Chapter XV: Warmth
Ruby rolled sleepily onto her other side, shying away from the morning sun that was bleeding into the room through the nearby window. With the idea of getting up completely absent from her not-yet-awakened mind, she nuzzled her pillow, hoping to slip back into the world of dreams ere her first coherent thought appeared.
And so she lied in her bed idly, waiting for the sleep to come and overtake her again; sadly for her, a lone idea sparked somewhere in the back of her head, causing her consciousness to stir. It was more of an indiscernible feeling rather than an actual thought, but it made her ever-so-slightly restless, and before long a single silver eye peeked out from behind a heavy eyelid.
The room was peaceful, saturated with the soft light that seeped through the beige curtains in the window behind her back. There was a tiny gap between the drapes covering the other window in the opposite wall, through which a narrow stripe of the pale blue sky could be seen, along with some golden leaves still clinging to the branches making up the tree crowns of the nearby forest. Everything seemed to be exactly the way Ruby expected it to be, except for one thing only: the other bed was empty, with its blanket discarded to the side.
Ruby was in the room by herself, left alone with a rather peculiar feeling of uneasiness dwelling in her chest.
Ascribing her restlessness to some odd dream she must've had, Ruby simply reached for her Scroll and checked the time, burrowing her face deeper into her pillow once she'd learned the truth. Powerless in the face of the too-early-but-still-too-late-to-go-back-to-sleep scenario, she let out a muffled groan, remaining motionless until she found out that it was rather hard to breathe in her current position. With one last, defeated sigh, Ruby sat up in her bed and stretched, releasing a mighty yawn that could not possibly be contained by her meager attempt at stifling it with her hand.
She swung her legs off the edge of her bed, then buried her fingers in her unruly mane and massaged her neck, lazily tilting her head to the side until a satisfying pop resounded in the room. She looked around, but the only new thing she'd noticed in the room was Zwei, napping soundly in his dog bed beneath the mirror. Weiss was certainly absent, though the fact wasn't anything alarming — she'd probably just gone to the bathroom, if Ruby was to risk a guess. Weiss' Scroll was still lying on the nearby bedside table, and the neatly folded set of fresh clothes Weiss had prepared the night before was curiously missing from atop the drawer, which lent further credence to her theory.
Ruby stood up and tied her hair with the band she'd nicked from the bedstand, then silently slipped out of the room in search of Weiss. The moment she set foot in the corridor, she noticed a narrow beam of light falling inside through the doorway to the bathroom, which seemed to have been left open; for some reason, the sight caused something to stir deep within Ruby, and the inexplicable uneasiness she'd felt before returned twofold, reminding her of its presence.
Flawlessly avoiding every treacherous plank that could squeak under her weight, she quietly moved down the corridor, towards the light, and stopped right by the entrance; indeed, the door was slightly ajar, with the gap just wide enough for some light reflecting off the bathroom wall to find its way into the corridor. She listened intently for a spell, only to hear nothing at all. She lingered in that utter, complete silence for a while, before slowly rising her hand to the door; she hesitated for a moment, her fingers hovering an inch away from the wood, then, she gently pushed the door open, knocking on the door frame as she looked inside.
Weiss was there; a contour of radiance surrounded her head as sunlight, seeping inside through the bathroom window, played in her white mane. When Ruby entered, Weiss seemed to be checking herself out in the large mirror that adorned the wall; with most of her clothes still lying in a bundle atop the washing machine, she stood dressed in nothing but her navy-blue underwear. In the soft light of the room, she looked like a model taken straight from some fashion magazine, as graceful as they come.
That picture was short-lived, however, lasting only for a heartbeat; the moment Ruby knocked, Weiss jumped and covered herself up with her arms in a bout of panic, her head snapping towards the entrance to the washroom. Her gaze met Ruby's, and when she realized who was the one standing in the doorway, she relaxed considerably.
"Oh, it's just you," Weiss said, letting out a breath of relief. Her cheeks were flushed, but she didn't seem angry or annoyed; there was no fire in her eyes, which were quick to break off the contact with Ruby's.
Ruby's brain was going haywire while the poor girl was desperately trying to come up with an elegant way out of the situation. Her first, instinctive response would have been to just close her eyes, but that could possibly be taken as rude, so she'd decided against it; instead, the moment Weiss averted her gaze, she also looked away. She wanted to say something and apologize, but, because of her own rapidly growing embarrassment, she couldn't find the words, opening and closing her mouth like a fish struggling for air.
