Disclaimer: I don't own it. Not one bit. I'm the crazy fan who buys the merch and writes... these... things...
Road to the End
By: athrunzala
09: Hiding Out
Things were steadily getting better in terms of Jaune and Ruby's friendship, which had Weiss sitting slightly on the edge of her seat. When her former partner wasn't hanging out in the training room, or being absconded with by her older sister to assist with some project that Winter seemed keen on keeping the younger Schnee in the dark about, she was spending time talking with the scraggly blonde about the goings on in the world.
Every now and again, she would get a message from Oobleck or Port, and she'd get everybody together, with Jaune staying focused longer than the others, which, while being a nice change, meant that the heiress was now on the fence. In her head she continually tried to rationalize it. There was no way that Jaune could have feelings for Ruby... was there?
The uncertainty plagued her until the one day that she confronted him about it.
"What? Me? No offense, Weiss, but I..." he rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at the floor. "... I'm not looking for a relationship of any kind outside of a friend. It just..."
He extended his hand and placed it on her shoulder. If it had been back at Beacon, she would have rebuffed the touch, telling him to take his hand off of her. If it had been any different and... Her eyes widened as she realized what she had done.
"Jaune... I... I..."
"Not your fault, Weiss. I just... I'm gonna go take a walk."
The blonde slowly turned and left, heading down the corridor, his footsteps echoing off the exposed wood base work. She exhaled heavily and she turned the other direction, heading back towards her room.
Upon her arrival, she sent Ruby a quick message on her scroll, letting her know to come to her room when she had a moment.
Down on the main floor, Winter, Ruby, and Qrow were having a discussion.
"I mean it, Qrow. You have to be the one to do this."
"Yeah... you're probably right. But I still don't think that..."
"Uncle Qrow?"
The older male looked down at his niece.
"Wassup?"
"Please. Go get Yang. But I need you to stop in Vale first."
"What for?"
"I'm with Qrow on this one, Ruby Rose. Why stop there first?"
"I need him to meet with someone who can help him out. Besides, I know for a fact that his favorite bar is near the port where he can catch a boat to Patch. And he..."
The young human's ranting was cut off as her scroll vibrated.
"Take it, kiddo. I'll make the delivery. On one condition," Qrow then turned to face the older of the Schnee sisters. "You keep my niece safe, you got that?"
Winter walked over to him, her face set with a mix of anger and respect.
"You got it."
She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "And you be safe, too, okay?"
Qrow smirked. "When am I not?"
Both returned their attention to Ruby.
"I'm heading out, kiddo. You stay safe, you hear me?"
"Will do, Uncle Qrow. Tell Yang I'm doing okay and we all say hi!"
The older scythe user nodded. "Send me the details of my contact. I'll meet up with them."
"Uncle Qrow, you already know who it is."
"If it is who I think it is, Yang won't be too happy."
"Trust me, I know her. Yang will want to talk to them."
Sighing, the older human turned and walked away, heading out of the door. As it shut, Ruby's determined position shrank a little.
"Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine. Weiss just wants to talk."
Winter smiled softly, which took Ruby slightly by surprise. "Well? Go on then."
"Are you sure?"
"My sister may be stubborn, but when she wants to talk, it is best to hear her out."
Nodding, the younger female headed towards the stairs, which she then took up to the second level, where Weiss' room was located.
"And please be honest with yourself. I know it took us too long."
Out in the garden, Nora and Ren were taking a walk. Which was more along the lines of Ren moving at a leisurely pace, while the shorter girl bounced along beside him, chatting his ear off.
"Nora?"
"Yes, Ren?"
"Can you, for just a moment, be a little quieter?"
"Uh-huh..." The orange-haired girl was slightly dejected at this.
Ren wasn't above noticing the change, and took the shorter human's hand in his.
"Ren?"
"Hmm?"
"Where... are we going?"
"To this spot Weiss mentioned. She thought you might like it."
"Oh."
