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Weiss didn't even bother trying to sleep—there was no way she could. This day had been exhausting, even before finding Ruby it had been a complete disaster. From that to chasing Ruby into that bakery to bringing her back here—healing her wounds and making her rest, Weiss felt drained.
Despite that, she couldn't stop her mind from racing. After she'd shown Ruby into the nearest guest room and made her promise for the twelfth time that she wouldn't run away, Weiss finally showered and put on her night clothes.
Only sleep never came, instead she was up and listening like a watch dog, just waiting to hear of Ruby might try something.
Seeing Ruby brought back so many emotions for Weiss, ones she'd forced herself to lock away a long time ago. When Beacon fell, Weiss had never felt so alone. Blake was there physically for a while, at least that first day on the airship out of Beacon, but something about her eyes and her demeanor had told Weiss that she was completely disconnected.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
She could still hear those desperate pleas from Blake to Yang when they were lying injured, as their school fell
Even without seeing her leave, even with hearing Blake promise to look after their friends, Weiss knew Blake had no intention of staying in Patch.
So many memories from that day haunted her. Watching Penny be torn apart on screen, hearing Jaune's voice on the scroll when he screamed about Pyrrha. Then she sent Ruby up to the top of the tower, alone, and could only watch as light filled the sky and Ruby screamed in agony
"Stop," Weiss chided herself as she brushed a few stray tears from her cheeks. It was stupid to cry about the past. She'd survived it, so had Ruby and no news had come of Blake's demise. Yang was…alive, even if she wasn't living as much as she could be. Weiss would tend to that soon.
For tonight, she would stay up, her ear to the door, making sure that Ruby didn't try anything foolish. Anything more foolish than the life she was living. Though tight lipped, Weiss could see that Ruby was barely surviving. She carried no supplies with her, just her weapon. Not a single change of clothes (Weiss had made her give over her outfit to be cleaned) and no scroll. Ruby had essentially erased herself from the world. Weiss just couldn't get the girl to tell her why.
The night rolled on and Weiss tapped at her computer, the glowing, translucent screen burning into her eyes. She had an endless line of work, putting a dent in it tonight would only make tomorrow easier, but the next day would be another folder of contracts and proposals for her to go over.
This was her future. This was the life that her father had planned out for her. It was just more confirmation that he really did hate her. It wasn't just something she saw in the way he looked at her or the way he spoke to her. He showed his hate through mundane work that he deemed more appropriate for her than the huntress life she'd fallen in love with.
Worse than that, Weiss was actually good at it. She could see negotiations and meetings like a battlefield. She had learned to read the expressions and body language of her enemies in combat training and it worked to her advantage in these much simpler scenarios. She'd closed more than a few big deals in the last year since her father finally let her take on more responsibility.
Weiss still remembered when she signed her first contract, to build a branch of the SDC in a small village on the outskirts of Haven. They'd celebrated, everyone congratulated her and she remembered her assistant telling her that she had a bright future and that the company would be in great hands.
She went home that night and cried herself to sleep at the tragedy of her life. Destined to spend it doing work she hated and being praised for it. Weiss wanted her freedom, she wanted to hunt and be with her team. She'd found a real family at Beacon—she'd found love.
Whoever said it was better to love and lose than to never love at all was an idiot.
Just as Weiss felt her eyes growing too heavy to hold up, a thump came from outside and the distinct sound of someone cursing…sort of.
"You…stinker!" Ruby hissed and Weiss burst from her chair to catch her friend in the act of running away. She was furious, it was well past one in the morning and Ruby was not sleeping at all like she should be. No, she was running away and Weiss was going to stop her.
She jumped out of her bedroom door, her nightgown sliding across the hard floor behind her. Rounding the doorway of the guest room, she peeked in and saw the empty bed. "Ruby!" Weiss shouted in fury, only to hear a squeak in the distance.
Her eyes moved over to the open balcony door and a pair of silver eyes were peeking in at her from outside.
