Author's Foreword
Uh, hi. Been a while. Yes.
Ahem. Long story short, I'm still alive and kinda-sorta back. Shan't promise regular updates just yet, but I've never dropped the story, nor am I planning to. More on that at the end of the chapter; for now, just enjoy!
Chapter XXIII: Bonds
Weiss was alone in the living room, sitting on the couch with her legs tucked right under her chin. She wasn't doing much as she waited for Ruby to get back from the kitchen — just lazily browsing through the news feed on her Scroll, barely skimming most of the articles before moving on. Finding very little of interest — bar some speculation on the future of SDC under the new leadership — she was just about to give up, but then a lone title caught her eye: 'Atlas Council passes the revised funding bill to aid Mantle in reconstruction'.
The narrative painted within was just about what Weiss was expecting, following the official story to a T — now that the dust had mostly settled, the Council caved to the public expectation that Atlas would make up for the destruction its military caused in Mantle during the first battle of Atlas. After all, while stopping the Grimm from reaching evacuation centers by leveling down a good few blocks of the city was widely deemed a necessary evil, it did not change the fact that their operation displaced thousands.
A wry smile appeared on Weiss' lips. She was one of the very few people who knew that the 'operation' in question hadn't been military-sanctioned at all — and goodness gracious, was she glad the General had taken the blame for the havoc. All that destruction might've saved Mantle — saved its soul, its people — but Weiss truly doubted that the public would've appreciated it if they'd known that the damage had been done by private parties, and without proper authorization. Especially since the damage had been... excessive, in places.
Weiss was partway through the discussion beneath the article when Ruby's form emerged from the kitchen.
"Read something interesting?" Ruby asked, setting two cups of tea down on the coffee table.
"Uh... just that they ratified the larger budget for the reconstruction of Mantle."
"Oh." The news gave Ruby a small pause; after a heartbeat passed, she smiled a strained smile, of the kind that wasn't quite sincere. "That's good."
The answer had left Weiss' lips before she could think it through; after the fact, she was left internally cursing her own stupidity, painting her lack of foresight with a choice set of very colorful words not suitable for polite company. She really could've, and should've, seen that reaction coming.
After all, she had been acquainted with that guilt-ridden expression all too well by that point. It was the same one Ruby would always wear when reminded of a situation where bystanders got caught up in the crossfire, or otherwise affected by her plans or actions. Not necessarily wounded or killed, just... hurt, in one way or another, be it emotional, financial or otherwise. It didn't matter whether it was the lesser evil; whether the pain was due to her action, inaction or even the sheer impossibility of avoiding the collateral damage — Ruby always ended up considering it her sin to bear.
It was exhausting to Weiss, that mental self-flagellation. Not that she blamed Ruby for it; far from it. She just hated seeing her beating herself up like that, all over some fantastical what-ifs that were bound to turn the memory of the past year into a poison more bitter than it already was.
She understood her feelings — shared them even, sometimes — but she made it a point to regularly remind herself that they'd been at war, and that often times the only choice they'd had was between limiting the suffering and doing nothing at all.
It was easy to forget it, though.
Weiss started opening her mouth to try and reason with Ruby, but just as she was about to speak up, two sharp knocks rasped on the door. Ruby eagerly jumped at the unforeseen distraction, clearly not in the mood for letting the subject linger.
"Coming!" she called, rushing towards the door.
Weiss did her best to hold back a sigh and simply reached for her tea. Behind her, the lock clicked and the door creaked softly; right after that, the familiar sound of Qrow's voice spilled into the room, prompting Weiss to turn around on the couch with interest.
"'Sup there, kiddo. Your old man around?"
Ruby grinned, genuinely happy to see her uncle. "Hi! And no, not yet. Should be back within an hour, though." The girl stepped to the side and pointed a thumb over her shoulder, inviting Qrow inside. "Tea?"
Qrow considered the offer for a brief spell. Perhaps swayed by Weiss' friendly waving in the background, he shrugged, matching Ruby's smile with a smirk of his own.
"Ah, why the hell not."
Taking the arrival of their unannounced visitor into consideration, the ladies moved their little tea party to the kitchen. While Ruby went on ahead and hurried to fetch a clean mug from the cupboard, Qrow and Weiss made themselves comfortable at the table; the girl joined them soon enough, setting an already filled cup right in front of her uncle.
"So, Qrow... you'll be leaving soon, right?" Weiss asked, just as Ruby pulled up a chair for herself and sat beside Qrow, across the table from Weiss.
There was a soft, melodic clink as Qrow lightly struck his cup with a spoon after stirring his drink. "Yup. Sometime next week. Why, starting to miss me already?" An amused smirk crossed his face, before it shifted to a different, more wide-eyed expression as he snapped his fingers, as if having just remembered something. "That reminds me." He started patting down his pockets, only to pull out a fairly small, elongated black box and set it down on the table between himself and his niece.
"Here, a little something for you, in case I don't get back by the time your birthday rolls around." Ruby's eyes lit up a little bit and she reached for the package, only to have it snatched from right beneath her fingertips.
Rewarded for his good-natured switcheroo with a disappointed pout from Ruby, Qrow grinned and wagged a finger at the girl. "Nuh-uh, not just yet." Making it a point not to break the eye contact with Ruby, he slid the box over to Weiss, who just looked at him slightly befuddled. "Hold onto it for me, will ya Weiss? Till' the day comes."
Weiss, won over by that bit of explanation, wrapped her fingers around the box and put it in her lap, graciously accepting the role of an accomplice. Faced with such betrayal, Ruby stuck out her tongue at the traitor, to which the latter replied with a small, amused hum. "Certainly."
Qrow leaned back on his chair and dragged a long sip of his tea, satisfied. After a brief while, his eyes settled back on Weiss. "So, how's your recovery goin'?"
Weiss put on a smile. "Pretty well, considering. Thank you for asking."
Ruby, as was her wont, was quick to bounce back from her prior disappointment. "Yep yep. We even sparred the other day!" she added rather enthusiastically, only to frown and roll her eyes once she took notice of the disapproving look Qrow had just sent her way. "Spare me the stink eye, we took it easy. No Semblances, swords and hand-to-hand only. And I'm pleased to inform you that she got well enough to whoop my butt," she said, seeming awfully chipper despite having just admitted to losing.
Feeling the need to interject, Weiss lifted her hand from the table to grab Qrow's attention. "Narrowly; I must say, I greatly underestimated Ruby's skill with swords."
Qrow was slightly taken aback by that remark on Weiss' part, even though it was easy to say that that particular surprise was of the pleasant variety. A small grin formed on his face as he reflexively pushed back his hair and scratched the side of his head, looking at his niece with the eyes of a mentor trying to play down his pride. "Well, well. Guess some of those lessons actually stuck, huh?"
Ruby responded to that with a modest shrug, although the self-satisfied look on her face made it clear that she enjoyed the praise.
"I guess you don't suck as much as a combat teacher as you were making it out to be. Turns out, you're just scaring your students away because you're lazy."
Qrow snorted and reached out, briefly getting to ruffle his niece's hair before having his hand swatted away. "Busted." He laughed, then leaned back in his chair and looked at the two young Huntresses; the brightness of his expression dimmed somewhat as his red eyes studied them with a faint glint of concern.
"So... you kiddos settling in alright?"
That one question gave both girls a bit of a pause, being as astute yet mundane as it was. It actually needed some serious consideration from them, whom both had gotten so… unused to normalcy.
