Ruby was glad that her companions had a chance to relax. They had gone through hell taking out the White Fang near the city of Vacuo and Ruby believed that they all deserved a break. As fortune would have it, their chance at rest was met swiftly upon their return to the city. The King declared that a feast be held in honor of Ruby and her success in driving away a dangerous foe.
Which is where Ruby and her companions were at right now. Ruby looked around at the celebration, she noticed that Yang and Nora were having a drinking contest with each other, while Blake judged the match. She quickly learned in Sanctuary that Yang could hold her liquor well, but something about the contest told Ruby that Nora was giving the blonde a run for her money. She felt bad for Blake though, since the raven haired girl was the one responsible for keeping them in line during the contest. If you were to ask her though, she figured Blake wouldn't mind, at least with Yang.
Turning her attention towards other parts of the hall where everyone was, she saw that Jaune and Pyrrha looked to be hearing stories from some of the old veteran soldiers. Ruby assumed that Pyrrha mentioned her being a captain of the Sanctum Royal Guard, which probably led to the current conversation that was taking place over there. Somehow, she was surprised when it looked like Jaune was fitting in with the old soldiers as well. Ruby had to admit, Jaune certainly had come a long way since they first set out from Vale.
When she saw Sun speaking with his friend Neptune over at the bar, Ruby couldn't help but smile. She was glad that Sun had someone who was a close friend to him that he could share his experiences with. Even if she didn't know Neptune that well, she figured that he was a good guy deep down. Ruby could tell that their conversation was going well for them because of the way that they laughed and acted there was no one else around to see them like that.
She saw Weiss sitting over in a corner of the room all by herself, trying hard to avoid people. Ruby could understand what she was doing, but it still was upsetting to see her do this. She had made so many attempts at helping her learn to trust others, and it seemed as though she was nowhere near where she wished that Weiss would be at. She needed to talk to Weiss at some point that night so the girl didn't feel left out. For the time being though, she would try to enjoy the party without having to worry about others, a nice mug of ale in her hands.
Finally, she noticed Ren, who was also watching from a distance. From what she knew of him, he seemed to be very focused on what needed to be done. It was kind of a surprise to see him here, trying to interact with people, but that didn't matter though right now. Ruby decided to walk over and talk to him about some of the coming days. While the King promised that she would get the support that she needed for her quest, she wanted to talk with Ren about it and ask how he felt. When Ren noticed her coming towards him, he gave a polite smile, and turned towards her.
"You enjoying the festivities?" Ren asked.
Ruby nodded and took a swig of her ale. "Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, so all the positivity is just, intoxicating. It has a way of just making everyone else feel good about this," Ruby said back.
"Seems your friend Weiss doesn't seem to agree with that," Ren pointed out.
Ruby shook her head. "Well, Weiss is still adjusting to living with other people around that aren't trying to use her. She has some trust issues, and rightfully so. If you went through what she did, I'm sure you would feel the same way."
"I believe you on that. Still it doesn't seem to be affecting the rest of the people here," Ren looked over to Yang and Nora, who were both chugging ale at an alarming pace. "Who do you think is gonna win between those two?"
Ruby looked over to the two ladies drinking their hearts out and laughed. "We'll, tonight, I'm sure they both have a shot of winning. Tomorrow though, we win when they are feeling miserable to the point that we can poke at their misery. I'm sure there's something you would like to annoy Nora with, right?" Ruby suggested.
"Now that you mention it, she has been making me cook her pancakes all the time. I guess tomorrow would be a good day to ask if she could make something for me instead," Ren said.
Ruby laughed. "Now you're talkin'." There was one question still burning in her mind though. "There's one thing that I'm still wondering about."
"And what would that be exactly?" Ren asked.
Ruby sighed before she spoke. "How do you feel about this quest of ours? I know this is being thrust upon you very suddenly, but I want to know if you feel comfortable with this."
Ren thought about what Ruby asked for a moment before answering. "To be quite honest, I'm concerned that things could go wrong very quickly. The Black Dragon is not a force to be trifled with and we are merely human. Our bodies are weak compared to that beast and if we aren't truly ready to face it, then we are doomed."
Ruby felt the same way about it herself, but she knew that it had to be done. As a Huntsman, she knew that there would be times where she would need to risk her own life, so this quest was no different than before, aside from how dangerous it was. "I understand, it is a dangerous quest after all. If you don't feel comfortable joining, I'm sure that we can figure something out."
Ren chuckled at the notion. "Did I ever say that I wouldn't help?" Ruby looked at him, confused at what he said. "I know that this quest is going to be taxing on us all, but if you need my help for it, then I will offer it to you." He offered out his hand to Ruby, which she took without hesitation.
