A/N: This one's a bit of a doozy! I thought about making this two separate chapters, but I wanted to start having chapters written in both girls' perspectives and I may have gone a little overboard. Either way, please enjoy and remember that I love hearing your thoughts!
"First lesson when conning someone: don't give them what they want."
"What? That doesn't make any sense."
They had just left the warehouse and were making their way along the Hudson towards a busier part of town, though at this time of morning, the streets were all packed with people heading to work to start another nine-to-five day. Ruby had always wondered what it would be like to lead that kind of life. To wake up in the morning and already know what was in store for the next twelve to sixteen hours. Most of the time she thought it would be awfully dull, but a small part of her wished she could at least wake up and not have to worry about getting arrested. And after this job she would have enough money to be safe for as long as she needed to be. She smiled at the thought then looked to the heiress walking next to her to answer her question.
"But it does make sense. When you con someone you gotta give them what they think they want, but just a taste. Enough to keep 'em coming back for more."
By now they had made it onto the street and were walking towards one of the rougher parts of town. Ruby could see the nervousness on Weiss's face even though she tried to hide it. She gave credit to the older girl as she simply raised her chin a little higher and made her back a little straighter, her clenched fist the only indicator that she was tense being in an unfamiliar part of town that was more than a little shady.
She debated telling Weiss that she had no need to worry, that everyone in this neighbourhood knew Ruby and was her friend. Well, maybe friend was the wrong word, seeing as they all knew her as Monique Teller. In fact the only people who actually knew her as Ruby Rose were her sister, Blake, and her uncle, and she rarely saw any of them. Everyone else who claimed to be her friend didn't even know her name. It wasn't her that they would smile and wave at, it was a character.
"Red, where exactly is it you are taking me?"
Weiss's voice brought her back to reality. The shorter girl's eyes were darting around as she tried to keep an eye on, what she probably thought was, every potential mugger and pickpocket on the block. She wasn't completely wrong in her assumption even the kids on the block would rob you blind if you weren't careful. They turned down an alley and Ruby decided the heiress had probably suffered enough and let her off the hook.
"It's alright Weiss, none of them are gonna do anything to you as long as you stay with me."
That seemed to calm her down a bit. Her posture relaxed but she did start walking a little closer to Ruby as they made their way down the alley and behind a big worn down three-story house. Its brick walls were covered in all sorts of graffiti, and there were more windows with boards in them than glass. Leaning against the house was her friend Jaune. He wore a ripped pair of jeans and running shoes with a black hoodie that had the hood down, showing off his mop of blonde hair. He stood there watching a small group of children play a game of soccer with books and sweaters on the ground as makeshift nets. He noticed her approaching and waved her over.
"Hey Red, what brings you to our little slice of paradise?"
"Hey Jaune. Did you guys have a package come in yesterday for me?"
"I dunno, you'll have to ask Pyrrha about it, she takes care of that kind of stuff."
"Alright, is she inside?"
"Yup, but before you go why don't you introduce me to your little friend." He looked Weiss up and down before holding out his hand. "Hi there, I'm Jaune."
Weiss opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Ruby. "She's not interested."
She grabbed Weiss's hand and pulled her up the steps and through the back door into the house before Jaune had a chance to hit on her any more than he did already. They had already gotten up the stairs and on to the second floor before Ruby became acutely aware that she was still holding Weiss's hand and let go while blushing. She felt weird. Normally she just laughed at Jaune's goofy womanizing ways, but as soon as he laid eyes on Weiss she immediately felt a white hot anger flow through her and her chest started to hurt. This was not right. She couldn't be feeling…jealous could she? She had only known the heiress for a little over a week, there was no way. She was just stressed about the job. Yeah, that was it. Stress.
They got to the top of the last set of stairs and were on the third floor when a pair of children barreled into Ruby, almost making her fall down the stairs. One of them was a little boy, around nine or ten with shaggy black hair that fell in front of his eyes and a smile that Ruby knew, once he got older, would be able to sell ice to an eskimo. The other little body currently wrapping itself around her leg was a girl with shoulder length blonde hair and a pair of green eyes brighter than any emerald Ruby had ever stolen.
"Miss Monique!" They shouted as they each clung to her waist. Ruby lowered herself to one knee and wrapped both children in a big hug before backing away to look them both in the eye.
"Hello you two, how are you?" She greeted the children, slipping into her most calming and refined French accent.
