"Ruby, do you have everything you need yet?" Weiss asked as she waited impatiently by the door of the girl's room.
"For the millionth time, just wait a minute!" Ruby shouted back in frustration as she threw her clothing back and forth between several piles that occupied her floor, two open drawers and most of her bed that wasn't taken up by the luggage she'd use to cart what she wanted back to Beacon.
"I swear, if you make us late for the airship-" Weiss started, glancing at her scroll and crunching numbers in her head.
"Then we'll get the one tonight and be there tomorrow!" Ruby said in exasperation.
"What's all the commotion?" Yang poked her head in behind Weiss.
"LEAVE!" Weiss ordered and Yang backed up with her hands raised in a show of surrender.
"Okay, I was just wondering how long you were going to be." Yang said innocently.
"Augh! Everyone leave me alone!" Ruby yelled in exasperation. "Go downstairs and I'll be down when I'm done!"
Ruby pushed Weiss into Yang and slammed her door shut, making the house rattle at the force the door hit home in the frame.
"Man, you really pushed her buttons." Yang laughed, placing a hand on Weiss's shoulder and guiding her away to the living room where Taiyang was waiting with Blake and Qrow.
"I can't believe I didn't see this coming." Weiss grumbled as she followed Yang.
"I actually can't believe it either." Yang admitted. "I mean, it seems like you two get along all the time, so to see you having a fight like that… it's sort of weird. Not to mention that huge organization binder you have."
"Who's having a fight?" Taiyang asked as they came around the corner into the living room. He and Qrow were sitting on the couch and Yang took the remaining seat. Blake was sitting on her suitcase, leaving the chair for Weiss.
"Nobody." Weiss replied grumpily. "Ruby and I are having a disagreement. That's all. And that's not even the largest size they sell, Yang."
"What's the fight about?" Qrow asked sloppily. He seemed like he'd been hitting the bottle pretty hard already even though it was barely eleven in the morning and he'd been there for only the past hour. "Having girl troubles? Ha ha."
"No, we simply are disagreed on what should have been taken care of yesterday and as a result, what time it would be appropriate to return in order to allow some time to review our notes before classes tomorrow." Weiss explained as she let out her breath and hung her head.
"And you didn't expect this?" Taiyang asked, somewhat surprised.
"Save the lecture. I already heard it from Yang." Weiss grumbled and sank further into the chair. "And in hindsight, I should have seen this coming and prevented it."
"Well, looks like the family tradition of being late is about to come to an end." Qrow said wistfully. "You know, my sister was late to her own wedding."
"Qrow, you don't have to tell her-" Taiyang started.
"No, she should know… Ruby's mom was one hell of a huntress." Qrow laughed at the memory that he was enjoying. "She showed up to the wedding, white dress all shining, but under the veil she was splattered with mud and even had some grass stuck in it."
Weiss sat up a little at the drunk retelling of Ruby's parents' wedding. It was the first time anyone in the family other than Ruby had spoken so openly about the talented artist that had been Ruby's mother.
"So she's got the paint on her hands slowly soaking through her gloves and the mud hiding behind the veil, and the look on Dar's face when he picked up the veil to give her a kiss was priceless!" Qrow cackled joyfully. "Then there's some commotion coming from outside and he seals the deal with barely a peck cause they both grab their weapons and head outside."
"Qrow, stop. You only destroy yourself whenever you start thinking of her again." Taiyang pleaded. "Please, stop…"
Weiss silently watched as Qrow ignored Taiyang's plead. Taiyang looked as if the blood had drained from his face but he couldn't move from his spot on the couch next to his drunk relative. That's when a thought struck Weiss. Qrow had mentioned Ruby's father, but she couldn't see the point that the name Taiyang turned into Dar. Then she remembered the file she'd read back at the beginning of the year that she was fairly certain had listed Ruby's father as being named Darwin.
"Hold on, I'm a little confused." Weiss started, getting everyone's attention. "When you said Dar, I assume you meant…?"
"Yes, Darwin Rose was Ruby's father." Taiyang said solemnly. "I was a close friend of his."
"So… Ruby…" Weiss felt shocked. She'd just found out something she hadn't even given any thought about before.
