Here's chapter 79, everyone.
"Hey," Blake greeted her team leader, though at that point, she was her friend too. "I'm sorry if you were expecting to see your mom instead of me, but… Well I was hoping we could talk, and I couldn't find you anywhere."
Ruby understood that the message her mother had sent her was just a ploy for her to show up, so she rubbed the back of her head, feeling a little confused about it. "Oh, uh… Well I'm here now. So… What did you wanna talk about, Blake?"
"Would you be okay sitting down for this?" Blake asked, pulling out a chair from the table she was sat at, so Ruby simply walked over and took a seat. "How are you feeling?"
A sigh escaped Ruby's lips. "I think you can take a good guess."
"Right, well, how about compared to before? Are you at least starting to feel a bit better after what your mom told us?" Blake inquired.
"I guess so." Ruby fiddled with her thumbs a bit while laying her hands on the table, while deep in thought of her girlfriend since she was the topic at hand. "I know I have to wait, and… It's okay, since I know her mom will make sure things work out, but still… I hate not being able to help right now."
"It's always like that. Hating the fact that you can't do something. Trust me, I know the feeling." Blake sympathized, while Ruby wondered what she meant. "I'm not trying to compare my own issues with this, Ruby. I just wanted you to know I understand how you feel."
"Oh…" Ruby wasn't completely sure how to respond in that moment, so she turned away and looked forward, sighing a bit more since while the sympathy was nice, there wasn't anything she could do now to really feel any better about it.
Blake reached out, rubbing the team leader's shoulder a few times. "Ruby, I know you care a lot about Weiss," She took a breath. "If Yang was like this, I know I'd feel the same, but-."
"Huh?" Ruby lifted her head up, giving her a questioning look. "Yang? What do you mean?"
"I-I just meant that I'd hate not being able to help her if she was in the same situation." Blake said with a blush, but Ruby noticed that and her eyes were starting to go wide.
"Wait… Do you… Do you like Yang?" Ruby asked outright, and Blake's blush grew much redder, pretty much confirming Ruby's suspicion, so the rose girl gasped. "You do!" Blake quickly held her hand over Ruby's mouth, as the librarian walked over and tapped her foot against the ground.
"Ladies, you should know the rule when in the library," She had crossed her arms and looked a little annoyed, seeing as she's more than likely dealt with something like that on a daily basis.
"We're sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again." Blake assured while keeping her hand against Ruby's mouth, showing the librarian she had her under control.
"Hmm, it better not." The librarian took her leave, and Blake moved her hand away from Ruby's mouth, giving her an embarrassed glare.
"Did you seriously have to yell that out…" Blake questioned in an annoyed whisper, while Ruby's eyes were practically sparkling from the confirmation.
She kept her voice down when she spoke. "Sorry, but this is just so awesome. I had no idea you liked my sister," Ruby had leaned in to whisper, since she wanted to respect Blake's privacy. "When ya gonna tell her?"
Blake's cat ears perked up instantly, so she backed away from Ruby, bringing the chair with her as it screeched against the ground. "W-What? I'm not telling her…"
"Huh? Why not?" Ruby questioned, but then it hit her. She was also the same way with Weiss, being unable to tell her how she felt about her for awhile. "Wait… Yeah, I shouldn't be talking… But you shouldn't keep it to yourself, Blake."
"T-This isn't about me right now, Ruby." Her stutter seemed out of character for her, but to have feelings for someone again in her life was able to trip her up.
Ruby playfully rolled her eyes. "We don't have to make it all about me, y'know. Besides, Yang is MY sister, so you know if you hurt her, you gotta answer to me, and waiting long will hurt her…"
The serious tone Ruby gave her was a bit surprising to Blake. "How would it hurt her?"
"Because Yang had a mom who left her, Blake." Ruby's serious tone wasn't disappearing, so Blake simply stayed quiet and listened. "For a long time, she didn't think her mom loved her… I hated seeing her like that, and only recently her mom patched things up with her… So why does she have to wait on another person to show her they care?"
This was a new side to Ruby that Blake was starting to see, and while Ruby herself waited awhile to tell Weiss how she felt, she knew Blake was much more confident than her at times, so she felt that she could do it.
"That's not the same," Blake was equally serious. "Her mother left her, Ruby. I'm… I'm not the kind of person she should be with anyways. More problems would come up with me around her like that."
"Don't say things like that," Ruby ordered while giving her a saddened look. "No one is a burden to anyone here, and you've been a great friend to all of us, so why would anyone around you ever have more problems?"
"You don't know me, Ruby…" Blake turned in her seat. "Look, I'm not comfortable talking about this right now, and besides, I just wanted to talk to you about Weiss. Not Yang…"
"Ugh, come on, Blake." Ruby got up from her chair, prompting Blake to turn back around to see her offering her hand to her. "I'm actually able to help here, something I can't do for Weiss yet, so please, let me do this for you."
Blake's cat ears twitched, and she thought back to how much Yang has helped her get over her past, and how Weiss the other night was getting her to realize those she can still connect with again. "Ruby…"
"Please… Let me help my friend." The rose girl let out a smile with her hand still extended out to Blake, hoping the cat Faunus would take it.
Not a moment later, Blake let out a silent chuckle while lowering her head. "You three…" She lifted her head back up and smiled. "Yeah… Okay." She took her hand, realizing that her team would always look out for her.
"Weiss… Sweetie, do you want to say anything?" Willow asked, while she and her two daughters were in the Team RWBY dorm at the time.
"She shouldn't have to say anything, mother." Winter spoke up, a bit of venom in her voice as she was still angry with her mother for lying to the family for seventeen years. "Just let her be."
