The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 14
(Go follow them...)
(On it.) Link replied, and did the opposite by staying out of sight from Mercury and Emerald
(Idiot...)
(They already know me, if they see me, they're only going to target me you fool.)
(Fair enough, but if you fail, I'll be right here to laugh in your face)
(Shame that's all you can do.) Link teased
(I hate you so much.)
(Feeling's mutual pal, but we somehow work well as a team, so deal with it.) Link said, hearing no response from the demon inside him, instantly noticing Ironwood asking Glynda to dance
"Poor Glynda..." Link chuckled.
"Insulting a military figure is quite disrespectful you know." Ozpin said, putting a hand on Link's shoulder
"He may be your friend Professor, but we have history, and it's not like his ways of dealing with things is correct."
"That may be true young one, not everyone is going to like military actions, but what can we do, oppose them? And if so, in what way? Physical, now that would be crazy."
"Crazy defines Ironwood." Link remarked
"Fair enough." Ozpin nodded (He and Qrow would get along quite well...shame he's gone.)
"Hey listen about tomorrow..." Link turned to face Ozpin, who was now gone. "What the-?! Are you kidding me?" Link sighed and walked over towards Ruby
"Hey, where'd ya go?" She asked
"Just doing some sight seeing, Weiss and Yang did well with organizing and decorating."
"You think so?"
"Truth is, I really don't care, I'm just trying to make conversation."
"Good because I really don't care either." Ruby and Link both laughed and awkwardly fist bumped each other.
"Hey thanks for the modifications you made to my crossbow, it really helped me out."
"No problem, however, your puny rifle bow doesn't compare to my beautiful darling."
"Of but of course...however, what are you without crescent rose?" Link asked
"..." Ruby said nothing and tried to think of an answer "Umm..."
"Exactly. You see, many people think carrying extra weapons is a waste, but here's the counter argument, you'll always have weapons with you."
"Always?" Ruby asked
"Mhm." Link nods "Always." He then started to punch and kick the air "My hand to hand may be terrible, but it's saved me against opponents who were worse at it than myself. I really do need to get better at it...so, how are you at hand to hand?"
"I'm okay." Ruby chuckled nervously
"Liar." Link chuckled and served himself some punch "Hey, I know this probably isn't for the best in terms of our grades but we should stay up late and train on our weaknesses, and trust me, I know the both of us can work on plenty."
"That'd be awesome." Ruby cheered and started to punch the air too. "Both of us could work on hand-to-hand, your aim could improve, my timing needs work-!"
"Ah ah slow your horses there Rose." Link chuckled "One step at a time. When it comes to hand-to-hand, we can't improve if we just train by just ourselves. We'll slowly progress but eventually we'll need to be taken under someone's wing."
"Oh!" Ruby jumped up "Yang can help us with our punching, she's amazing and super strong!"
"I've seen Ren and his kicking is way above world class, maybe we could get them to help us out right after the mission."
"Oh my goodness the mission!" Ruby jumped again with excitement "You ready for tomorrow?" She asked
"Yes." Link nodded "I'm gonna skip the mission and sleep in all day."
"H-huh?" Ruby frowned "Our first mission and you want to skip it?" She then smiled and nudged Link "Somebody's got a big ego."
"It's not about that." Link shrugged "And my ego is perfectly in check thank you very much madam."
"Oh I'm suuuure it is." Ruby sarcastically remarked.
"Oh man I'd hurt you by know." Link laughed and reached for the ladle to refill his drink
"Then why don't you, I'm not afraid." Ruby said as she also reached for the ladle
"You're lucky that I like you." Link blurted out and coincidentally, both of their hands touched as they intended to refill their drink with punch.
"What?" Ruby backed up
"O-oh..." Link said, blushing in embarrassment, he didn't mean it in that way...but in some way, maybe he did.
"I'm gonna...go talk to Yang..." Ruby said, bumping into chairs and table as she walked away
"R-right, I'm gonna go...somewhere." Link sighed and walked away.
Moments later
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!" Ruby shouted
Ruby then noticed Neptune walking downstairs, with Jaune right behind him, however, Jaune had white clothing in his hands
"That's a dress..." Ruby thought "Why would Jaune need a-!"
"Over here." Yang waved
"..." Ruby nodded and joined her sister, now both sister had an overview view of everyone dancing on the 1st floor.
