CHAPTER 2 - Cold
A few minutes later and Ruby had arrived at the school gym. Luckily it was opened until midnight on the weekends due to students being encouraged by the staff to test out their abilities in training, sparring, and weight lifting.
Which was exactly why she was here, to conquer her greatest weakness and foe: hand-to-hand combat.
Ruby and hand-to-hand had never gone well together. She had despised the fighting style due to both her lack of strength and experience without her precious Crescent Rose and due to her obsession with weapons. Just another reason why she was cast out by those she used to call friends. But no longer for she had found something to hate even more.
The gym wasn't crowded but it did have a number of male students from the third and fourth-year who were very serious about their future careers as Huntsmen being very close and due to their more risky assignments involving the Grimm, they had to be prepared physically.
The boys were very surprised to see a first-year girl who looked too young to even be in Beacon enter the gym with a very spiteful look on her face that warned anyone around her that she wasn't to be messed with.
She ignored their stares as she went over to the mats and began her stretching. As much as she wanted to get to sparring, she would be utterly destroyed by these students who were much more experienced in the art not to mention far, far stronger than her. So, for now, she would focus on improving her overall physical strength so she wouldn't be crushed under the weight of her opponents who could literally crush her. It would be difficult, but if it meant she could wipe those smug smirks of the faces of her teammates then it was more than worth it.
But as she did her stretches, she heard the whispers come from behind her.
"Who is that kid? Isn't she a first year, she looks too young to be a student."
"I think that's Ruby Rose, the girl who got accepted two years early by Ozpin."
"Oh her, I keep hearing nothing but bad things about her from the first-years. They say she's a sugar freak whose obsessed with weapons and has no friends outside of her sister who she constantly hides behind."
Ruby winced but ultimately chose not to say anything. She couldn't let them distract her from proving the others wrong.
"From what I heard, she's the worst when it comes to fighting hand-to-hand and hates exercise, so why is she here all of a sudden?"
"Who knows? Maybe her friends ditched her and she chose to come here."
Ruby was surprised by how accurate the last one was. It hurt at how brutally honest it was but she couldn't stop. It was going to be a long, painful process but she would rather tear all her muscles than have to deal with anymore bullshit from her sister and her friends.
Once she was done with the stretches, she looked around to see an assortment of weight-lifting machines to choose from. She remembered seeing Yang could lift more than one-hundred and fifty pounds on these alone whenever she dragged her out her to do the torture she called "sparring". But she didn't really trust the machines that much and also she was very weak compared to Yang so maybe she should try a different approach for now...
She saw a treadmill and decided that running would probably hurt less than lifting her own weight and walked over but pulled something out of her pocket; the letter from Velvet to her teammates that she had brought along with her. She originally felt like tearing it into as many pieces as she could but then thought that it could serve as the perfect motivation for her.
Stepping onto it, she registered her height and weight before she decided to start with five miles per hour as the rubber beneath her began to roll backwards, forcing her to walk forward. She quickly began to up it until she got to the point where she was now jogging and looked to see most of the stares had gone back to simply doing their own thing which brought some relief to the redhead.
She soon kicked it up to running and began working up a sweat as she read the letter over and over to get her anger rising and have adrenaline pumping through her until after twenty-five minutes, her legs felt like noodles and she had to sit down to take a well-deserved drink.
Ruby felt like that alone counter for a week's worth of exercise but she knew this was merely the tip of the iceberg if she wanted to become the strongest. She told herself this as she looked to see a list she had written down for herself as part of the regiment she looked up online for beginners. It included weight-lifting machines and dumbbells to work her muscles and then practice hand-to-hand with sparring before running again and doing the process as it said.
She sighed and laid down for a moment as she looked around to see all the third and fourth-year males all doing these workouts like they were nothing to them and didn't even see it is a proper warm-up. She groaned, it was going to be a LONG night.
Shame that it would be the first of many.
3 Hours & 30 Minutes Later...
Ruby was practically crawling through the hallway back to her room where she wanted nothing to do but shower and hop into bed and let the pillow take care of the rest as her muscles felt like they were burning in lava from the stress she forced onto herself. It was very close to midnight as Ruby had spent that past three and a half hours doing nothing but working out like she planned to do. She, of course, felt like giving up so many times due to not being used to such physical activity but her motivation and the harsh words from her former friends are what kept her going.
