When I Met You in the Summer
Chapter 1
"Come on, Dad! Hurry up!" Ruby cried, exploding away from her family in a shower of rose petals. "Let's go!" She cleared the ramp leading down to the docks with a single leap, looking behind her to see what was keeping him and Yang.
"Hold your horses kiddo, I'm coming." Tai replied, stuffing his wallet back into his pocket.
Ruby ran on ahead, practically skipping down the wooden dock, "Which one is it Dad?" she heard Yang ask, her voice less enthusiastic than her own.
"The one down at the end." Ruby heard him reply.
Ruby excitedly bounded towards the indicated pontoon boat, only having time to give it a quick glance before Yang's voice interrupted her.
"Ruby, get back here and grab your stuff!" She yelled, "If you're gonna insist on bringing Crescent Rose everywhere we go, I'm sure as hell not going to carry it for you!"
Ruby gasped. In her excitement she'd forgotten her precious weapon! Half a second later, she reappeared in front of her dad and sister, showering them in rose petals for a second time. "Oops!" she said, picking up the folded scythe.
Yang exasperatedly brushed petals out of her hair, "Just for that, you get to carry the food too." she kicked the giant cooler over to Ruby.
Ruby tucked Crescent Rose under her arm and picked up the heavy cooler with a small grunt.
"All right girls, you ready to start this vacation off with a bang?" Tai asked with a giant grin.
"Yeah!" Ruby and Yang cried in unison.
"Alright, last one to boat is a rotten egg!" he yelled before taking off running, Yang close behind him.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Ruby shouted after the two of them as they quickly outpaced her, "You weighed me down!"
"Sounds like you should get good, sis!" Yang yelled back with a mischievous smirk.
Ruby grumbled to herself, but did her best anyway, arriving at the boat just behind Yang, making sure to give her sister the stink-eye. But she couldn't help the grin that broke out on her face as she helped her dad and Yang load all their supplies into the pontoon boat; nothing could ruin her mood today, she was on vacation!
Her dad had decided to take his two girls on a whirlwind trip around Vacuo to celebrate Yang graduating from Signal and being accepted into Beacon. And, of course, to celebrate Ruby finishing her sophomore year at Signal. She'd been excited for this vacation for weeks now, even buying a new swimsuit for the occasion: a red halter-top with black shorts which she was currently wearing.
They'd just arrived in Vacuo yesterday night, and were starting their vacation off with a self-guided boat tour of the waterfront city of Starfield Bay. A city that Ruby was very quickly realizing had way too much money.
Even the house that was right across from the boat rental company's dock was excessively fancy. Ruby was fairly certain that the yacht that was parked in the house's dock had more square footage than their entire house back in Patch.
Her dad caught her staring at the giant house. "Yeah, some of the richest people in the world live here." he said, "Some of them are so rich they don't even live here full time." he moved to untie the mooring rope.
Yang snorted as she stepped onto the boat. "I hear all the Atleasian snobs vacation here in the summer when it gets too cold for them in their precious floating city."
"Ugh," Ruby grumbled, wrinkling her nose a bit, the few Atlesian people she'd met in school had been completely insufferable, "They're jerks, but I've always wanted to get a little taste of the rich life."
"Well, not in the profession you two are going into." her dad said, beginning to back the boat out of the dock, "Huntresses don't make enough money to live in these kinds of houses."
"We're not doing it for the money Dad!" Ruby said, almost indignantly.
"Yeah!" Yang agreed, lying out in the sun at the back of the boat, "We're doing it to help people!"
Tai smiled proudly, "Well someone raised you kids right.'' He kicked the boat into gear and pulled away from the dock and into the channel. "Alright girls, we'll go and look at the houses of the rich and famous, then we'll eat lunch and see where the day takes us from there. Sound good?"
"Yeah!" The two of them cried in unison.
"Alright, let's do it!" He kicked the boat into gear and they were off.
They spent over an hour traveling around the waterfront city. Ruby had to admit, the lavish houses, perfectly manicured lawns, massive yachts and gorgeous surrounding area were very pretty to look at, but she'd take her small cottage in Patch any day of the week over living here.
