The rasp of Dove's bastard sword unsheathing bounced off the tight walls of the alley. The crossguard, which had once been beautiful, was now dented and warped. Another reminder of their fight.
"I'm gonna fucking murder you," he promised, words slightly slurred.
Ruby drew her own sword. She pushed herself off the wall and tried to steady herself on wobbling legs, only to fall to a knee. Dove looked down at her, smirking as his goons filtered into the alley behind him.
"The hell did— the fuck is that?" Questioned the one with spiky hair and a pair of thick sabres, both of which had handles like kitchen knives.
"Holy shit, didn't he break your hand?" Asked the other, who had long, slicked-back locks of slate. His hand rested on a square-hilted axe that looked like a one-handed version of a halberd.
Dove responded to the latter question with a venomous glare before turning back to Ruby. He lifted and flexed the hand that Ruby had shattered just a couple days before, somehow good as new. "The wonders of a strong, pure Aura," he mused. "A half-breed like you could never recover this quickly."
Half-breed? Whatever that meant, it didn't sit well with Ruby. She shakily pushed herself back up on both feet.
Dove charged her before she could even get her guard up, his bastard sword coming down hard enough to smash the falchion right out of Ruby's hand. Her mind provided unhelpful reminders of their last fight— this is exactly how he'd almost killed her the first time. Before she could draw another weapon, though, Dove's bare fist cracked into her chin, wrenching her head back with the blow and flaring her meager Aura.
Another blow came from Dove's pommel, this time fulfilling the promise he had made to her before. His pommel smashed directly into her windpipe, making her choke and gasp. Her weak legs did nothing to hold her up, allowing her to fall back against the wall she'd been huddled up to minutes ago. She slid down the filthy stones, clutching her throat.
"What a fucking disgrace," Dove remarked, words dripping with disgust as he sneered at the choking girl.
Ruby stared up at him, silver eyes wide and desperate. She tried to beg, but she couldn't pass anything but thin air through her crumpled throat. Of all the places to die, alone in a dingy alley.
Dove watched her struggle with a glare, then pulled her up by her cloak's front. He parted her cloak with his sword, searching her belt for coin before something else caught his gaze, much further up than her waist. His squinting eyes widened, revealing deep blue irises. "You—"
Ruby suddenly crumpled to the ground, too preoccupied with holding her neck to even look up at the noble who had almost killed her twice. The only thing that did enter her vision was a shard of ice, which soon evaporated into nothing. There was a scuffle around her, full of unfamiliar noises, but attempting to move her head up only awakened more pain in her damaged throat. By the time she could finally move, the alley was empty.
More footsteps came from around the corner, making fear grip her heart again, and when their owner came around, her pounding heart sank deep into her gut.
Weiss stared across the road, glowing rapier raised as she panted. Faint wisps of ice-blue energy rose from her skin. She maintained that vigilant pose for a long moment, then dropped it with a heavy sigh, her gaze turning to the alley.
When her eyes met Ruby, the smith scrambled back. Unfortunately for her, there was no room, and she could only press herself more tightly against the wall. With one hand around her burning throat, her other sought a sword.
Weiss quickly slotted her rapier into its sheath and rushed the girl, then was forced to stop when Ruby drew a shortsword. She leveled the blade with the heiress, trembling.
The Schnee held her empty hands up, steps becoming cautious and slow as she approached the girl. "It's okay," she quietly said. "They're gone."
Ruby didn't lower her sword, but that didn't deter Weiss. She could see the blade's intense shaking, and slowly reached out to pinch it between her finger and thumb. The moment she did, she found the entire weapon dropped from Ruby's grip.
The girl shrank into herself even more, holding her hand up. "Please," she begged, voice broken. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Please don't, not here, please."
Weiss stared down at the broken smith before her. Rupert was gone, leaving nothing but a pathetic, desperate girl behind. The fighter, who had so easily dispatched men twice her size, was reduced to a helpless mess. Weiss had expected a fight, or at least some angry words, not… this. She crouched in front of the girl, but her voice failed her. Nothing escaped her lips. She didn't know what she could say. Instead, she just watched the girl tremble.
Ruby began to sob, wincing as each bob of her throat brought a fresh wave of pain.
"You left this," Weiss whispered, quiet words drawing Ruby's wary gaze back up to her. Her pale hand was outstretched, fingers gripped around the smith's hammer.
Silver eyes bounced between the hammer and the heiress.
"It's okay," Weiss insisted. "I'm just returning what's yours. I'm… sorry. For what happened earlier."
Ruby fully looked up, ignoring the pain in her neck in favor of staring at the girl like she was from another world. "W-what?"
Weiss had to repress a wince when she saw the girl's face. Her chin was split open and leaking blood onto her huddled knees. Instead of speaking, she just nodded to the outstretched tool.
Ruby cautiously reached out and took hold of her hammer, nearly dropping it when the weight settled into her palm. She briefly considered battering the heiress with it, but she doubted that she had the energy, and it's not like she even had a reason to. Whatever had occurred before paled in comparison to what she'd just endured. "Thank you," she weakly muttered, returning the tool to its appropriate ring on her belt.
Weiss stared at the girl, who merely stared back, silver eyes swimming with tears. Even with her split chin and generally ragged appearance, she still held all of Rupert's features. Some part of Weiss had hoped that they would disappear with the knowledge of her true gender, but they hadn't, and she didn't know what to think of that. She was still handsome, carrying a rugged beauty that made Weiss' chest twist strangely, and the more she tried not to think of it, the more it troubled her. Hoping to distract herself from the unfamiliar thoughts, she reached below her cloak.
Ruby watched the heiress before her extract a square of white cloth, then hold it out for her. The smith stared at the handkerchief, confused. Weiss nodded to it, then pointed to her own chin.
"You're bleeding," she explained.
Weiss watched the girl reach for the cloth, then keep reaching until her hand suddenly gripped the heiress' wrist. Weiss yelped as Ruby yanked her forward, arms encircling her shoulders and pulling her close. Weiss seized at the sudden, strange form of contact, but any protest was silenced when she felt the girl shake and wail into her shoulder. She found her own arms wrapping around her on instinct.
Ruby held her there for a long time, only releasing her once her shaking had ceased. Her sobbing persisted, but it had been reduced to silent, hitched breaths.
"Ruby," the girl whispered, avoiding Weiss' eyes as she dropped back against the wall.
"Excuse me?"
"Not Rupert," the smith clarified, voice cracking. "Ruby."
"Oh," was all Weiss managed. Ruby. She had somehow forgotten that Rupert wasn't actually her name. "Where are you staying, Ruby?"
The girl shrugged. "Somewhere in the market square."
Weiss stared, then looked up at the night sky. It was dark, and the flanking buildings blocked her view of the moon. Though, she could see Remnant's other orbiting bodies overhead. Eis and Blum danced afore the stars, the former marking the cold seasons to come while the latter signified the warmer seasons' passage. The uneducated simply called them the Lovers, but Weiss had managed to keep herself far from that status, which was actually proving remarkably helpful; the Lovers moved from south to north, and what little she knew of Vale's layout told her she was somewhere in the northeastern part of the city. The market was central to Vale, so moving south would most likely take her there.
Ruby tried craning her damaged neck to peer up to whatever Weiss was staring at, but found herself being pulled back up to her feet, courtesy of the heiress, who tried very hard to conceal the amount of effort it took to lift the girl.
"Okay, Ruby," Weiss said, startling the smith. A cold hand found Ruby's own, tugging her forward. "Let's take you home."
AN: aha gay