A/N: I decided to re-write this chapter somewhat due to personal displeasures with it, hence the re-upload. Again, apologies for any inconvenience caused and enjoy!
"Come on sis, you need to go to class!"
"Nuh-uh." Yang shook her head firmly, tweaking the bandage that wrapped Rubys knee.
"I'm not going anywhere unless I absolutely have to, and right now, I don't have to be anywhere!"
"But I'm fine!" Ruby began, raising her arms in protest. Truth be told, the pain was only slightly better than normal, but she was growing accustomed to the constant dull ache and was generally feeling more positive. She wasn't really worried about her sisters constant vigil, but she wanted to be left alone for a while so she could do things that were otherwise awkward or impossible with someone else around.
"No you're not." Came the reply. Ruby knew that Yang wouldn't fall for any bluff or lie, but she had to get rid of her somehow. She raised a finger to her chin in thought, dimly aware of the tugs and pulls down her leg. It took her a few minutes, and by the time Yang had finished her adjustments and redressed the wound Ruby had come up with a plan. She swallowed once, frowning her face ever so slightly and pouting her lips, widening her eyes as much as she could. Her voice was quiet and a little shaky, not by choice, but it would help with the illusion.
"Yang, do you ever worry about yourself?" Ruby asked with the most sincerity she could muster, earning a suspicious stare from her older sister. Yang leant back in her chair, her eyes narrowing.
"Yyyes...why?" She asked, wondering what had brought this sudden change of character around.
"Well, it's just that you always seem so selfless..." Ruby hunched her shoulders together and lowered her head, giving Yang the best worried face she could manage.
"You always put other people first and...I worry about you, that's all." She let her words hang in the air, gesturing to the bandages wrapping around her sisters arms. The older girl glanced down at them, pulling back her sleeves to show the scratches peeking out from the dressings.
"Oh, this?" Yang grinned, raising her arms so Ruby could get a better look. She spoke somewhat awkwardly, as though the thought of being so selfless was embarrassing to her.
"This is nothing, really! I just did what I thought I had to do, that's all!" Ruby let a smile onto her face but kept it small and weak, lending more to her 'worried sibling' facade.
"You say that, but that looks like it really hurts. Are you sure you're okay?"
Yang glanced around the room, disliking these sappy emotional moments.
"I'm fine, honestly! It just stings a little sometimes, nothing worse." She took a second to appreciate Rubys concern, oblivious to the reasoning behind it. Her face softened at seeing Rubys own, her sisterly care started to kick in.
"Look, you don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself. If it gets too much, I'll come here as soon as I can, okay?" Yang gave a warm smile as Ruby nodded slowly, gently teasing her fingers through the red fringes.
"Now then, I've got some studying that I should be doing. Do you mind if I do it here? No? Didn't think so!" Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but Yang had already pulled out her books and was already reading, leaving the younger girl no further than when she had started.
Ruby watched Yang tap her pen against her chin, debating on just how to get rid of her. Feign pain? No, that would just make things worse. Distract her? It seemed like a good idea but there was really nothing she could use, the room was empty besides the two of them.
As though fate smiled down on her, they both turned to see Blake walking calmly towards them with her uniform crisp and fresh. Ruby gave a cheery wave and a smile while Yang simply nodded, seemingly engrossed in her work.
Blake bent over besides her partner, her head nearly resting on Yangs shoulder. She whispered something that Ruby couldn't hear, and as Yang quietly put her things back in her bag and slung it over her shoulder, Ruby guessed it was important. She watched with slight bewilderment as Yang gave her a light hug, wrapping her arms around Rubys shoulders and squeezing gently. Ruby felt a light kiss on her head and heard a quiet 'goodbye', half raising her hand in farewell as Yang left the room.
Blake sat down exactly where Yang had just been, holding a book in both her hands. She watched Ruby catching up with the present with her usual interest, golden eyes contrasting against her uniform. A few seconds of puzzled looks and Ruby arrived back into reality, resting her gaze on her teammate and beaming the warmest smile she could muster.
"So Blake, what are you doing here?" Ruby asked, her hands resting in her lap. Blake gave a smile of her own, glancing the bedridden girl up and down.
"I came to see how you were, of course." She replied casually, a brief tint of kindness in her words.
"Oh, well...I'm fine. I mean, it still hurts a lot, but I'm getting used to it now. I'm actually kind of glad you got Yang to leave, I needed some time to myself-" Ruby reached a hand out quickly upon seeing Blake begin to rise from her chair, her mouth only just opening to speak.
"Oh no no no, I don't want you to leave!" She exclaimed, surprise written on her face. "It's just that... Yang is quite loud sometimes, and I wanted to do things that she couldn't know about. I like your company too Blake, please stay for a while!" Rubys smile returned as Blake lowered herself back into the chair, her right eyebrow raising in curiosity.
"Things that she shouldn't know about? Like what?" Blake queried, her interest piqued. Ruby tapped her nose and tilted her head to the side, winking mischievously.
