Chapter 69
Waking up alone was easy for Ruby. She had done it pretty much every single day for the last five years of her life. The alarm would go off, she'd roll over and silence it, then get up begrudgingly and start her day. No one would be there to drag her back down, insist on cuddling, or be there to wake her up and bring coffee. It made her morning routine just that; routine. Everything was to a schedule, from the time it took to walk to the bathroom to the time the taste of toothpaste would go away at. It was timed so perfectly that she could finish her shower right as the coffee machine was beeping in the kitchen to alert her that it was finished. Having someone else there would only ruin her schedule.
However in the last few weeks of being at home, it was a refreshing change to have a very cuddly sister to wake up with. It put her at ease. It showed that someone still cared, even if that person was Yang.
And what of Weiss?
She frowned. Yes, what of Weiss? For four days on the road, she had slept next to the woman she had so quickly called her girlfriend. Well, it hadn't quite been a quick transition. They had slept in the same bunkbed at Beacon, and that was four years straight of sleeping in very close proximity to each other.
And that was good?
She sighed. It was. Having your best friend wake you up every morning with coffee, tea, croissants, or anything really was nice. Sweet. Something she was slowly realizing she might actually want. Weiss would always have a big smile on in the mornings, and only ever for her. Blake and Yang would get the scowl and have to deal with the Ice Queen's ire. And it was some powerful ire. Ruby had never once seen Weiss get upset at her. But if her words were as true as she had said, that was because she was in love.
She was.
"Shut up."
She rolled over, flinging the bedsheets away and sitting up at the edge of the bed. Her socked feet barely touched the carpet. She groaned. Her legs were numb from falling asleep with the previous day's coveralls on, as the belt around her waist had cut off the circulation. Her hands fumbled with the thick leather strap, pulling it free and letting it hang. She exhaled, finally able to take a full breath. Not breathing was not fun. She sniffled.
"Ugh."
This had been a bad idea, as she could now smell the dirt and grime that she was apparently covered in still. It was like a mix of gasoline and coolant, which were in her opinion, the two worst smelling things in the world. Liking cars was one thing, but being covered in their bodily fluids was another. She stood up, letting her weigh onto her feet. Very brief vertigo overcame her as the blood rushed back southward, but she managed to not fall over.
Yeah, you need a shower.
"No kidding."
I can smell you from in here.
"What happened to shutting up?"
Never said I would. Get undressed.
"Fuck you."
A little angry, Ruby pulled the old mechanic's shirt open, tearing two of the cheap plastic buttons right out of the fabric. She tossed the dirty work shirt in the vague direction of the hamper in her corner. The pants came off next, hooking her thumbs into her socks and taking them off with the dirty grey work pants. They went the way of the shirt, bouncing off the wall and landing near the hamper. She shrugged.
Nice shot.
She rolled her eyes. For once, the sun wasn't beating in through the windows. The rain, however, seemed to be trying to beat the windows in. It was torrential outside today. The darkness of her room was comfortable. Not lazer-like painful as it had been. She sighed, scratching a spot on the back of her head and moving slowly across the room to the door. Slowly, she pulled the door open. The sound of the sink in the kitchen barely loud enough to be heard over the rain on the roof, but she could still hear it. Probably her dad, she figured. He got up early, just like she did. She resisted a yawn, crossing the hall carefully into the little bathroom and closing the door behind her. She reached for the light switch on the left of the door. Her hand hit the wall.
Other side, southpaw.
"Stop being an ass."
Sorry.
She grabbed the switch, lighting up the dim single wall light and sliding the little plastic slider down so the lights wouldn't blind her. She took the moment to stretch her arms over her head, hearing her spine shift as she rotated her torso. Everything on her body was sore enough to warrant stretching, but she found herself too lazy to do so. Her feet dragged on the floor as she moved over to the tiny shower, squeaking on the linoleum. She pulled the shower curtain aside and flipped the rotating knob into the on position, pulling her arm away quickly so the cold water didn't hit her. The curtain slid closed, the rungs scraping against the rod like nails on a chalkboard. Se winced.
So, what, like, are you gonna shower with your shirt still on?
Ruby stopped, closing her eyes. Her right hand balled into a fist. She unclenched a moment later, turning to the mirror which had started to fog up from the steam in the shower. She smirked. She couldn't see herself anymore. Just like she wanted. She took the moment to pull the dirty t-shirt up over her head, scrunching it up in her hands but not putting it down. She sniffed, looking over at the wall. Condensation had started collecting on the dull grey paint, making her frown. Her dad didn't like when they used the shower and didn't turn the fan on, as it made water seep into the walls and ruin the wood. With a more precise arm than earlier, she turned and tossed the shirt at the wall, hitting the fan switch head on and starting up the noisy steam-sucker.
See? That was better!
The voice went ignored this time. Ruby stood in the middle of the room for a moment the sound of the water in the shower hitting the bottom of the tub loud enough to drown it out. She slid the curtain out of the way again and checked the temperature against the back of her hand.
"Ayoy 'sti câlisse!"
She recoiled quickly and wiped the molten lava from her hand onto a nearby towel, biting her lip. She chuckled to herself one single laugh, realizing she had just swore like her dad did.
"I mean... ow."
