Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
(6 Years Later)
The screeching of tires could be heard as Ruby parked her car. Hastily grabbing the four packages in the passenger seat, she exited her car and ran up to the apartment complex. Reaching the door, she immediately rang the bell labeled Wukong.
After a few moments of impatient waiting, a crackle came from the intercom as a feminine voice spoke up.
"Who is it?"
"Ruby!"
Once the buzzer rang, she continued running, ignoring the elevator for the sake of the stairs. Reaching the right floor in seconds, she bolted for the apartment she was looking for. The door was open and an amused cat-faunus was standing in the doorway.
"Sorry," Ruby panted as she reached her. "Sorry I'm late. There was traffic."
"Ruby, you're 10 minutes early."
"I know! I was gonna be here half an hour ago, but the damned traffic..."
Blake just giggled as she looked down at the packages Ruby had brought up. "I hope you didn't damage anything during your mad dash up here."
"No, no, everything's fine," Ruby replied as she held up the packages. "See?"
Blake gave her a confused look. "Four packages? You were only supposed to bring a cake and a present."
"Well, I thought I'd also get something nice for you and Sun. Banana bread for Sun and a fish pie for you."
Blake immediately took the packages and inhaled deeply. "I love you, Ruby."
Ruby felt a sting in her heart as she kept her happy mask. "So, can I come in?"
"Of course! She's already waiting for you."
The pain in Ruby's chest was instantly filled with genuine joy. As she walked in and Blake called out to someone, she could hear the sound of tiny feet rushing towards. Soon after, what looked like a tiny version of Blake came into sight and jumped into Ruby's arms.
"Aunt Ruby!"
"Hey! There's the birthday girl!" Ruby cheered as she held the little faunus up in front of her. "How does it feel to be five years old, Amber?"
"It feels great!" Amber Wukong, the one good thing to come out of Ruby's heartbreak. The little bundle of joy was the spitting image of her mother, from the black hair to the amber eyes to the little kitty ears twitching on top of her head.
"Gosh, five years old already. Seems like you were born just yesterday," Ruby said as she pressed the little girl to her chest. She then put her down and let her Amber guide her into the living room, which had been littered with birthday decorations.
Amber sat down on the couch, her little legs swinging back and forth as Ruby sat down next to her.
"You excited for your party?"
"Yes! It's gonna be so fun! Things are always great when everyone is here!" Amber bounced happily. "How long until they get here?"
"A few minutes, at least."
"So long?!" Amber grunted as she let herself fall back onto the couch. "I hate waiting!" After a few moments of staring at the ceiling, she zoomed up and beamed at Ruby. "Can you read me something?"
Ruby returned the smile. "Sure." She got up, grabbed the nearest book and sat down, Amber sitting on her lap and snuggling into her as she read.
After a few minutes, the doorbell rang and Sun came out of the kitchen to answer it. A short while afterwards, Weiss and Neptune walked in with their son.
"Hans!" Amber screamed in joy as she jumped up and ran over to the boy.
Hans Schnee was about the same age as Amber and, just like her, completely resembled his mother, with his short white hair and clear blue.
After exchanging greetings, the two kids ran off to play, leaving Neptune to chat with Sun while Weiss sat down to talk with Ruby.
One after another, more guests arrived. Yang showed up, giving everyone in the apartment a bone crushing hug. Then Jaune and Pyrrha arrived with their son Atlas, followed by Ren and Nora and a few of Amber's friends along with their parents.
Once all the expected guests had shown up, Sun had everyone stand around the dinner table, with Amber sitting at the head, and sing her Happy Birthday.
As they sang, Blake brought out the cake. It was a chocolate cake covered in chocolate frosting and on the top it said "Happy 5th Birthday Amber" in white chocolate chips. Five candles were burning on it as Blake set it down in front of Amber.
The beaming girl took a moment to make a wish, inhaled deeply and blew out all the candles in a single stroke. As the adults applauded, the kids were swarming her, asking her what she wished for.
"I can't tell you," she said, "or else it won't come true."
After they had eaten the cake, and it took all of Ruby's restraint to only eat a single piece of her delicious creation, they turned to the presents.
Amber happily tore through the many gifts, overjoyed at the sight of all the different new toys. But the gift she liked the most was the book Ruby had gotten her.
"Can you read it to me, Aunt Ruby?"
"Not now, sweetheart. You're friends are waiting for you."
"Okay. Will you read it to me tonight?"
"I'd love to. But I'm afraid I won't be able to stay as long as I usually do. I'm leaving on a business trip tomorrow, so I gotta go to bed early."
"Oh." Amber's disappointment was palpable.
"Don't worry, sweety. I'm sure your parents will be more than happy to read to you."
"But I like it when Aunt Ruby reads to me."
"Tell you what. When I get back, I'll come and read as much to you as you want, okay?" The little faunus beamed and bounced with joy and Ruby couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, now go back to your friends." The girl nodded and happily ran away.
