Chapter XIV: In the shade of Autumn leaves, part two
Weiss shuffled through the doorway to the house, welcoming the wave of pleasantly warm air that hit her the moment she crossed the doorstep. Slightly winded, she was still recovering from the short — by Ruby's standards, anyways — sprint that her partner had suggested once their destination had almost come into their view. Ruby had presented the dash as a means to stress-test Weiss' body before moving onto some more strenuous activities; finding the suggestion reasonable enough, Weiss had agreed. By the end of it, her lungs positively burned, but she was pleased to report that the run did not aggravate her cracked ribs in the least. For all intents and purposes, it seemed that her injury had already healed — at least for the most part.
She rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them up, then brought them up to her mouth and breathed at them; as she did so, she heard Ruby slip inside the living room after her, closing the door and walling the two them off from the cold world outside. She squinted when Ruby flicked on the lights, the sudden brightness offending her eyes.
"You were right," she said to Ruby, who was still behind her back. "It got pretty chilly in the end."
Ruby chuckled, sliding past Weiss on her sock-clad feet. "Shall I get the fire going, then?"
Weiss smiled at the prospect. "That sounds nice."
While Ruby hustled about the fireplace, Weiss made herself comfortable on the couch. Before long, the sound of a match being struck sizzled in the air, and while Ruby was waiting for the kindling to catch on fire, she asked Weiss a question: "Anything in particular you'd like to do? Night's still young."
Weiss drew a blank. Her song was mostly done, and all that was left to do was to record the instrumental; she could go and read, she supposed, but she could as well do that while waiting for Ruby to finish showering later that evening. Looking around the room in search of inspiration, her eyes ended up lingering on the holo-TV in front of her. "We could continue from where we've left off in that game of yours, I suppose...?" she replied eventually, remembering the previous evening quite fondly.
Still kneeling in front of the fireplace, Ruby turned her head to shoot Weiss a surprised look, her face cracked into a wide grin. "Certainly not what I was expecting, but hell, sign me up!"
"That... doesn't look very good," Weiss assessed, having just seen one of Ruby's characters get absolutely flattened by a boss. "Do you think it's even possible for us to win this?"
For some time, the game's soundtrack, accompanied by the soft crackling of the burning wood, was the only response to the question. Ruby remained silent while her silver eyes quietly analyzed the battlefield; there was only a handful of opponents on the screen — certainly far fewer than the most they'd fought at a single time and successfully beaten before — but one of them was hitting really hard. So hard, in fact, that it led Weiss to believe that they weren't exactly supposed to have come to that area of the map just yet.
"Proooobably," Ruby drawled, finally offering her answer. She proceeded to command her rogue to attack the undead ogre responsible for the demise of her other character; she backstabbed it, then immobilized it, only to retreat before the thing could retaliate during its turn. "You're up."
Weiss looked at the screen. To her, the situation seemed pretty dire; they were down to three people — all of whom could get downed in one hit from the big bad, it seemed — and even though Ruby had just dealt the thing a respectable amount of damage, with their party's current damage output, it'd take at least a couple more rounds for them to chew all the way through that red bar. True, when Ruby had immobilized the monster, she'd also bought them a single round of relative safety, but Weiss feared it'd not stall the beast for long enough. They were obviously underleveled for that fight, but that hadn't stopped them before, and Ruby seemed unwilling to let that happen now.
Weiss looked at the ogre's health pool, which still numbered in thousands — about half as much as the amount of damage it'd dealt to Ruby's character, which seemed preposterous. She then considered turning her attention to the necromancer responsible for animating the beast, but that course of action also seemed no good. While his health pool was much more palatable, he was hanging in the back, too far for their melee fighters to reach him before the ogre smashed their party to a pulp. He was technically within the firing range of Weiss' caster, but with no spells powerful enough to blast him on her own, it didn't really improve their situation.
Giving up on dealing damage, Weiss started browsing her character's spells and abilities, looking for something — anything — that could possibly turn the tide and save the day. The more she searched, the less hope she had; then, as she was approaching the end of the list, an idea suddenly popped up in her mind, prompting her to go back a few positions and take a better look at the wording of the so-called 'Chains of Pain'.
