! Before we launch into this chapter. I have another announcement to make. !
If anybody doesn't want to read this, please scroll on. I'm very annoyed and I have the right to be!
Unfortunately, I'll have to take another writing hiatus. My mother is still sick and she's gotten to where she can't breathe very well, and yes she's been rushed to the hospital for this. This, in addition to her illness she's had ALL YEAR, is apparently beyond foreign to the hospitals. They check her over, find nothing wrong, and send her home while she's still very obviously sick.
I'm at my wit's end. Yesterday I had the fright of my life because I thought she was gonna pass out and stop breathing. But they send her home "she's fine! :D"
I'm scared to even go somewhere/get a job/leave her home alone because she could have a medical emergency!
So yeah, I haven't gotten much writing done in the past few months.
I'm sorry, but my family comes before writing.


Chapter Fifteen
Tension

[Ruby]
Date: Thursday, March 26th
Trying My Best -Anson Seabra
I'm holding my breath 'til I can say
All of the words I wanna say from my heart
If you really wanted I could let you inside
It's been so long and I've got nothing left to hide
Would you believe me if I told you that I've got flaws


Her assumption before had been right; Penny was bored and lonely, so she'd invited Ruby over to play some games, but she didn't wanna admit that she was lonesome.

After making sure her girlfriend was alright with her hanging out with Penny with her around, Ruby retreated to the spare lounge to play Immortal Frontier with her best friend. She did pause the game to check up on Weiss every now and then, not wanting her to feel forgotten. She often asked if Weiss wanted to leave, but the woman insisted that Ruby stay and spend some time with her friend.

The game consisted of two players who played as team partners who went up against other players in the games during battle, they could create battle attack techniques, and exchange abilities for sixty seconds flat. But only if you reached a certain level, she and Penny had learned that the hard way when a giant man in bladed armor defeated them by combining his weapon with his partner's ability. Just one hit and they were struck down!

"Use the double-black attack," Ruby announced, leaning in with her own controller, silver eyes fixated on the screen in front of her, "I'll come up from behind them! I have a plan."

The redhead gave her an 'affirmative' and their screens divided as they separated, Penny's character summoning a shadowy black shape as a shield to bounce their opponent's attacks back at them, as Ruby's character crept around behind the armored reptile creature. Every time their weapon spiraled back to hit them, their armor's strength would decrease dramatically.

With three clicks of her controller, a red scythe-like object appeared in Ruby's character's hands and she activated her super speed, the opponent's weapons were beginning to cut through Penny's shield, weakening her character upon each hit.

As the reptile summoned their final weapon to attack, Ruby's screen became an indescribable blur and her scythe sliced through the weakened armor, draining the scaled character of their life source.

While Ruby and Penny were playing their video game, Weiss managed to find some old clothes of hers to wear. Hilariously enough, they were some of her outfits from when she was eighteen years old. Ruby didn't allow the opportunity to tease her slip by when they discovered that they still fit.

"The last time I wore these, I was eighteen." Weiss murmured, examining her reflection in the mirror and fiddling with the hem of her blue-to-white gradient shirt.

Ruby giggled as she did the math in her head, she moved up behind her girlfriend and wrapped one arm around her abdomen. Weiss' eyes watched her suspiciously through the mirror. "You're twenty-two," Ruby said to her with a devilish glint in her eye.

Weiss scowled at her and she placed her hand over Ruby's, ready to pry it off if she had to. "Ruby. I swear to whatever Gods are listening that I will break up with you…"

The brunette rolled her eyes, unfazed by the woman's empty threat. "You're so tiny!" She squealed as Weiss groaned in defeat. "Ridiculously adorable! So small, and cute! Huggable!"

A tiny smile tugged at Weiss' lips and it didn't go unnoticed by Ruby. "You're lucky that I love you."

A few hours passed during their battles before Ruby had paused her game again to check on her girlfriend, she'd heard her head outside talking to someone on the phone when Penny was reassigning their team. She hadn't come back in… She needed to check on her. Without a word, she'd got up and followed Weiss outside to find her on the back porch swing, tapping away anxiously at her phone screen.

