Disclaimer: All character belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Co-Authored with ToxicExotic

A Good Person's Ire

Yang had always taken pride in people looking in her direction. Her shining mane of blonde hair, her outfits that were designed to show off just enough skin to make people want more, her cheerful and easygoing personality; all of them had been purposely curated over the years as a way to unwind from taking care of Ruby and getting some attention on herself. It had always felt amazing to be the center of attention, to have people watch her dancing in the centre of the club and flirting with those who occasionally came over to dance with her. However, even she was getting annoyed by the constant glances her classmates were sending her team's way while trying to eat their breakfast.

Unlike the glances at the club, which always tended to be hungry or admiring, the glances that had been sent their way over the past week and a half had been judgemental and full of contempt. Both of which had grown as more and more of Blake's past began to spread around the school. At first, it had merely been that she was a faunus and the daughter of Menagerie's chieftain; but under the misguided belief it was their business, some students had gone back and tried to uncover more. Unfortunately that had been successful, and the past few days had seen the hushed whispers turn from her status as royalty to her time in the White Fang.

Of course, people had not taken the news well. Pretty much everywhere they went they were met with snide looks. People had begun to move out of their way while muttering something about terrorists, some had cancelled study and sparring sessions, and even a few of the faunus that had been a lot kinder to Blake were starting to distance themselves from her. To say they were becoming the school's pariah team would not have been a stretch, but as much as she missed the admiring looks of her classmates, the thing Yang hated the most was the effect it was having on her partner.

While the girl had not explicitly said anything, the movement of her ears under her ribbon was all Yang needed to know that Blake wasn't happy about it. Whenever they left their room, they would quickly lie flat against her head and only begin to perk up again when there was nobody around. Unfortunately though, while Yang was more than happy to put them in their place, Blake had been very quick to chastise her after she had slammed a boy into a locker due to a particularly vile comment. Despite her personal belief that some cunts simply deserved to be punched, Blake seemed to be taking a more peaceful, non-violent approach and she was going to respect that.

For the time being, at least.

"You know, I think I preferred it when people spent the day staring at my tits." She said loudly, sticking her finger up at a team of second years only for Blake to quickly slap it away.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm still staring at them." Coco smirked with a quick glance down, causing Weiss to groan from behind her tablet.

"It always does." She admitted, loving how open her girlfriend was about it. "But they're still pissing me off."

"Just ignore them." Blake sighed. "I speak from experience when I say that being hostile towards them does nothing but make it worse."

"So what? I'm just supposed to sit here and let them keep bad mouthing you?"

"I'm not doing nothing." Blake countered. "I'm reporting them to Glynda."

"Blake is right, Yang." Velvet added. "Attacking them just confirms what they're saying about us."

"Yeah, well…" Yang groaned and stabbed a piece of kiwi with her fork, knowing they were right. "They're still assholes."

"That I won't deny."

With a hum, Blake turned back to Ruby and continued what she was saying about some old war that had taken place in Mistral years ago. Unfortunately, before she could even get more than two words out, they heard a derisive snicker from behind them. Turning around, they were all met with the sneering face of Cardin Winchester.

"Angry that people are upset about having a terrorist in their class?" The boy said with a smug grin.

"Fuck off, Cardin." Coco growled, though the boy took no notice.

"You know, I thought you were better than this, Rose."

Yang felt her blood boil as he addressed her sister, but before she could do anything, she saw Ruby give the bully an uncharacteristically mean scowl. "What does that mean?" The reaper asked.

"Well I know you've got this whole "let's be friends" thing and'll do anything to make someone happy, but that's one pussy even I wouldn't eat."

Cardin's words were clearly chosen purposely to trigger a reaction, and a reaction was definitely what he got. As the boy gave an amused chuckle and took a step back, both Yang and Coco lifted from their seat to confront the boy. However much to Yang's surprise, so had Ruby, her hand held out to stop them as she glared at the boy herself.