Ruby was not running; in fact she was in no state to leave at all. Instead she was standing out on the balcony with the light of the broken moon glowing down on her, in nothing but a borrowed tank top and a pair of very short white shorts. They covered a good amount of Weiss' thighs but on the taller Ruby they barely covered anything. All Weiss could see was legs, toned and shapely legs that shimmered in the moonlight.
Nope, she's definitely not fifteen anymore.
She trailed her gaze up to the worried face staring back at her.
"Sorry," Ruby whispered despite the both of them clearly being awake. "I kicked the little table by the bed. Did I wake you?"
Weiss straightened her chin up, refusing to look at Ruby's nearly uncovered lower half. "No, I was up. I was working."
"Working?" Ruby frowned. "Weiss it's so late…why are you still working?"
Because it's all I have.
"I could ask you the same question. This is not doing your aura any good. You need rest, Ruby."
Her partner sighed and lowered her head. "I know, I just…have trouble sleeping." Weiss crossed her arms and leaned on the doorframe, making it clear that she was interested in hearing more. "I have a lot of nightmares and stuff." Ruby laughed at herself as she sat down on the bed. Weiss could see her shoulder muscles flex as she pushed herself up to rest her back against the headboard. She shifted awkwardly in her spot. "It's silly."
"I'm sure it's not…silly," Weiss said with her disdain of the world evident, which made Ruby laugh.
"Yes it is, I'm an adult now and a part of me still wishes I could climb in my big sister's bed and have her chase away all the monsters in my head."
Weiss smiled. "You love monsters." She gestured to the top of Ruby's head and watched her pull off the Grimm eyed sleeping mask she still had. Somehow she'd found a pocket to stuff that thing in.
Ruby stared at it with a smile and sat it aside. "These monsters are different." Ruby took a shaky breath. "More like ghosts."
Ah, Weiss suddenly knew exactly what was going on in her head. She pushed off the wall and moved to sit on bottom the large bed. There was enough distance and darkness that she couldn't be completely distracted by the annoyingly addictive physique of her not-so-small-anymore former teammate.
"You still think about them." It wasn't a question.
She watched Ruby tilt her head back against the wall and nod. "Every day. I can still hear Pyrrha gasping for breath as that arrow sits in her chest. I can see Penny…in pieces on the tournament floor. Even Torchwick and—" Ruby cut herself off before bouncing her head against the wall behind her. "I just wish they'd all leave me alone."
Weiss couldn't remember ever seeing Ruby this gloomy before. Just seeing Ruby cry earlier in the day was hard. It felt so wrong, like the sky suddenly turning green, it was unnatural. Ruby Rose was always a beacon of hope and a constant source of good. She fought through everything with an air of optimism, refused to let anything hold her down. It was how she won Weiss over, because no matter how hard Weiss tried to keep her at a distance, Ruby refused. She fought and fought until finally Weiss had no choice but to care.
It was that care, the compassion Ruby had earned, that made Weiss want to be here for her now. "I think we all still carry that day around with us." Knowing she was taking a risk, Weiss felt her chest constrict at the thought of how badly this next question might be received. She was rather enjoying this quiet moment. "Ruby, why are you running?"
Silence was returned to her for a long time after that. Though the silence was a much better result than the numerous times she'd had that question shut down all day.
Finally, after what felt like forever, Ruby spoke. "I'm being hunted."
"You…you're what?" It sounded surreal, but there was so much weight in Ruby's voice that Weiss knew she meant it.
"I don't know what it is, all black armor and sharp, scary features. It's been after me for a long time now. It's fast and…strong. I've fought it at least a dozen times, hit it with everything I have—Jaune too, and it just keeps coming. I have to run because it doesn't care where I am or…who's around. It will attack innocent people, I've seen it—" Ruby's voice caught in her throat and Weiss was frozen as she watched the horror flash across those silver eyes. "I'm supposed to be special, my Uncle Qrow told me that I was special, that I had eyes like my mom. Powers to be feared and yet I couldn't stop that…beast from killing innocent people just because I needed a place to sleep!"
"Power? What kind of power?"
Ruby shook her head. "I don't know. They were all so worried about keeping their secrets that nobody took the time to explain it to me. I did…something to Cinder on that tower and it was supposedly something really cool but I haven't been able to make it happen again and I don't know what it was."
