The group walked through the snow lined streets, traveled enough not to be thick with snow, but snowed on enough for them to leave behind tracks as they went. The cold, biting wind blew roughly around them, wiping their hair and clothes around and making them feel colder and colder. There were very few people walking in the streets, and those who were were bundled in thick, warm coats.
Ruby felt absolutely frigid, shivering violently as the numbing winds blew on her and chilled her more and more. She tried to hold her hood around her shoulders, but then her bare hands were exposed even more to the wind, and then the back of her hood would blow away from her again.
"How close are we to the nearest public building?!" Yang yelled over the loud, howling wind, her arms wrapped around her body.
"I don't know!" Jaune called back, squinting through the thick white snowflakes that swirled around his vision. "I can barely see which building is which!"
"Let's just get all the way into the city and look from there," Qrow shouted, his hand hovered by his eyes to shield them from the snow, "Atlas is a big city; it should have a halfway decent place to rest."
The group continued on, their patience for the cold lessening and lessening. Ruby felt more and more exhausted, and became worried. What if she randomly passed out or something? What if they tried to help her and Oscar couldn't keep them from finding out about the baby? What if that didn't happen, but the baby got hurt?
Clenching her teeth and sucking in a sharp, deep breath of the freezing air, she pressed on, forcing herself to keep her eyes fixed on the road she was walking on. Step by step, minute by minute, breath by breath...
"Over here!" Blake called, pointing stiffly to a large building on their right. Eagerly, the group all followed her into the building, the immediate warmth and light of the building bringing relief to their cold bodies. The door slamming shut behind them, due to the wild wind, they walked forward, shivering and blowing on their hands.
A long, marble counter went along the corner of the wall, a sweet little woman wearing some kind of manager uniform standing behind the counter and looking at a computer. At the sound of the door shutting, she looked up, smiling her greeting.
"Welcome to Cozy 'N Kind Hotel!" she welcomed them, "How can I help you?"
Qrow stepped forward and approached the woman, who's name tag identified her as 'Iris Jones'.
"We're not here for a room," he said, to her surprise.
"But-then why are you here?" she asked questioningly. She crossed her arms and stared at him with her large, blue eyes.
"I was wondering if you could tell me where to find this address," he said, pulling out a piece of paper with Maria's address on it. He set it on the counter and waited as Iris picked it up and looked hard at it. She set it down soon after.
"I'll be right back," she said, turning around and ringing a bell that hung from the wall near the staff entrance. In a few moments, the door opened and another lady, similarly aged as Iris, hurried over to the counter.
"Luna, do you know where to find this address?" Iris asked. Luna looked at the paper, thought for a moment, and then nodded with a smile.
"Yep! I do," she answered cheerfully, looking up with a smiling face at Qrow, "Just take a bus downtown 9 miles, head down Frostbite street, and then you're practically there!"
"Thanks," Qrow said, taking the address back and slipping it into his pocket. Luna and Iris both nodded, and then Luna left, exiting back through the staff entrance. Iris turned back to Qrow, her brow raised.
"Anything else I can get you?"
"Nope. We're good."
He turned to the group, his hands in his pockets, and cleared his throat.
"Alright, kids," he said, "We'll wait a while for the storm to calm down a bit, then we'll find a bus to take us where we need to go. Then we'll find Maria's house and continue what we're here for, got it?"
The group nodded dutifully, Iris raising a brow. "What exactly are you here for?"
"None of your business," Yang snapped back, putting a hand on her hip. Iris rolled her eyes and went back to her computer.
It was about an hour later when the storm had semi-calmed down and the group left to find a bus. Shortly after, they found one, payed for it out of Qrow's seemingly bountiful supply of money, and were on their way to Maria's, about ten minutes left of bus time before they'd be just about there.
Ruby was sitting in the back of the surprisingly crowded bus, the previous weather seeming to have delayed others as well. It was the least crowded space of the bus, but still had a few people. She just wanted a little time to herself; to think and plan their plan.
Her first thought was of Weiss. How was she functioning? Was she dragging out her act well enough? Were things running smoothly for her?
Well, yeah, her mental self answered, I mean, Weiss is great at acting, and she can probably pull off what she needs to.
Her second thought was of their plan. It seemed to be doing pretty well at the moment. The whole Vorst matter had seemed dropped, so that wasn't to be worried about. They were on their way to Maria's right now, and that was the easiest part. From there, they'd check on the Relic, get the next one, rest up, and then decide things from there about the other Relics.
