Chapter 1: Rust

Change.

The simple word either sends fearful shivers up spines or puts abundant smiles of joy on faces.

For some, change is wonderful. It's bountiful, thrilling, and alluring. It's a word that means their life is going to become something greater than it already is. It lets their creative and optimistic minds wander and soar free to places that are fruitful with new possibilities and endless adventure. Change means exciting contingencies and these idealistic minds are fueled by risk-taking and the chance of opportunity. They want to live life to its absolute fullest, even if that means exposing themselves to potential danger. Though, that's were all the thrill comes from.

For the others, change is horrifying. The mere word makes their hands shake and knees buckle. It is everything they don't want in life. Change means different and these panicked minds take that in the worst way possible. It takes quite a long time for these few to live comfortably, their hearts feeding on that desired, peaceful life. They tend to find pleasure in the smallest of things, let it be waking up next to your lover on a cool, spring day, or enjoying a warm coffee while watching the usual crowd bustle in and out of a small café. Change means these minds would need to leave the lives they've gotten used to and start all over again. They hated change for that reason alone.

But she couldn't classify herself as one or the other. She believed that people cannot be easily divided into black or white; it was a wide spectrum the contained many grays in between. Change could be good or bad for anyone, herself included. Some days went by peaceful and undisturbed, and she enjoyed everything those days had to offer. Adventure was never on her daily do-to list, so the calm life was what she adored.

On the contrary, change could mean salvation. It could be the hand that pulls you up and saves you from trouble and toxicity. The girl always tried to look forward in life, no matter what occurred. She always told herself that her past was behind her, that there's no point to worry about what can't be changed. She regretted things she had done, of course, but she tried not to dwell on what was over and done with. Much like silver metal, if left alone and forgotten, it will slowly decay and crumble into formless rust.

Three Years Later

The girl who was sitting on the ledge of the open window sighed softly, bringing her half-smoked cigarette between her lips once more. She inhaled deeply, which shrunk the cancer stick, and shot the smoke outside her bedroom and watched the gray air disappear as soon as it made contact with the gloomy rainfall. She tapped the end of her cig into her azure-coloured ash tray, its remains coating the bottom with silver powder, then set her attention back on the novel that was in her other hand. Her black-legging clad right leg hung off the ledge, sheltered inside her bedroom as her unclothed left leg was folded near her chest, socked-foot resting on the brim on the window. She sharply shook her head to whip her ebony-black fringe out of her vision, her golden eyes never leaving the page she was reading. She sighed once more.

"I could live like this for the rest of my days," the girl thought to herself.

But she knew deep down inside that things change.

And she was in no place of power to stop it.

A loud crash of something shattering reverberated throughout the once-still dorm room, making the girl's amber eyes flicker and widen in shock. The Faunus cat ears that she kept hidden underneath a black bow flicked madly, the sharp noise piercing her eardrums. She folded the book over her index finger and twisted her body to face where the sound had come from.

"Hey! What happen?" The girl shouted in concern towards her open bedroom door. When she heard no response, she let out a light sigh and scuffed out the remaining length of the cigarette into her ash-tray, bookmarked her book, and hopped off the window ledge. She dusted off and pulled down her white denim shorts, causally placing her novel on the nearby bedtable as she left her bedroom and poured into the small hallway.

She made her way to the main area of the dorm room, which contained a cramped living room, kitchen, and dining room. She spotted her eighteen-year-old roommate stiff with shock in the kitchen, her silver eyes staring widely at the titled floor. The raven-haired girl approached the crimsonette nonchalantly, glancing at her other roommate who was seated at the small dining table, her pale face clearly twisted in annoyance. The citrine-eyed girl quickly turned her attention back at her dismayed friend and when she was standing by her side, she looked down at what the other girl was looking at.

The remains of what looked like to be a yellow-and-black stripped mug were scattered on the kitchen's titled floor. Silver eyes met with gold as the dark redheaded girl seemed to awkwardly search for the correct words.

"Blake! I'm so, so sorry! I know that was your favorite mug, and I'm sorry, really sorry! It was an accident, I-I'll buy you a new one, I promise!" The distressed girl prattled as her dark-haired roommate's eyes shifted from the crimsonette to the shattered porcelain. It was clear that there was tea inside the cup before it was knocked over, as the liquid now lightly coated the titled floor and soaked the front of the clumsy girl's navy-blue sweater. Blake placed a gentle hand on the girl's petite shoulder, which seemed to calm her down a bit.

"Accidents happen, Ruby. Don't worry about it, it's just a mug," Blake stated coolly, eyes drifting away from the pieces that coated the floor to silver eyes, "But how about you? Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?" Without waiting for an answer, the raven-haired girl began to eyeball the shorter girl in front of her, grabbing Ruby's nimble hands and twisting them in different angles as she scanned them for any injuries. Ruby's head perked up, a smile appearing on her face and a light laugh escaping her lips. Blake looked up too and was softly grinning, happy to know her antics cheered the crimsonette up. "No, no, I'm fine, really. I have good reaction time, you see! Swiftness is my secret weapon, you know," Ruby grinned wider but that suddenly faded when she peered down at the floor again, "I really am sorry about your mug though…" Blake gripped the sides of Ruby's arms gingerly and repeated her pervious words, "Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it. It's just a mug, it's no big deal." Silver eyes grew soft as the two girls met each other's gazes. This was disrupted by their other roommate clearing her throat to get the girls' attention.

"I'm not okay with it though. Ruby, can you not be such a klutz for once? We ask you to do one measly thing, to make tea, and you can't even do that correctly." The ticked-off white-haired girl stated, her eyebrows furrowed and posture as straight as a board. Her icy-blue eyes shot daggers at Ruby, making the petite girl slump down in shame, poking her two index fingers repeatedly as she looked away.