"Weiss?" Ruby murmured, pausing in her steps when Weiss' head jerked up in surprise. "Sorry," she smiled weakly as the woman's eyes drifted back towards her phone, as if she was ignoring Ruby's entire presence. "Who was it?" The brunette carefully took a seat next to her, "Your sister?"

Blue eyes glanced towards her momentarily. "My brother." Weiss answered flatly, clicking her phone off and leaning back. "He's already planning our birthday celebration early," she groaned and rubbed at her forehead as Ruby reached over to place her hand on her knee, Weiss sighed, "he wants to invite his little online boyfriend."

"Whose boyfriend?"

Ruby's head whipped around to see Penny sitting across from them patiently, her green eyes flickering between the two women. "What are we discussing?" She could feel Weiss' ire next to her, having their privacy invaded by the curious redhead. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Penny questioned in perplexity, "Weiss?"

The heiress' eyes were practically screaming with aggravation, clearly hoping that Penny would leave if she ignores her. Ruby let out a sigh and rose to her feet, the swing rocking behind her as the extra weight was removed. "Nothin' important." She answered and Penny's brows furrowed together, "Anyway, I think we've been here long 'nough…" Ruby cast a glance to her girlfriend, whose attention was still fixed solely on Penny. This was about cheering Weiss up and keeping her happy for the day… Ruby had her fun. "We need get goin', Penny."

Penny sat up with an enthusiastic grin on her face, making to follow Ruby. "Where are we going, Ruby?" She asked happily with a little hop in her step.

"Oh, uh," Ruby looked nervously towards Weiss as the woman swiftly approached them, placing herself between the two of them with a blank expression on her face, Ruby wrapped one arm around the woman's abdomen and gently moved her aside, ignoring the growl Weiss sent in her direction. "Weiss and I are goin' somewhere, Penny," she tried to explain, "alone, like a date."

The redhead frowned as an attempt to understand. "A date?" Ruby nodded. "Like the day of the month? Oh well in that case it's March 26th."

"No, no," Ruby waved her hands and a bewildered look crossed Penny's face, "we're going somewhere to, um…" She wrung her hands together, desperately thinking of how she could explain this to her friend, "Well, we're gonna-"

Penny's eyes widened, "Oh, to mate!"

Ruby felt life leave her. She stumbled on her words, forcing herself to remember to breathe. "T-t-o wha…" She shook her head, snapping herself back to her senses. "We're goin' somewhere that you can't come because it's a date for us," Penny continued to stare at her, and Ruby could feel Weiss' eyes burning holes into her back, she nervously continued, "like going to the movies? Spending time together?"

When Penny didn't respond to show her understanding, Ruby let out a sigh of aggravation and dismissed her as politely as she could, "Never mind, Penny, Weiss and I just need some time alone."

"Weiss already left." Penny said, gesturing to the open door and the missing cloak.

Ruby groaned and rubbed her forehead, she placed her hand on the door and faced Penny again. "Stay here. Weiss and I are gonna leave, I'll give ya a call tonight." The redhead just nodded happily and Ruby offered her a tiny, grateful smile. "Thanks." She said, exiting the building and closing the door. As soon as the cold winds struck her, she instantly bounded over to the vehicle where her girlfriend was patiently waiting.

She opened the door as Weiss glanced at her. "Sorry," she apologized meekly, "where d'ya wanna go?" She asked, climbing in to start the truck.

"Home. Not the apartment." Weiss answered stoically, causing Ruby's heart to drop like stone. Their eyes met and the brunette's brows creased in worry, "Take me back to Atlas, if Whitley is already planning the celebration, that means Father returns soon." She let out a sigh, "He wouldn't do so without his Father around, he seems to want his approval on our decisions."

