[6-A] A Happy Ending
Ruby tilted her head to the side, letting the morning sunlight warm her face. Her eyes fluttered shut as she savored it. The smell of fried egg wafted up from her plate, and all around her she could hear the clinking of silverware and the voices of people she loved. It felt like her head was full of honey, leaving her sleepy and content.
Eventually hunger pulled her out of the moment. "Can I have the salt?" She reached out towards the opposite end of the table. Her mom smiled and handed her the shaker.
"Thanks!"
"I already put some on," dad pointed out. "You should taste it first." Ruby stuck her tongue out at him and shook her hand vigorously. At least a teaspoon of salt cascaded down onto her plate. Yang, traitor that she was, started laughing.
"Hey! It's not funny!"
"I did warn you."
"Ugh, fine, but—Zwei! Stop that!" The whole family whipped around to stare through the doorway into the living room. Ruby grabbed her sister's plate and swapped it with her own just as everyone turned back. Across the table, Raven caught her eye and smirked.
Ruby took a huge bite of her sister's breakfast. "You know, this is actually pretty good!"
Yang stared at her incredulously. Then, shrugging, she stabbed a bit of egg with her fork.
"Whatever. To each her—ah!" Making a face like she'd just bitten into a lemon, she grabbed her napkin and spat it out.
"You did this, didn't you?!" she accused, slamming a fist into the table and pointing. Ruby snickered, shoved the rest of Yang's egg into her mouth, and bolted.
"Get back here!"
Ruby ducked under her sister's reaching arm and sprinted into the living room. Skidding to a stop in the hallway, she darted to the right—and slammed into something solid. A pair of strong hands lifted her up by the arms, and she felt her feet leave the ground.
"Watcha doin', squirt?" Uncle Qrow asked, smirking.
"Lemme go!" Ruby squirmed, kicking her legs and glancing fearfully behind her. Just as her uncle put her down, Yang came barreling around the corner.
"You poisoned me!"
Ruby eeped and ducked behind Qrow's legs. He glanced between the two of them and chuckled. "It's too early for this," he decided, taking a swig of the orange juice in his hand. She stared at the glass, transfixed. Something heavy slammed into her side.
"Gotcha!" Yang crowed. Ruby tried to wriggle out of her sister's grip as her knuckles pressed against her scalp.
"Ow, hey!" She lurched sideways and knocked them both over onto the carpet. They landed in a heap, breathless from laughter.
"Cute." Uncle Qrow prodded her with his foot. She slapped at it playfully. "Don't you rugrats have school to go to?"
"Oh, yeah!" Yang leaped to her feet. He made a shooing motion with his free hand and the pair of them took off toward the stairs.
On their way up, they passed Raven standing in the doorway with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. Yang tossed a "Hey, mom!" over her shoulder before climbing up to their room. Ruby paused for a moment, staring curiously at the book Raven held under her arm.
"Earth to Ruby." Raven snapped her fingers in front of her nose.
"Right, school!" Ruby charged toward the bathroom. She reached out, grabbed the handle, stepped over the threshold—and was yanked back.
"Dibs!" Yang called out, and slammed the door.
"You suck!"
Grumbling under her breath, Ruby ducked into their room to change clothes and shove books into her bag. By the time she'd done all that, and sat around doing nothing for ages, she finally heard the bathroom door open. She shouldered past Yang as she came out, ignoring her startled yelp. That was just karma.
Barely ten minutes later—you know, a normal amount of time to spend in the bathroom—she rushed headlong down the stairs and stopped at the front door, fidgeting quietly. There was a soft giggle from behind her. Ruby turned and found her mom sitting at the kitchen table, dangling her keys from one finger.
"You're early," she said, smiling.
"I would've been earlier if someone hadn't hogged the bathroom." Ruby shifted from foot to foot, swaying like her un—like she was drunk?
"Are you alright, honey?"
"'Course!" Ruby beamed. Her mother ruffled her hair and laughed.
"Good, you're all ready!" She looked up and saw that Raven was helping Yang into her jacket. It suddenly occurred to her that it was winter outside.
"Um...?"
"Right here, sweetheart." Summer handed Ruby her coat.
"Thanks, mom!"
