"You're the predator right up until you're prey."
― James S.A. Corey, Abaddon's Gate
Chapter 14-
Neo happily returned the kiss before breaking apart as Ruby smiled up at her calling out, "You don't have to fake being asleep." She called out.
"Sorry, I didn't want to ruin your moment." Blake said, sitting up in the bed. "Thank you for putting me in your bed and letting me stay here, I'm sorry if it's an inconvenience." Blake said.
"Its fine Blake, we offered, we're just glad you're getting some rest. Did you sleep well?" Neo asked.
"Yes I did, thank you. May I ask what this is about the dance?" Blake asked, having overheard their conversation.
"Oh it's just that Ruby will be coming with me to the dance as my date." Neo replied.
"Really? What about the CCT? And someone called Cinder?" Blake asked.
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with at the moment, we need to discover more information first before we want to share it with everyone." Neo replied back.
"You're not going to tell me anything are you?" Blake asked.
"Nope. Not yet at least, we've got to wait and see what happens." Neo stated.
"I see. Well thank you for letting me stay here but I better go back to my team before something happens." Blake said, leaving the room and the two girls all alone.
The next two days went by quickly, they had told Mizu and Winter about Cinder and their plan so they wouldn't do anything to stop their plan.
Both Schnee women were also going to attend the dance as well, having already picked out dresses for the event. Although Ruby had not so she had spent a day out with Winter.
They had gone around Vale town looking for dresses as they spent the day together, the whole event was weird to Ruby. Her only family was her mother and while they did spend a lot of time together going out shopping for clothes was not one of the things they had done.
So when Ruby was spending the day going cloth shopping it was an interesting experience, she almost felt like this was something best friends did or maybe even sisters going dress shopping right before a big dance or date.
Ruby strangely found herself enjoying her day with Winter, they talked about all sorts of topics ranging from current Kingdom politics to just simple gossip they heard around the school.
Aria was busy doing something else meaning that Ruby had to use her own voice, but she only spoke to Winter and when she needed to speak.
In the end the two of them spent the entire day in Vale as they had lunch and dinner out there in town, what was lucky was the fact Winter was not very well known as a Schnee so instead avoided the normal commotion which would accompany that.
In the end Ruby had gotten her very first dress while Winter added to her ever growing collection, Winter also offered to do Ruby's make-up which then led to her agreeing but needing to buy some as she had none.
Ruby enjoyed the entire day she spent with Winter and when they returned back to Beacon she found Mizu was strangely happy that the two were getting along so well but Ruby couldn't work out why she was so happy.
When the day of the dance came Ruby noticed that a lot of the students were rushing around getting ready, but she noticed that Blake was relaxing and the bags under her eyes weren't as visible as the day before.
Entering Winter's room to get ready herself, she was carrying a duffle bag with her Reaper gear inside while Winter herself had her dress and make-up.
"Hello Ruby, here to get ready?" Winter asked.
Nodding Ruby put her bag down and waited for Winter, she wasn't sure how long it would take for her to get ready so she wanted to have enough time.
Winter smiled at Ruby as she said, "Come on, and sit down. We've got ages until the dance tonight so why don't we just talk?" Winter suggested lightly as Ruby sat down on the bed with her.
"What about?" Ruby asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I don't know, anything?" Winter suggested.
"Well why not about each other? We covered a lot the other day but we didn't get much into each other." Ruby said.
"Hmm, sure. We could do twenty questions. Do you want to start?" Winter asked.
"Um sure. Uh how old are you?" Ruby asked awkwardly.
"Relax, I won't bite. I'm eighteen years old. What's your favourite colour?" Winter replied.
"Black. And really? I thought you were older than that." Ruby stated.
"Everyone thinks that, I was home-schooled all my life and I was a quick learner so I finished my studies very early on." Winter explained, "Really? I thought it would have been red." Winter said.
"I find comfort in the night so black is the closest real colour to night." Ruby said softly, worried about what Winter would say.
Winter just smiled at Ruby saying, "Don't worry, I like you for you, I'll never judge you." Winter said reassuringly. "Guess it's your question."
"What's your favourite food?" Ruby asked.
Winter laughed at the question as she whispered, "Don't tell anyone but its cookies and strawberries, especially the chocolate chip ones with strawberries on the side." Winter said with a large smile across her face. "What's yours?"
"The same. I've loved cookies and strawberries all my life, my mother used to bake them and mix strawberries into the mix and they were the best I've ever had." Ruby said excitedly.
"I wish I could have tried some of them, I bet they would be amazing my mother said she had a friend that made amazing cookies but she couldn't replicate them. How old are you?" Winter stated.
"Nineteen." Ruby said.
"Wow you don't look nineteen, you look a little younger. At least without the cloak and everything." Winter said. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"
"Depends, I like to train and improve my skills. I also like messing with things for example my weapon or maybe with a new computer programme for Aria although that is rare. However I enjoy reading about different topics and just learning more about the world." Ruby explained. "Do you know how to dance?" Ruby asked.
"Of course, my father had Weiss and I taught how to dance alongside other skills that 'Proper young ladies' should know, at least according to him. How come you asked that?" Winter asked.
"Um well I'm going to the dance and well I don't actually know how to dance properly, it's never interested me but I want to make the night memorable for Neo." Ruby said quietly.
