[CW: Dead parents and THE FEELS]
It took some persuading to convince Weiss that Papa Pepperoni's was a worthy establishment for a date night, as the heiress considered the place to be "childish".
"Ruby, toddlers literally have their birthday parties there," Weiss said, closing the door as Klein left to call the girls a taxi. "Isn't there somewhere else we can go tonight?"
"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Ruby countered as she desperately wiggled out of her dress to change into something much more comfortable for the evening. The RWBY team leader was eager to shed the restrictive confines of her formal wear, sighing with relief as she threw them into the corner.
"Remind me to take you underwear shopping," said Weiss. Ruby frowned slightly.
"What's wrong with my underwear?" she protested.
"Nothing at first. The strawberry pattern looks cute on you, but you need a little variety. You can't keep buying five to seven pairs of the same color and call it a day."
"Meh. Not all of us need expensive, fancy undergarments." Ruby teased, using her Winter/British mocking voice. Weiss just sighed, but still made a mental note to at least get her something cute that didn't look like it was from a kid's coloring book.
For this evening, Ruby had decided on a pair of bright red canvas high top sneakers, black jeans, a simple red tee-shirt and a dark grey BEACON ACADEMY ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT pullover hoodie. Weiss opted for something slightly more dressy, having decided on ice blue flats, white leggings and a light blue button-up blouse that hung slightly below her waist. Of course, her side ponytail was intact along with her crystal tiara.
"You look amazing," Ruby said, her silver eyes sparkling. Weiss blushed.
"And you look...presentable." she teased. Ruby stuck out her tongue in defiance.
"Just for that, I'm going to tell the employees at Papa Pepperoni's that it's your birthday, so the entire Pasta Pal Gang has to come and sing the Birthday Song to you!" Ruby said with a smug grin. Weiss visibly recoiled at such a thought.
"I think I would rather light my hair on fire," she said. Ruby just giggled, taking Weiss' hand in hers as they made their way down the main stairs. Weiss had trouble keeping up, as her girlfriend was practically skipping with excitement. Klein was waiting for them at the door, politely bowing as they left to hop in the Ninja Taxi cab service that was waiting for them outside.
"So are yuh two are gonna Papa Pepperoni's, right, or what? " the cabbie said, chomping on an obscenely large cigar.
"Y-yes?" Weiss said cautiously, having trouble deciphering the driver's thick dialect.
"Yuh seem a bit too old tuh be gonna such a kid-friendly place, but what do I know, or what? Yuh pay, I drive. Right? "
"That's, uh, right," Ruby said. "Hey, would you be okay if I rolled up the privacy window?" The cabbie just shrugged.
"Suit yawhself. Yuh with me? But I will say, if yuh do any hanky-panky in de back seat, I will charge yuh fawh any stain removal. Right?" he said, before rolling up the smoked glass divider separating the front and back of the car. Weiss exhaled with relief, happy to not have to converse with the cabbie anymore than she needed to. Ruby reached into her Pumpkin Pete messenger bag, which doubled as her 'purse', to fish out her Scroll and load up Cookie Crush. She had made it to level 99 and was hell-bent on clearing the board to unlock Cookie Crusher Level Platinum. Weiss closed her eyes and rested her head on Ruby's shoulder, listening to the sound of the road and beep-boop of Ruby's Scroll. Despite her calm exterior, she was a mess from within, running over her father's ultimatum over and over again. Could she really choose between her life as a huntress or Ruby? It made her shudder with fear, something Ruby picked the physical sensation up off of her shoulder.
"You okay, Snowflake?" she asked, pausing her game. Weiss didn't want to worry her, so she didn't discuss the ultimatum, but rather brought up a subject she had been curious about, but never had the courage to ask.
"Ruby, may I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure!" Ruby said cheerfully. "No secrets between us. Ever."
"Why...why are you Ruby Rose?"
"Because Pumpkin Pete was already taken...?"
"You know what I mean."
Ruby giggled nervously, rubbing the back of her head.
"You want to know why I'm Ruby Rose and not Ruby Xiao Long, right?"
"If it's too personal..." Weiss said, unsure if she had hit a nerve. Ruby waved her concern away.
"No, no, it's...it's fine. It's just something I never really thought anyone would be curious about. I guess I should start from the beginning. How much do you know about my family? You know Yang and I have different Moms, right?"
"Yes, I know that," Weiss said. "I'm also aware of Yang's, shall we say, strong feelings towards her mother."
"Heh, yeah. She's not really fond of Raven." Ruby said with a shrug. "I can't say I blame her, though. But anyway, so after Raven ran away, Dad married his former teammate, Summer Rose and not long after, I was born."
"Wait, did you say former teammate?" Weiss asked in disbelief.
