A/N: Hey guys, Sera here! Late again, I know, I had a test yesterday and it threw off my writing time. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but we all know how that goes.
So on this chapter marks the official beginning of the end for the volume 1 set of events. A good deal happens with it so get ready.
Also RelentlessIce gets the spotlight for why part of this chapter is full of feels.
That's it for the pre-chapter notes!
Please enjoy!
I don't own RT or RWBY.
Guilty Rose Chapter 19
The six days since Rose caught Cin trying to upload the virus into the CCT network passed slowly and awkwardly.
Rose being confined to the campus and forest surrounding it because of the White Fang's hunt for her wasn't all that hard on the faunus. She was used to it as she was already only allowed to travel to Vale with Glynda or her teammates.
She was still allowed to go no the field trip to gather sap though. It was an interesting experience for the faunus to say the least.
Apparently, Cardin planned to get revenge on Rose again and disguise it as an accident. The plan involved a jar of sap and some rapier wasps. Unfortunately, Rose decided to be the unseen lookout for her team. So when they were too distracted with trying to find her, they stumbled upon three ursai and Cardin was nearly killed. Fortunately for them, Rose was the unseen lookout for her team, noticed the commotion, and her marksmanship with her SVD was excellent.
The bike ride Yang and Rose had planned was canceled however. Though Yang had an idea for an alternate activity they could do together. Rose accepted the idea when she found out that Yang had gotten her an additional box of cookies for her as an apology.
So now here they were, working on their bikes together.
Both girls were in oil stained t-shirts and overalls. Though while Rose had oil smudges on her face and grit in her hair, Yang kept her face and hair pristine.
"Three quarters wrench, please."
"Here. Now we need to talk about you and Weiss."
The faunus sighed as she went to work, tightening a bolt.
Rose had yet to talk to either Cin or Weiss about what transpired that night in further depth and it was painfully obvious that it was eating at all three girls. Which made things really awkward as all three girls were set on eating meals together.
And since Rose hadn't told Yang what happened between Cin and her, it made sense that she would want to talk about the situation she did know.
"What's there to talk about?"
Rose winced at how harsh that came out, and so quickly shot Yang an apologetic look. The look didn't do much though.
"How about everything. You two have feelings for each other, so why aren't you two dating. I mean seriously, you've kissed and you let her cuddle up to you, while she was naked I might add."
Rose didn't respond immediately, instead she finished her current task. Once she was finished she looked the blonde in the eye.
"It's not that simple Yang."
Yang didn't look like she appreciated that response.
"How is it not that simple? Is it because of Cinder and Neo? If so, focus on Weiss, she at least had the balls to confess first!"
"I won't deny that Cin and Neo are partly to blame for complicated situation between Weiss and I, but they are only a small part."
"Oh, Really? Then do tell, what's the freaking hang up? Weiss is head over heels for you if you haven't noticed!"
Rose only glanced at Yang before grabbing a new tool and returning to working on her motorbike. She didn't say anything for a while, which she knew was irking Yang.
"I'll talk to Weiss tonight after dinner, I promise. Can we please talk about something else?"
Yang let loose a near violent growl like.
"Fine, but I'll hold you to that."
After another minute or two of work, Yang spoke up again.
"So, how'd you get so good at working on bikes?"
Rose stopped what she was doing immediately.
"Necessity."
"Um, that doesn't really answer my question."
Rose wiped the tip of her nose, leaving a dark spot of oil there, and began working again.
"I managed to convince the leader of the Oni Tribe that I needed bike for raids, though it was actually for my escape. Akuma, being who he was, got a bike from a scrapyard and told me that if I could fix it, it would be mine. I had to learn whatever I could and get whatever I could from wherever I could."
"Oh."
"YeP."
The pair continued to work from there, the silence between them only broke when one needed a tool or wanted advice on future modifications on their respective bikes. All in all, it was a rather pleasant experience.
….
Seating at meals had always been a source of mild conflict since team CMEN began joining teams RWBY and JNPR. Specifically, the two seats adjacent to Rose. Thus, a system had been worked out to solve this with as little direct conflict as possible.
This system had Neo cursing her hand for shooting 'scissors' instead of 'paper', and Cinder and Weiss sitting next to Rose.
Weiss speared a rather large piece of beef from Rose's bowl on her fork and fed it to the faunus. The faunus, having given up on eating under her own power, reluctantly took the morsel. Cinder of course looked longingly at the display. She wanted to join in on the fun of feeding Rose, but she couldn't work up the nerve to ask. Though this didn't stop her from sneaking an extra bowl of fresh strawberries onto Rose's tray. The action was noticed by the heiress, who nodded with mixed feelings on her face.
After feeding Rose a chunk of potato, Weiss decided to voice a request.
