White Roses

The diner the heiress had been led to was not large. Not nearly what she was used to, not just in Atlas, but also in the grand open hall at Beacon. It was no bigger than a train car and just as long and narrow. Perhaps it used to be one? She'd heard of such establishments before but never been inside one. Ruby, however, seemed right at home in the cramped diner.

Little Red took off right for a table without even being met by a waiter to seat her. Weiss hesitated behind her and when Ruby found her seat she turned back to find Weiss waiting at the door with her hand hovering over her heart. Ruby gave her a curious glance before she tapped her open palm on the table and nodded her head at Weiss with that cheeky little smile on her lips. The smile that made Weiss feel like a little kid again...well...whenever she'd let herself feel that way anyway.

The heiress hated to admit that she'd been letting Ruby break down her walls lately. The walls she'd spent the better part of a decade so carefully crafting around herself. She felt naked without them. Exposed. It felt dangerous to let her guard down, especially around someone that she'd accidentally started caring so much about.

She looked around the diner and, surprisingly, found not a single person staring at her. She looked back to Ruby and quietly walked to the table her partner had picked out and sat down across from her. Her feet were almost instantly met by Ruby's and little red wasted no time entwining their lower legs. Weiss rolled her eyes but felt the faintest tug at the muscles in her cheeks. A smile. A real smile. It was something new to Weiss. They'd been so carefully crafted and policed before but now...now she found her face doing whatever it felt like.

She had no control and the one thing that a Schnee needed...by blood or not, was control. A trait that she hadn't meant to inherit from the man she struggled to call her father but...despite how hard she clawed and fought to resist the influence...it was there.

It showed up in the worst ways. All the ways she couldn't hold the Jacques in her back. Sure, she was getting better, but this was going to be a long road, not something she fixed in a weekend.

"Are you sure we're supposed to seat ourselves?" She couldn't help but ask as she scanned the room again and this time, found an older woman in an apron heading toward them with menus and a smile plastered on her lips.

"Yeah, is that not normal?" Ruby cocked her head to one side.

"Not in Atlas it's not…" Weiss answered quietly as the waitress made it to them.

"Afternoon ladies," she smirked and passed them their menus. "Can I getchu anything to drink to get started?"

"Chocolate milk please," Ruby beamed and Weiss could feel her legs bouncing underneath the table. That stupid smile started to pull across her lips again but she stuffed it as quickly as she could. She glanced at the menu quickly before she looked back up to the woman.

"Lemonade, thank you," she said flatly as the waitress wrote their orders down and smiled.

"You got it," she said cheerily and headed back behind the counter.

Weiss was silent for a moment as she walked away from them before she returned her focus to Ruby. "You're a child," she huffed out and tried her best to let her sarcasm show. It didn't much work, but Ruby could tell she was only kidding at least, and the girls began to laugh together.

"It's so good though," Ruby chuckled before. "Have you ever had chocolate milk?"

"Of course not," Weiss rolled her eyes. "They don't serve that at banquets Ruby," she smirked and Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Well sure I guess not but like...not even as a little kid?"

Weiss fell silent for a long while and soon found her vision shifting to the window by the edge of their booth. Her eyes fell on the street and she watched a few cars drive by before she spoke again. "You know I...your childhood was probably a lot different than mine…"

Ruby was the one who fell silent this time. "I guess," she began softly. "Maybe at first...yeah."

"At first?" Weiss asked as she returned her vision to Ruby. The waitress popped back over and set their drinks down before she could say any more though.

"Do we know what we want ladies?" She asked and brought her pen to her note pad.

"Honestly...I don't kno-" Weiss began before Ruby cut her off.

"Two cheeseburgers," Ruby smiled and stuck her tongue out.

"How do you want them cooked?"

"Medium," Ruby answered before Weiss gave a long sigh.

"Medium rare," the heiress answered and handed the woman her menu.

"You got it. Coming right up," the waitress answered and walked again.

"What did you mean...at first?" Weiss asked slowly and watched Ruby begin to twiddle her thumbs.

"Well…" little red began. "You...don't really see much of your mom right?"

Weiss felt a cold wave of worry wash over her and she had to pause to swallow and think of an appropriate response.

