Blake was beyond nervous. Now that she thought about it, hooking herself up to a gaming system sounded like an outlandish idea for something as simple as trying to confirm if her girlfriend's sister is living a secret double life online. Yep, completely ridiculous. Yet here she was, wearing a super tight, form fitting suit in her bathroom and questioning her relationship goals with her girlfriend.
"Blake, come on out already. I'm sure you look great!" Yang called out from outside the bathroom.
"Just a sec!" Blake looked at herself one more time in the mirror before leaving the bathroom. She didn't really like how form fitting it was, especially around her butt. Blake could already hear all the flirting and catcalling she'll receive from Yang.
With a long deep breath, Blake stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway of her home, with Yang standing right outside the door. Yang whistled at the sight of her girlfriend. Blake rolled her eyes and ignored Yang as she walked down the hall a few steps and entered her bedroom. Yang was quick to follow after her.
"Damn, Blake. You didn't tell me it looked so good on you." Yang teased as she closed the bedroom door behind her and wrapped her arms around Blake.
Blake smiled and placed her hands on Yang's, just over her belly. "Don't get any funny ideas, I still need to get this ludicrously complicated plan done and over with."
Yang took a step back to allow Blake to face her. "Oh c'mon, it's not that complicated. You just need to hop into the game, meet up with Pyrrha, hang out with her and her friends and find out if Ruby really is this Crescent girl like Pyrrha suspects. As easy as baking a cake."
"Do you even know how to bake a cake?"
"Blake, Who do you think cooks Ruby's birthday cake for the last six years?"
"Gee, I wouldn't know since I've yet to attend Ruby's birthday."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You're coming to Ruby's birthday party in a couple of weeks, right? Please? I know she isn't the most social person in the world right now but it would mean a lot to me." Yang looked at Blake with hopeful lilac eyes. Blake knew Yang well enough to know that she wasn't putting up a front. Yang really was pleading for her to attend.
"Of course, you don't need to beg, Yang. But…What kind of gift should I bring? It's not like I know her that well..."
"Hmm...How about a book? She used to love reading. Although, whether she still does, I'm not so sure..."
Blake thought it over for a moment, she had plenty of books she owned that she had completed long ago, she could easily get rid of a few. But there is no guarantee Ruby would even like the gift.
She let out a weak chuckle. "Well, if push comes to shove, I could always give her a gift card."
Yang laughed, that same laugh that Blake absolutely loved. It was like a hot solar flare, so bright and full of energy. "I'm sure you'll think of something by halloween."
Blake smirked at her girlfriend before putting the helmet on her head. "We'll see. Anyway, are you sure you'll be okay here by yourself?"
"Yep, I got a whole shelf of books to read if I get bored." Yang gestured towards Blake's bookshelf beside her before sitting down in a beanbag chair.
"Yeah, but I feel kind of bad for going in without you. I mean, she is your sister after all..."
"I know, but we could only afford one set with our combined allowances. Not to mention that she'd recognize my voice the moment I opened my mouth and lets face it, I wouldn't be able to shut up long enough to hide my identity from her."
Blake giggled, she couldn't even imagine Yang trying to be mute for even a second."Fair enough. Well, I guess I better go online now, I don't want to keep Pyrrha waiting."
"Good luck!" Yang shot a thumbs up at Blake who returned the gesture before lying down in her bed.
Blake took a deep breath to brace herself. If she was being honest, she was actually kind of nervous, she wasn't exactly tech-savvy. She preferred books over video games or TV any day of the week. Yet here she was, hooked up to a suit that reads her vitals and brain signals as if she was in the hospital. All for the sake of helping her girlfriend.
'Ah, the things people do for love...' Blake thought to herself as she finally relaxed. "Game start." she quietly commanded and almost immediately she started to feel numb. Blake had to remind herself that it was normal and that there was nothing to worry about, but the nagging feeling of something going wrong was always there, hiding away in the back of her mind. It didn't take long before she drifted off into the virtual world.
Left alone in Blake's room, Yang's smile turned to a frown as she reached for a random book from the bottom shelf.
"I really hope you know how much this means to me Blake...because you're the best girlfriend I could ever ask for. I..." Yang gently pressed the book against her forehead, silently cursing herself for not saying it before Blake left.
"Why didn't I tell her that? Why couldn't I say those three simple words?" Yang shook her head before placing the book on her lap and finally saw the title.
"Ninjas of Love, huh?...well, it's gotta be better than the last book I read."
After a few seconds, Blake found herself in a void of pure white. It didn't last long however as a room faded into existence. There was a bed in the center and a mirror in the corner. Inside the room, Blake was a bit confused as it took her a moment to realize she was in the game, everything looked pretty close to the real deal. She also wasn't expecting how real her digital body felt and how well it responded to her. She walked over to the mirror and saw that she had short silver hair and green eyes. She was also wearing a simple white button up shirt and brown trousers, topped off with leather boots.
In front of the mirror was the character customization interface with panels indicating various different colors and styles for hair, eyes, and skin. There were even three tabs for the three different races in the game: Human, Elf, and Faunus. Blake knew what an Elf was, obviously, but what the heck was a Faunus? She hesitantly touched the holographic tab for Faunus and looked back up at the mirror. She didn't know what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn't what she saw.