Ruby cautiously nodded and put the truck in reverse, glancing around before carefully backing out of the driveway. She shifted the vehicle into drive, "You keep saying 'our'," she pointed out, pulling onto the road to head towards the Schnee mansion, "you two got the same birthday? You said he's your little brother."

Weiss answered briefly. "We're twins."


Despite being the younger one, Whitley was the taller twin. He stood a few inches taller than Ruby at her full height, which made Weiss addressing him as her little brother all the more funnier.

The young man had neatly trimmed white hair and a familiar undercut that was brushed to the right side, his skin was a slight shade darker than Weiss' and his eyes were a different shade of blue as well. Despite those differences, the two did share a lot of physical similarities.

Whitley approached the parked vehicle as Weiss' door opened. "What do you think of my new haircut, sister?" The man asked almost smugly as Weiss stepped out of the truck, briefly tensing with hesitation when she looked up at her brother. "What are you looking at?" His voice sounded… Rich? How do you describe a rich person's voice? There was a faint playful tone somewhere in his words.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Weiss said immediately, "Why would you do that to yourself?" She asked, pausing her train of thought to gesture towards the man's mess of a hairstyle. Ruby silently came to her side, her silver eyes flickering between the siblings, feeling rather nervous. Should she leave?

Whitley's brows furrowed, "Neptune and I agreed that it would look great on me," he explained candidly, "and I happen to like it!"

Ruby raised a brow in shock and mild disgust when the man ran his hand through his hair exaggeratingly. "You look like a pinecone grew on your head and it was bleached." Weiss spoke up, her brother's gaze glancing towards her in slight disappointment. Ouch. "Does your boyfriend like it?" She asked, making her way inside the building from the cold. Ruby silently followed.

Wait, her brother was gay? Weiss wasn't kidding?

The man shrugged as the door was closed behind them. "I have not shown him yet," he muttered, "but I'm confident that he'll like it." Whitley paused for a second, his forehead wrinkling again. "Speaking of which. Who is this?" He looked at Ruby with lackluster eyes, his expression being somewhat of a dull stare.

The air around them became cold and Ruby felt uneasiness roll through her, she bit her lip as she looked between the two Schnees. Weiss' gaze was hard and challenging, there was a hidden message that Ruby was unable to read. Whitley's stare was a perfect match.

"Well," Whitley said abruptly, breaking the silence, "it's about time Weiss found a partner. I was beginning to wonder if she was aromantic." Weiss scowled at him and the man dismissed it. The white-haired man raised a cocky brow. "Wo hast du das Mädchen her?"

"Der gleiche Ort von dem du kommst, aus der Hölle." Weiss answered, her brother let out a heavy sigh and his brow twitched. He turned to Ruby.

"What might your name be?" Whitley asked with a friendly voice, catching Ruby off guard for a split moment. Didn't Weiss say that he was Satan in disguise? Or was that just a brother-sister thing?

"Ruby." She answered simply without revealing her surname. "So you must be Weiss' lil' brother."

The man's eyes flickered in confusion for a moment upon hearing her accent. "We are twins." He said flatly, turning back to his sister. "You have a bizarre taste in women, Weiss."

Should she be offended? She felt offended.

Weiss' response was snarky, but more mischievous. "That's rich coming from the boy dating a farmhand."

'Bein' a farmhand would be better than being a former criminal's apprentice.' Ruby thought absentmindedly, tucking her hands in front of her, wondering if she should leave. 'Kinda the odd one out.'

"At least he can defend himself," yep, she was going to take offense to that one, "he's been taking classes, and so have I." Whitley explained with a smug grin, "I actually have a class later today if you would like to attend."

Considering he hardly had any muscle on his body, he'd probably begun taking the classes only recently. Ruby's eyes drifted to Weiss and her brows furrowed. So Weiss had been trained to fence for sport, she had little to no combat training, and her twin brother was allowed to learn self-defense?

Well, that seemed a little unfair. It was probably their father's doing. Wait, why did Weiss never speak of her mother? Was she not around anymore? Whitley hadn't mentioned her either.