She gingerly turned the temperature down, avoiding skin-to-water contact. Another tentative test. The water seemed alright. She stepped back.
Strip for me.
She rolled her eyes.
"I am you."
Do iiiiit
She sighed down at herself.
"Whatever."
Her hands came up behind her back and unhooked the rather boring looking utility bra, that still held a few unused adhesive bandages and one single three millimetre Allen key in the right breast pocket. In the struggle she had yesterday in getting the intake from off the engine and onto the work bench, she had ripped the gas mask out of the left cup and now it was just dangling free. A shame. This bra had been the most comfortable one she had ever worn. She tossed it onto the counter without trying to fix it.
Be careful! That's not yours!
No, it wasn't. It could be replaced if need be. She stood for a moment in only her underwear, standing at an awkward angle. After a beat, she straightened and pushed the non-matching boy-shorts down her legs and kicked them into the corner. Not wanting to just stand around, she quickly jumped into the shower and slid the curtain closed behind her.
"Ahh..."
Better?
"Much."
The very warm water flowed over her like a pile of blankets fresh out of the dryer. She smiled, closing her eyes and tilting her face up into the flow. She held her breath and let the water bombard her face for a few moments, giving her nose and cheeks a soft scrubbing to try and clean out her pores. Doing so with dirty hands might not have been the best idea, but she didn't care. She felt good doing it. She turned face, letting the water flow into her hair and onto her scalp, worked in by her tired and barely awake hands.
So how did you sleep?
"Mmm."
It had been okay, she figured. No nightmares this time, but the dream had been about something so mundane she could have possibly been afraid. The dream had been about living. Simple enough in concept, sure, with the little house and the little dog and the easy job to pay the minimal bills. She had been living with a faceless and androgynous spouse who wore a white t-shirt and white pants and nothing else. She had felt at ease at the time, but now she just felt weird. The faceless person had a lot of Weiss in them, she thought. But more like first year at Beacon Weiss than the current one. The house had felt strange as well, as everything had been completely white, as if everything was made of blank printer paper. The view out the windows had also been of nothing but a white void. Everything at the time had seemed completely normal.
None of that sounds normal.
She sighed with a nod, some of the water flowing down her face and into her eyes. She was quick to wipe it away. It wasn't natural in hindsight. It was abnormal in every sense of the word. Perhaps it had been the vague representation of Weiss that had calmed her and made her feel like the experience was normal.
That seems okay to me.
She grabbed her toothbrush off the ledge next to her and stuck it handle-first between her teeth. She had to lean down to grab the tube of paste that had fallen onto the tub floor. Her hips ached as she did, groaning in pain from being forced into use after a long sleep. The taste of the pale green paste was strong enough to make her cringe, but it was all she had so it would have to do. She grabbed the shampoo bottle off the little suction-cup ledge near her elbow and cracked it open, squirting some of the clear green liquid directly onto her head.
Okay that was clearly too much.
"Fut uff. Don' faff me."
She held the toothbrush between her teeth and gave her head a vigorous scrubbing under the water, letting the suds slide down her back and down her legs.
That was like half the bottle!
"Foo baff."
She pulled the toothbrush from her mouth, spitting the paste down at the drain near her feet. She hit the little silver circle dead on and smiled, holding her toothbrush upright and letting the shower wash the extra toothpaste out of it. Setting it down, she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall and let the water hit her in the chest and flow down her body. She lifted one of her arms half-heartedly and watched the water trickle down her arms and off of her fingers. She giggled to herself.
"Heh... water bending..."
Very funny. Don't you have shampoo in your hair still?
"Doesn't matter, I'm enjoying the shower."
Weirdo.
"Says you."
I'm not the one who brushes her teeth naked.
"I'm in the shower. It's called multitasking. I'd shave if I was a guy and had a razor."
What about your legs? What about your... gosh, what did you call it... Lady-Garden?
Ruby snorted, flicking some water at the shower curtain and watching it run down.
"It's October, I'm not going to shave my legs. And I'm not going to do... that either. No."
But Weiss might like it.
Ruby sighed and scrunched her face up.
"Yeah, but she's six thousand miles away. Not gonna."
So you're saying you thought about it.
"Fuck you."
The voice made no attempt to respond, going quiet for a moment. Truth be told she had thought about it. It made her cheeks flush a vibrant red. She closed her eyes and brought a hand up to cover her face, just to try and clear the images from her mind.
Come on, man, give me something! She's hot! You're gonna deny me that?
Yes, yes she was. Ruby let out a pained laugh through her hand, spurting the water that had collected on her lips against the wall. She kept thinking that maybe turning up the heat might silence the voice, but then she remembered that it would also burn her skin. Well water in the country wasn't regulated by the city Hydro companies, so if your water heater could produce above three or four hundred degrees, then that was the temperature that would come out the taps. She immediately thought of the burn Yang used to have on her right forearm from when she was little from doing exactly that. She had always kept that spot of skin hidden with either her bracer gloves, her gauntlets, or that little fuzzy yellow sweatband she wore with her pyjamas. Of course, she didn't need to cover the burn anymore on account of, well...
No arm?