"You know what, Cardin?" She fired back angrily. "I do like people being friends, and I've even defended you from people, but I'm done. Blake may have made mistakes, but at least she regrets hurting people and deserves to be here. That's more than can be said for you. And since you obviously don't care about being friends, or actually being a decent human being, I'm not gunna to bother stepping in the next time Kobalt or someone beats you up because you've done something to deserve it."

Yang was too taken aback to be angry. Never in all sixteen years of knowing the girl had she heard Ruby talk to someone in such a way. Even Weiss, with whom she occasionally quarrelled, had never been spoken to in such a way. Apparently she wasn't the only one fed up with how Blake was being treated; and as she looked at Cardin's stunned face, Yang couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride.

"Is there a problem here?" Glynda's stern voice said, the woman appearing behind the boy with her arms folded.

"Cardin is being racist, Professor." Ruby replied quickly.

"Hmm." The older woman scowled and glanced around the table and received a nod from everyone there. "I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Very well, Mr Winchester, you will follow me. Miss Adel, put your weapon away. And Miss Xiao Long… your hair is on fire."

Looking up, Yang saw that semblance-born flames were indeed dancing along the length of her golden locks, so gave her head a quick shake to extinguish them.

"Big mistake, Ro-"

He was cut off as an invisible force yanked him forward. Green eyes flashed back from the older huntress, and even Cardin wasn't stupid enough to ignore that warning. With one last glare in their direction, he took off after the woman. A collective sigh ran through the group, and all three girls sat back down in their seats.

"Cunt." Coco scowled, Velvet quickly poking her. "Nice tongue lashing though, Red. Didn't know you had it in you."

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of people treating Blake like the bad guy." The girl sighed, sitting back down and taking her girlfriend's hand. "It's not right."

"It's fine, Ruby." Blake smiled at her softly. "You did the right thing."

"The right thing would have been to punch him through the wall."

"Hence why I am glad Ruby handled it and not you." Yang received a glare from her partner. "What did I tell you about violence?"

"Yes, yes, violence bad, talking good." Yang grumbled and returned to her food. "None of you were complaining yesterday when Weiss made a girl cry."

"She caught me in a bad mood." The heiress shrugged unapologetically.

"Weiss didn't throw a punch." Velvet added, though Yang noted a tone of disapproval in her voice. "We know you just want to help, Yang, and we really do love you for it, but you need to keep a cool head when dealing with this."

"And your head runs more on the hotter side." Coco hummed. "In many ways." She added with a wink.

"Didn't you stand up with me?"

"No comment."

Shaking her head at the smirk that overcame her girlfriend's face, Yang let out a small huff and leant her head against her cheek. She hated feeling like there was nothing she could do to help her friend, but she knew they were right. As cathartic as it was, punching someone wasn't going to change their mind.

"Anyway." Blake yawned. "I think I'm going to head down to Vale. My parents should be waking up soon."

"Alright." Ruby smiled at her. "I'll see you back in the dorm later?"

"Mhm."

Yang watched as the two shared a brief kiss. She loved how close they were becoming, but there was also a little fear for just how quickly Ruby was growing up. It was less than a year ago that the girl would cling to her Zwei pillow and babble innocently about nothing but weapons.

"You want to come with me, Velvet?" Blake asked, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "You can talk to them about your school."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Blake gave the girl a nod. "Hmm, it would be good to run it by the chief. I'd love to join."

"Have fun, Bun Bun." Coco smiled and leaned in to give her a kiss. "You go realise your dream."

"What Coco said." Yang nodded, happily accepting a kiss from the faunus. "Let us know how it goes."

Giving her a smile, Yang watched her girlfriend and her best friend make their way towards the exit. It was yet another thing that she couldn't help but feel sad about. As proud as she was that Velvet was going for her dream, just like with Ruby, there was still a little part of her that was scared. Though both Coco and Velvet still did plenty to reassure her that nothing was going to change, Yang was having to accept that there was always going to be a part of her that worried about people leaving. And that was something she had to work on herself.

