Seeking refuge from all the ordeals and celebrations of their return, Weiss followed the pamphlet that had been handed to her allowing it to lead her to their new dorms. She could feel herself reaching her limit as the one night of sleep they got in the Ever After was hardly fulfilling and she still felt the weight of Atlas falling from the sky. Reaching the apparent door number she swiped her scroll across the scanner and she heard the lock release, flinging the door open she stepped in quickly and threw it closed behind her, at the sound of the door locking again she let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping, letting the façade she held fall away.
Finally succumbing to the pain she had been holding back with a mixture of brute force and supressing it with her aura she finally let it take her as she rushed to remove her clothes with hardly a care, seeking to tend to her pain more directly. After cursing her clothing choice she finally overcame all the zips and belts and threw her outfit in the corner behind the door, standing in her underwear she unzipped her boots and pulled her feet free and threw them also in the same general direction that she threw her clothes. She took a moment to scan the room finally in search of a mirror, unlike Atlas and their homemade ones in Beacon, Shade lacked bunkbeds opting instead to have them in a row each single bed was underneath a window, flicking her eyes across more of the room she saw a series of desks and drawers and finally next to a door signed as the bathroom stood a full-length mirror.
Rushing over to her scattered clothes she pulled free some ice dust from her pouch and walked over to the mirror. Ever since they stepped into Vacuo the heat seemed to aggravate her scar she got from the fight at Haven, gently she lowered the ice dust onto her front sucking in a breath of air as she felt the sudden difference in temperature, instantly she felt the burning effects of the pain recede, walking through the door beside the mirror she turned on the cold tap of the bath and placed the plug in, tutting to herself in frustration as the cabinets seemed to lack ready towels she went back into the room and started digging through the drawers in her frustration she failed to hear the dorm door unlock.
"Hey Weiss- Oh my-" Ruby's search for her partner came to an abrupt end as she covered her eyes not wanting to accidently perve on Weiss. "I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D-"
"It's fine."
Ruby's attempt to apologise for intruding was cut short by Weiss who spoke matter-of-factly as she finally located a towel and wrapped it around her, she turned to her partner and smirked. Ruby held both her hands up over her face and she could still see the bright blush that adorned her leaders' cheeks. Weiss picked up the ice dust and walked over to Ruby, gently with her other hand she lowered Ruby's from her face. "Would you be able to help me?" Weiss asked quietly before continuing. "It's okay if you can't, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
Ruby shook her head dismissively. "You could never make me feel uncomfortable Weiss."
Weiss smiled gratefully as she took one of Ruby's hands into her free one and led her over to the closest bed she gestured for Ruby to sit which she did as Weiss slid the towel around so the parting was on her back, sitting in front of Ruby she spoke.
"I think it's the desert heat but my scars been burning all day and the back is awkward for me." Weiss admitted with guilt for asking Ruby for help.
"Of course Weiss, I'm honoured that you trust me." Ruby gently took the ice dust from Weiss' grasp as she let the towel part slightly and Weiss flinched as she exposed her scar to Ruby, she heard her leader hold her breath, while Ruby had seen the exit wound Weiss had never showed anyone the mark it left on the way in.
"There's no one else I would trust with this." She confessed as she braced for the ice dust to make contact.
"I'll be as gentle as possible." Ruby stated with reverence not willing to mess up what Weiss was asking of her.
"I know you will." Weiss responded with a smile hearing the care in her partner's voice. She held her breath when the cold made contact with her lower back.
"I'm sorry." Ruby said sadly causing Weiss to frown.
"Don't be you're doing great."
Weiss could feel the bed move as Ruby shook her head side-to-side, her voice was guilt-ridden. "No, I'm sorry that you have this scar. At Haven, when I saw Cinder fighting Jaune, I panicked, I dropped my guard and gave Emerald the window to knock me out… if she hadn't I might've been able to prevent you from getting hurt… I know she's with us now but seeing this, it just, I want to." Ruby trailed off as she gripped the ice dust hard, her knuckles turning white as she struggled with her emotions and to verbalise her thoughts. Hearing Ruby's struggle Weiss turned around until she was facing Ruby, even as she turned she noticed the effort Ruby made to keep the ice dust on her back, the care her partner still showed for her while she fought her mental battle incentivised Weiss more.
"You can't blame yourself Ruby. It was Cinder's actions and her's alone. We were students when Beacon fell and we threw ourselves against an enemy we thought we understood… and while I adore you and your optimism, to think we'd go through unharmed was just never gonna happen." Weiss could see Ruby process her words she watched as Ruby looked down to the scar on her front.
"I know you're right but I just, you were right there and I couldn't stop it."