Ruby sighed and spun around, facing into the stream again. The water felt nice as it hit her collarbones and splattered her neck. Yes, Yang didn't have any arm below the bicep anymore. She also no longer had the burn, but that small victory seemed shallow. The new arm was so much cooler than any flesh and bone one could ever hope to be, anyways.
I wonder how high the vibration setting on that thing goes?
"AARRRGH!"
With a jump, she spun and slammed the tap off. There was no time for that kind of thoughts. Not for Weiss, not for Yang's arm, not for anything. She grabbed the curtain and flung it open as hard as she could, a few of the metal curtain hangers coming off the rod and dangling free. She grabbed the towel off the rack so hard it fell over, but she ignored it as she towelled off as hard as she could, scrubbing her hair with vigour enough to pull her own hair out. If the voice in her head was saying anything, she literally couldn't hear it. She paused, leaving the towel on her head for a moment. She seemed to have rattled the voice into submission.
"Ahh..."
She stepped out of the tub and back into the little bathroom, damp feet not having the best traction on the slick linoleum. The sound of the fan was loud right over her head, muffled by the towel she had wrapped her head in. She took a moment to turn around and put the curtain back on the rod for the next person. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across the room. She turned to look fully. The reflection from the neck-up was blurred out by the steam that was quickly receding. The reflection from the neck-down however, was now both clear and clean. She eyed herself for a moment as the steam on the mirror finally disappeared. She reluctantly approached.
The image reflected back at her was, to her, unimpressive. The massive scar that stretched diagonally across her upper body was vibrantly red now, the pink tissue agitated from the hot water. She ran her fingers across it, tracing it from up under her left boob down over her stomach and over her right hip. It was as gaudy as scars came. She hated looking at it. She sighed again, pulling the towel off her head and wrapping around herself, binding her boobs as hard as she felt comfortable doing in order to keep the towel from falling off. She gave her damp hair a quick shake to get any excess drips off. She turned her head and examined her own hair. The dark brown mop of hair was still damp, and it cascaded over her right shoulder.
The mop had grown over the last few years, having not had a haircut in probably eight or nine months, and now it looked more like girl-hair than it ever had. She was a fan of the boyish short hairdo she usually kept, as having short hair had many advantages above just saving money on hair products and time in the morning to get ready. The most prominent reason being, of course, it looked super damn cute on her. She brushed her fingers through the hair that ran over her shoulder, pursing her lips. The longer look was... different. Maybe she should have booked a haircut.
But why? I think it looks good.
Ruby blinked a few times. She turned her head a few times, giving herself a few different styles with the lengthening hair, finally giving it a whip and letting it just sit on her shoulders. She huffed. Maybe the long hair did look good. Whoopty doo. Who cared. She missed her short fluffy hair.
What, you could grow it out and wear pigtails! O-or like, braid it! That'd be super pretty!
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the bathrobe from the back of the door and slung it around her shoulders, dropping her towel and pulling the robe closed around her waist. She wished she had remembered that this was her old bathrobe, as it was, in fact, way too small for her. The front of the robe was barely closed over her and only hung to her mid-thigh, and was open at the top to reveal as near as made no difference all of her sternum. She frowned at her reflection again. It was far too revealing.
Don't show your sister.
"Heh."
No, that would be a bad idea. Yang would try and make fun of her in some way, probably pointing out her cleavage and saying how 'grown up' she was now. Growing up sucked. Growing up with Yang sucked worse.
Yeah, but you gotta admit. You grew up hot.
"What's your point?"
You have the body that you wanted when you were fifteen.
She sighed.
"Yeah, but with a nasty scar across my front."
Oh pish posh. That rack alone. Yowza. The scar means nothing.
No, the scar meant everything. Ruby had difficulty looking herself up and down in any reflective surface when she was naked. Back home, she spent as little time as she could sans clothing, and every piece of trim in her bathroom was powder black so it didn't reflect anything. She didn't even have a mirror in her bathroom. She shook her head again. No. No more, she thought, ignoring the voice inside her head. With a turn, she pushed her way out of the bathroom and back across the hall. Her bedroom was still dark from the rain.
"Haa..."
She fell forward onto the bed, bouncing and twisting her body so she landed on her back on top of the sheets. She lay there in just her robe for a second. The soft fabric belt that held it closed had come undone at some point during the jump and allowed the ill-fitting robe fly open, so she had landed in the full spread-eagle position. She looked down herself through her cleavage, and noticed the door to her room was open. She blinked. If anyone was to walk by at this moment, they would be able to see straight up her-
"Nope."
She jumped to her feet and slammed the door shut, rattling the door frame. This wasn't her house back in Atlas, she couldn't just be so aloof. Her dad and her sister lived here too. That wouldn't be something they'd want to see.
Maybe Yang would.
Ruby scoffed, grabbing a pair of pyjama shorts and sliding them up her legs, realizing that she had left her underwear in the bathroom. She moved to her dresser and pulled the top drawer open and started digging through it for something to wear.
"No she wouldn't. That's gross."
Her hands found something buried way in the back and pulled it out. It was another one of Yang's hand-me-down shirts, this one being her old house-work shirt. This one was just as bright yellow as every other shirt Ruby had gotten from her sister over the years, and had the same red flame graphic on the right side of the chest. She shrugged her shoulders and let the undersized robe slide off and land on the floor, leaving her only in her shorts and nothing else. She examined the shirt in her fingers, catching sight of herself in the little stand-up mirror next to her dresser.
