And here's the next chapter! Very short and something not based on an episode. Hope you like it though!

Chapter 9: Summer

Ruby slipped her headphones on and pressed play as the ship took off. The interior of the ship blocked out the rising sun, which Ruby was thankful for, she hated the morning. She yawned as she changed the song to something a bit harder, something to wake her up as she thought about the night before.

Weiss stood between the bunks, a proud smile on her face.

"You did what?" Blake asked from her bunk.

"I got us reservations at one of the most luxiourous restaurants in all of Vale. Since we have the day off tomorrow I figured I would treat you three." Blake cocked an eyebrow as Yang leapt off her bunk and pulled Weiss into a hug, squeezing her tight and lifting her off the ground.

"Ah Weiss that's so sweet of you! I've never been to a fancy restaurant before! This is gonna be awesome!" Weiss' body was rigid as Yang hugged her. Ruby giggled at her annoyed expression.

"Put me down before I freeze you." She said, her voice monotone. Yang let go and Weiss fell to the floor, yelling in surprise. She glowered up at Yang who was smiling smugly.

"You said to put you down," she said. Blake cleared her throat and Yang and Weiss looked over at her.

"Could you tell me what restaurant we are going to?" Weiss shook her head.

"That's a surprise until tomorrow," she said. Blake narrowed her eyes.

"You do know I only eat certain foods right?" Weiss nodded.

"I know you don't eat meat Blake; I pay attention to what you all eat," she said. She turned to Ruby and pointed a finger at her. "Speaking of, you should start laying off the sweets." Ruby chuckled and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Oh wait, what time is it tomorrow?" Ruby asked.

"Six o'clock, why?" Weiss said. Ruby sighed in relief.

"I already have plans for tomorrow morning." Weiss crossed her arms.

"What is it? Training with Pyrrha? I'm sure she wouldn't mind putting it off." Ruby shook her head.

"I'm going to go visit my mom and dad in the morning," she said. Yang looked at her as Weiss huffed.

"Well just don't take too long. I don't want to be late," she said. Ruby smiled.

"I won't be."

Ruby yawned again, covering her mouth with her hand, as she bobbed her head to the music. She fidgeted around; the metal seats were super uncomfortable and made her butt sore.

She pulled up her contacts and tapped her father's picture. She started to text him as the ship shook slightly.

"Hey dad! Im on my way. U awake?" She sat her scroll on her lap as she waited for him to respond. She felt her scroll vibrate and she picked it back up.

"Sure am sweetie. I have a surprise waiting for you when you get here."

"O cool. Wat is it?"

"A surprise" Ruby rolled her eyes and pocketed her scroll.

She closed her eyes and leaned back, resting her head against the headrest. Listening to some gothic metal was the perfect way to kill the time. She would have brought a book but all the ones that Blake had were stupid romance stories. Or porn. Blake had a lot of smut shoddily hidden behind the bookshelf. Maybe she could grab some of her books and bring them back with her to the dorm.

The ride didn't last for very long and was rather uneventful. She exited the airship and walked down the gangway, her hands in her pockets. There hadn't been many people on the airship with her and she didn't see very many people on the streets either. The rising sun glistened over the glass windows of the buildings, turning them yellow. Ruby walked down the streets, stepping around the few people on the sidewalks as she made her way to the docks.

She was met with the overwhelmingly pungent stench of fish as she neared the harbor and she scrunched her nose in disgust. She could see fisherman loading up their boats and merchants shouting and holding up various fishes in an attempt to sell them. She saw a stray dog run up to a stand and grab a fish while the vendor wasn't looking. She laughed at that as she passed a man selling oysters.

She arrived at the ferry, paid the ludicrous fee of five lien, and got onto the boat. It was rather small and white in color. A blue canopy covered the top of the boat and barnacles crusted the sides. A large harpoon was situated at the front of the boat; there weren't many aquatic Grimm in these waters but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Ruby took her seat, as far away from the railings as possible, and crossed her legs. It felt like an eternity before the ferry had enough people for the captain to bother making the trip. The boat jolted as the engine started and they made their way to Patch. Most of the people on the ferry stood at the railing, pointing at fish and other creatures as they passed them.