Atop her head were a pair of antlers. At first she didn't know what to think as she stared at them. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her and she reached for one of them, surprising herself with how real they felt. Suddenly, she felt a weird sensation just above her butt, as if a muscle near her tailbone twitched. Blake twisted her body so she could see her butt in the mirror. Her jaw nearly hit the floor.
She had a little puffy deer tail. Blake couldn't believe it, she had a god damn tail and she could feel it, as if it was always connected to her body.
"Okay... this is really, really weird."
Blake looked back at the interface and was about to switch back to Human, but she stopped when she saw a new row of customization options, there were several different animal traits to choose from now.
"Well, as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat."
Blake swiped through the many options until she found what she was looking for. She clicked on her desired traits. A pair of cat ears that matched the silver hair color, along with a silver cat tail.
Blake decided to keep things simple with her character's looks. By the end of it, she had long purple hair with matching cat ears and tail, completed with eyes that were golden yellow. In short, she simply made herself look like her real self but with purple hair and also cat ears and a tail. She should really make herself look a little more different maybe, but she couldn't bring herself to like any of the other hairstyles.
After double checking her results, she finalized the options and a door appeared on one of the walls. After a quick but deep breath, Blake walked through the door and was nearly blinded by the sunlight.
" Uncle Qrow, are we there yet?"
" Of course not Ruby, we still got a few hours of driving ahead of us."
Ruby groaned in response, staring at the countryside through her window was starting to get boring.
" Hey Ruby, how about we play I Spy to pass the time?" A sweet and warm voice came from the passenger seat in front of her.
She stared at the back of the seat for a moment. There was a mostly empty glass bottle of her Uncle's alcohol sitting in the pocket that was built into the back of the seat.
" Okay!" she cheered with her fists in the air. She always enjoyed playing games. Sure it wasn't a video game but as long as it was with her mother, she didn't care.
" hmm, I spy with my little eye...something that is red and wet."
Ruby looked out the window but didn't see anything that was red or anything remotely wet as it hadn't rained for days, just endless farmland and not a single barn in sight. She turned to face the seat and was about to complain but stopped herself when she saw a crimson stain with three holes in the center, right on the back of the passenger seat where a bottle of alcohol was supposed to be, except it was gone. The stain seemed to grow bigger as it spread and dripped downward towards the floor.
She suddenly felt weak as a warm dampness pooled around her belly and legs. She looked down and found a similar stain with three holes on her black sundress, right over her belly. She also found the shattered remains of the glass bottle, shards of various sizes of glass protruded from her upper thighs and the bottom half of her sundress.
Ruby felt weak and dizzy and felt a dull pain in her back and stomach. Sirens sounded in the distance and grew louder and louder with each passing second.
"Ruby, you're going to be ok. You gotta stay awake for me, Ruby." Uncle Qrow's voice was distant as it echoed in Ruby's head. "No, No! I'm fine, save my niece first, damn it!"
" M-Mo...M-M-Mom..." Ruby couldn't even hear her own voice as the sirens started to flood into her ears. She wanted to cry out, but she couldn't. Everything was becoming blurry as the sound of the sirens drowned out any other noise and a pool of blood began to rise from the car floor and above her legs, rising higher and higher as it slowly engulfed her entire body.
Ruby jolted awake, staring up at the ceiling,and covered in sweat. Another nightmare, another soaked bed. She slowly sat up while leaning back on her shaking hands. Ruby panted as she looked around the room, her room. When did she get home? What day was it? And who the hell changed her into her pajama pants and tank top? Ruby kept asking those questions over and over and over again, keeping her mind busy and away from any lingering thoughts on the nightmare before it had the chance to affect her.
After about a minute, She felt in control again and some memories of yesterday returned, answering all her questions. However, her nose crinkled up as a horrible but familiar smell invaded her nostrils and a warm dampness could be felt on the bed sheets. With a loud groan and a roll of her eyes, she peaked underneath her blanket as she feared the worst.
"God damn it..."
Her fears were proven true. She thought that she was over this. It had been years since the last time a nightmare was this bad. Now she needed a shower, badly, and to make matters worse she really didn't want to stain her wheelchair trying to get to the bathroom. Ruby threw the blankets off her and dragged herself to the edge of her bed.
"Okay." She took several deep breaths. "Just like the last time this happened..."
Ruby grabbed her legs by the sleeves of her pajamas, grimacing when her hand became warm and a little wet. she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and landed her feet on the polished wooden floor. For a split second, she imagined her feet feeling cold but quickly shook that thought away.
Ruby looked up in front of her. Her personal bathroom was right there, just five feet away. All she had to do was drop herself down on her butt and then drag herself to the bathroom, no big deal, she used to do this all the time in the first couple of months after coming home from the hospital with recurring nightmares. Sure it was over a year ago, but it wasn't that bad.
It was actually the most depressing and awkward thing she ever did in her life.
