Ruby Schnee
"Hey Ruby! Can I talk to you?" This was one of the worst case scenarios.
"Sure Jaune, what's up?" Not Jaune talking to her, that didn't matter. Frankly repairing the range extender would be boring without some company... no the issue was the broader situation itself.
"Well... sorry to dump this on you but-" It wasn't the worst situation possible. All the people stationed here had been taken prisoner by some bandits so there weren't any dead. "- You're kinda my best friend to be honest..."
"What about Pyrrha?" The extender itself wasn't damaged, rather she was fixing it up so that it wouldn't break anymore... the issue was that she knew what Ozpin would say when they called after it was back up...
"Well... actually that's what I want to talk to you about." The bandits now being held prisoner were too strong to risk leaving the stationed soilders here to take care of till an envoy could be sent to cart them back to Vale to throw them into prison... so Ruby's team was probably stuck here for the time being.
"Well don't leave me in suspense." The range extender was nearly done anyway... she wasn't looking forward to Weiss's reaction to the news...
"I like Pyrrha." And like that she lost all concentration as her different trains of thought crashed into that particular nugget of information.
She slowly lowered her hands from the device and turned to Jaune. "Like a friend?"
"Umm..." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Yes and... also more." They awkwardly stared at eachother for a solid minute. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, both of them unyielding and unblinking as they faced down the other-
"Yo, that thing done yet?" And Emerald ruined the moment.
Downstairs, with the range extender back up, they could finally call Vale. By the time they returned from the roof, the call had already been started and the situation explained to the responder... she could tell because Ozpin was now on the line and he looked...
Well he had the expression of the man that was going to have to tell Weiss that Ruby wouldn't be back for awhile...
"-It would be such a waste... but it's so tempting..." His words were without context, but Ruby could guess as she moved closer what he was talking about.
"You wish to use spatial magic, Commander...?" Even the captain stationed here didn't believe it.
"I do... but it would be such a waste of Dust..." Spatial Dust was exceedingly rare... if Vale even had enough stocked up for a round trip to the fort was a question in of itself.
"I could just take the prisoners myself, then come back for the rest of my team." Ruby was attempting to be helpful... but she also just wanted to sleep in her own bed tonight... preferably not alone.
"That would be quite the flight Your Highness. I imagine it would be incredibly boring."
"Hey, I'm offering solutions. You're gonna have to tell Weiss something either way." His expression after her retort was worth way more to Ruby then it should have been.
"We clearly need to station more guards there anyway... sending them in a convoy then having you guard its return would be the logical option."
"I could take the prisoners back to Vale, bring the extra soilders back, then take my team back."
"And what about the extra supplies the soilders will need?" Ruby rubbed her temple with a sigh.
"Then i can just do another trip." It would be painful... sure... but it would lessen her stay here from possibly a week to only two nights.
"Perhaps I should ask the Queen first..."
"Don't. Weiss dosent need to know, she dosent recieve updates on every Hunters mission as they're happening." Frankly she was sick of this call already. She had found a solution, now she would carry it through. There wasn't a good enough reason presented so far as to why she couldn't do this.
"You do understand that I am your superior?" His snark was enough for her to finally pull out that card.
"And you do understand that I am your direct superior?" While yes she was a Hunter, she was still first and foremost the Queen Consort of Vale. Using her authority was new but... she had to get used to it eventually, and perhaps actually acting like she had the power that she did would finally earn her some respect from the council.
Ozpin nodded, but it wasn't clear if he approved of the situation or not. "Very well. We shall make preparations for the prisoners, as well as prepare the soilders being sent over." Ruby nodded and left the room, with Jaune following behind awkwardly.
"Hey, you alright?" She sighed at his words... honestly she wasn't, but saying that wouldn't help anything at the moment.
"Yeah. Just want to get this over with." They walked in silence for a bit, arriving in the courtyard before Jaune finally spoke again.
"You should probably sleep here tonight... a round trip will take you fourteen hours." Ruby groaned at his words... that wasn't what she wanted to hear right now.
"I could power through that." Ruby had stayed up way longer when she'd been working on the Dragon Formula.
"You could... but why?"
"Get things done faster..."
"Ruby... you know you could head there, sleep at home, then do a round trip tommorow right?" She did know that... but...
"That wouldn't be fair to you guys."
"Ruby-"
"Jaune..." She stopped walking and her words had taken a different tone. "I'm tired ok? I... I thought I could handle being away from Weiss but... knowing it's for longer then I expected..." Pride was fully dealing with her instincts... this wasn't artificial stress about the safety of her child... this was her own anxiety now. "I'm going to do whatever I can to get back there faster."
Jaune held there gaze for a moment, before conceding with a sigh and stepping aside. "I'll keep things under control till you're back... just promise me you'll think about sleeping tonight."
She averted her gaze and nodded gently... neither of them believed her.
