After meeting up again, Ruby and company walked down towards the front gates of Vacuo. She had concerns about this plan of hers, but there wasn't much that she could do about it right now. Nora reassured her that she would be bringing a few of the soldiers under her command as extra muscle in case they needed it. It relieved Ruby to hear about that, but she still felt worried about how dangerous their task was going to be.
She looked at those who were under her command, each of them having their own unique qualities to them that allowed them to be who they were. Ruby almost felt ashamed that at some point they would all go their separate ways. She would still have her sister yes, but how often would they see each other with both of their jobs taking them to faraway places. Fortunately she knew that Yang would never do any harm to her, even if they were on opposite sides of an issue due to their jobs. Ruby took some solace in that.
The only other person whom Ruby felt she would still have around, possibly more often than Yang, was Weiss. Ruby knew that Weiss didn't have a home to go to, and no one to return to when their task was over. After what the two of them talked about the night before had Ruby considering the possibility of being together with Weiss. Looking at her, she saw just how beautiful she truly was, even if she was the only one who saw it.
Ruby put those thoughts to the side and turned back to watch her companions as they walked through the streets. At one point Sun must have noticed something because he seemed to slow down. Ruby turned to see what was going on, causing everyone else to join her. Sun suddenly started to jog in the direction of someone he must have known.
"You son of a bitch, what are you doing here?" He shouted as he ran up to the person he was talking to.
"I've been in Vacuo for a few days now, just wrapping up a trade deal with a local merchant," The man in question answered. He had spiky blue hair with a pair of goggles up at the top of his brow. He wore a red jacket over a white dress shirt and black pants.
Ruby walked over to Sun to ask him what was going on. "Who's this?" She asked him.
"Oh, Ruby, this is Neptune. He's a friend of mine from Haven. We've known each other since we were kids, so he's pretty much my closest friend. Didn't expect to see you here though," Sun responded.
"You know me, I go where I'm needed," Neptune said. He turned his attention towards Weiss all of a sudden. "Why hello there, beautiful. I've traveled all across the realms yet I have never seen anything quite as breath-taking as you. Might I ask for your name?"
Weiss didn't even bother to smile. She simply rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. "I don't have time for your worthless pandering. There are more important things that need to be taken care of."
Neptune was shocked at the idea that someone had rejected him, but quickly regained his composure. "Oh well, can't win them all. In any case Sun, I have to get going and finish this deal. Hopefully I'll see you sometime soon." Neptune offered his hand to Sun, the latter shaking it definitively. "Until we meet again," he said to the rest before he walked away.
"Man, what was with Weiss? It's like she's extra cranky right now," Sun said to no one in particular.
"Let's just keep moving. We don't have much time," Ruby said, leading everyone onward. Internally though, she was wondering the exact same thing that Sun was. 'Sun's right, that was strange, even for Weiss. I know she can get cranky and cold towards people, but that's just really pushing it.'
Soon they approached the gate, their paths now separating for a short while. A quick wish of luck to each other and both groups set off. Yang, Sun, Jaune and Nora all stayed close to each other, making small talk while they traveled. Weiss on the other hand stayed a few steps ahead them. The soldiers under Nora's command pulled in the rear. Yang watched as Weiss did her best to stay away from everyone else. As much as Yang didn't approve of how distrustful Weiss was, she understood why she was acting that way.
'Maybe I'm being to hard on her, it's not her fault after all. I guess she's just a victim of this whole thing that happened to her.' Yang thought to herself as she walked on.
"So Yang, I kinda got something I wanna ask you," Sun asked abruptly, pulling Yang out of her thoughts.
"Yeah what is it?" Yang asked in return.
"What's the deal with Weiss? I can assume that she was that person you were looking for when we first met, but aside from that you guys didn't tell me that much about your whole mission thing," Sun said.
"I'm actually interested in knowing as well," Nora mentioned. "If we're gonna be working together, might as well get to know you guys, I guess."
"Well, Weiss is an interesting case," Yang began to say. "She's apparently the victim of an extremely cruel dust experiment that was set up by big man Schnee. As a result she is unnaturally powerful, but not only is she easily exhausted, she has major trust issues with people. Pretty much the only person she feels comfortable talking to about anything aside from work is Ruby, so don't be upset if she doesn't get too friendly with you."
"A dust experiment? That sounds pretty extreme, don't you think?" Sun asked.
"That's what we thought. We all agree that the way she was brought up is terrible, but unfortunately for her, the results of it are astonishing. I personally had my life saved thanks to her, even though she is harsh in her critiques of my combat abilities," Jaune cut in before Yang could say anything. "She told me that I wasn't ready for the fight ahead of us."