"Weiss, please. I forgave her already. Now you're just trying to rub more salt into the wound," Blake replied, grabbing the broom and dustpan from one of the living room corners. Ruby quickly snapped out of her guiltful state when Blake moved and she leaned over the kitchen counter to get some towel paper. Weiss let out a peeved huff, crossing her arms over her light-blue cardigan clad torso as she looked away in annoyance. Blake strided over to the ice princess, without a word, and stuck out the broom towards her. The same aged girl quirked her snow-white eyebrows in confusion, as the twenty-year-old raven-haired girl motioned for Weiss to take the broom from her. Icy-blue eyes widened then thinned upon looking at the broom and then at Blake.

"What?" Weiss spat, arms still folded.

"You could help us clean up, you know."

"Excuse me? I didn't cause the mess."

Blake's jaw tightened, "Yes, but you told her to make the tea. Plus it's a good deed to help out your roommates."

Weiss' lips thinned as she scoffed, "It's still her fault though."

Blake huffed, "You wouldn't stop going on and on about how she doesn't do any housework, which is not even-!"

"It is true!"

"She does way more than-!"

Ruby's form suddenly stood up from its crouched down position, holding a wad of tea-soaked paper towel. Her hands were balled into fists.

"Enough with the arguing already!"

The two girls' mouths' automatically shut up as they stood stiff at Ruby's abrupt demand. Remaining silent, the two roommates turned to face their now-anxious friend.

"You both are acting like kids! And you know that means something, coming from me!" The youngest of the three girls pointed to herself with her thumb, as the other two kept quiet. Amber eyes met with distressed silver ones.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Blake apologized, placing a soft hand on the girl's shoulder. Ruby maintained eye contact with Blake, a light smile appearing on the youngest girl's calming face.

"I- I am too..." The snow princess sighed then mumbled, the onyx-haired girl's hidden cat ears twitching against the black bow as they picked up the soft murmur. Weiss exhaled again as she made her way over to the kitchen, grabbing the broom from Blake. As the two cleared Weiss' path to the mess, Blake and Ruby exchanged surprised expressions with one another as the silent ice princess began to sweep up pieces of the mug that was not in the puddle of tea.

Working together, the three of them cleaned up the mess in little to no time, the drained out patter of rain from outside gently tapping on the windows. When they finished, they all stretched their muscles out and sighed contently.

"I'll make the tea for us," the now less moody snow-haired girl stated, already filling up the kettle with water. The two girls' eyes widened at Weiss' changed attitude, eyeing one another then at the heiress' back, then each other again. Ruby smiled softly, "Thanks Weiss. I really am sorry for being, well... clumsy." Ruby came up besides the snow-haired girl and placed a caring hand on her shoulder. Weiss tilted her head at Ruby and returned the kind smile as her icy-blue eyes met with silver. Blake looked at her two friends with a proud expression, but she soon spoke up, interrupting the touching moment.

"Ah, Ruby. Your sweater." She pointed to the front of the soaked hoodie the youngest girl wore as she pulled away from Weiss to look down at herself. The scent of green tea perfumed the crimsonette.

"Oh shoot, right! Aw man I hope this doesn't become a stain," Ruby patted the front of her torso as her small hands grabbed the bottom of the damp sweater to take off.

Blake stepped back and started to make her way towards the hallway where their rooms were located. "I'll get you another sweater from your room, if that's alright," she asked as she already was steps away from Ruby's bedroom. "You don't have to do that, I'll get it myself, it's all-" Ruby's sentence was cut short by Blake's shush, the black-haired girl already down the bedroom hallway.

Blake entered her friend's bedroom, which was across from hers, and took timid steps as she scanned the inside. Ruby's room was quite messy, Blake's organizational habits never seemed to influence the youngest girl. Her white walls were covered with assorted posters and papers, ranging from tiny scrap-paper doodles to large movie and video game posters. A small amount of clothing carpeted the wooden floor, along with loose papers that also littered the top of what seemed to be her desk. Blake silently mourned all of the trees that had to be cut down to fuel Ruby's messy habits.

The twenty-year-old girl walked awkwardly over the mess, trying her best not the step on anything. She continued to examine the clothing below her, as she knew Ruby often times left clean laundry on the floor, for some odd reason. Blake's eyes wandered to stray socks, t-shirts, pants... Until she saw a sleeve of a crimson sweater sticking out from underneath Ruby's bed. Blake sighed at the messiness of her roommate as she made her way over to the bed and picked up the sweater.

She inspected the zip-up, hoping it was clean. Her thin fingers lightly grasped the thick fabric and turned it over, her golden eyes widening at the sight. Dark red lightly stained the back of the sweater, the spots undoubtedly sticking out from the red colour of the long-sleeve. Blake fingertips slowly and carefully touched the rough-textured, musty-scented stains. Her face washed over with concern and seriousness, as she continued to inspect the sweater. She could only think of one thing what this splotch could be and it made her sick to her stomach just thinking about it. Blake's thoughts ran at high-speed, most of them questions that needed answers.

Is this… blood?

There ya have it, lovelies, the first actual chapter!

Yes, yes, I know. It's pretty slow right now. BUT I want to develop some relationships first before jumping right into it.

You understand, right? Right? *sulks*

I promise there will be Bumbleby, and when it happens, well... you're in for quite a ride.

So I hope you can bear through the next chapter or so to get to some Bumbleby interaction heh.

ANYWAYS

I still hope you enjoyed this :))

Follow if you like, fav if you like-like *winks suggestively*

Reviews are fucking awesome-sauce, so drop some my way if you wanna!

Also, I'd like to thank the ones who've already reviewed, fav'd, and followed this fic! Y'all are great and thanks for giving me a chance! :)

Peace out till next chap! B)