Jäger Chapter Sixteen: A Question
MorgothII: Hello again! Worked on this for most of yesterday and a little bit of this morning, so I hope you enjoy this surprise early chapter! This chapter will see the start of the pairing that one of you readers had suggested/told me (thankful shout-out to Lord Adhes!) and been long promised since I posted this story and included it in the summary, CrossFire. Anyways, on with the story!
Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, is sitting down in a wooden chair, leaning on a simple wood table. One of her arms rests on the table, the other against her head, propping it up. A rarely-seen glum expression is on the adorable face of the usually cheerful fifteen-year old scythe wielder. She stares towards the floor of the main hall, her head rushing with thoughts.
It had been two and a half weeks since the incident with Torchwick, Neo, and the robot apparently named Unichtozheniye. Life at Beacon Academy had carried on like normal. Weiss Schnee was still the Ice Queen of Vale. Yang Xiao Long was still the 'humorous' party-loving blonde. Jake Torchwick, also known better as the Jäger, had been constantly practicing his swordsmanship, when not working on the pocket-sized signal jammer he was building for his twin sister, And Ruby was still the youngest Huntress-in-training at Beacon, weapon- and cookie-loving team leader. The only thing not normal was the secret cat Faunus member of Jake's semi-sister team.
Blake Belladonna had slept little during this time, becoming obsessed with stopping the White Fang. In addition to a lack of proper rest, she wasn't eating well, and as Weiss had noted, her grades were also suffering. So Ruby, her partner, and older sister had tried to stage an intervention. They had tried to make Blake go to the dance being held at Beacon his weekend, planned by the cat ninja's partner and Weiss in lieu of the absent Team CVFY. But the noticeably-tired Blake had rebuffed their efforts as a waste of time, before stalking off to the academy's library.
Hence part of the reason for Ruby's sad mood. Because tomorrow was the night of the big dance. And Team RWBY would be going with at least one member absent. And maybe a more persona-
THUD!
Her train of thought is abruptly derailed as the table shakes slightly. Ruby looks up, slightly startled at the slapping sound Weiss just created when she slaps two seemingly-identical swaths of fabric on the table. She looks up at her partner. Said girl's pale blue eyes sparkle with energy.
"I need you to pick a table cloth," she says, sliding the two samples towards the silver-eyed girl. Ruby looks at them for a moment, trying to see if there is a difference. Then she speaks her mind.
"Aren't they both the same?" She asks, confused. Weiss lets out a drawn-out sigh. The energetic look dies down a bit as she crumples one of the two samples in her hand.
"Ugh, I don't even know why I asked." Then the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company stomps off, passing by Yang. The buxom brawler is carrying a large set of speakers. When she puts the device down near the table Ruby is seated at, Yang's younger sister, the chair, and table jump into the air slightly. But that still doesn't gain too much of a response from the seemingly-depressed scythe wielder. Yang walks over to her sister, looking down at her with her hands on her hips.
"So, have you picked out a dress yet?" Ruby turns her head slightly to face her, now resting on her arm spread along the table.
"What's the point?" She asks glumly. "Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?" And that I don't think Jake will go either. The past few weeks had been particularly hard on her. She had managed to ignore the warm feelings she had felt towards her rifle-wielding and unofficial partner for a few months. But during the break, Ruby had started to feel that the feelings might not be just friendly. But still the black-and-red haired girl did her best to ignore them.
All of her efforts came to naught when the Jäger had sacrificed his saber to save her life.
The only other person who knew (so far as it was to her knowledge) was Yang. She had told her more socially-comfortable sister last night. To her surprise, all she had received was a smile, a nod, and a comment about her having made a good pick. And more importantly, a promise to not slam Jake into the wall and threaten him like she had so-often joked about doing, Of course, Ruby had no idea if he would also return he feelings, or even go to the dance at all, regardless of asking him.
"Oh don't worry, she is going, and I am pretty sure that someone else will be as well," The blonde says, a confidant smile on her face. Then she turns around, her expression morphing into one of frustration. "WEISS! I thought we agreed! No doilies!" Said co-party planner storms over, angrily jabbing a finger towards the taller blonde's face.
"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines," the glyph-wielder threatens. At that moment, the doors to the room swing open, causing her to turn around to see Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias entering. The blue-haired teen addresses the two party planners.
"Your dance is going to have fog machines?" He asks causally, walking closer. At once the heiress changes her mood...and her stance about said party device. She answers in a sweet tone, completely at odds with how she had been seconds earlier, while stepping closer to her 'secret' crush.
"We were thinking about it."
"That's pretty cool," Neptune says, causing Weiss to smile slightly. Then Sun walks up and speaks.
"You ladies all excited for dress up?" the Mistral-hailing monkey Faunus says. Ruby, her head now raised once more, scoffs.
"Pft. Yeah right."
"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night," Yang retorts cockily, her head raised to the ceiling. Weiss turns back to the two visiting Haven students.
"What are you two wearing?" Sun scoffs at this before answering.
"Um…this?" He says, gesturing at the open t-shirt he wears that exposes his abs and chest. Then his friend and partner steps in front of him, blocking the Faunus for the moment.
"Ignore him; for he knows not what he says," Neptune comments. Then Sun shoves himself back in front again.
"I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt and tie kind of place," He retorts.