Weiss grabbed Ruby's free hand into her own drawing Ruby's eyes from her scar over to their hands before finally travelling up to her eyes, Weiss could see the confusion on Ruby's face and she was glad she was able to stop Ruby's cycle of self-blame. "I'm still here Ruby. We'll keep each other safe." She promised to her leader who responded with a determined nod.
Their moment was cut short as a slight alarm rang out from the bathroom and the sound of water stopped. Weiss gently used her free hand to lower Ruby's that held the ice dust still to her back, bringing it forwards and in between them, she stood up as she still held Ruby's other hand with her own.
"If you want to go back to the celebration I won't keep you, my bath is ready and who knows the trouble Blake and Yang could be getting up to."
Ruby shook her head. "Is it okay if I wait for you." She asked hopefully.
Weiss nodded. "Of course Ruby, I'll be quick."
Ruby shook her head again. "No, you've earned it, don't rush, besides someone left a mess that needs cleaning up."
Weiss laughed out a small thanks as she regretfully let go of her hold on Ruby's hand, turning towards and making her way into the bathroom as she saw in the mirror to the side of the door Ruby make her way over to the pile of clothes Weiss had thrown into the corner.
Stepping into the bathroom Weiss removed the towel and draped it over a hook on the wall, she did the same to her bra and underwear, looking towards the bathtub that was now full of water, a little indicator atop the tap signalling that it was ready, the temperature readout was 10oC, normally Weiss preferred a warm bath but after travelling through the heat of the desert the Atlas native needed a refreshing cold bath. Gently she lowered her foot towards the water feeling relief as she made contact, submerging herself into the water except for her head and draping her hair over the side to keep it dry for now Weiss' breath let out a heavy sigh of relief letting herself succumb to the cold as her body quickly felt renewed by the experience.
…
Stepping out reluctantly from the water Weiss reached for the towel and wrapped it around her, she immediately knew it was a mistake that she only took one towel, meaning she had to keep her hair dry and it wasn't until she had spent some actual time away from the desert that she realized just how much sand was caught up in her hair, Sighing she opted to deal with that problem later. For now Weiss decided on the idea that had taken form in her head during the bath, she put back on her bra and underwear while keeping the towel over herself remembering with a smile the way Ruby reacted when she stumbled into the room.
Walking into the dorm room she let out a small chuckle at the sight before her, Ruby was on the bed her and Weiss had been sat on, her scroll playing some game she enjoyed, her tongue was stuck out as she focused on the screen in front of her with a look of determination, scanning the room she was surprised to see how well Ruby had cleaned up, Weiss' outfit had been properly placed onto a series of hangers and hung upon some hooks on the wall and her boots sat underneath them, a little game over jingle rang out, drawing her attention back to Ruby who let out a little sigh of defeat mumbling a little damn underneath her breath. Weiss walked over as Ruby finally realized that she was in the room.
"Hey Weiss." Ruby asked clearly embarrassed at failing to notice when Weiss appeared. For her part Weiss smiled as she snatched the scroll from Ruby's hand, earning a little hey from the girl.
"Ruby Rose cleaning up, now this needs documentation." Weiss' voice was full of sarcasm as she landed onto the bed next to Ruby, bringing the scroll up towards where her clothes were hung she closed the game while Ruby crossed her arms playfully annoyed, she opened the camera on Ruby's scroll and the two of them froze for a moment as they both saw the most recent series of pictures on her scroll, a handful of pictures featuring the Curious Cat looked back at them as if salting the fresh wounds with memories of the Ever After.
"I forgot about those." Ruby trembled out guiltily, blaming herself for ruining the moment. Weiss brought her free hand up to Ruby's chin bringing her attention up so she could look into her leaders' eyes.
"Hey, let's do something together tomorrow, I thought about it while I was in the bath. We've not really recently spent time just the two of us and for that I'm taking responsibility. We could've spent some more time together in Atlas but I was so caught up in being in a home I hated, then my dad's whole election, then everything else. So tomorrow, like you said in the desert, let's have some time to ourselves, just Ruby and Weiss… we can go shopping for new outfits that are more suitable for the environment and I have an idea, an activity we can do together that I'm sure you'll enjoy."
Ruby mulled over Weiss' words for a moment, she took the hand that held her chin into her own and kept it in between them, nodding as she spoke.
"It's not just you, I was caught up in Atlas as well… I thought a leader had to manage everyone and in doing so I've neglected my partner. You're right, let's spend the days just the two of us, I'd like that."
Ruby chuckled to herself as a thought sprang to mind, she turned her head to the rest of the room.
"You know, we could make this room more familiar, surprise Yang and Blake with some bunkbeds?" Ruby joked half-heartedly.
Weiss let out a small laugh as well, her voice a mix of teasing and sarcasm.
"This time I get the top bunk."
Ruby recoiled her head aghast at the thought of being condemned to the bottom bunk.
"We'll fight for it."