Unsure what to say, Weiss briefly sought out Ruby's eyes before returning her gaze to Qrow. "I... suppose?" she replied hesitantly.
She honestly wasn't sure how to respond; for the past while, she just tried living in the moment, with days passing by and somewhat blurring together. She was content, for the most part… but the sense of security, of being grounded, was still absent from her day-to-day.
Ruby seemed in agreement, albeit speaking with slightly more confidence. "Ain't always easy, but we make do."
Once they had said that, however, the two of them looked at each other as if on a cue, after the very same thought had crossed their minds. There was one event in the recent memory which had disrupted the comforting routine of the past week — something that would seem at home in the realm of myths and folk tales, which just so happened to fall right into the area of expertise of the well-traveled storyteller in front of them.
Their soundless exchange having not gone unnoticed, Qrow sensed that something was up and grumbled under his breath. He could make a few educated guesses as to what could be bothering the two, but opted not to jump to any conclusions; rather, he simply sipped on his tea, waiting till either of the girls put their thoughts into words.
Good ten seconds had passed before Ruby finally decided to break the silence. "Hey, Qrow..." she started.
"Yeah?"
"Say, have you ever heard of a case where someone's consciousness just... left their body and followed someone else?"
Qrow's eyelids fluttered in surprise; for a spell, he just stared at his niece incredulously, then turned his eyes to Weiss, only to see that she was mirroring Ruby's dead serious — and somewhat embarrassed — expression. He coughed out a small laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.
Of all the things those two could've been seeking counsel on, that was definitely not something that had crossed his mind. Struggling with nightmares, or restlessness, or the inability to integrate back with society were all things he'd been expecting, but not… that. Definitely not that.
In the moment, he wasn't rightly sure whether he should be comforted by the thought, so, rather than pass any judgment just yet, he set down his drink and leaned forward, propping his elbows on the tabletop. His fingers drummed against the board as he considered the question carefully; with at least eight folk tales readily coming to his mind, he had an answer alright — just likely not the one the girls had been hoping for.
"I mean, sure, there are stories. Of people who refused to abandon their loved ones even in death, or of warriors who, after losing their closest comrade, continued to fight on with the ferocity of two..." he spoke, letting his voice trail off.
A brief glance at Ruby was enough to determine that she could tell where he was going with it, and that she didn't like it one iota. "But you can't confirm either as true," she finished, trying not to sound too dejected.
Qrow leaned back and tilted his chair, affirming his niece's guess with a wry, apologetic smile. "Nope. Not that either thing sounds impossible; romanticized, yeah, as most stories get, but not impossible. It's just that I haven't seen any convincing proof. But," he paused briefly, lifting a single finger in the air, "I do know of something that might've inspired both tales. And unlike those stories, I'm fairly certain it's actually a real thing. And yay, it even doesn't involve dying."
"That being?" Weiss pressed on, her brow raised high.
The forelegs of Qrow's chair clattered on the floor as he shifted forward and leveled his seat. "Either of you ever heard of soul or Aura bonding?"
"Not really, no," said Weiss after a brief moment of pause.
"Yeah," replied Ruby in turn, much to her friend's surprise.
Having heard Ruby's answer, Qrow looked positively tickled. "Oh?" he asked with a smirk, his voice possessed of a certain teasing edge. Weiss couldn't help but feel that there was a joke somewhere in there, but if that was indeed the case, it had completely whooshed right over her head.
"Some book, I guess," Ruby replied with a shrug that could've passed for one of casual nonchalance, if only she'd managed to actually hold the eye contact with her uncle for longer than half a second. "I thought it's pure fiction, though."
Whatever Qrow had just been getting at, he relented. "Well, not pure fiction. It's real enough, and unlike the Maidens and the whole rest of that circus, it's not even a secret. Just... rare," he waved his hand in the air, unsure how else to adequately put it. "Souls of people constantly brush against one another, but most of the time any interactions between them are superficial. We're afraid, guarded, so we cut others out. But there are exceptions."
He sighed, exuding an air of strange nostalgia that was rather uncharacteristic for him. "To be soul-bonded to someone means to trust them absolutely, and to have them show the same degree of trust towards you — no butts, no caveats, no conditions. It's to accept the very essence of that person, and be accepted that way in turn — faults, quirks and all," he explained, and took a moment to look each girl in the eye to make sure that the gravity of that statement sunk in properly. "Needless to say, such trust is hard to come by, even between spouses. Don't really have any numbers to back that up, but I'd be willing to bet it is the most common amongst Huntsmen and Huntresses; would make sense, considering our profession. We gotta trust those we work with, or else we end up dead. Some take that trust further than others."
Weiss and Ruby alike felt oddly bashful after hearing Qrow's explanation, though neither would be able to put a finger on what exactly they were so embarrassed about. They just sat there for a long moment, looking neither at Qrow nor each other.
Weiss was the first one to verbalize the question that was on both of their minds. "Okay, but... what does it actually do?"
"A few things. Lets you subconsciously sense the other's presence. Get a read on their strong emotions, things of that nature; nowhere as intricate as proper telepathy, but close enough to draw a comparison to." With his knee pressed to the table's edge, Qrow tilted his chair back a little and looked at the pair; as he continued to watch their reaction, traces of a smug smirk began to make themselves apparent on his face. "Any of that rings a bell?" he asked with all the nonchalance he could muster, needing not their response to already know the answer.
Even before Qrow finished speaking, Ruby and Weiss had looked at each other, completely stupefied. By the time he was done, it was like Ruby's uncle put a frying pan to the back of their skulls — sending their heads spinning, knocking loose the rust of preconceived notions and simple explanations, only for the scattered pieces to somehow just... click.
Ruby and Weiss began looking back at things, now cast in an entirely new light; at the various little moments from their shared past, far too numerous to count or recall. All the little coincidences of them just bumping into each other at the most opportune of times, or the instances of surprising insight, of gut feelings that treaded the fine line which bordered the realm of premonitions — they now questioned them all, reeling from the whiplash. Assuming that Qrow was right, where were they supposed to draw the line between a simple happenstance and... that?
"Do you think that Ruby and I are... soul-bonded, was it?" Weiss hesitantly asked, having finally found her voice.
Qrow regarded her with an amused glint in his eyes. "If that deer-in-the-headlights look on your faces is anything to go by? Yeah." He chuckled. "Been thinking that for a while, actually. This here just sealed the deal for me."
Ruby raised her eyebrow at that, somewhat surprised. "And what gave you that idea?"
"The fact that the Princess here has been doing far better than she should've," Qrow replied, directing his finger at Weiss.
Taken aback enough not to pay any mind to the nickname, Weiss pointed at herself in confusion, only for the look of budding understanding to ripple across her face shortly after. She recalled their latest stay at Beacon, and how she'd noticed that simply being in Ruby's proximity seemed to make her wounds hurt less; back then she'd thought that the girl had been simply keeping her distracted well enough, but now...
"Wait, are you saying that this... soul-bond thing is the reason behind my fast recovery? That it somehow allowed Ruby to transfer some of her Aura to me, or something?"
"No, not transfer," Qrow corrected her, then fell silent for a second or two while he considered how to best explain it. Eventually, his face lit up with satisfaction, as if he'd just come up with a joke of some sort.