Her workout started with twenty-five minutes on the treadmill before going straight to the weight lifting which was torture on her arms along with the dumbbells until she was ready for sparring. This was definitely the worst of all as she had little to no experience in the field and all of her opponents were much bigger, heavier, and stronger than her which resulted in her losing every single match she went into.
She couldn't keep track of how many times she was thrown to the ground but every time she got up and continued on which surprised most of the guys as most first-years would've given up after the first try but she refused to give in, despite how weak she was in comparison.
Thus, once the clock hit 11:40 at night, Ruby decided that enough was enough for today and painfully brought herself back to her room as she felt like collapsing and falling asleep on the cold floor. All she needed to do was take a cold shower to prolong her drowsiness and to wash off the sweat before climbing into her bed or anything comfortable with a pillow.
As she walked, she turned the corner and accidentally bumped into someone who dropped their papers onto the ground.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Ruby apologized as she helped the person pick up their papers and handed them back, only to find to her surprise who she bumped in to by accident. "Professor Goodwitch?"
Glynda Goodwitch took the papers from her student and was surprised to see her, but even more so upon seeing the state the young girl was in. She looked extremely fatigued, like she would collapse on the spot and was drenched in sweat that replaced her sweet scent of roses and strawberries with a horrible odor that caused the teacher to rear her head back in disgust.
"Ms. Rose, where have you been? You look horrible and...that smell!" She said, waving her hand.
"I'm sorry, I just got back from the gym and I guess I really overdid it." Ruby said as she bowed in apology. This surprised the teacher as "Ruby" and "the gym" didn't really fit in the same sentence together until the word "hates" was between them. The thought of the weapon-obsessed girl being involved with exercise came off as too alien for her to process at first.
"Professor? Are you okay?" Ruby asked upon seeing the perplexed expression on her teacher's face.
"Hm? Oh, yes. I apologize, I was zoned out for a second." Glynda said as she straightened her pages. "But in truth, I'm glad I found you Ms. Rose. There's something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Sure! What do you need?"
"Have you seen any of your teammates or Team JNPR? I saw the door to their room left open and noticed that neither they nor your own teammates were present in your dorms. I understand it is the weekend and they're most likely in town for whatever children do these days, but I've noticed that a large number of first and second-year teams aren't on campus at the moment. Do you know what this might be about?"
Ruby froze in silence upon realizing it. Team CFVY had done their best to make sure the faculty didn't know about their forbidden party and here Professor Goodwitch was so close to discovering something that could get a LOT of students in trouble...
...including her own teammates.
A small smirk came to Ruby's face as she though about it. This was the perfect opportunity for revenge. All she had to do was hand Goodwitch the letter and she would be down on Weiss, Blake, Yang and the others faster than she could get to the other end of school and back. She could only imagine their horrified expressions upon realizing they were caught red handed and would probably be handed the most detention any of them had ever gotten.
Weiss would freak out knowing her perfect record would be shattered.
Blake would miss out on so many different books waiting for her in the library.
Yang...oh Yang. Her dad and Uncle Qrow might even give her their own punishment for going to a less-than-legal party for someone her age that could go anywhere to a major grounding to having her hair cut short. Oh it would be so delicious. Not just them, but JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, and the other teams who had abandoned her would all be punished.
However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how risky it would be. If she did blow their cover, than who's to say that the others wouldn't find out it was her who screwed them all over as she was the only student in the first-year class not invited and she would instantly incur the wrath of both the first and second-year students, including her own teammates.
Weiss would probably freeze her on the spot, Blake would stick Gambol Shroud into a very uncomfortable place, and Yang might drag her away to give a full on beatdown or reveal all her embarrassing secrets to everyone in Beacon...
Ruby thought it over quickly and decided it wasn't worth the risk, despite how much she wanted to get back at her traitorous teammates. With her mind decided, she focused back onto the professor. "Sorry, Professor. I was in the gym for over three hours, I haven't really seen them since classes ended this afternoon."
