Chapter 2: New Challenges Await
"You are the greatest of us. That's why he chose you."
Ruby Rose woke up the next day, crying and screaming to the heavens above. All she wanted for Christmas is to see Weiss again, alive and well. But even she knew that was just that: a wish.
"Rubes..." Yang said to her younger sister, trying to comfort her broken rose petal.
Yang missed Weiss just as much as anyone, or so she thought. Her younger sister didn't just lose a friend, she lost her lover. Yang knew that Ruby wouldn't ever forget Weiss, or the day she lost Weiss either.
"Ruby, I know you miss her. We all do. But she wouldn't want you to feel like this." Blake says with a soft smile on her face, trying to stay strong for the young Huntress.
"Yeah! Blake is right, Ruby." Yang chips in, but what the two girls don't realize is that Ruby is to far broken to hear their words.
Ruby could not stop crying the next day.
The young cloaked teen went and sat alone on the wooden bench, alone in the park, alone in her own torn apart world.
"She... She... *sniffle* didn't... d-deserve... this..." Ruby said as her tears pelted the soft snow below her body like mortar fire. She personally wouldn't be surprised if her tears froze on her face, but she knew she wouldn't care, all she cared about was her friend- no, her girlfriend, being dead and gone.
"I'm... I'm sorry Weiss... I'm a worthless teammate...a useless partner...a failure of a girlfriend..." She moaned and slammed her right hand in a fist onto the bench, cracking a few bits of wood.
"Well, that poor bench." Said a deep voice, obviously male, from behind the young rose who made no attempt to react, up until a hand went on her shoulder, to which she gave a very small shrug.
"Who- *sniffles* who are you...?" Ruby asked the man with watery eyes, which turned her once powerful silver orbs into wet and defeated red ones.
"I am Vytel. I heard about what happened to your partner. I send my condolences. Who are you if you don't mind me asking." Vytel says with a soft voice, as Ruby noted his powerful aura while looking up to the man who stands before her.
"I-I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. A Student of-" Vytel stops her with a hand gesture and looks down as he took notice of the girls broken soul.
"Beacon. I know the Headmaster of that school. We go far back. But, Ruby, I know you feel defeated and heartbroken, and I know you miss her, more than anyone on Remnant. But she wouldn't want you to feel like this. She would want you to carry on her legacy, but above all, to be happy." Vytel says with a warm tone and a soft voice.
"Th...thank you." Ruby looks up at Vytel with a soft smile but a sad look in her eyes as she hugs Vytel and cries in his arms, loudly and with the sound of pure sadness as her voice cracks.
Vytel smiles at the young huntress and extends his hand down to the weeping rose, who looks up to him, the man taking care of her.
Ruby then hesitantly takes his hand as he walks with her back to Beacon Academy, in order for her to return to her team, and for him to have a chat with the Headmaster.
"Where is she?!" Yang asks Blake as she's freaking out, her eyes switching between lilac and red over and over again as Blake is simply reading a book in the corner, trying her hardest to not throw the book at the elder sister.
"Yang, I don't know. But I know that she is a strong Huntress, she'll come back. I have faith in her." Blake says in order to calm Yang down, which works almost instantly.
Just as the two girls stop, a knock is heard at the door. Blake get's up and grabs Gambol Shroud, her prized weapon, and nods at Yang who cocks Ember Celica, ready to attack.
"Who is it?!" Blake asks as she doesn't get a response, so she beckons Yang to move forward which the blonde brawler acknowledges before Blake opens the door.
"Hyaa!" Yang says as she goes to punch the attacker, stopping mid punch as her eyes widen upon noticing who was knocking.
"R-Ruby?!" Yang says as she hugs her sister tightly, seeing Ruby return the hug as Blake and Yang both deactivate their weapons and look over to the man who Ruby is with.
"Oh! This is Vytel. He found me when I was at the bench in the park." Ruby says as her sister and partner look at the man with some suspicion before nodding at him.
"She's okay. Not fully, but okay nonetheless." Vytel tells the two girls before he nods back and leaves to go talk to Ozpin while Ruby goes to her lovers bed and sobs, knowing Weiss will never sleep with her again.
"I feel so sorry for her. She didn't deserve this." Blake says to Yang as she's rubbing her sister's back, doing everything she can to calm her little sister down.
"She didn't. But Weiss's killer does." Yang says sounding angry at the world for hurting her sister, but calm enough to control her semblance from burning down the dorm room.
A few hours later, Team RBY are in the training room as their practicing and honing their skills. Headmaster Ozpin and Vytel are personally watching the three Huntresses train and wonder how they will preform without Weiss Schnee.
"Left! Right! Blake, duck!" Shouts the leader Ruby Rose to her team, the other two members following her commands as they slice and punch and shoot holograms.
"We- Oh...right...I forgot..." Ruby says in a sadder tone to no one as Ozpin, Vytel, and Blake immediatly take notice that her attacks are slowing down and becoming progressively weaker and more sloppy.
"Oh no." Ozpin says as he shuts down the training session and walks down to the floor before seeing Blake hugging a crying Ruby Rose who is on her knees, while her Scythe is on the floor.
"Ruby...shh young rose. It's okay." Blake says as she comforts her leader as Ozpin is talking to Yang about what happened while Vytel is standing next to Ozpin and also talking to Yang.
"She was training, she called out We..Weiss's name, her attacks got slower, I didn't notice until Blake told me, and then she dropped her Scythe and broke down." Yang tells the Headmaster and Vytel, who look at each other than at the breaking rose who refuses to stop crying.
"I understand, Miss Xiao Long. We will do all we can for her." Ozpin states before he and Vytel take the rest of Team RBY back to the their dorm room, where Ruby screams into Weiss's pillow, Blake watches the scene, and Yang is rubbing her sisters back.
Just like the days and days before, Ruby Rose breaks down. She justs wants the pain to end, and for her to be at peace. Maybe one day. Maybe. But for Ruby, tnat day will be a long time from today.
"She needs to rest. So let her rest, along with the other members. They will have a busy day of training, both physical, and mental, come tomorrow morning." Said the old Headmaster to Vytel, who simply nodded and left the Headmasters office.
Meanwhile, back in Team RBY's dorm, Blake and Yang are asleep as Ruby is softly sobbing into Weiss's pillow, knowing far to well she will never see her lover again.
"Weiss...I miss you. You're insults, you're laughs...everything...I...I love you...Weiss Diamond Schnee...and i'm painfully sorry I never said it in person..." Ruby says to the sky before resting her head upon Weiss's pillow.
Ruby finally fell asleep, like her two teamates before her, and she tried to have a happy sleep like them too. Except she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.
Eventually, the little rose simply gave up on having nice sleeps again and just let her mind drift in and out of her nightmares.
The first thing she would see in her nightmares, isn't darkness or even death and sadness. It was...light.
A very bright and very powerful, but...beautiful white light.