"Okay, an example. Let's assume you wanted to get Ruby here drunk for some reason. You could kick her back some of your cash and tell her to go and buy some for herself; that'd be a transfer. But since she's technically still a minor and we wouldn't want anyone to get in trouble, you probably wouldn't do that. No, as the responsible young adult that you are, you'd buy the goods yourself and then let Ruby drink your alcohol to her heart's content. That's called enabling."
While the punchline did elicit a tiny snort from Weiss, it didn't mean it landed quite as well with the rest of the audience. Her eyes drawn to Ruby, Weiss winced internally at the things she saw just beneath the girl's lopsided smile.
While Ruby had masked her displeasure well enough that a casual acquaintance would not have noticed, it was apparent to Weiss that the subject of the little analogy Qrow had just come up with didn't sit quite well with Ruby, even though it was clearly an attempt at humor on Qrow's part. In fact, Ruby looked like she had needed to bite her tongue in order not to say something unnecessary.
Qrow had also noticed, and a hint of annoyance mixed with something else briefly marred his brow. "The point I'm trying to make is that the kid here didn't give you her Aura, just... offloaded some of the burden. Or so I understand it, anyways. Transfer would be one-way, and that's how some Semblances work; she let you in."
With downcast eyes, Ruby stayed quiet for a while before eventually accepting the tacit offer, or perhaps plea, to steer clear from the touchy subject. "Okay, assuming you're correct... for how long has this been going on?"
Qrow scoffed and threw his arms up in the air. "How the hell would I know? You tell me for how long you've been this buddy-buddy." Still, despite what he'd just said, he actually did consider Ruby's question. "Remember how you fell into that frozen river? Your healing kicked in pretty quick back then."
Ruby straightened in her chair a little bit, eyes lighting up as she turned to look at Weiss. "And you knew where to look for me under the ice."
Weiss hesitated for a couple seconds. "I... did," she slowly admitted, having recalled the dark memory. Yet, said memory still offered her no clarity, and so, with a puzzled look about her face, she turned her eyes at Qrow. "But why haven't we noticed anything?"
Qrow shook his head. "Bonding isn't like flipping a switch. It's gradual, easy to miss when it's forming — you just wave everything off as some coincidence, or a hunch, or maybe just knowing the other person well." He let out a dark chuckle. "You will notice if it's ever gone, though."
The ominous remark made Weiss take a good, long look at the man. "You seem to be quite knowledgeable about it."
Ruby's lips curved into an uneven smile. "Raven?"
At that guess, Qrow's whole body shuddered with laughter. He snorted right into his cup, spraying some of his drink over his face and the tabletop.
"As if!" He said, wiping the droplets dripping down his nose and chin. With a small chuckle, he shook his head. "Even back when we were still on good terms, our trust was limited mostly to keeping each other alive. But opening up to one another? Hah, no, that's showing weakness in Raven's book. It's not to say that she didn't care, just... the clan didn't do vulnerability. Her Semblance is kinda similar in some ways, though." He shook his head, and even though he smiled, the nostalgic look from before once again dimmed his eyes. "No. Summer," he let on, looking at nothing at all.
The mention of Summer put a bit of a damper on the mood, but Qrow did not let the silence linger between them for long. Quickly shaking off his somber musings, he tapped the table with his fingers, loud enough to bring everyone back to the conversation at hand.
"Well, anyways, care to elaborate on that... following someone else in spirit? What's that all about?" he asked, all casual, rocking back his chair slightly as he took a sip of his tea — or what was left of it, at least.
While the rather sudden mood shift had taken the pair a bit off-guard, Ruby and Weiss welcomed it eagerly. They obliged, taking turns in giving Qrow the abbreviated version of everything they'd managed to establish two days prior — From Weiss' dreams to what Ruby had charmingly described as 'having a personal guardian angel for the backseat driver that isn't annoying'.
Initially, Weiss had been somewhat... guarded, out of concern for Ruby and her wellbeing. Had Ruby let her, she'd gladly take the burden of retelling the more hurtful parts fully onto herself... yet, she never offered, realizing that it was likely something Ruby had to get off her chest. Her eyes hardly left the girl's face for a good part of the explanation, carefully studying every expression that crossed it, watching for any sign of distress. As Ruby continued to speak, however, she did so with ease that both surprised and relieved Weiss — and perhaps even surprised Ruby herself.
In the end, the pair did omit certain details — especially the ones that were a little too raw to rehash once again — but they both figured they'd said enough for Qrow to get the full picture. Qrow, for his part, was as good a listener as he was a storyteller — he never interrupted once, and whenever their explanation hit a snag, he'd offer some helpful guidance to get them back on track.
Once the two of them were more-or-less done, Qrow started asking a few follow-up questions of his own. "So, just to make sure I got this right," he spoke, looking at Weiss, "I take it you weren't just... seeing things through Ruby's eyes? It didn't sound like you were using her senses."
"No," Weiss replied, only to hesitate almost as soon as the answer made it past her lips. "Actually... now that I think about it, there was also that one dream where I was just... watching myself in my sleep, in the med bay. It might've been Ruby's point of view," she added, and as she briefly glanced at Ruby, she noticed a spark of recognition in her eyes. "Either way, that's just one of them, and might be completely unrelated. In all others I was... like a presence, floating in the general vicinity of Ruby. I could hear and kind-of see, but it wasn't really seeing, more like... sensing Auras, all around me. And life force, I suppose."
"Not to mention getting the front-row seat on whatever was going on inside her head..." Qrow muttered under his breath.
After putting his hands together in front of his face, he just sat in silence for a long while. At times, he straightened his back and his expression shifted, as if he was slowly closing in on a conclusion; without a fault, however, that change was brief, the resolution either discarded or eluding his grasp. Ultimately, he simply shook his head and threw in the towel, and all he had to offer was an apologetic look.
"Sorry, kids, 'fraid I can't explain this one for you. Honestly, not sure if anyone can — not even Oz," he said and folded his arms. "Fairly certain you two are bonded, though. Dunno how that happened, either, but I suppose it doesn't really matter." He let out a small chuckle, watching amusedly the somewhat awkward look Ruby and Weiss shared in that moment. "Could be that those 'dreams' of yours, and whatever they are a sign of, are just another side-effect of bonding — after all, those other stories must've come from somewhere — but that's just me guessing. You could try to do some digging, but, considering the extreme circumstances of your case... well, good luck finding any reliable accounts of anything even remotely similar."
While they'd both expected as much, the girls couldn't help but deflate a little. Yet, even though they hadn't gotten the answers they hoped for, what they had learned definitely made seeking Qrow's insight most worthwhile.
"Well, even if it doesn't fully answer our question, it's still more than we've had half an hour ago," Weiss replied graciously. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ruby nod in agreement. "Thanks."
"Mm. You're welcome."
Between Qrow quietly sipping his tea and the girls taking some time to process their newfound knowledge, the conversation pretty much died down after that. Minutes passed with scant few words being exchanged. Then, seemingly out of the blue, Qrow chuckled to himself.
Ruby shot him a look of amused curiosity. "What's so funny?"
Qrow let out a small laugh and shook his head, as if in disbelief. "It just cracks me up that of all people to get bonded, it's been you two. Ruby and Yang, that I'd get, or maybe Weiss and her sister... but you? The wallflower pipsqueak and the resident Ice Princess? I mean, what are the odds?"
Weiss and Ruby shared a glance at those words, and it took but half a second for both to break into sheepish grins.
"No," Ruby stated firmly, fixing her sister with an unrelenting stare.
