Getting to Know You

"Ruby?" The young girl heard from outside her door accompanied by a few short knocks. "You in there?" Her brother's voice rang out again before she was able to answer.

"Come in," She called back as she grabbed her cloak from her closet, hearing the door open up as Mydnight stepped inside. "What's up?"

"Well," he began slowly as he took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out? Head down to the market or something?"

"Huh?" She gasped as she slipped the cloak over her head and straightened it out. "Ya I'd love to!" She began to bounce with joy.

The last few weeks had almost been a dream come true for the little rose and it just kept getting better and better. Every chance she had been presented with she had spent time with Mydnight. The night he had told her that he was here for her had resonated with the young girl. It was something that she had needed to hear and she was glad she had heard it from him.

With Yang at home in bed, Weiss and Blake gone and Pyrrha and Penny gone, she had quickly lost most of her friends that she felt comfortable talking to. For their entire trip she really had only had Jaune to talk about personal issues with. Nora and Ren were great but she had never bonded with the two like she did with the rest.

Suddenly along came her brother and in his own desire to get to know her better he had opened her shell back up and given her someone to confide in again.

"Alright," he chuckled out as he watched her begin to bob up and down. "Need anything before we leave or do you wanna go right now?" He pulled his scroll out of his pocket to check the time and found that it was just past noon.

"We can go now," Ruby said almost too quickly as she grabbed her wallet from her bedside and shoved it down into her pocket. "Is anyone else coming?"

"Well it was just gonna be me and you but we can tell the others if you want?"

"No no!" She smiled as she shook her head and walked up to and past him out her door as he followed behind. "Just us is fine."

"Alright," he said softly as he followed her out of the house and they began to walk side by side down the dirt path headed toward the market.

"Soooo," Ruby began with a cheeky smile as they walked along, trying to keep the conversation flowing. "What was up with Olivier the other day?"

"It's..." He sighed, "A little complicated."

"Ya that's what Ambur said."

"Well," Mydnight laughed, "She's right. She knew what was up the entire time."

Ruby smiled to herself, poking him in the ribs, "Liv likes you huh?"

Mydnight recoiled from the sensation shooting through his body from her jab, swatting her hand away. As he calmed down he responded, "She likes us both, it was pretty obvious wasn't it?"

"She always has her eyes on you guys. So what happened? Did you date her too?"

"No haha," he began to laugh as he lightly pushed her away from him. "What is this an interrogation?"

"No, I just wanna know," she smirked as she pushed him back.

"Liv and I were always friends but when Ambur was in the hospital Olivier and I got a little...too close"

"Wait, did you cheat on Ambur!?" Ruby gasped before he shook his head.

"No of course not," he laughed, "Liv seems to get in these heated moments sometimes, she's found herself trying to kiss Ambur and Me at least once each. Then she used her semblance to order us to forget about it."

"And that worked?"

"Yep. Liv's semblance is pretty strong. But it only works SO well. Strong willed people can resist orders that would conflict with their wishes if they concentrate hard enough."

"Geez brag about it," she murmured sarcastically.

"Huh?" He responded before seeing what she is saying. "Oh no I didn't resist it."

"Oh...then how do you know?"

"My semblance overwrote hers when I woke up," he started as they began heading down one of the city's many long stone staircases. "True sight. It made me see through the spell she had put on me," he explained as he motioned air quotes with his fingers around the word 'spell.'

"Oooohhh," Ruby sighed as she lifted her hand to her chin, taking in the information before formulating her next question. "So what about Rosa...if you don't mind me asking..." She let out quietly, looking up to him timidly.

"What about her?"

"Well...why did you date her? What did you see in her?"

"Nothing really," he admitted, taking her by surprise. "She was attractive physically and she wanted me. People don't always date smart Ruby," he shrugged his shoulders as she looked up into his face. "Sometimes you make bad choices and eventually they blow up. That's all. I was a seventeen year old with animal hormones. That's about it," he laughed.

