A/N: I had to do a lot of juggling in the story to make sure I got to this point. If you haven't caught up with it, please read it first so that you won't run into spoilers. Blood of the Rose details the story of fledgling Ruby, newly turned into a vampire, and her trials. Often ending up with her flat on her face. (She's not really the worst vampire ever, it just seems that way sometimes.)

Days of Yule
Chapter 7: Do Vampires Celebrate Christmas?

The door to The Last Round in Downtown LA slammed open, courtesy of a certain boisterous blonde Kindred who strutted in. She was followed at a more sedate pace by a shorter, laden-down brunette fledgling and accompanied by swirling snowflakes.

"What up, bitches?" Yang jeered. "The Xiao Long Rose sisters are in da house!"

"It's such a mouthful when you say it like that," Ruby complained quietly, setting down the box she'd been carrying.

"Oh, here we go," a dark-skinned Kindred commented wryly from where he stood in his customary perch, leaning against the far wall.

"Now, don't be like that, Skelter!" The blonde vampire grinned as she strode over to give the man a big, wet kiss on the cheek, to which he simply rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, c'mon, Skelter," Ruby called out cheerfully. "You're gonna help us decorate, right?"

"Wait, what now?" he protested mildly. "Decorate for what?"

"Well, Christmas, of course!"

Skelter gazed back at the pair of grinning girls as if they'd truly lost their minds. "Say what? The fuck have you two been smoking?"

He turned as a loud thud sounded from behind him, easily carrying over the muted bass of Quiet Riot's Bang Your Head. A round-faced, excitable redhead crouched from where she'd hurtled herself down the rear steps.

"Did I hear you were decorating for Christmas?" Nora squealed, flashing her delicate pointed incisors as she smiled widely.

"We are!" Ruby squealed back.

"Awesome! I'm in!"

"Fuck me," Skelter grumbled.

"Oh, come on, grumpy-fangs," Yang snorted, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. "It'll be fun."

"What'll be fun, now?" a woman's voice called out from the doorway. Damsel and Nines stood there, dusting the snow off of their overcoats.

"We're decorating the bar for Christmas!" Ruby cheered. Nora was too busy looking over the boxed baubles, her head buried amongst tinsel and light strings, to add her own enthusiasm.

"Yeah… No way," Nines stated firmly.

"But… But…" Ruby stared back at him from a few feet away, hands clasped beneath her chin and lower lip trembling slightly. "But it's Christmas…"

"Kid, we're vampires, we don't do Christmas." The latino man snorted softly, trying very hard to focus on anywhere else besides the pouting girl before him, her eyes wide pools of silver. "Y'know, damned creatures of the night and all that?"

Ruby turned up the wattage of her pout, enough to make Damsel groan and pull her beret down to cover her eyes. "But it's been so long since I could celebrate Christmas properly, and I just got my sister back, and…"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Nines sighed, running his hand from his forehead past his chin in weary resignation. "Fine, okay, you can decorate."

"Yay!" the small brunette squealed, jumping up, wrapping her arms around the Anarch leader's neck, and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before jumping back down. "You won't regret this, Nines! You'll see, it'll be awesome!"

As Ruby skipped off to join Nora in her exploration of the available decorations, Damsel turned to her old friend with a wide smirk. "You are such a softie."

"Bite your tongue," Nines chuckled. "It's just a bit of harmless fun."

"Uh-huh. Admit it, after everything she's been through, that little fledgling has you wrapped around her pinky."

"Ain't gonna admit to no such thing."

"That's cause ya don't need to," a gravelly voice broke in from behind the pair. "Not when it's so damn obvious."

"Fuck you, Jack," Nines laughed, turning to spy the ancient Kindred lurking in the shadows. "You gonna hide back there or help these kids out?"

"I'm just gonna manage things," Jack chuckled. "Supervise, and all that shit."

"Speaking of shit," Damsel laughed goodnaturedly. "You're full of it."

"Ain't ever claimed otherwise," the bearded vampire smirked.

"Nines!" the young brunette sang out. "We need someone tall!"

"Get Skelter," the brunet man retorted.

"Already did, we need another someone tall! Grab the other end of these lights!"