A couple hours had passed since Qrow had left. Around noon, Blake and Yang had returned home from a little outing they had had in Vale. Reunited, the four members of team RWBY had whiled away their time, just chatting over their lunch. Eventually, Ruby and Weiss had gotten around to filling their teammates in on the things the two had learned from Qrow about their condition... and now, Yang had ideas how to put the pair's newfound connection to the test.
Yang grinned. "Oh c'mon Rubes, it'd be a good way to test that thing and you know it!"
Not swayed in the slightest, Ruby folded her arms over her chest. "Right. It's 'strong' emotions, remember?"
"Which most likely means you'd have to embarrass one of us, or drive either up the wall," Weiss chimed in, having finished her waffle. "I think I'll pass."
"What she said."
Mischief shone in the lilac eyes as Yang cast a sidelong glance at the two, smirking. "I mean, wouldn't be anything new, exactly..."
Ruby let out a mildly exasperated sigh and leveled Yang with a serious look. "Let her be, Yang." Part of her had definitely missed that high-spirited side of her sister... but, right in that moment, she didn't feel she had the energy to deal with it.
Yang's expression fell a bit, only to get abruptly replaced by a cheeky grin once she caught on to Ruby's wording. "Just her? Protective much?"
Ruby held her gaze without flinching, evidently not amused. "Just used to your shenanigans," she delivered in a perfectly deadpan voice, not missing a single beat. "Any other ideas?" she asked cheerfully the other two, not sparing Yang a second look.
"We could try to get a read on your accuracy, perhaps?" Blake suggested.
Weiss arched her eyebrow at that suggestion. "What do you mean?"
"We could take one of you outside the house, and keep the other here. The two of us," she gestured at Yang, then herself, "would pair up with you and move you around, and on each stop you'd have to guess where the other pair is. Yang and I would keep track of your guesses and stay in touch to make sure we're in sync, and we'd finish by comparing the results."
Ruby rubbed her chin in thought, nodding along with approval. "Huh. Could work, actually."
"Mm. Liked my idea better, but alright," Yang half-joked. She then pulled Blake closer and rewarded her with a grin and a quick peck on the cheek. "Good thinking."
Sensing her partner's questioning gaze, Weiss turned to Ruby. "Sounds fun," she concurred, smiling softly.
With a tiny grin, Ruby tapped the table with both of her hands and stood up. "Sure, let's do this."
After ironing out the final kinks of their testing methodology and having prepared two identical sheets, team RWBY had split into pairs. Since they'd figured that Weiss could have a hard time naming exterior locations, Ruby had ended up staying inside, with Blake to keep her company; by the same logic, Yang had been put in charge of Weiss.
Yang wasted no time in taking Weiss for a quick jog around the building and then leading her to the shed behind the house. She shot a quick message to Blake, to let the others know that they were in position. A response came quickly after — apparently with a go-ahead, as Yang promptly pocketed her Scroll and put the test sheet against the nearby wall.
"Alright, Princess. Do your thing," she said, pen ready in hand.
Weiss turned towards the house, feeling a little bit at a loss. Nothing seemed to stand out; no answer was falling right into her lap, or rolling easily off her tongue. Hell, if not for Ruby's foresight to cover up all the windows beforehand, she'd be tempted to try and spot some movement inside.
"Well?"
"I... don't know how?" Weiss sheepishly admitted. Her first instinct had been to reach out and look for Auras, but she'd stopped her probe as soon as she detected Yang's; other than that, she really had no clue what to even look for.
"How did you do this before knowing about this whole shebang, then?" Yang questioned. "You have done that before, right?" she added shortly after, and something about the curve of her skeptically raised eyebrow made Weiss feel oddly defensive.
"I believe so, yes. And I don't know." She sighed. "I just... did, I guess? I've never thought about it twice."
"Then... don't think about it?"
The way Yang had said it gave Weiss a tiny pause. There was something new to Yang's voice — not hostility, not anger, just... something. A certain bite, an impatient edge that wasn't there usually. Having made a mental note of it, she briefly met Yang's gaze, then closed her eyes, sighed, and tried to empty her mind of any unnecessary thoughts.
She tried to recall other instances of her strange insight; to focus on what she'd thought and felt in those moments, relive every detail the best she could, down to the surrounding lighting and colors. Coming up short, she started thinking of her strange dreams, then of Ruby herself — what she was like and how she made her feel...
And before she knew it, she was being reeled in.
It was subtle yet firm — a gentle tug, delicately pulling at her consciousness. It was somewhat like being able to tell which way was up with eyes closed, but not quite; like feeling the warmth of the morning sun on one's skin, but unlike it at the same time. Not gravity, yet beckoning, grounding — all she had to do was to let herself be drawn closer.
"Bathroom, I think," she said after opening her eyes.
Yang gave her a curious look, then noted her answer down without a word.
"So, how do you feel about things?" Blake asked while leading Ruby down the stairs.
"That whole Aura-bond, you mean?" After getting a soft hum of affirmation in response, Ruby glanced to the side. "Do I have to feel about it in any way?"
Blake smiled and turned around, shooting her an amused look. "I suppose you don't. But that doesn't answer my question."
"Eh, fair enough," Ruby conceded with a small laugh. She jumped off the last few steps, landing on the ground with grace and nary a sound — to a human ear, anyway. "I dunno. A bit weirded out, that's for sure." Although Ruby left off at that, her inflection made it clear that she had omitted an 'and' that just waited to be spoken.
Blake was happy to oblige. "And?"
"Happy, I guess?" Ruby answered hesitantly, only to reconsider it and shake her head shortly after. "Mm, no, that's not the word I think."
"Validated?" the bookworm helpfully suggested, opening the door to the kitchen and letting the other in.
Ruby pondered on it for a second. "Maybe? 's a part of it, I think. 'Secure' kind of comes to mind." Then, she let out an adorably bashful chuckle. "But it's also weirdly embarrassing, in the naked sort of way."
Blake's eyes narrowed with mirth. "You get used to it," she said casually, Ruby's turn of phrase simply too inviting to resist.
"Wh—" Ruby glanced at Blake in a brief yet delicious moment of puzzlement, only to snort with laughter as her face lit up with understanding a heartbeat later. "Oh screw you."
"Careful; Weiss might hear you~."
Ruby's comeback was just about to leave her tongue when suddenly a sensation of strange discomfort washed over her for a brief spell, causing her head to swivel in the general direction of the front of the house.
"What is it?" Blake asked, somewhat unnerved by Ruby's sudden change of focus — especially since she herself hadn't heard anything.
"Dunno. But I'm gonna kick Yang's ass if she went ahead with her original idea for the test."
"Am I a bad sister?"
The unexpected question struck Weiss like a bolt from the clear blue sky, almost making her trip over her own two feet.
"I— pardon…?" she asked, feeling the need to make sure she'd heard Yang right.
Stopping in the middle of their trek through the training field, Yang directed her face skyward and exhaled loudly. "I asked whether ya think I'm a bad sister. To Ruby, I mean." She finally turned to look at Weiss, her expression tainted with gloom and resignation. "I figured you'd have an opinion, since you've got Winter and all. How do I stack against the big and scary Ice Queen?"
"I..." Briefly rendered speechless by the raw question, Weiss spent a couple of agonizingly uncomfortable seconds grasping for the words that had scattered across the floor.