"Ew," she responded as her ice ran up her spine and she stuck her tongue out. "You really just dated her for sex? Was there nothing good about her?"

"No not really," he chuckled softly. "She was a total bitch to everyone except for me. She treated Bronzine and Ambur like trash. Olivier too. She thinks she's the greatest thing on Remnant and she couldn't be more wrong. Eventually I got sick of it and dumped her. I knew by that point that Ambur had had a crush on me since seeing me for the first time way back in Signal. She had made a major transformation from the little goth shut in girl to the Ambur you know now."

"No way," Ruby scoffed. "I don't believe it."

"Believe what?"

"Ambur as a quiet little goth girl? You think I'm that gullible?" She laughed.

"No really I swear," he laughed back as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet and fetching a picture from it and handing it down to her. As she lifted the picture in front of her face her eyes went wide and she stopped in her tracks.

"Wowwwww," she breathed out slowly as she took in the photo's contents. It was the first picture team AMBR had ever taken together. Midnight was front and center with Rosaria hanging all over him. On the other side of Rosa was Bronzine with Ambur on Mydnight's other side, hiding half her body behind him.

"She changed a lot and it was all for me. She wanted to stand out to me. She wanted me to notice her more. She wanted to be the type of girl she thought I would like. I can't say she failed," he smiled. "Of course I wouldn't have minded the way she looked before but I'm glad I didn't stop her. She's come a long way."

"Gosh you aren't kidding," she snickered as she ran to catch up to him and handed him back the photo. "How much bleach does she use to keep her hair white?"

"Oh," he said before laughing. "No no her natural color is white, she used to dye it black."

"Ooookay that makes more sense," she laughed along with him.

"Ya she used to be a super shy girl who was afraid of her semblance and didn't want to draw attention to herself. Over the course of our first year at Beacon, that all changed. She embraced her strength and her body. Started working out and dressing differently, let her hair fade back to white and even started tanning. Eventually she looked in the mirror and found a new person smiling back at her. Once that was done the confidence came. She started to believe in herself and once Rosa and I had broken up she asked me out."

Ruby's eyes began to twinkle in the afternoon sun as she listened to her brother's story. "Awwwhhh," she let out, "you guys are soooo cute!"

Mydnight couldn't help but laugh as they walked along. "Ya...people tell you to never change yourself for others but they don't realize that sometimes changing for other people can actually be a healthy thing."

As they walked on they eventually came to the market, stalls filled with weapons and food as far as they could see. The market was laid perfectly into the side of the mountain and as they came to the bottom of the long stone staircase Ruby spoke again. "So why did you wanna come here? What are you looking for?"

"Ah, nothing in particular. Just wanted to get out of the house. Besides, Haven is supposed to be home to the biggest black market on the planet. Who knows what we could find here."

"Well I mean we shouldn't be getting into trouble...besides buying things from the black market is illegal," she said as she nudged closer to her brother, not wanting to get separated in the crowd.

"Look I'm not talking about buying people's kidneys Red," he laughed as he took her much smaller hand in his own. "Nothing crazy. Maybe just some nice weapon parts we haven't seen before, okay?"

"...Okay," she sighed as she looked around, getting lost in the endless stalls of merchandise.

"Speaking of relationships," he spoke up after a minute, breaking their silence. "Have you been feeling any better?"

"Eh...more or less I guess," Ruby sighed as she looked up at him. "I know I shouldn't dwell on her but she's really hard not to think about."

"No, I get it," he smiled down at her as he swung their arms between their bodies playfully. "There's not a day that goes by even now when Rosa doesn't come to mind. You see things that remind you of people or someone says something that brings up old memories. It happens," he shrugged.

"Really? Even though you hate her?"

"Ya. I don't expect you'll ever hate Weiss. She may not be perfect but at least she did try to be better for you."

"Ya I know..."

"But if you ask me, I think you're better off. It may not feel like it right now but breaking up could be a good thing."

"How can heartbreak ever be a good thing?" she scoffed.

