"It must be hard to be a Faunus."
Juane crashed against the cold ground, the mace head pressing against his chest to keep him against the floor. Who let Cardin duel Jaune was beyond RWBY.
Juane brushed it away with a swing of his sword, going in once more for an attack. Cardin cackled, slamming his heel into Jaune's sternum then smashing the mace head against Jaune's cheek.
Ruben watched, averting his eyes every time Jaune was knocked off his feet. He could almost feel Jaune's pain with every crack and smash. Feel the weight of each blow when Jaune would be struck. This wasn't a duel, as far as sparring goes. This was a straight up battle. With Cardin doing a heaping amount of damage.
"I like a good fight. You know I do, Winter." Ruben commented, shutting his eyes as he heard the sound of iron meeting flesh once more. How Jaune's chest wasn't caved in, he did not know. "But this is just sad."
"He's just not putting up a fight." Winter said, watching with absolute disgust. Even though Winter couldn't care less about Jaune, watching him getting knocked around by a man like Cardin wasn't a sight he enjoyed. "It's like watching a lamb try to wrestle a lion."
"Could say that again..." Ruben mumbled, laying his head on the counter top. He heard Jaune's groans, his gasps for breath. The panting of a fight strung out too long.
Jaune raised his shield to block, the mace smashing against it and knocking him off balance. Winter could have sworn he saw the shield yield under the blow fro a moment.
Jaune caught himself just before the mace crashed against his jaw. Spinning around and catching an underhand arc to the chin.
Jaune fell to the floor, jaw probably broken and eye blackened from a previous hit. Cardin's weapon was raised over the head.
Winter saw the smirk Cardin had when he raised his weapon. A look of bloodlust. Of a thirst for violence and pain. The thrill of beating someone. Hurting someone.
The very same smile Ruben had when he fought Grimm.
A buzzer noise was heard, Ruben's head shooting up and seeing Glynda take center stage. She walked in front of the dueling students, her eyes glancing over the audience. She made note of those dozing off and not paying attention. Her eyes meeting Ruben's for a minute before passing her hand over her scroll.
"Cardin, that's enough." She spoke out indifferently, looking over her personal scroll. She turned to Juane, telling him something along the lines of watching his Aura levels. Ruben wasn't really paying attention, rolling his eyes and letting out a sigh.
"You could done that before he was beaten to a pulp." Ruben grumbled to himself, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. He looked over at his team, drowning out Glynda's words so he could doze off a bit.
Winter sat beside Ruben, his hands resting on his knees in half balled fists. He clearly wasn't satisfied with the bout. Clearly, he would have faired better.
Blair was reading another one of his novels. A highschool drama this time around.
Yin was attempting to woo some girl he met in his history class. His fingers walking up her arm as her giggles were silenced by her hand.
Ruben yawned, scratching at his chin. He spent yet another sleepless night working on his weapon. He thought of the pin he broke when he tried to pry the barrels away from each other. No more shooting.
He could recall the hair pulling, still feeling it's sting at this moment. He patted his cheek, trying to wake himself up.
"Remember, everyone, the Vytal festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" She said, before dismissing everyone. Ruben let out a sigh, standing up onto his feet. He turned to his team, knocking on the counter.
Winter looked over at him, Blair shut his book and Yin shooed away his lady friend with a smirk.
"Let's get some lunch, team." He yawned out, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'd kill for a burger right now."
"So, there we were, in the middle of the night..." Nora told, her hands out and emphasizing her words. Ren sat beside her, quietly eating his food. His eyes staring plainly at his plate as he reached over and grab his cup of tea.
"It was day." He corrected, before taking a sip of his drink. Yin was listening intently, his smile wide and his ears perked. His hands folded under his chin, his head tilted towards the left.
Despite the idea of someone being even more energetic than he is, more outlandish than he could ever be, he was fond of Nora. She was the only one who got his humor.
Yes, making sloth noises to communicate was a great tactic. They agreed on it during a game of paper football.
Instead of paper, it was one of her grenades.
Instead of football, it was dodgeball.
At night.
No one was harmed.
Badly.
Blair was simply reading still, about half way through now on a different novel. During class, Highschool drama. Lunch, Drama. The story of a horribly burned man taking in a young hopeless orphan had met some complications. He apparently killed one of her friends and now she vows to kill him. While he is busy looking out for her in this dark world they traveled in.