"Good luck at the café," Raven added, giving Yang a little push. "I'll pick them up later, okay?"
"Sounds great!"
Summer opened the door, letting a strip of brilliant light fall across the kitchen floor. Ducking under her arm, Ruby was struck by the scent of roses. She froze, enraptured, until Yang almost knocked her over trying to follow her. Shrugging it off—mom always smelled like that—she stopped dawdling and ran outside.
"I hate everything," Yang announced, when they finally stepped through the front door again. Ruby groaned agreement and collapsed into the nearest chair. Tests were bad enough, oral exams were just evil.
"C'mon." Yang prodded her shoulder. "Let's go upstairs."
Hauling herself to her feet, she followed her sister into their room and flopped face-down on her bed. Yang burst out laughing. That got Ruby started too, and she ended up leaning her head on her sister's shoulder, struggling to catch her breath.
There was a knock on the door, and dad poked his head inside. "Are you two done with your homework yet?"
Yang grinned. "Nope! Just got back."
"Well, you'd better get on that."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Dad?" Ruby said.
"What's up?"
"Is mom home yet?"
"No, not yet."
"Oh. Okay!" The door clicked shut, and Yang turned to look at her curiously.
"What was that about?"
Ruby shrugged and looked at her lap. "I don't know. It's just that she's usually back by now."
"Not always. Remember last Friday?"
She did. Summer had gotten home almost two hours later than normal—apparently she'd been held up talking to an old friend. Sometimes she stopped to get groceries, or take a walk through the park. There wasn't anything weird about it. There wasn't.
Yang looked over at her, frowning. "I... I think we're having fish tacos. You like those, right?"
"They're okay," she said coyly.
"Okay, huh? Is that why you stole half of mine the last time dad made them?"
"Yang!" Her sister smirked until they both started laughing again—and Ruby was content.
They spent the next hour following dad's advice and doing some homework. It was hard to focus with Yang in the room—she kept shifting around, kicking her legs (and sometimes Ruby), and being super annoying. Still, she finished everything that was due tomorrow, and she even had a little time before dinner to do something else. She wasn't sure what yet. Bothering Uncle Qrow was always fun, and dad might need some help in the kitchen... but mom still wasn't home. Ruby knew this was normal, but that didn't stop her from pacing around the room, listening for the sound of the front door opening.
"You're making me dizzy," Yang said, when she was on her fourth lap.
"Ugh, sorry. I'm just antsy."
"She'll be here soon."
Ruby sighed and glanced at her sister. There was a strange look on her face, and even though she couldn't figure out what it meant it made it hard to feel very reassured. She went back to pacing.
Somewhere on the first floor, the front door opened and shut. Ruby bolted out of their room without bothering to check if Yang was following. Once she reached the front door, she skidded to a halt. Raven dropped her keys on the table and shucked off her jacket. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed Ruby staring.
"What's up?"
"Mom isn't back yet?" Ruby glanced at the door. Raven almost always got home late, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong.
"Sorry, kid." Raven patted her head. "I'm sure she's fine, but I'll shoot her a text if you want."
"Okay."
Ruby turned to go back upstairs, but just then Yang came up behind her. She frowned when she noticed her mom. "Summer still isn't here?"
"No," Raven said dryly. "Nice to see you, too, by the way." Yang flushed and stammered. Usually she took jokes like that more in stride, but Ruby couldn't really make fun of her for it—not when she was turning almost as red and flailing her arms in embarrassment.
"Are you two done with your homework yet?" They nodded, eager to change the subject.
"Then why don't you entertain yourselves for a bit? Tai's making dinner, and Summer will be back soon." Ruby grimaced. She'd almost started feeling better about that.
The pair of them trudged obediently back upstairs, but entertaining themselves wasn't easy. Ruby just couldn't focus, not even when Yang offered to read to her. She still didn't turn it down. She'd always loved curling up together with an old favorite, and now that they were both in middle school it happened a lot less often.
As the story went on, Ruby tried to relax. Yang was warm, the book was one of her all time favorites, and for once she hadn't even had to bug her into reading it. Everything was wonderful.
Except sometimes Yang would clench her jaw as she turned the pages, glancing at the clock and the door. Every time, it got harder to dismiss the feeling as being irrational. She tried closing her eyes and leaning her head on her sister's shoulder, but even then she could feel her breath hitch, like she'd just taken another peek at the time...