"Are we there yet??"
"Eyes forward Ruby... just focus on flying... keep a fast pace..."
"This is so boring!"
"Yeah! I'm hungry!"
"I have to go to the bathroom!"
Ruby didn't know if her veins actually could bulge through her scales in her full form... but she was sure if she looked into a mirror right now that she would find out.
Out of everything the prisoners possibly could have chosen to do during the flight, they chose to be Incredibly annoying. Ruby's wings couldn't move faster as she kept up her top speed, Vale was a rather large country and crossing it wasn't an easy task. Especially in less then a day.
It could take weeks to get from the border to the capital by carriage, and she was practically doing that same trip in seven hours... or hopefully less if she could. Though, she also didn't have to take a winding path. The straight line of a flight cut down a lot of travel time, and she could fly faster then any cart could move.
The prisoners were all making empty threats about going to the bathroom... that much she knew. With the six of them in there, anyone that decided it would be a good idea to create a puddle in the middle of it would probably be torn apart by the others in a fit of rage. She didn't even want to imagine what they would do if one of them went number two...
"Great... now I have that image stuck in my head..."
She turned her thoughts to an issue that had been plaguing her instead. A thought process to hopefully help pass the time.
"My weapon... I don't know what shape it will be yet... but what do I want it to do exaclty...?"
She had already seen multiple different kinds of fancy magic weapons, but none that were Legendary tier. Adam's Rot Blade was quite the weapon, but even that was only Gilded tier... besides, she didnt want to use something so... evil.
Obviously all weapons were meant to do harm, but the Rot Blades in particular left a bad taste in her mouth. That was probably just Rory's influence though...
"I should see if I can check my brain for any influence those memories might be having on me..."
She doubted it would be enough to alter her personality... but too much influence could fully change who she was... she only had the last memory left sure but...
"When I view that last memory... all of his knowledge will be passed to me..."
Perhaps recieveing all of that would dump even more of his personality onto her... worst case scenario meant she would actually have to risk that. His knowledge of weapons far surpassed her own, and even if she studied for decades Ruby doubted she could match him in skill in that department...
"Then again I'm a Dragon... I have way longer then just a few decades..."
A hundred years from now, who's to say she wouldn't be leagues better then him? Or even two hundred? Three hundred? A thousand?
What could possibly happen before she reached his level naturally to force her into needing his memories?
It was harder then she thought it would be.
Taking the prisoners to Vale was easy, hell she actually managed to cut the flight down to six hours... the difficult part came once she arrived. Landing at Beacon, Hunters were already there to collect them, and the supplies needed to support the extra soilders for the fort were prepared for Ruby to take as well. They needed the supplies there before the soilders... which actually made perfect sense to Ruby.
The hard part was flying away with them... leaving Vale behind and seeing the castle disappear again... all without having seen Weiss while she was there...
"I could have stopped in for a few minutes... but..."
A few minutes would have become a few hours, and a few hours would have become her staying the night...
Ruby sighed as Vale disappeared far behind her... she had a long flight ahead, she should concentrate...
The supplies she was carrying were all packed away in Travel bags similar to the ones her team had taken initially. Food, water, weapons, even some Dust. Ruby didn't know the exact details, but she didn't really need to. All she had to do was take it from point A to point B. What a 'fun' first mission...
Still, spending so much time in her full form was helping her get used to it. She would have to practice fighting properly in it sometime in order to get stronger... if her weapon wasn't ready in time for the Vytal festival, then her full form would be her best bet for any fight she might compete in.
A few hours into the flight, things got a bit rough when she spotted some Grimm in the distance... Two Nevermore... they didn't look like alphas... but she didnt have much experience with fighting Grimm, air combat, or magic in general...
"This would be so much easier if I had a breath weapon..."
She let out a groan as she made her decision... it would be easier to go around them.
That particular detour had costed her a surprising amount of time. By the time she was back at the fort it was already dark. Her wings were practically aching from the long trip... some healing magic could fix that, but it wasn't her forte so she was planning on asking Velvet...
With a touch down that wasn't quite as soft as she was hoping, Ruby was finally on the ground again. As much as she wanted to immediately turn around and start flying again... a little break couldn't hurt right? She couldn't feel her wings anymore as they draped on the ground next to her. Some soilders had already come out of the tower to start moving her cargo, and she took the opportunity to lay down next to where the barrier had been, letting out a groan as her head hit the ground.
"Wow-" She turned her eyes and was greeted with the sight of her team looking... unimpressed. "-You look like shit."
"Hey Emerald..." Ruby was too tired to use mutli-target telepathy, so she was just talking to one of them at a time. "Hey Velvet... can you heal me? I can't really feel my wings right now..." She had been flying all day, but her mana tank was still nearly full. She was definitely planning on hard focusing learning healing magic once this mission was done...