Feeling Coco take her hand and flash her a charming smile though, Yang was quick to return it, feeling butterflies erupt in her stomach far stronger than anything the stares she had received while on the dance floor. If that feeling was what learning to conquer her fears was for, then there was definitely no doubt about whether it was worthwhile or not.

More than ever, Blake was becoming extremely appreciative of the time spent inside her dorm room. While she had certainly not expected the school to take the news of her past affiliations well, the amount of conversation it had sparked had surprised even her. It seemed to be all people were talking about. Everywhere she went, she constantly felt like she was being judged, and her enhanced hearing always managed to find a conversation about her; even when she wasn't even in the same room as the people discussing it.

Sadly, that meant that the places in the school she had previously enjoyed were no longer viable places to relax. Even the library, where she loved to curl up in a small, hidden corner with a good book, felt noisy and uncomfortable. Thankfully though, with their dorm room being on the top floor and their only real neighbour being Team JNPR, the four walls of her dormitory had become her safe haven.

It wasn't that bad though. As much as she loved the library, spending the afternoon relaxing on her bed while drawing on her girlfriend's arm was definitely a more enjoyable way to spend her time. Ruby seemed to agree too. Resting against the wall next to her using her free hand to eat cookies with a comic laid against her knees, the girl looked more relaxed than she had done all week as Blake carefully dragged the marker over her skin.

"So they liked the idea?" Yang asked from the couch, grinning as she watched Weiss' tiny Boarbatusk roll excitedly around the room.

"Mhm." Blake hummed. "Dad said it might even put a smile on Saber's face for once."

"So Velvet can open a school as soon as she finishes school?"

"Not quite. She would still need to make a case in front of the families' elders first." Blake explained. "Who are not exactly keen or Huntsmen and Huntresses in general."

"What do they have against us?" Weiss asked from her desk, her Queen Lancer curled around her chair watching the boar carefully.

"Their parents spent their lives fighting us. Faunus weren't always allowed to attend the Huntsman academies remember, so when the Faunus War started, most of the practising Huntsmen sided against us. Those old war wounds run deep in Menagerie."

"But Velvet's nothing like that." Ruby commented with a sigh. "I wish people would stop judging people they don't know. It's stupid."

Glancing up at her girlfriend, Blake remembered how the girl had snapped at Cardin during breakfast. Seeing the girl stand up for her in such a way had made her incredibly happy at the time, but as the day had gone on, it had always made her a little worried. Ever since the mission, she'd been seeing Ruby's hopeful nature slip bit by bit as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that she couldn't save everyone; and she was starting to worry that the concerns Yang had expressed months ago about the girl losing that spark weren't entirely unfounded. Looking across at her partner, she saw the blonde also had a look of concern on her face.

"The elders are cautious." Blake said, giving her girlfriend a smile. "But they'd never let that get in the way of something that could help our people protect themselves better. I'm sure Velvet can easily convince them."

It wasn't a complete lie. While she was sure Velvet would be able to convince them, she knew that it would definitely take more than a few meetings. However, not wanting Ruby to have another reason to lose hope, it was a small lie that Blake could live with telling.

"I hope so." Ruby nodded, returning to her comic.

"So," Blake smiled at her, "Want anything else added? Got enough room for one more thing."

"Hmm." The girl lifted up her arm and inspected the outline of the sleeve Blake had drawn on her forearm of all the things the girl loved the most. "Zwei."

"Ugh." Blake groaned playfully, taking the arm back. "Fiiiine."

"You know, I'm still not sure how I feel about you giving my little sis a tattoo."

"It's not a tattoo. It'll last a week at most." Blake replied, starting on a picture of Zwei trying to squeeze himself into a tiny tube. "And she wanted it."

"It feels nice." The girl grinned after looking at it. "You should try it."

