The Frozen Rose

Vacation, a time to celebrate, a time to be with family and friends, a time for relaxing after classes had gotten out, however, for one Ruby Rose, there was one thing that was paramount above all else. Can you guess?

Cookies! Far as the eye can see! At least, that was what the young girl was day-dreaming about while Weiss was yet again attempting to hammer some tutoring into her brain. She had tried time and time again to make a better connection with her partner, but the heiress just didn't have the people skills she needed to get through to her younger teammate. Growing up the way she had, Weiss never had the chance to do all of the childish things that Ruby held so dear, like for example, baking cookies just for the fun of eating them afterward.

As Ruby's face hit the wooden table in the library, after her chin had slipped out of her palm, Weiss rolled her eyes and closed her book. "Owww..." Ruby sighed as she rubbed her nose, which had taken most of the impact.

"You...really don't like me do you..." Weiss muttered, breaking the silence.

"What? Of course, I do...you're just kinda...boring..." She said timidly, voice trailing off, not wanting Weiss to be mad with her. "It's vacation, I don't wanna have my nose shoved in a book, I wanna go play outside, anything but studying..." She said as she rested her head back into her hands, propping herself back up. "Besides...this isn't exactly my idea of a date..."

"Well, I didn't hear you giving any ideas when I asked you if you wanted to go out!" She halfheartedly yelled back at her partner.

"That's because I didn't think you would want to do any of the things I like to do! Every time I ask you if you want to hang out you tell me I'm too childish and that we need to study!" Ruby fake yelled back with a grin on her face, she had long since learned that arguing with Weiss was a one-sided battle that couldn't be won with force.

"Well maybe if you picked something a little more romantic and grown-up I wouldn't call you childish..." she huffed, trying to keep her emotions under control. "We could've gone to dinner or seen a movie like your sister and Blake.

"I didn't want to go with them...I just wanted to spend time with you."

"We could have seen a different movie you know, it's not as if we would need to follow them around."

"Whatever..." Ruby said as she puffed up her cheeks, folded her arms and looked away and out the window. She watched the campus walkway lights turn on as the sun set before she spotted a couple out in the courtyard. She immediately recognized who the two were and that the boy had lifted the girl off of her feet. An impressive feat really, and he twirled her around once before he set her back down and brought their lips together, the boy's long wolf ears perking up when their lips touched. Weiss looked to Ruby's face, seeing her expression change from her small fit to a soft smile, her muscles relaxing as her cheeks flushed. She followed Ruby's line of sight and spotted the source of her girlfriend's blush.

"See?" she said softly, "even the strongest seniors in the whole school act like children sometimes."

"That doesn't mean that everyone does," Weiss said as she looked back to her book, embarrassed by watching the couple kiss each other.

"Hurrhhh," Ruby groaned heavily as she stood up from the table, grabbed her scroll from the table and stuffed it into her bag before she slung it over her shoulder, "you could ruin anything, you know that?" The young girl walked away before Weiss could think of a comeback and slumped back into her chair, sulking at her own failure.

"What is wrong with me...after everything we have been through I still treat her like a little kid...Why can't I just swallow my pride and do something nice with her!?" She almost yelled as she slammed her fist into the table, before swiftly being shushed at by the students at the tables around her. She looked out to the couple again, trying to calm down. "Those two have been through Hell and back...and look at them...not a care in the world. How do they do it...how can they be so happy," she muttered as she watched the girl take her boyfriend into her arms and hold him tightly, even lifting him off the ground for a moment effortlessly, causing Weiss to smile. "Gosh, Ruby sure was right about Ambur, she is exactly like an older version of Yang," she laughed out to herself quietly. "Mydnight does seem pretty tame...for a Faunus of course," she said meekly, still not comfortable to have Faunus so close to her.

The thing was, Weiss knew them better than anyone else in the group and had elected to not tell Ruby what she knew, not wanting her enthusiasm to be crushed, not to mention that it wasn't anyone's business. "...Well, if I'm not against her training with him...I guess I should encourage her," she said to herself as she stood up and packed her books up, heading back to their dorm room.

When she arrived she found that the lights were off and peered up to Ruby's bed, seeing her partner angrily curled up and facing the wall. She left the lights off and shut the door behind her, walking to her bed and setting her bag down at the edge of it. She headed to their shared dresser and opened her drawer, pulling out her nightie to get changed. She looked back to Ruby one more time, making sure she wasn't watching and she began to remove her day clothes.

"...Dream of anything...I'll make it all come true," she began to absent-mindedly sing one of her favorite songs, as she often did when they were alone. It was one of the few things that she knew for sure Ruby loved about her. She didn't hear Ruby turn over and silently start watching her as she stripped down to her underwear and bra before beginning again." Everything you need is all I have for you. I'm forever, always by your side, whenever you neeeed a friend, never far behind." The heiress slipped on her nightgown and turned back to her bed, finding Ruby's silver eyes staring back at her with a blush spreading across her cheeks.