"I took her in as Yang's little sister when Summer…" Taiyang shook his head and Qrow seemed to refocus on the conversation as if he'd zoned out the second Weiss had interrupted.
"So like I was telling you, there was a den or two of wolves on the hunt in the nearby forest and they musta smelled the happiness just oozing out of our little hut of a church. So they do what any grimm without the brains to stay the fuck away does. They came…" Qrow's smile vanished as if it were smoke. "Ruby was only seven or so. Maybe eight…. I can't remember anymore. She wanted to help but there was nothing she could do. Most of the wolves were older, more experienced. One even had the markings of dust on it's hide."
"Uncle Qrow!" Yang said, standing in front of her uncle. "Stop. Dad, go get some air."
Taiyang nodded and Qrow seemed to obey until Taiyang left the room with Blake in tow to make sure he was alright. Yang seemed just as pained as her father, but there was a difference. Yang had gotten over Summer's death, Taiyang hadn't.
"Go sit down like a good little girl." Qrow grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled Yang back onto the couch. It looked like she was going to argue but let it slide. "So some of the civilian guests kept Ruby, Yang, and the other kids by the church. It was surrounded, so there was nowhere to evacuate to. Taiyang, Darwin, and Summer had gone ahead to stop the pack's advance and I was lagging behind because I had been looking after the kids."
Qrow paused and pulled a flask from his pocket. He took a deep drink, dragging from the metal until it left his lips without a drop remaining to fall into his expecting mouth. He closed the flask and returned it to his jacket.
"So it turns out there were only a few of us that actually had our weapons. The wolves started to break through and the chaos started. It was a bloodbath, but fortunately for us, people only got hurt. The creatures fell easily to my blade and Taiyang did fair himself." Qrow spoke, his voice slowly fading into non existence. "I never noticed that she'd left. Apparently she'd gone around the end of the third hour of the fight. I only found out later when we finally cleared the remnants of the pack out… there was her weapon, stuck in the ground with her cape hanging off it in shreds…. They musta cornered her and she took them out with the one of them old methods. Effective, but that wasn't the point. Of course, Darwin… something broke inside him after that. Could barely keep himself alive let alone a daughter, so that job fell to me and Tai."
Qrow paused as he fought off the old memories. His face seemed almost sober, but the years of being a hunter had done their job well, hiding all emotion that might have shown on his face.
"Do you know how hard it is to explain to a seven year old that their mother ain't coming back?" The group shook their heads slowly, still somewhat shocked. "You cant… not really…"
"She sacrificed herself to decimate the pack… she saw we were going to lose if we continued to fight." Taiyang spoke sadly as he reentered. "I couldn't believe it until I had her cloak in my hands. But…"
"Ruby couldn't handle it." Yang finished the story. "She closed herself off to people. She started learning to fight, to create her weapons. Qrow taught her the right way to use a scythe and Dad helped her find her semblance. I was her sparring partner since I was already on my way through Signal."
"She never had a friend that I knew of." Qrow said sadly. "I was a teacher there before. I quit at the end of last year when I found out Ruby wouldn't be attending anymore."
"You'll understand how surprised we were when Ruby didn't come home at the beginning of the break." Taiyang said as he looked directly at the heiress. "Even more so when we found out who had managed to keep her at school longer than she needed to be."
"Ruby's never needed school." Qrow laughed. "She came out top of her class at signal without breaking a sweat. Not to mention she finished designing her weapon long before any of her classmates had even considered which class of weapon they'd adopt. Not to say she's stopped modding it though."
Qrow laughed as he stumbled to his feet. "I gotta go… there's nothing left."
He patted his jacket where the flask resided and started to walk out.
"Oh, hey there Ruby… I got a secret…" He whispered loudly.
The room kept quiet as he had just gone around the corner.
"So you should add this… then change this… and voilla!" He announced to Ruby who was apparently around the corner.
"Um… okay, but didn't you say last time that I should stop adding things to it?" Ruby asked in confusion even as the rustling of a bag sounded.
"That's when you were by yourself. Now you got teammates… and you're the leader." Qrow said quietly. "I still don't like the weight but it works the way you use it. Just keep it in moderation."
