*peers from around corner*

Hi… I know, I'm a horrible person for posting this story all revamped and ready to continue, and then desert you all for two months… Especially after such an emotional chapter too! Ruby speaking?! Kinda?!

Yeah, anyway, I really do apologize for the super long wait. I wish I could say it won't happen again, but I honestly can't. However, like I've mentioned in RWBY Go, I refuse to let any story go unfinished, so whether it takes another year or not, LiS will continue being updated!

As always, please review. :)

Chapter VII

Weiss berated herself all the way home in the car that day.

'A great weekend?' What had she been thinking? This weekend would be nothing but awkward!

Stopped at a light at the moment, she spared a glance over at her passenger. Ruby had had her face plastered to the window since they left the lot of the Home, and Weiss could only imagine the look of awe and intrigue present in silver eyes and painted across pink lips. Weiss knew the girl wasn't going to be the one to initiate conversation because of…well, reasons, so it came down to Weiss.

Except she didn't know what to say.

"Do you… Do you want to listen to the radio or anything?" she forced herself to speak finally. "I have some CDs in the glove compartment as well."

Ruby turned to face her then, and Weiss managed a small smile at the look of excitement the girl was now teeming with. Confidence slowly on the rise, Weiss gestured to the dashboard.

"You pick."

Ruby nodded rapidly before immediately starting to fiddle with all the nobs and buttons. Weiss realized after a minute of random station changing, volume fluctuation, and static, that Ruby most likely hadn't operated a car radio in her life.

"Uh, here," Weiss cut in nervously, gently nudging Ruby's handing from changing the radio from FM to AM for the fifth time. "Rock, pop, classical, or oldies?"

Ruby seemed to mull over her options momentarily before she held up three fingers. It took Weiss a second to catch on.

"Classical?"

A nod.

Weiss felt a smile flow effortlessly onto her face then. "Okay," she said. "That's my favorite genre too."

Ruby just blushed a bit at that before looking down at her lap. The shy mannerisms made Weiss giggle slightly before the light finally turned green and they continued the journey home.

Home.

She was taking Ruby to her home.

Now Weiss was the one blushing. She realized she hadn't really thought this through. To this day, Blake was the only one who had been over to Weiss's house. Whenever there was a school project that involved group work outside of class, Weiss had always found a reason to have everyone not come over to her place.

It wasn't that Weiss was embarrassed of where she lived…

Well, not exactly… She wasn't embarrassed because of how meager her home living was, but rather how it was the exact opposite.

Everyone knew the Schnees were rich, but if her peers at school saw just how rich…

Let's just say I'd be making friends for all the wrong reasons then, Weiss grumbled bitterly to herself.

Still, Ruby was most likely unaware to Weiss's family's wealth. She knew they owned the home she lived in, but Weiss found it probable that Ruby didn't automatically link that ownership to riches.

She had been trying so hard to make Ruby comfortable with her, the last thing Weiss wanted was to scare the girl off with her money, or make her feel inadequate.

"Ruby?"

Silver eyes turned away from the window once again to focus on her curiously.

"Um, so… Just so you know, my house is pretty big, and my family is extremely well off. I don't want it to take you by surprise, so I'm telling you in advance. And I don't mean 'big' as in multiple floors; I mean it like multiple floors, butlers and cooks, swimming pool, theater room… All of that."

Weiss wasn't expecting a verbal answer, obviously, but when the silence was just a bit too stifling afterwards, she anxiously looked to Ruby…

Who was staring at her with wide eyes and a near-uncontrollable grin. Weiss felt her nerves begin to settle as she hesitantly smiled back.

"That doesn't make you uncomfortable?" she asked next. She had to be sure. "You don't care that I'm…rich?"

With no hesitation at all, Ruby immediately shook her head no, smile never vacating. Weiss's own only continued to grow.

"Okay," she breathed in relief. "Good. I just…didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

Ruby looked confused then, cocking her head cutely.

Blushing, Weiss mumbled in answer, "Just because you… Youdon'treallyhaveahome."

