Chapter Twenty-Four: Matters Of The Heart.
Ruby was very subdued as they walked into the front lobby of the infirmary, her ears were low in her hair and tail was curled up into her low back. While her eyes were up they lacked the usually glint of light that they had normally. As she looked around she chewed slightly on her lower lip trying to remember not to bite her nails. She kept her arms locked around Weiss' as the white haired girl led them up to the reception desk.
"Is Pyrrha still here?" Weiss asked as the lady looked up from her screen.
A few quick taps and the lady nodded, "Yes. Miss Nikos is still here, though she will be discharged by dinner. Would you like to go back a see her?"
"Yes we would." Weiss gave a nod.
"Alright," The lady nodded, "She's in room eight. I believe that her team is with her as well." Ruby cringed slightly but a soft stroke from Weiss' hand across her own settled her back down.
"Thank you." Weiss nodded again as she lead them around the desk and back into the hallway.
Ruby crinkled her nose slightly as she walked, the smell of antiseptics and cleaners mixed together in a caustic burning smell. There was also the slight hum of the florescent lights above that cause her ears to buzz making her want to shake her head to clear them.
Weiss glanced at her wolf from the corner of her eye noting all of Ruby's features. She knew that Ruby was still upset about the other day but there was little she could say to comfort her, she would have to see Pyrrha was okay before she accepted that she didn't need to feel so distraught. Giving the crimson girl's arm a slight squeeze drawing her attention the Heiress gave her a small smile with Ruby returned briefly.
Before reaching the room Ruby stopped short. Before Weiss could ask her what was wrong she noticed that she was taking a few deep breaths before her shoulders straightened and then began to take the lead herself. With her nerves settled the wolf gave a short soft knock on the door. "Come in." A cheerful voice chimed from behind the door.
As the red and white duo entered the room they were greeted by a strange but welcome sight. Pyrrha was sitting up in the middle of her bed in her normal pajamas with her long red hair flowing down behind her with a grazing of blush on her face. Behind her was a bubbly Nora, also in her pajamas, who was propped up on he knees with a brush in one hand and a lock of the battle maidens crimson hair in the other, she too had wide smile on her face. On the far side of the bed were Ren and Jaune sitting in chairs. Ren had a book open on his lap shaking his head at something that must have taken place before Ruby and Weiss had entered, and Jaune was beat red, his face resembling a rip tomato his mouth gaping and eyes wide.
"Are we interrupting something?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just messing with Jaune." Nora laughed as she waved at the pair.
"He did walk into that one." Ren sighed as he closed his book. Jaune finally closed his mouth and leaned back into his chair grumbling slightly.
"Is there something we can help you with?" Pyrrha asked with a large smile at the wolf and Heiress.
Ruby fidgeted slightly glancing down at the ground briefly before looking back up at the battle maiden, tears started to build up in her eyes. "I'm sorry Pyrrha, I really didn't mean to hurt you in the arena. I don't know what happened I just lost it and I hurt you. You're my friend and I didn't mean to do it." The wolf dissolved into tears as she spoke breaking Weiss' heartbreak.
"Oh Ruby." Pyrrha cried as she held her arms open for the wolf. Ruby took the invitation as she crossed the room and gently hugged the taller girl. Pyrrha pulled the wolf tighter against her, "I know you didn't mean to hurt me. What happened was an accident." She rubbed the wolf's back as she shook her head. "I'll admit you caught me off guard there at the end but I know that you would never to that purposely." Ruby went to open her mouth again but the battle maiden cut over her, "Ruby I know you didn't mean to hurt me, and I wasn't hurt that bad. Only a few cracked ribs and those are all healed up, I'm only going to be here until dinner and that's only just so they can make sure that everything healed properly." Ruby nodded slightly as she pulled back and wiped her eyes.
"Besides next time Pyrrha might accidently put you in here." Nora quipped making everyone in the room stare at her. "What?"
"Nora, not the time." Ren sighed as he shook his head.
Before anyone could reply there was a gentle knock on the door, which opened to reveal a nurse standing at the door, "Oh hello." She smiled at everyone, "I was just coming to check on Miss Nikos. I didn't realize that she had visitors."
Still wiping her eyes Ruby left the bed and retreated over to Weiss' side, the Heiress instantly wrapped her arms around her wolf's waist. Nora slowly slid off the bed as well and took a seat on the arm of Ren's chair. "We were just stopping by to make sure Pyrrha was alright." Weiss said as Ruby nestled into her neck getting a small dusting of blush on her cheeks.
