Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters.
AN: Holy shit, over 70 followers and 41 favs! You guys are seriously awesome. I want to thank the reviewers for fuelling my muse as well! I wrote down the plan for the next few chapters on my notebook, so hopefully i don't lose it. And fear not, Neo will be appearing in the next chapter!
On another note, did anybody see the last episode of RWBY? I am so fucking in love with coco right now. When i saw her, my mind was just like KABLAMO! And then this song, started playing in my head. 'Her name is coco and she is loco, i say oh no!'. If anybody guess which anime this is from, i'll give you a cookie.
And because of that, i'll be making this a Weiss x Coco fic. Muahahaha. I can't for the life of me, figure out how to use tumblr. I see so much art there that i get inspired easily, but for the fics, i think i'll stick to FF because i am clueless on how to freaking use sites like tumblr. Gosh.
Ruby bounced in her seat, the excitement getting the better of her. Weiss shot her a vapid glare when her own chair puffed up suddenly before turning to her partner and mouthed 'sit still you dolt'. Once the bouncing had more or less tapered off, the heiress nodded in satisfaction and turned her attention back to Professor Port.
Weiss was rather excited. Why you ask? Today was the day which the students were handed back their results from the many classes. She was confident that she would get an 'A' as usual. Call her you want, but getting the highest grade in the first class would no doubt set the tone for the rest of the day. Schnee's were the best, the crème de la crème so to speak. Although being part of team RWBY had softened her competitive nature somewhat, Weiss was still dead set upon being the best.
Professor Port finally arrived to the part all the students had been waiting for. Even Yang stopped doodling on her piece of scrap paper and perked up to listen.
"Alright students! I am happy to say that this semester's results were a vast improvement!"
He broke off and laughed jovially. Walking back to his desk, he retrieved a big stack of papers which everyone eyed in fear or trepidation.
"Many students scored well. However, only one may stand at the peak in exaltation as the best!" he declared soulfully and nearly flung the papers out of his hand. The students in the room nearly breathed a sigh of relief when his speech began to die down.
"The student who obtained the best grade for my class is…"
Weiss adjusted her Tiara and puffed her chest out pride fully. Secretivly glancing out of the corner of her eye at the previously top student, Pyrrha, she smirked to herself and was prepared to stand up when–
"…Miss Ruby Rose!"
Weiss nearly fell out of her seat. The girl beside her stood up cheerily and went down from her place to collect her paper, which had a big fat '98' stamped on the front. Ruby whistled happily as she sank back into her seat, eying her paper with a large smile on her face. The cookie-lover failed to notice however, that her partner was glaring at her with such intensity, that the students sitting in the other side of the room whimpered and shrunk back at the poisonous gaze.
Blake and Yang had to pick up their jaws from the ground, eyes widening at the fact that Ruby of all people was the top of the class. She was two years younger than them for dust's sake! Ruby never scored that well for her best class last semester. Usually, her scores were far below team RWBY's due to the fact that she had skipped two years of classes and did not have as much knowledge as they did.
Oblivious to their shocked gazes, Ruby whistled a jolly tune as the class was dismissed and headed for her next one. Yang saw her sister leave and turned to Blake. "We'll ask her about it later." She assured, knowing that the cat Faunus shared the next class with Ruby.
Blake nodded and grimaced when her girlfriend hiked her thumb backwards, pointing towards a rapidly reddening Weiss. Yang sighed. "I gotta do some damage control before she blows Beacon to bits." She said dryly and Blake shot her a sympathetic look.
When the heiress was mad, the sheer force of it would even make Ozpin cower a little.
"I. Cannot. Believe. This."
Weiss roared angrily as she paced up and down the room. Today had been an utter disaster. Actually, to say that it was a disaster would still be the understatement of the century. Not only did she not score the top marks for every subject, but Ruby – Ruby of all people had scored the highest marks for every single subject, barring the ones which the smaller girl excelled in such as combat classes.
Weiss didn't even have the luck to get second place. Pyrrha had gotten it, meaning that the heiress was pushed down to a measly third place. Third place! If her family caught wind of this, she would ship her back to the mansion herself!
Meanwhile, Yang sat on her bed coolly as she watched her teammate beginning to suffer from a mental breakdown. She would have loved to poked fun at the heiress now, but unfortunately, Yang could do without a rapier being shoved up her butt.
"Will you settle down, princess?" The blonde said and tried to calm the raging girl down. She inched away slightly when she received a dark glare in return. "Third place isn't really that bad!" Yang tried again. Weiss froze in her tracks. The room's temperature dropped suddenly as the heiress turned her anger on the blonde.
"Not that bad? Not that bad?!" She screeched. "Yang Xiao Long, so help me if you say one more word–"
Blake shoved the room door open, deciding that it was time to intervene before her girlfriend was slaughtered.
"Ruby's here!" the cat Faunus interrupted. Yang breathed a sigh of relief and shot her a thankful glance. Somehow, she felt as if she just escaped death by a hair's breath. 'Never again.' Yang shuddered and this time, moved herself even further from the heiress.