After a few moments, however, Ruby began to roll back over and curl up again. Weiss reached up and took hold of her shoulder. "...Wait," Ruby heard her say weakly before she rolled back over to face her. "Come down here...please..." she said as she sat down on her bed before Ruby climbed down, out from under her blankets, revealing she too had changed for bed. Weiss patted the bed beside her and Ruby sat down, arms crossed, looking down into her lap. "I'm sorry I yelled at you again...I'm sorry for everything I said okay," she said a bit too quickly, still trying to get used to the concept of heartfelt apologies. "I'm not mean to you on purpose..."

"I know that...you don't have to explain...it's okay..." she heard Ruby say quietly before her younger partner sniffled quietly.

"No it isn't okay Ruby...I'm your girlfriend...I shouldn't be making you cry like this all the time. I may be inexperienced with relationships and the entire concept of love but...it isn't fair for me to treat you the way I do..." She said, putting her arm around the younger girl, feeling her shy away from her touch for a moment. "...Hey...how about tomorrow you and I bake some cookies together?" She said with a smile.

"Re...really?" Ruby asked as she looked up to Weiss, clearly surprised and excited by the idea.

"Yeah...and...maybe we could make some for you to give to Mydnight huh? I bet he and Ambur would love a present from you."

"...But I thought...you didn't want me around them?"

"...I...I was...jealous..." she muttered, inaudibly.

"...What? I didn't catch th-" Ruby gasped before being cut off.

"I was jealous of him okay! I hated that you always seemed to want to hang out with him instead of me...but I think those two can be a good influence on you. Besides, it's a great opportunity for you to learn some new moves...right?" she said, smiling softly down to her partner.

"Really?!" the young girl yelled out, ecstatic. "Thank you!" Ruby threw her arms around Weiss and hugged her tightly, resting her face in the crook of her girlfriend's neck.

"Hah...No problem..." she sighed, taking her into her arms. "I'm still learning about this whole...love thing, I know we both don't have any experience in it but...I'm really trying you know?"

"I know," she said before she quickly pecked her lips against Weiss' chin.

"I'll get it down eventually...I won't stop until I get it right...I'll change everything for you," she said, lifting Ruby's chin before pressing her lips to Ruby's. Ruby was surprised at first but after a moment she relaxed back into her girlfriends hold on her, and her eyes drifted shut as she kissed her back.

It would be hours before Yang crepy into the room, Blake nearly passed out in her arms. Yang nudged the door shut with her backside before crossing the room and set Blake down on her bed before taking one look over to Weiss' bed, finding Ruby and the heiress sleeping peacefully under Weiss's blankets and Ruby's cloak. To Yang's relief, she could tell they were both still clothed, but after a moment Yang began to wonder why she was so relieved about that fact.

After all, she was about to undress Blake like she did most nights, whether Weiss and Ruby were in the room or not for that matter. She shook away her thoughts of being a bad role model and pulled off her coat and kicked her boots off as she heard Blake doing the same before the blonde leaned over and climbed into her girlfriend's bed on all fours. She came to rest over her girlfriend's body and sent them into the first kiss of what would be many by the time the night was over.

/

The next morning Ruby woke to find that she had fallen asleep in her girlfriend's bed, and after wiping out her eyes and adjusting to the light coming in through the window, she found that Yang and Blake were in a similar situation, missing their clothes. She looked away from her sister and back to Weiss, whom she found was already awake, looking down at her. Ruby yawned before resting back into her partner's grasp, as Weiss had played the role of the big spoon the night before, and she felt her wrap her arms around her waist. "You've never slept in my bed before ya know," the heiress said softly, running her fingers through the younger girl's hair.

"Well...I wasn't comfortable with it until last night...I was caught up in the moment," she said as she closed her eyes and snuggled back into a more comfortable position before she felt Weiss shaking her shoulders slightly.

"Hey, no going back to sleep, we're making cookies remember? Just because we aren't studying doesn't mean that you can sleep all day. Common, get up," she said playfully, shoving Ruby toward the edge of the bed. "Get up, common, out of bed, get dressed." Weiss too stood up, tossing her blankets aside and the pair quietly began to get dressed, but soon heard Yang shifting around underneath Blake.

She gently moved her partner, who adjusted herself to get comfortable again before Yang sat up, sheets clinging to her bust for dear life before she grabbed a nearby shirt and slipped it on. "Uhhh," she groaned before rubbing her face several times. "What time is it?"

"Uhhh," Ruby wondered, picking up her scroll and peeking at the clock, "almost ten."