"Great!" Exclaimed the little boy. "Some of the older boys took Lucy's bunny and wouldn't give it to her but I managed to get it back from them."
"Really? What happened?"
"Lucy and I were playing in the yard with Mister Jaune when they snuck into her room and took her bunny."
Ruby looked at Lucy who was having a very intense staring contest with the ground. "Is that true Lucy?"
The little blonde girl nodded and gave a whispered "Yes."
Ruby turned her attention back to the little boy who was almost bouncing in place waiting for his turn to speak. "And tell me Michael, how did you manage to retrieve Lucy's bunny?"
"Well Lucy came into our room and was crying and she said that Jacob and his friends had taken Alice and-and said that if she didn't help them take the other kids snacks from their cubbies that they throw Alice in the fire and that she couldn't tell Mister Jaune or Miss Pyrrha."
Ruby gasped dramatically, and brought Lucy in for another hug. "Are you alright, Lucy?"
The little girl nodded. "They kicked me really hard in the tummy and said if I told Mister Jaune or Miss Pyrrha they would throw Alice in the fireplace and beat me up more for being a tattletale." Lucy was mumbling into Ruby's neck as she rubbed soothing circles into the girls back and planted a kiss on her head.
"But-But they didn't 'cause I got Alice back and got them for hurting Lucy." Michael said as he too wrapped his arms around Lucy. Ruby turned her head and eyed the little boy suspiciously.
"Michael, what did you do?" Her tone caused the boy to shrink back a bit, but he knew better than to lie to her.
"We-Well at first I thought about what Miss Yang would do, but there was five of them and they were all bigger than me and-and-" he had started stammering a big blush forming on his rosy cheeks.
"And?" Ruby offered.
"And they made Lucy cry and I-I don't want to hit people, even though all the other boys keep calling me a wimp."
"So what did you do?"
"He orchestrated one of the biggest food fights this orphanage has ever seen, stole my necklace, Jaune's wallet, Ren's watch, and Nora's bracelet, left one of Wallace's favourite candy wrappers on the floor in my room, snuck into the older kids' room, stole Alice and several other kids' toys and put all of our stolen things in Wallace's cubby." Pyrrha was standing in front of Ruby, wearing a pair of skinny jeans and red button up. She had her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, but as soon as Michael dove into the warmth of Ruby's embrace the scowl rose into a smirk. "He's quite the little con man."
Ruby smiled and ruffled the little boy's hair, "Well done, Michael. Lucy, it looks like you have yourself quite the knight in shining armour." Michael stood proudly and puffed his little chest out as Ruby lowered her head to whisper in Lucy's ear. "Be careful, Lucy, or some other girl is going to steal him from right under your nose." The little girls face was so red it could have been glowing as she hid it in her hands. "And Michael, I'm proud of you."
"Even though I didn't fight them?"
"Especially because you didn't fight them. You used your brain and figured out a plan to get back at all those boys, instead of running in head first and getting beaten up." Pyrrha said, with a warm smile on her face.
"Michael, I am going to tell you something that I want you to always remember when the other boys call you names, okay?" The boy nodded. "Fighting and winning all your battles doesn't make you the best."
"It doesn't?"
"No, it doesn't. Being the best means you can beat your enemy without needing to fight. Understand?"
"Yes Miss Monique."
"Good," Ruby smiled and pulled them in for one last hug. "Now, you two run along and play, okay?"
"Okay." "Bye Miss Monique!" And with that both children ran downstairs to join the other kids.
Ruby smiled once more before standing up and looking at Pyrrha. "Long time no see, Pyrrha." She said as she pulled the taller woman into a hug. "How are you?"
Pyrrha returned the hug and smiled. "I'm alright, we're a little short on money this month though, but we're scraping by," she turned to look at Weiss who had remained silent up until now. "And who's this, Red? Get yourself a new girlfriend?"
Both girls blushed at Pyrrha's comment while stammering out denials. She couldn't help but laugh at the reactions she had induced, and she reached a hand out, "Alright, I believe you. I'm Pyrrha. Jaune and I run this orphanage together."
Weiss accepted the hand and shook it. "Pleasure to meet you Pyrrha, I'm Weiss."
"Weiss and I are working together on a job and we need to pick up a dress that was supposed to be delivered here yesterday."
"Ah, yes, that's back in my office. But before you leave, Red, there's something I need to talk to you about," Pyrrha's eyes flicked from the brunette to the white-haired girl behind her. "In private."
"Sure thing," Ruby turned to Weiss. "You think you could wait outside?"