No, not like that. You know what I meant. Look.
She turned, confused, and looked at her reflection again.
"What?"
Show her the scar.
Ruby grimaced at herself and slid the shirt on, pulling it down so it covered the pink tissue. She frowned back at herself.
"She's seen it."
No, I don't mean... ugh, just listen.
Ruby sat down at the edge of the bed.
You kinda yelled at her yesterday when she tried to talk to you.
"Well I didn't want to talk."
I know.
"So what do you want me to do?"
I want you to realize why you don't want to talk.
"Why do you think that is?"
Because you are scared.
Ruby snorted.
"Tell me something I don't know."
No I don't mean scared like scared of confrontation or something like that.
"Then what do you mean?"
I think you're scared of yourself. You don't like what's in your head and what you're capable of doing to yourself. You're scared of me. You're scared to open up because you might realize that I'm right.
Ruby sniffled and wiped her eyes on her wrists.
You need to talk to Yang, but it's gonna be hard if you're all closed up and unwilling to let her in.
As much as she tells you, you need her help. You may not want it, but you need it.
You need to open up.
"But I..."
No.
I know you can.
You might not be able to deal with some issues with her just yet.
You know who I mean.
But this one, this... this... body image problem you have. You can get over that. You're not as broken as you think you are. Everything broken can be rebuilt. I think this is a good place to start.
"How?"
Tell her about it. Get her to open up too. You don't understand that she knows how it feels to suffer like this.
"Why are you helping me?"
Because I know you want to get better, you just don't know how. As much as I am your tormentor, I hate seeing us like this. It's not healthy.
"Really?"
No response. The voice was quiet. Ruby wiped her eyes again. She waited. For an answer.
None came.
Maybe the voice was right. She looked around her room arbitrarily, as if searching for something to cling to. The rain still pummelled the windows outside and made a heck of a racket. She sat up on the edge of the bed."
"Yang?!"
The noise of the rain muffled any other sound in the house, so she was convinced that she hadn't been heard. She called out again, her voice unwittingly sounding sadder than she wanted it to.
"Ya-ang..."
Her heart started beating in her ears. Did she really want to do this? Did she really want to let Yang into her problems? No, of course she didn't want to. She didn't want to hurt her sister by bringing her in. It might inconvenience her to know about the true depth of her problems. To it's credit, the voice had said even it wasn't ready to go that deep yet. She needed a starting point, but even this seemed too far down. Showing Yang a scar she had already seen before seemed like a bad idea. She had been there, at her bedside, for all three months of her hospital stay in the ICU at the Mistral Campus of Advanced Medicine. She grimaced, realizing that she now needed to let her sister in.
There was a soft knocking at her door.
"Ruby?"
Her heart stopped. This was it. No turning back.
"C-come in."
The doorknob turned slowly, with a click as it unlatched. The door swung quietly open, revealing her sister, clad in pyjama pants and an old band t-shirt with the name StarGazer written across the front in full metal-album script. The blonde hair that was usually left loose and free was tied back in a low ponytail with what looked like a regular rubber band. She wore a very worried expression on her face as well. Ruby noticed she had both her arms on as well.
"Hey, honey. You... you called?"
Ruby nodded, gesturing her in. Yang closed the door behind her and gently padded over, sitting down on the bed next to her. Ruby sniffed.
"...Hi..."
"Something you needed?"
She fidgeted, sticking her hands between her thighs and trying to crush her own wrists.
"Y-yeah, I..."
She paused. Yang waited patiently, putting her good arm around her shoulders very softly. Ruby huffed.
"I'm not... I'm just..."
"It's okay hun, take your time."
She clenched her fists and dug her nails into the undersides of her thighs, the pain stinging up into her hips. She turned and looked up into her sister's very soft lavender eyes. They welcomed her, despite not even having a good reason to. Ruby immediately felt like a horrible human being.
"I'm sorry."
Her eyelashes fluttered as if caught in a breeze.
"You are forgiven."
Ruby's mouth froze mid-word. She hadn't expected such a quick conclusion. She had a whole speech prepared and everything. Well, not prepared, really. She was going to just wing it and see if that worked, apologizing and trying to reconcile their problems. This had interrupted her plans. She frowned.
"But-"
"I forgive you."
With that, Yang wrapped her other arm around her and gave her a squeeze, burying her face into the crook of her neck. It tickled as the woman spoke again.
"It's okay, sweetie. I get it."
"O-okay..."
This was awkward. Her natural instinct was to cry here, but she found that she didn't even feel sad. It was... weird. What happened to opening up? Yang pulled back out of the hug, holding a very confused Ruby at arms length. Yang's golden expression never wavered.
"Yang, wait..."
"Hmm?"
Ruby wiggled away.
"I have to show you something."
She scooted her butt backwards on the bed. Yang watched her go, turning on the spot and sitting up on her knees. Ruby's breath caught in her throat as she thought of what to say. She looped her fingers under the hem of her shirt and held them there, feeling a little uneasy. Yang, however, seemed a little too excited. Ruby did her best to scold her.
"Don't laugh. Or like... whatever you were thinking. I need to show you."