With a heavy sigh, Ruby placed her hands on the edge of the bed, briefly lifting herself off the bed and onto the floor. She then proceeded to drag herself towards the bathroom. The trek to the bathroom was a lot slower than she remembered, it felt like minutes instead of seconds were passing by just for her to move five feet. Once in the bathroom, she removed her damp and soiled clothes and propped herself into the shower and onto the bench inside. She vigorously washed the horrible, smelly fluid off her body as shame slowly filled her thoughts. All she could think about was how to explain this mess to her father. God it was gonna be so awkward. She's gonna be fifteen in three weeks and yet she wet the bed, all because of that stupid nightmare.
After her shower, Ruby ran into a problem. She forgot to grab spare clothes before heading into the bathroom, though, how she would have carried them while dragging herself, she didn't know. But she certainly wished she had tried. With another loud and irritated groan, she pulled herself out of the shower and sat on the edge, grabbing a towel to wrap herself in. Now that everything important and private was covered, she dragged herself out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. If anyone were to see her, they'd probably freak out by the sight of someone crawling around on the floor with limp, useless legs trailing behind and wearing nothing but a loose towel to cover their modesty. Ruby imagined that it would probably be a good Halloween prank to pull on her father or Yang and decided to save that idea for later.
Once she got to her wheelchair, she tried lifting herself up but the moment she did, Ruby quickly found her face kissing the floor with a loud thud when her wheelchair rolled away from her... all the way to the other side of her room. With a loud growl, she lifted her head up and yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Damn it, Yang! If you're gonna put me to bed, the least you could do is remember to put the brake on the goddamn wheelchair!" Strangely enough, Ruby was met with nothing but silence.
'For crying out loud, the one time I actually call out to someone, nobody comes...'
"Yang!" Ruby called out again, only to be met with utter silence again. The reason she didn't call out for her dad was obvious, the last thing she wanted was to be seen laying practically naked on the floor by her own dad. In fact, it was kind of an unwritten rule that if she called out for Yang, it was usually because of reasons like this.
Ruby waited a few minutes to listen for any footsteps that creaked from upstairs or anywhere else in the house. Not a single sound could be heard outside of her own thoughts. She suddenly realized that it was way too quiet. The TV in the living room wasn't on, no muffled talking, no sounds of footsteps throughout the home.
"Yang!?" Ruby called out one more time, this time with more worry than anger. Again, nothing but silence.
"I swear to god, if I'm home alone the one time I actually would like some help..." Ruby began grumbling to herself as she clawed her way towards the Wheelchair once more. Luckily, the wheelchair is against the wall after rolling away from her, making it easier to prop herself up into it. Once in her wheelchair, she quickly glanced at the clock, showing it to be 8:28 AM. By now, Ruby was exhausted and she had only been awake for thirty minutes, what a wonderful way to start her Saturday.
Ruby rolled up to her dresser and put on a spare pajama bottoms and T-shirt, forgoing any underwear as she just wanted to quickly get out of her room and see why the hell no one was responding to her cries for help. Once the door was open, Ruby immediately knew something was wrong. She wasn't being bombarded by the smell of breakfast.
Ruby rolled out of her room faster than she thought was possible, entering the living room only to find it empty and as silent as the rest of the house. However, she spotted a note sitting on the coffee table in the living room.
{ Good morning, girls. I left to pick up Qrow from the airport. I Should be back around sometime after noon. -Dad
P.S. Yang, Don't forget to take out the trash and make sure Ruby eats something, bang on her door if you have to .}
Ruby rolled her eyes at the idea of Yang banging on her door. It would have been useless if she was online in Beacons of Remnant. "Okay, that explains where dad is, now where the hell is Yang?"
Ruby spun her chair around and looked around the room for any other note that Yang might have left. After searching everywhere on the bottom floor of the house, Ruby gave up and headed back into her room. On the way, she grabbed the empty laundry basket and placed it on her lap. With a bit of effort, she managed to wheel her way to her room with the oversized basket blocking much of her view of the floor in front of her. Once in her room, Ruby set the basket on the floor and collected her soiled bedding and put them into the laundry basket. She made extra careful that she didn't touch the wet spot on her bedding, the last thing she wanted was to waste time taking another shower.
After that, Ruby found her clothes from yesterday and placed them on her lap and took them over to the basket. Just as she was about to toss her sweatpants in, a note slipped out from the pocket and onto her lap.
Ruby picked up the note and read it. Her eyes grew wide as she remembered the events of yesterday. "Crap..." Ruby tossed her dirty clothes into the basket and searched her room for her cellphone, finding it plugged into it's charger on the nightstand.
"Oh, so you can remember to plug my phone in but not set the brake on my chair after sending me to bed? Glad you're priorities are in order, Yang..." She grumbled at a non-existent Yang. Ruby had a few things to say to Yang if she ever got the chance. For all she knew, Yang could be upstairs sleeping or worse, out of the house.
Ruby unplugged her phone and began typing in the number and saved it under "Weiss" and was just about to send a text before realizing she had no idea what to say. She never actually said that she'd play with Weiss, she didn't have to text her or anything. Weiss was just a fellow student that was tutoring her. No, she was also Myrtenaster, a close friend that she just so happened to have a crush on.