Much like the trip on the airship, the ferry ride was rather short and in no time at all Ruby was walking down the gangway and onto the docks of her home, Patch. She smiled at the familiar sight; the small houses dotting the beach, stained with salt and weathered by the sea winds. Laundry lines were hung up along several houses and she saw a group of boys heading to a small boat with nets in hand. It was midmorning as Ruby walked through the village, smiling and waving at familiar families; the Scarlets, the Hunters, the Tanners, and others.

She made her way through the forests on Patch, following the trail that led home. The trees were flowering and a sweet scent was in the air as Ruby's house came into view; a small wooden house with a brick chimney and shingles that needed replacing.

She paused the music, took her headphones off and hung them around her neck as she walked up to the door. She grabbed the door knob and opened the door.

"Surprise!" Three different voices shouted as the door swung open. Ruby smiled; her dad had gotten her friend from Sanctum to visit. There was Amethyst, a brown skinned boy with short black hair that stuck up no matter how much he tried to comb it. Sakura, a pale skinned cat Faunus with long pink hair and blue eyes. And Tawny, a dark skinned boy with a shaved head and black eyes.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ruby asked as she closed the door behind her.

"Your dad called us," Tawny said.

"Said he wanted to surprise you when you came over today," Amethyst said. Sakura grabbed Ruby and pulled her into a hug.

"And how could we say no to seeing our best friend!" Amethyst and Tawny joined Sakura in hugging Ruby. Ruby hugged them back, she had kept in contact via texting but it was much better getting to see them in person. She heard a barking and she looked down to see a black, grey, and white corgi sitting on its haunches and looking up at her, his tongue hanging from his mouth.

"Zwei!" Ruby broke the hug and picked up Zwei, who barked happily, and pressed him against her chest. She hugged him as he licked her face. She saw her father walk into the living room, a stained apron on. He smiled at her before clearing his throat.

"I made breakfast for ya Ruby? You like the surprise?" Ruby set Zwei down and smiled at her father.

"How could I not? I've missed all of you so much," she said.

She walked into the kitchen ad was greeted with the smells of breakfast. Warm pancakes; chocolate, blueberry, raspberry, and plain, bacon, sausage, coffee, juice, eggs; scrambled and Sunnyside up, and toast. The small circular dinner table was packed to bursting with the generous amount of food and simple wooden chairs were sat around the entirety of the table.

Ruby took her seat and her friends sat next to her, her father across from her. She loaded her plate with two chocolate chip pancakes, some bacon, Sunnyside up eggs and made herself some coffee and a glass of orange juice.

"So tell us about Beacon!" Sakura said. Her friends began to dig into their breakfast and looked at her. She started to cut her pancakes up as she said

"It's pretty awesome! The food is better than the food at Signal." Amethyst laughed at that. He pointed his fork at her.

"I've had cat food better than the food at Signal!" Ruby laughed.

"But the classes are pretty tough, we do a lot of writing and reading. But we get to do a lot of fighting in Goodwitch's class! And Bob teaches us really neat stuff when he takes us out into the woods. I know how to start a fire with a pair of sticks now."

"No way, that's awesome." Tawny said. Ruby nodded her head. She took a bite of the pancakes; they melted into her mouth and tasted like chocolate heaven.

"What was initiation like?" Sakura asked. Ruby saw her father look at her; he said nothing but his eyebrows were raised in concern. Ruby looked down at her plate and picked at her food.

"It was uh..." she looked up. She gave a smile "Not too bad, eheh. I killed a bunch of Grimm during the test."

"Really? You got to fight the Grimm! You're so cool Ruby!" Amethyst said. Ruby picked at her food; the bloody mist, the wolf's head exploding in her scope, the tight, dark, slimy throat of the Nevermore. She pushed her plate away and started to drink her orange juice. She saw her father looking at her, concern on his face as he slowly chewed his eggs. She lowered the glass from her lips.

"I don't feel like talking about Beacon anymore. How are you guys doing?" Ruby asked.