Ruby gave up. With a distressed whine, she threw her arms around Yang and buried her face in her shoulder. Her breath came in great shuddering gasps, and the book of fairy tales she'd loved since childhood slipped off the bed and landed on the floor with a thump.
"Hey," Yang murmured, wrapping her up in a tight hug. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know! It's just that mom's not back yet and I know I'm being dumb but—"
A hand carded through her hair, brushing it gently behind her ear. "You're not being dumb. I'm worried, too."
Ruby whimpered. It was a nice thought and all, but knowing she wasn't the only one freaking out wasn't even a little bit comforting. Yang tried rubbing her back, which felt amazing but didn't change the fact that things weren't okay.
"Raven—" Yang paused, and Ruby could feel her tense up. "Mom said she'd text her."
"Yeah, like half an hour ago!"
There was a long silence, after that. Yang didn't seem to know what to say, so she just kept stroking her hair. They stayed like that a while, because either they were both being really dumb in the exact same way, or something was wrong and this was going to be the last time they spent not knowing about it.
So Ruby shut her eyes and hoped desperately that Raven or dad or uncle Qrow wouldn't walk through that door, because if they did she just knew they would have that look on their face. The one that said, 'I'm about to shatter your life into a billion tiny pieces.' She must have seen that look before—she just couldn't remember when.
She was about to try talking to Yang again (because literally anything was better than her own brain right now) when she heard something. A light click somewhere downstairs. The sound of a door opening. She and Yang catapulted to their feet, leaping down the stairs four and five at a time.
There, with one hand on the doorknob and the other wrapped around her purse, stood Summer. All coherent thought shut down. Ruby launched herself into the air, latching onto her mother and squeezing as tightly as she could. Judging by the elbow jammed into her side and the way mom staggered, Yang had done the same.
"I love you too," Summer wheezed, dropping the bag and grabbing the doorframe to steady herself. She tried to look at her children through a faceful of hair. "Qrow didn't let you watch one of those movies again, did he?"
"Nope," Ruby replied, voice muffled by Summer's jacket. There was a zipper digging into her cheek.
Behind them, dad chuckled. "Let her breathe, girls." The arm around her back pulled away as Yang let go. Ruby didn't move.
"Sweetheart," Summer said, amused. "Can I at least take off my coat first?"
"No."
Dad started laughing again.
"Tai!" Summer whined. "Help me!"
"Why?" asked Raven dryly. "You look so comfortable."
There was a tug at the back of her shirt, and Ruby grumbled something. She wasn't sure what she was trying to say, but after a moment she let herself be coaxed back onto her own two feet.
"Where were you?" Yang demanded. A hand rested on Ruby's shoulder, and she leaned into the contact. It was steadying. Familiar.
"I'm so sorry!" Crouching down, Summer looked up at the two sisters and smiled. "I got caught up talking to an old friend, and then I realized I left my phone at the café..."
"Yeah, it's gone," Qrow said helpfully.
Her mother shot him a glare, before standing up and clapping her hands together. "Well, since we're all here... why don't we make some cookies?"
"Yes!" Ruby crowed. Summer reached down to ruffle her hair. Beside her, Yang started pulling ingredients out of the fridge.
"Are you three going to help?" her mom asked, glancing at the other adults.
Raven shook her head. "I'd just burn them."
"I think it'll be good for you three to have some time to yourselves," dad decided.
Uncle Qrow had already left to do... whatever it was he did when he was home.
"Well," Summer said, when they were alone in the kitchen. "I guess that means they don't want any..."
"Don't even think about it!" someone shouted—maybe Raven or Qrow, probably both at once.
Ruby giggled. It felt good to relax, after the tense afternoon. Judging by the way she was spinning a mixing bowl on her finger, Yang felt the same.
"Right!" Summer clapped her hands together. "Yang, you're on dry ingredients. Ruby, you mix up the eggs and the vanilla. I'll get started on the sugar and junk."
"Bonzai!" Yang whooped.