Ruby felt her cheeks suddenly grow warm as she realized the situation she was in. "God damn it, why does this have to be so complicated…"
Ruby wasn't sure how to feel about Weiss being Myrtenaster. Weiss seemed caring, yet intimidating and aloof. But when she was Myrtenaster, it was almost as if she was more sociable and free. Sure she was easily irritated at times, but that was mostly because Ruby and Nora liked to tease her for her height.
She had no idea what to do. She didn't want anyone to know she was Crescent. Sure there wasn't really any real reason to keep it a secret, but it was special to her as she didn't have to be the ever so useless, unable to walk Ruby Rose and instead be Crescent, powerful sword wielder and slayer of monsters with no crippling disability.
Ruby bit her lip as she tried to think of a solution. ' There has to be some way I can go online as Ruby and not...Crescent...That's it ! '
Ruby looked back at her phone and sent Weiss a text.
[ Ruby: Hey, it's Ruby. When did you want to play Beacons of Remnant?]
While she waited for a reply, Ruby rolled over to her bed and pulled out the box containing her FRVR gear and changed into it, struggling the entire time just as she always does. After a couple minutes of putting the Relaysuit on, the suit felt tighter than it usually did. Prompting her to wheel over to her full size mirror in her bathroom. Upon inspection, the suit seemed to be straining a bit more than it did the last time she put it on, especially around her hips and chest. The worst part was, she didn't even have it zipped up yet.
"Please hold a little longer, I know I've grown over the last two years and I've been stuffing myself full of cookies like an idiot all week but please oh please just stay together..." Ruby pleaded as she began to slowly zip the suit up, feeling more and more uncomfortable as the already tight fitting suit became even tighter. Once it was zipped all the way, she found it a little difficult to move without fearing that the suit would rip. She even breathed smaller breaths as the suit was rather tight around her chest.
Ruby went back to her phone to find that Weiss had texted her back.
[ Weiss: Actually, I was just about to go online. Also, I forgot to ask yesterday but have you played Beacons of Remnant before? You said you had a FRVR so I just assumed you have played it without asking.]
[ Ruby: Nope, but I think I'll be pretty good at it. I'll be on in a minute, just need to create a character]
Ruby stayed in her wheelchair as she grabbed her helmet out of her box and put it on. Sadly, her mattress was still wet and so she had to play the game in her wheelchair, a first for her. It was a bit of an odd change at first but she quickly settled into a comfortable sitting position.
"Game start!" she cheered the command with a smile and submerged herself in the enveloping numbness.
As soon as Weiss logged into Beacons of Remnant, she headed straight for the Vytal City's Grand Plaza where she was to meet up with Pyrrha by the Angelic Fountain. Just like the rest of Vytal City, the fountain was decorated for Halloween. The wings of the Angel were painted black and the angel itself had a black robe with glowing red eyes that shone through shadows created by a hood. The water sprouting from the six marble roses at her feet were now colored a crimson red, making the fountain look like a pool filled with blood. It was actually surprisingly pretty to look at despite the haunted aesthetic.
Weiss hurried over to the fountain where she stood and waited with Pyrrha. For about half an hour. Weiss had expected Ruby to be online before Pyrrha met up with her. She texted Weiss saying that she just needed a minute to create a character.
"How long does she need to make a character for? I made mine in like ten minutes." Weiss grumbled to no one in particular.
"Maybe she's lost in the streets."
"Or she's being indecisive about how her avatar's looks."
Pyrrha giggled before leaning on the fountain next to Weiss. "True, I can see that."
After a moment of silence, Pyrrha decided to change subjects. "So, Weiss. I remember you wanting to keep this hobby of yours between the two of us. What changed your mind?"
Weiss sighed, she did indeed wanted to keep her scandalous video game hobby a secret, but she didn't really have much of a choice. "I know, but I couldn't come up with anything else. I originally wanted to ask her to see a movie maybe, but I wasn't sure if that was possible because of...well, you know...her disability."
"Oh Weiss…" Pyrrha shook her head before continuing. "First off, you could have totally done that, she could sit in the front row where most theaters have accessible seating for people in wheelchairs. Second... that sounds like a date." Pyrrha gave Weiss a knowing look, causing the blue haired mage to blush.
"I-I knew that!" she didn't. "A-And friends go see movies together all the time, plus... I don't know what movies she'd like, the last time we asked her about her hobbies, it turned into a disaster."
"Fair enough, I'm just glad you were able to make a friend on your own for once."
Weiss let out a weak laugh, she was 16 years old and yet she just recently learned to socialize like a normal human being without coming off as a snarky, snobby brat who was full of herself.
"Thanks...I was actually really nervous this morning when I woke up. Imagine how shocked I was when Ruby texted me this morning, asking when I wanted to play."
Pyrrha giggled as she did indeed try to imagine it. "Did you squeal like a little girl on Christmas morning?"
"N-No! Of course I didn't!" she did.
"Oh please, you can at least admit that you were happy."
Weiss crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. "I never said I wasn't."
"Excuse me, but you're Pyrrha, right?"