Maria probably has the Relic safe and sound at her house. Oscar will obviously know where the Atlas Relic is, and to get it we just need...
Her thoughts froze as a realization hit her. They needed the Winter Maiden to get into the Vault. Ozpin had said so himself, so how were they going to get it? Could Oscar somehow use the powers that Ozpin's earliest reincarnations had? Or was that all gone, now that he had distributed those powers to the Maidens?
Oh my gosh! Why hadn't we thought of that?! Why hadn't I thought of that?! Oh, we're doomed! We are so doomed!
Her heart beginning to race in her chest, she took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to steady it. She was still shivering a little, and she felt too tired to get up and tell the others right now. She decided to wait until they got to Maria's. Hopefully no one would be mad at her for "not saying something earlier'".
She tried to drift her thoughts to something else. What would she and Oscar do after their baby was born? Would they set up a simple life and leave all of their huntsman and huntress dreams and responsibilities behind? Would they continue to fight as huntsmen and huntresses and somehow raise their child at the same time?
No, you can't do that...can you? I mean, Mom did that. She had me and kept being a huntress just fine. Oh, but me and Oscar are so young, and we'd need to give our full attention to our baby. I don't want our baby to feel alone and unloved...I want me and Oscar to be the best mommy and daddy ever!
Looking sadly down at her mildly rounded stomach, she sighed and lightly put her hand on it, knowing that there were too many people around covering her up from the view of the others. And those people weren't even looking at her, so no one knew or had to know.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," she murmured hopelessly to herself, closing her eyes and slightly bowing her head in sadness.
Suddenly, a light, fluttery feeling in her belly made her eyes pop open and her gaze to snap to her bump. The fluttering sensation repeated, Ruby's eyes wide with shock and surprise, and then ceased.
Had that been her baby? Had her baby moved?! Maybe it was something else, but she had never felt this before, and it excited her. Was her baby big enough to do that already? Curiously, Ruby pulled our her scroll, her shivering ceasing immediately, and quickly looked up the symptoms of the first trimester.
Scanning though the pages that she had looked over so many times before, she finally found a section on baby movement, eagerly pressing the link to it as the page pulled up. Skipping a long, seeming unimportant intro paragraph, she quickly began reading it.
"Some people have felt the first feelings of baby movement as early as 13 weeks," Ruby murmured to herself as she read it, "Others commonly are felt on week 14 or 16, sometimes 18. With twins, the movement can be felt earlier or more frequently."
Swallowing hard, Ruby tried to count how many weeks she was through. Emerald and Mercury had captured them...about four months ago, but they had been stuck their about 2 weeks, and they had been rescued by Uncle Qrow after things had been their worst...
"About 12 and a three-fourths weeks," she murmured to herself, "And that report thingy had said 13 weeks...and with twins the moving can be earlier and maybe more-" She paused, her eyes widening. Did this mean she was having twins?! No, she couldn't be. Not now. That would be horrible. Plus, the chances of twins were rarer than that of having a single baby...
Shaking her head, she through that thought away, knowing how silly it was to think like that. If she had twins, then wouldn't her belly be bigger? So far, her's seemed to match the pictures of others' at her stage without twins. So, no, there was no way she was having twins. Two meant twice as large, right?
Back to the plan...
But her mind wouldn't go back to the plan, but instead stuck to the thoughts and subjects of her baby. When it would be born, if it was a boy or a girl, names her and Oscar might want to think about...
Meanwhile, Jaune and Oscar sat next to each other, Oscar occupied on his scroll and Jaune just staring at the small spaces of the floor uncovered from any feet. Despite his nap in the train, Oscar still felt somewhat exhausted, and he was still mildly sore in a few places from Ozpin's training a while ago.
Jaune just couldn't stop wondering if Oscar and Ruby were "together." It had been stuck stubbornly in his head ever since the blizzard had started up, for some reason, and wouldn't leave. It just continued to nag at him constantly. Staring at Oscar, he slowly felt more and more obliged to ask him, to get some info about it.
But he swallowed the urge and continued letting it build, becoming less and less of a stupid idea and more and more of a good idea. He didn't want to intrude if Ruby and Oscar were together, but he also didn't want to make Ruby think that he wasn't interested in her, because he hadn't been doing much to show his love for her.
After a few more moments of pure torture, Jaune finally looked up at Oscar, who's hazel eyes, still large despite his aging, were focused on his scroll screen. Taking a deep breath and mustering up his courage, he cleared his throat.
"Oscar?" he asked.