Ruby grabbed a pair of jumbo eggs (one in each hand; the temptation to juggle them was strong), and Yang slid her a measuring jug. She put down one of the eggs, then focused her attention on slamming the other one into the rim—gently, but not so gently that bits of shell flaked off. Sticking out her tongue in concentration, she lined up her shot... her hands kept shaking... she leaned on the counter to steady them... and... lunged!
The egg split nearly in half, and a bit of shell fell into the jug with a wet plop.
"Aw..." Ruby mumbled, poking at the goop and fishing it out.
This one, she thought, snatching up the other egg. This one is the one that'll actually break right!
The shaking was even worse now, probably because she'd messed up her first try. Her confidence was all fried, and she knew there was someone she should be asking for help right about now, someone with really steady hands. But she didn't like to bake?
Ruby tapped the measuring jug lightly with the egg. Carefully... carefully...
Her hand tensed, and the egg shattered. Slime dripped through her clenched fist, running down her wrist and making a tiny puddle on the floor. For a moment, Yang and Summer both stared. Then, they cracked up.
"Guys!" she said indignantly. "It's not funny!"
"I'm s-sorry, honey," her mom choked out, between muffled snickers. "Let's get you cleaned up." She took Ruby gently by the wrist. Her hands were unpleasantly clammy, probably from when she'd washed them earlier.
Ruby stuck her hands under the sink. The warm water was a shock compared to the temperature in the kitchen, and she winced as her fingers prickled. Behind her, Yang bent down to wipe the yolk off the floor.
I should've done that. She turned her hand over, watching as it reflected the fluorescent light overhead and turned a pale, sickly blue.
"Ruby?" Summer asked, pointing at the measuring jug. "There's another egg on the counter."
"Oh. Right."
She managed to get the egg into the bowl this time, and started mixing it up. Pouring a dash of vanilla into a spoon—more than a dash, actually, her hands were shaking so much that precise measurements were kinda hard—she tipped it into the yellow mush. It spread out like a fungus, turning the whole thing a swampy brown. Ruby usually loved the way it smelled, but it was suddenly so strong it made her want to retch.
Walking around the island, she watched Yang trying (very unsuccessfully) to measure out a tablespoon of salt with a teaspoon. Then she turned to Summer just in time to see her strolling out into the hall.
She followed, still holding the jug in one hand. It wasn't until her mother turned around and made a surprised noise that she realized she'd left the kitchen.
"Ruby! What are you doing out here?"
"Um... I wanted to ask you something?"
"Alright, sweetheart. I just need to use the bathroom first."
"Oh." Ruby ground her toe into the floor and stared at her socks. "Okay. I'll... be in the kitchen."
"Is everything alright?"
"Y-yeah!" Ruby tried to perk up. She was fine, she was! She just couldn't seem to make herself walk away.
"Tell your sister to stop using the same spoon for everything, will you?" Summer smiled conspiratorially. Ruby nodded, and her mother disappeared into the bathroom. The door shut with a very final-sounding click.
"Right..." she mumbled, forcing herself to turn around and trudge back to the kitchen. Yang was holding the spoon up to the light, tongue poking out as she stared down a small pile of salt.
"Does this look like three eighths to you?"
"Yang, mom says to stop being dumb and use the other spoons."
"I've got this! Less stuff to wash, right?"
Raising an eyebrow—a defense mechanism for when Yang was being really strange—Ruby glared at her. "Why are you really doing that?"
Yang deflated. "I can't find the tablespoon. Happy?"
"Okay..." Ruby really wasn't sure she wanted to know, but... "You know there are three teaspoons in a tablespoon, right?"
Her sister looked up from her unnecessarily arcane calculations and blinked. Twice. It made her look a bit like Zwei that time they'd tried to ask him for help with math homework.
"Aw come on, seriously?" Ruby groaned. "How much have you put in?"
"Four and... three fifths."
"Ugh, you are the worst sometimes!"
"It's not my fault, it's the stupid imperial system!"
"What?! Everyone uses teaspoons, it's like... universal!"
"Nuh-uh! Metric tablespoons are different."
Ruby stamped her foot, fuming. "Yang! Stop being such a... a troglodyte!"
Yang cocked her head. "What did you just call me?"
