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Chapter 6:

Knocking softly on the door, Tai just took a deep breath as she prayed for his daughter to answer this time compared to the fifteen other attempts at this one thing. But at the very least he knew that he would need to try and he would continue to try. There had to be something that would spur her to come out of her room and the simple promise of her favourite meal wasn't even coming close to what he wanted.

"Ruby, do you want to come out?" Tai asked softly as he hoped that there would some sort of reaction that wasn't going to be nothing but scorn, but for the life of him he wouldn't particularly care if she even did that. At least it would signal to him that she was alive and willing to talk to him in some way.

"Or you know... let me come in? I'd really accept either or." Tai continued as he just wanted to get some sort of reaction. It was at the point where he hated how much Ruby was like Summer from the very vivid flashbacks he was receiving from when he was trying to get Summer to answer anything when she was furious at something that she couldn't just lash out at everything that was wrong to her.

"Dad. I suggest leaving my apartment and not coming back for a few weeks because I'm seriously tempted to drink to a blackout and then hopefully continue." Ruby yelled through the door just causing Tai to feel his heart sink further. If he was being honest though it wasn't nearly the worst action that Ruby could have taken. It wasn't the best, but he did know how bad Ruby could go and he didn't lie the thought of her going even close to that extreme.

Bracing himself for the berating, Tai grasped the door handle and opened the door to the room his daughter used to work in just causing him wince at the sight of broken glass and shards of plastic littering the floor of the room. It was something that just seemed to sum up the mood that Ruby must have been in. Or at least how he would assume she would been feeling. Even he was feeling that kind of rage.

"Seriously Dad. Just leave." Ruby hissed as she could see her dad walking into the room, bending down to carefully lift up the large shards of glass up off the floor that was just causing some more anger in Ruby but she just couldn't bring herself to lash out at her dad like she knew he was probably expecting.

"I don't want you to be alone Ruby. I admit that I'm mad at them myself... specifically how they didn't get sent to the chair for harming one of my daughters. A sentiment I know your mother shared when she was with us." Tai started as he could feel some of the glass digging into his fingers but he didn't care. This was something a lot more important than just some minor blood spilling from his fingers. It would be a lot better if it was his than Ruby's from simply trying to move. He would be fine with a few splinters of glass sticking into his hand.

Looking towards her father, Ruby just winced a little at the sight of him picking up the glass knowing that it must have been hurting him, just causing Ruby to feel her heart fall once again. "Dad, leave the glass. And just leave. I'm not going to do anything stupid. And the restraining order according to Yang is still in effect for another few months. So they won't exactly do something like come after me and I can't exactly go after them because I don't even know where either of them are."`Ruby spoke in a softer tone as she could see her dad standing up with a handful of the glass.

"I can get by for a few days if my hands are injured just fine. You can't." Tai said as he quickly walked out of the room as Ruby bent forward in her chair. Elbows just resting on her legs as she grabbed the sides of her head.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to let everyone know how furious she was and it just constantly felt like she was being forced to bottle it up, making it all that much harder to do and actually process this situation. Every part of this was making her just want to go to the parole board that okayed their release and beat them to an inch of their life and see how they would feel if Ruby was to be let out after someone else claimed that she was rehabilitated. It was the only thing that made sense to Ruby in this circumstance, but she still wasn't getting very far with the line of reasoning.

Before long Tai entered the room again holding a dustpan and a small brush. He just knew that Ruby was going to be mad at his making sure all the glass was gone, but he would just feel better if he knew Ruby's tires were going to be fine and that Ruby wasn't going to get the razor sharp shards embedded into her palms and fingers forcing her to be stationary until her hands healed.

"The glass I can understand... but what is the with the broken plastic." It wasn't a case of Tai didn't know what was the cause, he just figured that it would be a nice distraction from what was going through his youngest's head. Something that was a lot better than him just letting her continue down the path that he had wanted to go down himself and just start killing people that had let this situation even happen.

"It was a test piece to see if the file I was sent would work. I just happen to have not changed from the brittle plastic that was already in my machines." Ruby spoke with a slight sad tone at the sight of her dad standing up again.