After a couple of seconds that seemed to drag off into eternity, she managed to cobble together a coherent sentence. "Sorry. It's just that the door was open and—" she mumbled, only to be cut off by Weiss in the middle of her apology.
"No, that's fine. I don't really mind. It's not like I've never walked in on you changing," Weiss spoke, her voice a bit... flat.
Contrary to what she'd just said, Weiss kept looking away, and while that could easily be attributed to plain embarrassment, Ruby just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Weiss shifted her arms lower, moving them away from her modest yet comely chest and wrapping them around her stomach, as if wanting to hug herself; the moment Ruby noticed a couple of pinkish smudges peeking at her from between Weiss' limbs, she figured out why the girl had been looking so intently at her own reflection.
Weiss had been checking out her wound, and something was telling Ruby that her friend didn't quite like what she'd seen. Heart beset with an iron grip of worry, Ruby opened her mouth to speak up, but Weiss beat her to the punch.
"Don't you find it amusing, the way battle scars are always being portrayed in pop culture?" she asked, but Ruby sensed that her question was purely rhetorical in nature.
Weiss huffed through her nose, as if in amusement, but her eyes remained cold as she continued to stare somewhat absentmindedly at her own reflection. "Just by their presence, you can tell that this one character is supposed to be a badass, or maybe a sexy rogue of some sort. The heroes wear their scars with dignity and grace as if they were tattoos, just a little bit edgier, and any possible downsides of having one are either downplayed or not there at all; in visual media, more often than not, the scars are there just to look pretty, or to add 'mystery' to the character, or 'the roguish charm'," she spoke, not even trying to hide the bitter sarcasm dripping from her tongue. "The only ones actually made hideous by their wounds are the ones who are evil. I do understand the reason why it is so... but the real thing is nowhere as nice nor glamorous, is it."
She exhaled a tired, resigned sigh and shook her head sorrowfully. "The books and movies don't often tell you of the pain that may stay with you for years, nor of the way you may become acutely self-conscious of how your body behaves; how you might purposefully alter the way you move, dress or smile, just to avoid creeping out others by making your scars even more pronounced than they usually are. They're not pretty. They're not cool. What they are is a hindrance; even if you forgo the aesthetic aspect, they can potentially make your body less flexible, ergo worse at our goddamned job. And even if you do your best and try to wear them as badges of honor, your scars will forever serve as ugly reminders of a time when you got hurt, or screwed up, or when even your best was not good enough."
Weiss' last sentence dissolved into heavy silence. Ruby felt that there were words that needed to be spoken, but for the life of hers she couldn't find them in that very moment, stunned by the weight of emotions she sensed behind the things Weiss had said.
Had she known that her friend felt insecure about her scars at times? Yes, even though Weiss was pretty good at hiding it; Ruby even suspected that it might be related to the reason why Weiss opted to wear her ponytail off-center, but she had no solid proof and had never dared to ask. Had she been aware that Weiss' recent wound had done nothing to help her self-esteem, already damaged by the parental abuse and the years she'd spent in the gilded cage of the Schnee manor? Also yes. But when Weiss' feelings finally reached the tipping point and started pouring out, they still left Ruby speechless.
Weiss continued. "You know... I thought I'd be fine with it, even if my latest... misadventure ended up leaving a scar, especially considering that for years I've already had one that is much harder to hide... But, call me vain, I'm not." Her voice finally cracked, along with the rest of her composure. Her shoulders slumped slightly, as if a string that helped her proudly stay upright had snapped under the weight of her feelings, and when she finally turned her head and met Ruby's gaze, her eyes shone with tears. "I'm not fine, Ruby."
Seeing Weiss cry was all it took to get Ruby to act. She moved without thinking, closing the gap that separated them before she even realized it; slipping behind Weiss, she wrapped her arms around the girl, pouring all the warmth and love she could possibly muster into her embrace. Weiss' skin was cool to the touch, and the poor girl shivered on the initial contact, perhaps in surprise; that said, Weiss quickly eased into the hug, slouching in Ruby's arms a bit like a figurine made of snow.
"I don't think you're being vain; you're just being human," Ruby murmured. "But you shouldn't let your scars define you. It's fine if you think of them as hard lessons to be remembered... but they don't make you less. Not unless you allow them to. So please, don't," she said — no, begged — cursing internally the pained quiver she heard in her own voice.
She'd acted purely on instinct, without any plan or some grand narrative she had at the ready; she had no idea what she could possibly say or do in that moment to help, not really. She'd just followed the voice of her heart and hoped for the best, praying that what she was doing would be sufficient to ease Weiss' misery.