The two continued walking until they reached the area Ren had been told about. And it was then that Nora saw it. Stretching out as far as the eye could see was a vast field, the flowers fighting against the snow that seemed to be trying to creep down from the mountains into the mansion grounds. Her jaw fell open as she took it all in.
"Its..."
"Nora?"
"Its..."
"Nora?"
"Its..."
Fearing that he had broken his partner, the marital artist did something extremely out of character for him. He whipped around in front of the shorter woman and kissed her.
"Meep."
"You okay now?" he asked, backing away from the stunned Queen of the Banhammer.
"Did you just... kiss me?"
"Yes I did."
Nora looked at the ground for a moment, trying to hide her face from him. She hadn't expected this reaction out of him, much less when she wasn't sure if he actually felt anything towards her.
"How long?"
"Uh... what?"
"How long, Ren? How long have you wanted to do that?"
"Been thinking about it for a while now. Why?"
"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!?" She shouted, jumping at him, causing them to fall into the field, where they stayed for a few hours.
Back in the mansion, Ruby had arrived at Weiss' room, and had raised her hand to knock.
"It's open. You can just come in."
"Weiss? Are you... okay?" Ruby asked as she slowly entered the room.
The heiress perked up slightly at the inquiry, then went back to her mopey position.
"I don't know. I may have hurt Jaune... All by asking... by asking..."
"By asking what?"
"I asked him how he felt about you."
Ruby took a moment to process the information in her head, not wanting to screw up in any way, before walking across the room.
"Weiss, you and I both know that I don't see him that way."
"Still... You just..."
"We have a lot to talk about. Can... I sit down?"
"Sure." The heiress patted the bed next to her. "Please?"
The younger girl sat down, right where her former partner had indicated, feeling that there was a reason for it.
"So, you see," she started, "After the whole thing with Cinder, I told Jaune..."
"That's just it, Ruby. You couldn't have told him."
"How?"
"Ruby... after you... when you went up the tower... you were found unconscious by your uncle."
~~Roughly one year earlier~~
"Jaune..."
Nora reached out her hand towards her friend, the blonde being slumped on the ground.
"Kid, I'm sorry..."
The blonde male shook his head and brought his hand up to his head, wiping away the tears from his blue eyes. He then looked up at Qrow, his expression still full of pain and loss.
"It... It's not your fault. It's mine."
"Jaune..."
"No, Nora. I... I wasn't strong enough. I should have stopped her! Don't you get that!?"
"Jaune," Ren interjected, stepping between the two teens, "Qrow is only here to help. Ruby did what she could, and so did you. Pyrrha... she..."
"Ren, I know. I just..."
The blonde was silenced when Nora, who had managed to zip around Ren, pulled him into a hug.
"We all miss her."
"That's just it, Nora. She... And I... Oh god I was so stupid!"
"Come on, Jaune. Let's get you out of here."
The trio then headed off to the safe zone, where airships were waiting to take the survivors to where they needed to go.
~~Present Day~~
"And that's what happened."
"Then why did he... push me away before?"
"I wish I knew. And then I made him go back... All by asking one stupid question. Ruby I... I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what, Weiss?"
"I can't tell you right now, but I... Give me some time, okay?"
Ruby looked over at the heiress, and saw tears starting to from in her eyes. So she took the one action she remembered Yang taking when she had been sad as a child: She pulled the younger Schnee sister towards her and held on to her.
As she did this, her mind started to wander again. Had Weiss always been this insecure? When did she start crying? And was she... alseep?
Sure enough, when the younger girl looked down, there was her friend, her partner, asleep, clutching onto Ruby's arm in much the same fashion as an infant would clutch their parent's limb.
"Weiss, I need to stand up."
"Stay... here... please?"
Obliging, Ruby scooted them both onto the bed and just stayed by her. Outside of the door, Winter was smiling slightly. It wasn't exactly how she thought that Weiss would start to open up, but it was still just that: A start.