"Y-yeah," she stuttered. "She uhm...when my father married her and took over the company she kind of...went off the rails a little…" Weiss answered slowly, trying not to reveal too much. She didn't want this to get too personal and not for Ruby's sake, but rather, her own. She hated to think about it. The way that her mother had shrunk behind Jaque and let him have his way. Anything he wanted he had gotten it without a fight.

Weiss was a little worried when Ruby failed to say anything. Her younger partner looked a little uncomfortable with the subject that she had brought up now and Weiss wondered if she'd overshared. She'd never had anybody to tell these things to before so now...given the opportunity, it was entirely possible that it would all finally spill out of her mouth like a waterfall. As if, if she started, she may never be able to stop again. Her entire life could pass through her lips and she'd never be able to squeeze it all back inside and hold it down.

Finally, Weiss had to speak again though as it became clear that Ruby needed a nudge. "Why did you ask that…about my mom."

"Because I...haven't seen much of mine since I was little either," Ruby shrugged weakly as her dull grey eyes met Weiss' frozen blue ones. "Neither has Yang."

"You two…" Weiss began as she realized she had been holding in the question for months. It hadn't come up thus far and she'd always felt it too rude to ask such a question. Now though, if Ruby was baiting her into asking, this would be the perfect time to learn why Yang and Ruby were so different, and not just in personality. "You're stepsisters aren't you?"

"I guess...technically yeah. Doesn't feel much like it since she's been my sister my entire life but...yeah."

"What happened?" Weiss asked softly before she raced to speak again, digging her pointed nails into her own palms. She was doing it again. Letting words come out without thinking about them. "If you...don't mind talking about it anyway…"

"It's okay," Ruby smiled softly. "It's gonna come up eventually you know? I...Yang and I have different mothers. Our parents were teammates at Beacon actually," Ruby smiled.

"Hmm, dating teammates must run in the family," Weiss let out an equally subtle smile.

"Heh yeah," Ruby chuckled. "Anyway, It was our dad Tai, my uncle Qrow, Yang's mom Raven and my...mom...Summer."

The name wormed its way through Weiss' ears. Rare were the times when Ruby's tone would drop so low. Her partner's usually peppiness did annoy her sometimes, but she'd always take it over the somber tone she was getting right now. She really didn't want to be telling her any of this…did she? But what was Weiss to do about it? She'd said Ruby didn't have to explain. She'd made that clear enough and on top of that Ruby was the one who'd brought the subject of their mothers up in the first place.

"Raven and our dad had Yang and then shortly after she just...bolted. They don't really talk about her much. I'm not sure if they are sparing each other the thoughts or if it's for my sake but, that's how it is," little Red shrugged.

That was the side of this issue that Weiss hadn't actually given much thought to if she was being honest. It just never dawned on her. She was so focussed on trying to fit with Ruby that she hadn't paid Yang much mind beyond the surface level. The sisters were just so different that, for some reason, Weiss never thought to look any deeper than that. Yang didn't have a mother either. It wasn't just Ruby suffering through this but...Yang probably also would know how Weiss felt.

Strange how trauma can change people, she thought silently. All three of them had parental issues and rather than being similar, they all seemed to wear their pain in different ways. Ruby was shy and quiet, Yang smiled so bright that no one could ever guess something was wrong, and Weiss had closed every single person out of her heart to keep from getting hurt again.

"Then dad and my mom had me. Yang actually considers Summer her mom more than Raven. She wasn't just a little kid like me you know she actually...got to know her," Ruby smiled.

"What happened after that?" Weiss said softly, dreading the answer.

"She just couldn't stop," Ruby shrugged and Weiss was a little shocked at the genuine smile that pulled across Ruby's lips. "She couldn't stop helping people. She tried to have one foot in her family life and one foot in her life as a huntress. I don't know if I was planned, dad says I was, but it also seems like she never intended to stop being a huntress either."

"And she...she died?" Weiss choked out.

Ruby went quiet for a moment before nodding her head. "Yeah, she just...didn't come back one day. Uncle Qrow brought her body back and...we buried her in the woods by the house. I don't really remember much of anything but, to be honest...I don't think I'd have done anything differently than she did."

"Well...what do you mean?" Weiss squinted.

"I mean I want to be a huntress," Ruby said as she looked back up into Weiss' eyes finally. "I'm not just doing this for the steady job you know...it's what I want to do. To help people. And I don't see that ever changing."