Her eyes went wide. "I'm so sorry! It's just... I mean, I... I don't know, I'm feeling kind of stressed right now and I really want some cookies and did you have to go overboard on salt of all things because—"
Yang made a timeout sign with her hands. "No, seriously." She scratched the back of her neck. "What did you call me?"
"Um... I think it means caveman?"
"Where'd you even learn that?" Yang asked, laughing.
"I don't remember..." Ruby frowned. "I guess it's not important."
Yang shot her an odd look, then shrugged. "Whatever. She looked up, forehead crinkling as she scrunched up her face. "Where's m—uh, where's Summer?"
"Boo."
Watching her sister jump almost a foot in the air would've been funnier if Ruby hadn't done the same thing. Summer leaned against the doorframe, wearing a satisfied smirk.
"Mom!" Ruby yelped. "You scared us!"
"Sorry, sweetheart. I couldn't resist."
Ruby sprinted over and glomped her. Summer staggered under the weight, letting out a low oof as she braced herself against the wall.
"You're getting stronger," she wheezed.
Ruby squeezed tighter, burying her head into Summer's shoulder and doing her best to lose herself in the faint scent of roses—but she could hardly smell it through all the dust and sweat, and the mound of salt in Yang's mixing bowl.
"Well, girls," Summer said, when she managed to extricate herself from Ruby's hug, "Let's finish up."
It only took a few minutes to get everything mixed up, though the little puffs of flour their stirring kicked up were a constant annoyance. Every time Ruby turned around it seemed like there was a new cloud of powder making her sneeze. The sensation niggled at her, like part of the title of a book she'd read a long time ago and mostly forgotten.
Once the cookies all ended up in the oven (which Ruby may have forgotten to preheat), she was quick to make her excuses and head upstairs. Yang followed right after her, and she realized there had probably been a weird look on her face that she was going to be interrogated about. When she finally made it to their room, her legs stopped cooperating and she faceplanted on the closest bed—which happened to be Yang's. She could feel the blanket pressing against her face, and it was sort of hard to breathe like that but it was so soft...
The bed creaked again, and a weight settled just above her head. "Hey," Yang said softly, resting a hand on her back. Ruby grumbled something into the mattress.
"I... have no idea what you just said."
"Neither do I," Ruby admitted.
"It's okay." Yang's weight shifted. "She's back now, right? She's fine."
"I know." Sitting up, she turned to face her sister. "It's just... I don't know, I keep feeling like..." she trailed off.
"Like?" Yang prompted, after a moment.
"I don't know, wrong! Like there's something weird or off, but I can't tell what it is!" Ruby opened one eye to peek at Yang's expression. For a moment she just sat there with her brow furrowed. Then...
"Thank god, I thought it was just me!"
"Wait, what?"
"I mean, something seems weird about..." Yang waved a hand, as if to indicate the universe in general. "I felt like I was losing my mind when—when Summer was late."
"What do we do, then?"
Yang frowned, obviously deep in thought. "We look around," she decided. "Maybe we can figure out what's causing it, and... I don't know, fix it?"
"...Okay."
She stood up, stretched, and looked around the room. "Where do we start?" she asked, with a strained grin.
Ruby sat on the bed, kicking her feet and screwing up her face in concentration, until an idea hit her. "You know how we used to play that game?"
"Game?"
"The one where one of us hides something, and the other one has to find it?"
"...Yes?"
"Well, the one hiding it would have to say if they were getting hot or cold, right? So if something seems wrong... we head toward it, because it's 'hot', right?"
Yang grinned. "Sure. Let's go!"
Nothing in the room seemed that off, so they decided to head out into the hall instead. Almost immediately, Ruby felt the back of her neck prickle.
"Warmer," she whispered.
They decided not to go downstairs—neither of them wanted to explain to dad why they were snooping around. At first it seemed as though they were going to come up empty, but then Ruby got to the end of the hallway and the odd feeling doubled. She glanced around, then tilted her head up. Just above her head was a trapdoor.
Yang noticed where she was looking. "It's coming from the attic? Why hello, every horror movie I've ever seen."
"Why would you say that?!" Ruby hissed. "Now there's gonna be an axe-murderer up there!"
"We should check it out."
Ruby ducked behind her sister and poked her once in the back. "Yeah," she agreed. "You go first, 'cause... you know, you're older."
