. She simply sat there in stunned, slack silence. A moment later, Ruby pulled back, her eyes fixed on Weiss'.
Seeing the stunned look on Weiss' face, her heart immediately sank into her gut. She immediately began blubbering out an apology. "W-Weiss, I-I'm so sor-" Now it was Ruby's turn to be stunned.
Weiss, after taking a moment to collect herself, immediately made the connection in her head. Ruby Rose had just kissed her. Seeing Ruby attempt to apologize to her, she immediately removed the stunned look from her face. Without a moment's hesitation, she moved to press her lips to Ruby's, who gave the most adorable little squeak in response. Weiss' heart began its struggle to beat out of her chest when her lips met with Ruby's own. The light taste of strawberry danced across her lips, and there was nothing more that she could have asked for. Her hands eventually made their way up to Ruby's shoulder, keeping her there for a bit longer.
After a few moments, Weiss' lungs cried out for air, and she gave into their demands. Pulling back, she saw the same surprised look on Ruby's face slowly turn into the faintest of smiles. "Weiss…" Ruby tried, but once again, she found herself cut off.
"Ruby Rose…" Weiss said, shaking Ruby's shoulders lightly to accent her point. "Don't you ever even think about apologizing for kissing me."
"Does… does that mean you liked it?" Ruby asked, in all of her adorable innocence.
"If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have kissed you back, dolt." Weiss returned.
Ruby gave another happy squeal as she practically tackled Weiss back onto the bed. After the initial surprise of the taller girl slamming into her, Weiss recovered rather well. Eventually, the two settled. Ruby snuggled herself into Weiss' side, resting her head half on the pillow, and half on Weiss' shoulder. She had the heiress pulled into her embrace, arms wrapped around her waist.
When Weiss adjusted her head slightly, she saw a familiar look on Ruby's face. "You look like you want to ask me something…" Weiss commented.
"Does this mean… are we… you know… dating?" Ruby asked with the most adorable amount of awkwardness.
Weiss blushed, a small smile crossing her features. "I-If you want…" Weiss said, her eyes deciding that the strap of Ruby's dress was the most interesting thing in the world.
Ruby hugged Weiss closer. "Oh my god!" She squeaked. "You're so adorable, and this is awesome."
Weiss smiled, happy to be snuggled into Ruby. "But… erm… can we keep it a little quiet? I don't know if I'm really ready to be open about this yet. And I don't want you to have to deal with the whole… 'in the spotlight' thing, either."
"Of course." Ruby answered, shifting her gaze directly into Weiss' blue eyes. "I'd never ask you to do anything you don't want to do, so if you want to keep this on the down-low for a while, that's totally fine."
Weiss' heart warmed at yet another selfless act from her team leader, leaning up to plant a quick kiss on Ruby's cheek. "Thank you, Ruby."
Weiss couldn't be happier. She had no idea what possessed Ruby to kiss her, but she was so glad that she did. It was so hard for her to understand how not even a week ago, she was trapped in her own personal hell, and now she was locked in the loving, warm embrace of her best friend… no, girlfriend. Something about that brought an inexplicable warmth. Weiss, for the first time in her life, was loved by someone who loved her. Not her name, not her money, not her prestige, but her.
Ruby was the first person, other than Winter, that Weiss had ever grown close to. She had always felt comfortable around the younger girl. That was until her heart started getting mixed into the matter. The mere thought of actually being with Ruby lifted this strange weight from her shoulders. Now, Weiss felt relaxed. The knowledge that she was Ruby's girlfriend, even if it had only been for a few minutes by this point, made all of those awkward feelings in her stomach fade away. She was in love, true love, and all of the affection that she had longed for was now being given to her by her wonderful, bubbly, spastic, excitable, cloak-wearing girlfriend. And based on how tightly Ruby was clinging to her, she could tell that she was going to be in these arms for a very long time. She didn't care.