As the afternoon passed into evening the party started thinning out, until only Yang and Ruby remained.
While Yang played with Amber, Ruby helped Blake clean up. "I really appreciate the help, Ruby."
"Ah, don't mention it. It's just a bit of paper."
"It's not just that. You really saved me with the cake. Things have been so busy lately, I just...I'm glad you're here."
Ruby paused. Something was going on. Something she couldn't quite see. "I'll always be here for you. And Amber."
"I know. Thank you."
"And we're done," Ruby said as she stuffed the last piece of wrapping paper into a garbage bag. "Yang, it's time!"
"Right," Yang replied as she walked up and picked a few garbage bags. "This was fun. I had a great time."
"So did I," Ruby said, before she felt something latch itself onto her.
Looking down, she saw Amber tightly hugging her legs. "Please, don't go," she sniffed.
"Aww," Ruby knelt down. "Don't worry Amber. I'll be back in two weeks."
"Things aren't as fun around here without you."
"Oh shush, I'm sure your parents are a heck of a lot more fun than me," Ruby said as she looked up at Blake, only for her to turn away. She then turned back to Amber, who was just looking at the ground.
"I'm gonna miss you."
Ruby hugged the little girl, who hugged her back as tightly as she could. "I'll miss you, too, sweety." With that, he got up. "See ya."
Amber just silently waved goodbye at her. After quickly waving back, Ruby turned around and left with Yang.
(**)
"Ah, that was a fun party," Yang exclaimed as she stretched herself. Now that they had tossed the bags into the dumpster, Ruby and Yang were headed for their cars. "Now it's off to pre-flight sleep for my little sis."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Ruby slumped. "I have to get up at 3 in the morning."
"Yeah, well, you chose a job that would have you travel a lot."
"Right." As they approached their cars, Ruby reached for her keys, only to wind up searching her entire. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"What's up?"
"I lost my keys. I must've dropped them. Gah, girl pockets are the worst. I gotta go back. I probably dropped them in the apartment. See ya, Yang."
"Later, Rubes."
(**)
After having had the good fortune of reaching the door as another resident was entering, Ruby was now entering the Wukong apartment.
"Well, maybe if you could keep a job for once I wouldn't have to bust my hump working at the diner just so we don't get thrown out of the apartment!" Blake's loud voice startled Ruby, causing her to halt in her movement. "And we wouldn't have to ask Ruby for the cake!"
"Of course! All I hear nowadays is "Ruby this" and "Ruby that"! You know what? If you love your precious Ruby so much, why don't you just marry her instead?"
"Maybe I should! At least she is able to provide for a family!"
That was it. Ruby had to stop this. But as she ran into the living room, she again froze in place. There was Amber, sitting on the couch, crying to herself.
As she heard Ruby enter, she looked up. Her eyes widened and, without saying a word, she jumped into Ruby's arms and cried into her shoulder.
After a while, she stopped crying and Ruby sat them down on the couch.
"They've been fighting a lot lately," Amber finally said. "It's why I didn't want you to leave. They don't get angry with you guys around."
"Oh, sweety. Why didn't you tell me?"
Amber just shook her head. "I...I wanted to pretend everything was fine. That we could all be happy together. Forever." There was a moment of silence. Well, whatever silence there could be with Sun and Blake arguing in the kitchen. Amber looked up into Ruby's eyes. "Ruby, could you please read me something. I don't wanna fall asleep to mommy and daddy fighting again. It gives me nightmares."
"Of course, sweetheart." Ruby picked Amber up, along with the book she'd gotten her, and carried her to her room.
After tucking Amber in, Ruby started to read. After a while, she was able to block out Sun and Blake's voices and, by the faint smile on Amber's face, she could tell she could as well.
After a good half hour of reading, Amber was sound asleep. Ruby closed the book, gave her a quick peck on the cheek and left the room.
It was then that she noticed the fighting had died down and, indeed, when she walked into the living room she saw Blake sitting on the couch.
The woman's amber eyes went wide when she saw Ruby walking up to her. "Ruby? What are you doing here?"
"I lost my keys. I came up here looking for them, but instead found Amber crying on the couch while you and Sun were fighting." She sat down across from Blake. "What's going on?" She looked around. "Where is Sun?"
"Heh, who knows. He got angry and stormed out like every night. I've no idea where he runs off to." She was rubbing her hands. "I used to love that about him, you know? He was so relaxed. So free. But now his care-free attitude has come back to bite us in the ass. The man can't keep a job, Ruby. Every job he gets, he quickly loses because he winds up breaking some rule or another. And I have to work double shifts at the diner just to pay the bills. You know I haven't read a single book in over a year. I haven't even had time to read to my daughter. And now she's crying herself to sleep." Blake let her head fall into her hands as she sobbed into her palms.
Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder. As Blake looked up, Ruby took her in her arms and let her cry on her shoulder.
"I can't take this anymore, Ruby," Blake sobbed. "I can't take it anymore."