Yang rolled her eyes with a smile.
"It's cute that you think I think like that. You're my sister, if you have something to show me, I'm not gonna be offended. Unless you're gonna show me a boob-tattoo or something. Then I'm gonna be mad you didn't bring me along so we could get matching ones. Go on."
Ruby's face broke into a tiny smile. Damn Yang and her cheerful attitude.
"S'not funny, Yang. I'm serious."
Her sister nodded, keeping the smile. Her expression shifted to a more welcoming one. She was ready to listen. And Ruby was ready to open up.
"Okay. H-here I go..."
She pulled up on the semi-elastic ring of the hand-me-down shirt's hem, sliding the fabric up her stomach and revealing the wide, ugly mark that bisected her body. Yang didn't react in the same way that Weiss had. There was no gasp, there was no shocked screaming, no saying of 'whoa!' and averting her eyes. She just smiled and looked down at it. Ruby continued to lift the shirt until it was right underneath her breasts, halting it there so she didn't reveal too much. The scar only continued another three inches up and four inches down into her shorts, but the rest of the scar was fully visible in the dim light.
Yang was unmoved.
"Okay, it's your scar. What, did it get lighter or something? What am I looking for?"
Ruby huffed.
"I want to... talk about it."
Yang nodded slowly, looking her in the eyes.
"Okay. I'm willing to listen."
Ruby shivered as the air in the room started to affect her exposed midriff. She flopped backwards onto her back and stared up at the ceiling as she tried to formulate something to say. An idea came to her. A stupid, stupid idea. One that she felt stupid for even imagining.
"D'you..."
She paused again, fiddling with the loose cotton. Yang flopped over onto her left arm and lay next to her.
"Do I...?"
She exhaled through her nose for a good half minute, her eyes wandering around the barren white plaster above her, searching for some kind of reprieve. The voice in her head had left her completely alone. She couldn't even rely on them for assistance. She dove in.
"...d'you wanna touch it?"
Again, no reaction from her sister. She simply smiled and started to reach out with her right arm. Ruby's breathing increased with her heart rate as the metallic fingers came closer, inch by inch. Just before she made contact, she stopped. Ruby's skin flushed red, having the strange effect of turning the massive scar white.
"Hold up, I wanna try something."
Ruby watched perplexed as Yang sat up again for a moment. With a shrug of her shoulder, she slid her arm out of the metal prosthesis and pulled the leather straps free of her torso. The arm, now limp, was placed against a pillow. Yang lay back down and scooted closer to her. She watched with baited breath as the woman once again reached out for her, this time using only her real arm. Or what was left of it. Ruby let out a tiny gasp as the end of the stump brushed against her stomach.
"Wh-what are you-"
Expecting Yang to interject, she hadn't prepared anything further. Her sister made no indication of continuing, merely laying next to her and running the end of her arm along the ragged scar. She kept her eyes on the scar, lidded and softened as if she was thinking about something else entirely.
"I always wanted to do this. Blake wouldn't let me touch hers, and Weiss used to get all uppity about me being in her face. It feels weird to do."
Yet she didn't stop, tracing the end of her arm further up the skin. Ruby shivered again, this time from the unnecessarily light touch Yang was using. It tickled so badly, but she forced herself to not laugh.
"How high up does it go?"
She gulped.
"Halfway up my boob."
Yang's eyes lit up.
"Can I see?"
"Wha- no!"
"Pleeeeease? I wanna see where it starts!"
Yang's face was just too honest for Ruby to handle. She relented, and nodded with her face turning a bright crimson. She slid her hand up under her own shirt to cover herself and let the woman lift the fabric up to the top of the scar. She shivered again as she felt the short red scar on the end of Yang's arm brush against the pointed and jagged end of her own. She giggled as she got a poke in the underboob.
"What's this under here?"
"Hmm?"
"The little white scar here. Right where the roundness is."
Ruby craned her neck and flattened her boob against herself so she could see what Yang was referring to. The little white scar, barely noticeable that ran parallel to her ribs with a slight curve in it that sat directly in the valley between her boob and her chest. It looked like a seam. Ruby chuckled down at it and her sister.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that was there."
"Well what is it?"
Ruby smiled and pulled the shirt back down over her boobs to hide them and the teeny scar, but leaving the rest of the diagonal slash open to the air as Yang continued to run her arm up and down it.
"So you know that most of my insides were all... torn up, right?"
Yang nodded, her gaze fixated on her left breast.
"Uh huh."
"Well... when the doctors were in there bolting my ribs back together, they noticed that the muscle tissue and fat in this side was torn beyond repair, so they decided to pump this one up a little with some silicone."
Yang's eyebrows shot up, and her mouth hung open in a sly smile.
"So you're saying..."
"Yep. It's fake. Well, a little fake. Just to make them equal."
"Ugh, that's why they're so nice! You cheated!"
Ruby laughed as Yang poked her in the bellybutton with the end of her arm.
"It's not cheating! It was this or have it removed, so I just had them made equal. This one was bigger anyways, so now they're good. For me."
"Damn, maybe I should get some enhancements. Make my girls behave and grow the same size. Bitches, they are."