"Ruby... you need to rest." Velvet was as nice as ever, but Ruby was determined. Nothing was going to stop her from doing this now, even if she had to fly like this-
"Ruby. Rest here tonight or I'm calling Weiss." Jaunes words were like a splash of cold water on her face, and the dread she felt at how her wife would react to her acting like this was enough to make her gulp.
"You're bluffing..." Her words were nervous, and the Hero's only response was to raise his hand, which happened to be clutching a Scrying Orb. Ruby let out an audible groan and reluctantly reverted to her base form, still laying on the ground.
"You guys suck..." She groaned out the words and her attempts to stand only resulted in Emerald and Jaune helping her up and practically carrying her to their shared room.
They had basically stolen the captains quarters, though perhaps it was more accurate to say he immediately relinquished them upon realising Ruby was the Queen Consort. Still, split between the four of them the room definitely didn't feel fancy anymore.
Ruby let out another groan as she moved to sit up on the bed. The others had all agreed to let her take the bed yesterday, and it seemed that ruling had stuck today...
"I mean... we only got this room cause I'm married to Weiss... and I guess I did fly everyone here..."
Ruby wasnt about to complain about it...
Jaune was the only other one in the room for now, he was taking a couch in the room, whereas Emerald and Velvet were splitting a mattress that they had setup on the floor. Honestly it was way better accomadations then Ruby had expected for her first mission.
Ruby put her book to the side, leaving it open on the page she had been reading. It was the same book Weiss had asked her to read a while ago, and she was a decent way through it so far. She didnt know why Weiss liked the book so much, but it was certainly enjoyable... plus, funnily enough, she actually really liked the name of the Military base.
"Ohhhh... is that Weiss's idea?"
She smirked as she looked back at the book and shrugged, knowing she'd have to talk to Weiss about it the next chance she got. But for now, something else was on her mind, so she turned to the only other person in the room.
"Jaune! C'mere!" She was acting sort of childish and her voice reflected that, but there was no way she was going to be the one moving through the room to talk.
He tilted his head, but when she didn't elaborate he crossed the room with a sigh and sat on the end of the bed. They were both already in pajamas, and Ruby was pretty sure Emerald and Velvet had gone to get changed as well.
"What's up?"
"I want the gossip!"
"What gossip...?"
Her eyes focused on him. "You know what gossip."
"Ruby what are you-"
"You and Pyrrha! Details! Gimme!"
"Ohh..." He shrugged. "Not much to tell... I guess..." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away. "Call me optimistic if you want... but... I think she actually likes me back...?"
"Oh my God... he's not totally blind!"
"What makes you say that?" She tilted her head and tried her best to hide her knowing eyes.
"I... I dunno I guess. Just started noticing things here and there... I only really started seeing it after the rescue mission..." He smiled gently and turned his head down. "After I thought I noticed it... I sort of... started thinking about her like that too... I guess before I had the idea she liked me, I never even considered she would or could..."
"I kinda felt similar when I first started liking Weiss..."
"So... when are you gonna tell her?" She leaned forward and tried to ignore how her body screamed in pain as she did. Velvet had refused to heal her till morning... mainly because they all thought Ruby would fly off the second she could.
Which Ruby wouldn't deny.
"I... I think soon. Originally I was gonna tell her after the Vytal festival but..." He shook his head. "Why wait that long? If... if she really does like me... I don't want to waste that time we could spend together..." Ruby smiled gently as he spoke... she could tell that he was already a bit further along then 'liking' Pyrrha... and she was sure Pyrrha was also a bit past 'liking' Jaune too.
"Wasn't really a matter of if they would end up together in my opinion."
Words couldnt describe how much Ruby agreed with Jaune's decision. Even knowing her and Weiss would be together for more then hundreds of years... she would give more then she could put into words to have found her earlier then she did.
Ruby could still remember seeing Weiss staring at her door that first day... she could still picture her expression perfectly...
"If I had to relive all of my life... I wouldn't waste a single moment longer then I had to before rushing to her side..."
She rested her hand on Jaunes shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry Jaune. Everything will work out."
He gave her a smile as their eyes met and he shrugged. "Yeah... hopefully it goes better then your attempts at getting Weiss pregnant." The jab was accompanied by a teasing expression and Ruby pouted with a bright blush.
"We were having a moment Jaune!"
"I'll have you know I succeeded at that!" She tried to stand up to emphasise her point, but her body was having none of that.
"Weiss is pregnant??" Two voices spoke at once, one surprised and one excited. Ruby looked away from Jaunes surprised voice and met Velvets eyes as she stepped into the room.
"Whoops."
Oh well, she trusted these people. She knew they wouldn't let the secret slip. Besides, it was only Jaune and Velvet.
Ruby caught sight of green hair behind Velvet and sighed.
"Emerald too. But I trust her as well."