Ruby and Weiss walked in relative silence. The uneven cobbles and the incline of the street made it essential for Ruby to concentrate on where she was stepping if she didn't want to wind up sprawling in the street.
Weiss had a measured stride that never seemed to falter, even when the smooth stone switched to cobbles switched to gravel. Even in heels. How did she do that? Ruby imagined Weiss practicing walking in varied terrains for hours because really how else would you be able to keep from tripping and killing yourself in shoes like that?
"Why are you staring at me?" Weiss asked, derailing Ruby's train of thought.
"Oh, uh, just, you're really good at walking," she blurted. The heiress looked at her like she'd grown another head. "In heels, I mean."
Weiss steered them around a corner, ice blue eyes glancing up at the bell tower showing over the roofs of the houses. "You don't have to try to make me feel better."
"I... don't?" It took Ruby a second to shift gears from random-observation mode to team-leader mode, "I mean, are we talking about the, um. The family name, thing?" Ruby counted Weiss's silence as a yes. "You're not like those business guys, whoever they were. The ones who tried to do whatever."
Weiss made a sound that could have qualified as a snort if it weren't so genteel, "You're extraordinarily articulate tonight, Ruby."
"You know what I mean," Ruby shifted the bundle of bed rolls to her right arm so her left could have a break. "We're the good guys. We'll show 'em."
They stopped outside the doors to what was in fact a bell tower. Three stone-slab stairs led to a pair of double doors at the base of the structure. Ruby perked up, "I'll get the door."
It was unlocked. The hinges creaked like something out of a horror movie. All the hairs on the back of Ruby's neck stood on end as she stepped into the quiet blackness. "Hello?"
Her voice echoed off the stone.
"You dunce, what if someone had been sleeping in here?" Weiss followed her through the door, activating one of her sword's Dust chambers, repelling the pitch dark with a soft blue glow. "This could have been someone's house."
"I want to live in a tower," Ruby breathed, looking up at the iron staircase that spiraled along the interior wall, winding its way out of the reach of Myrtenaster's light. "Maybe we could all live in a tower."
"Let's not," Weiss started up, stepping around bundles that smelled strongly of sheep's wool, holding her narrow blade out before her to light the way.
"Why? It would be fun," Ruby stuck close behind her, trailing a hand over the fine metal work. Their footsteps echoed in iron whispers. "It wouldn't have to be a big empty tower like this, though the weapons are kind of a nice touch."
Swords, spears, a two-pronged bladed monstrosity with jagged edges and some kind of chain in the middle. (Ruby wasn't even sure how that one could be used. Maybe it couldn't- hence the display). They hung along the walls in all their antiquated glory.
Three stories is a long way in the dark, in the dead of night, but finally they reached a trap door at the top. Ruby set their bed rolls down. She wrapped her hands in her cape so as to avoid getting any more splinters for the night and lifted the door while Weiss crouched, sword at the ready, just in case.
All was quiet, deserted. Discarded crates and odd-shaped bundles of cloth lay tucked against the wall encircling the belfry.
"Any bats in here...?" Ruby poked her head under the rim of the giant bell dominating the top of the tower. Inside, it was dark and cold. Her voice echoed. She ducked back out, straightening, "Guess not."
Weiss appraised the bell for a moment. Brass, probably. At least ten feet in diameter. She stepped back, keeping Myrtenaster clear of the instrument, "Given the high chance that this is the town's emergency signal, we'd probably better-"
One of the bundles behind her moved. Ruby turned just in time to see Weiss pitch backwards into a shadowy tangle of limbs. In an instant, Ruby was spinning Crescent Rose open, prepared to take on whatever had been hiding in the tower- but unprepared for the enormous CLANG when she clipped the edge of the brass bell. Somehow she kept her balance, but Myrtenaster's light was out and her ears were ringing and where was Weiss?
Her question was answered when a sharp crackle of electricity filled the air, and a flash of lightning cast the scene in crisp black and white: Weiss was tangled with another townsperson, one who looked absolutely terrified out of his wits.