They laughed together, having a moment. It felt good to laugh so freely and so honestly, even if was with her sister. She watched her sister flop down on her side and lay her cheek against the exposed scar, humming against it. Ruby finally let go of her shirt and relaxed, exhaling and sinking into the mattress and letting her arms fall down again. The fingers of her right hand found the end of Yang's arm. She traced the little red line where Yang used to have an elbow, sighing and listening to Yang purr softly.
"Did it hurt?"
Yang stopped humming for a moment.
"I don't remember if it did. I mean, I think it should have. My arm hurts sometimes. I get pains in a part of my body I don't even have anymore. Besides, I should be asking you if yours still hurts."
"Mmm. I don't know..."
Yang rolled over so her face was facing up at her.
"I guess it still does. In it's own ways. Like, not phantom-painy or anything. I just... have to look at it, you know? See it and remember."
"Yes, Ruby. I know exactly. When I look in the mirror I see the missing arm and what used to be a very broken individual. I used to be sad n' stuff. I mean, my arm was cut off by a sword. I think I'd be more okay with it if it had been amputated or something. Eh, I've found ways around it. What about you?"
Ruby twitched.
"I don't know. It was not really that long ago, so the memories are still fresh. And every time I see it I remember the forest. I remember the pain. I remember waking up with a tube in my throat and having a machine beat my heart for me."
Her voice caught in her throat before she could continue any further. She had to manually unclench her fist, as it had scrunched itself up under the back of her head under her pillow. She could see her sister wince inside, hearing her heartbeat increase. Her smile never faded however.
"Do you remember how it happened?"
"I do. I want to be able to say 'it's hazy', but it's not. It's clear as day. I remember how the forest smelled and how the claw felt. I don't know how to forget."
Yang sighed and closed her eyes.
"Maybe you don't know how because it still means something to you."
"How did you forget?"
"I didn't. I still remember. I just learned how to dissociate the injury from the feeling."
That sounded hard. Ruby frowned. She knew that she needed to learn how to do just that, but she didn't know if she possessed the moral fortitude to.
And one subject in particular needed to be dissociated from.
She kept her eyes on Yang, who seemed to be content in her semi-snooze attitude, as she was cuddling against her stomach. How did she do it? Yang had suffered from post-traumatic for almost two years before she had figured out how to get back on her feet again. She hadn't even worn the arm the first six months either. And now, here she was. Perfectly okay with the memory of that horrible man removing her arm in such a brutal way. It was only once. How did she do it? Some kind of magic? Yang's face was peaceful as she seemed to be drifting through her own world in her head. Maybe it was drugs.
Okay, I'm gonna step in here. Don't do drugs. For my sake and for yours.
Ruby grimaced. She had meant more like something prescribed from a doctor and filled out by a pharmacist or something like that. Not anything illegal.
Even that. Don't. You have to work this out like a real person, and you have to tell her about him. I have an idea, but it's gonna suck.
Hell, even a sucky idea would work at this point. But whatever it was could wait a little longer. She had taken one of very few opportunities she had ever been given and was currently running her fingers through the soft blonde mane, even going as far as to pulling the hair elastic out. Her sister for once didn't seem to mind. The sound of the rain on the windows was coming in waves, like rousing applause in a huge stadium. The shadow against the wall had little streaks of water on it and she watched patiently as two little drops worked their way down the pane, racing each other in slow-motion. Even for a moment, with Yang resting on her stomach and her fingers playing with her sister's hair and scar, the world was peaceful.
The door burst open.
"Hey, girls are you- whoa!"
And then it was quickly shut again, waking Yang from her snooze and making them both tense up. Their dad called back through the door he had just almost broken out of the frame.
"Are you two decent?"
Ruby chuckled to herself and Yang had to manually wipe a smile off her face.
"Yeah, dad. We're dressed."
"Okay."
The door opened slowly and he stuck his head in, clearly nervous to not see his daughters in what had probably looked like a compromising position.
"What's going on in here? I thought you were having breakfast."
"I stopped when the Ru-ster called. We're comparing scars."
He smiled down at them.
"You girls want to see scars?"
Ruby wiggled herself into a seated position as Yang did the same, pulling her shirt down over the scar and covering it again. Tai sat down at the edge of the bed and rolled up the sleeves on his sweater.
"You know how you don't see me drink? Like, how your uncle used to?"
They both nodded.
"Have a look-see."
He pulled the rim of his t-shirt up over his stomach, revealing a short horizontal scar, no more than three inches long right under where his ribcage ended. It looked faded, but not so much that it was older than the two of them.
"This little number I got for you, Ruby. When you were out in the hospital after your run-in in Kayaba, the doctor came to me and told me you were having some problems. That your liver was on the verge of failing from basically getting ripped in half. You needed a transplant, so I gave you half of mine. That's why I don't drink anymore."
Yang piped up.
"You did that for Ruby?"
He smiled.
"Sweetheart, I'd do that for both of you. Even if it meant I had to be on dialysis for the rest of my life. In fact..."
He turned and lifted the back of his shirt and showed off the second one. Another scar, this one vertical, along his spine on the small of his back. This one was a little longer than the first. They both ogled it. The two scars their dad had were not the same jagged and obtuse as the ones they had, and certainly not as large and ungainly as Ruby's. They were both perfectly straight. Surgical.