"It's alright." The nurse replied as she took some readings off the instrument panels displaying various numbers. "Having good friends around helps with the healing process, and since her injuries weren't bad Miss Nikos isn't under strict visiting hours."
"And they let me stay here over night." Nora smiled brightly, "It was like a slumber party! Oh, oh, oh we need to get a bigger slumber party organized with all the girls! We can have your team, me and Pyrrha, and invite Coco and Velvet too. Maybe see if there are any other girls that want to come and have a fun awesome night of gossiping, junk food and pillow fights! Maybe Goodwitch will let us use the ballroom! This is going to be sooooo awesome!" The small energetic berserker was vibrating as her smile started to become slightly manic.
"Nora." Ren shot a look at the small girl making her calm down slightly. How the calm boy could reign in his partner was one of the few mysteries that few would ever figure out.
"Right well, we should probably go find the other half of our team so well see you later at dinner." Weiss shaking her head very glad that she had Ruby as a partner. While her wolf could be hyper she was nowhere near as bad as Nora.
"Of course." Pyrrha smiled and waved as the pair left.
Once they had left the infirmary Weiss noticed that Ruby was still in a morose mood, her tail hung low against her legs, her ears were still low against her hair and silver eyes down cast on the ground.
With a sigh the Heiress lead them off of the main path and into another enclosed garden and settled them down on a bench. "Ruby?" The wolf's eyes shot up to meet hers. "What's wrong?"
Ruby took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, "I'm still confused." She whispered. "I'm glad I didn't hurt Pyrrha any worse than I did and I've accepted that I didn't mean to do it and that it was an accident. But I'm confused as to why it happened." Ruby looked away from her and off into the bright oranges and yellows of the trees. "I don't know why it happened and I don't want it to happen again. But if I don't' know why it happened then how can I prevent it from happening again?"
Weiss considered the redheads words as she studied her wolf's features. She could see the worry and hesitation in her silver eyes; her face held a slight tension in it and her ears were still low. "What were you feeling when it happened?"
Ruby hesitated; Weiss took both of her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "I wanted to prove I was strong." Ruby spoke very carefully as she considered her words. "Well that was at first, I wanted to prove I was strong and that I was to be taken seriously. I wanted to show that I was worthy."
"Worthy?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at the word. Ruby blushed a little before starting again.
"I, ah, during the fight I let my senses expand so I could keep track of Pyrrha when I moved and I could smell you in the stands." Ruby's blush grew darker as she looked down at her hands. "And I wanted to prove that I was worthy of you." Her voice lowered to the point of a whisper. Weiss blushed as well as she looked down at their intertwined hands.
"You dolt." Weiss whispered looking back up, Ruby's ears perked up and her tail twitched happily.
"But then it was like something shifted once her shot hit me." Ruby continued, "It was if there was the world went red and every thought was replaced by the need to destroy and show my dominance over everyone." Ruby shuddered slightly, "I wanted nothing more than to rip apart anything in my path, to show that no one was stronger than me."
As Ruby fell silent Weiss went over her words. They weren't Ruby's normal words; stronger, dominance, destroy. Those were words a predatory would use when hunting its prey but that didn't make since either since Ruby would never hunt someone let alone Pyrrha. No those words were more like an…
Weiss paused and looked at the wolf across from her, a question rising in her mind; was Ruby what she thought she was. Only one way to find out, "Ruby?" She asked slowly her wolf perked up slightly. "I know I don't know much about the Faunus world so please bare with me. I know in the animal world there are certain animals that become leaders of their respective packs, does that apply to Faunus as well?" Ruby shifted slightly but nodded. Weiss took a deep breath before pressing on. "Does that apply to you?"
Ruby looked down but nodded again, "Yes. I'm an Alpha." Weiss' brow furrowed slightly, she knew what it meant in the animal world but did that translate into the Faunus world as well. Ruby seeing the Heiress unasked questioned continued. "So way back when before the Kingdoms were established just like Humans, Faunus gathered together in communities as well. Because of our animal nature there was a social hierarchy based on power and ability. Those that could lead were Alpha's. They lead through commanding personalities, and yes through shows of force if they had to. These communities were often nomadic and when they would cross while not often it wasn't uncommon for the Alpha's to confront each other. Most of the time they tired to settle matter peacefully but sometimes that wasn't the case." Ruby leaned back slightly and looked up into the sky. "As time passed and the Kingdoms started to rise and people could live safely the need for these nomadic communities started to lessen as did the need for Alpha's to lead them and the Alpha's started to disappear. Even now you won't find many Alpha's and anyone who claims they are usually has twisted the title into something sinister or dark. I've only run across two other Alphas but tried to challenged me but I was able to beat them."