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all share deadpan stares. Then the blonde answers for all three of RWY.
"Yeah, we've noticed." Sun rubs the back of his head awkwardly for a moment before changing the topic.
"So, uh, what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, you know…Blake-y?"
Weiss looks away, unhappy about the situation just as much as her younger partner. "Obviously."
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind," Ruby adds despairingly. Then Yang jumps back in.
"Guys…Trust me, Blake will be at the dance tomorrow," She says, smirking, before starting to walk out of the room. Just before she reaches the doors, however, she turns back to her beloved little sister. "Oh, and Ruby, you are going to ask him to the dance right now!" A startled Ruby falls onto her back. Yang then closes the door behind her with a laugh. Weiss helps up her younger teammate.
"And you are going to do so, right now," She says in a tone brooking no argument. When Ruby shoots her a questioning look, the heiress simply shrugs. "Yang filled me in this morning. So don't be a dunce about this and go on." Seeing that she has no way out of doing so, Ruby shoulders slump down, defeated.
"Fine. I'll go ask Jake right now."
Ten Minutes Later…
Inside the private confines of the dorm room he has been assigned, Jake Torchwick is hunched over his work table. The young assassin is working on the increasingly-important signal jammer. After a few failed attempts, and a barely-prevented fire, Jake is almost done with the device. He plans on finishing it by tomorrow night, as the dance would keep everyone away and not interrupt him.
A knock on the door of his dorm room causes the Jäger to pause his work. "It's open," He grunts, quickly resuming his progress on the mechanical device on his desk. The door is pushed open to the halfway point. An obviously-nervous Ruby steps inside, slowly walking towards her friend. Once she is standing next to him, she stands silently, her hands constantly fidgeting with one another. Even with his attention being more focused on the nearly-complete signal jammer than on his friend, Jake can clearly tell that she really wants to say something, but yet she also can't do so.
Finally, Jake pauses in his work and looks up. He arches an eyebrow as his brown eyes meet her silver ones. "What's up Ruby? Cat got your tongue?" He asks gently. Ruby's cheeks blush slightly. 'Interesting,' Jake thinks to himself, his own curiosity growing. Ruby finally opens her mouth, stuttering slightly as she speaks in a somewhat meek tone.
"W-well, you know how there is a d-dance this Friday?"
"Yes…?" Jake asks, resuming his work on the device in front of him.
"W-w-well, I was wondering…if you weren't busy…or already been asked…would you go to the dance with me?" Ruby finally asks, her face almost as crimson as her beloved hood and cape. Jake calmly continues to work on the jammer, having unintentionally half-tuned her out. Thus he doesn't realize just what she has asked him. Or for that matter, what the scythe-wielder might be implying. He responds immediately.
"Sure."
Behind his back, Ruby's uniquely-colored eyes seem to glow with joy. She barely manages to retrains herself from jumping up and down, instead settling to squeal happily on the inside. What she does next catches the Jäger completely off-guard.
"Thanks Jake! I got to go get a dress, so I'll see you tomorrow. Good night!" Ruby says rapidly, the words seemingly blurring together for a few moments. Then she impulsively leans forward and plants a light kiss on Jake's right cheek. Then she spins around on her heels and rushes out the half-open door, activating her speed semblance on accident. A thin carpet of rose petals settles both in his room and in the hallway as the black-and-red haired girl runs to find her teammates, and more importantly, her much more party-savvy older sister.
For about a minute, Jake continues to work in silence, his brain not fully processing what had just happened. When it does, his eyes widen. His body freezes, the screwdriver in his hand only a fraction of an inch away from the screw the Jäger had been about to spin into place. His brain replays what he had just been asked and his response. In all his time of fighting, shooting, killing, lying, and other deeds, there had been only a few moments when he had been truly stunned. This was one such moment, and it took the cake.
Ruby Rose, his best (by default of being pretty much his only friend he feels comfortable around, though the rest of her team might be considered friends, as their work on investigating the White Fang and their still-hidden benefactors saw them working much closer) friend, had just asked him out to the dance. Potentially as a date.
And he had said yes.
"Oh boy," Jake mutters to himself aloud as he places the screwdriver down on the table. As he leans backwards and stretches against his chair, another thought comes to mind. "Shit."
The Jäger would probably have to deal with the rather over-protective Yang. Then an even worse realization occurs.
The dance is tomorrow, and he needs a suit.
"Fuck!" He quietly shouts, reaching for his Scroll. With a little bit of luck, Junior will have something ready for him. Which said club owner and his secret-information source will probably get a laugh or two out of this. Despite his overall frustrated expressions being shown on his exterior, however, a small smile starts to form on his lips. With a little more such luck, tomorrow would be a fun and great night for both him and Ruby.
And done! I have officially begun the romance between Jake 'Jäger' Torchwick and Ruby Rose! Sorry if this has any feelings of being rushed, but hey, I did my best. A second thanks to the guest reviewer from awhile back who suggested waiting until the dance to start building a romantic relationship around the time of the Beacon Academy dance from Volume 2. Anyways, as always, thank you for taking the time to read my story, please feel free to leave a review, comment, or your thoughts on the story so far down below! Until next time, have a great day! (Also, as today is March 21st, 3/21, I dub today '3, 2, 1, GO!' day) Next chapter: A Night to Remember!