"Do you know how to spar?" Ruby asked abruptly, now curious to see just how much the man had learned. Afterwards, she could pass what she knew to her girlfriend, if Weiss would be willing to learn.

"Of course I do." The spiky-haired man answered in confusion, "I could bring you to your knees with just a flick of my wrist," she highly doubted that, "but I will not because you are a girl."

Enough talking. His bravado and sexist personality was starting to irritate her.

Ruby stepped into her defense position, a sly smirk forming on the edge of her lips. "Well, let's do it." She was itching for a little spar, and she desperately wanted to wipe the smug grin off the man's face. She would go easy on him, perhaps allow him to think he'd gotten the upper hand before bringing him down. Had he been a little younger, Ruby would not have even considered this as he'd just be a boy, but he was twenty-two years old, someone had to put him in his place.

Perhaps being beaten by a girl would open his eyes.

"Right here?" Whitley asked in bewilderment.

Ruby shrugged, "Fights happen everywhere at any time or place." The man across from her visibly simply stared at her, astonished. "What, ya scared?" She probably shouldn't do this without a referee, but since she'd never really played by the rules anyway.

The man shrugged and reached up to remove his pristine white jacket, tossing it carelessly at his sister, who dramatically dropped it in disgust, hollering that she wasn't a clothes rack. "Don't worry," he said with a smile as he removed his fancy white shoes, "I'll go easy on you." Was everything white in this building?

"Thanks." Ruby smirked as he approached her, she slid her own shoes and jacket off, politely asking the other woman to hold her jacket. Thankfully, it didn't end up on the floor next to his.

Whitley stepped back, moving one foot in front of the other and both feet angled slightly to the side, he brought his fists up, one next to his chin and the other extended in front of him. She examined him for a moment, it was a solid stance. At least he knew that much… Ah well, why not let him have the upperhand for a bit?

Ruby stepped into a purposefully sloppy stance, placing her fists just a bit too far in front of her and jutting her elbows out, and keeping her body turned forward. The man eyed her for a moment, taking note of her posture. Gods, she felt ridiculous! She glanced towards Weiss momentarily, who was watching her with a concerned expression. 'Oh I'll be fi-' She was cut off by the blurred image of a clenched fists speeding towards her face.

'Shit!' She narrowly dodged the strike, her eyes wide as she was briefly caught off guard. Okay, so he knew how to throw a punch, maybe she shouldn't get too overconfident. Using the same fist, his hand shot upwards as an attempt to strike her chin, in which she quickly blocked with her palm. She didn't have time to step into a solid stance, she had to do something!

Whitley's right fist came to collide with her open abdomen, she released a soft grunt as his knuckles rammed into her gut and she stumbled back, having lost her balance. 'Okay, yeah, that's it.' She slapped one hand firm against the floor beneath her and shifted her weight, taking advantage of her downed position to swing her body upwards before it could hit the floor.

The man's eyes widened in disbelief just before her ankle slammed into his gut, throwing him backwards and putting him off his solid position. Ruby quickly got to her feet, Whitley clutching at his belly with a low, pained groan. She raised a brow, "That's it?" She asked, keeping her defensive guard up as she approached, "Damn, it was really startin' to get interesting."

"Oh shut up," he grumbled as he stood up "you cheated." He pointed accusingly at her, "You're not supposed to land a heavy blow during a spar!"

Ruby shrugged, "I didn't, or else you wouldn't be able to speak or move." Noticing that the young man wasn't moving, her eyes widened. "Oh! Did I really kick ya that hard?" He grunted his response, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm just used to havin' more of a," Ruby hesitated, "physically stronger… sparring partner… It was only supposed to knock you off your feet..."

"I'm fine." He growled stubbornly, pushing himself to his feet and withdrawing his hand from his stomach.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asks worriedly, her only response was a scowl.