While Blake joined Yang on her bed, Weiss's attention was now focused on a confused looking Ruby who was standing at the doorway. "Get inside!" The heiress snapped. Her partner obliged and quickly stepped into the room.
Upon shutting the door with a loud bang, Weiss directed her glare towards Ruby and placed her hands on her hips in a show of intimidation.
"What. Did. You. Do?"
Weiss demanded, scowling angrily.
"What do you mean, what I did?"
"Don't play dumb with my Ruby rose!" She barked, causing said girl to wince at the shrillness of the voice.
"How did you top every single class?"
Ruby shrugged. "I studied."
"Obviously!" The heiress exploded. "How could you go from a B minus average, to an A? You even beat Pyrrha for dust sake!"
"I had a lot of time!" Ruby snapped, getting annoyed with her partner. What the hell did they want from her? The only reason she studied so hard was because her 'friends' never invited her along when they went out. There was only so much weapon improvements she could do before Crescent rose became too heavy to carry.
"Don't tell me…" Ruby's thoughts were interrupted when Weiss's tone turned accusatory. "You cheated off someone didn't you?" She said, her voice rising higher and higher. Yang felt her hackles rise up at that. This was going way too far. There was no way that a person like Ruby would cheat. Her sister couldn't even lie without breaking into sweats and apologizing after. Dust, she was practically the poster girl for innocence!
Blake must have had the same thoughts because she pushed herself off the bed and was beginning to move towards the arguing pair. "Weiss…that's going a little too far." The cat Faunus warned.
But it was too late. The damage had been done.
"Fuck you, Weiss!"
Ruby yelled angrily. She could feel tears beginning to build, but pushed them down in favour of setting her damned partner straight. Weiss went from stunned to enraged in two seconds flat. Blake and Yang were shaken up. Ruby never cursed. Heck, even they didn't curse! To hear something like that from their leader was…
"What did you–!"
"You heard what I said." Ruby answered in a much softer voice. Silver eyes gleaming with hurt and anger, Ruby met her teammate's respective gazes. They all cringed at what they saw.
"From the time we became a team, you never included me in anything. You guys and team JNPR always spend time together, but what about me?! I tried and I tried. Am I still not good enough for you?" Ruby continued, her voice cracking painfully. "We've barely even spoken for the past few months, and you…you still say I'm cheating?! Well I'm not okay! Every time you all went out to have fun, I was at the library! Studying until my fingers were numb because I wanted you to be proud!"
Team RWBY's expressions varied from horrified to guilty. Weiss felt the bite of guilt at the back of her throat when she saw how hurt Ruby was. Not just by her comment, but by all their actions from the past few months.
"Sis…" Yang began and stepped forward to embrace her, but was hurt when Ruby took a step back, burying herself into her red cloak. Silver eyes met lilac ones, and Yang recoiled at the votile emotions displayed plainly on them.
"You didn't even defend me, Yang." Ruby said, and the disappointed tone cut through her older sister's heart like a blade. "You too, Blake. It's not just about what Weiss said, but what you did. What you all did."
Ruby tore her gaze away from her team members. "I want to be alone. Don't look for me." She told them quietly and before any of them could react, disappeared in a flash of rose petals.
Line break
The headmaster of Beacon academy eyed the young girl before him. Although his face was blank, she could sense the undertone of pity behind his piercing gaze. Ruby couldn't meet his eyes, but instead focused her gaze on his dark oak desk.
He spoke first, breaking the silence.
"Ruby, are you sure that this is the best way?"
He paused.
"Everyone makes mistakes. I am not saying that you should forgive them right away, but is a move as drastic as this needed…?"
Ruby sighed. "I just need to be alone for some time, headmaster." She said softly. "I don't want to hurt them."
She looked up at him with pleading eyes.
"And I don't want them to hurt me."
Ozpin nodded slowly. "If you're sure. I have already contacted Jack Ironwood. He seems receptive of the idea. But make no mistake Ruby, allowing you to take a short break does not mean you are dropping out of Beacon." He addressed her sternly. "The only reason that you are allowed to do this, is because you have proven yourself worthy of the school's trust. Your marks have been impeccable this semester and even Miss Goodwitch had given her consent."
Ruby nodded stiffly. "I understand."
He sighed. "Very well. You will be allowed to stay with Jack Ironwood for the entirety of this short holiday, spanning three weeks." He finished and stood up from his seat. "I will inform team RWBY about this at a later date."
"Thank you, Headmaster. Thank you." Ruby said breathlessly before giving a short bow and leaving the room.
She didn't want to spend the three week long holiday in the empty dorm room again. Ruby was still hurt by what Weiss said, and although she knew that she would eventually forgive her –all of them– it would take time. Time and distance.
Hopefully, the next three weeks would allow all of them, including her, to cool down. But, in all dark clouds, there was a silver lining.
'Thank dust for this. At least I can work on the new weapon order without worrying about getting back on time.'