This right here is one of the fan-favorite pairings and is always in a deadlock for second place with ladybug as my second favorite pairing, so I've seriously been looking forward to this one.
-beep, beep, beep-
Ruby groaned softly as the alarm on Weiss' scroll continued to go off. Why this woman needed to have 3 alarms to get up baffled her to no end. "Weiss…can you please turn that off already?" She muttered down at the girl below her bunk. Weiss rolled her eyes and switched it off, standing up. "Why are you up so early? It's an off-day," Ruby mumbled sleepily.
"Unlike you, I don't want to waste time and sleep in on my days off you dolt," she said, but with a smile. The nickname had long since stopped being an insult between the two partners; though 'Ice Queen' still got under her skin from time to time if anyone other than Ruby said it. Weiss had to bite back a laugh when Ruby stuck her tongue out.
"Your just crabby because you study too much. Let's go have some fun today. Y'know…just uh..me and you?" She said nervously.
"And what, pray tell, would this 'fun' involve, Ruby?" She asked grabbing her clothes and getting ready to go change. Ruby racked her still-groggy mind but found nothing. Well nothing Weiss would consider fun anyways. Taking her silence as the answer, Weiss went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Ruby huffed underneath her breath and stared up at the ceiling.
"Real smooth Ruby..next time why not just tape a big 'im desperate' sign on top of your forehead?" She scolded herself. Really, she was more angry at the fact she couldn't think of a convincing activity than Weiss apparently not being all that interested. She glanced over and saw Yang and Blake still quietly sleeping, Yang's arm wrapped around Blake's waist tightly. She smiled at the content look on their faces; "at least someone has things figured out," she said softly. She decided to roll over and try to sleep, at least a little longer.
Weiss emerged from the bathroom about ten minutes later, finishing the work of tying her hair back. She grabbed a few of her class books and was about to head out when she noticed Ruby sleeping. 'She really does look cute when shes asleep..' The thought made her cheeks flush a bit. "Where in the world did that come from..?" She muttered. Ruby stirred a bit, so Weiss quietly slipped out. The whole way to the library though, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She'd been having thoughts like that off and on for the last couple of months. At first she brushed it off but..it was happening a lot more frequently now. Maybe she should talk to someone about this..who though? She didn't trust Yang not to immediately run to Ruby and blab everything, and Blake well..she tells Yang everything now that their together so even she's no good for keeping secrets these days. She sighed heavily and pushed the thoughts away for the time being. Plenty of time for all that after she got some studying done.
-Dorm-
Weiss had been gone about half an hour when Ruby suddenly bolted upright, a sharp, stabbing pain sending a jolt up her spine and throughout her body. She winced and clapped a hand on her right side which was the epicenter of the pain. "D-Damn it…not again.." She whimpered. She tried to carefully lower herself down but another wave washed over her and she fell hard, which made her cry out. The sound caused Blake and Yang to slowly be woken from their sleep. Ruby stood shakily and hurried into the bathroom, closing it louder than she intended.
"Rube? You alright in there?" Yang asked sleepily as she stretched.
"Y-yeah! I'm..I'm alright!" She called back, trying to keep her breathing even as she hunched over the sink.
"Well…that's good then. I heard you kinda scream," Blake said
"Perfectly fine, Blake. Just..kinda rolled off the bed. Hurts a LOT worse than I remembered," she chuckled, hearing the two of them do the same.
"Well hell, Blake its already seven. No point going back to bed now," Yang said.
"Agreed. We should probably go ahead and get some breakfast. Ruby, will you be joining us?"
"N-Nah. I uh..I'm not too hungry right now. You guys go on though." Ruby said, the pain ebbing away slowly so talking with a steady voice wasn't quite such a chore now.
"Ruby you know I don't like when you skip meals," Yang warned. "What's gotten into you lately?"
"Nothing sis. Ill eat extra at lunch today to make up for it, Okay? I promise," she said. After a moment Yang let out a sigh and the two of them quickly changed and left. Ruby slowly rolled her night shirt up, revealing the three jagged lines that had scabbed over and swollen up, turning the skin around the wound a red that stuck out strikingly against Ruby's pale skin. "Damn Grimm…" She muttered darkly, waiting until the nausea passed before leaving the bathroom to lay back down
-later that day-
By the time she had finished to where she felt somewhat secure in being prepared for their upcoming test, Weiss had already missed her chance for breakfast so she settled for an early lunch. Walking into the big cafeteria she grabbed a tray and walked over to where Ruby was listening to one of Nora's stories again.
"And then, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by dozens of Beowolves!" The orange haired girl said excitedly.
"Actually, it was about three or four," Ren said, not bothering to look up from his book.
"Must you always kill the mood of my stories?" Nora whined.