"So, I was thinking that we go into Vale tomorrow, as a team."
The table went silent for a moment. Then Blake voiced her opinion on the idea.
"You realize that is terrible idea, given Rose's current situation and all."
"Is there something wrong with Rose, again?"
"No, Nora, nothing is wrong with Rose. Some people just have a problem with her, for no reason."
"Then we should break there legs like we did Cardin."
"Back to the topic. No, we shouldn't go into Vale as a team."
Weiss and Blake glared at each other while Yang mulled over the idea.
"It could work, if we're careful and don't take long."
The monochrome pair both turned to look at the blonde with radically different expressions.
"You are seriously willing to risk Rose's safety for some walk around town?"
"I'm just saying that if we stick together and stay on the main streets, we should be fine for half an hour. Provided that Weiss has a good reason for this."
"I do...or I think it is. Preparations for the Vytal festival are coming under way, students from other schools are arriving, and there are some pre-festival sales here and there."
"You just want another day on the town with Rose."
"You can't prove that!"
The entire table stared at the heiress for her outburst which caused her to turn bright red and drflate back into her seat.
Rose saw the disappointed look on Weiss' face, who seemed to know her idea was about to get turned down. Rose felt a pit in her stomach develop.
"Maybe I can ask Glynda and Amber if they'd come along too?"
"No, Rose, it's okay. I want to put you at risk for no reason."
Weiss' dejected voice seemed to give the group pause about turning her down.
"Don't be like that Weiss, we haven't said no. Come on a team day sounds fun, right Blake?"
Blake looked at her partner utterly baffled that she would even consider this. Yang then gave her a pleading look while nodding towards Weiss. After a few seconds, the black haired girl relented.
"Fine, we can go to Vale for a short amount of time."
Weiss' head shot up in surprise. She knew her idea was bad after she tried, and failed, to justify it to the group. But now, her team was supporting her. It felt kind of tingly to be supported like this.
"Really?"
"Yeah Weiss cream, we can take a trip to Vale for a while tomorrow."
The whole time the conversation was going, Cinder kept trying to interject that she, and her team of course, would be more than willing to accompany them. However, the words died in her throat every time because she thought about the incident at CCT tower.
She still had a decision to make regarding that night and her talk with Rose.
….
After the meal had ended and everyone was headed back to their dorms, Rose grabbed Weiss and asked her if they could go to the courtyard and talk. Weiss didn't like the way Rose asked, but kept her opinion to herself for the time being.
Finally, they arrived at the bench they always seem to talk at. Rose didn't say anything at first though. Her head remained bowed and it was obvious she was trying to figure out what to say. Before long, Weiss couldn't take the silence anymore.
"So what did you want to talk about, Rose?"
"For the love of Oum, let this not what I think it is."
"Weiss, we need to talk about our relationship now that we won't have Yang and her attempts to 'spice things up,."
"Yes, though the poker game was...fun."
Weiss blushed when she the game. While she didn't win the game, something better happened. The soft smile on Rose' showed that she had similar thoughts.
"I won't lie to you, I enjoyed myself...because of you. But things are so complicated right now."
Weiss' heart fluttered at first, but now it cracked with every word.
"And I don't know if I can be with you like you want me to."
Weiss almost couldn't hold back her tears.
"You don't feel the same way about me."
The words escaped her lips before she caught them.
Rose turned her head to meet the heiress' eyes.
"I do feel the same, or I think I do, and that's what is making everything so complicated."
Rose sighed and turned her eyes to the night sky.
"I'm broken Weiss. Pieces of me are missing and I'll never get them back. Cin's here too now, which is making things weird. And to top it all off, my past is coming back to haunt me. I don't want you to get involved with me...because I care about you and I don't want to selfishly ask you to suffer because of our relationship."
Weiss was utterly shocked by the confession. She never heard Rose talk like this, not with this kind of pain in her voice.
Yes, Weiss heard pain in the faunus' voice before, especially when talking about her past. But this was a whole different pain.
"Weiss, if I was a normal girl, I'd probably do anything I could to get your attention and approval. But as I am. As I am not good enough for your...love."
Rose suddenly stood up and turned away from Weiss. Weiss knew why though. She saw the tears streaming down her partner's face. So she stood up too.
With one swift movement, she wrapped her arms around Rose's form and held her in a tight embrace.
Weiss knew exactly what it meant to be broken. What is was like to never feel like she would be enough for someone.
But it was this experience that allowed her to speak her next sentence.
"Rose. It's okay if you're broken. It's okay if you're not normal. It's okay if things are complicated. You deserve love just like everyone else, if not more so."
Rose stood there and soaked in the warmth of Weiss' embrace before responding.
"Weiss, even if you're right, things are too complicated right now. Maybe when things settle, we can talk about us again."
"I see, does that mean things need to change between us?"