"To be fair to her Jaune, out of all of us, your combat skills are on the lower side of things. Sure she could've said so in a nicer way but you can't blame her for acting the only way she knows how. As much as I hate to admit it, we just need to accept her as is and move on from there," Yang said.
"If she doesn't learn that what she already knows isn't the way to handle things, then she isn't going to be working well with us," Nora cut in. "Like it or not she needs to change her attitude or else it's going to cause problems later on down the road."
Sun couldn't help but feel bad for Weiss. He somehow could relate to her in some aspects. Like Weiss, he had nowhere to go and very few people to rely on. He decided that maybe he should go and talk to her to see if he could help her build trust in himself and the others.
"What the heck is he doing?" Nora asked.
"Whatever it is, I hope he watches what he says to her," Yang replied.
Sun jogged up until he was next to Weiss. "Heya Weiss, how are things up here?"
Weiss let out a huff, and she didn't even bother to look at Sun while she was speaking. "What do you want exactly?"
"Well, if you're gonna be like that, then I'll just tell you that I want to know how you're doing," Sun answered.
"I was doing just fine before you decided to speak with me. Now is there anything else that you wanted to mention, exactly?" Weiss said.
Sun let out a sigh. "I wanted to apologize to you for what Neptune did earlier. I saw how you were bothered by it and I want to let you know that he didn't know anything about you at all and was just trying to be friendly."
"Doesn't matter to me what your friend does with himself. I don't feel compelled to give a damn about it anyway."
Sun shook his head. 'You brought this on yourself Sun, might as well finish it the best you can,' He thought to himself. "You know, you and I actually have a lot in common."
Weiss finally turned to look at him after that remark. "We have nothing in common."
"Yeah we do, actually. We both have faced a difficult life growing up, neither of us have anywhere to call home, and we both have only one person that we can truly rely on when we need it," Sun said.
"As true as those are, that doesn't make us alike," Weiss responded.
"From the way I see it, you and I are alike, even if you don't want to see it."
Sun kept talking but Weiss tuned him out. She was listening to the sounds that were going on around them. She heard the leaves rustling in the trees, the chirping of birds and the crunch of twigs underneath her feet. Then she heard a faint howl in the distance, the kind of howl that you would hear from a Beowolf. Her expression changed and she became more focused on that one particular sound, waiting to see if she would hear it again. When she did, she realized where it was coming from, right in the path of Ruby's group.
"Sun, shut up for a moment." Weiss had stopped walking and was focused solely on the sounds of the Grimm.
"What gives, Weiss, all I was trying to do was-"
"Sun, if you shut up and listen for a moment you'll hear what I just heard," Weiss quietly yelled to Sun.
Before Sun could say anything he heard what Weiss did, the howl of the Beowolves off in the distance. "Oh that's not good. Do you know where they're coming from?" Sun asked.
Weiss turned to walk over to Yang. "I do, and it's right where we don't want them to be." Once she stood next to Yang she had already formulated a plan to keep them out of Ruby's way. "Yang, fire one of your rounds into the air so it acts as a flare."
"And why would I do that exactly?" Yang asked.
"Yang there is no time to explain, just do it already," Weiss responded.
Yang shook her head, activated her gauntlets and did as Weiss instructed. "I hope that wasn't a waste," She mumbled to herself.
"I hope you guys are ready, because there is going to be a large number of Grimm heading towards us now," Weiss stated to everyone.
"Why did you bring them over here Weiss? Do you want to get us killed?" Yang asked. She wasn't too happy about what Weiss was doing.
"Would you rather Ruby have to deal with them instead? Because they're right in her path and they wouldn't be able to handle them all without getting hurt. We're more than capable of handling it so that they don't have to," Weiss said.
As much as Yang didn't want to admit it, Weiss was right. Her handling of the situation was cold, but she was handling it. "Well then, let's get this over with. Whoever kills the most Grimm gets a barrel of ale on me tonight!" Yang shouted to motivate everyone.
Weiss steeled her resolve and readied her blade. She waited for the first Grimm to appear through the trees, setting Myrtenaster to load up red dust. Once she saw the first Grimm, she activated the dust and swung her blade directly at the beasts.
AN: So the third chapter is out. I'm liking where things are going so far and it only gets better from here. You guys are awesome for sticking through Of Roses and Dragons and continuing on with this story. If anyone has any questions about the story so far just shoot me a message and I'll answer them as best as I can.
Thanks for reading, give this a follow a fave and a review, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.