Weiss nodded along as Ruby explained following her wolf's story, it made sense that back before the Kingdoms the Faunus were organized like the humans. And how they had organized also made sense too. And as the necessity for the Alphas and communities decreased they had begun to slip away. "So there are still some Alpha's left in the world?" Weiss asked breaking the small silence.
"Yeah." Ruby nodded, "But the numbers go down every year. You're more likely to find them in the Wolf packs because they live in the frontier so they still have need for them but yeah you're not likely to find them in other Faunus species. But every Faunus still has the ability to recognize an Alpha."
"How?" Weiss asked.
"Scent." Ruby answered tapping her nose. "All Alpha's have a pheromone that Faunus still recognize and it alerts them to they are near an Alpha. Most now have really bad reactions to the Alpha pheromone because of those that have twisted it."
"I take it that's another reason why most of the Faunus always hesitate around you at first." Weiss sighed shaking her head. Ruby nodded in agreement.
"It really doesn't help that I'm a wolf and an Alpha." Ruby shrugged.
Weiss gave her wolf a small smile, "The Faunus world sounds like a worse headache than Atlas politics." Ruby snorted slightly. "But I suppose it helps that the pheromones let you know who's in charge. Unlike Mantel where there are so many business men controlling the policies that you're never sure who's backing which bill." The Heiress voice became slightly bitter as she spoke drawing Ruby's attention.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked cocking her head.
Weiss sighed heavily, "Not many people are aware of this but Mantle is on the brink of a civil war. It has been for sometime. And it's due to the policies that are being passed with out the consent of the people. Many of them are for deregulations of worker safety, workers rights and unionization all to save money. Some are for tax reductions on the upper echelon allowing them to keep more of their money; others are for removal of rights of groups that could oppose the people in power. Recently the bill have been removing Faunus right, and I'll give you there weren't many in Mantel to begin with but now it could lead to Faunus hunts if things deteriorate even further." Ruby flinched hard her eyes going wide with shock. Weiss cringed slightly; Faunus Hunts were a very dark part of Mantels history, one that had stopped only a few decades ago.
"And no one can stop them?" Ruby asked in a small voice.
Weiss shook her head, "There are a few, General Ironwood and the other three Generals of the Wall might be the peoples best bet but at this point I wouldn't put it past them to be in the pockets of one or more businessman as well." Weiss sighed, "It wouldn't even surprise me if they were in the pockets of my father or if he was the one funding half of these bills."
Ruby shuddered again, "I know of General Ironwood. He and my family use to be close but it all changed after my mom died for some reason. He's a good man, do you really think he'd be bought?"
Weiss sighed, "If my father got to him then it's highly probable." Ruby gave her a questioning look; "My father doesn't buy people in the proper since of the word all the time. If money is enough then that's the end of it but if not, he'll use any combination of blackmail, extortion and even framing them for a crime. I don't know everything but I do know enough of what he's done. If he got something on the General then there is a possibility that he too belongs to my father." Weiss felt the ice creep into her words as she spoke.
Ruby noticed her partner's demeanor change as she spoke and slipped in closer to the Heiress nuzzling into her neck again, she felt the Heiress hands instantly wrap around her back instantly. She knew that being at the white haired girl's neck calmed her down but she had noticed that it also help calm the Heiress down as well. Decided to change the topic before Weiss could strew on it further Ruby brought up the coming festival. "So are you looking forward to the Harvest Festival?"
Weiss nodded as she treaded her hand up into her wolf's hair, "Yes this will be my first actually festival, I'm curious to see what it's all about."
Ruby pulled way and blinked at her partner in confusion, "You've never celebrated Harvest?"
Weiss shook her head, "My family deemed Harvest below their notice and it's never really been celebrated in Mantle much anyways, well at least in the cities. There are probably some smaller communities that celebrate it." Weiss shrugged.
"That's awful." Ruby gave her a look of shock, "Hunter should celebrate Harvest. It's a great time to be a Huntress or Huntsman."