While she was reading, she heard a quiet snort of laughter coming from her right; Ruby seemed to have realized what was going on inside Weiss' head and, judging by her reaction, Weiss was onto something — even if that 'something' was a tad… unorthodox.
"So, to make sure that I got this one right..." Weiss questioned, turning to face Ruby, "after I cast it on someone, whenever my character takes damage, the target of the spell takes the same amount of damage?"
Ruby, resting her chin in her hand, was looking back at Weiss with a poorly concealed smirk clearly apparent on her lips. She seemed amused as she nodded. "The same damage and the same type, yes," she said, the tone of her voice encouraging Weiss to carry on.
"And, if I walk into that thing's melee range and then move out, it'll attack me even outside of its turn?" Weiss pressed on.
Ruby's smirk only deepened. "It does have the 'opportunist' trait, so yeah, there'll be an attack of opportunity. T's why I used an ability to escape with my rogue."
Returning her eyes to the screen, Weiss took a deep breath. "Alright. Here goes."
Just as she had planned, she opened her turn by casting 'Chains of Pain' on the necromancer; once the ghostly, purple shackles linked her avatar to the bastard, she moved her mage closer to the ogre — straight towards her imminent demise. Then, fully aware of the consequences, she moved the poor caster away, provoking an attack and causing a landslide of things to follow.
Unsurprisingly, Weiss' character ended up dead after a single crushing blow, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make. Perhaps more surprising was the thing that had caused Ruby to burst out laughing — namely, the fact that by attacking the unlucky mage, the ogre had also sealed the fate of its owner, knocking itself clean out as a result and leaving a long list of quest updates and experience gains in their wake.
As the cannon fodder started to take their turns, Weiss just stared at the screen in disbelief; she was completely flabbergasted that her suicidal plan had actually worked, while Ruby just continued to roar with laughter off to her side.
"That... went far better than I was expecting. What the hell," she said eventually, letting out a short laugh.
Ruby, still shaking with glee, patted Weiss on her back. "You're learning, good. We'll make a gamer out of you yet," she said, then focused her attention back on the screen; the lesser undead had finished taking their turns, which meant that it was Weiss' turn to go. "Now let's scrub those two off the floor, we've still got the adds to kill."
Weiss grinned, puffing up with pride at the sound of Ruby's praise. It was silly to feel so accomplished, she knew — after all, it was only a video game — but in her mind, what she'd just done was a tiny proof of her growth as a Huntress, a show of an ability she'd spent the last three years learning from Ruby: thinking outside the box.
Over the years of friendship with Ruby, Weiss had glimpsed the inner workings of the girl's wonderfully clever mind, managing to pick up a thing or two along the way; it didn't always come to her naturally, and she still felt more comfortable within the confines of more by-the-book approaches, but she had come a long way since enrolling at Beacon, when her ability to adapt was sorely lacking. Nowadays, she took great satisfaction in knowing that she'd improved in that field, and would be proud of herself whenever she got to show it off, no matter how insignificant the situation.
Besides, it simply felt nice. Gaming was a Terra Incognita to Weiss, something new and daunting, and to do well in it was satisfying... and oddly rewarding. Even more than that, it was a way for her to venture deeper into Ruby's world, to learn something new and see a side of her she hadn't really been familiar with yet — just like Ruby had, earlier that very same day, by agreeing to humor Weiss' request and dance with her. Those seemingly little things were bringing them closer together still, and Weiss wouldn't trade them for anything.
Still smirking for various reasons when her next turn came to an end, Weiss leaned back and pondered on her next move, quite eager to see where that rabbit hole would lead her to in the end.
Ruby was on her lonesome in the dimly-lit bedroom, lying on the bed with a Scroll in her hand as she waited for Weiss to finish showering. Having already showered herself, she was idly listening to some podcast to pass time while her slightly wet hair, sprawled all over the pillow in a wild mess, continued to dry. The shattered moon peered curiously through the window to her left, watching over Ruby in silence while time flowed lazily forward.