Weiss flipped her ponytail back behind her shoulder and walked towards the two of them, Ruby noticed that the woman had put her jacket on to wear instead of simply holding it for her. Not a bad look, honestly…

She could get used to that. "Well, as fun as that was to watch… I'm grateful to see that you are making something of yourself, Brüderchen." Weiss' lip curled as she passed her brother, watching his eyes widen and be replaced by annoyance, still rubbing at his sore abdomen. "What? Did I hit a nerve?"

Whitley cocked one brow at her, "One: We are twins. Two: I'm quite a bit taller than you, so I cannot exactly call you Big Sister." He waved his hand dismissively as ire crossed through Weiss' gaze, her expression remaining stoic and devoid of emotion. "What, did I hit a nerve?" The man asked mockingly, "Little Sister?" He shrugged.

"Ah," Ruby muttered loudly, grabbing the twins' attention, she raised a brow, matching Whitley's egoistic expression, "so bein' beaten by a girl didn't change your snobby attitude at all. Nice to know." She probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

"Hey," he jabbed a finger at her, "you only won because you cheated."

She smiled. "Really? Well, you seem fine." She asked sweetly, "I'm up for a rematch if you are. I have a'lotta energy to burn and nowhere to put it."

Whitley stared at her for a long minute, she could practically hear the gears turning in his head and see the steam coming out of his ears. "Okay, fine, you win. This time." Ouch, that must've hurt his ego to admit. "Although, I will say that your eyes are sort of creepy."

Weiss answered before Ruby could. "You look like someone set you on fire and tried to put it out with bleach and a hammer."

Her twin's expression fell blank and Weiss only smiled innocently. Whitley scowled at her. "Bitch."

"Yeah. Come on," Weiss said with a light laugh, Ruby's heart fluttered, "let's head upstairs before my dear brother can humiliate himself any further."

Ruby cracked a smile, following closely behind her through the large, nearly empty mansion. "Ah, c'mon," she nudged her with her shoulder, giggling when Weiss stumbled a bit and glared intensely in her direction, "sorry," she apologized quickly, "anyway," Ruby hopped in front of Weiss, walking backwards with her hands folded neatly behind her back and a grin on her face, "I wouldn't mind teachin' ya self-defense!"

Blue eyes glanced up at her, lacking emotion. "And why would I need to do that?"

Ruby's brows furrowed, "W-well," she murmured nervously, "so you can defend yourself when you're out on missions with us. I mean, I know you trained for the sport of fencing, but-"

Weiss cut her off. "Who says I'll be attending any more 'missions'?" Her voice was almost distant… "If I remain within the safety of the mansion, I will be fine." She brushed past the taller brunette, avoiding eye contact with her. "I don't want to have to kill anybody."

'And I don't want you getting hurt.' Ruby answered silently, closing her mouth.

"Hand-to-hand combat is barbaric." Weiss explained and Ruby fixed her attention on the woman, she let out a sigh and continued. "In the old days, we used swords to fight, it was an elegant, yet strategic, way to battle…" She looked back at Ruby, "Your way of fighting can also be used as a method of physical abuse…"

Ruby cleared her throat, "Well, no, it shouldn't… But," she grinned, "it can also be used as a way to express your anger, or-or just'a have fun! So long as you don't hurt each other of course!" Weiss was watching her with a mildly curious gaze, absentmindedly leading the brunette up the staircase and making sure she didn't trip, "Yang and I used to wrestle a lot when we were kids, it's kinda how I started learning self-defense! She made it into a game!"

She stepped into her defense position and Weiss stopped, "Our favorite game growin' up was somethin' called 'Chucky', it was where if ya got touched, you were an evil doll recruiting your minions. The last one to get touched was the new Chucky." Weiss furrowed her brows in confusion, "Anyway, since there were only two of us, unless we played with some kids Uncle Qrow knew the parents of, we changed the rules up a lil' bit. If you got touched, you were Chucky!"

