A clear sound, almost like some kind of chime, could be heard ringing out across the forest. It was the sound of glass being struck repeatedly, albeit without any kind of rhythm or set pattern. It was the sound of training.
The training in question was happening in a small clearing, one in which Ruby and Cinder had elected to set up camp for the night, and one in which the two women currently found themselves sparring.
Ruby was presently stood at one edge of this clearing, leaning against a tree, her breath heavy and ragged after these last couple hours of constant exertion. She took a moment to wipe her brow clean of sweat, then bent down and retrieved a pair of blunt glass shortswords from the ground where they'd fallen the last time Cinder had knocked her on her ass. This was a fairly regular occurrence during their training sessions.
It turns out that learning to dual wield was actually really hard, especially when Cinder was very much keeping the promise she'd made back when they'd first begun sparring together: the promise to not go easy on her. Still, Ruby wasn't complaining, this is what she'd asked for after all and she wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, she'd been learning fast over the course of their lessons, and could practically feel herself improving moment by moment. It was a satisfying experience if nothing else.
On a whim she attempted to twirl one of the swords around in her hand, a simple flourish she'd seen Cinder do earlier that day, only to have it slip from her grip and clatter right back down to the ground. Well, improving in some areas maybe. At the very least though, there were still some benefits to failing spectacularly. A partially restrained laugh could be heard from the centre of the clearing, putting a small smile on Ruby's face as she sheepishly picked the sword back up. She really loved getting to hear Cinder's laugh.
"Time for a break?" The woman in question called out from where she was waiting in the centre of the clearing. "Not that I don't love getting to beat you over and over, but you seem pretty worn out." Despite her bluster, Cinder was clearly pretty tired too, leaning heavily against her sword and with beads of sweat trailing down the side of her face.
Ruby thought for a second, taking the time to also catch her breath a little more before answering: "Maybe one more, then rest?"
"Alright then," Cinder replied, before spinning her sword round in the same little flourish that Ruby had just failed at, "Come at me when you're ready," she finished with a wink.
Ruby felt a heat rise in her cheeks that had nothing to do with either the weather or her recent exertion, which she immediately tried her hardest to ignore. Bad Ruby, bad, focus on the sparring. She closed her eyes, breathed deep once to steady herself, twice for luck, then settled down into the stance that Cinder had been spending the better portion of the day's training drilling into her.
Cinder examined her for a moment, a critical eye slowly sweeping across her body, carefully examining the way her shoulders were set, the spacing of her feet, the angles her blades were held. Eventually, she gave an approving nod, and Ruby felt her heart soar at the acknowledgment.
With that, Ruby launched herself forwards, a flurry of rose petals trailing behind her as she enhanced her speed with a pulse of her semblance. As she drew close, she leapt into the air, coming down at Cinder with twin downward cuts. That familiar sound of glass striking glass rang out once more through the forest as they clashed, Cinder's lone sword meeting both of Ruby's mid slash, catching them easily.
Ruby could feel her muscles bulging beneath the soft fabric of her clothes as she strained against Cinder, trying to push her back. Their swords scraped together, and once again Ruby was struck by just how strong Cinder really was, holding her off even with only one arm. After a few moments of continuing to struggle Ruby had to accept that she wasn't making any progress like this, and so disengaged, hopping a half step backwards.
Cinder was left momentarily off balance when she found herself pushing against air, an opening that Ruby attempted to exploit with a quick stab. Sadly it wasn't enough, Cinder smoothly pulling off a tight pirouette that moved her out of the way of Ruby's attack, and enabled her to pull off a slick counterattack of her own, a counter that Ruby only narrowly avoided with a panicked backstep.
She barely had time to think before Cinder continued on into an offensive, her sword whipping back and forth with a speed that Ruby struggled to match. Steadily, she found herself being forced to give up ground, being pushed further and further back by the onslaught of blows.
Desperate for some space, Ruby activated her semblance, dissolving into a cloud of petals and flowing past Cinder, zooming off to the opposite side of the clearing. When she reformed she was met by the sight of Cinder staring at her smugly.
"Giving up already?"