Weiss and Pyrrha turned their attention toward the sudden voice. A somewhat tall girl with feline features and long, dark purple hair stood before them. Weiss noticed the default clothing that new players start out with, making her stand out among the trio and the rest of the players in the plaza.
' That's obviously not Ruby…where the hell is she? ' Weiss thought to herself, not really concerning herself with the new player.
"Indeed I am, and you must be Blake." Pyrrha shook the girl's hand before gesturing towards Weiss, who had perked up at the name of Blake. "And this is Myrtenaster, she also invited a friend to the game and so we just need to wait for her now."
Weiss put up a friendly smile as she waved at Blake, staying silent as she feared her voice might give her away. Truth be told, when Pyrrha said she invited a friend of hers, Weiss wasn't expecting it to be Blake Belladonna. The two of them didn't get along too well in school. Not because either of them hated each other mind you, at least not on Weiss' part, they were just competitive with their grades in school. Weiss would ace the test in chemistry without breaking a sweat while Blake would turn in her research essay and would get praise for how well written it is or how the topic was really thought out and unique.
"It's nice to meet you, Myrtenaster. Oh, and I prefer it if you didn't use my name…" Blake trailed off for a moment, clearly looking for the right thing to say. Weiss couldn't help but be entranced by the twitch of the cat ears atop Blake's head as she thought. "I, um, I'd like to just be called Gambol Shroud if you don't mind."
"Ah, so you like to keep the real world and virtual world separate. Myrtenaster here is the same, I think you two would get along great!" Pyrrha knew full well that Weiss and Blake didn't get along.
Weiss fought off the urge to glare at Pyrrha, knowing full well that she was trying to get her to socialize more.
"Um, e-excuse me, I-I'm looking for Wei-, I-I mean Myrtenaster."
The trio turned their heads towards the source, a girl only slightly taller than Weiss with long, black hair that covered her right eye and a few short silver braids that framed her face. Her eyes were a dark shade of blue, like the deep ocean and she also wore the same white tunic and brown pants that Blake was wearing. Weiss didn't need to ask who it was. The near miss of calling her by her real name, the nervousness in her voice. It was obviously Ruby. Despite knowing this, she was still surprised by what she saw.
Ruby had a big fluffy wolf tail that slowly swayed behind her and pointed, fuzzy wolf ears to match. But what really caught her attention wasn't the animal traits. No, weiss had gotten used to seeing those every so often in game already. The big surprise for Weiss was the fact that Ruby was taller than her.
"Ruby, y-you made it." Weiss walked up to her, making the height difference even more painfully obvious. Sure it was only a couple of inches like Crescent, but It was kind of bizarre to say the least. Seeing someone who you've only seen in a wheelchair and to suddenly be standing a couple inches over you was a drastic change, especially since Weiss just saw Ruby yesterday.
Ruby chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. "Y-yeah, um, sorry I'm late...I couldn't really decide on what to look like, there were just so many options and then I got stuck on coming up with a character name and-"
"Well, you certainly look good." Weiss cut Ruby off before she could begin rambling. Weiss wasn't sure why though, she never heard Ruby rambling before. Maybe it was just instinct.
"Though I'll admit the hairstyle would take some getting used to, it's a huge change from your usual messy and long hair."
Ruby brushed aside the hair that covered her right eye but it i fell back down effortlessly, covering her right eye once again. "Really? The hair isn't too bad is it?"
Weiss couldn't help but notice that Ruby's wolf tail wagged a little faster despite how nervous she looked. "Well, maybe it looks just a little...unexpected, but I assure you it's fine."
"Alright, I hate to interrupt" Pyrrha cut in, clapping her hands together. "But we should form a party and get started." With haste, Pyrrha sent a party invite to the others, causing three pings to go off simultaneously and each girl accepted the invitaton.
"Okay, let's head out to-"
"Actually, before we leave, can I talk to you for a second, Pyrrha?" Blake interrupted, sounding just a tad bit annoyed by something.
"Oh, um, sure." Just as she finished, Blake grabbed Pyrrha by the arm and dragged her some distance away, out of earshot of Weiss and Ruby.
From where Weiss was standing it looked like Blake, or rather "Gambol", was arguing with Pyrrha. Sadly she couldn't make a lick of sense of what they might be talking about.
"So...who's the other girl?" Ruby asked, rocking on the heels of her feet and her hands behind her back.
"Gambol Shroud, apparently she's also new to the game." Ruby simply hummed in response as she watched Pyrrha and Blake. Weiss took another look at Ruby when she wasn't looking, there was something about her that looked familiar for some reason. Maybe it was the face? Though Ruby's long hair in the real world covered a little bit of her face, it never covered anything completely like how her currently short hair did with her right eye as it completely disappeared behind the perfectly smooth, black hair. By the time Blake and Pyrrha were finished arguing and returned, Weiss gave up on guessing.
"Alright, let's get going and get you two geared up, shall we?" Pyrrha clasped her hands together with a smile on her face.