Weiss was quiet for a long while before she let out a long and exhausted sigh. "You know...you can be a lot more mature than you'd like everybody to think…" the heiress sighed.

The way Ruby's smile brightened and her eyes closed made Weiss' heart flutter. Only Ruby could make her feel like this. She was the only person who'd cared to take the time to break her walls down. As their food arrived Ruby began to dig into her burger but Weiss was a little too lost in thought to eat.

Thinking of the future was not something new to Weiss, however, picturing her future beside another person was. There had never been another human being beside her in her daydreams. Going home as a fully-fledged huntress...exposing her father for all the crimes against his workforce and illegal business deals...maybe even take over the company but...did she want a family?

She'd never thought about it. Did she want children? If she did then was it okay that Ruby seemed indifferent on the subject? She hadn't said she didn't want to have a family explicitly but…

"Hey," Ruby spoke up, breaking Weiss out of her trance. "You gonna try it or what?"

Weiss blinked before looking down at the plate she'd been given. She felt some small part of her stomach twinge at the amount of grease on the plate but she couldn't deny that between the bright green of the lettuce and dark brown of the meat...it actually looked tasty.

"No silverware?" Weiss asked as she looked around the table for a fork and knife before looking back at Ruby, seeing her skin fingers gripped onto the buns of her own meal.

"No," Ruby almost laughed but held it in. "Finger food."

Weiss wasn't positive but she figured that this would probably be her first experience with a cooked meal and no silver wear. Even the chicken tenders she ordered back at school were always eaten with at least a fork.

"Hold it on the sides though or the grease will run over your fingers when you bite into it," Ruby said as Weiss hesitantly reached for her plate.

She did as she was instructed and carefully lifted the hulking sandwich to her lips and tried her very best to not look at her partner, who's eyes she could feel glued to her face.

Weiss sunk her teeth into the burger and to her own shock found it easy to chew and swallow. It wasn't like a bite of steak or meatloaf. She'd never had beef that was so easy to chew before. She found her teeth sinking back into it almost before she'd swallowed her first bite. She let out a huff, involuntarily of course as her tense shoulders slackened.

"Told you so," Ruby giggled to herself before returning to her own meal. Weiss couldn't answer. She was far too busy eating. She couldn't believe how good it was. If eating like a queen meant missing out on something like this...then maybe she'd never go back home at all…

/

Back on the street, Weiss felt a little too full for comfort but still, she couldn't deny that it had been worth it. She'd felt a little hurt that Ruby had insisted on paying the bill but in the end, she'd convinced her that it should be her treat. As they headed back to school Weiss' thoughts began to drift again, back to their conversation.

"So what about your dad huh?" The heiress asked suddenly.

"What about him?" Ruby asked.

"Well, how does he...deal with it? Did he ever try again?"

Ruby was silent for a few moments before coming up with her answer. "Not that he's ever said, no. I think two marriages were enough for him. He was always so busy with raising us that I don't think he ever stopped to think that he could date another woman."

"Wow," was all Weiss could think to say. "And he raised both of you by himself?"

"Well, Uncle Qrow helped out a little here and there but he doesn't...really get along with dad very well anymore. It's not that they get into arguments or anything it just….seems like Uncle Qrow keeps his distance from everybody."

"Except you?" Weiss inferred.

"Well, as much as I'd like to say yes, unfortunately, no. He's definitely closer to me than anybody else but still, I don't get to see him very often. He's a professional Huntsman and he teaches combat at Signal in his downtime so he hasn't got much time to see me. I'm not really sure why he latched on to me so much, or why I latched on to him. He's Yang's uncle really, not mine," Ruby shrugged. "But we get along a lot better than he does with anyone else."

"So then, Yang must be more like your father I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," Ruby smiled, "they have a lot in common and he taught her everything she knows. All things considered, there's no way I could have asked for a better dad...but ya know…"

"It still hurts," Weiss said quietly before she slipped her hand into her partner's. Ruby's dull grey eyes shot up to meet her cold ones. "I know…"

"You...really do...don't you?" Ruby said, nearly inaudible as they stopped on the sidewalk.