Weiss' pain and self-esteem issues had roots that ran deep into her psyche, nurtured to their current size over the years spent in loneliness, growing up in the environment where everything was fake and nothing she'd ever done was good enough; to weed out those required time, not to mention a lot of effort and love. But that exactly was Ruby's one wish, a promise she'd made to herself what seemed like a long time ago — that one day she'd see Weiss free of her demons.
She had always known it wouldn't happen in a matter of a fortnight, but she remained hopeful, determined to provide Weiss with all the support she needed, even if it'd take her the rest of her life. That desire burned now as brightly as ever, and Ruby was intent on carrying on with her mission — one act of kindness at a time.
Heavens knew Weiss deserved it.
There was a moment of heavy silence while Ruby was gathering her thoughts, wondering how to proceed. Eventually, a certain notion crystallized in her mind, providing her with an angle she could follow up from.
"Honestly, I think that the pop culture has the right idea. In a sense, anyway. Sure, scars are not exactly all they're cracked up to be... frankly, they suck. But I think it's best to view them not as failures, but as the evidence of the hardships we've overcome to get here. Yes, it was difficult; we both have scars to prove that. We all do. We know the pain, the loss, the defeat... the death. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that we were made stronger by that, but we're still here; we picked ourselves up and carried on. And I believe it's nothing to be ashamed of. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Mm," Weiss hummed softly in a weak agreement, doing so without any real conviction.
Ruby's heart sunk a little when she glanced towards the mirror and noticed in the reflection that Weiss' blue eyes were staring blankly at her feet; still, she didn't give up, and mustered a soft, low chuckle, ready to try a different approach. "And hey, besides, it's still early; give yourself a month and maybe it will all heal nicely, and no one will even be able to tell that you've had your belly rubbed by a rabid Beowolf."
The slim body shook within Ruby's arms, with Weiss making sudden, short sound that landed somewhere in-between a sob and stifled laughter. Ruby felt a smile pull weakly at the corners of her mouth, encouraged by that lone ray of light piercing the gray skies; giving Weiss' frame a tighter squeeze, she rested her chin on her friend's shoulder, then inhaled deeply before going for her final gamble.
"And if it doesn't, well..." she started, sliding her hands down Weiss' bare arms and taking hold of her partner's wrists; gently, she gave them a little tug, aiming to untangle the curtain Weiss used to cover up the source of her anxiety.
Weiss' body tensed, but she neither spoke up nor struggled to get away; her arms put some resistance, but not enough for it to seem like she was actually trying to stop Ruby — rather, it was an expression of fear and apprehension. Ruby felt bad about being forceful, but even though she felt guilt sink its teeth into her being, her resolve did not waver, and soon enough she pried Weiss' arms wide open, exposing her bare stomach.
Four pinkish lines ran across Weiss' abdomen, each separated from the other by an inch or two of pale, smooth skin; the lowermost one was shorter and thinner, marking the place where the Beowolf's claw merely grazed Weiss' stomach. Here and there an odd piece of scab still clung to the wound, and, judging by the slight swelling and the discoloration, the healing process wasn't quite over just yet.
A cold shiver ran down Ruby's spine as the image of that same wound, just open and bleeding, flashed in her memory, but it soon gave way to immense relief — the cuts were healing nicely, and the crisis that threatened Weiss' life remained in the past.
Weiss remained tense under Ruby's quiet scrutiny, anxiously awaiting the verdict that was to come. Undoubtedly, she feared that Ruby would find the sight off-putting… but her worried were unfounded. The image wasn't especially flattering, with that much Ruby could agree… but it was not nearly as bad as Weiss seemed to believe, and would only improve with time. And, above everything else, that imperfection changed nothing.
Weiss shivered when a tender hand was placed on her stomach, prompting her teary eyes to look up towards the mirror and in its reflection seek out the ones of silver. Once she met Ruby's stare, the girl finally spoke up. "Scar or not, you'll still be gorgeous," she murmured, her face straight and voice firm.
Weiss shot Ruby a long, inquisitive stare, searching for deceit with the proficiency of someone who'd been surrounded by lying hyenas for most of her life; there was both hope and fear present in her eyes as she peered into Ruby's, fearful of the things she expected to find there and hoping against hope to be proven wrong.
But she needed not to fear; nothing Ruby had said had been spoken just to make her feel better — Ruby truly believed in every word that had left her mouth, and so she could hold Weiss' gaze with ease.