"Yes well seeing as how Mantel began deeming Hunters unnecessary once the Atlasian program took off it's not a huge surprise that it not as big." Weiss explained as she moved some of Ruby's hair out of her eyes.
"But it's a celebrations of past, present and future Hunters." Ruby exclaimed, "It's our heritage as a group and our way of honoring those that came before us."
"Well then you'll just have to show me how to properly celebrate a true Harvest Festival." Weiss smiled as she cupped her wolf's face. "I take it you've had your fair share of festivals?"
"Yep." Ruby grinned widely, "Every year on Patch my family help set it up and also helped run several of the events. They even did a round robin for the visiting Hunters that showed up, though mom usually came out on top if she participated." Ruby smirked at the bit, "Though she only did it if there weren't many in the tournament to begin with, she said she wouldn't feel right winning every year. Though I do remember one year when a lot of Huntsman for Mistrial showed up and challenged her to enter thinking she wouldn't make it through many rounds, boy were they wrong," The wolf laughed as she shook her head. "She trounced everyone of them in no time flat putting them all on their backs before they knew what hit them."
"Your mother sounds more and more interesting every time you talk about her." Weiss smiled lightly at her wolf.
"She was amazing." Ruby smiled, "I know she would like you for sure and you'd probably be begging her to teach you."
"And why is that?" Weiss asked with a slightly raised shapely eyebrow.
Ruby snickered slightly, "She was a Dust mage and she also used it in combination of her semblance. She could clear a battlefield with just a few well places Dust spells."
"Did she have a glyph semblance as well?" Weiss asked, she knew that there were other glyph semblances like her own but had never run across another like herself.
"Nope." Ruby shook her head, "Her semblance was something called Full Clone. It was a lot like Blake's only instead of shadows it a full flesh and blood clone that she created, she could command them or let them go with their own free will. In combination with her twin great swords and Dust work she was unstoppable. Her moves were so graceful just like yours too, never wasting a move and always flowing into the next with little effort." Ruby's eyes grew distant as she talked, "She could create nine clones so she could have ten fights going on at the same time or use more or one clone to set up her moves just like Blake's."
Weiss had to admit just the few stories Ruby had shared with her made Summer Rose seem like a legend in her own right. But that also begged the question, how did she die on just a simple mission? Surely a Huntress with such prowess wouldn't have been taken down so easily. There had to be more, it was the only thing that made sense.
"But then she started to use her clones to climb up in to the tree after Yang and she was sooooo mad at her for getting stuck that high off the ground. It was hilarious, Yang was just hanging there by her overall straps and Mom was trying to scold her while climbing and trying not laugh at the same time, Dad and Qrow were on the ground rolling with laughter and Mom kept yelling at them too wondering how Yang and I survived when she was out on missions." Ruby laughed as she finished up her story, most what which Weiss had missed but from the last part she understood it involved Yang getting stuck at some height while Summer tried to rescue her while trying not to laugh.
"It is a valid question." Weiss sighed, "Your mom was right to question the sanity of you dad and uncle."
Ruby nodded, "We always got into some kind of trouble when mom was away, though usually it wasn't that bad. One time Yang convinced me to swim to an island in the middle of a lake not far form our house and we stayed in tents until mom came back, without telling dad or Qrow so when mom got back she was livid that they had lost her daughter but when she found us she had a good laugh after she scolded us. She then got some food and joined us for a few days."
Weiss shook her head, her wolf really did have and interesting childhood where her own had been cold and clinical. Her family had kept her at an arms length for the majority of her life, only bothering with her if it suited them. The only one who had shown her any form of affection had been Winter. Her sister had been the only thing in her cold life that had been a bright spot, the older girl had been her shoulder when she needed one, she had been a gentle voice to comfort her or a strong voice of encouragement when she didn't feel like she could do it. Winter had been her strength before that day. Winter had been taken from her just like Summer had been taken from Ruby.
Weiss quickly locked down on her thoughts. It would do her no good to focus on the past, she was going to focus on the future, a future with Ruby. One where they both were happy and one where they were together and one where their future was bright. Ruby was her light now, Ruby was her strength. And she could be Ruby's, she could help her wolf, she could protect her.
Reaching out Weiss pulled Ruby close into her, claiming her lips in a very forceful kiss silencing the wolf who had still been chattering while the Heiress thought.