"Hm?" the farm boy turned his head and made eye contact with Jaune, lowering his scroll into his lap.
"I-uh, I wanted to ask you..," Jaune stammered, the idea starting to sound bad again, "I mean, that is, if you were okay with me asking..."
Oscar raised a brow, mildly confused. "Um, yeah, sure?"
Jaune swallowed and then gathered up his confidence, knowing he would have to know eventually, if he wanted to take any kind of action. He cleared his throat again, and Oscar felt his heart start to race with fear.
Did Jaune know about the baby?! Were he and Ruby doomed now?!
"Well, me and Ruby...We've been friends for a long time now, almost 2 years," he began, "And we've become very good friends. So it comes to no surprise of me to be concerned about her if something bad happens."
Oscar swallowed nervously, but outwardly nodded, wanting more information. Behind him, Qrow suddenly stood up and walked to the window, looking hard through the glass and just standing there.
"And, um, I pay attention to her a lot because I...I care about her-as a friend," Jaune continued, trying to figure out a simple way to put what he wanted to say, "So when...when I notice something about her...or something, I-I try to take action about it or something."
"Okay," Oscar said, prodding for more, "What are you trying to say?"
Jaune took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. You can do this.
"I guess I wanted to say that I've seen you around Ruby a lot...like, a lot. And I just wanted to know-I mean, I'm curious as to why...well, I was wondering if you might...have a little bit of, um, interest in her?"
Oscar felt his heart pound in his chest. Had him and Ruby been that obvious? Were the others seeing the same thing that Jaune was? Of course they did! He had been hugging her and all that kind of stuff for crying out loud! Why wouldn't Jaune think that? What was he suppose to tell him? Deny it? Confirm it?
Oscar chuckled nervously and shook his head, Jaune feeling mildly embarrassed.
"Jaune," he said with a light smirk on his face to hid his fear, "I care about Ruby as a friend. I will admit I find her quite pretty, but so are a lot of the other girls in our group."
What the what are you saying, Oscar?! Is Ozpin simulating me to say this or something?! I just sounded super dumb...Oh my gosh, I'm acting like a drunk or something. Now I'm doomed. Now I'm doomed. Now I'm doomed. Now I''m-
"But I know how much you like her and I don't want to be someone to get in the way," he continued, inwardly screaming at himself to shut his mouth somehow, "So I just care for her as a friend. Don't worry about it at all."
Ooooooooh my gosh. I don't even sound like myself. Who am I kidding?! I'm busted. Ruby's busted. Ugh, why does Jaune have to like her so much? Why can't he just be her friend?!
Jaune just sat there, wondering what had just happened. He didn't know wether or not Oscar had just told him that he could hook up with Ruby now, or if Oscar had just proved that Ozpin was eating his brain and staunching any logic he had. He scratched his head, confused.
"Uhm, okay?" he said, not knowing how to respond. Oscar just shrugged, nervously laughing again.
"So...you don't 'like' Ruby?" Jaune asked him, hoping to at least clarify that. Oscar nodded, once again inwardly facepalming himself afterwards.
"Yep! She's all yours!"
Jaune's eyes widened and he blinked several times, even more confused. Why was Oscar acting this way? Maybe Ozpin was messing with his mind while their auras fully combined or something...But at least Ruby was his, right? Maybe?
Ah, his is so confusing. I don't know if Oscar's telling the truth. But he probably is...I mean, it would make some sense if he didn't "like" like her. Sort of. Maybe. Ugh! Why can't I just accept what he just said and finally ask Ruby out sometime or know how I feel?
"Well, uh, thanks for your time," Jaune said finally after a few moments of awkward silence. Oscar nodded and quickly turned his scroll back on, staring down hard at it as if something on the screen was strangely fascinating or something.
Jaune sighed, feeling suddenly awkward. Oscar had just replied to him with something important, and yet, he had said it weird. That hadn't helped much. But at least he knew that Ruby probably liked him, or at least was open to the option.
"Um, guys? Where's Uncle Qrow?"
Ruby's cute little voice could be heard clearly, despite the large amount of people in front of her. Jaune and Oscar looked quickly in her direction, seeing her through a few gaps in the crowd of people both standing and sitting.
Looking quickly back to where Qrow was, still standing by the window, they figured she wasn't able to see him from her view. After all, there were a lot of people, and where she was sitting, almost everything but where Jaune and Oscar sat and the main row was full of people in her view.
"He's standing by the win-" Oscar began, but froze when he laid his eyes on Ruby, The way she was sitting, her top was pressed up tightly against her body, and angle and shading of where she sat made her bump somewhat visible.