"Come on, old man," Yang wheedled, her lilac eyes twinkling merrily. "Help us poor little girls out!"

"Cain save me from smart-alecky fledglings," he grumbled under his breath before raising his voice. "Alright, alright, already, I'm comin'..."

Damsel hid her wide smile behind her hand. "He is sooo whipped," she giggled, a rather odd sound to be coming from the self-proclaimed head bitch and den mother.

"Don't let him hear that," Jack retorted with a matching grin that made his long beard twitch. He still wore his vest open to reveal his bare chest, even in the winter months.

The decorating went on for some time, twinkling lights and holly and bright tinsel and even a bough of mistletoe, much to the consternation of the elder Kindred regulars of the Anarch hangout.

"You bunch are outta your goddamn minds," Nines grumped as they finished cleaning up.

"Probably!" Ruby laughed before suddenly sobering. "Oh, that reminds me… Um, don't get mad at me, buuut I maybe kinda sorta invited someone to see the decorations… actually, someone and her childe…"

"Someone and her…" Nines gaped at the fledgling. "No. No fucking way, you did not just-"

"But Nines, she's lonely now!"

"She's got her childe!"

"It's not the same!" Ruby stood before the taller man, fists on her hips and glared up at him. "You be nice to them both, it's Christmas!"

The latino Kindred sighed and closed his eyes while pinching the bridge of his nose. "And suddenly, I'm all sorts of sympathizing with the Ice Queen…" He cracked an eye open to regard the posturing fledgling. "She ain't coming, is she? Or any other of your Cammie buds?"

"No, they're busy…" Ruby sighed softly, her rigid posture slumping. "But you guys are all my friends, so I kinda wanted everyone here together, y'know?"

"Oh, just give in now, Nines," Yang grinned unrepentantly as she dusted her hands off, walking in from carrying out the trash. "It'll go easier for you in the end."

"Fine," the Anarch leader growled, flinging his hands up in the air as he stalked off towards the rear staircase, grumbling irritably. "Fuckin' eighty years since my last sunrise, and a little girl gets to boss me around in my own fuckin' bar…"

The door opened once more to admit a rather elegant-looking pair of Kindred. The woman wore a long, tan cashmere overcoat and a red scarf that went nicely with her matching long hair, and the man a wooly black peacoat over a dapper grey suit and sky-blue shirt with no tie.

"Pyrrha! Jaune!" The brunette fledgling launched herself forward and tackled the two elder vampires, eliciting chuckles from them both. "I'm so glad you guys were still in town! Welcome to The Last Round!"

"I must admit, this is one locale we've never had the chance to visit," the redhead returned warmly. "We appreciated the invitation into Anarch territory."

"Well, if there's any capes we'll admit here, it's you two," Damsel allowed, stepping up with a hesitant smile. "Been awhile."

"Damsel," the blond man greeted her genially. "Keeping out of trouble?"

"Yeah, yeah," the shorter redhead grumbled with a roll of her eyes, adjusting the beret atop her head. "Half-pint here convinced me to take the night off from busting the heads of you Cammie bastards."

"You're too kind," Pyrrha smirked softly.

The pair wandered in, introducing themselves to both Yang and Nora while the diminutive brunette remained behind.

"Hey, Damsel," Ruby whispered. "Just how old are those two, anyway?"

The Anarch elder chuckled wryly. "Lemme put it this way, kid. Either one could be a Prince of any territory they chose, but they keep their noses out of politics."

"It bores us to tears, to be honest," Pyrrha grinned as she passed by with a warmed bottle of blood in her hand. "Honestly, everything went downhill after Rome collapsed."

Ruby stared after the tall leggy vampire, mouth agape. "Is she… Are they older than Jack?"

Damsel just gave her a wink as she sauntered off to obtain her own bottle.

Still transfixed, her countenance became even more incredulous as she watched Pyrrha grab Jaune by the lapel of his coat and drag him under the mistletoe, where she proceeded to lavish a rather sultry kiss upon his willing lips.

"Ooookaaay," she finally mused. "I think that's about as much as my little brain can handle in one night."