The four girls walked through the crowded virtual city, weaving in and out of the occasional group of people that blocked the roads. Weiss wasn't really paying too much attention as she kept staring at the back of Ruby's head. For the life of her, she couldn't shake away the feeling that Ruby looked familiar, but not because she knew her from school. She couldn't put her thoughts into words, it was just bizarre. In an attempt to think about something else other than Ruby, she began thinking of where the hell Crescent was. She hadn't seen her in a week due to school and was starting to miss her. Plus, she still needed to chastise her for not explaining anything about the game to her.
' I wonder what Crescent is doing right now though, it's odd not seeing her online on saturday...maybe she's hanging out with her family or something. '
Ruby's POV
' God this is so stressful! '
Ruby did her best to hide it well. She was beyond anxious as she struggled to figure out how to act around Weiss-wait no, it was Myrtenaster...but she was also Weiss.
' If I act like I usually do online, would she figure me out? Should I just act like I do at school? But then everyone else in the guild might think I'm quiet and weird… '
Ruby slowly shook her head in a way she hoped no one noticed. She felt like she was having an existential crisis. Which was the real her? Was it Crescent? Was it Ruby? Was it both? Ruby couldn't decide. But then, she noticed Gambol walking beside her, staring at her before quickly turning her head away.
' Why is she staring at me? '
Blake's POV
Blake quickly turned her head away from Ruby, hoping the girl didn't notice her staring. This was beyond problematic. Apparently Pyrrha only just found out that her friend Myrtenaster had invited Ruby to join the game. Blake found it quite the coincidence that Pyrrha's online friend was apparently friends with Ruby. In fact, she found it absolutely and strangely odd that Ruby even had any friends since she and Yang never saw her with anyone at school. Well, except for Weiss but that was only after school.
' Wait a minute… ' Blake looked over her shoulder to see the girl named Myrtenaster, luckily the blue haired girl was too busy staring at Ruby to notice. ' There's no way she could be….no, she isn't the type to play silly games like this...right? RIGHT?! '
After getting some proper gear for her and Ruby, Blake and the rest of the small party entered the Emerald Forest after Myrtenaster claimed some other player named Boop asked her to do a certain quest. They had to hunt down a monster for some Halloween event in the hopes of getting a certain piece of loot that Myrtenaster had been insisting to keep secret, only saying that it was a surprise for a friend. Apperently she didn't want to risk someone having loose lips and ruining the surprise and was clearly not taking any risks. Blake crouched down on the branch she was on and was surprised at how flexable her leather armor was. She was more surprised though when she foud out that she could choose it's color without any cost. She opted for a black leather chestpiece with white accents to compliment her white shirt underneath, as well as purple leather gloves that also covered half her forearm. Sadly, it was't as good looking as she would have liked but it's to be expected as a new player, or at least she thought so. Her little group had already did several quests and some grinding before coming to Emerald forest. But her and Ruby had just barely even reached level 10 so far and wouldn't stand a chance against their target alone.
"Why the hell are we doing this again!?" Blake yelled towards Pyrrha below her. She was currently squating on a branch up in a tree, gripping her short sword with her right hand while her left rested on the trunk of the tree to keep her steady.
"I told you, the best way to defeat our target is to lure it out and then you and I will ambush it." Pyrrha hid behind the tree that Blake was sitting in, peaking around the corner.
Blake sighed, she understood that much but why did Pyrrha send Myrtenaster and Ruby to be the bait? Blake may have not been much of a gamer, but reading fantasy novels told her that someone like her and Pyrrha would make better bait since she could dodge any incoming attacks rather easily while Pyrrha could tank any incoming damage. Blake opened the interface to check the time, Ruby and Myrtenaster had been gone for ten minutes already, much longer than Pyrrha said it should take to bring the target to them. With another sigh, Blake looked over towards the list of names and their accompanying health bars in the corner of her vision, eyeing the names of each member. It was easy to forget they were there, hidden away by her peripheral vision. Or maybe they actually disappeared whenever you didn't focus on them? Blake honestly couldn't tell. She looked each party member over, everyone's health was still full, So Ruby and Myrtenaster were fine. However, When she got to Ruby's name at the bottom of the list, she narrowed her eyes.
Summer.
It was such a simple name yet Blake couldn't help but feel like she heard it before. Maybe it was from one of the dozens of books she read or something, the name did sound kind of sweet and warm like some of the characters from her books after all. Blake looked back down at Pyrrha.
"Hey Pyrrha, why pair Myrtenaster with Ruby, wouldn't it have been better to pair me with Ruby? Not only would it be safer and more efficient, but I'd also get to be closer with Ruby and maybe figure out if she's Crescent or not, right?"
Pyrrha suddenly looked up at blake, her eyes wide before looking side to side as if she was looking for a way out. "W-Well…"
Ruby suddenly jumped out of a group of bushes and ran right past Pyrrha. Pyrrha simply blinked, not expecting Ruby to just run past her.
"Hi Pyrrha! Can't talk! Gotta Run!"
"Ruby, wait! Where's Myrtenaster!?" Pyrrha cried out.