"Must your stories always be turned into some type of tall tale?" He countered, making Weiss and Ruby both chuckle at the two members of JNPR and their usual routine.
"Hey, where are Jaune and Pyrrha?" Weiss asked, glancing around.
"I believe Jaune mentioned taking her into town for the day. Its their anniversary tommorow but with the test being the same day, I doubt they'd feel like going anywhere," Ren said
"Yep! So lover boy took her out a day early!" Nora grinned. Weiss made a mental note to see how much coffee drank every morning, because she got tired just listening to her energy level. "What about you, Ruby? Got any plans?"
"Well..not really no. Was just going to relax around the campus, I guess," she said softly. Weiss bit her lip as she shifted in her seat. She sounded pretty upset..
"Ruby-"
"Would Ruby Rose please report to Headmaster Ozpins office immediately. Thank you."
"Fantastic…" Ruby mumbled softly as she stood, wincing as she held her side.
"Ruby? What's wrong?" Weiss asked, a bit of concern flashing over her face
"Huh? Oh, don't worry about this..must have tweaked a muscle or something," she smiled a bit before hurrying off as quick as she could.
"She was also clearly in pain when she sat down here," Ren said once Ruby was out of earshot.
"Should I be worried?" Weiss asked
"I am uncertain right now. It could be as she says and she just pulled something. Heaven knows I've done that often thanks to Nora's workouts," He said, chuckling softly at the offended look Nora gave him. "Perhaps something happened on the mission she went on last week."
"Now that you mention it ..she has been acting weird ever since she came back from that," Weiss nodded slowly.
"I wouldn't worry about it! Ruby is great at bouncing back," Nora said. Weiss smiled a bit and went back to eating but couldn't help but worry regardless. "Weiss? You….look like somethings on your mind."
"Oh? I…Im just.." She sighed softly, sitting her fork down. "I'm just thinking about Ruby. And not just wether or not she's hurt just..in general. I think about her more and more lately."
"Awwwww," Nora said with a grin that made Weiss look down, face reddening. Ren nudged her And cleared his throat to make her look back up.
"If it's any consolation…Ruby often talks about you, so I can guess that she often thinks about you as well," he said.
"R-Really?"
"Oh yeah, every other word out of her mouth sometimes is involving you somehow," Nora giggled.
"It's not our place to tell you what to do, but…perhaps you should talk to her about this. See where you both are standing on this matter," Ren said, standing up and walking away with Nora close behind. Weiss stared down at her hands as she thought over what she'd just been told.
-Ozpin's office-
"Professor? You wanted to see me?" Ruby asked, peeking her head in through the door
"Yes, please come in," he smiled waving to one of the chairs in front of him. Ruby walked over snd sat, looking at him nervously
"D-Did I do something wrong?"
"Not at all. I simply wanted to give you your teams next assignment while also going over your report from your solo mission early last week," he said handing Ruby a piece of paper with the details. Team RWBY had been tasked along with team CFVY to help clear a town to the south whose close proximity to the forest had caused them to be overrun by Grimm. That wasn't what made her nervous though, they'd dealt with far worse. What made her nervous was when Ozpin opened up the folder she knew had her report from last week. She'd been dreading this moment ever since she returned. "Now then, it says you were given the task of finding out what happened to a group of hunters who went missing deep in Grimm territory. You found out they had not survived, wiped out the Grimm responsible them returned home. My only question really would be your..odd behavior of late."
"Odd? I..I don't know what you mean," she said, her eyes darting around the room. Ozpin took a drink from his cup before looking back at her over his glasses.
"You reported no injuries, yet your teachers have noticed you acting…ill. You often cannot finish physical challenges as easily, and you often appear sick. Your sister has already been In here twice this week demanding to know what exactly happened."
"W-What?! And..you t-told her-"
"I told her only what your report said and left it at that. But now that it's just you and I…how about you tell me the truth, Miss Rose?" He said, eyes narrowing just a bit. Ruby sighed heavily before looking up at him.
"I..I was wounded. Some new type of Grimm..at least new to me," she said, rubbing her arm nervously. "It looked kinda like a Beowolf, but it was taller. And a lot quicker..with these horrible twisted up fangs," she shivered visibly at the memory. To her surprise, Ozpin didn't seemed shocked.
"I've heard reports of similar such Grimm from other hunters and huntresses recently. I'm terribly sorry you encountered something you didn't expect. But please, continue."
"During the fight, it had other Grimm with it. Lots of Ursa, and a few other Beowolves, but nothing too crazy. What seemed weird was that..it would only attack if I was occupied. Any time I tried to single it out, it would run. I finally killed the last of it's help and when I turned for it, I felt it rush by me, slash at me then go. I didn't know why..until I saw this," She said gesturing to her side. At this Ozpin frowned.
