Welcome everyone. I hope you all had a good new year's day and that, like me, are all very disappointed that we all have to go back to work and school. I could have gone for another week of break.

Addressing the reviewer from the last chapter who commented on it being a slow chapter. Yeah that is going to happen. In fact unless you all think otherwise the majority of the chapters coming for a while are going to be slow fluffy chapters. It's all planned out and setting up for the main event though.

By the way just in case you all care or want it. Once I hit 100 Followers or 60 Favorites I will be writing a Smut chapter the next time it is appropriate story wise. Just in case you all cared that is. To preserve the T rating it will be fairly implicit, but we might make it to the chapter that causes the M rating before then so yeah.

In any case here we are. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter Six: The Morning After

Weiss woke up a little early that morning, greeted this morning not by the sun, but the warm embrace of the girl she had a crush on for the longest time. To think that the events of a single day could change her reaction to this situation so much.

She opted to just lay there and enjoy the feeling of joy this was giving her. So Weiss remained within Ruby's arms for a while. It was a gentle embrace; filled with an all-encompassing, infectious joy, which threatened to overtake every fiber of reason within Weiss mind. However all good things must come to an end, and as the sun began to loom over the horizon Weiss slipped out of the girls grasp. As much as she wished to wake up the girl lying in her bed she couldn't bring herself to disturb the adorable face she had going.

Weiss proceeded to go into her closet and change into something to wear. Her wardrobe was so vast that it was difficult to choose. Did she go for something cute, something practical, or perhaps something else? In the end she decided on a pair of white pants, a silk blouse, and a similarly white blazer with a light blue trim. Feeling satisfied she walked out of her room giving Ruby a quick look before going.

Walking through the hall she noticed just how few people were up yet. Her father's servants were the only ones moving through the halls. She felt uncomfortable, ever too aware of the looks they gave her, so she continued on. As she turned a corner she felt a pair of arms wrap around her midsection.

"You didn't think you could just slip away like that unnoticed did you?"

Turning her head she saw Ruby slouching and supporting herself on Weiss. The girl hadn't changed out of the dress she wore the night before and was evidently as tired as she had just sounded.

"I just thought you needed a little bit more sleep that's all. I didn't want to wake you up so soon before breakfast." This was mostly the truth. While Weiss was able to function properly this early in the morning; not everyone was capable of such a feat. More truthfully she didn't want to stay too long and be there if Ruby realized the night prior was a mistake. She was eternally grateful that it seemed that was not the case.

"But now that I'm up can we go get something to drink? I feel like I didn't drink anything last night." Ruby said this while casually yawning. Clearly she was still tired, so Weiss started walking towards the dining hall, half asleep Ruby following in a daze.

It wasn't long before they reached the table and her father's butler noticed her. He walked over slowly preparing to inquire to their wants. Weiss only frowned as she noticed the scowl he tried to hide.

"Good morning Ms. Schnee. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes there is. Could you get me some coffee, one cream and one sugar, and a second one for my friend here?"
"Absolutely." And with that he turned around and started walking away. That is until a certain girl piped up with a request.

"Actually could you bring me a glass of milk instead of coffee? I'm still a little too young to drink coffee." If Weiss was being honest she wasn't surprised in the slightest. The girl next to her had always shown an addiction to milk. In response the butler only nodded to her and began walking away again.

While they waited Weiss began discussing with Ruby the three legged race she had pitched for next Thursday. She was curious who Ruby had been thinking of nominating as their classes team. Giggling, Ruby stretched her arms behind her back, and then she turned to face Weiss and grabbed the white haired girls' hand.

"I was going to nominate you and me silly. Truthfully I was going to use it as an excuse to get closer with you. But I won't if you don't want to do it. I'd be happy spending time with you doing other stuff too." The red girl was blushing slightly as she said this, a wide smile plastered on her face, truly incorrigible Weiss decided.

"Well if you really want to do it, I suppose that just this once I can…. Overlook the ulterior motives behind it. But really, it would have been far easier, and significantly less Machiavellian to just ask me out and hope for the best. Although that is what you did in the end I suppose." Weiss shared a similar blush and smile as she said this. She decided that she was also completely, and truly incorrigible.

She also decided that she didn't care.

It was then as Ruby was doing a tired cheer that the butler came back with two mugs. After handing them to the girls he bowed and walked off to go wake her father. They both began drinking their respective mugs, unhappily Weiss noted that her coffee was iced, and she internally sighed deciding not to call attention to it. Surprisingly she heard Ruby sigh in the seat next to her.