"So why'd you shout my name earlier?"
"Oh it was nothing." Ruby waved her off "At first I was panicking but now...I'm a bit more calm." Ruby said while needing to feel her own heartbeat, it was steady, unlike earlier with Link when it was faster than Roman Torchwick escaping a crime scene.
"So what did you and Link talk about now?" Yang said with a smile
"Why do you assume it's has anything to do with-!" Ruby stopped herself and felt her heated up face, it was a combination of anger, embarrassment and shame, plus her shouting more than likely gave it away too "Yeah it was about Link." She admitted
"What'd he do now...?" Yang asked with genuine concern now.
"He said that..." Ruby hesitated "N-never mind it was silly."
"Come on sis, the more you oppose telling the truth the more it hurts." Yang playfully put her in a headlock
"He said he liked me!" Ruby blurted out
"Whoa!" Yang let Ruby go only to grip her by the shoulders and look right in her eyes "Are you serious?"
"Mhm." Ruby slowly but carefully nodded
"That's awesome!" Yang proudly hugged her younger sister "And you said you wouldn't be into boys at all! Look at you, you're a mess over a guy." Yang laughed
"Do ya have to keep bringing that up? I get, you were right and I was wrong." Ruby sighed
"I knew he'd choose you as well, Velvet is nice, but Link needs a tough chick to keep him in check." Yang cheered and looked around
"Sis what are you...?"
"Does anyone have a microphone I have a big announcement?!" Yang exclaimed
"Oh no you don't!" Ruby jumped on Yang and they got into a quick scuffle
"Oh come on sis it's great news!" Yang struggled because of hair pulling that was occurring
"I didn't say yes!" Ruby shouted and the scuffle quickly ended.
Awkward silence...
"Well..." Ruby sighed again then completely shut up
"What?" Yang asked "You guys are a thing now, right?"
"Hmm..." Ruby thought long and hard but she shook her head "We awkwardly ran away from each other."
"Oh..." Yang said and sighed with relief "That's not too bad, you're both just insecure about your feelings towards each other, keep in mind, there was certain bunny girl trying to get him too ya know."
"Shush!" Ruby snapped
"Relax sis, just give it some time, it'll all be fine." Yang smiled proudly again "Let him know how you feel, and if you can't in words, do it in another way."
"Another way?" Ruby raised an eyebrow, but the topic of the conversation changed immediately
"We really needed something like this, and we've found out new things that we would've never found out on a normal school day."
"Hmm...you know, you're right." Ruby nodded "And you did a great job planning all this too." Ruby mumbled, clearly contradicting herself
"Aw thanks." Yang put Ruby in another playful headlock, which was resisted. "It wasn't all me though. Weiss did a lot too."
"...!" Ruby calmed down, which resulted in her release from the choke hold
"Unfortunately." Yang sighed "Tomorrow it's back to work."
"We can handle whatever gets thrown at us." Ruby stated in a confident manner...and they she noticed Jaune in the white dress walking in between the crowd of people
"Uhhh..." Yang said that and nothing else
"Except for that." Ruby shook her head wildly.
"Just go, escape this nightmare." Yang burst out in laughter at Jaune while pushing her sister away.
So after a minute of Jaune talking to Pyrrha, followed up an 'improvised' Team JNPR dance...
(Keep your eye on the clock...)
(Huh?) Link looked up at the second floor, eyeing the entire area, noticing two people that he completely forgot about, Mercury and Emerald...but no Cinder (That's who was missing!)
(Looks like our old boss is up to something...)
(This isn't good at all.)
(Allow me...)
(Fine) Link walked towards the exit, shutting his eyes briefly before opening them, his pupils turning gold
Link scanned the area...and saw nothing.
"No luck." Link sighed as his eyes turned blue again
"Hey." Ruby said, walking behind Link
"What's up?" Link asked, trying to sound calm, but he was still on the look out for Cinder.
"Are you okay?" Ruby responded to Link's question with a question of her own.
"I'm fine. Just a little anxious." Link looked around
"About what?"
"Oh nothing just that I'm a little paranoid and think something bad is going to happen right now."
"O-oh, just right now...?" Ruby said, softly biting down on her bottom lip.
"It's more than just right now actually." Link chuckled, slowly starting to calm down
"Was it about earlier?" Ruby mumbled
"That's 50% of my concern at the moment."