Suddenly, Ruby's Scroll pinged loudly in her grasp, and she might or might have not nearly dropped the device right onto her face in surprise. Releasing it from between her clasped hands — and ensuring she had a better grip of the damned thing — she went on to check who in the world would message her at that late hour. Her first guess was Yang, but that particular assumption soon proved incorrect; instead, she was faced with the contact info she hadn't seen in a long while.
Autumn, the very same girl she'd bumped into at the mall two days before; her old friend, from her previous life. Ruby's finger hovered hesitantly over the conversation tab for a good while before she finally opened the message, reading it with a fair degree of trepidation.
Hi Ruby, it's Autumn. Fingers crossed, you still use this contact ID; I really should've asked you about that back at the mall.
Apologies for texting you so late, but I've just had that one idea and I've figured it'd be best to act on it before I have time to reconsider and wuss out, and we both know that's exactly what would've happened. So, here it goes: seeing that you're back in the town, what would you say to meeting up with me and the others from Signal one of these days? You know, to get the old gang back together? You could also invite the rest of your team, if they'd like to come; I'm sure Heather would love that. She's been a bit of a fangirl of you guys this past year, you see.
Grinning like a goof, Ruby continued on.
I get that it's kinda random and maybe a bit out of the blue, but it's just a loose idea I've had after meeting you the other day. Just don't feel pressured into anything; I'll understand if you are busy and can't make the time, or simply don't want to meet up — after all, we haven't really been keeping in touch these past two years.
The smile from moments before had mostly faded, dimmed by the sense of immense guilt that gripped her heart the moment she'd read the last sentence. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't deny the ugly truth — excluding their chance meeting at the mall, it had been nearly two years since the last time she'd contacted Autumn; the last message from the girl was one of consolation, back from the time when Ruby and Yang had had their falling out in the months following the Fall of Beacon. Ruby hadn't even mentioned her plans of going to Mistral to Autumn, nor ever said goodbye; showed how good of a friend she had been.
The collapse of the CCT system had played a part in their lack of contact, but even after Ruby had returned to Vale, she had done nothing to break that radio silence between her and her old friends. It was not due to her forgetfulness nor being wrapped up in other things, either, but a conscious choice; it simply had been easier that way. Easier than hiding how dire the situation had really been while looking her friends in the eye; easier than lying what had been really going on, and just how high had been the stakes. And though Ruby hated to admit it to her own self, a part of her had been content to leave her past buried; to just accept that sometimes friends simply drift apart, and to move on.
I really hope this message reaches you; otherwise I've been stressing over it for nothing for longer than I'd like to admit, and then I'd have no other choice but to ask you in person.
Oh who am I kidding, of course I will just chicken out by that point.
...gods, I swear that pun wasn't intended.
Been missing you, Ru.
"Been missing you too," Ruby whispered into the ether. With a tired sigh, she let the arm holding her Scroll flop onto the mattress. "Crap."
Staring blankly at the ceiling, she was at a loss as to what to do. A part of her was completely on board with the idea, but the other was far more apprehensive; as much as she'd love to meet with her old friends and exchange fun stories over a mug of hot chocolate, she also had far too many tales she could not possibly share — a minefield of them. If asked about Haven, or Atlas — and asked she would be — she'd be forced to go down one of three paths: to give her old friends a roundabout answer that might not satisfy them, not answer at all — which could be even worse — or to downright lie, which she would rather not resort to. Problematic, no matter how you looked at it.
That, and the fact that she didn't quite know how to look her old friends in the eye after... well, everything. After Beacon, and then just disappearing for two years without a single word of goodbye or explanation. She didn't doubt that they'd welcome her back in their midst with open arms, but... she didn't feel that she deserved such treatment. Not anymore; not after considering how seldom they appeared in her thoughts those days, all but replaced with the friends she'd made at Beacon or later. They had deserved much more loyalty than the one she'd shown them. And more than anything, she was afraid that they'd see right through her and realize that she was no longer the same Ruby Rose they had once known, with that thought scaring her more than it reasonably should.