Moments later, Ruby, Weiss, and the no-longer slumbering night watchman sat around a small lantern. He was young and blonde- the same unfortunate soul who had been elected to carry the team's bags off the ship. The defeated sentry slouched, shamefaced while Weiss scolded him roundly for sleeping on the job.
"- and you stacked our bags wrong. Seriously, you had one instruction. Could you not have set them to the side?" the heiress finished straightening her hair and brushed dust from her skirt.
"Sorry," he mumbled in apology, fumbling with his mittens. In the course of Weiss's lecture, he'd spilled that he was fourteen, a year too young to work in the mines, thus serving on the short-staffed watch team. Ruby, who was for once not the youngest of the group, clapped a comradely arm over his shoulders and dispensed her just-barely-sixteen year old wisdom.
"Jack, you messed up pretty bad, but at least you didn't sliced in half or anything," whoops, that was a little more Uncle Qrow-ish than what she was going for, "Uh, I mean, let's keep watch together. That way no one has to try to stay up the whole night."
He wiped his nose on his sleeve, his jaw already showing purple where Weiss had landed a hit. He answered all of their questions, explaining that the lightning was Gale- she used it to keep the bats at bay and, well, Ruby had kind of signaled that they'd spotted a bat- and that the watch was divided up throughout the city- he just happened to be in charge of the bell tonight.
It was late. After Weiss felt Jack had been sufficiently chastised, she volunteered for first watch. Ruby would take second, and Jack the third, right before dawn.
"So you're good?" Ruby leaned on the low stone wall next to her partner, overlooking the town. She'd cleared a space in all the junk and dust for her and Weiss's bedrolls. They were set up on the side of the belfry opposite Jack, who was already huddled back under his collection of ratty blankets. A cold wind tugged at the edges of her hood, played through Weiss's white hair in the starlight.
"Ruby," Weiss took a breath, stole a glance. She indicated the cup in her hands, "This was a great idea."
The thermos came with only one cup, which doubled as a sort of insulated cap for the container. With it off, the hot chocolate was losing heat fast. Ruby rested her chin on her hand. "Too bad we didn't bring Yang. She could've warmed it up more."
Weiss huffed, "I could probably do it, with the right glyph."
Ruby looked up, "Yeah?"
The heiress lifted her chin and took another sip, "With some practice. Maybe."
"We should experiment."
Weiss gave a non-committal sort of hmmm, and for a while they watched out over the town in silence. The rooftops were varied, mostly tile and stone shingles, bathed in moonlight and shadow. A foreign landscape, broken up by streets and chimneys.
Ruby's scroll made the familiar click of a heavy round being chambered in Crescent Rose.
She checked her messages. "Huh. They got our report." a glance at the time down in the corner of the screen, "Why are they writing back in the middle of the night?"
"Probably a delay. Bad reception. We do have some mountains in the way." Weiss took a sip of hot chocolate, " Either that, or Ozpin is an insomniac."
Ruby laughed a little, "Yeah, I could see that. Remember when he launched us from the cliff on our first day?"
"Of course. Didn't you kill a bird on the way down?"
"That was an accident," Ruby knelt on the floor so she could rest her chin on her crossed arms and still see out over the city. She sorted through memories of their first year, good and bad. Mostly good. After the Mountain Glen train wreck and the ensuing chaos in the city, things had quieted down. How could they not? Roman Torchwick was still in jail, and so many members of the White Fang had been killed in the explosion. So many. Had Blake known any of them? Ruby shied from that thought a little. "Hey, remember when Glynda waved her thing and the street put itself back together?"
"Mmhmm," Weiss leaned over a little more, so her elbows were perched on the wall.
Ruby tilted her head to look sideways and up at her, "Think we'll be able to do that kind of stuff? When we're full huntresses, I mean."
"I think you're a little more suited to taking things apart," Weiss nodded towards Crescent Rose, the scythe's blade gleaming in the moonlight.