Winter simply wasn't paying attention, bitting into his apple. He rotated it in his hands, checking it for any old splotches and extra stickers. The days were growing long and the classes became boring.
Ruben was dazing off into space, half asleep and half focused on the girl across the cafeteria. The girl from Blair's history class.
He wondered why he was so keen on watching her. Was so interested in her.
She wasn't exactly the most outspoken. In fact, she was actually silent.
She never looked anyone in the eyes. She never really did anything much. Just keep to herself and remain out of sight.
But he liked her.
She had these cute little cheeks that he fawned over.
He squinted his eyes, his thumb rubbing under his chin. Feeling his goatee brushing against his rough skin.
Her flowing brown hair cascading over her gentle shoulders. Her glistening brown eyes intoxicating to stare into.
He couldn't help his coy smile over the way her rabbit ears seemed to flop with every step.
Oh, how he loved those rabbit ears. They were so cute on her.
He felt Yin's elbow knock accidentally into his, sitting up straight immediately. Ruben turned to Ren, who was already speaking when Ruben decided to focus.
"-Nearly a month now." Ren finished, Ruben nodding blindly in agreement.
"Right. A month. Long time." He added, before taking a quick bite of his apple. Or Winter's. He really didn't care as long as his mouth could be shut. So he couldn't answer any questions.
Yin turned to his little bro, dropping his spoon into his soup. The porridge this week was too cold for his liking. Last week was too hot.
He wiped his chin with a napkin, before crumbling it into his hand and tossing it at the rambling Nora. The way her lips curled was devilish. Was scary.
"Rub-"
"Jaune!" Ruben said, quickly changing the subject. While Ruben knew he could tell Yin everything, telling him about his little crush would cause disastrous results.
Namely cheek tugging and squeeing.
Juane looked up from his food, having played with a piece of lettuce for the past few minutes. Making it dance with his fork. "How are you doing?"
"Fine." He said, glancing up from his lettuce for a brief moment. He stared at Ruben with eyes as droopy as any sad dog's. His shoulders slumped and lips curled to frown. "Just fine."
"Jaune," Pyrrha said, her hands resting in her lap and her eyes filled with concern. She glanced at his food, noticing he hadn't eaten. "Are you alright?"
"Absolutely." He said, laying his fork on the table. He forced a smile, nodding his head. "It's-"
"It's Cardin, isn't it?" She asked, her voice begging him to be honest with her. To tell her. To confide in her.
Ruben reached for his drink, taking a quick swig as he listened in.
"No! It's not! I'm fine!" Jaune said, hearing the sound of a young woman struggling a few tables over. The entire table turned to the sound, and saw an unsettling sight.
They saw team CRDL bulling the rabbit girl.
Cardin tugged on her ears, as if to make sure they wouldn't come off. One of the other members were imitating her ears with his slim arms, flopping them around and smacking them against his friend's face. The other two simply pointed and laughed.
"Ow. That hurts." She said, doing her best to pull out of his hold. Her cheeks were beat red from embarrassment, her eyes scanning the room to make sure no one was watching.
That's when she met Ruben's eyes.
He could have sworn he saw tears beginning to form.
Ruben felt his hand tighten into a fist, his blood running cold as he heard her cries. "Please...stop..."
"I told you it was real." Cardin said, cackling as he let go of her ear. She had pivoted her foot just as he let go, and she was sent crashing against the edge of the table. Ruben growled lowly, praying for Cardin's sake he didn't refer to Velvet as an 'It'.
"What a freak." One of the members said, watching her walk off in such a huff. Using her hair to hide her burning blush. Ruben stood to his feet, his hands on the table. Yin felt a certain tension in the air.
"Ruben?" Yin asked, looking up at his brother. He saw the fire building in Ruben's eyes, the anger boiling. "What's wrong, buddy?"
Ruben didn't answer, as he walked around to go have a 'word' with Cardin. As he turned to the right, Velvet walked right past him.
He glanced at her, clearly seeing the tears building up in her eyes as he passed. He stopped, hearing her heels click against the floor as she scurried away. He looked over his shoulder, letting out a sigh.
A large part of him wanted to go over and destroy Cardin for hurting her, the other part of him wanted to chase after her.
"Ruben?" Yin questioned, raising a brow. Ruben glanced at his brother, seeing Nora balling up what seemed to be twenty napkins to retaliate. "You ok?"
"Yin," Ruben said, turning to his older brother. He held a hand against his temple, the other out in front of him. "I'm heading back to the room. Need to work on the repairs. My babies aren't looking good."