The red liquid seemingly standing out to Ruby as she wanted to jump to help him but also knew how that would be slightly difficult given his history of not caring of his state if it meant that his daughters were going to be fine.

As he turned to face Ruby he just gave her a half hearted smile, "Can you please come out Ruby? It would put my mind at ease knowing that you aren't going to be held up in here. I don't care if you want to drink, I'll gladly get someone to deliver some and we both can drink. I just don't want you to be alone after getting news about something like this." Tai spoke as he stepped back a bit to see Ruby rolling towards one of the cupboards in the room.

He was a little curious until he could see her producing a plastic container. One that was almost clear as to what it was with the cross emblazoned on the top. Something that he was at least glad at this point that she was a bit like his late wife from how he knew he could at least make sure everyone got their way.

"Go dump that stuff and come here Dad. Your bleeding all over the floor and probably going to get an infection." Ruby demanded as Tai just smiled at her.

"Come on out Ruby. You'll need the light, and something to eat either way." Tai spoke as he could see Ruby just pressing her lips into a thin line as she was contemplating what he had just asked of her.

It wasn't like the idea wasn't something that was unappealing to Ruby. She just wished that it didn't feel like she was loosing when in reality all she wanted to do was just forget this day ever happened. She knew that it wasn't exactly a hard thing for her to get, it was just something that was a lot harder for her to get if her father was going to continue down this path.

"Fine. But I'm not going to drink with my Dad. I'm going to get sloppy drunk and I don't want you to see me like that. I'd just head to the bar I normally do and I'm sure Neo will be down there and she would have told just about everyone. And they know understandably how sensitive the topic is." Ruby said as she started to follow her dad out of the room.

"As long as you aren't going to be alone Ruby. I would rather if I knew who your friends are... but it is fine as long as you aren't going to do anything foolish or self destructive." Tai spoke as he noticed Ruby quickly rolling into the living room. Something that just made him smile all that much more as he quickly dumped the contents of the dustpan before he dropped the item and quickly walked back towards the living room.

Walking over towards the seat in front of Ruby, Tai smiled as he took the seat and held his hands out towards his daughter. It was a sight and feeling he was familiar with at Ruby quickly tugging his hands towards her. Something that just made him enjoy at how he had taken her mind off of the situation, something that made the price of damaging his hands to make sure Ruby didn't all that much better.

"I wish you would have listened to me when I said to just leave the glass." Ruby muttered as she reached next to her to box of the alcohol wipes just to make sure the man wasn't going to get any sort of infection from the one action that Ruby thought was a stupid one. "I wouldn't have hurt my hands and the tires do have a gel of sort in them to prevent any popping... even if it did, I do have spare wheels." Ruby continued as she quickly pressed the damp item onto one of his hands and quickly scrub it to make sure it was completely encapsulated in the alcohol to make sure that there would be nothing dangerous to come from this.

"I'd rather be sure Ruby. I can live without my hands for a few days as they heal. I know you can't if you don't want help to get around which I also know that you loath more than seeing me like this." Tai spoke with a slight laugh at the groaning sound from Ruby.

"I'd rather someone helping me than you being injured. Yang is a different story though... regardless my point still remains, you should have listened." Ruby said with a small frown as she noticed how shallow the injuries were. Just something that at least picked up her mood. She knew then at least that nothing bad inherently will happen.

Smiling at the fact his hands seemed slightly cleaner then what they had in the morning, to the point where he had no doubt that he could see that the cuts being nothing really. Taking his hands back from Ruby's with relative ease, Tai stood up and just smiled as he started to walk around the couch again, just to finish what he wanted to at least do.

"Dad get back here. I still need to put something over the cuts." Ruby demanded ignoring the slight anger coming from the laughter her father had fallen into. She wasn't sure what she'll do but the thought of patricide was a little appealing if it would just get him to not laugh at whatever it was that was so funny.

"I'll be fine. They are purely superficial. What you should do is decide on if I should heat up this macaroni and cheese with cut up little hotdogs, or if you just want to eat it cold or do you want me to toss it all out." Tai said as though what Ruby said was really going to affect her.