But the least she could do for Autumn was to reply; knowing her, the girl must've spent half a day mulling over the idea before finally mustering up the courage needed to send that message. Ruby's mouth curved into a fond, somewhat wistful smile as the mental image of her auburn-haired friend fidgeting nervously on her bed popped up in her mind. Soon, another sigh slipped past her lips and she picked up her Scroll, typing a quick response. 'I'll ask the others in two days and then let you know,' she wrote after having confirmed that she was indeed still using that same ID. 'Been missing you too.' She then proceeded to read her message at least five times before hesitantly pressing the send button.
A rather noncommittal response, she knew, but she had been caught off-guard and that was the best answer she could offer for the time being, while her thoughts on the matter were still a jumbled mess she couldn't make heads nor tails of. She needed some time to think that through; hopefully, she'd settle on what to do by the time she'd get to meet with Yang and Blake.
Dropping her Scroll onto the quilt beside her, Ruby let her forearm to fall over her eyes. The podcast was still playing in the background, but she no longer listened to anything that was being said; so preoccupied she was with her new predicament that she would barely register when the podcast ended a couple of minutes later, drowning the room in complete silence.
The door to the room quietly squeaked open. As Ruby uncovered her eyes and looked in the direction of the noise, she saw Weiss stroll inside, her white hair billowing behind her like a fluffy cloud that just asked to run one's fingers through it. Ruby mustered a welcoming smile, receiving a similar one in turn, but as Weiss walked deeper into the room, there was a brief pause in her step, her expression darkening ever-so-slightly as she looked at Ruby.
No later than Weiss sat on the edge of her own bed, she asked: "Something on your mind?"
Ruby, turning her eyes back towards the ceiling, let out a tiny amused huff through her nose. 'That was fast,' she thought to herself with just a hint of exasperation; sometimes, she really was not sure what was her take on their uncanny ability to just tell when something was troubling the other. 'Oh well, might as well ask her for her opinion.' Still, she didn't reply right away, not sure how to broach the subject, leaving Weiss hanging for probably longer than was polite.
"Remember Autumn?" she let out eventually along with her breath.
For some reason, Weiss appeared to tense up a bit. "Auburn hair? Yeah, I remember. What of her?"
"She's texted me just now. Asked if I'd like to meet up with her and some other friends from Signal; 'to get the gang back together', as she's put it."
"That's nice of her," Weiss said. She smiled, but it seemed that her heart wasn't quite in it, the expression never warming up her eyes. Ruby didn't blame her; it must've been awkward for Weiss to hear about Ruby's old friends, whom Weiss had never even properly met.
"I told her I'll consider it... but I'm not sure if I should accept."
"What? Why?" Weiss questioned, the tone of her voice having changed drastically. She gave Ruby an inquisitive look, a concerned frown marring her white brow.
"I mean, a part of me wants to. It's just..." Ruby fell silent for a while as she searched for the right words, only to find none that'd satisfy her; giving up, she let her mounting frustration out of her system along with an exasperated sigh. "I'm a coward, terrified of facing those who once considered me a friend, okay?"
"I don't think that's changed, Ruby. I believe that they still think of you as their friend; Autumn certainly does seem to." Weiss' gentle words were most certainly meant to be reassuring, but they didn't exactly ease Ruby's anxiety. She was still afraid of what her old friends would think of the multitude of ways in which she'd changed... and perhaps there was a part of her that wished to preserve the mental image her friends had had of her, so that the Ruby of old could live on in their memories, untainted.
"Yeah, but I have changed. I'm not the same Ruby Rose they all used to know."
"That's true," Weiss agreed easily, but just as she said that, a reassuring smile made itself known on her face. "But you are still Ruby Rose."
Her words meant a lot to the crestfallen girl; Ruby wasn't sure what to think of the changes she'd undergone, but to hear from her best friend that she hadn't completely lost herself, that the things that made her her were still there, was heartening.