"Oh," Yin said, nodding softly. He looked down at his soup, feeling something else wrong with Ruben.
He had known Ruben to share his troubles when the got too...intense for him to manage. He didn't need to pry at the moment.
He simply smiled, taking up his spoon once more. "Sure man. Do what you need to do."
Ruben nodded back, taking off after Velvet quickly.
"Atrocious." Pyrrha stated, looking over at Cardin. The bile building in her words. She watched as he laughed with his friends over that poor girl's misery. "I can't stand people like him."
"You're not the only one." Blair said, closing his book and turning to her. She turned to him, seeing the glow of his eyes burning in the darkness of his hood. "Believe you me."
"It's just..." Yin tapped the tips of his fingers together, trying to formulate a coherent sentence. He tapped them together, bitting his lip. Instead, his hands fell as he let out a sigh. "Faunus. Rough stuff they are dealing with right now..."
At that moment, a wad of paper hit his face. And Nora rolled over laughing.
Ruben walked down the hall, his hands running through his hair.
What was he doing?
"I'm going to see Velvet! I need to make sure she's ok. But...I don't talk to her...So...this is weird. Very weird. What am I doing? What am I doing?" He then saw her, leaning against the wall in the middle of the empty hallway. Her hands against her eyes, her sobs making his heart ache. She was trembling. She was shaking. She was huffing and shivering.
He looked around, feeling claustrophobic all of a sudden.
She was alone.
He was alone.
They were alone.
He looked down at his hand, wondering what in the world he was doing. He felt almost obligated to help her. To try to, at the very least.
"Hey." He said softly, hoping not to startle her as he walked towards her.
Did she jump in her spot? No.
Did she scream? No.
Did she slap him and call him an idiot? No.
She turned to him, her brown eyes meeting his sliver and one of her hands that was caressing her floppy ear snapping to her side.
"I-I sorry." She fumbled, her arms straight and her eyes staring at the floor. The brown hair shielding her ever growing blush."I'm sorry, I mean. I didn't-"
"It's ok." Ruben said, raising his hands in defense as he took a stop towards her. He looked over the heat rising in her cheeks, obviously from embarrassment. He moved towards her, his hands slowly returning to his sides. "I saw what happened. In the cafeteria. A lil bit ago"
"It's my fault." She said in a hush, crossing her arms and turning away from Ruben. Her shoulders tense and head lowered. "Me and my-my stupid ears-"
"I don't think they're stupid." Ruben interjected immediately. He felt his eyes go wide, cheeks paling as he wondered why he just said that out loud. Velvet nearly jumped in her spot, wondering if she just heard him right.
Did someone, who wasn't her family, just compliment her ears?
"What?" She asked, just as surprised as he was. Ruben felt his hands go behind his back, an awkward smile forming as he felt his cheeks blush.
"I-I um." He let out a shallow 'ha', interlacing his fingers together as he struggled. "I-I." He let out a breath. "If you..." He let out another breath. "If you have another problem with Cardin, you can come to me." He finished in a single breath.
"What?" She asked once more, feeling a shake in her knees and her cheeks burning. She looked over this boy before her. His broad shoulders. Scruff on his chin. The look of humbleness in his eyes and sincerity in his gaze.
"I said," He gulped, turning his eyes to her feet. "If you need...me. Just...just ask. And I'll do what I can." He forced out, before looking up to face her. He felt his eyes meet her beautiful brown, his heart melting. His heart about to burst from his chest. "Ok?"
She stood there, her cheeks on fire and her heart beating like a humming bird's.
They stared at one another for a brief moment, before averting their gaze simultaneously.
"O-Ok." She said in a mumble, before turning away from him. Her hands pressed against her warm cheeks as she tried to grasp the situation. He stood there for a moment, before nodding to himself.
"That wasn't...too bad." He thought triumphantly to himself. He looked over at her once more, admiring her once again.
She was so cute.
"See ya around, Velvet." He said, walking back to his room with a stupid smile on his face.
"Bye, Ruben." She mumbled to herself, her back still facing him as her hand reached up to touch her ear.
"I don't think they're stupid..." She giggled softly, rubbing the warm fur of her ear. Remembering his gentle smile and cute laughs. "I guess they're not that stupid, after all." She giggled once more before a shy smile surfaced.
She looked over her shoulder, catching him turning corner with her smile continuing to grow.