"Aww that's so sweet. Well I can teach you how to dance if you want." Winter said, standing up while offering her hand to Ruby. "I'll teach you the basics first and then you can practise leading me." Winter said.
It took Ruby almost two hours before she was confident enough to lead Winter in the dance, and another hour for her to be confident that they could stop, also they needed to get ready for the dance as well.
While Winter was getting dressed and her make-up done Ruby sorted out her cloak and weapon, having someone take it to the hall for her.
Winter had gotten a sky blue dress that reached down below her knees and was open at the back to reveal Winter's back to people however the front was high up, showing barely a hint of cleavage. She wore high heels to make her that little bit taller. She had applied very little make-up but enough to highlight her eyes and lips.
After Winter had finished she had helped Ruby get ready, questioning the fact Ruby was wearing knee high laced boots but she let it go after hearing that Neo would be wearing heels instead.
"Are you going with anyone?" Ruby asked softly.
"Why yes, I am." Winter answered gleefully, excited about the dance.
"Who?" Ruby asked.
"Wait and see Rubes." Winter said happily as she wandered off towards the hall while Ruby went to her shared room with Neo to pick up her date.
Neo hadn't rushed to get ready, instead she spent the day with Blake and team WBY for a little while helping them put the last finishing touches onto the dance before they went their separate ways to get ready for the dance.
She had just finished when she heard a knock at the door, confused she quickly put her grey heels onto her feet as she answered the door.
Her mouth almost dropped as she took in Ruby in front of her, she looked like a completely different woman in a dress and with make-up on.
Ruby wore a dark red dress reaching just pass her knees where the dress itself met Ruby's back laced boots. The dress itself showed very little of Ruby's chest but enough for it to catch Neo's eye.
Her black choker was on full display for everyone to see alongside the rose in the middle and the tattoos sitting on Ruby's wrists. The dress itself had an open back as well revealing the fact Ruby wore no visible bra but the large tattoo decorating her back was on full display but Neo had seen it many times before.
Her lips were painted with a dark red lipstick with a small black line in the middle below her bottom lip to her chin, and in the middle of her top lip to the bottom of her nose. She had thick black eyeliner above her eye, with a little tail on both sides
Neo wore a black dress that was opened down the front but wore a half ring of pink flowers from the valley of her breasts down to her hip while she wore her necklaces around her neck. The back of the dress was open and in her hair was a ring of roses creating a halo in her hair.
At the hips of her dress were small sections of laced up parts revealing her hips but not her underwear at any point, although like Ruby she wore no bra. Her hair was let down around her face, framing it beautifully between the three colours.
Like Ruby she wore lipstick, however her top line was decorated a bright pink while her bottom was a bright white. Above her eyes she had mixed pink and white to make a swirling effect above her eyes.
The one thing Neo loved the most out of all of Ruby's physical features were her eyes, she loved Ruby's silver eyes that bore into her soul with every look. Now though her eyes were much more striking with her eyeliner.
Neo favoured light make-up with only light colours to highlight her eyes and lips whereas Ruby had done something completely different.
Her lips were a deep red colour that was darker than even the red tips in her hair while above her eyes they were black with the eyeliner tailing out to make her eyes look like they have black wings on either side.
This made Ruby's eyes stand out even more against the dark colour and when Neo looked closer she saw the tips of the wings were red and not black as it looked like from a distance.
"You look beautiful." Neo said huskily.
Ruby smiled at her as she held out her hand to Neo, saying softly, "You look amazing yourself, would you do me the honour of going to the dance with me?" Ruby said.
Neo laughed gently at Ruby as she accepted the hand readily, having Ruby entwined their arm and hand together. "But of course."
With Neo wearing heels she matched Ruby's height now meaning when they walked side by side Neo didn't need to lean up to kiss her.
"To get this over with quickly, is everything in place?" Neo asked as they were walking through the halls.
"Yes, Aria is going to tell us when Cinder is making her move and I'll go and deal with it. I won't be long and I won't stick around for Ironwood's men either. Will you be alright?" Ruby asked.
"I'll be fine, but the quicker you finish it the better." Neo replied, "That's enough of that, you look beautiful sweetie did Winter help you?" Neo asked.
"What makes you ask that?" Ruby said, feigning hurt.
Neo laughed at Ruby's reaction to her comment as she said, "Unless it's camo paint, you can't do make-up. And this is the first time I've ever seen you in a dress, I was expecting you'd wear a suit. Not that I'm complaining though, I just want to tear that dress off you." Neo said huskily.
"Winter helped me pick it out, and with my make-up but I told her what I wanted. It's strange, we're a lot alike. Some of our views are similar but we had some heathy debates as well, she also loves cookies and strawberries as well. It's weird, I feel like I should know her but I just don't." Ruby said.
"Maybe's she's a long lost relative that you don't know about, I mean you don't know who your father is." Neo suggested.
"I doubt I've any relation to the Schnee line, seems a little too far out there." Ruby replied.
A/N
So another chapter down, sorry about it being up late sort of lost track of time yesterday. Can't actually think of too much to say, this is volume two stuff now and I'm going to be blitzing through some of this and basically going to extend out a large amount of things as well.
Also I will be following Volume three stuff as well including the festival but once more going away from cannon unless what I've got planned matches up or is similar to the show itself, which if it is. I CALLED IT!
Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time. ^_^