A voice in the back of Weiss' head told her to go and hug Ruby, comfort her. If they were back at Beacon she would have. But something about this mansion, knowing her father had been here tainted that. She couldn't find the strength to move.
"So that's why you didn't want to stay. You think this…thing still coming for you."
"It is!" Ruby cried. "It never stops! I'm only safe if I keep going. I've fought it, sometimes I can slow it down but I never win. Jaune and I have…we fought it together and still we can't do anything. You hit it with your weapon and it stumbles, then comes at you again. No emotion, no pain, no hesitation. I made Jaune leave because he's not safe with me, nobody is safe with me! It's so scary, Weiss." Ruby was running out of breath, her hands digging into the sheets. "I'm so scared."
"You're safe here," Weiss assured as she found herself moving further up the bed.
Ruby shook her head, fresh tears springing in her eyes. "I'm not!" Her voice cracked and broke Weiss' heart. "I'm not safe, I'm never safe. Weiss I'm too dangerous, if you got hurt I couldn't—" when she started crying again, Weiss crawled towards her and pulled Ruby into her arms.
"You're exhausted," Weiss whispered as she ran her hand up and down Ruby's shivering back. "Ruby you are not okay."
A pair of hands reached around and clutched onto the material of her nightgown. The grip felt desperate, as if Ruby was searching for a life preserver to keep her from drowning. Weiss remained steady, letting Ruby cry. She was not used to this, not at all used to being the one people leaned on for support. Weiss had grown up in a home that didn't allow weakness. A display like this would have gotten her in trouble and punished. There was no weakness in the Schnee family.
If she were at all like her father, she'd tell Ruby to toughen up, sleep because she needed to and stop hiding.
Weiss had never been happier to be so different from that man. She couldn't imagine not being here for Ruby right now.
Eventually Weiss maneuvered them so she was the one with her back resting against the headboard. Ruby curled up beside her, head in Weiss' lap as Weiss ran her fingers through that long, red tipped hair.
Tears continued to fall but the sobs quieted down with each passing minute. Weiss couldn't help but wonder how long Ruby had been holding all that in. There was so much fear in her voice. Whatever it was that was…hunting her was clearly terrifying because there wasn't much in this world that scared her fearless leader.
Ruby shifted in Weiss' lap, suddenly on her back and staring up at her. The room was fairly dark save the glow of the moonlight through the balcony door.
Weiss couldn't help herself, she lifted her hand and began to gently trace her fingers across Ruby's face. They had shared a good amount of physical contact today and Weiss had decided that Ruby was surprisingly delicate. Her body was solid and muscular, her hands were rough and callused, but her face was soft…almost fragile. Weiss found herself moving with the utmost care. Her fingers dusted over Ruby's nose and cheeks, she closed her eyes to allow Weiss to brush over her eyelids carefully.
In comforting Ruby, Weiss learned something about herself. She enjoyed this—enjoyed giving contact to another person. Maybe not any person, but definitely this one. She'd never been this close to anyone before physically. Ruby was constantly stumbling into Weiss' personal space at Beacon, but this was different. It was intimate and private, a moment no one but them would ever know about.
When Ruby's eyes opened again, they were still filled with tears, but seemed to be in less pain. "I missed you." Ruby breathed as Weiss' thumb touched her jaw.
She felt herself smile. "I missed you too, dunce." Ruby grinned and Weiss considered that a victory.
"Are you okay?" The question caught Weiss of guard. She raised a brow in confusion and shook her head.
"I—I'm fine. I don't mind this."
"No," Ruby waved a hand in the air. "I mean…I feel selfish. I'm tired of talking about me. I want to know how you've been." She sniffled and brushed at her eyes. "You never liked talking about your family, you've been here for so long now. I worry about you."
