The setting sun painted Ruby's silhouette through the window behind her. "Thanks for the ice cream, Weiss. I…" Ruby took another sugary spoonful into her mouth. "I feel a lot better now. Thanks for being, y'know, not mad or anything."
Weiss nodded. Ice cream and sugary confectionery showed good consistency in being the way to Ruby's heart, and from what she could tell through their link, Ruby had calmed down noticeably. "I couldn't be mad at you, Ruby." She stated offhandedly as she thrust a spoonful of vanilla frozen yogurt in to her mouth. Still a little too sweet, but it was one of the tamer options.
Ruby looked down at her strawberry sundae, a little bit of red starting to show on her face. "T-thanks."
They ate in semi-awkward silence for a few more minutes before Weiss spoke up again. "Ruby?"
Her partner looked up, her mouth too full of ice cream to do anything other than make a muffled sound of acknowledgement.
"Can you feel my Aura?" Weiss asked, giving her partner a slightly amused look as she struggled to swallow the mouthful of ice cream.
"Maybe? What do you mean?" Ruby responded, her voice muffled through the dessert in her mouth. The moment she got it down, Ruby gripped her head, a momentous brain-freeze wracking her. She hissed, rocking back and forth for a fair few moments before the pain settled, at which point she released a sigh.
Weiss dipped her spoon into the cup of frozen yogurt, only to find it wholly bereft of its sugary contents. Perhaps that was for the best. Weiss tried to think of a way to explain the phenomenon with their Auras, but she realized that it would be easier to show her. She closed her eyes, focusing her Aura and directing it to embrace Ruby's. Her partner jolted when they made contact, her spoon nearly knocking her sundae off the table. A now-familiar jolt of energy coursed through her, followed by a pleasant warmth. Weiss opened her eyes, and found Ruby staring back. A single rose petal had landed between them, briefly catching their gazes before fading away.
Ruby leaned across the table, and Weiss could feel the curiosity that had taken hold of her. "How did you do that!" Her loud voice drew the eyes of the parlor's few patrons. "I felt you!"
Weiss shushed her, slightly embarrassed at all the attention on them. "I don't know, Ruby." Weiss answered, her voice much quieter than her partner's. "I think you left a part of your Aura during the infusion, or my Aura absorbed some part of yours. I'm not certain. What I know is… well, that I can do what I've just shown, and I can also read your emotions. As far as I'm aware, that's all it does, though."
Ruby didn't fall back onto her seat, in fact, she leaned even further across the table. "You can read my mind?"
Weiss dropped her spoon into her empty cup. "No, Ruby," She said, gently laying her hand on Ruby's shoulder and pushing her back into her seat. "I cannot read your mind. I can only tell what emotions you're feeling. For example," Weiss closed her eyes, then opened them again when a thought struck her. "Actually, do you mind if I do this? I should've asked you before invading your private emotions."
Ruby waved her off. "You probably don't need a fancy Aura thing to know how I'm feeling. I kinda wear my heart on my sleeve, y'know? And we've been partners for a long time so you know me really well so it's no different now but if you're asking permission then yeah it's totally fine, I mean it's not like you're gonna learn anything new but—"
"Ruby," Weiss interrupted. Truthfully, the rambling could be endearing, but she actually had a pertinent matter at hand. Thankfully, Ruby realized she'd been babbling and quieted down. "Thank you. I'm going to do it now, okay?"
Ruby nodded, a tiny smile crossing her face.
Weiss closed her eyes and focused on her partner's Aura. Finding it was akin to finding a rose in a field of snow, except this rose was dancing with excitement. Weiss gently probed it with her Aura, causing that jolt and warmth. Ruby was excited, happy, Weiss could almost feel her smile from across the table. The shame was still there, hidden very deep for the time being, and something else was burgeoning up to the surface. Weiss didn't want to look at it. Not yet. She slowly opened her eyes, and found her partner blushing. "Are you okay?" Weiss asked.
Ruby nodded, looking away. "Y-yeah, I could, uh, I think I could feel your emotions, too. Only when they were… touching, though."