"I shouldn't tell people everything, should I? I'll be letting all three of you know when I'm sure that I have all the facts right. I really, really wouldn't want to give you guys misinformation." Blake leaned back in her chair, content to humour her leader for a little.
"Facts about what?" She asked, watching Rubys brilliant silver eyes for any telling signs. "About the thing that chased you through the forest?" While Blake regretted to be bringing this topic up yet again, she had a feeling that it was precisely what Ruby was referring to, something that was only confirmed at the silence that fell after the question. Ruby took several seconds to think, weighing up her options.
"...Maybe. Well." Ruby sighed, she knew better than to try and hide anything from Blake. The older girl would find out one way or another regardless.
"Yes." She looked up at her teammate, waiting for a response.
Blake inclined her head slightly, indicating for Ruby to continue.
"Well, it didn't look like anything I'd seen before. I'd show you my drawings but I gave those to Ozpin, since you..." Her voice faltered there, prompting Blake to offer the book to Ruby. She took it with both hands and opened the pages, flicking through them on her lap with a mixture of surprise and awe, her mouth hanging open slightly in an 'O' shape. Blake was happy to see her mood change so quickly.
"I've never seen this book before, it wasn't in the library. Where did you find this?" She asked between stunned silences, glancing up at Blake for an answer.
"You're not the only one who can draw." Blake replied simply, her amber eyes flashing in quiet self-satisfaction at Rubys reaction. The younger girls voice grew even more amazed upon learning the information, her eyes wide.
"You drew this?! These are incredible!" Blake gave another small smile and pointed to the simple dark gray pad.
"Turn to the most recent page." On command, Ruby did so. Now her eyes grew wide not with awe, but with surprise, only wholly confirming what Weiss had told her two nights ago.
"Is that what attacked us?"
Ruby nodded slowly, her gaze switching between the paper in front of her and the girl sitting beside her.
"Yes, but...how did you know? You were unconscious!" Blake hung her head, choosing her words carefully.
"I did some research. That's an Umbra."
"Umbra?" Ruby repeated, focusing on the drawings that filled the page. "What does it mean?"
"Nobody knows." Blake replied. She thought it best to lie, lest Ruby come to any wild conclusions by herself.
"What I do know is that it shouldn't be here. The Emerald Forest is far too competitive for it. That means that someone or something, has forced it here." She kept her voice level, watching Rubys face to gauge how much she could afford to say.
"Woah..." Was all the younger girl could say, no doubt recalling the battle that ensued. Blake let Ruby speak in her own time, fully understanding the magnitude of the girls injuries. Speaking of which, it didn't seem like Yang had mentioned physically assaulting Rubys knee into place, but Ruby did seem like the sort of person to go along with a scheme as reckless as that. Ruby broke the brief contemplation period with a quiet but strong voice.
"This is a lot more serious than I thought...what are we going to do?" She looked at Blake, worry evident in her eyes. Blake gave the best answer she could, reassuring herself more than Ruby that things would be fine.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I think you should have your alone time. I'm sorry if I intruded, and please. Don't let this change your plans." She gently took the pad from Rubys grasp and gave a small wave, stopping mid-turn to answer Rubys next question.
"Where are you going?"
"Faunus History class with Yang." Before Ruby had a chance to ask the older girl anything else, she had vanished.
"You really need to stop doing that..." Ruby whispered to herself, shifting her position. After a moment of deliberation, she pulled a pencil and notepad from her bag and flipped it open vertically as she began writing a bullet-pointed list on the paper.
Blake knows about Umbra
Ozpin knows about Umbra
Blake has some kind of connection to Umbra
Blake challenged Ozpins secrecy request
Ruby paused, holding the end of the pencil to her chin as she processed the information, linking things together. It took her several minutes of thinking as she wracked her brain to make connections. Had anyone else been in the room they would have jumped in surprise at the sudden outburst that broke the silence.
"Blake knows more about this than she's telling me!" She cried triumphantly, scribbling the words down and forming several oval shapes on a new page. She wrote 'Blake', 'Ozpin' and 'Umbra' in three of them and drew lines from one to another, adding more bubbles and writing quick notes on each line to detail the link.
Pretty soon she had a large, albeit rather confusing looking spider-diagram involving all four members of team RWBY, Professor Ozpin, the Umbra, the Emerald Forest, the events of three days ago, Grimm, Nevermores, Deathstalkers, Battle Strategies, Combat Preferences, Strengths and Weaknesses and much more.
Ruby placed them both down on her lap and frowned, absent-mindedly holding her finger to her mouth in thought.
Some of this didn't make sense. If what Blake said is true, and that what Ruby herself had seen and documented to Professor Ozpin were accurate, then nothing short of something incredibly powerful could shift one of these things from their territory. She had seen firsthand how strong they were and counted herself lucky to have escaped at all, let alone only with a broken leg.
Even so, she regretted her teammates being injured as they were seeing as she still thought of it as her fault. No amount of reassurance from neither Weiss nor Yang had been able to change her opinion on that so far, and Ruby was sure that no matter what they said she would still believe her team to be her responsibility.