Ruby had her attention now. "So Yang would have me on the offense, while she was on the defense. I had to touch her, and that's how she taught me to throw punches!" She put her fists into position, "A punch to the jaw and the liver was ten points, and I would get to be on the defense." Ruby winds her fist back, a little voice in the back of her head scolding her for doing so, telling her that she was going to make her attack all too obvious. "If I threw a punch like this…" Ignoring the voice, she thrust her fist forth with a soft grunt and took a step forward.

Her fist whooshed past the heiress' head, but not too close. Weiss' eyes widened in horror and she yelped, her body flinched back, her hands coming up and reacting as an attempt to shield the blow. Ruby's words died in her throat and she slowly brought her arm back to her side, "Weiss?" She murmured apologetically, raising her palms to her girlfriend's cheeks. "What's wrong?"

Weiss put her hands over Ruby's, "I'm fine." She whispered, gently pushing her fingers away, "Come on… My bedroom is at the end of the hall."

Quietly, she followed the woman to her quarters and remained silent as the heiress clicked her bedroom door open. Ruby stepped inside, expecting to see an elegant-looking room with some of the most expensive luxury items one could afford, curtains draped snug over the windows and illuminating the room with warm sunshine, spotless marbled floors and neatly decorated walls…

Instead, she was met by a vast, nearly empty room. Sure, there were luxury items placed here and there, curtains draped all across the walls, and a queen-size canopy bed placed to the left side of the room. There was a single arched window and the floors were a sleek marble light blue floor, but it wasn't exactly welcoming… The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were a dull gold color, and the gold lining across the walls of the bedroom didn't do much against the blue-on-blue contrast.

It looked fancy enough, yeah, but… It seemed lonely. Empty.

"What's the matter?" Weiss questioned from her wardrobe, withdrawing an expensive lace blue-grey dress that nearly touched the floor.

"Your bedroom's 'bout the size of my apartment." Ruby commented, slowly approaching her girlfriend as she turned to lay the dress out over her bed, spreading it out. "And your dress ain't really your style..."

Weiss let out a hum, "That's because my father had it made for me so that I will wear it to special events, or for when I head out into the public eye." She paused for a moment. "I loved it when he got it for me," she said slowly, "because it was my nineteenth birthday and I was foolish enough to think he truly cared. I've only worn it twice."

"Weiss..." She addressed softly, tenderly sliding her arm around her girlfriend's abdomen and laying her head on her shoulder, "I'm sorry…" The brunette apologized sincerely, her heart twisted when Weiss ignored her and Ruby began to gently rub circles across the woman's hips.

The woman remained silent and Ruby decided to move it up a notch, she raised one hand to brush Weiss' hair out of the way to gingerly place a sweet kiss on the back of her neck. Weiss placed her hands over Ruby's, leaning her head back to tuck herself under Ruby's chin. "He purchased Whitley his own private jet," the heiress let out a laugh, "but Whitley said I can use it whenever I want because we're twins."

"That's nice of him." Ruby smiled.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "No, he only said that because neither one of us knows how to fly a jet."

Ruby hummed, closed her eyes and slowly started to lean her weight into her girlfriend, descending them towards the bed. "Ruby. Ruby. Ruby!" Weiss let out a series of protests, she quickly placed her hands on the sheets, catching herself just in time to roll over on her back so the woman wouldn't fall on top of her. The brunette giggled and shifted to hover over her girlfriend, "What?" Weiss grumbled.

"No more sad." The brunette whined playfully, resting her entire weight on the older woman. An idea sparked in her mind.

"Y'know..." Ruby whispered in a hushed voice as her hands found their way under the woman's shirt, she felt Weiss' body tremble beneath her gentle touch. "That look you gave me in the shower is still burned into my brain."

"Hm," Weiss smirked, tapping her finger to Ruby's nose to push her back. Two could play at that game, though not in the position they were in currently. "Well, I seem to have forgotten everything from this morning..." she started sliding herself out from under Ruby and directed herself towards the center of the bed, she glanced up at the stunned brunette. "Care to remind me?"

Ruby swiftly moves from her place at the edge of the bed and cups Weiss' chin in her hand, she leaned in to kiss her.