"Thanks. If I get axe-murdered, I'm totally gonna haunt you."
Slowly, as if the pull-down cord might bite, Yang crept forward. Reached out. Tugged. And... slam!
They recoiled with twin yelps as the staircase slid down and hit the floor with a loud bang. Dad called out from downstairs. "Girls! Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Ruby squeaked. Cleared her throat. "Yeah! Yang knocked over a chair!"
Once the dust had settled—and there was a lot of it—they climbed into the attic. Ruby reached up and flicked the light switch. Flicked it again. Flipped it frantically back and forth.
Yang laughed, though there was a brittle edge to it. "That settles it, we're totally in a slasher movie. I'm gonna get a flashlight."
"I'll come with you!" Ruby said hurriedly, grabbing hold of her sister's arm.
A few minutes later, they were both armed—sort of—and the attic looked gross rather than terrifying. There were more spiders than Ruby was comfortable with, but it was monster-free. Then again, some of the dust bunnies might have been big enough to count. She sneezed.
"Okay." Yang whipped the beam of her flashlight around. "Colder... colder... ooh, warmer!" Ruby felt a little better—this whole situation was way too lame for a horror movie.
Or it was, until the light settled on an innocuous-looking old box. The second she looked at it alarm bells started going off in the pit of her stomach.
"Burning," she whispered.
Yang shoved a pile of old clothes off the box and dragged it into the middle of the room. Ruby's hand hovered over the lid, and she was reminded suddenly of the feeling of going to her locker in the winter. She'd take off her coat, get ready to hang it up... and she'd just know that she was about to get a static shock. She had to touch it, but the moment leading up to it—tensed, anxious, dreading the coming spark—was exactly like this.
"Just open it," Yang whispered. Ruby swallowed hard and pushed up the lid. And, inside...
"Photographs?" She lifted one out and pointed the flashlight at it. Uncle Qrow and Raven stood side by side, laughing. His hair was rumpled like he'd just been outside on a windy day, and she was holding a little bundle in her arms. A frizz of blonde hair poked out from inside it.
Dropping the photo, she dug around in the box for more. "They're all of our parents," she realized.
"I was expecting an alien or something." Yang grabbed one of the pictures. "This is cute, but kinda underwhelming."
She leaned in to see what her sister was looking at. It was Summer, leaning her chin on Ruby's head and smiling.
"I..." she began, then froze. She'd spotted another photograph near her foot, one of both her and Yang beaming at the camera. It looked like she was about ten in that picture... so why didn't she remember it being taken? And why was she wearing a cape? It seemed ridiculous, but something about it was so familiar.
Yang peered over her shoulder, then frowned. "Where'd you get that from?" she asked, pointing at the cape.
"I don't know."
She ran her thumb across the photograph's glossy surface and felt another stab of that weird, off-kilter feeling. One of Yang's arms was slung across her shoulders, and she was making a thumbs-up with the other. There was a bright yellow bracelet on her wrist she was sure her sister didn't own.
"We should go." Ruby looked up, startled. Yang's voice was shaky. She held a picture of herself when she was five, sitting in Raven's lap. Her grip was staring to crumple it.
"Huh? But we just got here!"
Yang lurched to her feet and shoved the photographs back into their box. "Come on. It's... we can look at them later. Tomorrow morning, maybe."
"Um... okay."
The box was returned to its rightful place, and the two of them went back to their room. Yang sat down heavily on her bed, looking pale.
"Are you alright?"
Yang rubbed at her forehead. "We shouldn't have gone up there."
"Okay. We'll stay down here now, if you want."
"It's not just that." Yang crossed her arms, hugging them against her stomach. "We need to stop."
Ruby cocked her head, confused.
"I mean..." Yang jerked her thumb at the ceiling. "We need to stop digging into this."
"Why? That was weird, right? I don't remember being in some of those, and that cape—"
Yang cringed. "Something bad is gonna happen," she insisted. "I can just tell, okay?"
Ruby nodded reluctantly. "Okay."
"No, seriously!" Yang poked her gently in the forehead. "I mean it. No more provoking that... whatever it is. We never talk about it again. Just... forget it. Agreed?"
"Girls?" Summer called from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready!"
Ruby locked eyes with Yang. "Agreed."