"Fine." Weiss replied, though rather unwilling. She made her way down the stairs to join Jaune and the children outside while Ruby and Pyrrha made their way into Pyrrha's office.
Ruby shut the door and turned to the crimson haired women behind her, "So what's this about?"
Pyrrha took a deep breath and looked Ruby in the eye.
"It's about your mother."
Weiss sat on the back porch of the orphanage, watching Michael and Lucy run around with the other children. It must be nice having friends at such a young age. No one trying to get something from you, your biggest worry being what team you were on and if you were picked last. Instead she had lessons from the crack of dawn to noon, fencing practice for three hours, then more lessons until it was time for dinner, then bed. Any thought of complaining was quickly beaten out of her by her father. In fact, thanks to her father she was never allowed the opportunity to make friends. She was homeschooled, and not allowed to leave except for public events. Any deviation from his rules and she was introduced to the back of his hand, though after France he had quickly replaced his hand with his belt and made sure to only hit places that were hidden by clothes. As she watched these children, who literally had nothing, running and playing she felt jealous. Sure, she was rich and could have whatever she wanted, and for that she was extremely lucky, and should do nothing to jeopardize the company or her family name, else she be responsible for them losing everything. But she was jealous nonetheless.
She was brought out her pit of self-deprecation by the sound of the porch creaking as the blonde haired boy from before sat next to her. "Hi there," he said. "So you're working with Red?"
"Yes, I am. Though I'm not without my doubts working with a girl who addresses herself as a colour and nothing more."
Jaune laughed. "Yeah it is kinda weird, but she must trust you quite a bit if she told you her name, instead of using some sort alias."
"Really?" Weiss asked.
"Oh yeah! Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and I knew her as Monique Teller for two and half years before she told us it was an alias."
"That's strange, she just introduced herself as Red to me when we met."
"Wow that is weird. She's only told a handful of people that. And only Yang and Blake know her real name, and that's because Yang's her sister, and Blake's Yang's partner."
"Why does she do that? Go by a fake name all the time?"
"I'm not really sure, but I think it's her way of keeping her distance. Red's an incredibly kind women, despite, you know, the whole international criminal thing."
"Yes, I'm aware of her kindness. She's letting me stay at her place for the next couple weeks while we prepare for our job." There was that strange feeling again, like last night, her chest seemed to tighten and a strange warmth moved through her body making her realise how cold she felt before.
"Oh that's just the tip of the iceberg," Jaune said. The ball the kids were playing with rolled towards his feet and he stood and kicked back towards them, a gentle smile on his face. "At least once a month Red stops by and donates a couple thousand to the orphanage, along with helping out with repairs when she can. She also regularly gets gifts to make the kids' lives better, and a few of them, like Michael and Lucy, genuinely love her like some sort of super-nanny. And on top of all that, Monique Teller owns this building along with a few other in the neighbourhood, and she managed to convince the local gangs to leave us alone too."
"Wow, no wonder everyone in this neighbourhood likes her."
"No, everyone in this part of town loves her. Before she came along this was one of the worst parts of town. More people lived on the streets than in houses, gangs seemed to always be using it as some sort of battle ground, and from what I hear, the entire neighbourhood was owned by a pimp who was known for killing someone if they so much as looked at him funny and employing girls who were barely legal."
"That's horrendous!" Weiss exclaimed. The thought that this neighbourhood, which while still somewhat shady was admittedly very quaint, could have been a hub for such horrors was inconceivable.
"Yup," replied Jaune. "But then three years ago Red came and everything started changing for the better. She poured something like ninety-five percent of the money she made from doing everything from grand theft to espionage. She put money in the right hands to make sure the pimp was taken care of, got the gangs out and opened up the orphanage. That's when I got here."
"How did you and Pyrrha end up here?"
"We both worked as information brokers and fences together-"
"-Fences?" Weiss asked.
"Yup. Generally people would steal things, and we would sell them to the right buyer. Though neither of us were nearly as good as Red at either job though. Anyways, so Pyrrha and I are on our way to pick up this rare Persian sculpture, when we get a text from Red saying it's a set up."
"So she saves you two from prison and in return you run an orphanage?"
"Sort of, we work as sort of information gatherers for her. Getting info from the lower parts of the city and sending it to her. Ren and Nora do the same, but they work more on the Wall Street side of things."
