Chapter 24:

After Ruby had omitted the disturbing fact about her childhood, Ruby and Weiss stayed at the dorms. Weiss was afraid to mention the funeral for the Darkness Plague victims, for fear of sending Ruby into another episode. Yang and Blake had decided to go to the funeral; since Yang had accepted some of what she had seen when she was 7. Ruby and Weiss stayed behind; Ruby hadn't accepted what she'd not only seen but also done to her parents. In fact Ruby hadn't done anything after admitting the fact that she had tortured her own parents at the age of 4.

Weiss was worried Ruby might not be in a good mental state. Weiss wanted to comfort Ruby, but she didn't know if she'd get the same response earlier. Ruby was staring at Weiss; they were both standing in the middle of the room. Blake and Yang had left for the funeral. Ruby's silver eyes gleamed in slight disbelief. Ruby turned around muttering, "I don't deserve you Weiss. I shouldn't be allowed to look at let alone touch something so beautiful."

Weiss stared at the back of Ruby's head in confusion. Did Ruby not love Weiss anymore? Weiss decided to remind Ruby the love she had for her. "Ruby I love you. Don't you get that? No matter what you did or what you do, and no matter how horrible or inexcusable it is. I will always love you." Weiss said.

"How?" Ruby said her voice hardened in disbelief. "I've kept this from everyone. I've never told a single soul about what I did. It would make me seem like I'm insane. I might as well be."

"You're not insane Ruby. You love me, I know you do." Weiss said.

"How could I not be insane? Weiss I enjoyed torturing my parents when I was 4 years old. I. Enjoyed. Torturing. My. Own. Parents." Ruby said drawing out each word for emphasis. "No person who can claim that can't be called sane, I deserve to be labeled insane."

"The only problem I see right now, is you gaining another title. You've already got one, why would one more matter? It wouldn't matter to me, to me; you will always be my Rose. I will always love you." Weiss said. Weiss pulled Ruby into a passionate kiss.

Blake stood next to Yang watching the strange funeral take place. The cat Faunus held the blonde's hand, trying to make sure Yang didn't brake down like before. Yang was just enjoying the contact and closeness with her girlfriend, since they were standing side by side.

The funeral was commemorating the 48 who had died due to the Darkness Plague. Both Yang and Blake were special guests at the funeral. The fact that they hadn't stopped the Darkness Plague before it claimed these lives, it earned them a lot of hateful looks. There were only a few acceptations, people who knew the other fact. The other fact was that the two girls did their best. They didn't succeed, but they had taken huge risk in trying to stop the Darkness Plague.

These few people had welcomed them back to Beacon with open arms. The funeral would only consume 6 hours. Classes would resume like normal the next day, but they would have a 5-minute period of general silence for the next 48 days, one for each of the people who had died.

After arriving at the funeral, having left Weiss behind to try and secure Ruby, the two girls had been greeted by Ozpin. The headmaster was sporting two new tattoos; he had shown them his right arm. On the bicep words were inscribed, Carry On. On the left arm's bicep words were inscribed; Love Better. How the Headmaster had gotten these two tattoos were unknown to both Blake and Yang.

The funeral took place in the main courtyard; it was the biggest open area at Beacon. The fountain had been turned off for the proceedings, just in case it doused the fires being lit. All the bodies were lined up in 4 rows of 12, and 12 columns of 4. A candle was placed at each end of each row. At the top and bottom of each of the columns another candle was placed. The 32 candles were used in commemorating the dead.

The candles were of the same height, 4'8" tall. The candles would be lit at the same time, that way they would all die down at the same time. The maximum amount of candles allowed at any Faunus funeral, or any funeral for that matter, was 32. This was due to a tradition of the fire funeral set long ago. When a person died in Vale, they were always burned at a fire funeral. Afterwards their ashes were made into diamonds. The Diamonds were made into a piece of jewelry, which would be given to the family member most closely related to those who had died.

The jewelry was used as a parting gift from the recently deceased to the still living. "Did you or Yang ever get diamonds from you mother and father's ashes?" Blake asked in a somber voice, the one she reserved for funerals.

"We did. Technically we shouldn't have because their bodies weren't burned under the normal circumstances of a funeral." Yang said.

"Did Ruby or you get the diamonds?" Blake asked.

"Since Ruby went through worse when compared to me, she got to pick the design. Ruby wanted as many to be made as possible. 4 of them could be made, since there was so much ash left over once her parents had stopped burning. Ruby had the four diamonds colored like different roses. She also had them shaped like roses, and strung into 4 necklaces. Ruby had 1 turned into a red Rose, her favorite. 1 was turned into a white rose, 1 was turned into a black rose, and the last one was turned into a yellow rose." Yang said.

Yang reached into her shirt and pulled out two rose shaped diamonds at the ends of black and yellow chain necklaces. At the end of the black chain sat a black diamond rose. At the end of the yellow chain sat a yellow diamond rose. "Oh Yang they're beautiful." Blake said in an awed tone.

"When the diamonds were initially made Ruby didn't have them made into necklaces, she just had the diamonds. The day after we first met each other; Ruby had each of the diamonds made into necklaces the same respective color as the jewel itself. She wanted to give them to you and Weiss, but didn't know how to breach the subject of torturing her own parents. After all, how do you tell your friends you enjoyed torturing your own parents?" Yang said, slipping the yellow diamond rose necklace over her head.

Blake slipped the black diamond rose necklace over her head as well. Blake would be more than happy to where the expensive piece of jewelry. It seemed the right thing for a friend to do, mourn a tragic event in one of their friend's lives.

Ruby returned the kiss desperately, wanting more of Weiss. Weiss was pushed down on the floor; Ruby was too impatient to get on the bed. Ruby nuzzled Weiss's neck, and kissed her lips. Ruby inserted her tongue into Weiss's mouth, scraping it along the top of Weiss's tongue. Weiss responded by tangling their tongues. The two girls moaned.

Weiss's hands slid down from Ruby's shoulders to her breasts. Weiss's hands rested there squeezing them while Weiss continued to kiss Ruby. Ruby moaned against Weiss's lips. Ruby pulled away once she arrived at a breaking point. Ruby pulled away so their lips were still an inch away from each other. "I want to do more. But I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Ruby said her voice deep and her breath labored both filled with unrestrained lust and desire.

"Blake and Yang shouldn't be back anytime soon. An besides, you can fuck me anywhere you want." Weiss said in a seductive tone.

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A/N: Consider this a warning. There will be sex next chapter, the kind found in chapter 10. Warning aside review, favorite, follow, and enjoy.