Just as they were finishing lunch, they spotted the largest yacht they'd seen yet parked in the dock of a truly massive mansion. It was easily twice the size of all the other yachts they'd seen so far. As they got closer they could see that there was an active party on it, Ruby could make out people in fancy clothes eating food and sipping fancy looking cocktails.
"Holy crap." Ruby muttered, "That thing's massive."
Yang held her nose and made a face, "I can smell the snobbery wafting off of it."
Ruby peered closer and was able to make out the name on the back of the boat 'Wealthy Hound' "Even the name is pretentious!" she exclaimed.
Ruby's eyes were drawn to a commotion on the rear balcony on the second floor of the four story Yacht. She could make out a man with a white mustache shouting animatedly at a girl with a long white ponytail. The girl shouted something back at the man, who threw up his hands in frustration and went back inside the yacht.
The girl, now alone, stalked angrily towards the railing and leaned against it, staring out in the direction of their small boat.
They got even closer and Ruby's breath hitched in her throat, this girl was ridiculously pretty. The first thing she noticed was her eyes, sharp and clear, blue like an arctic lake. Her white bikini, emblazoned with a snowflake, and matching sarong highlighted her slender but athletic figure. Her long, white ponytail was on a slight angle, which Ruby thought was unusual, but it oddly suited her. Her skin was flawless and her lips were-
Suddenly the girl looked sad, her angry expression dropped and she sagged against the railing, a deep melancholy taking over her features.
"Hey!" Ruby called out, the word leaping out of her throat before she had time to stop herself. She felt her dad and Yang look over at her in confusion. "We're going on a tour, wanna join us?" She had absolutely no idea what possessed her to talk to a girl that pretty, much less one she didn't even know. She half expected the girl to huff and roll her eyes at the commoner that dared to speak to her. But the girl just looked mildly surprised as their boat got closer.
Blue locked with silver as the platinum blonde seemed to size Ruby up, her expression mostly unreadable. "I, uh, appreciate the offer," the girl said, "but I have to-"
"We have lunch and snacks!" Ruby yelled, in a last ditch effort.
The corners of the girl's mouth turned up in a tiny, amused smile. "I really do appreciate the thought, but-"
"Weiss!" an angry male voice hissed from somewhere behind her, "What are you doing? I told you to come inside and sing something for our guests!"
The girl turned towards the door of the yacht, leveling a death-glare at the unseen man. "You know what?" the girl said loudly, "I think I will take you up on your offer." And with that, she vaulted over the railing, gracefully sliding down a series of snowflake glyphs that suddenly appeared in the air, landing lightly on the bow of their boat.
Ruby stared open-mouthed for a moment, her brain trying to process what she just saw. "Holy mother of Grimm!" she finally exclaimed, running up to the white-haired girl, "Was that your semblance? Are you a Huntress? What's your weapon? What school-" she cut herself off as she saw the shocked look on the other girl's face, clearly not expecting to be bombarded with that many questions at once.
"Sorry." Ruby said sheepishly. She took a deep breath, composing herself. "Hi, I'm Ruby Rose." she extended her hand.
"Weiss." the girl said, taking Ruby's proffered hand, "Weiss…Schnee." she hesitated before saying her last name. Weiss' hand was pleasantly cool to the touch despite the excessively warm weather and her grip was surprisingly strong.
Ruby quickly realized that she'd been shaking Weiss' hand for an awkwardly long time. She quickly let go and whirled around. "Uh, this is my sister, Yang!"
"Yo!" Yang called, waving in greeting from where she was sunbathing at the back of the boat.
"And this is my dad." Ruby said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Rose." Weiss said politely.
"It's Xiao Long, actually, but please just call me Tai." he said with a friendly smile. "Welcome aboard our humble boat Miss…Schnee was it?"
"Yes." Weiss confirmed, sitting down on one of the couch seats, her hands in her lap. Ruby had seen statues look less stiff than this girl. She sat down on the same seat, a few feet away from the new girl.
"That wouldn't be the SDC Schnees, would it?" her father asked.
"Unfortunately, one and the same." Weiss remarked with a slight sigh, "If you'll look behind the boat, you can see the esteemed CEO of said company glaring angrily at me."
