Ruby Rose

"No more games. No more distractions..."

Her mind was scattered at the moment... she kept flicking from one train of thought to the next.

Ruby wasnt the best when it came to concentrating... her ability to focus was, as Yang had so eloquently put it... 'wack'. But this? This was the opposite.

Magic. At least, this kind of magic.

But of course she could focus. Of course it was hard to tear herself away from it. It was her Affinity afterall.

"Was I lucky that what I wanted to do... I already had the tools to accomplish...?"

Maybe... or maybe her mother had set her on a path that used the tools she had at her disposal...

No. It wasn't either of those things. This was her. She wanted to do this, that's why she had these eyes, this Affinity. It was a part of her.

She had once asked her father why he and Yang had an affinity for Water. Afferall, many people would probably call them hotheads. Didn't a Fire Affinity make more sense for them?

But he had explained it rather... well, it wasn't exaclty elegant.

"When you think of fire... where do you see it more often? Fire is candles, fire is the warmth of a fireplace. It's comfort, more often then it's a destructive force. But... Fire has to burn away at something to produce that comfort. It has to try. It has to put effort into producing that comfort. Water? The ocean... a lake... sure, there calm a lot of the time, and you probably picture a flat sea... but that's not what it's really like. The ocean can turn violent and chaotic at the drop of a hat. A raging sea is more powerful then any wild fire, but more importantly, the ocean needs something to push it to that level. A storm... a hurricane. Something. Water is naturally calm and peaceful. While a fire needs to consume something to be like that."

The speech had been confusing to Ruby... probably didn't help that she had been pretty young at the time, but a part of her understood, at least, it did now.

Your Affinity is you.

It's as much a part of you as your personality.

Ruby didn't want to find the Dragon Formula because she had Silver eyes, and she didn't have Silver eyes because this is what she wanted to do.

They were both just parts of her. She was made up of many pieces, and trying to say one was because of another was too simple of a statement to be the whole truth.

As far as Ruby knew, her mother had only left behind two creations using her gift. Her cloak, and her Uncles weapon. Ruby used to question all the time about why that was... where was Yang or Blake's gift? Where was her gift to Tai? Why had she only left Ruby and Qrow with something so special?

But after finding out what her Affinity was it made sense. Summer had trusted Ruby with that job. Maybe not on purpose, but it was something she had to do.

Because if Ruby couldn't do anything for the people that had supported her when she reached the end of this... what was the point?

"Did our family remain human because we can still use our Affinity even without being able to use magic?"

Ruby had been able to spot Glynda's enchanted glasses even during a fight, she could recognise magical items with a glance, and even be able to tell what they do a lot of the time without looking at there runes.

Then there was her research. The Dragon Formula. Three out of five Phrases. The thing that had fully stumped Wizards for generations was crumbling in front of her. She knew that Affinitys helped but... did it really make that much of a difference?

She had asked Qrow about it and...

"It's not that simple kiddo. When you wanna use magic, you need to know what it does. What it can do. You can't just cast a spell without knowing. Magic is turning mana into a result. If you don't know the result, your mana gets confused and it dosent work. An Affinity is when your mana itself knows how to cast that magic. Someone could show me a Wind spell and I could cast it straight away. But if someone showed me a Fire spell? I'd have to put some effort into actually figuring out how it works. Your Affinity is the same but... better I guess. There's no... guide on how to draw a Formula from the world. As far as everyone's figured out? It's up to random chance. You cast a big ritual, then throw a net out and see if you caught anything. For you though? Your mana knows what it's doing. It may not be able to move around your body, but so long as it can communicate to you even slightly... that's enough of a hint to help you."

It would sort of make sense if only people with this Affinity had found the first Formulas... but there was no history written on that. The only information they had dating that far back in history is that the founding members of the Schnee family were the first Dragons.

"And from what Weiss has said about her father, that might actually be a lie for the history books..."

The room was dark... well... she thought it was. She couldn't see anything besides the magic circle... or rather, she didnt want to see anything besides it. Penny had come to try and get her to go to bed a little bit ago... was that a few seconds ago...? An hour...? She didn't know... it was at least less then like... eight hours? Penny would interrupt her for every meal.

Last she had seen it was night. The fractured moons light was the only thing illuminating the room besides the softly glowing circle she was sitting in front of.

Ruby hadn't pulled an all nighter in a while... rather she hadn't been allowed to. But the things Yang had said to her... well, she had been fueled by a new source of determination. One she hadn't expected.

"Well... I know you like Weiss but umm... whys that a problem...?"

Ruby held her tighter.

"No I... I like like... Weiss..."

"Oh... ohhhhh... well. Damn. Why don't you go tell her then?"

"She's a princess Yang... what would happen if I told her...?"

Yang thought about this for a moment... or was whispering to Blake, Ruby couldn't tell.

"Well, you can't find out unless you try."

"I don't want to ruin things... we can't be together and..." Ruby's grip tightened again. "I think she likes me too... I don't want to have to make her say no..."

Yang sighed and started rubbing Ruby's head through her hood.

