Chapter 10: Reconciliation
The two Rubys sat on the grass staring up at the night sky, the clouds had fully dispersed and the myriad of constellations were out in full display. Ruby Prime was lying flat on the grass with her arms spread wide as she stared up at the strange stellar formations.
"I... figured out what I'm going to say to them," she said, turning her head toward Ruby-13.
The older Rose snorted and poked her side, "I knew you had it in you."
"Now the real question is..." Ruby Prime sat up, "How the hell do we get out of here?"
Ruby-13 smirked and got up, extending a hand to her counterpart, "I know how."
"You just have all the answers don't you?" Ruby Prime responded dryly, taking her hand with a sideways smile.
"Actually I'm just doing what you and Nova were doing, combing the maps," she said pulling up her map and looking at it.
"...What?" Ruby Prime blinked rapidly, "I don't have the navigation..."
"It's fine, Nova's got me covered."
"I don't understand..." the younger reaper scratched her head. "Is he like... telepathically communicating with you? Because that would be ridiculous..."
Ruby-13 just gave her an embarrassed look and rubbed the back of her head, "Weeelllll..."
Ruby Prime's jaw dropped, "No... way... WHAT?! I thought his semblance was like Adaptability?!"
The older reaper pushed her two fingers together, "A lot of things happened and now Nova's soul is bonded to mine. We can hear each other's thoughts and communicate everything from memories to sometimes senses and feelings. It's complicated..."
Ruby was dumbfounded, staring at her counterpart like she was crazy, "Isn't that... weird? Like you can't hide anything, he knows everything about you and you know everything about him. Isn't that like a breach of privacy?!"
"At first it was a little weird but neither of us disliked it. We learned how to keep our normal thoughts to ourselves and only bridge the bond when we need to. Things like emotions and stuff we can sense passively, memories and thoughts are a choice we make. Like he can choose to read mine and I can choose to share them, and it works both ways."
The Prime's brain began to make dial-up connection noises, "But still... don't you feel the need to I don't know... be safe in your own head sometimes?"
Ruby-13 smiled fondly, "Yeah, but after spending so long with him we realized that the safest place we could ever be is with each other. We don't hide things because we don't need to. It's complete trust between the other and anything we don't share is better off kept to ourselves."
"I feel like you're contradicting yourself..." Ruby Prime commented with a shrewd look. "If you're that dependant on someone you lose your individuality, right?"
"Oh, it's not dependence. We're fully capable of doing our own thing no matter how far apart we are. It's just when he's gone... I miss him a lot... I guess it's difficult to explain. You'll understand if you ever fall in love, like... true love."
Ruby Prime made a gagging noise and continued to follow Ruby-13 as they navigated the maze, "I don't know if I can ever feel that way for someone else. It just seems... so weird."
Ruby-13 smirked, "Never say never. Think of it like Crescent Rose but stronger. If it's gone you can function fine but you miss it terribly right?"
"YES! GOSH I MISSED MY BABY!" Ruby Prime quickly grabbed her weapon and gave it a hug.
"Yeah just like that, but much much stronger."
"Oh... I think I get it now..."
The two finally arrived back at the clearing after about thirty minutes of walking, fifteen extra minutes delay due to Nova's terrible sense of direction and about ten minutes worth of snack breaks... and about five minutes more because Ruby-13 found a shiny rock that looked like a frog and had to bring it back to show the guys.
Exactly one hour, they were at the campsite and Ruby Prime was face-to-face with the members of her team.
What did she expect to find? Hate? Scorn? Disappointment?
No... none of these things were on the faces of her friends.
Instead, she was met with three incredibly worried expressions, Weiss and Yang were on the verge of tears when the saw her.
"RUBY!" Yang bounded toward her sister, stopping short of three feet. Her expression grew downcast as she held her real arm with her robotic one, "Ruby... I... I'm so sorry! I should have seen you were in pain, I should've paid more attention..."
"Yang..." Ruby started but her sister cut her off.
"NO! You were right... god after you left I ran everything through my head and I realized how shitty of a sister I've been. I was... so caught up in my own problems that I lost sight of what was right in front of me..."
"I'm sorry too!" it was Blake as she joined Yang's side, "Gods... I... Ruby... I should have been more supportive, I should've properly apologized for running away. I was also so far gone into my own problems that I just... pushed everything else onto you when I should've been doing more..."
"Guys..." Ruby tried to calm them down but now Weiss ran up with tears in her eyes.
"I-I should've told you sooner... about Penny but I was just so worried about how you'd react! Everything was falling apart and I didn't know what to do and..."
"WEISS!" Ruby grabbed hold of her partner and shook her, "Guys... it's okay!" she looked at her team. "I... was wrong too. I shouldn't have exploded like that... even with everything I know I'm supposed to keep it together but I..."
Yang shook her head and wrapped her sister in a tight hug, "Shut up... you're not in this alone. We're here too... and... we might not have been before but we're going to be now... so just tell us when things are getting tough from now on okay?"
Ruby felt the tears begin to spill forth once more as the sobs broke free, crying into her sister's chest the others joined in the group hug.
Off to the side, Ruby-13 and Nova were looking on in amusement at the scene.
"That's adorable!" Ruby-13 cooed as she draped an arm around Nova's neck.
Nova chuckled and pecked her on the cheek, "I think things are going to be better now. Good job on playing the villain, Red." He narrowed his eyes, "Why do we suddenly feel like proud parents...?"
Ruby-13 scratched her head, "We? I thought that was you?"
He shrugged, "Must be both of us then..."
After the crying was over, Ruby Prime broke off from the hug and nervously approached Nova. The prince in question gave her a light smile, "Don't bother apologizing, I get it. You were heated and angry, confused and depressed. Shit happens and we lose ourselves sometimes. Emotions are a powerful thing."
Ruby Prime faltered, not expecting that at all. "B-But I said all those mean things and..."
"Water under the bridge. I physically can't be mad at you for more than a few minutes. You are a Ruby Rose after all." he gave his Ruby a light nudge with his head and Ruby Prime just looked away in embarrassment.
"Nice to know I can literally get away with murder with you," Ruby-13 said eyeing her fiance with a snicker.
Nova narrowed his eyes at her, "Oh there are lines babe, you just haven't crossed them."
"And I never will," she pecked him on the lips, knowing full well what those lines were. "Not that I'm capable."
Ruby Prime just gagged again, "Okay gross, you two are actually either sickeningly cute or just sickening I'm not sure which one," she looked at the system map, "How about we just get out of this damn maze already?"
The power couple looked at each other and then back at them, "Alright, let's get this show on the road."
Alright now to start work on Dragon's Rise again