"It wounded you then fled?"
"Yes, sir. Afterwards..well it was just a scratch really. I didn't feel like reporting it and wasting the medics time with it. By the time I got back to Beacon, they were all very busy with team CBRA, and they were way more serious than a little flesh wound," She said kicking her heel against the floor nervously.
"Miss Rose, you know we require a full report for this very reason. This is unacceptable," Ozpin said, folding his hands.
"I-I know sir..after a couple days, it started to ache really bad and I started to feel a little sick, but it still wasn't anything I wasn't used too. But now.." She mumbled turning away.
"You can tell me."
"Now it's way worse. I get dizzy, sick to the point of wanting to puke, and this horrible headache. That's on top of the pain coming from it," she said softly. Ozpin looked at her, concern and shock evident on his face now.
"How could you not tell us? There's no way I can allow you to go on this mission now-"
"No! Don't punish my team because of me being an idiot. I can still fight, I'll just have to be careful!"
"Miss Rose…" He sighed heavily
"Please! My team would be so upset at me if they knew I cost us a mission chance. I…I'll do anything I have to, if it means we can go!" She pleaded. Ozpin considered this for a moment before sighing again.
"Very well. Under the condition that when you return, you undergo a full medical exam; and if your injury has become any worse, you will be placed on the inactive list until you are fully recovered. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal. I..thank you so much," She said as she stood up.
"Im trusting your judgement on this one, as I have in the past. Please don't make me regret it," he said, waving her off and Ruby left as quick as she could.
-dorm-
When Ruby walked in, she saw all her teammates waiting for her, Weiss and Blake looking concerned while Yang had her arms folded over her chest. "Um….hey there, everyone! I..got us a mission," she said nervously, handing the paper to Weiss who read it out loud for the other two. Yang didn't seem to care at the moment though.
"How about you tell us what the hell has happened to you lately, Rube?"
"Yang, I told you a dozen times not to worry. And you shouldn't go to Ozpin behind my back either," she said , unable to keep the anger out of her voice at what she'd been told.
"I went to Ozpin because something is obviously wrong and YOUR not saying anything! He said you didn't report anything strange, but you've been acting off since you got back!" She snapped, eyes flashing red for a brief moment.
"Ruby were just concerned for you. Weiss told us about what happened at lunch earlier and how Ren said you had trouble even sitting down," and then there was the incident this morning.." Blake said softly.
"Please Ruby…tell us what's wrong," Weiss said softly. Her voice is what finally broke her, just like it so often did. She took a deep breath and motioned to her side.
"I..I got hurt on the mission. There was some strange Grimm there at the site and it managed to get me before escaping," she said softly. Yang slowly relaxed as she sat beside Blake, Ruby taking her seat next to Weiss. "Like I told Ozpin though, Team CBRA was in bad shape at the time I got back, and I didn't feel like it was enough of a concern to worry them in the middle of all that. It was just a scratch," She said softly. She bit her lip before continuing. "But im fine now. Ive just been really sore and haven't slept well because of it," she smiled a bit. Weiss felt her throat and chest tighten a bit at the thought of Ruby being hurt. She slowly reached out and put her hand over hers. Ruby's head shot up and she looked at Weiss, blushing slightly.
"You still should have told us Ruby…we've been worried all week and it could've put a stop to all of it if we had known sooner," she said
"I know…I just didn't feel like worrying you all."
"So that's all?" Yang asked, looking at her. When Ruby nodded slowly, Yang stared at her for a little longer before sighing and standing. "Thank you, Rube. Now then! I think we have a mission to prep for," She said. Blake nodded and the two of them began packing. Ruby excused herself to the bathroom, reluctantly removing her hand from Weiss' and closing the door behind her.
"They didn't need to know everything…besides. One more mission then I have to go get fixed up anyways. So it won't matter….right?" She asked her reflection in the mirror. She gulped a bit before walking back out to join her team in packing.
-Forest, outside mission site-
Ruby stared down at the destroyed gate nervously glancing around. The main town was still hidden from site but they could hear the snarls and growls of Grimm clear as day in the quiet of the forest. "Blake, you know what to do," she said softly. Blake nodded and rushed forward towards the town, keeping to the tree line as she did so. They waited anxiously for about fifteen minutes before she returned.
"I saw at least two packs worh of beowolves. The rest are mostly Boarbatusks," She said.
"That's not SO bad."
"The Alpha is the biggest threat though."
"I don't want Ruby going until it's at least somewhat cleared out. With that wound, she could be caught easier," Yang said. Ruby sighed softly and ran a hand over her face. This is exactly why everyone was better off not knowing. But she didn't have the time or energy to protest, so she came up with something else.