"That's true," Ruby let her mind wander back to Torchwick. They had never figured out why he needed so much Dust. Other than the bombs designed to blow out the streets and let Grimm into the city, but bombs didn't take that much. Where had the rest gone? Why had they wanted to let Grimm inside in the first place?
There was that lady too- the one with the mask and the dark hair who threw razor shards of glass at her the night of the dance. Her eyes, the way they burned, had seemed familiar somehow. Ruby drew her cloak a little closer around herself for warmth.
"I told you to put on another layer," Weiss offered her the cup and Ruby took a swallow of the thick, sweet drink and almost dropped it, yelping.
"Ack, that was hot!"
"No, really?" Weiss smirked, taking the cup back and setting it on the edge of the wall. She brushed Ruby's hand away when she repeatedly poked her shoulder in retaliation for her sarcasm. "Aren't you going to bed?"
"Yeah," Ruby coughed as the burning sensation subsided. She crossed the littered floor and collapsed onto her bed roll. Keeping watch was old hat. So was sleeping in junky old towers and stuff. All the members of Team RWBY could pretty much sleep wherever—lying down, sitting up. Ruby was pretty sure Blake had napped while standing before. One of those skills you picked up while training to be a huntress, she guessed.
Ruby took a last look at her partner, stoic and quiet against the night sky. It had been a crazy day, and things would probably get crazier. They always did. She snuggled down under her cloak and single extra blanket, mumbling, "Wake me up if anything crazy happens."
She was out before Weiss said anything in return.
Blake and Yang's trip back to the cabin was slow and painstaking, but blessedly uneventful.
Yang heaved a great sigh of relief when she finally ascended the steps to the front of the cabin, immensely grateful that Ruby and Weiss had left the door unlocked as she slipped into the dark interior of the lower floor. She fumbled a bit for the light switch, blinking and squinting when artificial light flooded the landing, illuminating her next obstacle... stairs. Why did the beds have to be upstairs?
Heaving a great sigh, Yang stared up at the long climb, her overworked muscles aching from the sight alone - and also probably from Blake hanging off of her shoulder like a sack of rocks... A sack of warm, cuddly, purring rocks...
One hasty and excruciating trip up the unnecessarily narrow stairs later, Yang disentangled herself from her partner, gently laying Blake on one of the plush twin beds. The Faunus twitched, reaching for a pillow to filly the empty space once filled by Yang's arm. Yang stifled a giggle - Blake was out cold, chest rising and falling with slow, even breaths. It really was a shame she was going to have to wake her, but she needed to make sure the Faunus drank a heaping ton of water. Dehydration from all that alcohol would be a huge pain otherwise.
Standing back a bit, Yang rolled her shoulders and stretched out her arms, stalling to build up the will to actually disturb her partner's criminally adorable sleeping visage.
"Hey..." she reached out to nudge Blake's shoulder, "hey, Blake?"
Blake's ears twitched visibly beneath her bow, backed by a small mewling noise as she rolled onto her side, curled around the pillow in her arms, and slept on.
Yang staggered backwards. "Nope. No. Too cute. You win for now." She whirled around and grabbed her bag on the way to the bathroom, intent on soothing her sore muscles with a scalding hot shower. She would worry about waking her actual-heart-attack-inducer of a partner after she was clean and loosened up.
Sunlight poured into team RWBY's quiet cabin from the cracked picture window looking out over the town, one edge of the creeping rays trailing over a very sleepy blonde sprawled out on one of the plush twin beds. One bleary amethyst eye cracked open at the bright intrusion, immediately squinting back shut.
It was too early to be awake. Yang was still exhausted from the previous night. All she'd wanted was to get Blake to drink water - she was trying to help for goodness sake, but the task had been an exercise in extreme patience. She had been subjected to more nuzzles and licks than she could count, which, while not at all unwelcome, made it difficult to do... literally anything else. And even once she'd successfully gotten Blake to drink an entire glass, the Faunus bolted immediately thereafter, forcing Yang into a surprise game of hide-and-seek that lasted well into the wee hours of the morning.