Suddenly, the sound of a girl screaming could be heard, followed by a horrible combination of a shriek and growl, like someone shoved a large piece of metal into a woodchipper. Pyrrha turned to face the thicket of bushes that Ruby had run out of. Blake jumped down beside her, the two could hear what sounded like dozens of fallens leaves being crushed, growing louder and louder.
"Pyrrha…"
"Yeah, Blake?"
"I think we should run." Blake was already walking backwards just a foot away behind Pyrrha, ready to burst in a sprint any second.
"Yeah." Pyrrha followed Blake's lead and began walking backwards herself. "Yeah, I think you're right."
Just then, their target burst out of the thicket of bushes and trees, its eight skeletal legs skittering across the forest floor, it's eight glowing red eyes locking onto Blake and Pyrrha. The Arachne was horrifyingly huge, much bigger than the group of girls had thought. But the terror that Blake felt was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion by what she saw sitting atop the massive spider's head.
"Get me off this thing!" Myrtenaster cried out, tied down by rope and strapped to the spider, just above its eyes.
As much as Blake and Pyrrha would have loved to help, they weren't exactly in a good place to fight such a large beast. So, much to Myrtenaster's shock, Blake and Pyrrha bolted in the direction Ruby had run off to and The Arachne gave chase.
It only took half a minute yet it felt like forever as they ran through the forest and finally entered a clearing where they saw Ruby waiting, bow in her right hand and ready to fire. The two girls and the giant spider crashed through the treeline and not a second after did Blake and Pyrrha hear the sound of Various explosions and ropes being pulled behind them.
"I did it!" Ruby cheered with an excited tail wagging behind her as Blake and Pyrrha skidded to a halt beside her and quickly turned to face the spider.
At first they were surprised to see the spider with dozens of ropes holding it down on the ground and acidic looking slime covering it and slowly eating away at it's health. Luckily for Myrtenaster, she was completely untouched by the green substance, but that didn't stop her face from forming a disgusted expression from the sight of her slimy nemesis.
"Quick, the trap will only last for twenty seconds!" Ruby yelled at Pyrrha and Blake as she began firing her bow at the monster, doing very little damage with each shot.
Pyrrha wasted no time aa she charged the spider, slashing off one of its legs, then a second. Blake, with her lower level, decided she'd be more useful trying to cut free her blue haired friend from atop the spider's head. Jumping up effortlessly, Blake began cutting the rope while Mytenaster grumbled.
"It's not that big, she said. Just don't walk into the trap she said…"
Blake giggled as she began putting two and two together. "Let me guess, you ran right into Ru-err, Summer's trap?".
"What do you think?" Myrtenaster hissed, her voice further convincing Blake that her earlier theory of the mage's identity to be none other than Weiss schnee to be correct. However, she kept it to herself. What really confused Blake though was that if she was correct, then that means Weiss also knew that Blake was playing this game, right alongside her no less. And despite this, Weiss wasn't being her usual "Ice Queen" self that Blake knew her as. It was jarring to see her academic rival to not be so...well, Ice Queen-ish.
Once Wei-Myrtenaster was finally free, She and Blake jumped off the spider and joined the fight with Pyrrha and Ruby. Weiss joined Ruby in the back, casting a spell to freeze the spider's legs in place now that Ruby's traps weren't gonna last much longer. Blake joined Pyrrha in slashing at the beast with her short sword and dagger. She may not have a whole lot of damage output compared to Pyrrha, but she dealt it twice if not three times more quickly. The spider was helpless now that their most important key to Pyrrha's plan was free to freeze it in place for as long as they want while they dwindled down its health. And by god did it have a lot. It took them nearly 23 minutes to slash, stab, burn, freeze and shoot away at its monstrous health. It would have been much faster if Ruby and Blake weren't such low levels. Finally, the monster let out a terrible shriek before shattering into a glorious display of shiny stardust. Not a moment later did a loot chest appear where the massive spider was just slain, adorned with a pumpkin themed latch and black and orange colors.
"Finally…" Ruby groaned as she began walking over to the chest. "I swear if...um, this Boop girl asks us to fight something like that again when we've barely reached level ten…"
"Oh please, it would have been easier if you didn't set a trap right in the path of our escape route." Myrtenaster complained, Following after Ruby.
"I told you to jump!" Ruby exclaimed, waving her hands over her head.
"And I couldn't hear you over the sound of a GIANT SPIDER COMING RIGHT AT US!" Myrtenaster snapped, stomping her foot.
Blake and Pyrrha simply watch the two girls bicker. Blake was finally 100% sure that Myrtenaster was Weiss, no one else had such an iconic voice when angry.
"Hey Pyrrha...Myrtenaster is Weiss, isn't she?"
Pyrrha sighed in defeat, knowing full well that it was only a matter of time before Blake figured it out. "Yes, she is…but please just play along for now. She really doesn't want people to know."
"What about Ruby then? Despite their current argument, she seems to be fine with Ruby knowing."
"Well...I guess you could say that Weiss is trying to make a friend out of her."
Blake looked back over at Wei-Myrtenaster and Ruby who were still arguing.
"Look, it's hard being a Hunter, okay?! I'm not used to all these planting traps and ranged attack stuff yet. It's so much simpler when I'm a Warrior!"