"I would be honored to join you in your quest Ruby, and will go forth with you as far as we have to," Ren said.
"Thank you Ren. I promise that as long as we are together, I will do all that I can to protect you and those we travel together with," Ruby responded. When their hands parted, he bowed to her and walked away to speak with the other guests.
Ruby walked around for a bit as well, not really paying much mind to anyone in particular. She saw that Yang and Nora finished their drinking contest, and that Blake and Ren were helping them stand up and get ready to leave. Sun looked to be bidding farewell to his friend Neptune, and Pyrrha looked to be talking with Jaune about something private. That left only herself and Weiss without anyone to talk to, so Ruby decided to pay the girl a visit and keep her company.
Weiss sat over in an alcove by herself, away from the rest of the party, paying no attention to the happenings around them. Ruby could see that she was working on something, but what it was, Ruby couldn't tell. When she got closer to Weiss and could see what she was doing, Ruby shook her head at the sight. There was Weiss, sitting before her, looking over a list of the supplies that they had between the group. Sighing, Ruby walked over and sat in the seat opposite of Weiss, grabbing the girls attention from her work.
"Is there anything that you need Ruby?" Weiss asked flatly.
"I'm just wondering what you're doing exactly. Normally people aren't working when they have a chance to relax for a moment," Ruby said.
Weiss turned most of her attention back to the work in front of her, though she still gave Ruby some of her attention. "We don't have the luxury of time Ruby, and since everyone else is off gallivanting like a bunch of idiots, I'm making sure that at least something gets done. So no Ruby, I won't be relaxing, and the constant attempts by everyone to get me to join this waste of time is really unwanted."
"Oh Weiss, you don't seem to understand just how important this is to us," Ruby said.
Weiss knew that she wasn't going to be able to focus on her work now, thanks to Ruby. So she put that all aside for a moment to make Ruby explain herself. "What do you mean by I don't understand, exactly?"
Ruby drank a bit of her ale. "You don't have to spend every single moment working. I know that you've spent your whole life that way, but it's not all that there is to life. You're allowed to take some time for yourself, away from what needs to be done," Ruby said to her. She turned to look out at the people in the crowds. "We have a long journey ahead of us, and there won't be many times to relax like this. Hell if you ask me, we needed a rest after what we went through recently."
Turning back towards Weiss, Ruby saw that the girl remained silent, giving her reason to continue. "There's no point in spending your life constantly moving forward, when you don't take the chance to just look around you. If you stop to see what's around you, you'd see the beauty that surrounds you," Ruby stood up and slid in next to Weiss. "Just take a chance to stop and smell the roses."
"Ruby, it's not that simple. I can't just relax when I know that so much is riding on us being successful. If we don't work hard, then we won't be ready to fight the dragon when the time comes. Do you want to go in there and not be prepared for that?" Weiss asked.
While Weiss was right, Ruby knew that there were still things that Weiss didn't understand. "Weiss, what good is it to push to where you are going non-stop, if you can't stand up when you get there?"
Weiss looked to answer that, but quickly stopped herself. She didn't have an answer to that question and Ruby knew it. Ruby knew it, because she was right. She realized just why they needed to take a break from the road ahead of them and look around. There wouldn't be a chance if they pushed themselves too hard, Ruby knew that very well. It finally dawned on Weiss, just what Ruby was saying after all, why these moments should be taken advantage of.
"I never thought of it that way," Weiss said.
"Well, that's what I'm here for. Give good advice, help you adjust to the world around you, kick butt while looking sexy," Ruby said.
"Har har, very funny Ruby," Weiss said.
Weiss turned to look out at the crowd. She saw the faces of those who were there, enjoying themselves with the company of their friends and fellow soldiers. She could start to see how everyone was happy with the way things were. As she looked at the faces, there was one person that she saw that filled Weiss with dread. There was a man talking to the King, a man that she knew oh too well. He wore a gray suit and his hair was as white as Weiss'.
"I need to go Ruby, now," Weiss said. She pushed Ruby out of the way and quickly left without another word.
AN: So first off, sorry for the late chapter, I had quite a bit of work to do for school over the weekend, plus some other issues that I would rather not get into. I hated having to miss the deadline yesterday, but there was nothing I could do about it. Fortunately I was able to finish this and get it out today, even if it's a day late.
If anyone can guess who the person is at the end of the chapter, they be awesome and get a shout out next chapter (it shouldn't be that hard by the way).
Anyway, you guys are awesome and I wanna thank you all for being awesome. Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.