A/N: Thank you tons for the responses everyone, special thanks to Andrea Amai and Guest, your reviews helped me out quite a bit. I'll explain more at the end of the chapter.
Edit: Changed a bit of the ending with this chapter, thank you 'You've got Fanfiction' for the notice. My beta had also told me the same thing, but I wasn't too sure at the time. It most definitely helps to see what you guys think, having more than one pair of eyes is always good.
Weiss' ice blue eyes looked into Ruby's stormy silver. She had never seen someone so concerned over her, not even from her own father, and yet this person who she had just met already cried over her wellbeing.
"B-but, I don't understand, I thought you were dead!"
Weiss' eyebrows shot up, looking over at the doctor standing at beside Ruby, who seemed perplexed. "No Miss, I said she didn't make it at first, but we were able to bring her back."
Ruby slowly walked towards Weiss' side, hand outstretched and trembling, tears threatening to fall pour once again. Gently, Weiss stuck out her left hand, meeting Ruby's and held on softly. Ruby collapsed, laying her head on the space beside Weiss', tears finally coming out, and choked out, "I'm so glad you're alive!"
Weiss sent a look to the doctor, silently telling him he could leave, and looked back at the crumpled heap before her. "Why in the world are you crying so much?"
Weiss flinched, having meant to sound more gentle, but her heart beat skyrocketed at the response. "Because you're my friend."
Ruby's head was up now, looking at Weiss, a massive goofy grin on her face. For what felt like the first time ever, Weiss smiled back, the weight of her title, her family, the expectations of those around her, for a moment was lifted. In that second, Weiss had one thought, everything else blanking out. I think… I think I like her. She saw Ruby eyeing her midsection, and nodded, knowing what Ruby wanted to do. Weiss was enveloped in a hug, head buried into Weiss' chest, while the heiress stroked the red-tipped hair softly.
An hour passed, Ruby eventually letting go, small talk consuming the time for the most part. The doctor came back, telling them he needed to do one last check up on Weiss. Ruby waited at first patiently, but was soon bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation of the answer.
"I'm sorry Lady Schnee, but you'll have to rest here for a week longer, the wounds weren't necessarily fatal themselves, as the blood loss was, so it shouldn't take too long to recover. We'll have someone come in intervals to give you food that'll help speed up the process, until then simply rest in the bed."
Weiss nodded and the doctor walked out, leaving the two alone. She had no doubt that soon word would get to her father, anxiousness overtaking her at the thought of the berating she would receive. Weiss could only hope she would simply be called a failure, but if luck decided to be angry with her, she'd probably never be allowed on another mission again. A random thought struck Weiss.
"So…" Weiss hesitated, "what are you going to do now?"
Ruby looked up at Weiss in surprise, only one response coming to mind. "Huh?"
Weiss looked down at her fidgeting hands, trying her best to hide the blush. "W-well, you helped me get past the wall, so there's nothing keeping you around anymore. If you want to go back outside of the wall, you can."
"What if I don't want to?"
"What do you mean?" Weiss' voice was shaking now, and she silently cursed herself for appearing so weak.
"You're my friend, right?" Hopeful silver eyes gazed back at hers.
Weiss closed her eyes, before reopening them and nodding firmly. "Yes, yes I am, and you're my friend too."
Ruby smiled. "Then shouldn't friends stick with friends?"
Weiss' heart caught in her throat. "I-I still don't understand."
Ruby looked towards the ground in front of her, eyes taking on a darker tone, which concerned Weiss heavily, having ever seen the young girl anything but energetically happy, aside from when she thought Weiss was dead. "Weiss, I've been to a lot of dark places, seen a lot of dark things, that's why I went out to live in the forest." Ruby sighed. "I couldn't take seeing all of that, so I left to a place where I could try and erase that darkness, the grimm."
Ruby quickly continued, stopping Weiss before she could speak. "But you showed me a something I haven't seen in a long time. Light. You're a truly good person Weiss, and I wouldn't have anyone else take your place."
Weiss shook her head, smiling tearily. "Y-you dunce, a heiress isn't allowed to c-cry."
Ruby hugged Weiss again. "You're not a heiress to me Weiss." Ruby pulled back, looking into Weiss' eyes. "You're my friend."
Ruby stood up, walking over to the doorway leading into the room and paused, angling her head to smile at Weiss.
"You rest up Weiss, I'll hang outside and wait for you."
Weiss smiled back at Ruby. "Thank you Ruby… for everything."
Ruby nodded, leaving Weiss alone in the room.
Weiss began to think about her feelings, happiness coursing throughout her. She had tried her best to hide her sexuality, her father having severely verbally abused her when he had found out. The memory had traumatized her young self, every time she thought about another female the way she thought about Ruby, her father's face would appear. But it was different. No faces appeared, no lingering words, only Ruby's smiling face, one that promised hope and peace.
Weiss looked down at her open hands grimly. Ever since she began to think for herself instead of letting her father do it, she had striven to stay away from the mentality that her father had tried to impose. Weiss couldn't let Ruby go, fearing that if she did, the chance for redemption would never come again, the chance to bring back the glory her family once held, gone forever.
Another realization struck Weiss. They barely knew anything about each other. Clearly, they were going to have to take a break from getting Weiss to Atlas. Even if it meant spending months to get to know each other, Weiss was going to try her hardest to show she truly cares for Ruby, considering how much the other had done for her, despite her frosty attitude. She's already saved me twice, I owe her at least this much.
A/N: To give a bit of reasoning behind the AN on the previous chapter, I know that I myself have a preference for chapters that are around 1k-5k words, so I myself have been aiming for that. It's good to see I'm not the only one.
As for the Bumblebee part, I actually agree with the whole part of some authors putting it in just because, which annoys me as well. While I was writing out the seventh chapter, I was wondering if maybe I should put a bit more focus on them later on, but your reviews helped me realize that will take away from the main focus of the story, which is White Rose. To put it in simpler terms, it means I won't have random chapters dedicated to Bumblebee unless they're to advance the plot in some way, the story will almost always be focused on events happening with Ruby or Weiss.