Myrtenaster went from furious to confused in seconds, raising a brow and staring into Ruby's single visible eye. "Wait, I thought you said you never played this game before? Yet you know what it's like to play as a Warrior?"
Ruby flinched as she realized her mistake. She got so caught up in the game, slaying the monster and having fun with her friends that she completely forgot about what, or rather who, she was playing as. "Um, I...I…" Ruby stammered as her wolf ears flattened atop her head. It was heart wrenching for Blake to see Ruby look like a puppy that was about to be scolded.
Just as Pyrrha was about to speak up, Blake walked up to Ruby and stood beside her to stare down at "Myrtenaster" with a glare of her own. "There's very few games for the FRVR, it would be obvious that Ruby has tried playing the game before. And besides... Everyone is entitled to their secrets."
With the last part, Blake gave the blue haired mage a knowing look in an attempt to silently say "I know who you are, Weiss Schnee.". Myrtenaster, or rather Weiss, seemed to get the silent message from Blake as she took a step back, a bit shocked but still angry nonetheless. However, she let out a sigh and looked back at Ruby, but this time her face was more distant and stern. Blake knew that face all too well from seeing it first hand at school. The proud and proper Ice Queen facade.
"I'm sorry I got angry with you. Regardless of the reasons you lied, I was out of line and should have taken into account your inexperience with the role you have chosen." And with that, she walked over to the chest behind Ruby before the younger girl could even reply.
"T-Thanks for that, Gambol…" Ruby whispered to Blake rather solemnly. She looked like she was a little disappointed or maybe hurt by something. Blake couldn't fathom Why though. Maybe she felt bad for making Weiss angry? If that's the case, maybe she too wanted to be friends with Weiss.
"No problem, Summer. If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure Myrtenaster will forgive and forget rather quickly." Blake actually wasn't sure. Despite knowing Weiss for a long time, she actually barely knew the girl at all as a person other than her past Ice Queen nature. However, Blake wanted to cheer Ruby up. In fact, it was weird being able to talk to Ruby without being shrugged off or avoided completely.
But deep down she knew it was only because Ruby didn't know who she was really talking to. Blake couldn't help but wonder what caused Ruby to be so distant with anyone outside of family. Yang never could give an answer as even she didn't really know, but she at least had a few guesses. The one that made the most sense was that Ruby probably felt insecure about her condition and probably even hates herself because of it.
"Yes! We finally got the last piece!" The suddenly excited voice from Weiss brought Blake out of her thoughts and even surprised her a little.
Weiss was standing over at the now fading chest. A wide smile plastered across her face as she stared at her inventory panel. Blake, Ruby, and Pyrrha ran over but before they could ask or see what was in her inventory, she quickly closed it.
"What last piece? Is it the stupidly secret reason why you and...this Boop person wanted to slay the Arachne?" Ruby asked, her voice quickly became hesitant when she mentioned Boop. Blake noticed and filed it under the "possible proof that Ruby is Crescent" part of her brain.
"It's a surprise for a friend." Weiss stated as a matter of fact. "Now if you don't mind, it's already several hours past lunchtime and I'm sure my real body would like a meal. I'll be back on in about thirty minutes and hopefully Crescent will be online by then."
"Yeah." Ruby chimed in with a hand on her stomach. However, Blake couldn't help but notice how she looked nervous behind her happy facade. "I think I'll go eat too, I haven't even eaten any breakfast today. N-Not sure if I'll come back online though."
With that, Ruby and Weiss logged off, leaving Blake with Pyrrha who finally let out a long, drawn out sigh as she pinch the bridge of her nose.
"Those two are stressful to deal with…"
Blake laughed a little at Pyrrha's misery. "you have to admit though, they are fun to watch."
"I guess they are, but sometimes I wish they'd just get done with this secret identity stuff and be normal friends already."
Blake's cat ears twitched as she finally had the perfect opportunity to say what she's been dying to say for a long time now. "Is that why you paired Ruby and Weiss with each other all morning?"
Once again, Pyrrha sighed in defeat but this time with a smile. "Yes, I was hoping that they'd bond a little since they only see each other after school for Ruby's tutoring."
"Fair enough. But I gotta say, for a while there I was starting to think you were playing matchmaker with Weiss and Ruby." Blake laughed, ignoring the nervous chuckle that came from Pyrrha.
"Y-Yeah…that would certainly be weird."
Ruby slowly took her helmet off and stretched her arms and back, groaning as the bones in her body popped. It's official, sitting still for hours like this was not good in the long run. Despite that though, she was happy. Her plan worked even with that close call at the end. Weiss still didn't know her secret and Ruby had a new friend, Gambol. Although, being called by her mother's name by Gambol was odd but she was sure that she'll get used to it...maybe. It did make her feel a little pain every time she heard the name of course. but that's just a sacrifice Ruby was willing to make in order to keep her special alter ego Crescent a secret. With a happy smile, all Ruby needed now was some food in her belly and she'd be happy with a full stomach. ...However, There was just one problem for Ruby that she hadn't quite noticed yet.
"It's about time you woke up, Kiddo."