"What's wrong Ruby?" She was confused, clearly something was bothering the girl but Weiss couldn't tell what to save her life at the moment.

"Tell me something Weiss. That was your dad's servant right?"

"Yes. Yes it was why?"

"So why do they hate you so much?" Weiss was taken aback. Nothing had been done to display animosity between Weiss and the butler so how did Ruby determine what was actually there?

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." It was a lie really, but she wanted Ruby to explain her reasoning before she responded properly.

"Weiss, it's a winter morning, I'm your friend, and my milk is cold. The only reason for someone to serve someone cold milk in winter is if you hate them. So why do they hate you?"

Weiss said nothing. She was suddenly very angry at the world. She had no problem if her father's staff hated her. That made sense, but for them to be rude and unkind to Ruby just for being Weiss' friend? No that…. That was unacceptable.

Unforgivable.

"I don't really know why they hate me. They just always have as far as I know." She struggled to keep the outrage in her heart from her voice as she replied.

"Well then," Ruby smiled as she looked back at Weiss. She quickly pecked Weiss' cheek leaving her blushing. "You got their names? I've been looking to add some names to Yang's hit list."

Weiss just sat there for a moment. She couldn't be entirely sure whether or not Ruby was joking, and truly she didn't want to find out. She decided to giggle to diffuse the situation, to which her friend starting giggling with her.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby glanced towards Weiss as she finished her coffee. It wasn't much cold but it was better than nothing, especially when the smile on Ruby's face was as much warmth as she needed.

"Did you really just think that Weiss?"

"Yes I did. What of it?"

"Just ask that girl out already. You're acting like a mess."

"Shut it me. I'll do as I please thank you."

"I don't know Ruby. I was thinking that we could go have lunch at that café next to the park. If you don't mind that is." Weiss' inner monologue was an absolute jerk. It never knew when to shut up and let her just do.

"Sure, that sounds great Weiss. I kind of meant, what do we do now. You know…. After what we did last night I wasn't exactly sure. But I suppose that is a good enough answer as is." Once more this morning Weiss found herself blushing. Impulsively she grabbed the raven haired girls hand, eliciting a surprised look on Ruby's face as she began to blush almost as red as her dress.

"Shut up you dolt. I would expect you to know me better than that by now." She was sincerely embarrassed and offended. Ruby should have known she could ask Weiss out after what happened. Unless….

"Ruby, are you aware that what we did was my… first time… doing that with someone…?" She leaned her head onto the other girls shoulder as she said this, trying desperately to avoid displaying her face as it glowed as red as Ruby's wardrobe. Then the girl next to Weiss just smiled.

"Me too Weiss, so I'm really glad that it was you. I also hope that it wasn't the last time either. So… after lunch can we go to the park and… you know…?"

"Yes." Weiss replied with speed she did not know she possessed and an urgency that she feared would make this weird. A thought she dismissed the moment Ruby's smile only grew brighter. They still shared a brief moment of all too not awkward silence while they stared into each other's eyes. "I-In any case… My father should be up soon. Let's go get you dressed in something presentable while your appetite works itself up." With that Ruby got up and followed her snow haired girlfriend up to her wardrobe.

Breakfast was too say the least, an utterly terrible, disaster. Weiss had gotten Ruby into a pair of her clothes that were bought the year prior. Most of it in fact had been chosen by Ruby, which Weiss realized why very quickly. Ruby had found a white corset in the back of the closet, paired with a white and blue skirt, white thigh high socks, and a pair of white boots the raven haired girl had managed to almost perfectly match her usual weekend outfit. She almost groaned until she looked at Ruby after she finished. Then she couldn't help but appreciate how good it looked on her. Weiss couldn't help but think how good she looked on her. Weiss couldn't help but follow that thought with something slightly less PG-13. With a mental slap she brought Ruby down to the dining hall once more to meet Weiss' family and their friends sitting at the table.

It went fine up to that point. But it was the moment that Weiss and Ruby sat down that everything fell apart. Apparently Blake had seen them together after they fell asleep, which would have been fine because Blake wasn't the kind of person to give them real hell over it. But no she had to go tell the blonde brute about it. This wouldn't have been unusual except for the embarrassing fact relayed to Ruby and Weiss that not only did the other two know before hand, but most of the school had been shipping them for months. What made it worse was her father's admission to seeing it the moment she met Ruby. She honestly just wanted to go and re-watch some anime to get over her embarrassment. But she would never get the peace to do that. In the end she just weathered the perfect storm of Winter's hateful teasing and Yang's playful jokes.