"Except I actually had to spring Ren and Nora from an NYPD holding cell." Weiss turned around and saw Red standing over her with a briefcase in one hand and the dress she bought Weiss yesterday in the other.
"We get you anything useful?" Jaune asked, standing up to let Red walk down the steps of the porch.
"Oh yeah, tons!" Said Red with that same lopsided grin that made Weiss's chest tighten uncomfortably every time she saw it. "Thanks, Jaune! I'll be sure to drop by again soon!" She waved the arm with dress way over head as she and Weiss made their way back up the alley.
"Alright, Red. We'll be here." Jaune said. "See ya Weiss, and good luck!"
She waved back to the blonde haired man before hurrying to catch up to Red. She looked at the dress draped over Red's back, its navy blue contrasting with the bright crimson of the taller girl's hoodie reminded of their conversation yesterday.
"So what are you going to wear for the party?" She asked, by now she was fairly certain of the younger woman's abilities and it was only a small part of her that was still worried that Red would show up to a black-tie affair dressed as a hoodlum.
"I dunno, something nice."
"Something nice?"
"Yup."
She reached forward and flicked Red in the ear.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Red exclaimed, bringing her shoulder up to her ear as her hands were filled.
"You dolt! Why didn't you buy a dress when we were getting mine?"
"Because princess, I dunno if you noticed when you were borrowing one of my night gowns, but I have entire rooms filled with clothes back home! I don't need to buy a dress!"
"Fine but you're going to pick something out when we get back."
"Ugh, fine," Red groaned.
They walked back to Red's warehouse in relative silence. Weiss took the opportunity to process everything she had learned about the woman walking next to her. After all that Jaune had told her, she felt even worse about how harshly she had treated Red. Here was a girl who had the skills to already have enough money to be living on a warm beach on a small island with no extradition laws, but instead she poured everything she had into helping the children at that orphanage and ensuring they didn't end up like her. She even went so far as to use a fake name at all times so no would be able to get close to her. Here was a girl who had willingly decided to separate herself from the world, all in order to make it a better place, and instead of getting crushed by the loneliness that came with that separation, she faced it with a smile on her face and the optimism that tomorrow would be better than today.
That was all it took for her to get it. She had read about this moment, but none of the books in her father's library did it justice. The written word may be one of the best methods of capturing an individual's feelings in the most eloquent of fashions, allowing a reader to empathise with, and sometimes even, emulate those feelings. But even the most articulate of descriptions paled pathetically when compared to actually having those feelings.
She had to accept it.
She was falling for a girl she had known for just over a week, and whose name was a mystery.
Except…
She couldn't accept it.
It wasn't that it had only taken a week for her to develop feelings for the brunette walking next to her. That simply meant she would have more time to get to know the girl on a personal level and be able to enjoy it more than anything else.
It wasn't that the only thing she had to call her was a colour. She didn't care if she ever learned Red's real name. To the heiress she was Red, and like a rose, any other name would be just as sweet.
No. The problem was she was falling for a girl.
There was no way her father would ever allow something like that to happen. The last time this had happened was the first time he had used his belt instead of his hand, and she would never forget the pain or the confusion. What had she done wrong? She had finally worked up the courage to ask out her first crush, and during the date they shared a small kiss. She still wasn't quite sure how her father had found out, but she knew that if he could do it once, he could do it again, and this time the punishment would be far worse.
They arrived at the warehouse and Weiss immediately excused herself to the bathroom. She managed to lock the door before her strength failed and she collapsed to the ground. She didn't know when the tears had started falling but now that they were, they refused to stop. For the first time in years she cried. She cried for all the chances she had missed. Even more, she cried for all the chances she would miss. She would never know what it felt like to feel safe in someone's arms. She would never know the warmth of being cared for. She would never be able to love, and if it felt anything like what she was feeling now, she didn't know whether she wanted to. Because right now…it hurt.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting on that bathroom floor sobbing before she heard a gentle knock on the door.
"Hey Weiss," Red's voice was laced with concern as it flowed through the door. "I don't know what is you're going through, but if you need to talk. Like ever. I'm here for you."
She sat there in silence until she heard Red's footsteps leaving. What could she possibly have done to deserve this? The first time she's told that someone will be there for her, and she has no choice but to reject it? No. She wouldn't allow that to happen. At the very least she was going to do everything she possibly could so that she could be there for the girl who in one short week showed her more affection and care than anyone had in her entire life.
Her resolved strengthened, she wiped her eyes, opened the door and, for the first time, knew exactly what to do.