"When I was competing with Sun for Blake I... I knew she liked me too. But that didn't stop me. I didn't grow complacent Ruby."

"Complacent...?"

Yang gently put her arms on Ruby's shoulders and held her out to arms length, looking into her eyes.

"Be honest Ruby. Be greedy. Is what you have with Weiss enough?"

Ruby was... her mouth went dry. She couldn't say anything so she just shook her head.

"Then, you need to go get more."

"I... I can't..."

"Ruby?" Blake hugged her from behind. "If I may? Maybe you can't right now but... can I ask what's stopping you from being with Weiss now? I mean what exactly."

"I'm just... me... I'm not special, I'm not... I'm not someone that can be with a princess... I'm not something that can be with a princess..."

"If that's all your worried about Ruby... your wasting your time worrying."

"...what...?"

Yang smiled and tilted her head.

"Well, tell me if I'm wrong... but what would the Schnees want more then the chance to be Dragons again?"

Ruby had always chased this goal of hers for... she couldn't say. A need maybe. A need to make sure she wasn't lying to her mother when she made those silly promises as a child but...

When she met Weiss, she had discovered a new goal... a new dream...

And better yet... without even realising... one dream would lead to accomplishing another.

"Three hundred and forty-eight down..." It had been a long night... was it still night? Penny had put food down in front of her a few times now and Ruby hadn't stopped working. She thought it was Penny anyway... she hadnt actually stopped yet. Her list of words was way shorter then before... But it was still really long.

She had already tried all of the words relating to a Dragons physical features, and all the words relating to all of the possible elements... well, the main ones. Ruby wasnt sure of every element a Dragon could be... she'd have to ask at some point.

"Ask who though? Maybe if Uncle Qrow comes around..."

Oh well, back to it.

"Five-thousand..."

A good round number. It felt good. Well, fine. It felt fine.

Ruby's list consisted of around nine-thousand words she had to run through. Each taking roughly three to five minutes to check.

"I have more to do... I have to keep going..."

She altered the circle and a new word appeared in the centre, gently hovering there. She grabbed a nearby vile without taking her eyes off of the circle and tried to sprinkle some dust in the centre...

"Huh... that's weird..."

Nothing had come out? She had like twenty of these though, if one was empty, she just had to move on to the next-

"This one's empty too... empty... empty... empty... what's going on??"

Penny was supposed to replace the empty ones with filled ones!

"Penny-!" She turned to yell in frustration and it all hit her at once.

First was the smell... it was awful to be nice about it. Being realistic about it, she probably smelt worse then Qrow ever had, even on his multi-day bar crawls.

Then there was how tired she was. No... that wasn't right. She was exhausted. Every bone in her body ached as she turned, every muscle felt like it had set into place from sitting still for too long.

Next was... she really, really needed to go to the bathroom.

She tried to stand and that was her next mistake. The room was lit with a calm early morning sun, she got a very good look at the rays coming through the open windows as she fell straight on her face.

She let out a groan of pain and lifted her head slowly to look around... where was Penny? How long had it been...? How did she need to use the toilet so bad and also feel like she needed to eat a mountain??

Also... the floor. She was laying on the floor. It felt way too comfy. She hadnt layed down in a while... so she slowly closed her eyes.

"Just a little bit of sleep..."

"Ruby...? Ruby!!"

"Is she gonna wake up soon?"

"Hopefully... her body has used up most of it's stored energy but... she won't be in any danger as long as she eats something when she wakes up."

"I'm sorry to ask more of you but... I dont know how to cook much and-"

"Weiss, its ok. You wait with Ruby alright?"

There was some shuffling and the door closed. Was this a dream? She felt so tired... was that normal? But... she wasn't sleepy. It wasn't that kind of tired.

She groaned as she tried to force her eyes open. She needed to figure out what was going on... why was Weiss here? Why was she so hungry??

"Ruby?" She felt a hand on her back as she tried to sit up, she'd take all the help she could get.

After she was sitting up, she finally managed to open her eyes... they felt really heavy still.

"Weiss...? What are you doing here...?" Her throat was so dry too... thankfully Weiss handed her a glass of water that she gladly took, though she only made small sips... anymore then that felt like it would hurt.

"Penny called me. Well, Penny and Yang, and Blake. She had to call them first to figure out how to get you to stop... apparently all they could come up with short of physically forcing you away was to stop restocking your dust... and since you would resist, Penny couldn't force you to stop." Oh, that's why she had run out.

"Why...? It was only a few days... it's no big deal..." Judging from the expression that grew over Weiss's face, that had not been the correct thing to say.

"Ruby... you've been working for nearly a fortnight straight now...!" She practically hissed out the words and Ruby blinked... that couldn't be right... how much dust had she gone through...? But... it had only been a few days at most right...? Right?

"Wow umm... s-sorry... I guess I really lost some time there huh..." She chuckled awkwardly a little and Weiss crossed her arms.

"You have an appointment at the castle tommorow. You're meeting the Schnee's head Wizard, your not to work until then." Weiss stood and Ruby was confused.