Would Ruby mind it if the scar was there to stay? Yes, a bit. But even in that moment, Weiss remained a beautiful young woman, grace of whom few could possibly hope to ever match. She had not lost any respect, nor did her wound make her any less precious of a friend or teammate; if anything, the prospect of losing Weiss had only made her all the more treasured by the team as a whole.
There was but a single issue Ruby took with the hypothetical scarring: the pain and distress it caused her friend and partner. Other than that, it changed absolutely nothing — neither her admiration, nor her love.
Finally, the mistrustful wrinkle that marred Weiss' forehead melted away. Corners of her mouth twitched as invisible forces tugged at them gently, pulling them upwards and causing Weiss to smile brightly through the tears still present in her eyes.
A short, airy laugh escaped past her lips and she shook her head as if in disbelief. "Since when have you been this smooth, huh?" she questioned jokingly, her voice a bit hoarse and cheeks colored with a bashful blush. She cleared her throat, drying off the wetness around her eyes with her thumb, then gave Ruby a look brimming with warmth and gratitude — one that for the briefest of moments set Ruby's heart aflutter. "I— I'm not sure whether I'm entirely sold just yet... but it was probably what I needed to hear. Thank you."
Even if she tried, Ruby couldn't possibly stop the wide grin from blooming on her face. She giggled. "I'll take what I can get." Closing her eyes shut, she nestled her head in the crook of Weiss' neck. "Anytime."
She remained in that position for a while, with her arms wrapped protectively around Weiss' stomach; draped over her best friend's back like a warm blanket, she stayed quiet, simply enjoying the moment of proximity, hoping that it'd also help to soothe Weiss' mind.
Eventually, she heard Weiss call out to her softly. "Uh, Ruby?" Along with Ruby's name, a tiny, nervous chuckle escaped her lips.
"Mm?"
"I probably should get dressed."
It took Ruby about half a second to fully comprehend what she'd just heard, and the moment she did, her eyes snapped wide open in panic, as if someone had just slapped her awake; staring at the mirror in front of her, she blinked repeatedly, frozen in horror at the image she saw in the reflection. Her arms were wrapped around Weiss' abdomen, hugging her tightly; the same Weiss who was clad in nothing but her underwear, whose ears and cheeks were now brushed with a touch of red, and whose eyes were awkwardly averted so as to avoid Ruby's.
Something short-circuited inside Ruby's head, and for a hot second she wondered how exactly did she find herself in that position. The instant she had seen tears welling in Weiss' eyes, any and all thought not directly related to comforting her had been pushed out of her mind; as such, her brain must've conveniently not registered the fact that Weiss had been mostly naked when Ruby had rushed to hug her, and only after Weiss had pointed that fact out did Ruby realize that she was now effectively groping her partner.
Alright, it wasn't actually groping, or so would Ruby like to think at the very least. What it was was soft and warm and kinda nice... and probably also very, very inappropriate since that skinship came completely uninvited.
A wave of hot blood infused with pure embarrassment rushed to her head, and for a heartbeat Ruby genuinely thought she'd just pass out on the spot... which, all things considered, didn't seem like that bad of a way out. Her face burning up, she immediately let go of Weiss and stumbled away as if scalded by living flame.
"Ohshitsorry!" she piped up in a single breath, then bolted towards the exit and disappeared in the blink of an eye, slamming the door shut as she made her escape.
Weiss jumped a bit at the loud bang that had shaken the room, pulling her arms close to her chest in a startled motion. For a spell, she just stared dumbfounded at the wooden door and the few blood-red rose petals that fluttered about the room; then, she burst into giggles, filling the place up with bright laughter.
Having made herself presentable, Weiss headed downstairs, where Ruby was waiting for her with food already on the table; at some point before Weiss' arrival, the girl had pulled a graphite gray hoodie over her sleepwear, likely to combat the slight chill of the kitchen.
The two didn't talk much over their breakfast, with a certain air of awkwardness still surrounding them, stifling their meager attempts at striking a conversation; that said, while Weiss was quietly munching on her morning toast, she'd sneak occasional glances towards Ruby, snickering soundlessly at how determined the girl seemed about looking at anything but her.
The echo of a vibrant blush, though mostly faded by now, was still alive on Ruby's face, almost making it seem like it was her who had been walked in on. Not that Weiss hadn't been embarrassed by the whole bathroom ordeal, of course... but she wasn't the one who had practically phased out of the room with their Semblance.
