Drop The Other Shoe

Ruby was falling.

Not even her semblance could save her from this. There's a slight chance of survival when it comes to plummeting into water versus solid ground but at this height it might as well not matter. She still hopes though because at this point, hoping is the only thing she could do while falling.

And she was falling so fast.

Blue. She was plummeting into blue. It's a dark and murky blue telling just how deep those waters are and how deeper in trouble she is. Blue fills in her vision and will soon engulf her. She sees perilous and inevitable blue coming in at an alarming speed.

She falls faster than the seconds that drop by. She is plummeting so fast that her fall has now become a dive except this is not a dive to swim but more of a plunge to the death. She had imagined her end before just never like this.

She sees her impending future, an all consuming darkened blue she has no choice but to fall into, closer and closer—

Until she sees a different blue. A lighter shade of blue, almost transparent but not quite.

Then she sees white.

She reaches her hand out before she even sees the rest of the colors.

"What if I hadn't caught you?!"

Then she sees Weiss.

And all is right in the world again.

The dangerous dark blue of the ocean has now been replaced with the safety of light blue in Weiss' eyes. The pale cream of her face is painted with worry and relief and chiding because of course Weiss would scold her out of concern. Her strikingly white hair billows in the wind, reminding her that though she is no longer falling, they are still moving.

They are still moving and they are moving together.

She couldn't tell which of them was holding the other's hand tighter. They may be still flying but to Ruby, Weiss' hand feels like holding onto ground, solid and constant and safe.

But the ground doesn't catch her the same way that her partner does. The ground doesn't catch at all, one could only either crash or land on it. Weiss doesn't give her either option as she had reached out first, ready to catch her, and caught her she did.

Of all the times that Ruby has fallen, she's grateful that this time safety caught her first.

"I knew you would!"

Ruby grins in that reassuring if not almost comical way that she knows would earn an eye roll from her high strung partner. It's only when Weiss turns around that Ruby finally releases her breath which she hasn't even noticed she's been holding in this whole time.

Did she know that Weiss would catch her?

Honestly, no. And that long agonizing uncertainty beforehand would no doubt haunt her later on.

She could still feel her heart plummeting. Weiss may have caught her but she hasn't quite caught her breath just yet. The battle is far from over but Ruby needs a little breather. She needs something to keep herself grounded.

So she latches onto safety.

Or more specifically, she clings to her partner. With adrenaline still trembling in her hands, she wraps her arms around Weiss' waist as she presses close to her back. She feels her partner stiffen at first and understandably so. That was quite the scare.

It terrified them both.

But that scare was over. The fight continues but at least that was one crisis averted. She didn't even have the time to think that if her partner would catch her before the worst could have happened. That doesn't mean she's not grateful after the fact.

Ruby presses her forehead lightly on Weiss' shoulder, then her lips. She feels her let out a heavy sigh too.

"I swear, when you aren't trying to kill yourself from your crazy plans then you're trying to kill me first from the stress," Weiss says it in that exasperated tone that could sound endearing enough if one digs deep enough under all those colorful words.

And Ruby just so happens to be fluent in that.

She smiles against her shoulder. "Eh, you'll live."

"Oh, I know I'll live." She scoffs and places a hand on top of the two already on her stomach. "I just need to keep you alive so that I could personally kill you for putting me in distress." She pinches her.

"Ow!" Ruby yelps and swats the hand away. She tightens her hold in retaliation and cries in disbelief, "You wouldn't!"

"I would," Weiss answers evenly as her hand returns to pat the spot where she had pinched her.

It only makes Ruby pout if not whine louder in her ear, "But you love me!"

"I never said anything of the sort," She smoothly deflects.

This however would have sounded more convincing if only Weiss had pushed away Ruby's arms around her waist— which she could have and which she still has not.

Ruby also happens to be fluent in the non-words aspect of the Weiss language.

"You don't have to say anything~" She squeezes her all too happily and then cooes, "It shooows!"

She doesn't see Weiss make a disgruntled face but she sure hears it. "Ugh, just shut up." She likes to think that she was blushing too.

Ruby would have pointed out that Weiss didn't deny it but she figures that they could revisit this discussion for when they're not in the middle of taking down a giant robot that's trying to kill them.

So for now, Ruby just holds onto Weiss.

She holds onto her tight with worries about their looming enemy. But more than that, she holds onto her tighter with thoughts of being safe despite that.

Because no matter how terrifying the fall, she trusts that her partner would be there to catch her like always.

Weiss was falling.

The shot came faster than her summon could dodge. As a result, they were blown away by the blast and from there they started falling. It happened so fast. One moment she was falling and then the next, she had crashed on the cliff.

However, not all of them made it to solid ground.

She hears the scream. It's not a scream of pain but it is just as alarming. It's a cry for help and the familiar voice pours ice in her veins. It's resounding and urgent, and it's all Weiss could hear even as it gradually but also quickly gets muffled by the growing distance. She hears her too far gone.

When Ruby fell, not even Weiss could catch her this time.

She feels her heart fall along with her partner.

A/N: Did Ruby need to hold onto Weiss' waist? No. Did she want to? YES.

Psst! If you're looking for fun then why not try 'We Could Have Had a Mecha Fight' an alternate take on episode 11.

Let me begin this with a blanket statement: WAS THERE EVEN ANY MOMENT IN THE EPISODE WHERE WE DIDN'T SCREAM! RENORA! WHITE ROSE! THE BEES! WHITE ROSE! BUMBLEBEE MOWING ADAM! WHITE ROSE! WHITE! ROSE!

I swear I spent more time rewatching the episode rather than writing this chapter. I loved it all so much!

So it looks like the fight will be spread throughout the last three episodes and as a watcher, I'm totally fine with that. As this fic's writer, I have been torn on some creative choices. Do I write ALL of the good white rose moments from one part or do I save some for the next episode just in case there won't be any? Do I just write about what happened in the episode or do I add new content?

I hope that I made some good decisions with this. It's shorter than the recent chapters but I'm happy with the pacing. This feels like a nod to the first chapter roots of this fic. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this! We're down to the last chapters now, whew, see you next week!