"Yep!" Ruby said proudly. "Dad, Mom, Raven and Uncle Qrow were all on the same team in Beacon back in the day. That's how Dad met Mom and Raven."
"Huh, I did not know this. Please continue." Weiss said, curious what kind of dynamics they had for Tai to impregnate half of his team.
"I...I don't have any real memories of my Mom. She died when I was super young. Everything I know about her are just second-hand stories I hear from Yang, or Dad or Uncle Qrow. They tell me she was super brave and a great Huntress and that she was an amazing Mom for me and Yang and would make the best cookies ever." Ruby said, glancing out the window of the car. This was obviously difficult for her, so Weiss took her hand and kissed it softly, offering silent reassurance. "But when I was born, my birth certificate said Ruby Xiao Long and it was that way for a bit."
"How...how did your mother die?" Weiss asked softly. Ruby paused, wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye.
"It was an ursa." she finally said. "Dad and Qrow had left on a mission to clear out a pack of boarbatusk that were ruining the crops of a small village and attacking the people there. Mom had stayed behind to take care of me and Yang, but when the ursa was spotted near our house on Patch, she put Yang in charge of watching me and went out to fight it alone."
"It was just one ursa?" Weiss asked. Ruby shook her head no.
"No, I mean...well, yes, at first. She thought it was just one ursa, but it was a trap. As soon as she got there, an alpha Grimm came out of the woods. She was outnumbered but...but I'm told she fought hard. She killed the ursa and wounded the alpha, but by the time Dad and Qrow made it back, I guess her wounds were too severe."
"I'm...sorry for your loss," Weiss said quietly, squeezing Ruby's hand tightly. Ruby gave her a warm smile and kissed her lips softly as a thank you.
"But...see, the thing is...growing up, I never felt like a Xiao Long. Here, let me show you something..." Ruby said, reaching into her messenger back. Fishing through the various knick-knacks and clutter, she pulled out her wallet and hiding behind her student ID, was a beat up, dog-eared photo that she gave to Weiss to look at it. The photo was of a very beautiful young woman, delicate features with a pure white hooded cloak that looked identical to Ruby's. Her eyes were the same shade of stunning silver, her skin like porcelain and her hair as black as the night. All in all, she looked like she could be Ruby's older twin sister.
"This...this is Summer?" Weiss asked. Ruby nodded, gingerly taking the photo back and returning it to its secure location behind her student ID.
"Yep, that's Mom. You can see we look almost the same, so growing up was weird for me cause I didn't look like Dad. Yang looks like her Mom, but she has Dad's hair color and his personality. I didn't get any of that."
"You're your mother's child," Weiss said. Ruby gave a soft, sad smile.
"Yeah, pretty much. So when I turned thirteen, Dad said I could get whatever I wanted, so I asked for a pony - which I did not get, I might add," she said. That was Ruby to a T, always finding a way to lighten the mood, no matter how serious. "So with no pony, I asked for something else - I wanted to change my last name to Rose."
"And how did Tai take it?" Weiss asked. Ruby shrugged.
"He...I dunno, seemed okay with it? It was weird. I remember he got really quiet and just said 'ok' and a few days later, I signed some papers and that was it. I've been Ruby Rose ever since."
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Weiss said, kissing her girlfriend's cheek.
"Aw, did you just come up with that on your own?" Ruby asked, wiping away another stray tear.
"It's Shakespeare, actually."
"That pointy beard guy who talks with the thous and thuslys and such?" Ruby asked, remembering the lessons on him in class that seemed to drag on for torturous amounts of hours.
"Yes, that's him," Weiss said with a sarcastic eye roll. "The Pointy Beard Guy."
"Hey, so since we're being so open, I wanted to ask you, what's up with your family? I mean, you said your Dad isn't really a Schnee? What's that all about?"
Weiss winced as she had been sucker punched in the stomach. It was a subject she wasn't comfortable talking about, but Ruby had been so open with her back-story that she felt it wouldn't be fair to keep this to herself. Besides, no secrets, just like Ruby had said.
"No, he wasn't a born a Schnee," Weiss said after a bit of a pause. "When my grandfather founded the Schnee Dust Company, he hired my mother, Willow, to work with him in the front office. But she was too proud to accept a high ranking job and didn't want people to think she was only there because of nepotism-"
"Like the ice cream?" Ruby asked.
"No, Ruby. That's Neapolitan. Nepotism is when someone gives cushy jobs to their friends or family even if they aren't qualified for it."
"Ohh..." Ruby said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Go on, I'm all ears."
"So Mother started working in the mail room, handing out letters and packages and taking down Grandfather's letters and notes. She worked hard every day, arrived early and left late and she earned the respect of her co-workers."
"She sounds really cool," Ruby said with a half smile. "I would have liked to have met her."