Finally eleven o'clock rolled around and Weiss and Ruby left for the café. It was a quaint place called, The Seasons Hearth, it prided itself on serving only the most quality of seasonal beverages and pastries. This meant that Weiss was likely to end up buying an entire plate of cookies for Ruby to devour. Such is life she supposed.

"Come on Weiss. Yang wasn't being that terrible. At least she had the decency to not give you the whole sister talk in your own home." Ruby was trying to insist while they drank their hot chocolate that Yang was going easy. This was something that Weiss wasn't sure if she was appreciative of or offended at. She didn't appreciate getting babied, least of all by her girlfriend's sister.

"I know it wasn't as bad as it could be but that doesn't change my stance here. I need to not be around her for a while. So we are going to spend time in the park without anyone else." She glanced over at her phone and saw the time tick over to noon. Then when she looked back up she saw something that nearly caused her to leap out of her skin. She saw the one who linked the four of them. So she grabbed Ruby's hand and ran out with her.

"What-Where are we going Weiss!"

"Just follow me. We're going to get some answers about these rings."

That was all Ruby needed to hear as she left a more than generous tip on the table. The lady who gave them the rings was nowhere to be seen after they exited and so they ran in the direction they saw her walking. Eventually they saw her round a corner and followed her. Then at the end of the alley she wasn't there anymore. Instead they heard angry growling, to which they turned to face the noise, and found that the source was three of those black wolf creatures. Suddenly the world became darker and other people disappeared, leaving only them and the… creatures in the alley.

"Myrtenaster!" Weiss called out her weapon and charged in to attack them. Ruby however just stood there feeling helpless. She had no fighting experience, no natural talent that she was aware of, and to top it off didn't know whether or not she could even activate her ring. Weiss glided into combat slashing at the offending wolves. Unfortunately the difference in numbers caused a strain on Weiss that was noticeable to even Ruby. She was getting overpowered by the three wolves.

Suddenly Weiss was attacked at her side, unable to block, and was knocked to the ground. Her rapier sitting about a foot away from her grasp leaving the girl helpless. Then the rest of the fight played out in Ruby's head. Weiss would end up gutted and then they would come after Ruby. She could care less if she died but she wasn't about to lose her girlfriend on only the morning after them getting together. Her silver eyes were suddenly filled with anger, and almost as if by fate, a pair of words; no a name entered her head.

"Crescent Rose!" a light red as roses, red as wrath, red as her love for Weiss bellowed forth from the ring as it enveloped and changed her clothes. They became their usual red and black, accompanied by a heavy metal object on her back. Not having time to think she let herself be enveloped and absorbed by the instinct flowing through her veins. She grabbed the object and let it unfurl partially and began firing it like a rifle at the black beasts. One of them had a hole blasted straight through its head before the other two began charging.

Now she let it unfurl completely, transforming into a scythe. She held it by her side and did a little hop, following this she fired the rifle component of the weapon to propel herself forward, after which she turned in the air to completely cleave half of one of the wolves body off of the other half. Eyeing the last one with the kind of malice only love can create she charged at it. Firing off the gun half she let it generate momentum spinning the bladed part around as she methodically chopped of its limbs before slicing its head clean off.

After demolishing her foes she dropped to her knees realizing only then just how tired that all made her. The creatures dissipated like they always did. The scythe and the changes to her clothes also dissipated, fading and flowing back into the ring. She looked over at Weiss and saw a look of shock and awe. A look followed by intense anger for reasons Ruby could not tell. Then she turned to look behind her and saw what made Weiss so angry. The lady who gave them their rings stood there with a grin.

"Well it took you long enough, although I suppose it's best that you did it for love rather than survival. Always stronger when emotions are involved. Hello Ruby, Weiss. Now do you think that you could get Blake and Yang here? We need to discuss what this all means for you four."

The woman who started this gave them a smile. She had been watching. She had almost let Weiss die. To say Ruby was angry was an understatement. She had read Romance novels before, the morning after was supposed to be peaceful and perfect. But because of this woman it was anything but peaceful. In that instance Ruby and Weiss shared the exact same thought.

"There will be hell to pay."

Alright then, so that was not at all how the chapter was going to go. Don't you all love it when the story spends the later three quarters telling the author what is going on?

In any case you guys remember my pseudo contest? That is getting wrapped up within the next two chapters. So anyone who wants to guess may go ahead and do that.

Also if anyone sees the reference I made to another story and can tell me which it is they will be granted their one true desire. The time limit for this is any time before my Valentine 's Day oneshot.

As always read, review, and live life well.

Topaz Smith