"I'm good, thanks." Yang scoffed, leaning over to grab two books from the shelf. "I don't want to take part in whatever weird thing you two have going on there."

Giving a quick swish of her arm, Blake activated her semblance and let her shadow stick its middle finger up at the woman, hearing the blonde let out a chuckle in return.

"Mudball." Yang called, leaning over to create a ramp out of the two books.

"Will you stop encouraging her?" Weiss growled as the tiny ball of energy did a u-turn and zoomed up the ramp, bouncing off the wall and continuing it's circling of the room.

"Aww, come on, Weiss." Ruby cooed. "She's cute."

"She's a pain." The heiress scowled, her Lancer's mandibles chattering angrily as the Boarbatusk got a little too close. "Of all my summons, she's the only one that acts like that."

"Have you talked to Winter about it yet?" Blake asked.

"She has no idea what I'm talking about." Weiss sighed in disappointment. "She says hers act nothing like this."

That didn't exactly surprise Blake. Though she had only met Weiss' older sister once, the woman didn't exactly seem to be very in touch with her feelings. Anything that wasn't Weiss was treated with a cold, disapproving glare and a no nonsense attitude. If her summons were to ever act in such a way, Blake was sure the woman would put an end to it immediately.

"So your semblance is different?" Yang questioned.

"No. It's just acting differently. Which is weird since I got my Beowolf from her summons."

"Makes sense to me." Ruby hummed, earning a few raised eyebrows. "I mean, your summons are you, and Winter's are her."

"Well she is an up-" Weiss' eyes hardened on Yang. "Upstanding soldier." The blonde finished with a weak smile.

"Yes," Weiss scowled at the blonde and turned back to her desk, "Well at least she doesn't have to get used to the taste of Grimm."

"What does it actually taste like?" Blake asked.

"I don't know." The woman shrugged. "Like fire, and ash… and decay. It's not nice."

"So we'll just make sure to keep some vanilla sw-

Yang was cut off as a loud, distressed squeal filled the room, causing Blake to start and almost mess up Zwei's tail. Looking up from her artwork, she saw that Mudball had finally pushed her luck too far and strayed a little too close to Weiss' Lancer and ended up in its mandibles. Buzzing angrily as the little piglet tried to wriggle free, the giant hornet whipped it's head to the side and flung the summon across the room and out of the window.

For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was the slowly fading squeals as the Boarbatusk fell out of sight, but the second it was gone, the sound was filled with the beautiful sound of Ruby's laughter. Having not heard it since returning from the mission, Blake felt her spirits soar and a wide grin pull at her face.

"Did you tell her to do that?" Yang chuckled, pushing herself up from the couch and walking over to the window.

"No, but I don't blame her." Weiss replied, leaning down to stroke the summon's thorax and receiving a light buzzing of its wings in return. "Good girl, Skadi."

"It is a little like living with Nora when she's summoned." Blake admitted, returning to her work on Ruby's arm.

"I'm gunna tell Ren you said that." Yang grinned, sticking her head out the window. "Hey! Chuck her back up, will ya?"

"Ren will probably agree with me." Putting the finishing touches on the drawn dog, Blake reached over for her colours.

"You're probably right." Yang hummed, catching the boar and pulling it back inside. "Poor little thing." she cooed, putting it under her arm. "Want some vanilla sweets?"

A soft sigh escaped the heiress at Yang's newest method of torture, but she didn't object as Yang dropped down on Weiss' bed and pulled out a bag of sweets. Holding one out, she let Mudball give it a quick lick before placing it in her own mouth and pushing him toward the edge of the bed. Each time the boar rolled back, she held up a hand and waited for it to sit before holding out another treat for it to lick.

"That's how I trained Zwei." Ruby whispered, happily watching her sister play with the animal.

"Hmm…" Getting an idea, Blake took up her outline pen again and added a few treats spilling out of the other end of the tube that Zwei was sticking his head into. "There, how's that?"

