This idea would not leave me alone until I wrote it down, so hear you go. I've always been kind of curious if Tyrian would ever try to get his revenge on Ruby and also what Yang's reaction would be. This is not quite that blend of ideas but I still kind of like how it turned out. I got to write from Tyrian's point of view which was an interesting experience, to say the least. Enjoy!
Content warnings for: blood, poison, hospitals, murder, character death (of an unnamed oc), and language.
Standing behind the counter of a tiny coffee stand in an apron and serving up espressos, Tyrian smirks to himself. It's almost too easy.
Tracking down which area of Mantle the little silver-eyed brat would be doing missions in was child's play, given that they'd been monitoring her and her little friends' movements since the moment they had arrived in Atlas. Taking the place of the hapless barista that usually worked here was laughably easy. Poor man had bled out quietly in a back alley from a slit throat. And tempting two young huntresses over for a hot drink on a chilly Mantle morning? Piece of cake.
They rattle off their drink orders with annoyingly bright smiles and gratingly cheerful voices, and Tyrian has to repress an eye roll at the vile concoction that the dark-haired menace prefers. Of course the little monster would enjoy such an abomination of cream and sugar disguised as coffee. But he dutifully shoves down his irritation and jots down their orders, assuring them that everything will be ready soon. Tyrian has had a lot of practice ignoring annoying little girls thanks to a certain fall maiden and her bratty follower.
The two brats chatter idly while he mixes their drinks, gossiping about training and friends and spending time with their sisters. It's all useless drivel, of course, but he keeps one ear open in case they happen to mention something useful. Little red is clueless as always. He doubts that she'd recognize him even if she got a good look at his face. Fortunately, the bitter chill of morning gives him the perfect excuse for a disguise. With his hat pulled down low over his eyes and a scarf wrapped around his mouth, he doubts that the girls would remember him standing out among the citizens of Mantle.
Yes, Tyrian Callows was a very fortunate man, in so many ways. As he should be, as a loyal servant of their divine savior. And he was here to rectify one of the few misfortunes that had befallen him.
Well, partially at least. Unlike some of his less devoted colleagues, Tyrian would never dream of disobeying an order, even if it was one as nonsensical as taking Ruby Rose alive. But just because he's not allowed to kill the little girl doesn't mean that he can't hurt her. And oh, can he hurt her.
Pouring the now-finished drinks into the paper to-go cups, Tyrian fishes a tiny vial of his "secret ingredient" and adds it to the cup with Ruby Rose written on the side. The blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar would easily hide the bitter taste. Tyrian considers himself to be a bit of an expert on poisons, practically a natural at the subject since birth, so it was easy to pick out a blend that would make her suffer greatly, but would not kill her. Probably. Poisons are a bit like people, unpredictable in the way they interact with others. It's tempting to dump a larger amount in the second drink, but as tempting as killing the little Schnee brat sounds, it's not worth the risk. Both girls getting sick would be far too suspicious.
"Here's your coffees, girls!" he calls cheerfully, handing out the cups. "My apologies for the wait. I hope that you enjoy your drinks!"
They fall all over themselves to assure him that it's no trouble, they weren't waiting long, before eagerly taking sips of their drinks and assuring him that they're delicious. He smirks to himself. Too easy.
Ruby Rose gives him a friendly wave and a smile. Horrible child. "I hope that you have a good day, sir! Take care!"
"And you as well, miss!" I hope you enjoy your coffee, bitch.
"I'm so glad we could do this today," Weiss says with a smile.
"Me too! Nothing like a successful mission and some delicious coffee first thing in the morning." Ruby slurps her drink, feeling strangely jittery. Oh well, it was probably the caffeine. She always felt a little weird when they forgot to give her decaf.
"If you can call helping street vendors set up their wares a proper mission," Weiss replies.
"Whatever you say, Ice Queen." Ruby teases her partner, before checking the time on her scroll. Her cheeky grin turns into a frown. "How is it already 11:30?"
"Oh, you should hurry back so you're not late meeting up with your sister!" Weiss exclaims. "I can check in at the mission boards for both of us."
"Great, thanks Weiss! For both the coffee and for this." She gives her partner a quick hug, before dashing off in a cloud of rose petals. "Catch you later!"
"It was my treat!" Weiss calls after her, blushing a little at Ruby's enthusiasm. "And you forgot your coffee, you dolt!"
Ruby skids to a halt in front of the entrance to the Atlas Academy training room right at 11:59, narrowly avoiding a collision with her sister.
Yang steadies her with an easy grin. "Right on time, sis."
"I know, I know, it's hilarious how my semblance is speed and yet I'm always running late."
"Hey, you said it, not me," Yang smacks her shoulder playfully. "You ready to get your butt kicked?"
"Bring it on!" Ruby shrieks playfully, ignoring the growing ache in her stomach. She's probably just hungry. It is lunchtime. "I'm just surprised that you want to train when you'd usually be eating lunch."
"Lunchtime is the best time to work out, little sis. The training rooms will be empty, and plus food tastes way better when you're worked up a sweat first." Yang strikes a dramatic pose.