"Not yet, I've still gotta win," Ruby answered with as much confidence as she could manage. That wasn't exactly a lot, however. Beating Cinder was a tall order, even if Ruby really wanted to (mainly for bragging rights), doubly so when she still wasn't entirely familiar with this whole fighting style. Her odds got even worse when considering that Cinder very much was familiar with it, and probably had a pretty good idea of what Ruby could do. She just needed to figure out a way to catch Cinder off guard, something that she wouldn't expect…
Ruby charged straight back at Cinder, in almost exactly the same way she had to start with. She got a raised eyebrow in response, but continued on her course all the same, this time swinging both swords in a horizontal slash. Cinder easily blocked her, of course, but where previously Ruby had pushed, this time she let go, releasing her swords entirely and continuing to charge forward to tackle Cinder while the maiden was caught off balance.
They crashed together in a tangle of limbs, Ruby's momentum carrying the pair clean off their feet, a cloud of dust kicking up where they slammed down to the ground. A fierce grin split Ruby's face when she realised that her gambit had paid off. Cinder was pinned beneath her, for the time being at least. She was pretty sure that Cinder's strength advantage would allow her to turn the tables before long, but still the act of knocking her off of her feet was victory enough for Ruby. Curiously though, Cinder didn't seem to be making any move to escape.
When Ruby actually focused on her, rather than just thinking about the best way to keep her pinned, she was surprised to find Cinder's lone eye open wide in alarm, and her cheeks a bright shade of red. Now that Ruby was actually paying attention, she became conscious of the fact that they were… pretty close together, right now. Bodies pressed together, chests flush against one another, faces only a few inches apart.
Ruby's cheeks rapidly turned a matching shade of red as she scrambled off of Cinder, practically leaping away and landing heavily in the dirt. Embarrassment, along with… other feelings flooded through her body, feelings that she tried her best to ignore. A few seconds later other, less pleasant, feelings joined in, shame primarily. What was Cinder thinking right now? Did she think Ruby was trying to… feel her up, or do something gross? Ruby's hands shot up in a placating manner, "Sorry, sorry, my bad."
"No, you're fine," Cinder pushed herself up so that she was sitting, then took a moment to brush the dirt off her cape, not meeting Ruby's eyes the whole while. "I uh, I don't know if that really counts as a dual wielding technique but still, good job."
"Right," Ruby replied, suddenly finding it very hard to look at Cinder. Instead, she forced herself to stand up, stammered out "Well uh, break time! I'm gonna… collect some wood for the fire! Be back in a minute!" And then turned around and started walking over to the edge of the clearing as quickly as she could manage while still seeming somewhat casual. Or at least, she hoped it seemed casual, given how stiff her posture was it was unlikely that was the case.
"Would you like some help?" Cinder called out from behind, but Ruby waved her off.
"I'll be fine, you relax." Ruby glanced back for just a moment, forcing a smile.
"Oh… okay." Cinder's voice wavered just a touch, but all the same she seemed to accept the answer.
Internally, Ruby breathed a small sigh of relief. She just… needed a little space for a moment. Just needed to think a little, to get her thoughts in check. She rubbed frustratedly at her temple, trying to clear all those confusing feelings away. Don't think about how Cinder's body felt, don't think about her cute expressions or her little smiles. Clear all of that away. Just focus on what's right in front of you. Right now, collect some firewood.
She set about doing just that, wandering along the edges of the little forest clearing, even as her mind started to wander internally. It was just… there was already so much going on, so much weighing on her, and now… now this. Now there was something else for her to feel guilty over. Now she was feeling attracted to Cinder.
It was understandable on some level, Ruby reasoned. Look, Cinder was really hot. That was just an objective assessment of things. Ruby had been conscious of that fact for… longer than was probably appropriate. Even back when they'd still been enemies, if she were being honest. It was just…
It didn't exactly take a genius to realise that Cinder was in a very vulnerable place right now. And it was also very obvious that Cinder was relying on Ruby a lot. That Cinder was counting on Ruby to support her, to be her friend. And definitely not counting on Ruby to… to be lusting after her, to be creeping on her, to be taking advantage of her.