"Oh, then you definitely shouldn't have invited us, duckling," a voice giggled from behind her.

Ruby turned with a hesitant smile to greet Jeanette, the resident self-proclaimed Baroness of Santa Monica and probationary member of the Anarch movement, and her childe Neo, resident mute and adorable psychopath. The former was wearing her usual skimpy getup, lacy red bra threatening to push aside the negligently-tied overshirt, despite the weather outside, while the latter wore a rather complicated ensemble in pinks, greys, and browns that vaguely resembled some sort of Victorian getup. Her pink parasol was held over her shoulder, both hands clasped firmly over the handle as if expecting it to walk off on its own.

"Hey, you guys made it!" the brunette greeted them. "Do you know everyone here?"

"Always," Jeanette drawled cryptically. "And never. Oh, duckling, did you put that mistletoe up just for little old me? I'll have to start charging if I park myself under it."

Neo rolled her eyes and gently swatted her sire on the arm.

"Oh, she knows I was joking. You know that, right, duckling? The kind of fun you and I could have is best behind closed doors anyways, hmm?"

"Ah heh heh, yeah, right…" Ruby rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. The shorter girl with multicolored brown and pink hair frowned slightly.

"I'm not really making her uncomfortable, sugarpop." Jeanette turned towards Ruby, her heterochromatic grey and brown eyes wide. "I'm not, am I?"

"N- No, of course not," she chuckled. "Um, hey… I don't wanna be rude or… Well, can you… hear Neo?"

"Of course I can, duckling," the elder Malkavian grinned as she passed, patting her on the shoulder. "Anyone can, if they listen the right way."

"Oh. Huh." Ruby let out a tiny squawk as she was tackled around the waist by Neo in a tight hug. She grinned ruefully as she rubbed her back. "Hey, Neo, nice to see you too."

The shorter girl turned her face upwards and graced her with a brilliant fanged smile before letting go and skipping off after her mistress.

"Pretty volatile mix you've thrown together, kiddo," she heard Jack intone from off to the side.

Grinning, Ruby turned and headed over towards where the grizzled Kindred lounged indolently in a darkened booth, feet propped up atop the table. She slid in across from him and rested her back against the wall, her own feet stretched out before her on top of the red leather bench.

"Yeah, maybe," she mused. "But it's Christmas, and everyone should put their bad feelings to the side for it and come together to celebrate, right?"

Jack chuckled and shook his head slightly. "I gotta give it to ya, you have this way of gettin' folk to do this kinda shit even when it goes against their nature."

"That's 'cause she's sooo adorable!" Yang squealed, jumping into the adjacent booth and ruffling Ruby's hair affectionately.

"Yaaang," the brunette groused, trying to get her unruly mop of red-tipped hair to lay back down. "You're messing with my rep, here!"

"You have a rep?" her sister asked bemusedly.

"Well… I'm trying to get a rep," Ruby conceded. "Right now, it's not so hot."

"Eh, give it a few centuries," Jack smirked as he pulled out a cigar and lit it with an old stainless-steel lighter. "You'll get there, kiddo."

"Yeah, well…" Ruby looked down at the tabletop, grimacing slightly. "I wouldn't have even made it this far if it weren't for you, Jack. So, y'know… thanks. Again."

"Ain't nothin' but a thing, girlie," the man chuckled. "'Sides which, I had to get the two of you back together again, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Yang grinned widely, snaking her arm around to give her sibling a hug around the neck. "Even if you weren't an old pirate, I'd still love ya to pieces for doing that, Jack."

"I'm so glad I don't have to actually breathe anymore," the brunette wheezed from somewhere in the vicinity of the blonde's armpit.

Just then, the front door opened once more, this time to admit a small figure wrapped up in an elegant, long white overcoat and a pale blue knit hat and scarf combination which failed to conceal the snow-white hair that spilled down her back.

With the speed that Ruby burst from the blonde's smothering embrace, one would think she had the Celerity discipline common to those of the Brujah clan like her sister.

"Weiss!"

Both fledglings went down in a tangle of limbs when the brunette collided with her fellow Ventrue friend.

"Fuckwaffles," Ruby mumbled from the floor.