Ruby pretends to stare at her in awe. "Ah yes, the famous Yang Xiao Long wisdom."
"Remind me to beat up the person who taught you how to use sarcasm."
"You want me to remind you to beat yourself up?"
"Anyway! Enough stalling." Yang grabs Ruby in a headlock. "Time to show me what you got!"
There's something wonderfully soothing about sparring with Yang. Like coming home after a long day and taking a hot bath, except with a lot more bruises. They've been each other's sparring partners for as long as Ruby can remember. It's hard to believe that they haven't fought since before the battle at Haven.
"It's been too long since we've done this," Ruby says, panting and resisting the urge to just flop down in the middle of the training floor. Yang always knows how to push her to her limits, and she in turn hasn't been holding back. She can't remember the last time she used her semblance this much.
"Agreed." Yang smiles back at her. She's breathing hard as well, her blonde hair a tangled, sweaty mess. "One more round before we hit the showers?"
"Sure," Ruby agrees, although her chest is starting to ache, and she can't quite seem to catch her breath. She allows Yang to haul her to her feet with one hand. "But after this, I'm totally napping until dinner time."
Straining to use her semblance to its full extent, Ruby has a massive speed advantage over Yang, and actually manages to land a couple of hits early in the fight. Unfortunately, her sister is all too familiar with this tactic and simply waits for Ruby to wear herself out a bit before landing a couple of hits with her charged-up semblance. She pins Ruby and counts to five before releasing her.
"Not bad, little sis," Yang says, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "You're still a bit predictable, but you definitely hit a lot harder!" She turns away to pull her shirt back on. "Did I ever tell how awesome you are for punching Mercury in the face? It was definitely one of my proudest big sister moments."
"All in a day's work," Ruby says proudly. She stands up slowly, feeling the pull in every one of her aching muscles. "And he deserved it, after what he did to you."
"That's my little sis. Now come on, I hear the showers calling our names."
"Hey, Ruby, you asleep in there or what?" Yang calls out, banging on the door to the shower stall. She's already showered, dressed, and ready to devour some lunch. "There's this place that Marrow told me about that's got some dishes from Vacuo that I need to try. Ruby?" There's the sound of the shower running, but no response from her little sister. A knot tightens in the pit of her stomach. "Okay, you'd better not be messing with me. I'm coming in." She shoves the door open, surprised to find it unlocked. "Ruby?"
Whatever she was expecting to find, it certainly wasn't her little sister, still fully clothed, collapsed on the floor with blood trickling from her mouth forming a dark puddle. "Oh my gosh, Ruby!"
One minute, Ruby is sore and tired and struggling to catch her breath, but otherwise okay—and the next she's trying not to collapse in agony, coughing up blood and gasping for air. She loses track of time, sprawled on the floor and clutching at her chest. The metallic tang of blood in her mouth is nauseating.
The next thing she knows, Yang is tapping her face and calling her name in increasingly frantic tones. "Ruby, please wake up!" She blinks her eyes open and gazes blurrily up at her older sister. Yang is here. Everything is going to be okay.
"Ruby, what happened?" Ruby manages to twitch her shoulders towards her ears in a pathetic attempt at a shrug. "Okay, well, stay calm. I'm going to go run for help."
Fear seizes her at the thought of being left alone like this, and she manages to feebly grab Yang by the wrist. "Don' go," she slurs out. Talking triggers another round of coughing, and her sister helps her sit up as she struggles to breathe. Blood trickles down her chin and onto Yang's clean clothes, but her sister doesn't seem to notice.
"Okay, not going anywhere," she soothes, running a hand up and down Ruby's back as the coughs subside. "I'll call someone for help." Ruby can barely hear her over the roaring in her ears, but the tone sounds reassuring.
Despite the steam in the air from the shower, the bathroom suddenly feels freezing. Ruby shivers violently, instinctively pressing closer to her sister. She seems to have finished her call, only glancing occasionally at her scroll and running her fingers through Ruby's hair in a soothing gesture. "I called Ironwood, and he's got a medical team on the way. You're going to be okay." She pulls Ruby closer when she notices her shivering. "Oh Ruby, you're burning up."
"'m cold," she mumbles, closing her eyes. Yang pinches her cheek until she cracks them open again and glares feebly.
"I know you're tired and feel like crap, but I need you to stay awake until the medics look you over. It'll only be a few minutes."
It feels like hours, but eventually the medical team is at the door. Ruby shuts her eyes as they poke and prod at her and spit rapid-fire questions at Yang.
Eventually all of the voices fade out and Ruby drifts off into warm darkness.
When she wakes up, Ruby finds herself in a hospital bed in what looks a private hospital wing. Sitting up, she feels the tug of an IV in her right wrist. Her body still aches all over, but the tightness in her chest is gone and she can breathe easily again.
Casting her gaze to the right, she spies her sister, Blake, and Weiss all slumped over in their respective uncomfortable looking waiting-room chairs. Blake's head is resting on Weiss' shoulder, Weiss' head is resting on Yang's lap, and Yang's head is resting on the hospital bed next to her thigh, hands clenched in the blankets. Ruby smiles fondly at her team. She fumbles for her scroll, conveniently placed on the bedside table to her right. This is too sweet not to snap a picture of.