'Suddenly regret not freaking out at him earlier... it would make this so much easier.' Ruby thought as she started to pack up the items into the box. The only thing she could really think of is the fact that she wished this would go by a lot faster just so she could go and get drunk to hopefully end up next to someone for the remainder of the night.

Taking a deep breath, Pyrrha closed her eyes and balled up her hand. She had no idea why she was even considering doing this. It could have been the offer did intrigue her, it could have been that if what Ruby had told her was true then the people there wouldn't exactly be looking at her like her fans did or worse how the advertisers would look at her. But Pyrrha supposed the final possible reason she was here was because of how she just got done being in a two hour long argument with her trainer about something that she refused to change.

Bringing her hand down on the door, Pyrrha could just feel her throat tighten a little as she waited a few long minutes before she could see the door open revealing a tall almost intimidating looking blonde haired man standing there looking Pyrrha up and down making her earnestly feel like she should possibly start running back to her own apartment and just wait it out until she runs into Ruby again.

"Um... I'm not sure if I'm at the right address... a girl named Ruby invited me out tonight... I'm new to the building so I have no idea if this really is the right place." Pyrrha said softly, fearing what this man would do to her. She just had the feeling that he could possibly break her bones. Even if she knew it was an irrational fear just the sight of the open cuts on the man's hand just seemed to tell her a lot.

"Nah, you got the right place. One second." The man said as he closed the door over causing Pyrrha to just breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that she hadn't soiled herself trying to find the right apartment, she did however come very close with the sight of the man that was before her.

She couldn't help but wonder what was the man's connection to Ruby. He didn't seem like the type that would be a nurse, but at the same time Ruby didn't seem like the type of person that would even get a nurse willingly, but she supposed she also didn't seem like the type that would be the sister in law to Weiss Schnee. So Pyrrha wasn't really sure if she could trust her gut when it came to this woman.

As the door opened again, Pyrrha smiled at the sight of Ruby sitting there with a relieved look on her face. Almost as if Pyrrha had just ended something that Ruby didn't want to do causing further confusion.

"See Dad!? won't be alone. Now can you kindly leave? We are just going out to get drinks and she can easily make sure I'm back in my place." Ruby complained raising so many more questions to Pyrrha, namely how can such an intimidating man have such an innocent child. But Pyrrha also supposed that it was a case of her not really wanting the answer because she might anger the man making her circle back to her fears.

"I'm just worried Ruby. The last time I let you talk me out of my worry you ended up staying in a hospital for months. How can I not worry about you now?" The man spoke softly raising even more questions to Pyrrha but she supposed that she would just need to remember to ask Ruby some of them later when they've both had a few drinks on them just because this wasn't going to be something where she would feel comfortable to destroy a budding friendship over.

"Do you really want to open that can of worms Dad? Just please, everything will be fine. If not the cops will be the first people I'll get Cinder to call. And you'll be the first person I call." Ruby said hoping her father wouldn't notice her choice of words being carefully picked just so if she wanted to get revenge and it so happened that everything aligned that she could in fact do that. But she also knew that it wouldn't align that well because of how she wasn't hopefully going to get the chance to ever see either Vernal or Ilia ever again.

"Promise?" Tai said as Ruby just smiled at the man.

"I promise." Ruby said as she quickly rolled back into her home a little as Pyrrha could feel the fear start to rise at the sight of the large man walking out of said apartment and taking a step next to her. "Dad, that isn't you leaving. The bar isn't far from here. So go." Ruby continued as she placed the keys into her lap and started to wheel out of the apartment closing the door tightly.

Wincing a little as she felt her dad bending down and lightly picking her up off the seat of her chair to just hold her in the hug, Ruby couldn't help but groan a little as she returned the hug. It wasn't a case that she wasn't well aware of how much a hug like this meant to her dad, but it didn't help anything really and would just make it that much harder to get rid of him like she wanted if she didn't just return the hug.

"Promise me you'll call me regardless tomorrow." Tai whispered as he started to lower his daughter once again into the chair as she just rolled her eyes.

"Fine dad. I'll call you tomorrow. After I get through the inevitable call from Yang or Weiss making sure I'm fine."