"I really don't think it's fair to compare you two, Yang," she eventually began, carefully weighing her words. "For what it's worth, I think you are better at conveying your feelings to Ruby. Winter can be... the opposite of overt, at times. But we both are the product of our upbringing, and I don't blame her. Nor did I ever feel that she doesn't care, even when she did a poor showing of it." Taking slow steps, she drew closer to Yang, so that only about five feet separated the two. "Winter has her quirks... and yes, faults... but I do love her, and I used to look up to her a lot while growing up. And I'm positive Ruby feels the same about you."
Yang put on a wry smile, but it was weak and strained, as though she was too tired to keep even a modicum of pretense. Instead of putting on a facade, she looked away, and remained silent for a good while.
"Then why do I feel like an abject fuckin' failure?" she asked quietly.
Even after all the years they'd known each other, it was still unsettling for Weiss to see Yang so... subdued. Angry Yang she could handle with no issue, just like she could deal with a Yang that was loud, lovesick, worried or sad. That Yang, however, she did not know how to handle.
"Yang... what is this really about?"
Yang didn't respond straightaway. When she finally did speak, she continued to refuse to look Weiss in the eye. "I feel robbed, a bit. And I bloody hate myself for feeling that way, because it's not your fault, and I should feel happy for Ruby to have a friendship strong enough to form that soul-bond or whatever, and I really want to be, but I just can't right now; instead I feel this anxiety and it sucks and— ugh!" Throwing her head back, Yang let out a frustrated groan at the sky, cutting her stream of consciousness short. She rubbed her face in apparent agitation. "I'm rambling. Sorry, Weiss. Didn't... didn't mean to just dump that on you. 's not fair to you." With that, Yang resumed her walk across the field; her steps were long, quickly carrying her away.
Weiss followed, but said nothing for a couple of seconds to give Yang the room to speak if she chose to; only when Yang showed no intention of doing so did she take the initiative. "It's okay; I don't mind. And I can listen, if you'd like."
Having reached the perimeter fence, Yang halted her steps. Rather than acknowledge Weiss' offer in any way, she pulled out her Scroll and typed a quick message.
"Alright, let's stop here," she said, then put one of her feet on a beam making up the rickety paling; worryingly, it was enough for a whole section to creak and shudder a little, although it did hold up in the end. "Where is she?"
Seeing her offer completely ignored, Weiss knitted her brow in concern. Still, she did as asked and looked towards the house. "The... workshop?"
With the answer jotted down, Yang started leading her friend along the perimeter fence. Neither said anything for a while, but when the silence was finally breached, it was Yang who spoke up.
"Sometimes I feel like I've lost what Ruby and I used to have. The closeness we had. The bond. We used to be best friends; always together, and she'd always confide in me and ask for advice or hugs or whatever. And then my dumb ass just... started throwing it all away, all out of my own damn will," she confessed. "I... wanted to have a piece of my life that was my own, just for myself I guess. Got myself a new circle, and since Ruby has always been a pretty shy kid, she'd stuck with the friends she'd already known. We hung out a lot less at school after that. And a part of me was... happy about it, even though I'd never admit it to myself back then." She coughed out a bitter laugh. "Hell, do you know what was the first thing I did when the two of us set foot at Beacon?"
Weiss had wondered about it before, just never gotten around to actually asking. She knew, of course, what had happened right after that — unsupervised, Ruby had stumbled right into Weiss' life in the most explosive of fashions, only to get immediately yelled at. Since Yang had never come out of the left field to knock Weiss' head off, she couldn't possibly have been there to witness it, but why?
Seeing the gears turning inside Weiss' head, Yang curled her lips into a wry smile. "I ditched her to hang out with my old classmates from Signal. I left my shy, socially awkward baby sister — the damn prodigy who got accepted at Beacon two years early for the amount of ass-whoop she could dish out. I should've wanted to show her off to the whole damn school; instead, I just ditched her. 'Why don't you try to make new friends of your own', I said. Hah." She lowered her head. "Do you know what she had to say? 'Why make friends if I have you'."
"You were trying to teach her to be more self-reliant."
"That's what I was telling myself, yeah. Now? I dunno."
"She... probably didn't feel great about it, back in that moment. Definitely not after I yelled at her for scattering my Dust supply and she had no one there to back her up against a bitchy Schnee." The self-deprecating humor had been a shot in the dark, but since it did get a stifled snort of laughter from Yang, Weiss considered it a success. "In any case, I don't think she blames you. To the contrary, even."
"You mean...?" Yang asked, not sure where Weiss was going with it.
Weiss bit the inside of her cheek, hesitating for a second. It probably wasn't her place to elaborate, but... telling Yang to ask her sister directly didn't strike her as particularly productive at that moment in time.
"Outside of your stubbornness, and your warmth, the two of you can seem nothing alike. But there is one other trait that you both definitely share: you feel a lot of guilt regarding one another."
"But that's the thing... I'm the older sister. I know it's hard to tell sometimes, but I'm the one who should be responsible for things, not Ruby."
Weiss gave her friend a sympathetic look. "You are also the one who's lost two mothers, and the one who's been parentified at a very young age. It took its toll on you, and she knows it; it's eating away at her how much of your life you'd sacrificed for her — or how much she'd taken."
A complex emotion took hold of Yang's face. If Weiss had to guess, her words did manage to get across — but it was not to say that they made Yang feel any better. Yang halted her steps and sighed, eyes downcast. "I just... want to be there for her."
Everything about Yang's body language screamed 'I'm not good enough' to Weiss. And it hurt just how much did Yang resemble her younger sister in that moment.
Weiss placed her hand on Yang's arm and squeezed tightly. "You are, when it matters. And she knows it."
A silent, mirthless laugh escaped through Yang's nose. "And that's why I got replaced?"
Although Yang likely didn't mean to offend her, her phrasing rubbed Weiss in the worst way possible. "I am not your replacement. Thinking of me as such does neither — no, none of us any favors," Weiss said dryly. "Ruby and I have worked for what we have; I didn't become her confidant just because she needed a replacement part to make her complete."
Yang shrunk a little from the severity behind Weiss' stare, but it wasn't long before the expression of the blue eyes mellowed. With a silent jerk of the head to the side, Weiss suggested to get going.
"I could never replace you, anyway," Weiss continued once they got moving. "You aren't just a friend and sister to her; for a time, you were also her caretaker figure. That's what I meant when I said that comparing you to Winter isn't fair — the fact that you were basically raising her for a good while changed the balance of your relationship, especially once Ruby was old enough to realize just how unfair a fate it's been to you!"
"Not like we had much of a choice," Yang said softly.
"No. And I suppose it's part of the problem." Weiss sighed. "Winter, Whitley and I always had Klein to support us, even after Mother checked out, but you... between Summer going missing, Raven — as you'd once put it — 'cosplaying a cuckoo' and your dad shutting down, all you've had to rely on was each other. So you always aim to protect the other from hurt. The issue is, often times the only way you know how to is through self-sacrifice, and the way I understand it, Ruby's exhausted, and sick of feeling like a parasite. She'd rather see you happy and proud of her; she wants you to have your own life, and not to make sacrifices more befitting a parent than a sister. But it does not mean she doesn't need you, Yang."
"Alright, let's assume I'm following so far," Yang breathed out. Then, a thought seemed to have crossed her mind, and she directed a curious glance Weiss' way. "So... what does it make you to her in this mess?"