Maybe just feeling attracted to her wasn't the end of the world. Ruby had been attracted to other people in the past without doing anything about it, like say… back at Beacon, she'd thought Coco was pretty good looking. Or uh… look, she'd never admit this out loud, but Weiss's mother, Willow, was kinda… y'know. Anyway, in both cases Ruby hadn't like, made a move on them or anything, hadn't tried to pursue them. It'd just been a passive acknowledgement of their attractiveness.
With Cinder though, she hadn't exactly been doing the best job of controlling herself. Like just before, touching her like that. Or back when they'd been playing that question game, and she'd ended up asking if Cinder was into women. Or all the numerous times when Cinder so much as smiling at her sent warm fluttery feelings racing through her chest. She was sure Cinder had realised what was happening, and probably just hadn't brought it up because she was scared of alienating Ruby and being left all alone.
Ruby sighed again, out loud this time, and then bit agitatedly at her lip. She just wasn't sure what to do about it. No matter how many times she tried to clamp down on these feelings, they always ended up slipping out, particularly when Cinder was most relying on her for support. And then whenever she stopped to think about what she was feeling, the waves of guilt and shame came washing over her. It was a vicious cycle.
With a start, she realised that at some point she'd collected way more than enough firewood for their purposes, and so headed back to the campsite. It was just so stupid, she was an adult, she should be able to keep her emotions under control. And yet, they still continued to run rampant whether she liked it or not.
That wasn't just in relation to her attraction either, she'd been struggling far more than usual to keep her worries and fears under control. Whether to do with Yang and the others, or her Mum, it was all just… too much. And Cinder had been noticing, too, which of course only made things worse. It meant that even when Ruby was capable of keeping it in her pants, she wasn't able to be strong for Cinder, wasn't able to provide the support that she so clearly needed.
Wasn't able to do the one thing she was being relied on for. And if she couldn't do that, couldn't help someone so clearly in need, then what good was she?
A sudden, light touch on her shoulder made Ruby almost jump out of her skin in surprise, and she couldn't stop a high-pitched yelp from squeaking out of her throat. She wheeled about, only to come face to face with an equally surprised-looking Cinder.
"Sorry," Cinder spoke slowly at first, but rapidly picked up the pace, "I uh, didn't mean to scare you, I was just trying to get your attention, and you didn't notice when I said your name, and… sorry."
Ruby's heart gradually returned to a more normal pace as Cinder spoke, concern replacing surprise. She'd noticed… well, it wasn't exactly hard to see, but all the same she'd noticed that recently Cinder had grown more and more worried about upsetting her. Always seeming to be careful of what she said, and quick to apologise even over small things, like she was scared of how Ruby might react. Ruby… didn't like that. She didn't want Cinder to be scared of her. Cinder was… even ignoring the confused feelings she'd been having of late, Cinder had become someone she cared about, a lot, over the course of this journey. Seeing her act like this was… painful.
Of course, there was also the fear present that this was all in some way related to those aforementioned confused feelings of Ruby's. She wasn't quite sure how that would connect, but at the same time she couldn't think of anything else that had changed in her behaviour to cause Cinder to act this way. Maybe it was reminding Cinder of someone from her past? Or maybe it was something else entirely, something on Cinder's end that they could work through, and that she was just blaming herself for for no reason. It was all just… confusing, and difficult, and she wished she knew what to do.
In any case, right now in the present moment, all she could really do was try to allay Cinder's worries, and hopefully help her feel a little better. "No, it's okay, I was just a little lost in thought. What's up?"
"Right," Cinder paused for a moment, glancing away from Ruby and shaking her head a little, before looking back and continuing, "I just thought you might want my help lighting the fire."
"Oh, sure!" Ruby gave a comforting smile, then glanced down at their little fireplace. She'd been setting it up more or less mindlessly while lost in her thoughts, and it seemed to be ready to go at this point. She gestured to it, "Go ahead, and then do you wanna sit together for a bit before we make dinner?"
Cinder shrugged in a way that was probably meant to be nonchalant, but Ruby could easily notice the way she perked up at the suggestion. So cute. In any case, as Ruby sat back a short distance away, Cinder raised a hand up towards the small campfire. A beat passed before a small tongue of flame began flickering from her eye, and immediately after a matching burst of flame shot out of her hand, igniting the firewood. A satisfied smile lit up her face, which of course made Ruby smile in turn as the maiden sat down beside her.