"I see, well if you do find them, be sure to let me know." Glynda said and Ruby nodded as she continued on her way. As she did, Glynda turned back to see how messily Ruby walked due to her weakness but that isn't what got her attention. It was that look she saw in Ruby's silver eyes.
That fire that looked like it wanted to consume everything in its path without a second thought. Those eyes were filled with sorrow, resentment, and hatred.
"Ms. Rose?" Glynda asked as she turned back to her student. "Are you okay? You don't seem well."
"It's okay, I'm just really tired." Ruby said.
"I'm not talking physically, I mean are you okay? You don't seem like yourself." The professor said as she approached Ruby who was slightly tensed. "You look very angry and resentful."
"Angry? Why would I be angry?" Ruby said with a fake smile. "I'm just really tired from working out for so long that I guess I just look sour."
The teacher frowned as she could feel the lies coming off of Ruby along with her hate. It was like a glowing red around her body and in her eyes.
"Well, if you ever feel like you need to talk to someone, you can let me know. I may be an instructor but I'm also here to help students whenever they're dealing with any psychological issues which can be very harmful if not treated properly." She said as she released her stern behavior. "If you ever feel like you're dealing with very upsetting things in your life, please make sure to let us teachers know."
"That's very nice of you, Professor." Ruby said. "But I don't need help with anything. I feel just fine."
"Are you absolutely sure?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ruby was silent before she nodded. Glynda narrowed her eyes, knowing she was lying through her teeth but decided it wasn't better to force it at the moment given how stubbornly reclusive Ruby was being. "Alright, goodnight Ruby."
"Goodnight, Professor." Ruby said as she went back to walking. "That's weird. I don't think she's ever called me by my first name..."
Turning another corner, she found herself walking down her hallway to the dorm as took out her Scroll and unlocked her door to find the room the same way she left it: empty and untouched, which didn't surprise her and could only assume that her teammates were still at Coco's party and decided it would be better to simply head to bed given how tired she was.
Dropping her stuff onto the floor and sliding it under Weiss' bed since Blake had numerous smut books hidden under her bed, she grabbed a towel and headed into the bathroom as she got her sweaty clothes and threw them into a laundry bin before she set the water to a cool temperature as she stepped under the water and let her blackish-red hair flow freely down to her back and hummed upon feeling like her exhaustion was slowly melting away.
In the water, she couldn't help but think about what her friends must be doing over in Vale right now. She suspected that other teams like SSSN and the others visiting for the Vytal Festival were probably there as well. A part of her wanted to assume that she wasn't the only student not invited to the party but the words of Velvet's letter proved her doubts as she was certain that basically every student in the first and second-year classes were there since she hadn't seen a single one walking through the halls or any sounds coming from their rooms.
She hated it so much, she hated them so much. But she couldn't just storm over to Vale to yell at her teammates for ditching her, no...they needed to understand her pain and know what it feels like when they're the ones ignored and forgotten like a piece of trash. Only then did they have her permission to feel any form of guilt or sorrow in whatever they had for hearts.
Upon cleansing herself and washing her hair she quickly dried off and checked to see nobody was there before boldly running across the room naked to her drawers before putting on her pajamas and upon climbing into her own bed, promptly collapsed and immediately fell to sleep.
But the feelings of hatred in her heart never faded even after she fell to unconsciousness. As it would fuel her dreams.
Outside in the halls, the WBY of Team RWBY were walking back to their dorm along with Team JNPR. Some like Pyrrha, Ren, and Weiss looked more or less normal after returning from Coco's party while others such as Jaune and Blake looked a little ruffled showing that they weren't simply sitting by the entire time, but the worst was definitely Yang and Nora who both looked like they had a blast with Yang's hair all scruffy and it looked like Nora was missing her socks and possibly her bra.
"Nora, I can't believe you ran around without a bra!" Weiss scolded the ginger who was only laughing along with Yang.
"But it was hilarious!" Nora laughed.
"I'll say!" Yang said with laughter as she looked at the pictures she got from the party, including Nora's topless incident and Ren trying to cover his eyes. "That was awesome, Nora! I doubt anyone's gonna keep quiet about this on Monday!"