"Okay, I'll make sure it's not too heavy." Ruby replied.
"That's what I like to hear." Qrow said happily. "I'm going now, so have a good term."
Weiss mouthed her question to Yang who shrugged off the question, mouthing the reply not to worry.
"Hey, I'm finally done." Ruby walked into the room and stood at the door. When nobody moved, she tilted her head at everyone. "I thought we were going to be late?"
Weiss quickly looked down at the scroll. "We'll never make the first flight. But the second one was moved up a bit… we could leave now and do some review while we wait."
"Or…" Yang dragged out the word, looking around at her teammates. "We could just leave in another hour and do the review during the flight."
"I don't need review, so I'll just end up reading anyway." Blake interjected her intention to eliminate herself as a decision maker on the topic.
"Will you actually study? Or just look out the window the entire time like I think you will?" Weiss asked. Yang was being somewhat friendly, so she might as well try to be nicer as well.
"She'll have her face plastered to the window." Blake said.
"No I won't…" Yang argued. "I'm not a child."
"So that nose print on the window magically appeared between when we got on the flight and when we got off on our way here?" Blake asked, causing Ruby and Taiyang to start chuckling.
"Well…" Yang looked around for an out and hung her head in shame as she saw none. "Fine, but we don't get to go that high all the time… it's fun."
"We're not judging you." Weiss thought she held her amusement in quite well, but Yang still managed to detect it.
"Yes you are." Yang pouted and started for the door.
"Okay, but only a little." Weiss said as she followed. "Ruby'd tell you I was probably worse when I was looking at her ceiling."
"Bow chicka wow wow!" Taiyang called after them.
"Or something a little farther under it." Blake said almost simultaneously.
Yang spun to the group of people following her and pointed first to her father. "No." Then she turned so she was pointing at Blake. "Don't do that." She turned to Ruby. "Just forget it." And finally Weiss. "I can't believe you just took a shot at yourself."
"Ruby seems to have rubbed off on me, don't get used to it." Weiss shrugged. She realized what she said too late and looked to Blake and Taiyang.
Taiyang was obviously holding his remark in, or at least trying to. Blake was smiling like she would like nothing better than to say it. Yang followed Weiss's gaze and sighed, she waved her hand up in the air and sighed again as her father took a big breath in.
"As long as that's the only rubbing off that's been happening." Taiyang almost burst as he started laughing at the embarrassed look that took hold on Ruby's face, then at the angry twitch of Yang's brow.
"What he said was much more entertaining." Blake conceded to leave her comment unspoken considering the look on Yang's face.
"Let's go." Yang's voice was flat as if she couldn't wait to leave her father's presence.
"Alright, then have a good term girls!" Taiyang said as he approached his daughters and gave them each a hug. He followed up by giving Blake and Weiss a hug as well before he stepped back. "And remember what I told you at the beginning of the year."
"Use our heads!" Ruby saluted as she took her suitcase and walked out the door.
"Don't punch the professors." Yang smiled as she followed.
"No, that's-" Taiyang trailed off with a sigh. He turned to Blake and Weiss who were already making their way out the door. "Please keep an eye on them for me?"
"We will, don't worry." Blake said as she left.
"I wouldn't be a very good girlfriend if I didn't…" Weiss blushed at the word girlfriend. It wasn't exactly new, but the novelty of it had a long way to go before it would start to wear off.
"You know, I don't have any right to say anything about your relationship." Taiyang replied. "And I can't say I know you, but I know the type of people your family associates themselves with."
"I assure you I am not like them." Weiss said, stressing the negative.
"That's what I'm counting on." Taiyang stated as he grabbed onto the door to close it behind her.
"Weiss! Come on already!" Yang shouted from the front sidewalk where Weiss's three teammates were waiting.
"Take care of Ruby. It's been a while since I've seen her truly smile at anything other than her weapon." Taiyang said as Weiss started to turn.
Weiss turned her head back over her shoulder, her eyes meeting the same silver that she saw so often in Ruby's eyes. "You have my word."
Weiss turned and watched Ruby as she approached. The smile on Ruby's face calm but happy. I might not be much of a Schnee, but I never break my word.