Eyes wide, he quickly gestured for her to sit straight with her legs in a chair sitting position, waving lightly at his stomach, and then pointing to hers. Jaune looked at him, confused again, and then looked back at Ruby, who quickly sat in the position Oscar had directed.
"He's standing by the window," he finally blurted as soon as Ruby's bump had become less easy to see. Jaune raised a brow, but nodded his affirmative answer to her. He gave her a questioning look, to which Ruby responded by pointing to Oscar and making a coo-coo face. Oscar frowned and pretended to be annoyed.
Jaune felt even more clueless now, as if they knew something that he didn't. He was just about to ask Oscar what was going on when the bus suddenly seemed to slow down, a little too fast.
Everyone lurched forward a little as the bus's brakes went on, and the bus slowed to a stop. A small, low quality speaker nestled in the corner of the bus by the door turned on, the voice of the bus driver audibly mumbling to himself as he turned it on.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," he announced, "Those of you who wish to get off this bus right now, get off! We're in the center of Atlas City Left, in the suburban area. Hurry up and get off whoever is going to so that the next stop won't be late!"
Nora giggled as she stood up, holding Ren's hand, and quickly skipped to the door, pulling him with her. The doors slide open and a few people got off, leaving many people still inside. Nora and Ren exited, followed by Yang, Jaune, and Blake.
Oscar remained, waiting for Ruby, who was squeezing her way past the many people still crowding where she had been sitting. He stood up and smiled another greeting, which she smiled back to him and eagerly left the bus, taking in a deep breath of the fresh winter air.
Then he looked at Qrow, who still stood by the window, peering suspiciously out with squinted eyes. Oscar walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Qrow turned around, frowning, and grunting.
"What's up," he said, the sentence barely sounding like a question.
"We need to hurry up and get out out of this bus. The driver doesn't seem to really like loitering or something."
Qrow just mumbled something under his breath and turned around, his hands in his pockets and his back bent in its usual way. Oscar followed him, and they left the bus, joining the others who were looking around at the snowy neighborhood. The doors quickly slid closed as soon as they exited, nearly catching the tail of Oscar's hood.
The bus was soon back on its way to its next destination, leaving behind a faint trail of black exhaust from its muffler. The rough sounds of the engine trailed off as its distance decreased from the group and the few other people who had already began walking away.
"Wow," Ruby said as she stared at the quaint houses with the blanket of glittering snow covering them. The now setting sun cast its orange rays onto the snow, leaving a pretty golden shimmer on it, making it look like it was almost glowing. "It's nice here."
"I'll say," Yang agreed, stretching her arms and legs out, "Especially after sitting in the cramped bus for a half hour." She yawned and tossed her hair to the side for the millionth time that day. "I'm hungry."
"Aw, did you have to remind me?" Nora wined, pretending to slap at Yang, who playfully dodged it and then added one of her own, "Now I want pancakes!"
Ren sighed and shook his head, covering his face with his hands. Jaune patted him on the back and then walked over to Qrow, who was looking hard at where the bus had stopped and where they had gotten off. He still looked as if he were suspicious of something...
"So...what should we do next?" he asked him, scratching the back of his now fuzzy blond hair. Qrow grunted again, as if disappointed, and then pulled the small piece of paper with the address on it out of his pocket.
"We find Maria's house," he said, holding up the paper. Lowering his hand, he walked to the front of the group. "Let's get going."
The soft, beautiful piano began playing, filling the hushed auditorium with its graceful tune. Weiss stood in the center of the huge stage, her hands held together and her head slightly bowed with her eyes closed. She could feel her father's eyes on her, knowing he was in his usual booth to her left.
Despite how much she doubted Henry's piano abilities, he was actually doing quite a good job. Rather than her other piano accompanist for This Life is Mine, he actually seemed to put a little more emotion into his playin, even though he was only reading it off the sheet she had printed.
As soon as the piano paused slightly, cueing her to begin, she took a deep breath and began to sing, her voice silky, smooth, and perfect.
"Does the winter have a life? Does the wind have a soul? Does pain take sympathy on the one it controls?" Henry pressed more passionately on the keys and crested the next section pressing the keys hard with beautiful emotion.
"Does the hatred, that someone feels, start itself on its own? Or is it just there, when things just aren't fair, when friction's in the air, and nobody cares?" The piano softened into a sweet and somewhat non-depressing tune.