"Don't let it concern you anymore." Ruby said, and clearly wanted to make a move, but she froze up "I-I...like you too you know."
"..." Link said nothing, his concern for Cinder's whereabouts was interfering with what was happening right now.
"I wanted to let you know before..."
"Before Velvet said it too?" Link smiled and clearly did his best to take Cinder out of his mind
"Y-yeah." Ruby sighed and awkwardly walked closer to Link, basically bumping right into him
"I didn't think you were into guys Ruby." Link continued to say jokes, he looked around, making sure nobody saw them both being awkward before finally wrapping his arms around Ruby
"That's how I've been my whole life...but meeting you this semester alone has changed that and I don't know why." Ruby mumbled but then shook her head "That's ridiculous I do know why."
"Know why what?" Link asked
"You're different, you didn't judge me by simply taking one look at me, or by my height, weight, gender, skin color, or even my personality. You got to know me and accepted my weirdness. You, Jaune, Ren, Sun and Neptune are the only guy friends I have...like in my entire 15 years of living."
"Really now?" Link chuckled "I can see why..."
"Hmph!" Ruby puffed her cheeks and turned away
"Those other guys probably just wanted a girl with Yang's looks, Blake's personality and Weiss' money. All packaged up with your cheery good nature."
"You're right." Ruby nodded "Except..."
"They didn't want a huntress." Link nods "They want to be the stereotypical man who does all the heavy lifting while the woman just stays at home, cooks and take's care of the kids."
"Yup! I'll never be that! I will always want something to do! I will never kick back when there's lives to be saved! The moment you think you're done, you've just started!" Ruby screamed as she looked up at Link, her smile had returned as well.
"I'm grateful for you Ruby, you help me a lot, and you know, I won't let it concern me anymore." Link mumbled, but wasn't talking about his earlier ordeal
"What do you mean by that exactly?" Ruby chuckled sarcastically
"It means I don't have to hide my feelings anymore. All this time I wanted to say how much I appreciated you, but I never could, I'd freeze up."
"Just like me." Ruby smiled "I didn't think you'd be scared to let your feelings be known."
"..." Link said nothing and moved his head towards Ruby
"W-what are you..." Ruby's blush intensified when Link started to lean in closer
"I-is he..." Ruby froze up again, not knowing what to do. However, she didn't fight it at all, she made no attempt to break the hug and run away, just like she would in any other situation.
The moment she never thought would ever happen with anybody
Ruby and Link shared their first kiss together.
Unfortunately for the two, when their lips locked together, their awkwardness with the kiss was 'saved' as Ruby noticed something at the corner of her eye...it was cinder, but she didn't know who that was, all she saw a woman in black with a mask that nobody knew except Mercury, Emerald and Link.
"Link..." Ruby backed away from the kiss and pointed at the figure in the distance.
"I know..." Link nods and shakes his head
(There she is...)
(Stating the obvious as usual) Link sighed
(I have to, you're too busy being in love to notice)
"Let's go." Link nodded
"Right. Let's go!" Ruby nodded right back as they both sprinted towards Cinder, with Ruby having issues due to her trouble with heels.
5 minutes later
"Look." Link pointed at the guard that was unconscious
"Hmm..." Ruby quickly grabbed her scroll
"What should we-!" Before Link could even finish the sentence , Ruby's locker smashed into the brick floor
"Great idea. One time use only, now's the perfect time." Link reached for his scroll, when he noticed...empty pockets "Son of a..." Link frowned "Damn, all I've got on me is a boomerang."
"It's fine, let's just find out who this person or people are." Ruby nodded as she led the way inside
"Who do you think is doing this?" Link asked, despite him already knowing
"Maybe Torchwick..." Ruby mumbled as they heard gun fire
"I don't think Torchwick has curves like that WOMAN did." Link said and immediately got an angry stare from Ruby "Sheesh, is she mad because of the comments towards the woman or because I made her sound dumb."
"Though maybe she was hired by Torchwick. Who knows..." Link rolls his eyes
"The elevator!" Both Link and Ruby shouted as they both rushed past the other unconscious guards
"Come on, come on!" Ruby punched the elevator button
"We're too late to stop this person but let's hope we can get a clear look at their face." Link suggested as the elevator opened, and there were two more unconscious guards.