It was said in a jumbled mess, but it was the only way Weiss could say it. Yes; she didn't want Ruby coming to her house because she herself hadn't had one for the past ten years, and who knows before then. Then here Weiss was, about to flaunt how well off she is right in her face. It was…disconcerting, to say the least.

So, Weiss was overcome with different emotions when Ruby reached over and touched her hand on the steering wheel. Looking over again, Weiss swallowed the knot in her throat.

Ruby didn't care. Weiss could have said she lived in a castle and was ruler of her own kingdom and Ruby wouldn't care. Weiss had known from the start that this girl was special, but even now Ruby kept finding ways to surprise her more so.

Sighing, Weiss relaxed, smiling once more. "Thank you, Ruby. That wasn't going to sound nice no matter how I put it. Still, I knew it was going to keep bothering me the entire weekend if I didn't get it off my chest."

Removing her hand, Ruby just nodded, giving Weiss a silly, toothy grin in response.

Both girls fell into a fit of giggles then, and Weiss found herself excited for the next two days once again.

As they made the turn into the driveway leading to Weiss's house, Ruby was pressed back again the window. From the outside, the house didn't look that extravagant, really. The entire structure was painted white, automatically standing out from the other brick or brown houses that surrounded it. Of course, Weiss knew her father had had it painted as such just for that reason. The roof and all shutters and accents on the house were black to make it extremely aesthetically pleasing. Weiss always remembered thinking her house was one of those trick rooms. It looked comparably decent on the outside, but on the inside, you would think it had doubled its size.

Before Weiss even had a chance to kill the car's engine, a young man with blue hair was rapidly descending the front steps.

"Miss Schnee!" he greeted, a beaming smile as always filling his face. "Welcome home."

"Hello, Neptune," Weiss sighed.

Neptune Vasilias was one of the many people employed as the Schnee family's house staff. Originally introduced to Weiss when they were ten year-olds to be her fiancé when they came of age, Weiss made it very clear from the start that she was not interested in the boy. He was full of himself and couldn't take a hint to drop the 'charmer' act. Still, her father was fond of him, and so Neptune was given a job within the family when he was sixteen.

He'd been around ever since, much to Weiss's displeasure.

"Can I help you with your bags?"

"May I help you with your bags, Neptune," Weiss quipped back at him, always grateful for the opportunity to knock him down a peg.

Neptune just rolled his eyes; he got awfully cocky and casual with her whenever her parents weren't around.

"Fine, princess, may I help you?"

"No, I think we got it."

Neptune blinked, observing the immediate area. "Uh, 'we?'"

Realizing the absence of one person in particular, Weiss peered through the back window to see Ruby still sitting in the passenger seat. A small smile cracked on her face.

"Ruby, you can get out of the car now," she explained, rounding to the passenger's door. "We're…here…"

She trailed off when she saw Ruby not just sitting in the seat, but stiff and hunched over. She was afraid of something.

"Ruby?" Weiss slowly opened the car door and bent down to get a better look at her friend. "What's wrong?"

Silver eyes met hers before flickering to the blue-haired boy behind them. Weiss immediately understood.

"Neptune?" Weiss spun to face the boy. "May I have a word?"

"Uh, sure, Weiss."

Leading him away a few steps, Weiss could feel Ruby's eyes on them the entire time.

"Look, why don't you and the rest of the staff take the weekend off?"

Neptune's eyes nearly bulged from his head. "You serious? But your parents aren't home."

"And I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself without the aide of doting servants!" Weiss snapped. Softening a bit, she added, "Plus, I've brought a friend home for the weekend and she's very shy. I don't want all these strangers putting her on edge. We'll both be perfectly fine on our own for two days."

Neptune scratched the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable with leaving his employer's daughter—and no matter what she thought of him, his friend—alone.

"Just don't speak a word of this to father and he'll never know," she continued. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him; and that goes for both of us."

"Both of us? Just who-?"

"Just go tell the staff and leave, Neptune!"

With a frantic salute and cry of, "Y-Yes, ma'am!" Neptune darted back into the house.