After a moment of silence, Ruby let out a sigh. "I just really don't know how to approach them. Sure, I was trying to stay in touch with them back while at Beacon, but then I've ghosted them for two years; hell, I intentionally continued doing just that, even after returning to Vale. It's been easier that way. I didn't need to lie... nor to face the folks I've left behind. I decided to move on, too scared to look back; I've abandoned them. Is that something 'a friend' should have done?" she questioned, looking at Weiss as if daring her to disagree.
But Weiss remained unperturbed. "Probably not," she admitted, "but we all make our mistakes. And the way I see it, you agonize over it too much to have truly 'moved on'."
"What should I do then?"
Weiss shook her head sadly. "I don't want to tell you how to live your life, Ruby," she said. "If you want my opinion, however, I'd say you should go ahead and meet them; knowing you, it'll keep eating away at you if you don't at least give that opportunity a shot." She paused for a while, as if searching for something in her memory, until a tiny laugh made its way past her lips. "What was it that you've said to me, after I got back from the meeting with my mother? That it might be a chance 'to regain something precious in life, only if we tried'? Heed your own advice."
Ruby blinked, then blinked again, turning her gaze away and staring blankly at the ceiling while she was processing the things she'd just heard. "I really have said that, haven't I," she deadpanned, then chuckled softly. "Alright, you got me there."
Weiss grinned. "So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and text her, before you have the chance to change your mind."
"Slooow dooown," Ruby cried, laughing. "She's also said that I could invite the rest of you, and I won't get the chance to ask the Bees for the next two days. Yang will prolly agree, seeing that she was part of the group, but there's still the question of you and Blake."
"Oh," was all that Weiss let out.
"What do you think?"
"I... I don't know," Weiss spoke slowly, clearly having not seen that one coming. She seemed... hesitant. And maybe a little bit shy. "Wouldn't I be the third wheel, seeing that the whole point of the meeting would be for you to reconnect with your old friends?"
Weiss' words gave Ruby a small pause. "Huh. Haven't thought of it that way."
"Just give me some time; I'll be sure to consider it," Weiss said, smiling softly, and before long her smile was returned.
"Sure."
"Speaking of invitations..." Weiss started, "have you asked Coco and Velvet if they'd like to tag along when we take Blake out to the city?"
Ruby slapped herself across her forehead. "Shoot, I forgot," she hissed.
Team JNR were out of town for the week, while Neptune was supposed to spend the day in hospital for a check-up; Sun had already said that he'd come, but it slipped Ruby's mind that she was yet to ask both Coco and Velvet. Her hand darted towards her Scroll and picked it up, only for Ruby to stop dead in her tracks the moment she pulled up the texting window.
"Think they're asleep?"
Weiss laughed, shaking her head. "Probably not."
Having received Weiss' blessing, Ruby went on ahead and quickly typed a short text to Coco; not a minute went by before the sharp ping of an incoming message resounded in the room, announcing the arrival of a reply.
[Moments ago] Coco: sure kiddo
[Moments ago] Coco: count us in
Ruby grinned to herself, but, before she could even fold her Scroll shut, another message came in, followed by one more.
[Moments ago] Coco: ...
[Moments ago] Coco: actually, wait. Gotta check sth
"Uh oh," Ruby hummed, having a bad feeling about that last text.
Weiss leaned in with interest. "What is it?"
"First she agreed, but I guess she remembered something and now has to check it?"
"A rehab session, perhaps?" Weiss suggested.
"Mayb—" Ruby started, only to be cut off by another chime coming from her Scroll. She just stared at the device for a second, genuinely impressed. "Damn, that was quick," she said, then went on to read the message.
[Moments ago] Coco: no can do, got a rehab scheduled for that day
"Aaaand the point goes to Weiss. Rehab," Ruby announced with a sigh. "Bummer."
"That's a shame. Wouldn't she be able to come after or before the session, though? Either would be fine; Sun's already said he's going to drop by later."
Ruby shrugged, her eyes not leaving the screen. "Dunno. But I think I can see why she'd rather pass on it if it's right after a session, even if she does have the time," she spoke, thinking back to her visit at Dr Glas'. "It must be exhausting."