Weiss hummed. Interesting. "It also seems to generate petals, like your Semblance. Well, one petal, at least."
"Yeah, this one landed in your hair." Ruby said, pointing towards the heiress' head.
Weiss gently felt around her head for the petal, only to catch it as it was fading.
They sat in silence again, with Ruby finishing up the remnants of her sundae before dutifully scooping the fudge from the bottom of the cup and shoving it into her mouth. Weiss shivered. How that poor girl wasn't at least a little overweight, Weiss couldn't fathom.
As they walked back to the Vale docks, Ruby seemed to get downtrodden and pensive again. Weiss considered addressing it, but Ruby spoke up first. "Weiss, can I ask you something about your arm?"
Weiss hid her shock with behind her best attempt at a comforting smile. "Of course."
Ruby nodded, then took a couple deep breaths before speaking again. "When you get your replacement, would you mind if I, uh… Dust, it feels so wrong to ask this." Ruby's face scrunched up. "Never mind, ignore me. I'm weird."
Weiss sidled up more closely to her and laid her hand on her shoulder. "It's fine, Ruby. You can ask whatever you want, I'm fine with it. I promise."
Ruby gave her an apologetic look before gathering up the courage to ask again. "Would you mind if I… tinkered with your arm?"
Weiss recoiled, taken aback by her partner's request. "Pardon?"
Ruby buried her hands in her face, and Weiss could feel her shame welling up again. "Never mind!" She shouted, her voice muffled through her hands.
Ruby wanted to tinker with her bionic arm? That sounded… risky. She could see the benefits, though. After all, she had created Crescent Rose, a weapon of considerable technological marvel, proving her mechanical mastery, and her creation of Rosenwache showed that she also had noteworthy competence in the infusion of Dusts. Still, quite risky, especially since she only had one replacement. Actually… "I think that would be an excellent idea, Ruby."
Ruby's head whipped around to face Weiss with frightening speed. "Really?"
Weiss could feel her shame fading slightly, giving way to excitement. "I could have Winter order an extra, one with which you could tinker to your heart's desire."
Ruby was beaming, now, her excitement handily overtaking her shame. "Thank you!" She shouted, drawing a little attention from the other pedestrians on their way to the docks. She wrapped an arm around Weiss' shoulders and clutched Weiss' hand with her own. "Thank you so much! It's gonna be so cool!" Ruby separated from her and began bouncing as they continued down the sidewalk. "I could make it transform into a sword at will, or use aerosolized dust, or make it into a shotgun, Dust, I could do so much neat stuff!"
Weiss watched her babble with a fond smile. Finally something positive related to her arm, or lack thereof.
Ruby began to slow down as a thought struck her, and she walked at Weiss' pace as she tapped her chin. She began mumbling to herself, rapidly muttering technical phrases and components that flew completely over Weiss' head. The mechanic within Ruby was taking over, her face growing more serious as she thought about the actual implementation of her various concepts. Weiss felt a smile creeping onto her face.
It didn't last long, though. She found her smile fading as she watched her partner's bright silver eyes darting along with Ruby's muttering. That feeling in her chest, like a warm swell in her heart, reminded her that she had to talk to Ruby. She had to do something to get these feelings out. What was so hard about it? She had the feelings in her heart, but she couldn't transliterate them to cohesive thought, let alone speech! Dust, what a predic—
"So, Weiss, was that what you called courtship?" Ruby's question cut through Weiss' thoughts like a scythe through the arm. "Taking me out to ice cream to make me feel better?"
"Uh…" Weiss found herself in a rare moment of speechlessness. She turned to Ruby, who was staring ahead with a red face. Had she just courted Ruby? Did ice cream count? "I… Did you… um…"
"It was nice." Ruby said, the muscles of her jaw clenched as she struggled to keep from turning to her partner. "Thank you."
Weiss didn't know how to respond. She just nodded, not trusting her mouth to keep its loyalties straight. They boarded the airship in silence, a tense silence, the interaction causing them to both blush every time they brushed up against each other or locked eyes. Eventually, though, they were freed from the stuffy, tense atmosphere by the pilot's voice announcing their landing.