Smiling at the simple comment from his daughter, Tai just started to walk away from the group. He was going to be just glad that Ruby really wasn't going to be alone even if it was from plans she clearly made before she found out the news. Not that Tai was really going to question that. He was just glad that she wasn't going to do anything dangerous.

Seeing her father walk out of the building Ruby closed her eyes and took a deep and calming breath as she tried to brace herself for the questions that she knew were going to come, but she also just wanted to give her father some time to get away before she all but screamed.

Taking a few extra minutes, Ruby opened her eyes to see Pyrrha standing in front of her looking uneasy, something that the wheelchair bound woman knew the cause of. Something that never really made sense to her but she at least knew the way to help Pyrrha get over that one small hump.

"Relax. My Dad is harmless. I've only seen him actually mean malice to four people. Five if you count his ex-wife but that is for something entirely different." Ruby said as she picked up her keys and started to shift her body over a little so she could slip them into her pocket, just enjoying the fact that this was going to be the seemingly easiest part of her day. "Regardless, let's get going. I need to forget this day ever happened, and I can't do that in any fun method sober." Ruby said with a smile as she could see Pyrrha shaking her head a little as though she was trying to dislodge some thought that just caused Ruby to smile.

"Can you at least tell me how your dad is so terrifying?" Pyrrha asked a little curious just because she wanted to avoid whatever it was that could cause a man to become that terrifying.

Laughing a little at the sight of Pyrrha holding the door open, Ruby just wheeled herself out of the complex. "If his stories are to be believed, he got expelled from a shady school at twelve for fighting... then started street fighting until he was thrown in jail for something at eighteen where during a ten year stay he got his highschool equivalent, started to study law, first wife who is the crazy one divorced him, he got out became a lawyer and somewhere in that mix met my Mom, had my sister handed to him from his first wife who he had a one night fling with before my Mom... and then they lived happily ever after. Kind of." Ruby said with a smile as she could see Pyrrha just matching her pace with a smile as Ruby recanted her Dad's life off like that. "I'm inclined to think it is pure lies at the start though. He had a habit of changing that part to suit some life lesson for me and my sister. Mostly how we should stay in education and not to do drugs or drink underage... in two instances how we shouldn't steal some tractor and joy ride on school property." Ruby said with a smile as she could see Pyrrha looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Long story that involves the underage drinking... and we went to this stupid private school that was like a four hour drive from civilisation." Ruby spoke as they came to a stop at a set of traffic lights that Ruby just joyfully pressed. "So what was the cause of this change in mind? Not that I'm disappointed." Ruby asked with a smile as she could see Pyrrha just looking around carefully that she just couldn't help but groan internally at.

"I just got into an argument with the main topic being that I should move back to Mistral. Despite the fact that I just moved here because my trainer doesn't want me to slack off on training... so I just want to drink and hopefully just end the day in a better mood." Pyrrha said as Ruby just smiled at her.

"I remember those days... kind of. More so my trainer telling me to slow down. But regardless you'll end the night in a better mood. The bar is pretty great... once you get past the whole some of us were forced to quit for some reason or another." Ruby said as she gestured around a corner so Pyrrha at least would know where they were going and Ruby didn't run the risk of running over her feet.

"I'll take your word for it until I actually experience it." Pyrrha said as she noticed Ruby placing her hands up from the wheels and into her lap as she started to just leisurely roll down what was clearly a small decline in the path that she hadn't noticed just causing her to smile as she could see Ruby at least picking up emotionally a little. As though this really was going to be the make or break thing of her day.

It was just something that raised more and more questions as she could see the bar that Ruby had told her about coming up. Making Pyrrha hope at least that Ruby hadn't lied about how she would fit in or that they understood what it was like to be her if just because it would mean that she might actually have a place where she could let her hair metaphorically down and just enjoy a length of time far away from the pressures she had been under.

If not then she could at least enjoy this one time with Ruby, no matter how it ended because something about Ruby just seemed to spark interest in Pyrrha. If for no other reason than she just seemed to be a little familiar to her. She couldn't place her finger on why, but she just knew that there was something about Ruby that was screaming why she seemed so familiar.

Author's Note:

And another chapter...