The even cadence of Weiss' steps shifted temporarily as she slowed down for a moment, considering how to respond. "Her equal. We built the trust we have, the two of us. Not out of some sense of mutual obligation, not out of duty, but by deciding, time and time again, that we wanted to stick together," she said eventually, speaking with an air of calm conviction. "There's less guilt involved that way, I think. Less self-imposed rules to play by." She turned towards Yang and lightly grabbed her by the arm, looking her in the eye. "But it's you who's her final certainty, Yang, not me. Her first and last safe haven. Remember that."
"Do you, like... talk a lot about me?" Yang asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck.
Weiss bit back the slight smile that threatened to manifest on her face. "You are an integral part of her life," she said simply.
The lilac eyes narrowed a bit at the sound of that evasive response. "Doesn't answer the question."
Weiss let out an amused hum. "Doesn't it?"
Yang frowned and contemplated her friend's meaning for a spell. After a while, a very slight, soft, and somewhat awkward smile started to blossom on her face. "Thanks, Weiss. I think... I think I get what you are trying to say."
"You are welcome."
"Still jelly, though."
And Weiss really couldn't fault her.
Once they'd decided that they had enough sample data for their totally non-scientific purposes, the members of team RWBY reconvened inside the house. Blake took it upon herself to compile the results on a new sheet of paper; in the meantime, the remaining three busied themselves with their Scrolls while waiting for tea to brew in the pot. Weiss would look at Blake every now and again, studying the girl's expression carefully; each time she directed her attention that way, Blake seemed progressively more... satisfied with what she was seeing.
Finally, Blake tapped Yang's shoulder and slid over the finished summary for her to examine. "Look."
And so Yang did. Three seconds later, her jaw dropped.
"The fu…" Yang muttered under her breath, eyes wide, then just snatched both of the original pages right out of Blake's grasp, much to the latter's apparent amusement. "No, let me check again."
"What is it?" Weiss asked, lightly confused. Judging from Yang's behavior, the two of them fared either exceptionally well... or abysmally poor. Her money was on the former.
"How many did we get right?" Ruby chimed in.
"Eight, each," Blake said innocently, smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
Ruby started counting on her fingers, retracing her steps in her memory. "Out of?" she asked, turning her questioning gaze at Weiss
Resting her forehead on her hand, Yang looked as if her worldview had just been shattered. "Eight. You got all of them right."
"Even got things like side of the field right," Blake added cheerfully. "I kind of expected six or seven, but it seems that it's more reliable than I anticipated."
"No kiddin'," Yang easily agreed, still deeply impressed. Then, her lilac eyes narrowed as she looked up at her two sisters, honorary and otherwise. "You didn't, like, cheat or something? Aura detection or some such?"
Ruby scoffed. "Pff, you know that I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm garbage at that, unless something is actively trying to kill me." Indeed, she spoke true. And had the scars to show for it.
"No?" Weiss replied, albeit with less conviction. That lack of certainty in her voice immediately attracted a suspicious look from Yang, as well as an arched brow on Blake's part. Feeling the need to quickly assuage their concerns, Weiss lifted her hands above the table, palms forward. "I mean, it was my first instinct, but I stopped as soon as I've sensed Yang and realized what I'm doing."
The Bees shared a quick glance, after which Yang just shrugged.
"Well then. I suppose we got the accuracy narrowed down. What now?" Blake asked.
A sort of pensive silence overtook the room as the members of team RWBY considered how to proceed. They found it pretty difficult, to come up with ways to measure something so... intangible and undefined, especially since they didn't have access to any baseline for the pair in question.
A good while had passed before someone finally suggested: "...range?"
This time, it had been Weiss' turn to be the one left behind.
The idea they'd come up with for that second test was simple enough: have either Ruby or Weiss head out in any direction, then keep going until the two could no longer detect each other; after that, just backtrack a little bit, and send the other one searching. After some discussion, it had been decided that the tracking would be best left to Weiss, as Ruby's familiarity with the area could skew the results. And so, Yang had taken Ruby out to the woods; about half an hour later, Weiss had signaled that she could no longer sense her partner. Her and Blake had set out not long after that.
Weiss wasn't entirely sure how long she'd been at it; her best guesstimate was at around twenty minutes, give or take a few; she'd love to know the exact answer, but her companion wouldn't let her check the time, much to Weiss' chagrin.
At least she had someone to talk to, she mused.
Weiss was leading the way under a roof of branches, heading down a narrow forest track. Even calling this pitiful thing 'a path' seemed a bit generous to her — it was a barely visible line cutting through bushes and other foliage, likely made by wild animals, or perhaps some civilian brave enough to forage in a forest with Grimm presence. Having been explicitly forbidden from mundane tracking, she had absolutely no idea where she was headed, with no other choice but to put all her faith into that newfound sense that didn't fail her once during their first little 'test'.
Still, it wasn't that bad of an afternoon stroll. The weather was pleasant enough, if a bit chilly; sunlight shone through the autumn leaves, basking the whole area in a comforting glow. The more time Weiss spent on the island, the more magical it seemed to her with each passing day. Not necessarily in the exciting or mystical sense of the word; rather, it was that strange sense of being at peace and belonging that captivated her so. Much different than Atlas, or even Vale.
The narrow path forced the two to walk single-file, with Blake trailing a few steps behind Weiss. "So... Soul-bonded, huh?" Blake asked at some point, cutting short a bout of companionable silence.
Weiss slowed down a little bit to duck under a low-hanging branch. "You seem like it wasn't your first time hearing that term," she noticed.
Blake let out a small laugh. "Indeed. It's a relatively popular theme in the romance genre, you see," she spoke, and just by her voice alone Weiss could tell that a teasing grin began to form on Blake's face. "I kind of envy you, you know?"
Weiss sensed that there was a mood shift in that latter sentence, leading her to believe that Blake was being at least partially serious. "Envy me? Why though?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at Blake. "I mean, Yang expressed a very similar sentiment, but I can see where she's been coming from, being Ruby's sister."
Blake shot her a look that was very much not amused. Weiss' cluelessness seemed genuine... and Blake found it just a little bit infuriating. "Are you kidding? You dorks are literal soulmates. Of course I'd want something like that, for me and Yang."
Weiss' eyes widened when she heard it framed that way, and so plainly at that; feeling her face rapidly heating up by degrees, she snapped her head to look away from Blake and just stiffly stared forward. "O-oh, that's what you mean." She dared not look backwards, but she could've sworn that a poorly stifled chuckle came following her reaction.
It was a dangerous thought that Blake was putting in her head, painting what Ruby and Weiss had in a romantic sort of light. It was not to say that it had never crossed her mind before, of course, but it had only ever been limited to brief what-ifs; fleeting fantasies maybe a minute long, to brighten the dark moments. She'd never actually, genuinely considered it. Never had the time. The sheer notion hadn't seemed real — still didn't, in truth. Right in that moment, even her life didn't seem quite real, more like a blissful dream she was still afraid of suddenly waking up from.
What she had going with Ruby… she genuinely believed it was wonderful. She was content. Happy. It helped her get through the darkest days; it literally kept her alive, it seemed. To ask for more felt downright greedy, almost as if tempting fate. To try and change it… the thought alone scared her. She had a bit of a crush, yes, but wasn't willing to let her physical attraction to Ruby potentially sour what they had.
Not wanting to get too wrapped up in that line of thinking, Weiss instead considered what Blake had said about wishing for a similar bond between her and Yang. "You still do have a good thing going with her," she eventually concluded, meaning every word she spoke.