Letting out a breath, Weiss turned to head back to Ruby. She didn't always like being so short with Neptune, but honestly it was sometimes the only way to get him to understand.

"It's okay now, Ruby," she said gently once she had opened the car door again. "It's just us now, and will remain so for the rest of the weekend, okay?"

Ruby looked around as if double-checking before she hesitantly got out of the car. She reached for the backpack she had packed her things in, but Weiss pulled it away from her reach.

"I've got it, don't worry. You're my guest!"

That elicited the smallest of smiles from the brunette, causing Weiss to do likewise.

Well, that was one situation diffused.

Once Ruby seemed to realize it truly was just her and Weiss, she had calmed immensely. Weiss had led her up to her bedroom to drop off Ruby's things before giving her the grand tour. Weiss took note of the way Ruby's eyes lit up at the theater room, and stored that bit of info away for later. Presently, Ruby was sprawled across the couch in the living room while Weiss was in the nearby kitchen and trying to find them something she could make for dinner.

She decided after a while that ordering in might be better than subjecting Ruby to her cooking. Not that she was a bad cook, but…

Well, they had cooks for a reason.

"Ruby, do you like pizza?" Weiss asked as she walked back into the living room.

The quick, near-frantic way Ruby bolted off the couch, wide grin stretched on her face made Weiss realize what a silly question that probably was.

Giggling at the girl's exuberant response, Weiss spoke. "Guess we know what to do for dinner now."

In no time, the two of them were seated next to each other in the theater room with a box of a large cheese pizza sitting between them as a movie played overhead.

Ruby barely looked away from the screen once, blindly swiping slice after slice. Weiss, however, was a bit more distracted. She would occasionally steal glances at Ruby before looking down at her hands fiddling in her lap. Meanwhile, nerves roiled in her stomach.

She kept appearances up, however, until the ending credits began to roll. As she saw Ruby come out of her 'movie-watching daze,' she cleared her throat.

Curious silver looked her way and Weiss felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest.

"R-Ruby, I… There's actually a bigger reason for inviting you over this weekend than just hanging out," she started to stammer out. "I… I don't want you to feel obligated to go through with this for any reason, and I swear I wasn't trying to buy your cooperation with pizza and a movie, but…"

As she trailed off, she saw Ruby reach for her hand like she had in the car. Glancing up, Weiss saw what was to be expected: Ruby smiling at her reassuringly; as if Weiss could ask her to throw herself from the roof and she would jump at the opportunity. However, that served to make Weiss even more anxious. She had a feeling Ruby really would do anything for her, and Weiss didn't want that.

"I have a…favor to ask," she managed to continue. "We have to write a paper in our psychology class about a psychological disorder of our choice, and in it we have to use two first person sources. I was…hoping I could write my paper on…you?"

Ruby's eyes widened slightly at the request, but she nodded all the same, that welcoming, warm smile still in place.

"I don't want you to feel obligated to do so though, Ruby," Weiss told her, voicing her rampant thoughts. "I'm going to have to ask you questions you may not want to tell me the answers to; ask about your past and what led to your present situation; you're really okay with all of that?"

Again, Ruby nodded. A small smile flickered across Weiss's face before her worry took back over. Still, she tried to keep a strong façade in place in order to help Ruby remain comfortable and as willing as she appeared to be.

"Great," she sighed. "Then let's clean up here and head up to my room, okay?"

Once upstairs, Weiss and Ruby sat facing each other in the middle of Weiss's queen-sized bed, her school backpack off to the side. Ruby looked on interestedly as Weiss spread out three pads of paper between them, keeping one in her lap.

"So, in order to do this in the easiest way possible," Weiss began explaining while uncapping a Sharpie. "I figured I'll try and ask as many yes or no questions as possible, and you just point to the corresponding notepad."

A big YES and NO were written on two of the three notepads.

"The third," Weiss handed Ruby a pen, "you can write any answer on, should you need to. Make sense?"