"Perfect." This girl grinned.

"Good." Blake smiled.

Happy to see her girlfriend smiling so genuinely again, Blake leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. Feeling Ruby respond, she let it linger for a few seconds longer than necessary, but quickly pulled away and returned to the artwork; the happy smile lingering on both of their faces.

Stifling a small yawn as she turned the page of Blake's diary, Ruby slumped a little further down into her bed. Weiss had not been wrong when she'd said that the faunus' diaries were not enjoyable to read. Though the very first entry had been more than enough to show that Blake was already angry when she started them, every turn of the page only seemed to make it worse. With every entry she could feel that anger twisting into something more malicious, and while there was no doubt that some of it was coming from Blake herself, Ruby couldn't help but notice a pattern.

Adam.

For almost every single entry of the first and second diary, the man was mentioned in at least one way or another and it was becoming increasingly clear that he was exerting his beliefs onto her. The few times where he had not been as present in the entries, Blake had actually seemed to lighten up a little and turned more towards writing about fun little adventures with Ilia or just the average goings on in the camp. However, whenever he returned, the entries very quickly returned to detailing the horrors that faunus were being subjected to and how it was their mission to free them.

Thankfully, while he had been rather prevalent in the first two diaries, his presence had become a lot less by the third. According to the entries, he had been given more responsibilities that kept him much busier. As such, the third had been a more pleasant read; though not by much.

"So where are you?" She heard her partner say quietly, twisting her head to see the heiress walking up a stair of glyphs to her bed.

"February 2012." Ruby replied, shifting aside so that the woman could sit next to her.

"A good month… for the most part."

"Considering everything else, that's not exactly hard."

"I suppose." Weiss hummed. "Is it changing how you think of her?"

"Of course not." Ruby replied instantly, looking over to the other side of the room where her sister and her girlfriend were asleep.

"That's good." The woman hummed, giving her hand a wave to summon her Beowolf and running her hand along its back as it curled up in her lap. "So what do you make of them so far?"

"I think Adam was making her worse." Ruby mumbled. "There's still a lot of her, but..."

"He brought out the worst in her." Weiss nodded. "He reminds me a lot of my father. Always trying his best to make people see the world through his lens."

"I'm just happy she got away from him." Ruby admitted with a sigh. "Maybe you should get away from your dad too."

"Believe me when I say that I am trying." Weiss said in a wistful tone. "Unfortunately, my father is a lot more powerful than Adam, and with far more resources, so I doubt I will ever be rid of him."

"I guess." There were very few people in the world that Ruby genuinely disliked, but Weiss' dad was definitely one of them. "Is he still blocking your cards?"

"And my access to the company." Weiss confirmed with an uninterested nod. "But I still have my inheritance, and I've quite enjoyed building this Dust guide so it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would."

"So you're not going to call him back?"

"Eventually I will have to, otherwise he will show up here." The heiress sighed and pulled out her Scroll. "But until that time, no."

"Good." She muttered and continued to read about Blake's past. "So what're you doing with the guide anyway?"

"I'm not sure yet." Weiss answered. "The SDC has hoarded Dust practices and knowledge and locked it behind a ludicrous paywall for years, so I'm thinking distributing my own, a lot of which was learned from the company, for free would be a good way to annoy him." She paused for a second. "And help people, of course."

Ruby couldn't help but chuckle a little. It was always weird seeing the lengths Weiss went to in order to annoy her father, especially considering how much respect she showed to her teachers and how much pride she seemed to have in her family. Not that she blamed her of course. Given how controlling he was and how much the woman had changed since their first meeting, Ruby was happy to watch her friend continue to defy the man in any way she could. Especially if doing so also helped others.

"That would be really helpful to a lot of people." Ruby hummed with a smile. "So it's just you working on it still? Nobody else."

"Velvet is helping with the coding side." Weiss said with a shrug.