"Alright, I got a plan. I'll get to that big tree right there and give you guys some sniper cover. When I give you the signal, go in," she said. They nodded and Weiss watched Ruby carefully as she sped towards the tree and sent a couple of well-placed glyphs onto it so she could get to a decent spot. Ruby smiled and gave her a thumbs up which she returned before heading back to Blake and Yang. Ruby slowly gazed down the sight on her weapon and aimed at the Alpha. She took her eye's off of it for a second to make sure the others were ready. Seeing they were she held her fist up and waved it forward. Yang and Blake, using one of Weiss's glyphs, jumped in the air and prepared to come down. Right as they were on the way down, Ruby fired. The sniper shot collided with the Alpha's head, knocking it down. The other Grimm lurched up and looked around just in time to see Yang and Blake. Yang let out a huge burst from her gauntlets as she impacted, pushing back the crowd that had gathered beneath them. Weiss threw her glyph right at Blake's feet just as she unsheathed Gambol Shroud. Ruby smirked as her team began to cut a path through any Grimm that came near them. She kept sniping any that tried to hit them in the sides or by sneaking up. She was just lining up another shot when her side exploded, the sharp pains stabbing at her again. She dropped her scythe and held it, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. "Damn..damn it..." she whimpered, trying to fight through it, but having no luck. Everything was spinning around her and when she tried to force herself to sit up again, her vision blacked out then back again. She heard shouts from her team, and then the last thing she remembered as she collapsed was the forest floor rushing towards her followed by a white blur.
-Beacon medical ward-
When Ruby opened her eyes, she was staring up at a white ceiling in a room of the same color. She turned her head to the left a bit, and sighed mentally. She was back at Beacon. She turned her head to the other side and her eyes widened. Weiss was sitting beside her bed in one of the chairs, her eyes buried in a book. "W-Weiss?" Ruby said, her throat dry and voice cracking. Weiss looked up startled, then dropped the book as she grabbed onto one of her hands.
"Your awake! Oh thank god..." she said softly. Ruby's eyes widened as she got a closer look at her.
Has...Has she been crying? Over me?. How bad off was I?" she thought. Weiss smiled a bit, her blue eyes starting to shine with more tears as she squeezed Ruby's hand.
"I'm so glad your okay..you scared us half to death when we saw you fall. We finished what was left of the Grimm and got you back to Beacon as quick as we could. "
"The wound..did..did they fix it?" Ruby asked softly. She still felt it, but it wasnt the constant nagging pain or burning it had been for the few days. She felt relief wash over her when Weiss nodded.
"It was infected pretty bad, Ruby. Your lucky because they said if you had waitied another day or two to get treatment it..it would've probably been too far gone to be fixed," she said, tears running down her face again. It had been her that managed to catch Ruby before she slammed into the ground back in the forest. When she caught her, Ruby had been completely limp, the color was gone from her face and she was shivering horribly. Weiss thought for sure she wasn't going to make it, but she did. "We thought we'd lost you. I..I thought I'd lost you Ruby..." she said, reaching out and putting a hand on her cheek. Ruby's face turned a dark red as she stared up at her.
"W-Weiss...How long was I out?"
"A couple days..Long enough for me to do a lot of thinking," she said. Ruby slowly moved her other hand up to her face and put it over hers, leaning against her touch.
"And what did you think about?" Ruby whispered
"You. Just likethe last couple of weeks..just you, Ruby. I..I like you. A lot more than a friend, definitely more than a teammate." she frowned when Ruby began to laugh softly. "Hey..I know it's out of the blue and all but you don't have to laugh-"
"No. I..I'm laughing because..Ive been trying to figure out how to tell you that exact same thing for MONTHS," she laughed. She winced and clenched her teeth, the sudden motion agitating the injury.
"M-Months?! You've..liked me for that long and never told me?"
"Every time I tried I just..froze up. Told you that you were an ice queen" she grinned. Weiss rolled her eyes and leaned down, kissing her cheek softly.
"Well when your all better..would you like to go on a date?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
"Good. Now then..I'll go get Yang and Blake. They'll be wanting to know your up," she said with one last smile before she stood. Ruby rolled her eyes as the door shut. She knew she was going to get the lecture of a lifetime from Yang but..what they had just talked about made it all worth. She leaned back down against the pillows, happier than she'd ever been, her thought's full of where to take Weiss on the date.
Jeez...i thought i'd never get this done! Were-sadly-approaching the end of this one-shot collection. I've only got two pairings left I'd really like to write for, that being Crosshare and Bumblebee and im saving bumblebee for last as thats my Number one favorite from the entire show. After that well...I got a few ideas for a longer, more connected story. But yknow...cross that bridge when you get to it and all that shit. See ya'll next time
-DB