She shook her head, returning her attention to the mass of lines and bubbles on the paper in front of her. Her eyes ran across the text and links over and over, she was missing something and she was sure of it. The only problem was she didn't know exactly what she was missing; she couldn't very well go to Ozpin with her theories and only this brainstorming session as evidence, he was a very busy man and she was sure that she would only be wasting his time. Likewise, she couldn't trouble Yang with any of this, her sister had enough on her plate as it was and she didn't need anything else to contend with. Blake knew more than she was telling, of that too Ruby was certain and so she couldn't bring any of this information to her teammate.
That only left one person.
Unsurprisingly, Blake made it to the class before Yang and sat herself on the front row of desks, her notepad neatly aligned in front of her on the off-chance that she would need it. Despite the lecture beginning in a few minutes, Yang was one of the last students to arrive, falling onto the wooden bench next to Blake with a loud thud. They exchanged brief glances and smiles before the teacher sped past them in a flash of white and green, standing behind his desk with a steaming cup in one hand and the other held neatly behind his back. Thick round glasses obscured his eyes while a yellow tie hung loosely around his creased white shirt, half tucked into his dark green pants. He took one sip and greeted his class in one breath, moving swiftly on to the topic at hand without giving them a chance to respond.
Professor Oobleck pointed at the large map behind him as though his hand were a sword, zipping around the area at the bottom of the room with a comical speed. He spoke all at once, only pausing to take another drink or to wait for a students answer. Most of the information Blake already knew, but she paid attention nonetheless, watching with interest more at the other students responses than the Professors questions. The majority of them were semi-knowledgeable about faunus history, but the only ones who actually knew more than the basics were faunus themselves. Blake noted in particular a meek, frail looking girl sitting across the room from her, two long, thin rabbit ears seated on the top of her head, bending over on themselves as they neared the ends.
She was very shy, raising her hand slowly and shakily, speaking in a very quiet tone that even Blake struggled to hear coherently. Even so, her answers were all correct as Oobleck congratulated her. Blake suspected it was partly out of knowledge, but mostly of respect for speaking up in a largely human class. Her attention was pulled from the lecture in process to her partner, who had her arms resting on the desk in front of her and her head to the side nuzzled into them. Asleep.
Blake jabbed Yang in the ribs gently, enough to wake her up but not enough to grab the professors attention. Yang blinked wearily, and Blake couldn't tell if her exhaustion was catching up with her or if she was just plain bored. It seemed that boredom was the answer as Yang visibly perked up as Oobleck began to talk about Faunus disguising themselves as humans to avoid detection. Ears were harder to hide than a tail, and provided nobody paid close attention most faunus could get away with the facade without too much trouble. The professor breathlessly told of subterfuge and infiltration, faunus disguising their ears as part of a mask or underneath a hat, stuffing their tails inside their pants or bandaging it to their backs to keep up the illusion. Blake was very familiar with secrecy, having spent most of her life utilizing stealth to conceal her secrets.
Once again, Yang became her focus as Blake caught her partner eyeing her bow suspiciously. Blake did her best to ignore it, but was always aware of Yang not-so-subtly inspecting the material that sat on top of her head. She may as well just tackle Blake to the ground, it would be about as obvious.
"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake asked, keeping her voice to a low whisper.
"Hm? Oh, nothing." Yang replied, turning back to the class in a hurry. Blake rolled her eyes, knowing full well that Yang assumed Blake hadn't seen her scrutinizing the bow.
The rest of the lecture passed in relative normality, and before the most eager of students had even begun to rise from their seats, Professor Oobleck zoomed out of the room, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Blake picked up her pad and slotted it neatly into her bag, in contrast to Yang who knocked everything back into the unorganised mess and led the duo out of the room amongst the sea of teenagers leaving their classes. Yang physically pushed and shoved her way through the crowds while Blake kept close behind her, using the brief gap between shoves to keep pace with her partner.
They made it back to the dorm in good time despite the congestion, and Blake noted with relief that Yang didn't seem to be worrying as much about Ruby. Or indeed, anyone else. They both retired to their beds in silence, with Yang continuing her studying and Blake reading her book in quiet comfort. One of the few times her partner was quiet was when she had important work to be doing, and Blake was thankful that she had the next few hours pretty much to herself seeing as Weiss wouldn't be back for a while.
She glanced over at the empty pair of beds, one hanging precariously by ropes that seemed to be held aloft only by Rubys belief that it was safe, and the impeccably neat one firmly rooted to the ground. It was a miracle that Weiss slept at all with that deathtrap hanging over her, but Blake wasn't entirely confident that she was safe herself. The books that held Yangs bed up were sturdy and thick, but the day they finally got proper bunk-beds wouldn't be a day too soon.
She turned back to her book and started to read, immersing herself in the world that someone else had created as Yang scribbled away above her. It seemed that the hype of the previous events had died down, and Blake was reminded that she had unfinished business with her partner. For now however, she was content to wait it out. The time would come soon enough.