Ruby hadn't noticed her partner lose focus on the conversation until her lips were pressed firmly against the Heiress', not that the wolf minded one bit. Ruby melted against Weiss looping her arms around her neck pulling herself closer. She felt the Heiress' tongue swipe across her lips asking for entrance, which the wolf gladly gave moaning as Weiss tongue slipped in and pushed against her own. The wolf slipped onto the white haired girl's lap straddling her legs, her tail swing slowly. She felt Weiss hand slip up into her hair, nails scrapping at her scalp causing her to moan again.
Finally Ruby had to break the kiss in order to grab a lung full of air, Weiss growled at the lose off contact and attack the wolf's neck with her lips and teeth. Ruby squeaked into the open causing a jolt of electricity to shoot through the Heiress. Slightly holding onto her wolf's hair Weiss kept Ruby's head tilted back so she could continue to attack the head head's neck.
Ruby felt like she was on fire as Weiss nipped, kissed and lick her exposed neck. She tried to keep her voice quite but found it to be growing difficult as her whines started to escape her lips more frequently. "W-w-Weisssss." She hissed as the Heiress latched onto her collarbone, "AHHHH." Ruby pulled herself in closer to the Heiress pressing their chests together.
"And over her-" A voice drifted through the air which was suddenly caught off, Professor Oobleck was leading a small group of people through the garden with a flag, everyone froze. Weiss and Ruby looked on the group with large wide while the group stared back with equally flustered look. It was Oobleck that recovered first, "Is nothing at all. Nope nothing to see here moving along, quickly, quickly." His arms waving wide as he started to push the group out of the garden the way they came in a hurried fashion disappearing around the corner. Suddenly his head whipped back around the corner, his glasses flaring in the light. "Really you two, if you're going to get involved go back to your room." His head whipped back away as blush erupted onto Ruby and Weiss' faces.
Raven sat on the edge of the cliff leaving her legs dangling over the edge. Her eyes stared off into the distance as the sun set. "I'm sorry." She said breaking the silence around her. "I know that I don't deserve to even talk to you anymore. I let you down at every turn and yet you never held that against me. You were always there for me. You were my first true friend, the first person I could trust, the first person I confided in." She paused as a tear slid down her cheek, "My first love. And I let you down."
Shaking her black hair Raven tried to keep her voice even, "You did everything I couldn't. You lead our team, showed so much kindness, you even raised my daughter when you had every right to hate her." Raven hung her head, "When I realized I loved you I feared what would happen between us so I pushed you away and even then you took it with a smile and continued to push back still being a part of my life regardless of how I tried to hurt you. You were everything to me and I realized that too late. I ran and hid from the world because I was so ashamed of what I did."
"And even then you still kept smiling, raising my daughter as your own showing her the love I never could. You even gave her a sister and showed them how to be a proper family and even started them on their journey to becoming Huntresses. You could have left and never looked back but yet you stayed and looked for me, trying to bring me back even if it wasn't for you but for the ones you called family." The black haired woman gave up on her attempts to hid her tears, her hand clenched in her lap as the salty fluid dropped down onto them. "I failed you in so many ways but you kept looking."
"You died still looking for me," Raven sobbed openly now throwing her head back, "I'm the reason you died. If I had just come back you'd still be alive. We could have tried again, raised our daughters right together with Tia and Qrow. If I had known I would have come back, I would have come back to you." Pulling her arms tight against her sides Raven continued to sob.
After several minutes she managed to gain control of herself again and straightened out wiping her face. "I miss you so much, I have for such a long time now." Shaking her head clear Raven straightened her back, her eyes hardening out over the sea, "He's come back. I don't know how but he's back and he's not going to stop until I put him down for good this time. I should have made sure he was gone years ago but I took James at his word, I won't be making that mistake again. He's going after Prometheus so I have to find it first before he can get his hand on it." Standing Raven reattached her sword at her hip before walking in front of the stone marker running her hand over engraved rose in the stone before leaning over and pressing her lips lightly against the rose.
Standing once more Raven smiled at the marker. "Goodbye my love and fair hunting." Replacing her mask she opened a portal and step through.
A/N: So I know I said more about the Harvest Festival last time but I decided to forgo that for now but it will be there next time, so for now just a bit of background on what it is. Think of it was a week long Halloween festival with Grimm masks and stories of past Hunters. And before someone cries foul: No Winter is NOT dead, still not telling where she is or what's up with her but that will be coming soon.
With that: Many thanks as always I express, feel free to stop in and put your feet up, and may your joys be many and your sorrows few.