Ruby nodded, pointing energetically to the notepad that said the same. Weiss chuckled, feeling the tension leave the room if just momentarily. Still, Weiss fixed Ruby with a serious look.

"And I'm serious, Ruby, if I get too personal, or if you want to stop at anytime, for whatever reason—you don't even have to tell me why—let me know, okay?"

A more hesitant nod was her answer this time, but Ruby still managed to have her smile in tact that continued to fend off Weiss's concerns.

"Okay, so even though I know the answers to these, let's just double check to be sure." Weiss readied her own pen on the pad in her lap. "Your name is Ruby Rose."

YES.

"And you're fifteen years old?"

YES.

"You've been living at Schnee Home for ten years?"

Although Ruby looked a little taken aback that Weiss knew that bit of information, she pointed to the affirmative all the same.

"Doctor Ozpin is your doctor at the Home?"

YES.

Weiss recorded all the information before pausing and looking up at Ruby. This was where they started into the deep end. Ruby had come so far, Weiss feared her questioning would lead her to revert back into her shell, isolating herself once again. Ruby met her eyes with unwavering certainty though and gave another, significant nod of her head.

She really wanted to continue.

Some part of Weiss jumped with joy at the subtle movement. She had hoped for so long Ruby would willingly let Weiss into her life and now she was being granted access. Perhaps it was a bit more on the coercion side than Weiss would ideally have liked, but Ruby still had free will. She was ready to let someone in.

And that was monumental.

"What di-disorder have you been diagnosed with at the Home?"

Her stutter didn't go unnoticed as Ruby shot her a small smile as she reached for the blank notepad. Weiss waited for her answer on edge.

Ozpin calls it elective mutism.

So Blake had been right, Weiss found herself thinking.

Still, Weiss had never really heard of 'elective' mutism before. 'Selective mutism' had been all she had been able to find when she had done her night of searching before; though now that she had the correct term…

She dashed over to her laptop before unplugging it and bringing it onto the bed with them. Opening up the web browser, she typed in the disorder. Weiss spent a few minutes trying to get the gist of the disorder, Ruby watching patiently the entire time.

Whereas people with selective mutism still spoke in familiar situations (ergo the word 'selective'), people with elective mutism didn't speak at all, due mostly to defiance or trauma.

The latter left a bad feeling in the pit of Weiss's stomach.

"Have…" Weiss stopped to clear her throat. "Have you ever spoken?"

YES.

"When did you stop?"

When I was five.

"Right before you came to the Home?"

YES.

Weiss fought to keep her breathing level as she prepared to bite the bullet.

Finally. She was finally asking the question she had wondered since day one. The question everyone had wondered.

"Why?"

For the first time, Ruby broke eye contact and stared down at her notepad. Weiss could see her eyes darting back and forth rapidly, as if debating whether or not she could—should—really answer that question or not. Seeing her go to chew her bottom lip, Weiss reached forward to grasp both of Ruby's hands, causing the girl to look up at her.

"Why don't you talk, Ruby?" she asked her, putting all her care into the question.

Ruby didn't look uncomfortable at all, nor did she appear frightened. No, what Weiss instead saw swimming in those mercury pools was shame.

Smile flickering briefly across her face, Ruby pulled her hands away to write on her pad. When she turned it around for Weiss to read, Weiss found she was holding her breath.

So he can't find me.

Weiss's heart was beating ten-fold now and she was certain Ruby could hear it.

"Who?" Weiss asked, not caring how desperate she was sounding now, her assignment forgotten. Fear had taken over. "Ruby, is someone after you?"

When Weiss saw Ruby's next answer, tears immediately began to spill from her eyes as she pulled Ruby to her in another crushing hug, vowing then and there to never again let any harm come to this precious girl in her arms. Ruby latched onto Weiss as she always did, realizing Weiss was now upset and wanting to console her.

The notepad with her answer lay forgotten next to them momentarily, although Weiss made certain to send that sheet through the paper shredder later that night for good measure. Still, she had seen the answer, and those two words would haunt her for a long time to come.

My dad…