It was cute, though — going from being so smooth and comforting in one second to getting all flustered at the drop of a hat. And very, very Ruby — hilariously so, even. Knowing her, the girl had probably been too preoccupied with Weiss' well-being for the issue of decency to ever cross her mind, blessed be her sweet heart.
Truly, if there was one thing more precious than Ruby, it would be the face she'd made when it all had finally clicked in her mind.
While Weiss was watching Ruby with an amused smile concealed behind a cup of coffee, she caught the girl glance in her direction; their eyes made contact for a split second, only for Ruby to sheepishly avert her gaze.
"Um, again... sorry for earlier. Kind of went ahead and hugged you without thinking," Ruby mumbled, finishing off her apology with a nervous laugh. Weiss rolled her eyes at that, but she, too, awkwardly looked away, feeling her cheeks heating up.
After a couple of seconds spent in silence, she spoke up in a quiet voice. "Don't worry; I didn't mind."
She truly hadn't. At some point during her earlier rant, the issue of her undressed state had faded into insignificance, all but forgotten in the face of the greater insecurity that was the wound marring her abdomen. Even when the notion of her near-nakedness resurfaced in her mind once Ruby had calmed her down, Weiss hadn't been too bothered by it... well, not any more than one normally would while having their bare skin touched by a very attractive girl, anyway. She probably wouldn't have said anything, if only the situation hadn't been so— damned— awkward.
"If anything, I'm grateful for what you've said and done."
Ruby's eyes flicked briefly in Weiss' direction. "I did mean what I've said," she stated firmly, as if to make her sentiment clear just in case.
Weiss felt corners of her mouth curling upwards. "I know."
Back when Ruby had been comforting her, Weiss had been afraid that when she'd look up and meet her eyes, she'd see that her words had been nothing but white lies. The prospect had terrified her, threatening to shatter the sorry remains of her self-esteem; after all, if even Ruby Rose had felt compelled to lie, just how bad the situation must've been?
But when she had peered into those silver eyes, they had been as wonderfully sincere and caring as ever. Ruby's gentle prodding had forced Weiss to face one of her demons, but she remained with Weiss every step of the way, not turning away even when Weiss herself had wanted her to. Ruby's embrace had been like a fluffy blanket, and her words like a balm to Weiss' self-doubt.
Weiss remembered vividly the surge of electricity that had caused her body to shiver on the initial contact, and how the hug made her feel warm, safe, appreciated and cared for, all in spite of the dark clouds that swirled within her head. Needless to say, Ruby walking in on her had been a blessing in disguise, as embarrassing as it might have been.
Weiss continued. "My point is, it was me who lacked the forethought to close the door in the first place." Suddenly, a devious little thought appeared in her mind, twisting her smile into an impish smirk. "With that in mind, I can hardly blame you for examining the goods, can I?"
She had no idea where the audacity to say something of the sort had come from, nor how in the world she hadn't self-ignited like a pyre of shame upon uttering those words. Perhaps it was just Yang's bad influence, or maybe the fact that she was merely paying Ruby back in her own coin; regardless, what she'd said certainly did have the intended effect, as Ruby did a double take and then blushed a pretty shade of red that'd go beautifully with her trademark cloak. Embarrassed, Ruby reached for the rim of her hoodie's hood and pulled it over her head, her eyes hidden behind the curtain of her bangs as she quietly munched on a toast as an excuse to avoid talking.
While Weiss wasn't completely impervious to her own teasing, the heat she felt rising to her face did not cause her self-satisfied smirk to waver in the slightest. She enjoyed herself, watching Ruby so flustered — maybe even enjoyed it a little bit too much. That said, seeing Ruby so embarrassed was a rare thing indeed those days, and, besides, it was a payback that was long since due.
Beneath Weiss' amusement, there was also a hint of curiosity. Yes, she knew that Ruby 'had meant what she'd said', but she knew not what the girl had meant when she'd called Weiss 'gorgeous'. Was it the kind of 'gorgeous' that could as well be used to describe a painting or a sunset, purely aesthetic and non-sexual… or did Ruby actually swing that way?
Ruby's sexuality still remained a mystery to everyone, even to Yang; as far as any of them knew, Ruby had never expressed even as little as a passing interest in romance or anything of the sort. Yes, she did playfully flirt with Weiss every now and then, but Weiss didn't really consider it to be indicative of anything — though far less often, Ruby did the same with Jaune, Sun, or even Blake, and Weiss was pretty damn sure that Ruby wouldn't ever dream of stealing her sister's girlfriend.