"Lucky us." Ren said deadpanned as they reached their rooms.
"Thanks for letting us know about this, guys." Jaune said. "I mean, I'm sure we're going to be the talk of the school thanks to Nora, and not in a good way, but all in all it was great."
"Told you they'd like it, Weissicle." Yang teased Weiss who huffed.
"I think I think I'd actually prefer your other stupid nicknames." She said.
"Sure thing, Weiss Cream."
"Goddammit, Yang..."
"It's such a shame that Ruby couldn't come with since she's too young." Pyrrha said with some sympathy for the redhead girl. "I'm sure she would've loved it."
"Sorry I couldn't bring her, but Coco didn't want anyone to risk the party. I'm sure Rubes would understand." Yang said, unaware of how wrong she truly was. "Well, see you guys tomorrow."
With that, the teams exchanged goodbyes before the three girls entered the room and turned on the light to see Ruby asleep in her bed and they suspected she simply went to asleep after playing video games or eating too many sweets before crashing. But when Weiss went to go take a shower, she sniffed upon smelling something very rancid, like a pair of sweaty socks.
"What is that horrible smell?" Weiss said as she covered her nose. Immediately, Blake's ears twitched and her nose wrinkled as well upon smelling it too but Yang simply smelled herself to see if it was her. "Nope, not me."
Blake sat up from her bed and went across to Weiss' own before she knelt down and pulled out the duffel bag that Ruby hid under her's before she unzipped it to find the source of the odor and pinched her nose immediately. "Found it."
"Who's bag is that and why was it under MY bed?" Weiss asked before she looked inside to see sweaty gym clothes and she didn't waste a second by glaring at Yang who was laying on top of her bed. "Xiao Long, there's something called 'laundry' for when you're done coming back from the gymnasium."
"What are you talking about? I haven't been to the gym since Monday." Yang spoke as she hopped down and looked inside. "These aren't even my clothes, they're way too small."
"Well, I never went down to that germ-filled training room." Weiss defended herself before turning to Blake who shook her head. "Then who...?" She was cut off when she realized the only other person in the room and looked up to Ruby, still sound asleep.
"Come on, Weiss." Yang said sarcastically. "There's no way this is Ruby's, she hates exercise unless its with her weapon."
"Well, there's nobody else who could've done it." Weiss argued back.
"Guys, please. Can't this wait until morning? It's almost half past midnight." Blake reminded the other two and they silently agreed.
"Fine, we'll discuss this in the morning." Weiss said as she went into the bathroom to take her shower but also to put the dirty gym clothes in the laundry basket before being followed by Blake and then Yang. Soon, the three girls finally drifted off to sleep, but Weiss couldn't help but notice how Ruby tossed around in her sleep like she was having a bad dream.
"Something's not right about her." Weiss thought. "I guess I'll ask in the morning." Soon she hit her pillow and was out like a light but the feeling of suspicion never left her as she slept with Ruby still moving around in her sleep and moaning out.
"...all your fault..." She moaned out in her sleep. "...it's all your guy's fault..."
Already a single chapter in and most of my faithful fans have returned! Sixty favorites and just over eighty followers, I am very pleased to see that you all remained loyal despite me turning my back to you guys by suddenly deleting the story three chapters in.
This chapter took longer than expected due to writer's block and not knowing exactly where to take it from here. I am hoping to get the next chapter out in a much shorter time frame but I can't promise anything since I am working on other things outside of writing this story for you guys.
I would like to thank those who gave a review to my story and for being faithful!
BlackDragonDevilGod, thank you for both your support and empathy and understanding my needs, your review really helped.
lasereye27, thank you for being loyal and giving some advice that I probably should've used prior to this.
Heavyarms150, thank you for showing me how my depression can actually serve to help me to do better in writing.
As much as I would love to thank everyone, I can't go through with every review on these stories otherwise my notes would take up the majority of the story, but I am glad to see that you're enjoying the re-make to this story and I promise to continue strong going forward.
RWBY is owned by Monty Oum & Rooster Teeth.