It was beyond her how Blake had even found hiding places in the smallish cabin. Granted, she never stayed hidden long - honestly, it had been more like a game of hide-and-pounce. Blake was apparently an expert at both of those things, even when drunk. Or perhaps because she was drunk?
A series of three resounding knocks at the cabin's front door broke Yang from her string of half-lucid thought, dragging her into full consciousness. She squinted her eyes shut even harder, in defiance, but the knocks came again, louder this time.
Yang groaned. Why wasn't anyone answering the door? Where were Weiss and Ruby? ...Were they still out at the tower? Had they stayed there the entire night? A sleepy grin snaked across the brawler's features. Those two were practically handing her prime teasing material on a silver platter. The only downside was... now she had to answer the door. With a sigh, Yang started to sit up, but halted. Something very warm and very heavy was holding her down.
Curious, the brawler finally opened her eyes, glancing down to find herself beneath a sea of raven hair punctuated by two velvety cat ears. Yang snorted, but managed to keep from laughing outright. Sure enough, Blake had her pinned to the bed, even though Yang had stripped it of blankets and pillows and practically buried the heat-seeking Faunus in her own personal mountain of blankets and pillows on the other twin bed...
A subtle attempt to move only resulted in Blake tightening her hold on her chosen source of warmth, and Yang fought down a blush at the tickley sensation of Blake's face pressing into her collar. Resisting the ever-present urge to play with one of the velvety cat ears now poking her in the face, Yang settled for running a hand through her partner's wild tangle of hair, trying in vain to straighten it out a bit. "What am I, your personal space heater?"
One of Blake's ears twitched, but the Faunus remained dead to the world, even through a fresh round of very insistent knocking at the cabin door. Frowning at the intrusion, Yang slowly but surely worked her way out from underneath her partner, deftly slipping her pillow into Blake's arms to take her place. She got to her feet, grimacing at a darkened wet patch of what was definitely drool on her tank top. "Oh my god Blake, you're lucky you're cute..." Blake's other ear twitched this time. Yang froze at the sight - Blake's ears.
She whirled around, spotting Blake's ribbon crumpled on the floor by the dresser, where it had gotten knocked off during hide-and-pounce the night before. She squinted at the black strip of cloth, doubting her ability to bind Blake's ears properly... which meant it was time for a hastily devised plan B.
Yang darted over to her bag, digging through it and pulling out a bright red wool beanie - she always brought it along on winter trips, just in case Ruby got cold. It would have to do. Carefully, gently, she worked the beanie over Blake's head, just far enough to stay put without crushing her Faunus ears. She then buried her in the blankets and pillows that had been heaped on the other bed. Miraculously, her partner slept on.
Satisfied with her work, Yang leaped down the stairs three at a time and threw the front door open, revealing a very short, reedy man, wearing what looked like some kind of blue postman's uniform, his arm already raised to knock again. He smiled up at her, watery blue eyes crinkling at the edges.
"Telegram for Beacon's Huntresses."
Yang stared, utterly fascinated by the small piece of paper being thrust into her face. "Woah. This is real paper!" She took the telegram, gingerly examining it from every side. "Why didn't you just send a message to our scrolls?"
"Reception's not so good around here. G'day miss." The small man winked, tipped his navy blue hat, and strolled away.
Yang waved at the postman's retreating form before heading back inside and turning her attention to the blocky printed text of the telegram he'd just delivered.
Team RWBY
Negotiations are still underway concerning the mines. Please continue to have Ms Schnee avoid them for now. Thank you for your understanding.
Gale Indra
Yang turned the paper over, but the back was blank. "Huh. Straightforward." She tossed the telegram onto the empty couch. The couch where Weiss should have been sleeping, except that she and Ruby still hadn't come back yet... Yang allowed herself a devious smirk. She was going to pay those two a visit.
A/N: Pro tip, never agree to play hide and seek with someone who's character song is literally From Shadows.
Hope you guys had a hoppin' Easter~~ (I'm soRRY)
Tune in next time for party-crasher Yang, probably slightly hung over Blake, scowly Weiss, and ready for action Ruby!
Hugs,
Defenestrator