The way she saw it, it was simply Ruby's way to both compliment and tease her close friends at the same time — a very effective one at that, as playful flirting appeared to be so out-of-character for Ruby that it almost never failed at catching the recipient off-guard; as such, Weiss believed that reading too much into it was of no use. Not that Ruby's orientation changed anything... but she was curious nonetheless.
Standing in one of the empty hallways of the Signal Academy, Weiss was resting her back against a wall while waiting for Ruby to finally leave the staff room. Muffled sounds of a conversation led by three voices — one of which Weiss easily recognized as Ruby's — could be heard from the other side of the door.
At first Weiss had tried to listen, but she had soon given up once she'd realized that it was a private conversation; besides, she could barely make out the words either way. So, instead, she'd begun scanning her surrounding in an effort to pass the time.
While it was her first visit at Signal, she felt far less lost and out of place than she'd initially expected; in many ways, it reminded her of Beacon, with somewhat similar architecture but less grandeur, and Weiss wondered how far did those similarities go.
Although the school was technically out that day — and would be till the end of the next week, as the students had been allowed to spend more time with their families in the wake of the battle of Vale — every now and then a teacher or some other staff member would pass her by on their way in or out of the staff room, running errands.
At some point, Weiss heard a familiar voice speaking to her from down the corridor. "Fancy seeing you here, Weiss. Been missing me so much that you came to visit me at work?"
Lifting her eyes up from the screen of her Scroll, Weiss looked towards the blond Huntsman and smiled at Taiyang. As per his usual, he seemed well and energetic, even at his workplace. Weiss did feel a bit relieved seeing him there — not only was he a familiar face in the foreign land, but it also meant he'd already left the house by the time the whole bathroom... thing, happened. Had he been the one to find her instead of Ruby, Weiss probably wouldn't have been able to look him in the eye for the remainder of her stay.
"Mostly to make use of the school's facilities, but I suppose that also could be a part of the reason," she said jokingly. Then, she noticed the rather bulky stack of papers he held under his armpit, and her gaze lingered on it for half a second. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you all even at work? Teachers are coming and going through here all the time, but isn't Signal supposed to be closed till the end of the next week?"
Taiyang let out a breathy chuckle. "Well, technically yes, but believe me when I say that the teacher's work is never done, even on a good day. And on bad days, like the recent crisis... let's just say that things tend to pile up," he replied, the line of his lips forming a wry smile. His eyes briefly flicked towards the nearby door, then back at Weiss. "Judging by the way you are standing all bored in front of the staff room, I'm guessing that Ruby's inside?"
"Yes."
"How long has she been in there?"
Weiss glanced at her Scroll. "Past ten minutes?"
Taiyang just nodded sagely, scratching the stubble growing along his jawline. After a brief moment of consideration, he looked at Weiss and lifted a single finger, gesturing for her to wait for a second. "Give me a moment."
With that, he walked to the entrance to the office and let himself in, closing the door back as he went inside. Not even half a minute had passed by the time the door opened once again, revealing Ruby, who was waving others goodbye on her way out.
"Bye!"
Before the inside of the room disappeared from her view, Weiss caught a brief glimpse of Ruby's father, who simply winked in their general direction with a smirk.
"Took you a while," Weiss stated dryly once it was just Ruby and her standing in the corridor.
Ruby gave Weiss an apologetic smile and then awkwardly looked away, unwittingly flinging her ponytail over her shoulder and onto her back as she went on to scratch the rear side of her neck. "Heh, yeah, sorry about that. Didn't think I'd run into my old homeroom teacher." Having said that, she lifted her other hand and spun a pair of brass keys around her index finger. "My charm did earn us the keys, though."
Weiss followed Ruby down the unfamiliar corridors of the Signal Academy, similar yet different to the halls she'd known from Beacon. Eventually, Ruby came to a halt in front of some inconspicuous door, identical to many others they'd passed by on their way there, and unlocked them with her keys. She pushed them open and, with a dramatic bow, gestured for Weiss to go inside, causing the duffel bag she was carrying to slip off her shoulder and flop onto the ground; Weiss graciously complied, rewarding her friend's theatrics with a good-natured eye roll.