"Winter, I-." Willow cut herself off, feeling as she really had no say on the matter from what she had done, or to what she hadn't done. "You still don't get it." Even so, Weiss wasn't liking the way they were talking with each other.
Weiss balled up her fists and lowered her head. "Stop it already… You both promised nothing would change, so quit acting like this…" She honestly just wanted to leave, not look back and continue her work at school.
"Nothing will change, Weiss, but this is still something we need to discuss at some point." Winter stated.
"Mom and I already talked about this, Winter." Weiss explained. "I know my birth mother's name, and yes, my father too. I have more questions, more answers I need to hear, but right now… I just want nothing to start changing."
Winter looked over at her mother, sighing a bit as she was still upset with her. "Fine, we won't talk about certain things," She said in reference to their mother lying. "But I'd at least like to know who these people are. Her birth parents."
"I can tell you, but you have to promise me that you won't try and use your status as a Specialist to look for them…" Willow said to her eldest child.
"You should know I wouldn't risk causing any more problems," She turned to look down at her little sister. "But if you ever wish to know more about them, I won't hesitate for you." She said to Weiss.
Willow wanted to speak out against that, but she chose to allow her youngest daughter to speak for herself. "This is still a lot to take in, Winter." Weiss admitted. "I need more time…"
With hearing that, Winter nodded to her. "I understand, Weiss. No one will rush you."
"Thank you, Winter." Weiss said, thinking to herself as to what she should even do next.
"You don't have to thank me. Everything will work out." Winter assured, but she knew that she only had three days to make sure her sister would be truly okay.
Weiss got up from her bed and held her hand out, creating a glyph in her hand, shocking Winter as the younger Schnee sibling let out a small smile, glancing up at her sister. "It's… Still hard to believe that I can do this too…" She noticed Winter still looked shocked. "I know. It's not what you expected, but I can do this too now." Weiss sighed and cast her glyph away. "Her name is Lazuria Okami, and his name is Riktor Unubore."
Winter was still reeling back from the fact that Weiss was able to create glyphs. "W-What? That can't be… Their names… If that's their names, then how can you use our family semblance?"
"That's," Weiss let out a somber chuckle. "I still don't know, Winter. I really don't, but I'm able to, so I have to just do what I can to make sure I use both my glyphs, and my wolf changing ability properly." She was still smiling, even if it was a saddened one. "It's what you would and mother would continue to tell me."
Hearing her sister speaking like that made Winter feel awful. She knew Weiss was bottling her feelings up, and that she had a lot more pressure on her. "You don't have to say anymore…"
"I know I don't, but as long as you and mom keep your promises, I'm not going to sit here and cry about this." Weiss stood defiantly. "I have to keep up with the rest of my team, Winter. Having this," She brought out another small glyph. "And my wolf semblance takes a lot more out of my aura."
"That's… Weiss I'm not talking about-." Winter stopped when she saw the serious look on Weiss' face.
"Winter, I get it. I already know what you meant," She let her glyph disappear again and looked to her mother. "Mom, I don't want to look for my birth father… Thank you for telling me his name though, and… My birth mother," She took a breath. "If you ever see her… Tell her I'm doing just fine. And that I'm happy being a Schnee." Willow could feel her tears welling up, and Weiss felt bad, but she couldn't feel sorry for herself any longer.
"S-Sweetie, I'm," Willow wiped her eyes, and with how she reacted, Winter started feeling a little guilty about how she spoke to her about her lies. "Okay… Okay…"
"I'm going to the training room… It's getting late and I need to continue bettering my semblances." Weiss opened the door and glanced over her shoulder. "I'll be back in two hours…"
Winter and Willow silently nodded to her, not wanting to upset the girl as they watched her go.
It was quiet. Both Winter and Willow didn't look to each other for a few moments until both turned to speak. "I'm sorry," Both of them said, and they were equally surprised with their apologies.
"Mother," Winter held her arms behind her back again, giving her an apologetic bow. "I spoke out of line. I know nothing of the situation of her birth mother, but… Even so, I'm still-."
"I know, sweetie. Lying to you all was wrong, and I only wish I can redo it all." Willow walked over and hugged her eldest child, letting her eyes close as she sniffled a bit. "You three, you, your sister, your brother, I only wanted the best for you all, and I truly believed it was the only way."
"For this long?" Winter questioned, not letting her arms down.
"Seventeen years ago, I honestly would have said yes," Willow pulled away and held Winter's shoulders. "Now, no… It was wrong of me, and I can only ask of you to please… For Weiss, let's not fight about this."
Winter, while she was an Atlas Specialist, would always put her family before anyone else, so she nodded. "I can promise that, Mother. What does Father know of this? I'm sure he at least knows that Weiss isn't his daughter."
Willow sighed and pulled away, shaking her head a few times. "I don't give a damn what he knows, but yes, he does know Weiss is not his daughter."
"There's more to this, Mother. So please, help me understand." Winter requested, as she wasn't ready to drop the subject, though she would keep her promise to not fight about it.
"You deserve to know, yes." She sat down on Weiss' bunk. "Her birth Mother truly wanted her to live a happy life, so she asked me to take care of her… It starts there."
So while Blake does have feelings for Yang, that doesn't guarantee Bumbleby is set in stone. It just shows how much Yang means to her at this point in the story, seeing as she's been the one to have her back all the time and has gone out of her way to truly know her.
To JJ- Raven has her issues, and while Qrow may be a bit harsh, he is right in this scenario, but we'll have to see if Raven will figure out how to handle this. And who knows, maybe Blake can teach Ruby about art, but that would more than likely be scenes not shown too much.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 79. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 80.