The path widened a little bit, just enough for Blake to pick up her pace to match her friend's step. She nodded, but her expression made it clear that she didn't share Weiss bright-eyed outlook on things; not fully. "That's true, but..." This time, it was her turn to avert her eyes. "I'm just jealous of the trust you two show one another. That you can just... completely bare yourselves naked in front of the other, without fear." She sighed and met Weiss' understanding, sympathetic look with a strained smile. "As you know, trust's been a bit of an issue for both Yang and I."
Weiss pondered a bit on Blake's words, as she felt there was a slight misconception somewhere in there. She thought back to two days prior — to Ruby being utterly terrified of being discarded like a broken thing she felt she was, and yet still trusting Weiss with her heart. To her, saying that they weren't afraid at all of trusting each other wasn't entirely right, and didn't quite do them justice; rather, they trusted each other despite the fear.
"Not exactly without fear..." she gently corrected. Then, a certain idea crossed her mind and she laughed, deciding to crack a joke at her own expense just to lighten the mood. "And only in the figurative sense."
And unbeknownst to her, there was perhaps more to that joke than she intended. A veiled, jealous wish, twinned with more than a grain of insecurity.
Blake didn't pick up on that subliminal meaning, either. Corners of her mouth twitched and a small, amused hum reverberated within her throat; not quite a laugh, but close enough to make it count. "Believe me, dear, stripping is way easier," she replied in a perfectly deadpan tone. "Speaking from experience. Try it sometime."
Even though Weiss was the one who'd made the joke, the highly suggestive manner in which Blake looked and then winked at her fanned the flames of the blush that was just beginning to fade from Weiss' face.
"I'm good; I'll take you on your word," she said, looking anywhere but in Blake's direction. She then let silence linger for a brief moment, before speaking again once she felt she'd sufficiently regained her composure. "Well, it's not like you need to be soul-bonded or whatever to make a good couple, is it? Just look how supposedly rare that thing is."
"And yet here you are," Blake retorted, casting a sidelong glance at Weiss before sighing once more. "But I suppose you do have a point. Not one that'd stop me from feeling this way, but technically correct." She sighed and stared off into the distance, letting a slightly dreamy look overtake her face. "It's about the ideal, you know? I mean, who wouldn't want their relationship to be perfect?"
"'Perfect' is two things: subjective and abstract."
At that, Blake rolled her eyes — hard. "Sure. And normally I wouldn't have any problems separating real life from fiction, but you dorks just made that task slightly more difficult," she retorted, looking at Weiss through narrowed eyelids while holding her hand out with her thumb and pointing finger almost touching, just for emphasis. "Literal soulmates, within my immediate circle at that! Ugh," she cried out, throwing her head back and theatrically grabbing her hair, as if to pull at it.
"I thought you'd be more into 'swept off your feet' kind of romance," Weiss commented, more to herself than to Blake. "Always seemed to me that Yang consistently delivered on that front."
The other was a little bit taken aback by that remark, and thought about it for a spell. "And you'd be correct," Blake eventually admitted. "But a deep emotional bond is also something that'd be nice to have."
Weiss hummed in half-hearted agreement. "Still, I stand by what I've said. You two are doing well for yourselves," she said, before looking away from Blake and turning her eyes straight forward. "In fact, were I to enter a relationship with someone, I'd probably count myself lucky if I had your success." In the silence that followed, Weiss could practically feel Blake's meaningful stare on her skin. Trying her best to keep a straight face, she shot a questioning glance at the other girl. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," Blake laughed, shaking her head in amused dismissal, or perhaps disbelief. She knew that beneath that clueless facade, Weiss did understand what she'd been getting at, and Blake felt it was enough.
They spent the next couple of minutes on unrelated small chat, with Weiss being but all too eager to move the conversation away from the subject of Ruby. Blake humored her, having already had her fill of teasing the girl; that, and she was starting to get the feeling that Weiss, for whatever reason, was beginning to get uncomfortable.
Suddenly, the ping of a notification cut Blake off in the middle of a sentence. She patted the pocket of her coat, then shot Weiss a questioning look. "That's yours. Do you want me to check?"
"If you could."
Blake fished out Weiss' Scroll and opened it, only to do a double take once she saw the notification on the lock screen. "…a delivery ready for pickup?"
"Oh," Weiss let out, a look of recognition flashing across her face. Seeing the curious stare sent her way, she shrugged, struggling somewhat to keep a neutral expression. "Well, I suppose you could say I ordered a little something to keep myself occupied."
"Uh-huh," Blake muttered, clearly unconvinced. Slowly, a tiny little smirk began to creep onto her face while her suspicions were setting in. "I don't suppose it's got something to do with the rapidly upcoming birthday of a certain dork we're both acquainted with, hm?"
Weiss hummed, amused. "Perhaps."
"I was wondering what you were going to get for her," Blake said, before sending a questioning look Weiss' way. "So, what did you order? Some audio gear, for another song?"
Weiss shook her head. "No. Another song doesn't sit quite right with me for some reason. Recency bias, maybe."
"Makes sense, I suppose."
"What about you?"
"Mm. With her propensity for tinkering, I figured she might enjoy trying her hand at papercraft, just for fun. Got her one set, and a book — just in case the former doesn't land with her. I'm also planning to include a drawing of our team, but I haven't finished it yet, since it's kind of difficult to work on it without tipping her off."
Weiss nodded, breathing out a small sigh. "I can relate. Took me a while to figure out how to go around it."
"So you are making her something!" Blake exclaimed enthusiastically. The playfully coy smile that showed up on Weiss' lips in response to that accusation only further convinced her that she was indeed correct. A wide, conspiratorial grin spread across her face as she lightly nudged Weiss with an elbow. "My, how mysterious. Care to fill me in on what you're plotting?"
Suddenly putting on a poker face, Weiss spared Blake a glance before saying: "Not really."
Blake pouted at that heartless refusal, but no matter how hard she tried to mimic Ruby's puppy eyes, Weiss wouldn't budge, leaving her with no other choice but to give up. "Bummer. But fine, keep your secrets."
"Why are you making it sound so dramatic?" Weiss laughed. "I don't even know whether it'll work out or not. It's been a while since I did anything of the sort."
For all her downplaying, Weiss was feeling quite excited about her little project, and very much looked forward to getting started on it; even more so, she looked forward to seeing Ruby's reaction, should her labor bear satisfactory fruit. Now that all the necessary equipment was ready for pickup, she began to think how much work she could get done by the end of the day, assuming she would leave for Vale as soon as their impromptu science experiment came to an end.
It tickled her somewhat, the fact that she'd never expected to pick up that craft again. Funny, how life tends to twist and turn.
Perhaps all she had needed was a good reason.
Blake was very clearly not satisfied by that response, staring at Weiss with a look of wilting disapproval about her face. "...yes, tease me more with no intention to spill, why don't you."
"You'll see soon enough, assuming it pans out."
Just when Blake was about to respond to that, the cat ears crowning her head flicked and then swiveled suddenly, turning about thirty degrees to the left from the direction the pair was headed. Blake's gaze followed suit almost immediately after and she narrowed her eyes, unsuccessfully trying to peer through the wall of thick bushes ahead. Weiss had no luck, either; still, while they couldn't see across, the amount of sunlight on the other side alone was pretty telling, suggesting the presence of a glade of some sort.
"Grimm?" Weiss whispered, taught well to trust Blake's senses.