"WHAT?!" Yang yelled in surprise, springing from her bed and tearing through her clothes to find her combat outfit before pulling it on, almost on her way out the door. "I'm gonna be late!"

"For what?" Ruby asked, genuinely surprised to see Yang so worried about something.

"I've got a match in the gym!" Yang yelled as she pulled the door open and nearly ran straight into Jaune, who was right outside the door, fist raised, about to knock. "Sorry Jaune!" They all heard from a long way down the hall. He lowered his hand before stepping inside.

"Someone's in a hurry, what'd she mean by a match?" He asked, having forgotten why he was going to knock on their door in the first place.

"Yang has gotten into the nasty habit of challenging Ambur to hand to hand combat in the gym lately...twenty losses in a row but she won't give up," the group heard Blake groan, muffled by the blankets she was using to hide from the sunlight.

"Thankfully Ambur is actually really nice and she doesn't beat her up too badly," Ruby giggled.

"Yang won't stop until she beats her," Weiss said, rolling her eyes, "it may be immature but at least she is setting her goals high."

"Jaune, what did you want anyway?" Ruby said as she nudged him back outside the room and closed the door most of the way so that she and Weiss could change into some more appropriate clothes.

"Oh, uh, I was kinda...wondering about something..." they heard him say softly as he shifted closer to their door and away from his own. "What would be a good thank you gift for Pyrrha?"

The girls all looked to the hallway with a small smile before Ruby popped open the door, her and Weiss fully dressed now. "Common Romeo, you're coming with us," she said as she grabbed his hand, pulling him down the hallway, closely followed by Weiss.

"Wuh-Woah!" he blurted out as he fought to keep his balance, surprised by the force Ruby was using on him. "What, where are we going?"

"Dorm kitchen, making cookies together!" Ruby smiled as she began to skip along down the hallway, Jaune struggling to keep pace with her.

As they came into the shared kitchen of the entire dorm, the girls set to work taking everything out and preparing their own tray. Ruby took the time to show Jaune what he needed to do to make his own. Surprisingly enough the teaching stuck and before long he had got it down, their trays filling up quickly before Weiss set them both into one of the many ovens in the room.

They all started to clean up their messes as they watched the timer go down, having set it for twenty minutes under Ruby's instruction. Once Weiss had cleaned up the counter she walked up behind Ruby, who was washing the utensils they had dirtied and planted a short kiss on her cheek. "You know...that was pretty fun, maybe we could get everyone involved next time?" The heiress thought out loud before Ruby's blush grew again and she nodded happily.

"Yang loves making cookies with me and I'm sure Blake wouldn't mind."

"I don't know about Ren, but if we had Nora in here the cookie dough would have been gone before we had a chance to make anything out of it," Jaune laughed and the girls laughed along with him.

Soon enough the timer went off and, using some oven mitts, Weiss returned the trays to the counter to let the cookies cool, Ruby bouncing in place waiting to eat them. Weiss and Ruby's cookies were chocolate chip, Ruby's favorite, and Jaune had decided to make some sugar cookies, not sure what kind Pyrrha liked. The girls found a see-through bag and gave it to Jaune with a twist tie so he could give them to Pyrrha. "Thanks for the help guys, not sure what I would have ended up getting for her without you."

"She would have loved anything you gave her silly. But remember, she will always enjoy something you made for her over something you bought for her," Ruby smiled out before popping the first of several cookies into her mouth. "Oohhh," she groaned out before her mouth opened up, tilting her head upward and waving her hand in front of her face. "Haawwwttt," she let out as the other two laughed and Jaune left the room and headed back to his dorm.

"How are they?" Weiss asked after Ruby finally swallowed the smoldering mess of chocolate.

"Sooooo good," Ruby said swooning over them before Weiss pulled her back by her hood.

"Common now, save some for me, and for Mydnight of course," she scolded gently before hunting down another bag to use.

"Are you going to come with me to see him? You know I'm sure that he wouldn't mind, he is a great guy and he doesn't have a lot of friends."

"Well...I guess I could tag along, it's not like you two plan to train today right?"

"No, I haven't even asked him yet, but he knows that I want to, he keeps offering because he can tell I want him to teach me."

"Well, I'll come then, I'd rather not be around when two crazy Scythe wielders go at each other," she said giving Ruby a short but soft noogie before the girls put his cookies in the bag. They then split up the remaining ones and ate them.

The pair for the Senior section of the dorm building to find that his door was already open. They could hear music all the way down the hall.

