Ruby at Atlas
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)
"You do not have any friends you wish to say goodbye to?" Winter asked frowning slightly as she looked at Ruby the next morning when she said goodbye to her dad and older sister but no one else. Her uncle was away on an assignment and had been for the last month or so, but she had left him a message about going to Atlas so he'd call her back or show up there eventually. Probably show up just to annoy the shit out of her knowing that drunken old bird.
"Nope. I'm a weapon nut because I'm not that good around people I don't know or who I remember doing something…bad. Most of my classmates thought my memory was weird when we were little so I was bullied a lot and…well…my uncle thinks I might be Autistic for a reason." Ruby said shrugging her shoulders as if she didn't care about that fact while Winter frowned and made a mental note to report that to Ironwood and the teachers at the academy. If she was Autistic then they'd need to watch out for her, people thinking differently than their peers were generally treated cruelly by said peers especially in a militaristic school like Atlas had.
"Oh…wait…I'm not supposed to tell people I'm most likely Autistic…" Ruby said blinking after a second and making Winter smile ever so slightly.
"Don't worry. I don't hold any ill will towards those who are Autistic and aside from General Ironwood and the school nurse for health purposes I won't tell a soul." Winter promised making Ruby beam up at her happily and tackle hug the older woman to the ground.
"Thank you!" Ruby chirped happily while a white haired young woman rushed up to them and paused for a moment.
"Looks like you have one friend who came to say goodbye." Winter said spotting her younger sister and smiling while Ruby looked confused before turning and smiling brightly.
"You're Weiss! It's good to see you again!" Ruby said beaming happily as she tackle hugged the younger white haired woman while the older one looked amused as her sister was taken to the ground just like she was.
"Hi. I wasn't sure if you'd remember me." Weiss said smiling a bit shyly as she hugged Ruby back before standing up and reflexively dusting off her skirt.
"Eidetic Memory. I remember everything. I wanted to see if you'd be my friend but I didn't know how to get in touch with you! My name's Ruby by the way!" Ruby said chirpily as she ginned brightly at the older girl who smiled brightly back but it seemed a bit off. It looked like she wasn't used to smiling with genuine warmth or affection.
"Awesome. My name is Weiss and I… I'd love to be your friend." Weiss said shyly and a little unsurely while Ruby's grin widened, if that was even possible, as she glomped the shorter of the white haired females.
"I…If I had known you were going to Atlas Military Academy I wouldn't have applied to Beacon." Weiss said blushing a bit shyly and embarrassedly while Ruby's smile wavered for a second before going right back to beaming again so fast that if Winter hadn't been watching closely she never would have noticed the change in emotion. Winters eyes narrowed at that, the girl was either a master of hiding her emotions or she was slightly bi-polar with how fast that change had been.
"Don't worry about it, we can still call and message each other and send letters and stuff! Besides at least you'll be there with my big sister!" Ruby said causing Weiss to smile weakly, hoping Ruby's sister was as nice to her as Ruby was. It was like the red cloaked girl didn't even know who she was for either her musical career or her family name!
"And you'll be in Atlas with my big sister, sounds like a fair trade off then." Weiss said smiling weakly as she glanced past Ruby towards Winter who smiled fondly at her sister and nodded slightly. She'd look after the tiny little reaper, it would quite literally be her job since until the girl graduated from the Academy…she was assigned a body guard. Her brilliant tactical mind, which they had discovered when she beat Winter in eight straight chess matches, and her ability with weapons made her a very valuable asset.
"Don't worry Weiss, I'll keep an eye out for your new friend. I know Miss Xiao Long will also keep an eye out for you for me because of your friendship with her sister." Winter said smiling softly at her younger sister who looked a little less tense at that, looking a bit relieved actually. The red caped girl just looked so tiny and fragile.
The alabaster pale skin shrouded by black sure helped her look even more fragile, as if she were a china doll that would break at the wrong touch. Oh intellectually Weiss knew the girl couldn't be that fragile but honestly she was just so tiny and pale!
"Tell Yang that the Big Bad Beowulf didn't get ya and she'll have your back through thick and thin." Ruby said nodding in agreement and making Weiss look confused but nod.
"If you say so." Weiss said making sure to memorize the phrase, some sort of password she was sure. If her new and only friend told her to do it, it must be important.
"I think it's something similar to our 'Snow White didn't eat the apple' code Weiss." Winter said amused at the look on her sisters face, she was used to her sister wearing the mask of the heiress and looking so sure of herself. She hadn't seen her baby sister this openly confused in a long time.
The three Schnee siblings had developed that code after the first time Winter had been taken hostage by the White Fang who had tried to send in someone else to assume Winter's place in the Schnee family and Military. It was a way to be sure that each sibling was who they said they were and give a brief synopsis of the situation or how they were doing with their reaction.
"I hate that stereotype." Weiss's eyebrow twitched, she was still sore about how her brother teasingly used to call her Snow White all the time before he got that stick shoved up his ass. Honestly all of them had pure white hair and favored white colors, but just because Weiss's skin was slightly paler than her siblings she was the one labeled as the Snow White.
"I know." Winter smirked, all the military training in the world couldn't make her forget or ignore all her sisterly instincts.
And one of those instincts was to annoy or tease her baby sister at any given opportunity.