The Signal rec room wasn't overly spacious, but it had a comfy feel to it. The southern windows provided ample sunlight to those who needed it to study, filling the place with a pleasant glow. Walls were adorned with memories — lined with various paintings, pegboards, old photos and such; there were also a couple of displays that featured various rewards won by Signal students while competing against other Combat Schools, locked behind glass. There were plenty of seats to go around — two couches, cushy-looking chairs surrounding the few tables scattered about the room, and a handful of bean bags sitting over in the corner by the window. Many plants decorated various nooks and crannies of that place, providing the room dominated by browns and beiges with a splash of color. And, finally, standing in the north-eastern corner of the room, there was an old upright piano accompanied by an equally old stool, the faux-leather covering the seat long since cracked with age and use.
Weiss silently approached the aged instrument, then sat at the edge of the stool and touched the closed fallboard, leaving a palm print in the dust that covered the wooden surface. Weiss found that layer of gray slightly worrying and began to wonder when was the last time that piano had undergone maintenance, but ultimately decided to set that thought aside for the time being. She turned on her seat to face Ruby, then smiled at her.
"I think I'll be fine from now on. Thanks"
Ruby, still standing in the doorway, winked at her. "No problem. Catch—" Ruby said, then tossed the keys towards the surprised Weiss.
While caught off-guard, Weiss did manage to intercept the projectile before it bounced off her chest, clasping the keys in both of her hands on instinct.
"The room is all yours. In case someone goes in and they start questioning how the hell did you get in here, just mention my name and say that I arranged it with the staff and they should leave you alone. If you need anything, I'll be in the workshop."
Still clutching the keys between her hands, Weiss shot Ruby a sideways look. "And how do I get there?"
"Right, good point." Ruby pondered on that question for a while, wondering how to describe the right path; with a pensive look on her face, she began weaving her hand through the air in front of her, as if leading it through a labyrinth only she could see. Eventually, she sighed in frustration and seemingly gave up. "I guess it'll be simpler if I just send you directions over to your Scroll. I'll type everything on my way there."
Letting out an amused hum, Weiss rested her forearms against her knees and leaned in towards her friend. "Alright. See you in a couple of hours?"
"Sure. See you." Flashing Weiss one last smile, Ruby left the room... only for her head to pop right back from behind the door frame, as if she had just remembered something. "Break a leg!" she shouted and promptly disappeared behind the closed door — this time for good.
Weiss shook her head, laughing softly under her breath as she turned towards the piano. "I'd rather not; I'm going to need both to press the pedals."
Noticing the lock built into the fallboard, she tried out the keys she had been given, but neither of them seemed to be able to unlock it. For a second, she considered running after Ruby, but the mystery of the lock resolved itself the moment she tried on a whim to turn the key the other way around — it actually budged, revealing that the lock had been open to begin with. Mildly exasperated by her discovery, she lifted the cover and looked at the keyboard lying beneath.
Starting from the left side, she slid her hand over the keys and the piano sang softly in response to her caress... until her fingers reached the middle of the second octave and there appeared a jarring hitch in the piano's melody — a cold emptiness that caused Weiss to freeze. She easily recognized the missing sound and eyed the respective key suspiciously; when pressed, there was no weight behind it, leading her to believe that the hammer must have broken.
Setting her lips in a thin line, Weiss carried on with her inspection, finding two more offenders — one in the same octave, and one more in the seventh. It wasn't that surprising, considering that it was, in a sense, a public piano, but she would lie if she said she wasn't bummed at all.
With a growing sense of trepidation, she played the C major starting from the middle C, then, listening intently to its pitch, pressed A4 a couple times before finally exhaling a breath of relief.
"Well, at least you appear to be still in tune," she murmured.
Had the piano been off-key, it would've posed a serious problem, as Weiss had neither the tools nor the knowledge necessary to tune it; though familiar with the inner workings of the instrument, Weiss, similarly to most other pianists as far as she knew, had no clue how to actually tune it well, having always relied on a professional piano tuner to do it for her.
"What brute did this to you, you poor thing?" she asked the piano quietly, pressing one of the mute keys.
After confirming that all three pedals were in the working order, she pondered on the situation for a while. It didn't seem that bad — though it'd likely make the life a bit harder for her, three broken keys she could work with; she'd just have to alter the melody a bit. In fact, she grew increasingly more excited as she continued to look at the old instrument, welcoming both the challenge and the opportunity to play; after all, those little obstacles and imperfections would only make the song for Blake all the more personal, and that was the whole point.
Weiss tilted back on her stool and turned her eyes towards the ceiling as if in search of inspiration, wondering for a moment what song she could play as a warm-up. Once she made up her mind, she intertwined her fingers in front of her and pulled her shoulder blades together till both her knuckles and her spine let out an audible pop. Then, she set her hands down on the keyboard and, after taking a deep breath, filled the empty room with music.