"Every nightmare just discloses, it's your blood that's red like roses and no matter what I do nothing ever takes the place of you!" They heard from his radio as they walked up and Weiss knocked on the open door Ruby began to bob her head with her eyes closed. "My jammmmmm," she sighed happily and Weiss rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Come in," they heard as the music was turned down and Weiss opened the door the rest of the way. As they entered Ruby took in her surroundings, never having been in Team AMBR's dorm room before. Chief among the strange things about it was that the only two beds in the room were pressed up against each other and against the right wall of the room. On a desk next to the bed, one would find Mydnight's radio, a much older style, an antique one would say. They found him at the desk with a book in his hand. "Oh, Ruby, Weiss, what brings you two here?" He asked as his wolf ears perked up, surprised by the unexpected visit.

"We made you something! For the holidays," Ruby blurted out as she showed him the small bag of cookies. He stood up from his desk and immediately dwarfed the two younger girls.

"Awh, you guys didn't have to do that, thanks a bunch," he smiled and patted Ruby on the head, rustling her hair a bit before setting the bag on his table, "I'll share those with Ambur I bet she will love them."

"I also have something to say," Weiss said, gulping hard, trying to swallow her pride.

"I was wondering why you had come along," Mydnight smirked and folded his arms over his chest, "this should be good."

"I'm...sorry that I have been treating you unfairly, I am trying to change my ways and Ruby has been helping me with it a lot...I realized...when we learned that Blake was a Faunus, I had been too judgmental and discriminatory to...your people. I'm sorry."

"Hmm...apology accepted," he says scratched behind his ears in surprise. He sure hadn't expected that to come out of the snow princess' mouth.

"So uh," Ruby said shifting around in place, "Weiss said she was okay with you training me so, does the offer still stand?" she asked awkwardly.

"Hah, of course, it does, I'd love to teach you what I know, I've never seen someone who fights quite like you do, giving up on training you was never an option I wanted to consider," he smiled as he held his hand out to Weiss. "Thank you for accepting me."

"Thank you for being so patient," Weiss sighed with a smile.

/

Yang's butt hit the mat as her opponent stepped up to her, towering over her now sitting figure. Yang felt her adrenaline going down and her crimson eyes returned to their natural violet state as the older girl extended her arm down to the defeated blonde, offering her help to stand up. She gladly took the offer and was pulled up to her feet with no effort at all from her opponent.

"You're getting closer blondie," her voice rang out as she stepped away from Yang and went to her corner of the ring, taking a sip from the water bottle on her metal folding chair and taking a seat. Yang retreated to her corner of the ring as well and mirrored the older girl's action, relaxing back into the chair, arms rested on the ropes. Yang for one was glad that Beacon Academy had such an extensive gym set up so they could have these private sessions in a familiar setting.

"Am I? I can't tell...just feels like you beat me without ever trying every single time..." Yang sighed.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Yang, you're a very talented fighter, one of the best I've ever seen, I'm just more experienced than you. Not to mention I'm three years older than you and spend more time in the gym than you do. I can tell, you are improving, so chin up kiddo."

"Ambur..." Yang said before looking around them to make sure the crowd the two Amazons had drawn had dispersed so no one would hear them. "How do you do it..."

"Do what?"

"How did you and Mydnight move on..."

"Oh...that...I never said that I had moved on...I don't think I'll ever fully recover from it." She mumbled a little, looking down and resting her elbows on her knees. "People blame Ozpin, even Mydnight blames him but it was my fault."

"Don't say that it wasn't your fau-"

"Yes it was," she insisted, speaking up and cutting Yang off, looking into the younger girl's eyes. "I should have told Ozpin that my team was not ready for that mission. He even asked me if I was sure we could handle it and I told him yes. Of course, Mydnight knows that but he won't let me take the blame from it. Not only can I not get over that fact but physical therapy and surgery can only do so much. I can feel it, I'm not as quick as I used to be, I can't lift as much if my legs are involved...knowing Rosaria is out there somewhere makes me feel even worse...She always wanted the leader role and called me a failure, and I proved her right...all I could do was sit there and watch while Mydnight fought to protect me, lying helpless on the ground...Bronzine died because I was too stubborn to see we had no chance to win...I watched the light leave his eyes...and Rosa ran, she never looked back even for a second...Mydnight stood tall, he wouldn't let anything happen to me, even if it meant taking down that Uru single-handedly. I don't want anyone to ever go through something like that again..."

"...Is that why you agreed to help me train?"

"Part of the reason, yes."

"What's the other part?"

"Because I see it in you," she smiled out, "I see me in those red eyes... I was just like you Yang but when my team started crumbling at my feet I changed...and I guess somewhere deep down that I think by training you, I am improving your chances out there in the wild, not for your sake, but for your team's. I wasn't strong enough to protect the ones I loved...but maybe you will be."

"...Thank you, that means everything to me," Yang said softly as she stood back up and took a ready stance with a grin creeping over her lips. "Come on then, one more!"

"Hah. You got it," Ambur smiled as she met her in the center of the ring and bumped her fist against Yang's.