"...This one was for you. When you were in for your arm, you contracted a viral infection while on the table. Both of your kidneys went on you. I figured 'I have two, my baby girl needs one, so I can live without eating cheese for the rest of my life', so you got my extra one. After the doctors managed to clear your infection, you got a new kidney and I got to keep my daughter."
Ruby's heart just couldn't take it anymore. Taiyang Xiao-Long, famous huntsman, school teacher, farmer and father extraordinaire had only two scars on his whole body, and both of them were from keeping her and her sister alive when they needed it most. She gave in to it and fell forward, burying her face in her dad's chest and slinging her arms around his torso, pinning his arms against his sides.
"...thank you..."
He smiled and ruffled her hair as best he could while in a vice-like bind.
"Anything for you two. Literally."
Yang laughed her pillowy laugh and leaned her face against the pinned man's shoulder.
"Literally?"
"Yup. You want the moon? I'll pull it out of the night's sky. You want a new robotic limb? I'll call a crime boss and have him get me one, fresh in the box. You want a small island nation off the coast of Menagerie? I'll invade it just for you."
"Can I have a pony?"
Tai laughed. Full bodied, heartfelt laughed.
"No Yang, you cannot have a pony."
"Aww, man."
"Yang, you don't even know how to ride a horse."
"Pshh. it's just like riding a motor bike."
"No, sweetie. No it isn't."
"Pshhh."
All three of them laughed. Ruby turned her face sideways and looked over at Yang, who seemed to be once again on the verge of snoozing, with her eyes closed and a big goofy grin on her face. Ruby's lips pursed. Yang was her sister. Her blood relative. Well, half blood relative. Close enough.
Ruby realized something in that moment of happiness.
They had all given up something for someone else. They had all had terrible things happen to them. They were all... damaged. And they were all honest with one another. Well, almost. She realized she still held a secret that needed to get out of she was going to be able to cope with it. Yang deserved to know.
But there was a problem. There always was. She couldn't straight-up tell her her problem. Yang was a very protective person by nature, as much was obvious to any random passerby. She always, always insisted Ruby hold her hand when they were out shopping so that she didn't run off, even if they were both adults and capable of their own decisions, and everyday except for that morning Yang had been in her bed when she had woken up, with her body coiled around her like a snake. Yang was very much a 'don't let go' kind of older sister. Ruby had tried to ask about it once, but never got a clear answer. Maybe it had something to do with her mother. Probably.
Yang deserved to know the truth. But she didn't want anyone to die.
Hmm.
She had a plan. It would take a few days, she figured.
But it would work.
/.../
"Okay? Alright we'll be there in a day or so. Mmm-okay thank you very much. Okay, bye."
She gently placed the old plastic earpiece back into the hanger, silencing the call. She sighed and sat back in the tall shop stool and sliding the old phone backwards on the tall table, hiding it behind the computer monitor. She pulled the single page out of the ancient laserjet printer and read over the driving directions once again. A three hour drive. Not so bad, comparatively.
"Huhhhh..."
She leaned back, folding up the instructions. And sticking them in a pocket on her pants. She stared at the ceiling of the garage, watching a tiny brown spider crawl slowly across one of the rafters. It looked at ease as it gently moved each one of it's seven short legs one by one. Wait, seven? Ruby frowned up at the little creature. One of it's forelegs was missing, broken off at the first joint. Poor thing. It seemed perfectly capable of moving on it's own regardless, however. Such interesting little things they were.
"Oh. Hello, friend."
Yang hated spiders. So did Blake, actually. Ruby wasn't scared of spiders per se, but she preferred to be outside of a six-foot radius of them at all times. They were better from a distance. The only one of the four of them who was cool with spiders had been Weiss. She had always collected the little brown common spiders with her glyphs to get them out of a shrieking Yang and Blake's view. She smiled. What dorks they were. It was kinda cool the way Weiss could suspend them in mid air, frozen in time almost. She sniffed and dropped her chin to her chest.
Okay, arachnids are neat. Don't you have something to do?
She sighed.
"Yeah..."
She just didn't know how to start. Maybe she ought to just dive right in.
I mean...
No, that couldn't work. She had been distracting herself all day, surfing the internet and finding stuff to do tomorrow and perusing a website apparently dedicated to 'dank memes' as the title card had said. Tomorrow would be a full day with her dad, driving out to get some parts to fix the crappy truck that was in a million pieces behind her.
Oy. Get on it.
"Ugh, fine."
She reached into her pocket and rudely extracted her phone, flipping her thumb across the screen to unlock it. She flicked into her contact list and scrolled down to the bottom where the alphabet ended. Her thumb stopped right on the name she had wanted to see, conveniently. Just below it, Velvet and Weiss, and just above was Nora. And Pyrrha. She winced. She had never deleted that contact. She looked away.
Don't panic, keep it cool.
She exhaled and looked back down at the phone. She tapped on the contact of the person she had intended to see. The screen went black for a second before popping the phone app open. It waited a moment, before vibrating quietly in her hand to indicate that the call had been connected to the contact. The line rang. She hesitated.