Given how honest Ruby had been with her, Weiss couldn't resist opening up. "I hate it here," it felt good to say out loud. "I miss our home at Beacon. I miss Blake's books and Yang's snoring and your stupid bed swaying above me, terrifying me." She let out a sigh when she felt Ruby grab her hand. "I don't want this life, Ruby." She watched the conflict in Ruby's eyes, as if she were processing a thousand different thoughts. However, Weiss was met with only silence and a squeeze from the hand holding her own. A part of her had hoped Ruby would offer to take her with her. Even though Weiss knew she could never condone it, she kept waiting for Ruby to whisk her away. "I'm…okay though," she said to reassure Ruby, the girl had dealt with enough already. "I'll be okay; I can handle it. It's just been hard. My father thinks huntsmen and huntresses are things of the past—relics. Even more so after Beacon. He believes we have no power—that military, money and his dust are what will protect us. He doesn't know anything about Cinder or the things we saw. Just Grimm attacking the city and people like us failing to protect it. I can't tell him the whole truth because he would never believe me or worse, use it to take away even more of my freedom."
"What are you gonna do?" Ruby asked in a strained voice.
Weiss shrugged. "I don't know." The unknown terrified her—her future seemed so hopeless. As empty as the last five years had been.
"I don't want tomorrow to come."
Glancing down, Weiss saw that Ruby's eyes were closed as she spoke. She smiled before scooting down the bed so she could lay. When she did, Ruby didn't hesitate to crawl in alongside her and buried her face in Weiss' neck. More contact, so much of it new to Weiss and yet she was already addicted to it. She clutched onto Ruby's shoulders, holding her close.
"We still have some time."
Ruby finally fell asleep shortly after that.
When something rustled against her, Weiss woke with a start. She couldn't remember falling asleep but her senses were sharp enough to know that she needed to wake up before her bed partner.
However, when she studied the movement next to her, all she saw was a still sleeping Ruby trying turn away to lay on her other side. Reluctantly, Weiss let Ruby out of her grasp to finish rolling and gently pulled her arm out from under her.
The steady sounds of Ruby's breathing filled the room as Weiss rubbed the sleep from her eyes and thought back to the events of the night before. Even with the somber tone, it was one of the best nights of her life. When she woke up yesterday, she never could have imagined that she'd end up here, in bed with her…whatever Ruby was to her. It was just like Ruby though, to show up out of nowhere and turn Weiss' cold world upside down.
She had never felt so close to another person before. To feel so much trust and care radiating through the room, it was intoxicating. A part of her wanted to roll over and tuck Ruby back against her and just fall asleep for the rest of the day.
She couldn't though, she had too much work to do.
Weiss rose from the bed and went to close the balcony door that had been left open. From there she retreated to the door, only looking back once to make sure that Ruby was still fast asleep. In this state, Weiss could almost see the fifteen-year-old girl she'd met years ago.
Until her eyes trailed down to Ruby's uncovered legs and Weiss suddenly realized how awkward that thought was given how enticing those legs were.
What is wrong with you? Weiss berated herself before turning and leaving Ruby to rest.
After a quick shower and a request to her chef to make the most extravagant breakfast imaginable, Weiss found herself in her small office just across the hall from her bedroom. It wasn't a big space, but she didn't need it to be. It was mostly just a place for her to tuck away into the quiet and do work. She'd instructed the staff that nobody was allowed in here but her. Not because she was keeping secrets, but she needed at least one place that was hers alone. It was also the only room without a window, which was why her father let her keep it to herself.
There was nowhere for her to escape in here.
Quickly turning on her computer, Weiss immediately began searching the network for anything related to the black figure that Ruby had mentioned. Immediately she turned up results of attacks and encounters all over Remnant.
There was at least a dozen but Weiss clicked on the first and scanned the article.
No one could identify the assailant.
White Fang blamed for latest attack, black figure causes havoc in small village.
Family of four found dead in ravaged home, attack linked to 'Grimm like human' according to witnesses.
All Weiss could hear was Ruby's desperation of how nobody was safe around her. "Oh Ruby, what happened?" Weiss closed the window and turned off her monitor before fishing out her scroll to make a call.
It only rang once. "Miss Schnee?" The voice was timid, Weiss never called this early.
"Aurora, I need you to cancel all of my appointments today."
There was a slight hesitation. "I…uh…okay, Miss Schnee—of course. Even the conference call with your sister?"