Of course, the walk back to their dorm led to another stuffy, tense atmosphere, just a more familiar one.
They found the RWBY dorm empty and dark. Yang and Blake were both out, doing… something. They hadn't exactly been clear in the text. In fact, Weiss described the wording of the text as deliberately vague when it appeared on her Scroll.
Weiss walked towards her desk, perfectly used to studying in darkness, when Ruby addressed her. "So, Weiss, do you… you know, uh—"
Weiss raised a hand, cutting her partner off. "Please, Ruby, I don't know how to say what I need to say. I'll only hurt you if I speak without properly articulating my emotions."
Ruby's shoulders drooped, and her voice came back notably more melancholic. "Can't you write it down?"
Truthfully, Weiss hadn't thought of that. "I… haven't tried that."
Ruby's silence belied the torrent of emotions Weiss could feel across their link. "Will you?"
Weiss nodded slowly, confident that Ruby could see her in the darkened room. She didn't wait to see Ruby's response as she took a seat at her desk and began the now-arduous work of getting out her study materials. At least she was left-handed.
Before she could crack open her Dust Theory textbook, a pair of warm arms slowly snaked around her, pulling her into Ruby's embrace. "I'm so sorry, Weiss," Ruby whispered. "I swear I'll make it up to you. I'll be the best partner, I promise."
Weiss took her hand away from the textbook's cover, instead opting to lay it on Ruby's arm. She wanted so desperately to give some suave response, something to show how much she appreciated her partner, but she found herself choking on every word. All that she could do was lean back into Ruby's embrace.
They only stayed like that for a couple minutes before Ruby stepped back, silent as she walked away from Weiss and climbed into her bunk. She fell asleep quickly, her tiny, breathy snores filling the room. Prepared for such a distraction, Weiss gathered her pair of earplugs from the center drawer and stuffed them in her ears, blocking out the noise. Dust Theory- Chapter Eighteen: Advanced Dust Manipulation Without a Catalyzing Medium…
Weiss jolted awake, her head almost having made contact with the desk as she dozed. She looked down at the desk below her, barely catching her pen as it rolled towards the edge.
At some point during studying, she had abandoned the Dust Theory textbook in favor of taking Ruby's suggestion to heart. The sheet of notebook before her was a composition of whatever her mind could spill out in regards to Ruby. One part of it recorded her reaction to Ruby's presence in an almost clinical manner, describing how her heart rate rose and she felt heat climbing through her chest. Another part was written more hastily, like the scrawling of a man on the brink of a psychotic break. They bounced between aspects of Ruby that she appreciated, leaping between more objective points on her appearance, how Weiss found her attractive, then moving frantically towards how many times she wished Ruby could be with her during her summer in Atlas.
Weiss barely recognized what she had written at the bottom of the paper. Words were written haphazardly, crossing or simply ignoring the horizontal lines of the notebook paper, highly unorthodox for a Schnee. Weiss' tired eyes scanned over what she had written, trying to stoke whatever part of her memory had created such prose.
Seeing you like this has made me realize how much I need to see you smile, The paper read. You've made me so used to your jubilance that anything else makes something ache in me. I want— The rest of the sentence was scribbled out. I need— Scribbled out, again. I want to make you happy, because I need to be with you. You are what has made me good— or better, at least. Being without you is like being without my Aura. It feels s— The last letter trailed off, a sign that that had been the moment she dozed off.
As much as Weiss wanted to continue writing, she knew that she had written all she needed to. She had tried her best to pour her heart onto the paper, now she just had to pour her heart out to her partner. She could use the paper like a script, or an outline, something to keep her mind on track.
Now, though, she needed to go to bed. She could feel the sleepiness weighing on her eyelids, threatening to drag her down to sleep on the desk again. Not an opportune situation at all. Weiss left her earplugs in the desk, then rose and made the short walk to her bunk. She slipped under the covers, laid her head on her pillow, and was immediately thrust into sleep.