"I think she would have liked you, Ruby. But back to my story, Mother began to work her way up the ladder through hardwork and determination, but it was around this time she began to date Jacques Gelé, who was an intern at the company. Jacques wrote her love letters and stuck them in her desk drawers for her to read and they finally became engaged and married, all within six months."
"Wow," Ruby said, awe-struck. "He didn't waste any time."
"Well, it was probably because she was pregnant with Winter at this time, but yes, it was a whirlwind romance. He married her and, surprising everyone, he took her last name and became a Schnee. His official excuse was something about not 'wanting to ruin the brand', whatever that means. Mother was surprised, but accepted. Grandfather passed away shortly before I was born."
"How did your grandpa feel about the marriage?" Ruby asked, wanting more details.
"If he had any problems, he never said, or at least to Mother he didn't. But as the marriage went on, Fath-, I mean, Jacques, became cold and distant and spent most of his time in the office and less time with Mother."
"But how do you know all of this?"
"Because...Mother liked to drink." Weiss said with a sad sigh. "I remember being little and hearing them argue and scream at each other and Jacques would storm off to lock himself in his office, leaving Mother alone with a bottle of wine. Winter and I would try and keep her company, but as the bottle became lighter, the conversation became heavier and she would tell us everything, regardless if we wanted to hear it or not." Ruby visibly winced at this, her mind unable to comprehend such a thing.
"So, um, h-how did she die?" Ruby finally asked. Weiss didn't cry, just scoffed bitterly and stared down at her feet.
"The more she drank, the more problems it caused for the company. She skipped board meetings and failed to meet with stockholders and when she did show up at the office, she was slurring her words and reeked of alcohol and sweat. She was a mess. Jacques went behind her back to force the board to vote him as sole CEO of the company saying she was unfit to lead. When she found out, she tried to drive to the office to put a stop to it. She, of course, was drunk and ran right into a guardrail, head on."
"Oh, my gods..." Ruby said, covering her mouth. "Weiss, I'm so, so sorry. I...I should have never have asked."
"No, I'm f-fine," Weiss said, hardening her steely reserve. "I've made peace with what happened and realize I can't change the past, only look forward to the future."
"Where is she buried, if you don't mind me asking? I'd love to say hello and thank her for raising such an amazing daughter." Ruby said, now taking her turn to squeeze Weiss' hand. Weiss just gave Ruby a defeated chuckle.
"She's not. Jacques didn't want a funeral as he didn't want to show 'weakness' to his competitors, so he had her cremated. Her ashes are in an urn behind his desk."
"Oh..." was all Ruby could say. The silence hung awkwardly in the air, as neither girl knew what to say. Ruby had assumed her story was sad and tragic, but all things considered, she was relieved things had happened the way they did, as opposed to Weiss' history. "So you know what? I think we should form a club."
"A club?" Weiss said, confused. "What kind of club?"
"Why, the Dead Mom Club of course!"
"Ruby Rose! That is highly inappropriate." Weiss scolded.
"No, no, I don't mean like it's a club where we celebrate that our Moms are dead, but think of it as a support group. Like, I dunno, a place where people with dead Moms can come and cry together and then we can try and cheer each other up with chocolate and cookies." Ruby said. That was one of the things Weiss loved about the hyperactive young woman, her desire to constantly improve the lives of others around her. No one was beneath her for a hug, or a corny joke or even a random compliment. Ruby Rose wanted to make the world a better place.
"Okay then, Ruby. As of now, we are both charter members of the Dead Mom Club." Weiss said with a giggle. Ruby squealed with delight and lunged forward, hugging Weiss tightly around the neck.
"Oh, I love you so much, Snowflake! This is going to be the best club ever." Ruby said, planting a soft, warm kiss on her beloved's lips.
" Yuh two are de cutest couple evuh!"
"AHHH! Have you been listening to us this entire time!?" Weiss asked in shock. The cabbie jumped in surprise, nearly choking on his dimly lit cigar.
"No, I swear on my mudder's grave! Okay? I just rolled down de privacy window tuh letcha know we're here at Papa Pepperoni's. Right?"
Weiss grumbled something about 'respecting privacy' and stepped out of the cab, stretching her lithe limbs. Papa Pepperoni's was a blinking day-glo nightmare, blasting some obnoxious kiddie friendly dance music as a giant neon-light rat winked on repeat, his face obscured by a massive handlebar mustache.
"Ruby, are you sure we should be eating in an establishment that has a rodent as a mascot?"
"Who, Papa Pepperoni? No way! He's clean and totally great. He's the leader of the Pasta Pals, Weiss. That's not a title he takes lightly." Ruby said, swiping the lien card to give the driver a generous tip. She waved bye as the Ninja Taxi drove off. "Welp, get ready to get your socks blown off, Snowflake! You are now entering the most delicious place in all of Remnant!"