"Yeah...and I'm...sorry if that has made me harder to like…" Weiss choked the words out slowly. They burned coming up her throat. Why was it so hard to say that stupid word. That one, awful word that meant that you acknowledged that you weren't perfect.

Sorry.

She really was of course. It wouldn't hurt so bad if she wasn't. She'd given so many fake apologies to her father over the years that the word had lost all meaning. But now that she remembered what that word meant, it felt like knives were crawling their way up her throat every time she had to say it to her partner.

These days she could hardly keep it in at all. "It's okay," Ruby said and Weiss saw the beginnings of a smile tug at her cheeks. "It's not your fault and besides, it was a long time ago."

"Still," Weiss started again as they began to walk. "At least I remember what my mom was like before...everything."

"Part of me wishes I'd have been older but...then it might have hurt more so," she trailed off for a moment. "I'm just thankful my dad was so good to us."

"Fair enough," Weiss muttered to herself and she wasn't sure, but she thought Ruby's grip on her hand tightened a little after the words had left her mouth.

"Do...you wanna talk about your dad more or…" she began but stopped when she felt Weiss' grip tighten as well.

"...No...no I don't think I do Ruby," she sighed. "Not yet…"

"Okay. I'll be here when you do," Ruby smiled.

/

"I thought you said this was a dance club?" Blake asked in a small and worry-filled voice. Her thin fingers were tied tight in her partner's as she encouraged her down the sidewalk.

"It is," Yang chuckled. "Why do you think it's not?"

"Looks more like a nightclub…" Blake muttered as her ears drooped beneath her bow. She hadn't been too fond of the plan in the first place but now that they were in line out front of the old brick building she felt even worse.

It hadn't helped that Yang had talked her back into her Vytal Ball dress. The black fabric hung loosely around her and the cool night air on her legs was the only thing keeping her from overheating at the thought of the date they were on.

Yang too wore her dress from the night of the dance. Short and flowing and pure white. Stark contrast of Blake's, as per usual. The two were just so different. They were truly polar opposites in every way and it had become more obvious to Blake lately. She didn't know if it was a problem per se but...she had found herself in a few situations that she'd never have expected to be in because of Yang.

It had helped her break out of her shell a little at first, going on these highly public dates with her partner but lately she'd felt herself resisting more than she had at first. Maybe she wasn't meant to break out of her shell? Maybe she couldn't.

"What's the difference?" Yang smiled, genuinely unsure what Blake had meant by her comment.

"Nevermind," Blake sighed, realizing that explaining to Yang that there was a difference between the two types of clubs wasn't going to end the way she'd want it to. She'd just say that that was silly. That the eyes glued to them all night would be normal, and happen in either type of establishment.

As they made it to the front of the line the bouncer, an older man with tattoos snaking up his pale arms, and a pair of red sunglasses took one look at Yang and froze.

"Hey!" Yang smiled up at the man and Blake could almost hear the breath caught in his throat. "Can we come in?"

"Uhh...duhhhh," the man began to stutter as he backed away a step and ushered them forward as fast as he could. "Ye-YEAH Bu-Blondie go ahead," he stammered before shaking his head and speaking again. "Sir! I mean Sir!" He said as his hands flew from his sides to cover his groin. Blake stood shocked and confused as Yang began to laugh. Soon Blake was being hauled through the front door and into a dimly red-lit entranceway. She huddled closer to Yang as she shot glances around the room, finding onlookers all around the room.

"Yang where the hell are we...what was up with that guy?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing I've just been here before," she shrugged. "He's fine."

Blake could hear music bumping and even shaking some of the floorboards from beyond the doors they were headed toward. Blake's senses were all lit up and she could hardly keep control of herself. No one was making moves on them but she could tell that every employee they walked past was uncomfortable. Even some of the patrons seemed afraid when Yang walked by.

At the grey double doors, Yang stopped before throwing them both wide open, and Blake was assaulted by noise. Loud bass and high pitched whines of a remixed song thumped through her double set of ears and she felt her spine tingle.

As she squinted to look around the room in the dark and strobed lighting she found a man, tall with dark hair and a very well kept mustache and beard shaking his head toward them and pinching his nose.

She couldn't quite hear him but she didn't need to, she could read his lips more than well enough to see that he was asking someone, likely the gods, 'why...why...why me.'