"Weiss i-" She reached out but stopped short of grabbing the girls hand. "Look I'm sorry ok...? Please don't be mad..."

"I'm not angry Ruby." She sighed. "I'm worried about you. I'm concerned that your still doing this to yourself. As your employer, I'm telling you to take a break or else. As your friend? You reek. Make sure to bathe once you've eaten." She headed for the door after that... Weiss hadn't been around much at all lately... was... was Ruby too late? Had Weiss moved on?

That was a fun thought to sit with for a while... especially when she heard Weiss and Penny talking through the door but couldn't make out what they were saying... and when she heard Weiss leave...

Penny came in not long after... she was carrying a plate with some soft food, probably meant to be easy on her system. It didn't look too appealing but Ruby could eat anything right now, and Penny always made good food.

"I'm glad your ok friend. Truly. I was very worried when you stopped responding."

"I'm sorry Penny..."

"Don't apologise friend. Just... try not to do it again? Please...?" Penny looked at her with a soft smile.

"Hey Penny...? Do you... do you think Weiss still likes me?" Penny's eyes went wide and she stuttered for a moment, seemingly looking for the right words.

"I... I believe so Ruby. She rushed over here as soon as I called."

"That's not what she said."

"I believe she is simply a little frustrated..."

"...are you?"

Penny looked away and bit her lip.

"I... a little I suppose. Not at you of course! Just... I feel like I'm supposed to be able to do more... I'm here to make sure your ok, and if your not ok... then I've failed."

"Penny... this isn't your fault." Penny put on a smile and Ruby knew she didn't want to discuss it further... Penny couldn't lie, so whenever she wanted to keep something to herself, the only way she could was if someone respected her privacy... Ruby always tried to.

"Ok yeah... this feels really good..."

A bath had been just what she needed. Her body still screamed with pain and her mind was aching. What was this feeling... why was she so exhausted? She had done this plenty of times before... maybe not for so long but it had been fine in the past... maybe she just needed a break.

Ruby looked around the marble bathroom. It was as fancy as the rest of the rooms in the workshop... Weiss really had gone for as expensive as she could get away with... Ruby knew there were probably better places, but she wouldn't have agreed to stay in those... She barely accepted this place at first.

But, living in a sizeable place was something she had grown accustomed to.

"Maybe I should have moved in with Yang when she first offered... but... then I guess I never would have met Weiss."

So much had changed in a year.

A year ago, she wouldn't have been able to tell anyone what she wanted out of life. But now? Now she had a goal for what came after all this... not a very realistic one at this rate but... a goal nonetheless.

She slept well that night. Maybe because she collapsed the second she was in a bed again. Penny had put up a barrier around all the magic circles so Ruby couldn't sneak some work in either...

Still, when she woke, she felt great! The food had done wonders, she looked no where near as deathly thin as she had yesterday! Penny probably used some magic food or something. She wasn't back to normal exaclty, but she didn't look like a small breeze would throw her all the way to Yangs place anymore.

Today was gonna be interesting. She wasn't allowed to work this morning either, so she simply got ready and waited around the place for Weiss to come pick her up. She had decided to dress in some of the winter clothes Weiss had bought her, it was finally properly snowing in Vale. Though looking at the noble streets it was hard to tell, they all had mana pipes running under them that melted the snow.

Ruby grabbed her Scroll last. It had been a gift from Weiss for completing the first Hunter exam... though she had nearly forgotten to give it to her.

Ruby flipped it in her hands a few times... Weiss had given her so much over the time they had known each other... Ruby should try and give her something in return.

"Though I guess that's what I'm working towards anyway..."

Weiss arrived closer to midday then Ruby had expected, but she didn't even say hello. She simply knocked on the door, then told Ruby to follow her.

Once they were in the carriage, the silence became heavily awkward. Ruby didn't feel like she was sharing a space with Weiss at the moment... more like... her boss. Which Weiss was, but it still felt weird. She had even sat opposite to her instead of next to her like they always sat.

"So umm... I guess your still upset..."

"Of course I am Ruby." She winced a bit at that, but at least Weiss was talking.

"Well umm... what can I do to make it up to you...?" Weiss raised an eyebrow and her eyes moved to Ruby, though her face still pointed to the window.

"Take better care of yourself. Or at least let Penny take better care of you."

"It's... difficult..."

"Why!?" The sudden yelling confused Ruby at first but... she sighed and looked away.

"Because... it feels like I'm so close... I guess I... now that it's finally in reach I... I wanna rush to the end..." It wasn't a complete lie. Ruby did want to finish as soon as possible. Though... now just for a different reason.

"Ruby..." Weiss leaned forward and gently took her hand. "Please... try and think about everyone that cares about you... we'll all still be here waiting for you... no matter how long it takes. This is just the start ok...? Once your done... the rest of your life won't have a time limit... you just need to relax a little. In the grand scheme of things... if you look back at your time as a human in like... one hundred years from now... do you really think a year or two will be such a long time compared to that?"

"Yes... I need as much time as possible with all of you."