It rang a second time. Ruby was suddenly unsure if this was a good idea. It had to be. It was the only idea she had. He would be the only person who could help her. The only person she trusted to help her. Not to say she didn't trust Yang or her father, of course, but they didn't possess a semblance that could literally calm a person's nerves and make them less likely to kill anyone. He was a soldier, too. So she knew that he would act with the utmost discretion in this matter. It had to be him. And it would have to be tomorrow.
The line clicked.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Ren."
A short hum of appreciation came through the receiver.
"Hello, Little Ruby. It has been a while."
She let her cheek twitch.
"A little."
"Last time we were together were not under the best circumstances, were they?"
"No, I guess not."
A pause permeated the silence of the shop, lasting a brief second.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure today?"
"I need your help."
"My help? Last I heard, you had left to go back to Patch. Forgive me, but I remember that being the home of your father and sister. Are they not more qualified to help you than I?"
"Maybe I should've specified. I need your help. Specifically."
He paused again, humming quietly. She thought about hanging up right there. No, she needed this. It would help.
"Specifically. Specifically with what?"
"I want to do something about Jaune."
"Hmm."
Another pause.
"What did you have in mind?"
She slumped her shoulders and pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn't know. She didn't actually have a plan. She knew that the only three people who knew anything about her issues with the man were now down a member. She only had Ren and Blake left to help her with this problem. She knew she needed to branch out. Weiss wouldn't be able to help her. Not that she figured, anyways. So this left one person.
"I want to be able to tell Yang."
"But you don't want her to kill him and end up in prison."
She nodded slowly, before realizing that he couldn't see that.
"Y-yeah. I figured you could help me. You helped Yang after she got her arm cut off, so I figured you could help me... break the news so she doesn't do anything stupid or reckless."
"Hmm."
Ruby bit her nails. Very few people knew of Ren's semblance. His was more implicit than explicit like, for instance, Yang's ability to catch fire or Nora's ability to electrify herself and channel it into her muscles. Ren's was very much... emotional. He possessed no shadow clones or glyphs either. Yet his semblance could be considered even more potent than even someone like Pyrrha. Her brute strength could be quelled by something as simple as a handshake from the quiet man.
"I... just want to be able to tell my sister and not be afraid. I'm tired of being afraid, Ren."
"I understand."
She could trust Ren. She could trust Blake. She hated that she felt like she couldn't trust Yang. She had to. She loved Yang. More than anyone. But with Ren's help she figured that telling her sister about the man who haunted her very soul could be made easy. Smooth. Effortless. She realized that this might be a little abusive of her friendship with Ren, however.
"I have been awaiting the day you would do this, Ruby. I am very proud of you for doing this."
"So you're gonna help me?"
He laughed with a soft chuckle.
"Oh of course. I'll even do you one better, my friend. I know someone who might like to deal with him themselves Someone who has had a longer history with him than you do. They want him just as dead as Yang will. They've been egging me on to help them to put him in both prison and in a full-body cast."
Oh?
Oh?
"Oh?"
"Yes. How does that sound?"
Her mouth froze halfway open. She was flabbergasted. Who knew that someone else might have a problem with him? Well, to be fair, that Cinder girl from the hospital had said implied that he was the father of her daughter, and Pyrrha had gone through the pain of marrying him, so maybe he did have a few enemies. Somebody had a problem with him. And they also had the willpower to face him.
Her shoulders fell. She could never face him again. But hey, if someone was going to.
"That sounds... good!"
She could feel him smiling.
"Excellent. How about I drop by tomorrow?"
Her heart fluttered. That felt a little bit too soon. But she had already psyched herself up for this.
"That's... fine, I guess. Isn't it too far, though?"
"Nonsense. Nowhere is too far for a member of Alpha Squad. Besides, I have a private jet."
Oh, right. Ren was still a very wealthy man in control of his own business. She tended to forget since he was also a soldier in the reserve corps and drove around in that tired old Vacuan XR-Coupe.
"I'll be there tomorrow around dinner time. I have to drop by my friend's office to give her the details. I'll deal with your little problem, then I'll be there so we can tell Yang. Together. I know how you feel about this. It will all be okay, I promise."
Her cheeks flushed a little. It felt almost like he could use his semblance on her through the phone. She felt perfectly at ease, even though the subject was one she despised even thinking about. She could barely even bring herself to say his name, let alone talk about what happened. But today had been somehow easier for her. Maybe it had started with how she opened up to Yang about the scar.
She winced again. Right. She still had to deal with that, too.
Baby steps.
She smiled.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Alright. You take care of yourself. You hear me? I'll be disappointed in you if I get there and you've stress eaten yourself into your room."
She laughed. Out loud.
"Don't worry, Lie, I'll be fine."
"Hmmhmm. Okay, I trust you."
"Bye, Ren."
"See you soon."
The line went silent. She smiled as she pulled the phone from her ear.
Now she had a real plan. Ren would get his friend to assist him in dealing with the problem physically, and then he'd come help her deal with it emotionally. His friend, whoever they were, was probably considerably more qualified to deal with him. Hopefully they were stronger, taller, and all around more physically powerful than he was. He would suffer. She realized that that was exactly what she needed.
And now it was going to happen.
Maybe then she could deal with the other monster deep in Kayaba Forest.
She smiled, spinning around on her chair with genuine glee.
Wait, had Ren said her office?