"Ruby Rose, get off of me this instant! I didn't skip out on a very important meeting just to be thrown to the floor of a bar!"

"Sorry, sorry… I'm, um, tangled up in your scarf…"

"Then untangle yourself! This floor is sticky and definitely unhygienic!"

After some wrangling, and assistance from both Yang and Nora, the pair of fledglings were soon standing once more. That didn't prevent Ruby from wrapping her friend up in a tight hug, however.

"I'm so glad you came! Thank you thank you thank you!"

"You are welcome, Ruby," the platinum blonde murmured, valiantly trying to conceal her smile from her effervescent friend's antics. "It is Christmas, after all."

"Awww, lookit you, Ice Queen," Yang chuckled, resting a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Did my lil' sis thaw out that Weiss-cold heart?"

"Oh, do shut up," Weiss groused. "And I have a name, you know, even if you insist on only using it with your terrible puns."

"Yep, that you do," Nora giggled as she handed the platinum-haired Kindred a bottle. "Ice Queen!"

"Actually, Neo says it should be Ice Princess," Jeanette commented as she stalked up. Ruby had finally released Weiss from her hug, but from the deer-in-the-headlights look upon the slender Ventrue, she might have wished to be back in the embrace. "And how have you been, snowflake?" the elder Kindred purred. "They have mistletoe here, you know…"

"Eep," Weiss squeaked, cowering back against Ruby as the other woman laughed gaily and strutted back off once more to join an amused Skelter in conversation.

"You know she does that kinda shit on purpose, right?" Yang murmured sympathetically. "If she can get a rise outta you, she'll keep doin' it."

"I can't help it," Weiss hissed, trying to regain her composure. "That woman is not right in the head!"

"Well, she is a Malk," Nora concluded dryly.

"Okay, look," Ruby stated, holding her bottle aloft. "We're here, the four of us, so lemme give a toast, okay? To us and all of our friends who couldn't be here, Merry Christmas."

"Well said," Weiss murmured with a smile, tapping the neck of her bottle against Ruby's. "A very Merry Christmas to you all."

Yang and Nora reciprocated the gesture and all four fledglings took a long pull from their bottles.

"Y'know, Ice Queen," the blonde smirked after she pulled the bottle from her lips, smacking contentedly. "Night's still young, you could always drag Rubbles here under that mistletoe, I ain't gonna judge…"

"Yaaang…"

Dongyrn A/N: Fun fact, this is the only modern AU setting RWBY story I've written so far, and the only chapter to have the group celebrating Christmas instead of some variation of Yule. I managed to barely squeeze in Ruby's volatile reunion with Yang in the last chapter of Blood, it was a near thing. And yes, I finally relented. Here is the official Arkos ship, enjoy it because it's not going to overtly make its way into the main story. Also, quirky Ruby is best Ruby.

I just regret I didn't have the time to pull Blake fully into the main story yet, so for now, she's missing from this chapter. She's off playing in the snow somewhere.

And my lovely Beta and co-author, SilvanaCrowe, read the previous paragraph and inserted her own little omake that I simply have to share with everyone.

Everything is silent in a snowfall laden hilly area. Blake is crouched down amidst the piles. She waits, still as can be, for the right moment when... POUNCE. Cut to later in a rather bland looking room. Blake is drying off from melted snow that seems to have somehow gotten everywhere. "You know, as much as any young panther needs to learn how to hunt, you should really choose better prey than a much more experienced wolf," says a smirking Beckett leaning on the wall nearby. Blake snorts slightly, toweling over her hair to hide her face and blossoming grin. It was a good Christmas.

So, that brings this little journey to a close. I hope you enjoyed the ride, and maybe took the time to check out some of my older stuff. As I mention in my notes from the last Blood chapter, I'm putting that story on a brief hiatus so that I can work on another side project, I want to have it finished before posting any of it. Once done I'll pick back up with Blood again.

Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season, in any which way you prefer to celebrate it (if at all). The biggest thing to keep in mind is to hold those close to you that you care about, and always be mindful that it's a rough season for a lot of folks. Be gentle, be caring, and above all, be kind to one another.

Stay shiny, everyone!