Ruby peered behind them and, sure enough, there was a man with a white mustache and matching tropical shirt peering over the side of the yacht, glaring daggers at their small boat. Ruby stuck her tongue out at him, realizing that this was the man who was yelling at Weiss earlier.
Yang grinned and flipped him off. He briefly looked scandalized before huffing and turning away, presumably going back inside the boat.
"Yang! That's rude!" her dad said, doing his best to maintain a scowl; but Ruby could detect a hint of amusement in his voice and a slight upturn to his lips. "Your father seemed rather unhappy, Miss Schnee." he said, turning back to Weiss, "We can take you back if you like…"
Ruby saw Weiss flinch at being called 'Miss Schnee'. "Just call me Weiss." she said, "And I'd like to stay, as long as it's ok with you. I'd hate to interrupt your vacation."
"No, not at all." Tai replied, waving dismissively, "The more the merrier."
"How'd you know we were on vacation?" Yang asked from the back of the boat, peering over her sunglasses with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Well…" Weiss said carefully, "Locals don't usually go for boats like this…and it's fairly obvious you're not locals."
Yang sat bolt upright and leveled a glare at Weiss, "And what's that supposed to mean?" she growled.
Weiss' eyes widened. Ruby was a second away from snapping at her sister to be nice but Weiss was slightly faster, "I didn't mean to offend," she said quickly, "I only meant…uh…" her confidence quickly melted away under Yang's judgemental gaze.
Tai rolled his eyes, "Yang, can we not antagonize our guest right away?"
The angry scowl dropped off Yang's face, quickly replaced by a grin, she shrugged somewhat apologetically. Ruby knew that Yang had been mostly joking. Mostly.
"No offense was taken." Tai reassured Weiss, "My daughter likes to think she's a comedian. We're very aware that we don't exactly ooze money." Ruby saw Weiss relax somewhat. Her shoulders dropped slightly and she let out a held breath.
"Well to be honest, the people that do 'ooze money' are some of the most unpleasant people you'll ever meet." Weiss said, a trace of bitterness in her voice, "Like them over there." She said, gesturing at a mansion they were just passing by. "The Burgandies. I once had the displeasure of having my ear talked off by their son for thirty minutes on a date I was forced to go on by my father." she rolled her eyes. "He regaled me with the amazing tale of his family's 'safari' to the jungles of Menagerie. Decorum dictated that I had to smile and nod when we all knew damn well that their 'safari' was just a trip to a glorified zoo where the wealthy 'hunt' drugged animals for 'sport'. It's utterly barbaric."
Ruby recoiled slightly, shocked at the fact that something like that even existed, "They sound like jerks!"
"You don't know the half of it." Weiss said.
Ruby saw Weiss' eyes land on Ruby's half eaten sandwich, still on the table of the boat.
"Are you hungry, Weiss?" Tai asked, apparently having also noticed her gaze, "We already ate, but there's a spare half-sandwich in the cooler if you want it."
Weiss opened her mouth, then quickly shut it. Ruby thought she might be deciding on whether or not to accept. Weiss' eyes widened as her stomach growled loudly.
"Well, that answers that question." Yang said with a grin, she began to get up from her seat and moved towards the cooler.
"I got it!" Ruby yelled, springing up from her seat, startling Weiss a bit. Weiss was her guest and she'd be damned if Yang was going to show her up. She leapt towards the cooler only to trip and faceplant on the deck of the boat. Weiss giggled as Yang stepped over her prone body and opened the cooler. Ruby liked that sound. She wanted to hear more of it.
Ruby got back to her feet as Yang handed Weiss a sandwich and a soda, which the heiress gratefully accepted.
"Thank you." She said with a smile as Ruby sheepishly made her way back to her seat, "Both of you."
Ruby picked up the uneaten part of her own sandwich so Weiss didn't have to eat alone. After Weiss had gotten a few bites in, Yang wandered back over and leaned on the table, "Alright Ice Queen," she said with a grin, "You've piqued my interest, spill some more tea on the rest of these rich jerks."
"Ice Queen?" Weiss yelled indignantly, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hey," Yang said, holding her hands up in mock surrender, "You've got a snowflake on your boob, you're lucky all I went with was Ice Queen-OW!" she yelled as Ruby flicked her in the ear.