"I...don't know."
"Okay...can we stay like this for a bit longer?"
"Yes."
Weiss held Rose a while longer before they broke apart and walked to their dorm in silence.
….
Neo saw the whole thing between Weiss and Rose. She was curious about the two since they were acting weird all week. She wasn't expecting this though.
Her "team's" leader she could deal with. She knew how Cinder felt about Rose and was somewhat okay with that. Not the first love triangle in history.
But the heiress' boldness was entirely unexpected and caught her entirely off guard.
She ran back to her dorm, She knew Cinder needed to know about this.
The multicolored girl burst into her dorm to find her team in their beds doing their final rituals of the night. She marched right up to Cinder and shoved her scroll into the girl's face to show her the message that was typed up on her way back to her dorm.
Weiss and Rose are more than partners!
Cinder seemed to read the message with a strange calm expression.
"You noticed?"
Neo had never typed so furiously in her life.
What do you mean "you noticed", I thought you would be upset by this news.
"I'm not upset because it's not news to me."
Neo raised an eyebrow in response to ask a silent question.
"Yang told me Monday when she was asking why we didn't show up to the poker game."
Okay…and you're seriously okay with this?
"Whether I'm okay with it or not, it's Rose's decision. Besides, after Saturday night...I think whatever relationship we did have, broke down."
That's ridiculous, and you know it. You heard how she talked about you.
"Maybe…But I still want to respect their relationship."
BULLSHIT!
"Neo. I will respect their relationship, just like I respected your advances on her. I respected them because she deserves more than I could ever give her."
That took Neo by surprise.
What?
"Look, I don't want to talk about it, let's just go to sleep."
Neo wanted to press the matter but Cinder gave her the look to drop the matter.
….
Team RWBY found themselves Roaming the city of Vale watching decorations get put up and walked into the occasional store that had a 'festival sale' sign. Weiss found some items in a clothing store for faunus that she thought Rose would look delightful in. Of course, she didn't ask Rose to put them on. However, she had already memorized Rose's sizes.
Rose will have more faunus-friendly clothes, if she'd be willing to wear them.
Soon the group came upon the grizzly sight of a store that had been smashed and hollowed out. There were detectives outside who mentioned something about the White Fang and how they weren't paid enough.
"Ugh, those miscreants are completely despicable!"
Blake appeared to open her mouth in protest when she was interrupted by a shout.
"Hey! Stop that faunus!"
A blonde monkey faunus suddenly ran past the team, he didn't make it far though, as an activated lightning dust kunai nailed him in the back of the neck.
It looked painful when he went down face first, no doubt knocking himself out.
Yang congratulated Rose for stopping the stowaway and rewarded her by fetching the detectives and dealing with them herself.
Suddenly, Weiss decided to continue her rant from earlier and gesture in the boy's direction.
"See! This is what I mean! Criminals!"
"Don't call them that!"
Blake finally managed to shout her protest at the heiress. The two glared at each other while the police apprehended the unconscious faunus.
Before either could open their mouths again, Rose stepped in between them.
"Guys, if you're going to fight, let's fight it out at the dorm. I'm sure both of you have things to say to the other that do not need to be said in public."
Weiss deflated at Rose's words, she honestly didn't know what came over her.
"I'm sorry. Rose is right though, we need to discuss this like adults bake at the dorm."
"Fine."
Rose and Weiss cringed at the venom in Blake's voice. But all four of them did turn to head back to Beacon Academy. All of them knowing there wouldn't be much peace in the dorm tonight.
A/N: Woo, the chapter is over, and I get to wait for some hate mail.
Just kidding!
While, I don't think this chapter is the best I've written, it is another much needed chapter.
Rose and Yang finally got some bonding time, like I promised. Not much, I know, but I thought it was a good scene.
Then there's the meal scene, that one was interesting to write. Rose giving up feeding herself was great. I wanted to make the scene more Fallen White Petals with Cinder wiping Rose's face, but I couldn't justify it with all the turmoil between the two. So I am sorry about that. But hey, Cider did give her an extra bowl of her favorite fruit!
So Weiss and Rose finally had their proper talk...yeah, that scene is one I'm nervous about. I wanted to stress that while their relationship is more than what is was, there are still barriers for Rose to overcome. Weiss understands this and there will be more development on this in the next few chapters that will surprise some of you.
Now for the scene with Neo and Cinder. This was a spur of the moment scene that is setting up for a thing I have planned that I hope I can pull off.
Finally, the last scene. Who didn't see that coming. I mean seriously, everyone should know that Rose ALWAYS has a lightning dust kunai on her person, and she's never afraid to use it. And Sun always asks for it with his big entrance in the show.
Welp, that's all, I'll see you guys and gals next week with a chapter full of backstory and maybe action.
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