"Thanks a lot," Ruby did her best to be bright and cheerful, trying to forget her earlier worries and just focus on being there for Cinder.
"Well, fire is my speciality," Cinder replied, her smile growing just a touch wider. She settled back, a touch of tension draining out of her shoulders as she relaxed a little from that earlier bout of worry.
Ruby felt the gentle warmth of the fire wash over her, clearing away the chill of the late afternoon as she too tried to relax. A thought suddenly entered her mind, "Hey, you did that with the maiden powers, not your semblance, right? Have you been having an easier time with them lately?"
Cinder visibly deflated at the question. "Ah, no, not really," she trailed off, glancing down at the stump of her left arm, "Ever since I lost the arm they just… haven't been working right, and I have no idea why."
Ah, dang it. Ruby hadn't meant to stumble straight into such a sore point for Cinder. "Well, I'm sure it'll sort itself out eventually, don't worry," was all the reassurance she could really give. It was tough to say much more when she knew so little about how magic actually worked, beyond that it could apparently turn you into a bird and also let you shoot fireballs.
"Yeah," Cinder sighed, "I just wish I knew why it was happening, at least then maybe I'd know what I could do about it." Apparently Ruby's frustrations were very similar to Cinder's in this regard. "I haven't seen any of the other maidens have troubles like these. Am I just… not good enough for the powers like this?"
"Hey, don't think like that," Ruby kept her voice soft and gentle, determined to pull Cinder out of this little spiral, "Whatever the reason is, we'll sort it out. Maybe when we meet up with everyone in Vacuo, we can ask Ozpin what he thinks, if anyone's gonna know how magic powers work, it's him. And plus, you're definitely good enough. You're so strong, and smart, and even after everything you've been through, you've kept on fighting. If anyone's worthy of something like this, it's you."
Cinder glanced away, a light blush dusting her cheeks. It didn't seem to be enough to totally erase her doubts, however. "Maidens are meant to be… pure heroines who strive to share their gifts with the world, aren't they? Doesn't really describe me, or what I've used them for."
It was clear to Ruby where Cinder's train of thought was running. "You're not a monster, Cinder. That's not what this is about."
Cinder seemed surprised at first, but then her expression changed to be one of simple sadness. "I… I know. Thank you, Ruby." She was quiet for a few moments after that, before suddenly scooting over, closing the small amount of distance that had been separating the two, and leaning up against Ruby. "I'm sorry that I… get like this."
"It's okay." Ruby gently wrapped her arm around Cinder's back, holding her while focusing on thinking very clean, pure thoughts. "You're all okay."
There were a few more seconds of silence, barring the slow crackle of the fire, until Cinder pressed closer into Ruby, resting her head on the younger woman's shoulder. "I've never really done something like this with anyone before you, y'know?" Her voice was low, soft, and the feeling of it brushing against her skin sent a small shiver through Ruby's body. "It's nice."
"Y-Yeah," Ruby's voice, in comparison, was shaky and nervous. She could feel blood rushing to her cheeks, and to… other parts of her body, despite her best efforts to keep herself under control.
Cinder pulled back a little on hearing Ruby's reaction, a slight edge of worry entering her voice, "Is this… okay?"
Ruby struggled for a moment over what to say, but eventually decided that honesty was, more or less, the best policy. "Yeah, it's fine. I… really like being close to you, Cinder."
Cinder perked up noticeably at that, pressing back into Ruby immediately. "I'm glad."
A small wave of guilt washed over Ruby. Cinder probably had no idea of how Ruby was feeling right now, of the thoughts racing through her head, and if she did she certainly wouldn't feel so comfortable. Would feel grossed out by it all. But at the same time… it really did feel good, and if it was helping Cinder to feel happy, then maybe it was okay? She wasn't going to try to take it further, of course.
They stayed there, curled together next to the crackling fire, for another few minutes. It was warm, and safe, and for those minutes Ruby felt like she could truly ignore all the worry and self doubt that were always so keen to invade her thoughts. She could just focus on the feeling of Cinder, on that gentle warmth, and on the soft sounds of the forest around them. It wasn't entirely peaceful, of course, as her body continued to stubbornly be excited about all the close contact, but she was dealing with it as best she could, and Cinder thankfully didn't seem to notice.