"Yeah, you're right..." Weiss agreed quietly, looking down at the hands lying in her lap.
Ping. Not even noticing the curious look sent her way, Ruby promptly checked the message that popped on the screen right in front of her eyes.
[Moments ago] Coco: Velv got an idea though
Ruby spent the next few minutes on a back-and-forth with Coco and Velvet, concocting a plan of action and ironing out the details. A smile must've shown up on her face at some point, as she soon heard a part-curious, part-amused question: "What are you grinning for?"
With her eyes still glued to the message she was in the middle of typing, Ruby replied in a theatrically dramatic tone, "Patience, little grasshopper; everything will be made clear in a moment." She could almost hear Weiss pout.
A couple of seconds passed by in peace. Then, suddenly, Ruby noticed something blue and fast out of the corner of her eye — Weiss' pillow, quickly approaching her face. She probably could've caught it fairly easily, but decided not to, letting it fall right onto her head. Closing her Scroll and laying it down on her stomach, she let out a dramatically loud sigh.
"So, this is how it is, huh?" Ruby spoke into the pillow, trying her best to sound hurt and disappointed.
Having composed herself and gotten her toothy smile off her face, she removed the pillow and stared Weiss straight in the eye. Weiss easily met her gaze, unabashed and with a cheeky little grin gracing her face; playful sparks gleamed in her blue eyes as she looked at Ruby tauntingly, almost expectantly, clearly awaiting a response.
And like hell would Ruby fail that expectation and not take up the gauntlet.
"An open declaration of war? So be it."
Not giving her opponent even a second to prepare, Ruby hurled the pillow back at Weiss, aiming right at her face, but low enough that it couldn't be ducked under. Of course, Weiss had been expecting just that, and caught the fluffy projectile effortlessly despite its speed; what Weiss didn't know, however, was that Ruby had her exactly where she wanted.
That initial attack was but a feint, a happy little ruse meant to cover Ruby's actual assault; because of the pillow, Weiss lost the girl from her sight for a precious second, only to yelp in surprise when she discovered that Ruby was already bearing down on her, another pillow in her hands.
Before she could react, a red pillow whacked her squarely on the head; going with the momentum, Ruby pushed Weiss onto the bed and pounced on top of her, going straight for her tickling vengeance. She poked and jabbed and prodded with her fingers all over Weiss' body while Weiss herself just kept giggling uncontrollably in a fairly undignified manner, squirming under the attack, her please for mercy going by unheard.
Still, despite the ruthlessness of her attack, Ruby was doing her best to be delicate, mindful of Weiss' recent injuries. Of course, it didn't mean that she was going easy on her; Weiss appeared to know that all too well, trying to use that same pillow that was her undoing as a makeshift shield, putting it between herself and Ruby's hands as much as she could. Every now and then Weiss would attempt to mount her own tickling counteroffensive, but she did not make any actual effort to get Ruby off of her.
They carried on like that for a while, not stopping even after Ruby's Scroll chimed again. At some point, Weiss, gasping for breath, finally decided to actually do something about her situation and turned the tables, rolling over on the bed and pinning the other girl under herself; the moment that happened, her justice was brutal and swift.
Somewhere in her mind, Ruby understood that they were being childish… and yet, hearing Weiss' laughter, she couldn't care less. With their innocence stolen, their carefree lives left behind… that was perhaps exactly what they needed — to reclaim what they'd been denied, little by little.
Author's Note:
Hi again! Life's been a bit of a bitch lately, but I've managed to put this here together. For a time I considered putting one more scene in this update, but it'd delay the whole thing by a week at least, and then the next part would probably end up being kinda bland, so I eventually decided against it. In any case, I hope you enjoyed it!
It's hard to say for certain, but if I were to guess, then I'd say that it's part two out of five; moving forward I'll do my best to continue with roughly-monthly releases. Gotta say, I'm not sure what to think of those segmented updates; on one hand that way I'm not gonna disappear off the face of the Internet for half a bloody year, but on the other... I dunno. I hope you don't mind them too much.
See you next update!