Blake just shook her head in a wordless 'I don't think so', and with that, the two of them pressed onward. As they drew closer, there was a point when Blake visibly relaxed; saying nothing, she just gave Weiss a brief glance and a soft smile, both of which Weiss was just too absorbed with something to notice.
Then, Weiss heard it, too, indistinct yet familiar. Voices.
Still smirking, Blake let herself hang in the back while Weiss picked up her pace slightly. Before long, Weiss' purposeful steps carried her around the thicket, bringing her to a small, picturesque clearing. Then, as soon as she came around one final bush obstructing her vision, she stood face to face with Ruby; Sitting on a toppled log, the girl had already been turned in her direction, as if she was expecting to see her, ready to greet her with a smile the moment their eyes met.
"Told you she's coming," Ruby quipped triumphantly at her sister, who just laughed in disbelief.
Yang slid off the large boulder she'd been perching on and walked over to Weiss to give her a hearty slap on the shoulder. "Over half a mile — damn!"
"Just half a mile?" Blake questioned in surprise, coming out from behind a bush. "I thought we've covered a lot more ground."
"As Qrow flies," Ruby clarified, striding over to the rest of the group with a tiny grin on her lips. Taking her place by Weiss' side, she gently bumped the girl's shoulder with her own. "So, guess you got me."
"Disappointed?"
Ruby beamed, happily flashing her teeth. "That it took you so long."
Author's Note:
Two years, huh. Time sure does fly.
Probably the saddest part about this hiatus of mine is that I've never actually decided to go on a hiatus. It just sort of… happened, I guess, and then the months kinda kept piling up. Life got in the way. Between my map making venture, job hunting and running fairly regular D&D sessions, I just couldn't find the time or the presence of mind to write.
But hey, I'm back now. Not necessarily because my situation improved all that much, but rather because I decided to go back to my roots: to writing as an outlet, like I did back in 2016. Besides, AtS has always been a work of love — or love-hate, sometimes — and I couldn't just leave it like that. As I've written in my edit back in April: I'll see this story to its end, even if it would be just for myself and the few loyal readers.
Speaking of. I know that after going MIA for well over two years, I shouldn't expect many of you to return. To those of you that enjoyed this story but have since dropped out, even though you probably won't see this: I'm sorry, truly; I know it sucked to wait for so long and yet never see an update.
To those of you who have stuck around, or hopped in since 2021 — thank you. It really did brighten my days every time I got a notification that someone has left a review or added AtS to their follows. It might not seem like much, but each instance made me want to get back to the story all the more.
I've actually been actively working on my comeback since… April this year, I want to say? I've mostly finished working on Bonds sometime in June, but rather than post it, I figured "eh, if I'm about to force new/returning readers to go through the whole damned thing (again), then I might as well get back to some old chapters and slap a new coat of paint on them — how long could it take?"
Well, as it turned out, pretty damn long — though the change in scope of the rewrite played a big part in that. Rather than work on a limited number of scenes early on in the story, it turned into a comprehensive edit of the whopping 230k words of AtS. I've been chipping away at it in my spare time, from the last week of July all the way till the 20th of October.
Now, rest assured that nothing much has changed in terms of the core plot; I added one small scene that I had only hinted at previously, and extended — or otherwise touched up — a few others, but that's it, really. Generally, I tried to keep the changes within the spirit of the original.
The chapters that changed the most in that regard are III: Meltdown, IV: Together, VII: Changes, VIII: Ad Memoriam (a new scene added!), and XIII: The long, arduous road. Hopefully you'll find them to be an improvement!
Other than that, I just mostly focused on improving the sentence flow, toning down the unnecessary cheesiness, and waging war on the (myriad) unnecessary epithets. I'll put a more detailed changelog below, in case you're curious.
By the way, I'm planning to crosspost the story on AO3 sometime in the future — probably after I finally try my hand again at making some illustrations!
Also, big thanks to KreadStornham for beta reading for me! It was a lot! If anyone here would be interested in lending me a hand in the future, feel free to shoot me a PM — I could always use another opinion!
That's it for now, I guess; sorry for the wall of text. I'll leave you for now with a small teaser — the titles of the next two chapters will be Deer in the headlights and In vino veritas.
DT610: 'A mini-ending of sorts', my ass; we've still got a waaaays to go till I'm done here, lol, don't you jinx it. Ah, hell, glad to still have you. Also, congrats — you were right on the money with your guess.
It was really fun to watch you people theorize what's up with the two of them over the years; now, the thing I've been hinting at since chapter 1 is finally out in the open. It's probably not that big of a twist, honestly, but I really enjoyed teasing it bit by bit.
Changelog of the rewrite (feel free to ignore it):
General:
- removed probably thousands of unnecessary epithets from the story; it was a bad habit from my early days, reinforced by the fact that plenty of RWBY fanfics in the 2016 era employed them in abundance. Not expecting to get much of a following, I kind of followed the trend, and later kept up with it for the sake of consistency
- renamed some of the multi-part chapters. I felt the parts turned out fairly self-contained for the most part; besides, things were getting somewhat silly, with Wishes sitting at 47k (!) words
- many, many grammar and punctuation fixes. If something still managed to slip through, then I have no excuse — I might not be a native speaker, but I did get that degree in English back in 2020, goddammit
- improved sentence structure
- tried to tone down some of the overly cheesy beats of the story; guess I'm getting more and more laughtose intolerant with passing years
- split many long paragraphs into shorter sections for the ease of reading
I: One thing ends, another begins
- slightly reworked the dialog between Weiss and Ozpin
- slightly toned down the wording used to describe Weiss' thoughts regarding Ruby. The original few initial chapters were a bit… heavy handed in that regard, leading to the funny situation where the romantic undertones dropped off considerably around chapter 5; now, there should be a clearer sense of progression on that field
II: Back Home
- similarly, slightly toned down the wording used to describe the interactions between Ruby and Weiss
- changed the somewhat awkward beat in the dialog between Weiss and Yang, where Yang got snippy with Weiss when the latter didn't answer Yang's question
III: Meltdown
- slightly changed the cafeteria conversation between the girls
- significantly rewritten the whole scene with Ruby crying in the shower; hopefully it's a little bit more punchy, and an overall improvement c:
IV: Together
- completely changed Ruby's parting words to Ozpin; I felt that the original version didn't quite fit, being a smidgen too idealistic so soon after her breakdown — even for Ruby
V: Bedtime talks
- again, toned down some of the wording around Ruby and Weiss
VII: Changes
- changed (heh) some wording used to describe Salem, to bring it a little closer to the canon; she still respawns, and it still takes her a long while
- slightly extended Ruby's rant during the Ozluminati meeting
VIII: Ad Memoriam
- Added one short scene after Weiss leaves with Jaune. The scene has been hinted at down the line in Wishes III, but now it's written out, all nice and proper
X: Parting
- slightly extended the airship scene
XI: Home
- you know what, Pippy? You were right. It would be more fun if Ruby just threw clothes at Weiss rather than pass them along
XIII: The long, arduous road
- significantly extended the scene where Ruby goes to Dr. Glas
XIV.4: Quiet Days, part 4 (now Mother's Pride)
- slightly toned down the wording I used in one particular paragraph
XV.2: Wishes, part 2 (now Healing)
- slightly rewritten Weiss' inner musings regarding her attraction to Ruby; it's the same thing as before, just put a little bit more elegantly, I dare say