"You're really improving, y'know?" Cinder's soft voice eventually broke the silence that had settled between them.
"At hugging?" Ruby replied, mind still very much occupied by… certain thoughts.
Cinder snorted at that, pulling away so that she could meet Ruby's eyes. "I was more referring to fighting, but sure, why not."
Up close like this, for the second time today, Ruby noticed once again just how pretty Cinder was. Her eye looked spectacularly golden in the firelight, her hair so messy and fluffy, her smile so small and precious, and Ruby had to force herself to look away before she did something she'd regret. "Oh, right," she laughed, ever so slightly nervously, "I guess I've got a great teacher."
"Ha ha," Cinder drawled, "I'm being serious, it's not easy fighting with two weapons at once, you're picking up on everything fast."
"I was being serious too, I'd have no idea what I was doing if it weren't for you," Ruby shot back. A memory flashed into her mind of their very first session training to dual wield, when she'd somehow managed to simultaneously clock herself in the head with one sword, while tripping herself with the other, collapsing to the dirt in a very painful pile. She'd definitely come a ways since then.
Cinder huffed at that, but couldn't entirely hide the fact that she was secretly pleased by the compliment. "I liked that move you pulled, at the end earlier," she continued once she was feeling more composed, "Maybe not the most effective in the long run, but still."
"Yeah, I guess I didn't think through the whole 'letting go of my weapons' thing." Ruby laughed airily, scratching at the back of her head as she spoke.
Cinder couldn't help a small laugh at that. "Right, you might want to watch out for that next time. Still, you should always be looking for ways to catch your opponent off guard. Good technique will only carry you so far, you can't be afraid to fight dirty if you want to win." She stopped to think for a moment, then shrugged, "well, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that, after everything you've been through."
"Kinda a lesson I had to learn the hard way, I guess." Ruby shrugged, doing her best to keep her voice light, and to not think about any of the past experiences that imparted that lesson onto her.
"Right," Cinder's gaze flicked down onto the ground as her smile shrank, clearly remembering some experiences of her own. "Anyway, I also liked it because it wasn't something I taught you to do. I'm sure you went through this with your Uncle and the scythe, but replicating someone else's style will only take you so far. You need to find your own techniques that work the best with your natural abilities, and… well, maybe it shouldn't involve dropping your swords all the time, but it's a step in the right direction." Cinder gave a small, satisfied nod to herself after she finished, clearly pleased with herself for articulating the point she wanted to make clearly.
Ruby giggled, then gave Cinder a playful elbow. "Hey, look at you being the wise master. I think we've found a natural born teacher over here. And I dunno, maybe dropping swords is the way of the future. Just you wait, everyone's gonna be doing it soon."
A fond roll of the eye was all the response Ruby got to her first statement, but her second was met by a snort. "Oh, definitely, you've really stumbled onto something big with that." Cinder deadpanned back, her smile now returned in full force.
Ruby grinned right back, genuine happiness coursing through her. Getting to sit and joke around with Cinder like this, the two of them just being happy together, was something that not so long ago she could never have imagined doing, and yet now it was just so precious to her. These moments made her heart sing, and reminded her that she'd definitely been right to choose to help Cinder, no matter what anyone else might say about that decision. Moments that truly reinforced that, despite the maiden's doubts otherwise; Cinder was a person just as deserving of, and just as capable of giving, affection and happiness as anyone else.
And then this train of thought was brought to a screeching halt when she suddenly realised that Cinder was going in for another hug and, wow, she could really not handle that right now. Ruby sprang up to her feet in a blur of motion and scattered rose petals, causing Cinder to recoil back in surprise. "Uh, well, better start getting something ready for our dinner, I'll grab the stuff!" She stammered out, then turned and power walked over to the pile of bags their supplies were stored in before Cinder could give any response beyond a disappointed "Oh."
Look, Ruby wasn't going to pretend that she was the best at handling her feelings, but she was trying okay? She just… needed a bit longer to get it all under control. But she would. Definitely.