"We've been doing great!" Sakura purred. "We've gotten a lot more popular since you left, due to you getting on the news and getting accepted into Beacon." Ruby tilted her head to the side.

"People cared that I got on the news?"

"Of course man! You were all anyone talked about for months!"

"Oh," Ruby said. Her father cleared his throat. They all looked at him.

"Why don't we focus on our food for a bit, I would hate for it all to get cold and go to waste." Ruby's friends nodded their agreement and began to tear into their meals. Taiyang gave Ruby a slight smile. Ruby smiled back and drank from her coffee mug.

They ate in silence, Ruby's plate going relatively uneaten as her friends and father cleaned their plates. With their food eaten her friends stood up from the table, dumping their plates into the sink.

"It was great seeing you again, Ruby!" Sakura said, giving Ruby a hug. Amethyst held out a fist, which Ruby bumped with her own.

"Let's do this again soon!" He said.

"Let us know when you're available again!" Tawny said. Ruby smiled and nodded.

"I will. See you guys soon!" Her friends smiled and thanked her dad for the food and took their leave.

Ruby sighed and her dad took her plate off the table and brought it to the sink. He began to clean the plates, cups, and utensils, his back to her.

"You doing okay, honey?" Ruby looked at the grain in the wood on the table. She shook her head no and said

"Yeah dad." She stood up and pushed her chair in. She walked over to the door and opened it. "I'm going to visit Mom and then head back to Beacon. Love you, Dad." She said.

"Love you too, Ruby!" her father shouted as he scrubbed at a stubborn syrup stain.

Ruby left her house and made her way through the forests, the thick tree's and green leaves blocking out the midday sun. She knew the path to take by heart and in no time at all she was at the cliff where her grave sat.

She sat down in front of her mother's grave, her legs crossed.

"Hey mom," she said. She scratched the back of her head. "So a lot has happened since the last time I came by. I got accepted into Beacon, two years early. Oh and I stopped a robbery while I was in town a few months ago."

"The initiation test was pretty scary, I still have nightmares about it sometimes. I managed to kill a Nevermore though, so there's that. Oh! I'm the team leader of Team RWBY, and no I didn't choose the name." She laughed. The wind blew and her cape fluttered around her and the grass swayed against the grave.

"Yang is on my team, and there's Weiss. She's a bit cold but she's starting to warm up to us. And there's Blake, she's like a cool ninja who likes to read. And there's Team JNPR, their really cool. And Yang's friends are all on their own team as well." She felt tears start to run down her face as she smiled at the grave.

"I'm still wearing the cloak you gave me when I was little. I don't think there's been a day where I haven't worn it. It's like there's always a part of you with me when I have it on. I really miss you mom. Oh, did you like that rose I gave you for your birthday? I wasn't sure what kind of rose you liked so I thought I would give you the kind I like. They're hard to find, they only grow in Vacuo, and I had to save up for it."

"Did you have a hard time with the initiation test?" The wind blew past Ruby; she wasn't expecting an answer but it felt rude not to ask her mom questions during their conversations. "I don't think you would, you're too awesome to have trouble with some stupid Grimm."

"I'm thinking of entering my team in the Vytal Tournament when it rolls around. Uncle Qrow and Dad never talked about it but I think you guy would have done awesome in that, you would have won it, hands down." She smiled again at the grave.

"You would have been all, bam, pow wooh." She made fighting motions with her hands. "And you would have won." She laughed.

Ruby sat her mother's grave and stared at it as the wind blew past and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She stayed that way for a while. She felt her scroll start to vibrate and she pulled it out to see Weiss was calling her.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Where are you?" Weiss said, her tone angry and a hint of annoyance present.

"I'm with my Mom," Ruby said.

"Well can you hurry up and come back? It's getting late and I don't want us to be late for our reservation." Ruby wiped at her tears and sniffed before responding.

"Yeah. I'll head back. See you soon." She hung up and hugged her mother's grave.

"I love you Mom," she said. She stood up, and entered the forest, making her way back to Beacon.

And that's it! Let me know what you think. The next three chapters are going to be much longer than the last two.