Weiss bit her lip, Winter would be suspicious if she canceled, but that could be dealt with later. "Yes, tell her I will call her tomorrow on my private line. Also have someone from General Irowood's office contact me about his prosthetics and robotics. I have questions for them and might be looking to invest."
"Of course, is there anything else?"
"No, thank you Aurora. Once you've made all the appropriate calls feel free to head home. I won't be in the office today, no reason for you to sit around."
Despite seeming untouchable, Weiss knew that her young secretary had a crush on a boy who worked at a café a few blocks from the SDC, at least now she could go quietly stalk him all day as opposed to just on her lunch break.
"Thank you, Miss Schnee. Have a good day!"
Weiss returned the gesture in kind before hanging up and putting her scroll away. For as good of an ally as Winter had been when Weiss wanted to go to Beacon, that had shifted now with her father's sudden interest in the military. He wanted to build up the military, under the SDC banner, and use it to protect Remnant from future threats of the Grimm or White Fang or anyone who might threaten the safety of the world.
It was a good idea; Weiss just knew that they couldn't trust the man at the top of it. He only cared for himself, for his own rise to power and what better throne to sit on than the one who controlled those protecting everyone.
His idea future also had no place for people like Ruby. He thought huntsmen and huntresses were things of the past. Relics who chased ghosts and killed wolves in the forest for booze and sex.
Weiss made a mental note to never let her father meet Ruby's uncle.
At the first sounds of movement in the house, Weiss ducked out of her office and all but jogged back to the bedroom. She arrived just in time to see Ruby with her shirt lifted up as she scratched her stomach with heavy eyes and her hair a mess.
With the same greed Weiss had often accused her father of having, she looked Ruby up and down. It was indecent and selfish, but she'd never been so…drawn to anything before. It was such a strange feeling, because this was still Ruby, still the same girl she'd once seen pick a hair off a cookie before eating it and yet…Weiss just wanted to put her hands on every single inch of her.
Pull yourself together, Weiss Schnee! You are better than this!
When she finally reached Ruby's face, silver eyes were looking back at her.
"Morning." Ruby said with a thick voice. She was clearly still waking up.
Weiss smiled tightly. "You got some rest I see."
Ruby nodded slowly, Weiss knew she could probably use another twelve hours. "Most I've had in a while, thanks to you." Mercifully, Ruby stopped scratching her damn stomach and let her shirt fall back down. Ruby clearly had no boundaries with her body, and why should she? Weiss was her friend, her roommate. They'd shared the same bathroom, changed in the same vicinity of one another. The only difference now was that Weiss couldn't stop thinking about how nice it would be to wrap her legs—
You are pathetic, Weiss Schnee. Simply atrocious.
"So your outfit was cleaned and waiting for you this morning."
"Oh good!" Ruby smiled brightly. "Honestly your little shorts are really tight on my legs."
Weiss felt her eye twitch. "Yes…well…in any event. I refuse to let that be your one outfit. So…you're going to put your old clothes on, and we're going shopping."
"Uh," Ruby seemed confused. "Weiss I have one outfit for a reason, I used the last of my lien on the cookies that you threw in the trash!"
"No you dunce, I'm buying you clothes of course. You are going shopping with me which means you'll only be going to the best stores with the highest quality outfits and accessories."
Ruby frowned. "Weiss I can't ask you to do that."
"For starters, I do not remember you asking me anything. I'm fairly certain I told you what was going to happen. And before you get into the ethics of it all, as you always seem to do—In the time it took you to finish that sentence, the Schnee Dust Company made more money than the cost of your tuition to go to Beacon."
She saw her leader's face pale. "That's like a bajillion lien."
"Hardly," Weiss rolled her eyes with a smirk. "More like half a bajillion." When Ruby smiled back at her Weiss felt like she'd won the Vytal tournament. "Go change, we're already late."
Suddenly Ruby closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around Weiss' neck. "I won't let you spoil me, a few things because you're so insistent…and ridiculously rich."
Weiss laughed softly as she settled into the embrace. I'm pretty sure I'd do anything for you.
She managed to keep that one to herself.