"But it's just you with the Dust?" Weiss caught the curiosity in her tone and raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Nobody el-"

"I have enough of your sister doing that." Weiss scowled.

"Sorry." Ruby apologised quickly. "But you did say we could talk about cute boys."

"You don't find boys cute. And you are fully aware that I was being sarcastic when I said that."

"But you still said it." Ruby said and stuck out her tongue. "Come on, Weiss. I'm your friend and partner; if you can't talk to me about it, who else can you talk to?"

Weiss continued to give her an unamused glare. Ruby knew that talking about her feelings was not exactly Weiss' favourite thing ever, so didn't dare push her too far like her sister did. However, as the second passed and Ruby gave her nothing but a smile in return, the scowl slowly softened and the white-haired woman shook her head.

"Fine." The woman said with a reluctant breath. "What do you want to know?"

"Yes!" She cheered at the rare opportunity, dropping the diary and turning to face her partner. "Sooo, do you like him?"

"Maybe." Weiss groaned and leaned back against bed. "He's infuriating, and his ego is enough to rival your sister's, but I suppose I do enjoy his company. We mostly argue, but… It's nice, and it doesn't feel like I have to hold anything back like I do everyone else."

"That's… weird." Ruby chuckled, Weiss rolling her eyes in response. "But if you can be yourself around him and you enjoy his company, then that's great. That's something I love about being with Blake."

"But I didn't want a serious relationship while I was here."

"Weiss, you've met someone you have a bunch in common with and actually enjoy being around because you can be yourself. Do you really want to ignore that because of something you decided last year before even experiencing it?"

Ruby paused and let out a low breath. "Besides, we're huntresses. We kinda have to take advantage of those things when we can."

"I suppose that's true." Weiss admitted thoughtfully. "Though do I really want to add a fourth annoyance to my life?"

Seeing a smirk pull at Weiss' lips, Ruby bumped her with her shoulder and let out a hushed laugh. As much as Weiss complained, Ruby knew that the woman did in fact value each of them. Even Yang, though that one probably depended on the day.

"Shush, you love us."

"You certainly put that love to the test sometimes." Weiss grinned.

"That's just what being sisters is like." Ruby smiled and reached out to scratch behind Allie's ears, the small Beowolf nuzzling into her hand. "You'll get used to it eventually."

"That is an even scarier thought than Flynt's reaction to me agreeing to his date."

Ruby chuckled and leaned against Weiss' shoulder. "So you are going to accept?"

"Maybe." Weiss hummed. "I will sleep on it."

"Good." Ruby hummed, happy that she could finally offer Weiss some advice. "We really should both get some sleep though. We have triple combat tomorrow, and Prince's funeral is the day after."

"You're right." Weiss breathed. "Are you still okay with going?"

"Mhm." Ruby nodded. "I think it'll be good to say goodbye, and I want to see Petilly."

"Alright." The woman said with a smile, letting her summon fade and slipping off the bed. "Goodnight."

"Hey, you're a poet and yo-"

"Oum, I hate you."

Laughing to herself as Weiss ducked out of sight, Ruby balanced the diary she'd been reading on the curtain rail and laid back in her bed. Though she would have much rather joined Blake in hers, the woman was a light sleeper and Ruby didn't want to wake her. She'd already done that enough over the last week, and wanted to try and avoid it where she could. So, pulling her covers up over herself and giving a small yawn, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep, hoping that it would be a night without the unusual nightmare.

Raalm's Notes

Hello everyone.

So with this chapter was mostly wanted to show Ruby beginning to accept certain things. Most specifically this time that sometimes you just have to stop defending people when they've done shit things. We also wanted to touch a little on how the students are treating Blake and how that impacts her and the rest of the team. Plus, a little down time for the team to just reconnect.

Anyway, that's it from me. I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter will be the finale, and its a long one to finish out.

Chapter 68 - Closure will be up on the 26th.