"Whoever this is must be very strong." Ruby said, almost nervously, but the tension was killed when she almost tripped over her shoes again
"..." Link said nothing as the elevator took them up
"Me first, okay?" Ruby suggested
"No problem." Link nodded
The elevator doors slowly opened, but there was no criminal in sight, the only thing seen all the computers having a chess piece symbol on the screens.
Ruby led, with her weapon fully exposed, while Link followed closely behind
"Hello?" Ruby spoke up and stepped forward, only to take multiple steps along with tripping and nearly falling.
(Smooth...)
(Shut it.)
"Excuse me...?" Ruby said as a woman rose from behind a counter
(Well well, it's been a while...)
(She can't hear you.) Link sighed
"You know this isn't a masquerade. So why don't you take off that-!"
"Watch out!" Link said, backing up while pulling Ruby back as Cinder fired glass like projectiles
"..!" Ruby acted quick and deflected the projectiles with her scythe.
"Fire bullets at her!" Link said, carefully waiting his moment
"No problem!" Ruby proceeded to fire multiple sniper rifle bullet at Cinder, who blocked them off with ease, but didn't see Link rushing at her from her left.
Link jumped on a wall that separated each row of computers in order to leap into the air, unleashing a powerful dropping axe kick
Cinder jumped smiled waving her hands to summon her swords, which she then used to block the kick, which much resistance from Link, who kept adding more power and force
"How have you been?" Cinder winked
Link frowned and quickly tried capitalizing with more kicks, only for Cinder to block them as well, with a smile on her face the entire time
Link then began to throw fast punches, but even then, Cinder dodged them with ease, all she did was lead Link on
"Die!" Link's left fist lit up, the triforce was glowingrapidly.
"..." Cinder said nothing and simply hopped on Link's incoming punch to leap over him, turning her swords into a bow
"Crap!" Link said as his fist collided with the ground, creating medium sized hole
"Link get out of there!" Ruby chanted, watching Cinder arrows straight down at him
Link smiled himself and took the hit head on
"N-no!" Ruby shouted with anger.
Cinder landed safely on the ground, kneeling promptly before slowly getting up, she was facing Ruby head on when suddenly...
Doors opened, and in entered James Ironwood
Ruby now smiled, but when she looked back towards Cinder's direction, she was gone
"You two have a lot of explaining to do." James crossed his arms
"Sure thing..." Link said, getting out of the rubble completely unharmed physically.
"Link!" Ruby said with relief while tightly hugging Link "How did you?! You're completely unharmed."
"Remember the food fight, the aura that surrounded me when I protected Blake...?"
"It's like a shield." Ruby mumbled
"A shield that protects me and anyone in contact from anything, but I can only use it briefly, otherwise it takes a lot of energy out of me." Link sighed and softly whispered in Ruby's ear "Sorry."
"For?" She asked
"For being so useless. She completely played me like a fool." Link shrugged
"I could've helped a little more too." Ruby chuckled
"You both did well." James spoke up, helping Ruby and Link to their feet "You both did your best, and that's what matters."
"Right." Ruby said as she and Link sat down while Ironwood investigated the area.
"Didn't feel like my best..." Link sighed and punched the wall, fracturing the pavement and sending cracks across the place.
"..." Ruby said nothing and waited for Ironwood to turn his back, she slowly tapped Link's arm
"What's up?" Link whispered, and to his shock, Ruby was now grabbing his hand with both of hers
"Let's go." She smiled and felt her face turning red, remembering exactly what Yang told her "Let him know how you feel, and if you can't in words, do it in another way."
"Okay." Link nodded and glanced at Ironwood
"Now..." Ruby and Link both said as they bolted away, not even requiring ruby's speed, despite Ironwood needing them to share everything they saw about the 'intruder.'
10 minutes later
(You failed...)
(I don't care...because I'm about to succeed in another way)
"You sure?" Link asked
"Mhm." Ruby nodded as they entered Link's dorm
"Does this mean..."
"We can worry about all that later." Ruby waved it off
"Good, now come here." Link said, shutting the door quickly, both her and Ruby didn't bother going back to the dance, and instead focused on more special things.
Upon closing the door, Link and Ruby began to kiss once again, with their young and brittle minds only worrying about love as they began to get more intimate.
(9/29/17) Edited: Minor Errors + The setup to Link and Ruby's first kiss has more dialogue rather than the 3-4 lines it had originally.
(Edited on 8/26/2022)