"Is the mirror, smudged and cracked? Is it reflecting correctly, or is it anger just stacked? Heaped, piled, passioned and styled, to fit the wielder's heart. 'Cause if it is then, the view's torn apart."
The piano picked up again into a lovely passionate tune, adding to the momentum in Weiss's voice.
"But what do I see? A family and a home! It's right in front of me, and the one that's in it's not alone. The warmth, the light, so happy so bright, I know that's it's right, it's flawless in my sight. I've got to be grateful, I've got to smile. The happiness in that house is so good."
The piano softened and the main chorus set it.
"Mirror, mirror, do you see the sweet? Do you see the happiness washing over me? Do you know that, despite how I am, smile at other with that. The home. The family. The love. The prosperity. That yearning, leaving me petrified, that I've been feeling, has now been satisfied. Because I know that without it I've become more thriven. And now I can look back and say: Weiss, my dear, you're finally looking to a brighter day."
A piano transition leading to the next stanza began to play, and Weiss stole a glance at her father's booth. He looked like he normally did, with a satisfied look in his dark blue eyes, and his hands folded with his chin resting on it. To her surprise, Whitley was not there as he usually was.
As Weiss continued singing, she gave another glance towards the opposite booth, wondering if that booth was empty again. It was usually empty or reserved for wealthy guests, which never came, but she caught a glimpse of someone sitting there for once.
Looking more directly at them, her eyes widened when she saw her, almost messing up her words that she was singing.
It was Willow.
Willow never came to see her performances anymore, especially when Jacques was there, but for some reason, she sat there, dressed somewhat nicely in a low-cut deep blue satin dress. Funny, it was kind of a weird thing for any Schnee to wear anything low or immodest, as it was considered "unsophisticated". But that was funny too, because plenty of sophisticated people wore scant dresses.
But another surprising thing was that she wasn't holding anything in her hands. Not a bottle of wine. Not a cup of wine. Not a glass of wine. Not even a shot of wine. She was empty handed, watching Weiss closely. They made eye contact, the emotion in Weiss's voice melting into just words, and she was singing it empty minded.
Willow just looked at her, and Weiss almost forgot what the finale of her song was going to have. Ripping her gaze off of Willow, Weiss realized what Henry was playing, and she cleared her throat very softly and took a very deep breath.
She slowly, gracefully, and perfectly sang a few chords, getting higher and higher, and then, with a little burst of effort, hit a very high note. To her relief, she hit it very well, and she felt herself smiling when the piano stopped and the crowd began to clap.
Bowing, due to the length of her dress, she smiling and looked out at her audience, hoping that they would be more generous or whatever and Jacques would get his last bit of help from her, even again. She grinned even more, almost wickedly, feeling smug over this triumphant thought.
Ha ha, Father. Be glad that I decided to help you one last time before I completely ripped myself from your family tree. Sorry!
Taking one last look at her father in the booth, she smiled sweetly at him, her mood escalating rapidly for some reason. Bowing again, she walked to backstage, the lights on the stage dimming and one ones backstage turning on. The crew in charge of the lighting and such got to work on putting things away, and Weiss passed them once again, silently.
But before she reached the door, she felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Before she even turned around, she knew who it was.
"What is it, Henry?"
Henry smiled, the light reflecting off of his light brown eyes and making them look amber. He actually look kind of nice at the moment, the shaven spot of hair on the side of his head having grown back. His tuxedo was also complementing, as it was black and didn't clash with his dark blue hair.
"Well," he said, clearing his throat, "First off, I think you did a great job!"
Weiss nodded, too happy to look annoyed with his attempt at flatter. "I think so too. You also did surprisingly well."
"Oh...well, thank you! Uhm...I was thinking, since you're staying in Atlas now..."
"What?"
"Well, I'm officially asking you out, Weiss."
Weiss just stared at him. For some reason, this came as a huge surprise. Yes, he had tried to woo her a few months ago, and yes, he still seemed interested in her, but this was just...well, surprising. Still feeling happy, but knowing that she really didn't want to, she simply replied,
"No thank you. I already have a boyfriend."
And with that, she walked dignified towards the exit to backstage, images of Jaune in her head and a smug smile on her face.
Ah, at last, I've finished this chapter. Can't wait to write more! To answer a Guest's question, yes, Crescent Rose has a spear-like mode. It's in the Red Trailer and in her Volume 4 Short, when she kills the Beringle. Also, if it said it was updated even though there wasn't a new chapter, that was a mistake. It's fixed, so don't worry.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more chapters!