Ruby rolled her eyes and turned back to Weiss, "Playful insults mean Yang likes you." she explained.
"Fair enough." Weiss huffed, leveling a glare at Yang that had no real anger behind it, "Ice Queen aside, I'd be more than happy to 'spill some tea' on these horrible people. Like them over there, they…"
Weiss spent the next hour regaling them with tales of mistresses, debauchery, and being poorer than they liked to pretend. If Ruby was being honest with herself, she hardly listened to Weiss; the lives of the rich and famous had never really interested her all that much. Especially not now when Weiss was so much more interesting. And smart. And pretty.
As their boat ride continued Weiss got more comfortable with them, beginning to relax somewhat, becoming more animated as she talked, now much less stiff than when she came aboard. Weiss did a particularly funny impression of one of her father's stuffy friends and Ruby let out a giggle. Weiss looked over at her a small smile on her face; and there was something in her eyes, something that Ruby couldn't quite read. Then the moment was gone, Weiss looking away again to finish her story.
Ruby just couldn't get over just how pretty Weiss was. They hadn't gone back to the topic but Ruby was certain Weiss was a huntress, or at least one in training. It was just something about how she carried herself, confident and sure. Ruby glanced down at Weiss' body. She had a good deal of muscle definition; she wasn't super buff like Yang, she was more lean like a dancer. Hell, she might just be a dancer. She wasn't sure, she'd just have to ask later. She-
A chill ran down Ruby's spine and all the hair on her arms stood on end. She slowly looked over and saw Yang, staring right at her, a knowing smirk on her lips.
Ruby immediately blushed bright red as she realized that she'd been caught staring, of course this only made Yang's grin widen with glee. Yang opened her mouth but Ruby vigorously shook her head, dreading whatever Yang was going to say.
"Excuse me, am I interrupting you two dolts?" Weiss' irritated voice cut through their focus.
"Sorry!" Ruby said quickly, "Just…uh…sister stuff!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, but otherwise made no comment. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. Yang gave her a significant look, telling her that this definitely wasn't over yet.
"Anyway…" Weiss continued, "apparently their landscaper-" she trailed off, looking out towards the open ocean.
Ruby followed her gaze and saw several boats, all bristling with weapons, speeding south across the water. Just then her dad's scroll chimed and he pulled it out.
"What's up?" Yang asked, peering over her dad's shoulder.
"Grimm incursion." he said after a moment, "Over at the southern sea entrance."
Ruby finally looked around, they were in a large, wide channel leading in from the sea between two sections of the neighborhood. There was a lot of boat traffic in this area, both locals and tourists enjoying the nice day on their boats.
"Grimm incursion? I thought this place was supposed to be super safe." Yang said, raising an eyebrow.
"It is." Weiss said, slight indignation in her voice, "However the deterrent nets sometimes don't work on the larger Grimm. We get a Grimm in here once or twice a summer."
"Well, luckily it seems to be a good distance away from us." Tai said, "It's all the way down by the southern entrance and we're by the north."
Ruby couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She'd brought Crescent Rose and her permit for just such an occasion.
Suddenly they all heard startled screams from towards the mouth of the entrance, also seeing boats rapidly fleeing from the area. The water in the mouth churned and there was a weird, warbling cry.
Weiss frowned, "What in the world is-" her eyes went wide and Ruby snapped her gaze back to the harbor just in time to see four giant, black tentacles spring out of the water, accompanied by another warbling cry.
A giant grin spread across Ruby's face. A new, very pretty friend and a giant Grimm all in one day? This was going to be the best vacation ever!
I got the idea for this fic a year and a half ago while on a boat tour of Newport Bay in Newport beach. (an INCREDIBLY rich town in California. like some of the richest people in the US live there) Took me forever to get around to writing it, but here we are!
I actually based the Schnee family mega-yacht off of a real life yacht. If you want a visual, you can google White Rabbit Yacht.
So unlike my angsty story, I've already got this entire thing already typed up and ready to post. I'll be uploading one chapter every Friday for the next month! If you liked this chapter comments and favorites are always appreciated!
As always, Thanks to my wife, V, for being my beta/editor/sounding board, and thanks to YOU for reading!