Before she can take a picture, though, her hand brushes against Yang's, causing her sister to stir. Yang raises her head blearily, scrubbing at her eyes. "Ruby?" she asks softly, eyes wide.
"Aw, that was going to be such a cute picture," Ruby complains.
"You scared me half to death!" Yang cries, lunging forwards and wrapping Ruby in a hug.
"Ow," Ruby mutters. Blake perks her head up, cat ears swiveling in their direction. Next to her, Weiss snorts loudly before shaking herself awake. Their eyes go wide when they see that she's awake.
"Hey guys," Ruby says awkwardly, fighting the urge to giggle.
"Ruby!" Blake exclaims.
"We were so worried!" Weiss sniffles loudly.
"What happened?" Ruby asks.
The three girls look at each other for a long moment. "What do you remember?" Yang asks.
"Honestly, not much." Ruby admits, staring down at her blanket-covered lap. "I remember sparring with Yang, and I remember trying to get ready to shower but then my chest started hurting really bad, and then it's all pretty hazy."
Blake, Weiss, and Yang look at each other again, which is really annoying, and as their leader Ruby would like them to stop doing that. Finally, Weiss speaks.
"Ruby, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but—" she trails off.
"You were poisoned." Blake says bluntly. "They tested your coffee from this morning, and apparently found traces of a poison someone slipped in there."
"Oh." Ruby really doesn't know what to say.
"Good thing I held onto your cup, huh?" Weiss jokes, but the levity falls flat.
In the awkward silence that follows, Blake decides to continue her explanation. "Since you didn't drink all of the coffee, and they don't think that there was a high enough dose in there the doctor is pretty sure that you would have been okay, but they're glad that Yang called them so fast."
Yang folds her arms across her chest. "And I still say that they're full of crap. You guys didn't see before her before they got there—" she trails off, swallowing hard.
Ruby pats her sister's arm. "Well I'm feeling better now," she reassures them. "Do they—" she clears her throat. "Do they know anything about who might have tried to poison me?"
"They found the guy who usually works that coffee stand you and Weiss went to," Blake says hesitantly. "He was murdered. So I'm afraid that's a dead end."
"Oh," Ruby says again, suddenly feeling very small and cold.
"Ironwood did recommend that we try to stick to only eating at trustworthy establishments, until they know more about what happened, if that helps any," Blake says, rolling her eyes.
"Where are Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Oscar?" Ruby asks, desperate for a change of subject.
"Probably back in the dorms, waiting to hear about you," Yang says, before wincing and picking up her scroll. "They've been texting us all afternoon asking for updates. They would've been waiting here too, but the nurse would only allow a few visitors at a time."
"Afternoon?" Ruby asks. "What time is it now?"
"About 10:30." Blake stretches her arms over her head.
Oh wow. That's so much time lost. "It's that late already? You guys should go back to the dorms, get some rest."
Blake, Weiss, and Yang all look at her incredulously. "Yeah, no. We're not leaving you here by yourself after what happened today." Yang shakes her head.
"Ironwood also said that none of us should go anywhere alone," Weiss adds.
"And in case you didn't notice, we were just resting until a few minutes ago," Blake points out.
"And someone has to keep an eye on you to make sure that you're actually resting, little sis."
Ruby bites her lip. She's grateful to not be alone, but they shouldn't have to be staying in uncomfortable chairs when they could be sleeping comfortably back at the dorms. "Don't they have some extra beds or pillows somewhere for you guys?"
"I'll go ask and see if they have any spare bedding for us," Weiss says, heading towards the door.
"Good idea," Yang says, slipping out of her chair. "Blake, go with her."
As their partners slip out of the room, Yang clambers up on the bed next to Ruby. "Yang, I don't think that you're supposed to be up here."
"Eh, there's enough room for both of us, isn't there?' It takes some shuffling, and they have to be careful with Ruby's IV, but eventually they settle in, Ruby tucked into Yang's side.
"You should get some more sleep," Yang says, brushing Ruby's hair away from her forehead and humming softly under her breath.
"I'm really not that tired," Ruby complains. She yawns immediately afterwards.
Yang laughs softly. "Sure, sis. C'mon, sleep, we'll all be here when you wake up." She's just about to drift off when she hears her sister mutter something else.
"We will find the person who did this to you. And I'm going to make them pay."
me: I hope that volume 8 will have Ruby and Yang being the sisters that we know and love!
volume 8 spoilers: *exist*
me:
Anyway yeah I know that sisters fight blah blah but seriously we already did this, just let my girls be happy together ugh.
I hope that you enjoyed this fic! Might write a second part to it at some point. I left out any detailed descriptions of fight scenes because I'm terrible at writing them, sorry not sorry. Also a big apology for Ruby, as she doesn't deserve this. And for writing all those insults about her, it was because it was Tyrian's POV, I endorse precisely none of it, I swear.
Please leave a review if you liked it. Thank you for reading!