Ruby had never met Adam Taurus, she only knew him from the barest descriptions provided to her by Blake and Yang, along with a couple passing remarks by Sun. Somehow, she knew this was him, despite how wildly different he looked compared to what she'd pictured. He stood tall, imposing, clad in flowing black robes which hung off one shoulder, leaving the left side of his bare chest exposed. His horns, although described by Blake as 'small and stubby', were relatively large, curving out and forwards like his namesake. They were still, as Blake had described, black.
Most intimidating, however, was his sword. Blake had said he carried a chokutō, but Ruby's extensive knowledge of weaponry classified it as a nodachi. How they could be confused, Ruby couldn't imagine. A nodachi isn't exactly subtle, after all. Adam's sword was easily longer than Ruby was tall, its blade alone was at least over five feet in length, and it was colored a deep, bloody red. He carried it to the side in one hand, allowing its tip to tear the carpet as he walked towards Ruby.
Carpet? Ruby's eyes darted around in a panic. She found herself in one of Beacon's many hallways, although she couldn't tell which one. She reached under her cloak, drawing her weapon from its magnetic holster. What she didn't expect to find in her hand was her uncle's Harbinger instead of Crescent Rose, and, for some reason, its hilt and the bottom of its blade were covered in blood. Ruby dropped it the moment she realized what it was, but the blood was already on her hands.
Ruby felt herself going into a panic. She knew that Adam was getting close, she could feel it, but she couldn't touch Harbinger with it again. Had Qrow killed someone? Whose blood was it? Why did she have it? Did she kill someone?
Ruby hurriedly patted herself down, hoping desperately to find something with which to defend herself. Luckily, she found something holstered at her left side. She pulled it free of its frog— wait, where's the magnetic clip? — and found herself wielding Rosenwache. Its blade was broken, but it would have to do.
He's here! Ruby's mind screamed at her, the presence of Adam overwhelming. She looked up, finding him mere feet away from her, already a quarter into an overhead slash.
Ruby the main-gauche up, but her inexperience with the weapon proved to be her downfall. She met the nodachi with the cup of the hilt, the brief moment of relief broken as it sliced clean through the hilt, down into her arm, slicing it vertically in two, the fleshy halves drooping independently of each other as the dead fingers dropped Rosenwache. Ruby knew she was screaming, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel any pain, either. She simply dropped to her knees and clutched the strangely-not-bleeding arm because she felt it was the appropriate thing to do.
Ruby saw the face of her mother again, taking up her entire field of vision. Summer's mangled mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. The vision faded away, revealing that Ruby was actually in a forest. A wintery forest. She was lying in the snow, her split arm miraculously whole again. No, wait, not whole. Gone. Gone at the shoulder, which ended in a mangled stump. Her legs, too, were torn at mid-thigh. Ruby tried to move, finding her only intact limb being her left arm, which weakly flailed in the snow. The pure, white snow. Not at all tainted with her blood.
Ruby strained to look around, but found herself wishing she hadn't. Blake was face-down in the snow next to her, likely in a similar state to Ruby, but she couldn't tell to what degree. Yang rushed to Blake and flipped her over, shaking her shoulders vigorously and crying. It was then that Ruby realized that Weiss was also there, crouched over Ruby and looking down at her with an entirely broken expression. Her hands shakily hovered over her body, one of which was distinctly bionic. Before Ruby could say anything to her, she felt a surge of energy the moment Weiss touched her, followed by heat.
Ruby's eyes snapped open as she suddenly awoke. She was in her top bunk, still, but she was curled up in the foetal position. Weiss was on her tiptoes, her hand gently on Ruby's upper arm. She met Ruby's eyes and whispered, careful not to awaken Yang and Blake, who had arrived while Ruby was asleep. "You were having a nightmare, I could feel it. Are you okay?"
Ruby exhaled shakily and nodded. The memory of her dreams faded quickly, along with the fear they had wrought.
Weiss reached up and stroked her hair a few times, concern and fondness shining behind her cerulean eyes. "Goodnight, Ruby." She whispered as she separated from her partner.
"G'night, Weiss." Ruby muttered, allowing herself to relax into a more comfortable sleeping position as sleep took her again.
Thankfully, she slept without trouble.