"You live and learn Ruby. You got experience from dating her and you can apply that experience toward your next relationship. And you never know when your next relationship is just around the corner," he smiled out as his thoughts drifted to their newest acquaintance.

"Ya I guess you're right."

"Besides I think Oscar likes you," he sighed out before she jabbed him in the side with her free hand.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well it seems obvious to me based on what you told me the other day. Why? Do you not like guys at all?" He asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"Guys are fine...and Oscar is cute and all but...I'm not ready. Besides, now isn't exactly the best time to start dating somebody..." She mumbled in response as they turned down another row of stalls.

"Ya fair enough I guess. What made you date Weiss anyway?"

"I don't know honestly..." She grumbled as she looked away from him. "We had nothing in common but...ever since I met her in the courtyard...I just...I don't know I think I just had a blind crush on her."

"I get that," he shrugged as he cocked his head to one side. "And you were shocked to hear I dated Rosa just for the sex," he laughed out as he nudged her before she quickly responded.

"Oh gosh no!" She said as she covered her face in defense, "No no we never did that."

"Wait...really? Not even once," he smirked.

"No!" She defended, "Of course not!"

"Well it's nothing to be ashamed of, gosh, don't get so upset. It's a perfectly normal thing to do. Did you not want to or did she not want to?"

"I!..." She let out loudly before taking a few moments to think and calm herself. "I don't know...there were times when I thought about it obviously but...I don't know I think I held back because she would think I was being childish or something..."

"Hmmm...no wonder you are so sensitive to sexual conversations haha," he giggled to himself. "To be fair you are still pretty young."

"Hey," she said as she elbowed him in the side lightly. "I'm not that young."

"You're only sixteen, Red," he laughed. "Even now you'd only be in your senior year of Signal if you weren't so damn talented. Can't blame you for being an innocent girl. Come to think of it, I don't think I've even seen you two even hug each other, never mind kiss in public."

"It didn't happen very often. We didn't want to be like Blake and Yang. We wanted to take things slow. Guess neither of our strategies worked out in the end..."

"True enough. You guys were the polar opposites of the spectrum I suppose."

"Ya...we never really had anything in common. There were a few things that she always wanted to be able to do as a kid, like the bunk beds or making cookies, but in the end it really wasn't much. But..." she said thoughtfully as she looked up to her brother. "I did really like her and I miss her all the same."

"Well just because you aren't dating her doesn't mean you can't be friends you know?" He suggested as he ruffled her hair. "If you do run into her again anyway."

"Well...if things keep going the way they are then we should end up in Atlas at some point right?"

"Ya, it seems that way. So if you run into her again and she manages to come up with an amazing apology then you can always just be friends."

"Ya I suppose that's true.".

As she listened to the engine hum she sat down on top of a crate in the cargo hold of the ship. She dropped her large case to the floor and began to twiddle her thumbs as she lost herself in thought. As the ship began to take off she felt a small smile creep across her lips before she began to laugh to herself. For the first time in several months she finally felt as if she had made a decision for herself and her joy bubbled back up inside of her. It had been so long since she had smiled or had been proud of her own actions.

As her vision lifted from her hands, folded in her lap, to the large gray walls of the cargo bay that surrounded her, her lips parted into a more full smile, her thoughts filled with her memories of her team. Looking back, she couldn't believe that she had ever allowed herself to leave them in the first place. She missed them all so much that it had torn her apart and broken her down. "No more," she whispered to herself before she heard a voice come over the intercom.

"Alright little lady we are up. Make yourself at home," she heard the pilot say as she stood and walked to the nearest window, looking out at the lit up landscape of Mantle. The sun always shone so bright off of the ice covered mass and every chance she got she would watch the sun set burn the sky bright red and orange. It was blindingly beautiful and it reminded her of the warmth in the heart of the person she missed the most.

Lately, everytime her thoughts fell upon her leader the smile ran away from her face and guilt came rushing back in. But this time it was different. Her smile stayed fresh and she began walking with her large case toward the cabin of the small cargo ship.

"See you soon Ruby."