Weiss was lying on the couch in Ruby's living room, lazily reading the book her friend had recommended her in order to kill time; the novel was her only companion in the empty house, providing her with welcome distraction while she waited for Ruby to return home after Weiss had been told to go ahead without her.
Thanks to the directions Ruby had provided her with — and the help of some nice teacher lady — finding the Signal workshop wasn't that hard of a task. As she approached, even before opening the door, Weiss could hear a fairly loud hissing noise coming from the other side; the moment she crossed the doorstep, her nostrils were assaulted by some heavy, metallic smell.
She found herself in a relatively narrow but long room; the overhead lamps, though hanging on cables a good few feet below the ceiling, were still pretty high up above her head. Various workstations lined both sides of the room — some of them simple workbenches, while the ones further down the room were often geared with various machines Weiss could only guess the purpose of. Each table was separated from its neighbors by walls, with every workspace contained within sort of a cubicle.
Excluding Weiss, there were two other people in the workshop — one older Huntsman, working at a nearby table on some complex clockwork mechanism, and a girl occupying a station a bit deeper into the room; wearing a heavy welding mask that protected her eyes and face from the blaze in front of her, the girl was busy fusing together two pieces of some metal. Despite the protective gear covering her face and the fact that her clothes had been replaced with a somewhat snug jumpsuit, Weiss easily recognized the young woman as Ruby — the height and body shape checked out, and so did the color of the hair tied in a messy bun.
Just as Weiss was wondering how she was going to get her friend's attention over the hiss of the flame, Ruby extinguished her welder and turned towards her, as if she had heard or seen Weiss' approach — how did the noise nor the mask not prevent that, Weiss had no idea.
Ruby lifted up the beaver of her mask, revealing her pretty, grinning face. "'Sup? All done here?"
"Yes." In fact, Weiss had lingered in the rec room long after she'd recorded a satisfactory performance of her song for Blake; not willing to let the rare opportunity for practice to slip right through her fingers, she parted ways with the old piano only after she'd played to her heart's content, biding it a fond farewell. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed playing the piano until the opportunity finally arose, and now that she'd got it out of her system, she felt... oddly refreshed. "How about you?"
Ruby laughed at the question, gesturing with her chin towards the bunch of seemingly random parts spread out neatly across the nearby workbench.
"Ha, I wish. Will probably take me at least two more hours." Her gaze turned distant for a spell. "Tell you what..." she spoke up suddenly; tearing a welding glove off her left hand, she unzipped her jumpsuit and reached into the pocket of the normal pants underneath, pulling out a set of keys and offering them to Weiss, "why don't you go ahead without me?"
Weiss glanced at the keys, then looked at Ruby with uncertainty in her eyes. The prospect of heading home without her felt... odd. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, no point in you waiting around and dying of boredom. I'll come home as soon as I'm finished," Ruby replied, allaying Weiss' apprehension with a disarming little smile.
In the end, Weiss complied with Ruby's suggestion. On her way out, she dropped by the staff room to return the rec room key, where she once again bumped into Taiyang; after chatting for a bit, she left the building and traversed the now-familiar route to Xiao Long-Rose cabin, trying to ignore just how awkward traveling that path by her lonesome felt.
And so there she was, turning a page after a page for the past three or four hours. The book she was reading was entertaining alright, but after the sun had already set and Ruby was still nowhere to be seen, it was becoming increasingly harder to focus on the text in front of her eyes. As such, it should come off as no surprise that as soon as she heard a key slide into the lock, the bored Weiss immediately livened.
"Welcome home, Ruby," she greeted from the couch, the tiny shadow in the corner of her mouth deepening a bit.
Instead of the chipper voice she'd expected, she heard a man's chuckle. Surprised, Weiss sat up and looked over the backrest of the couch towards the door, where she found none other than Taiyang; seeing her bummed expression, the man cracked a wide grin. "Sorry to disappoint you, Weiss, but I'm afraid it's just me." Closing the door behind him, Tai stepped into the room and rubbed his bare, well-toned arms to warm them up. "So, Ruby still hasn't returned, huh?"
Weiss shifted on her seat, folding her legs and tucking them under so as to make herself more comfortable. "You don't seem surprised," she observed.
He quirked his brow, raising the left corner of his mouth. "Why would I? That sounds like Rubes alright," Tai replied, his mild amusement bleeding into his voice. Resting both of his elbows against the backrest of the couch, right next to Weiss, he looked on ahead at the opposite wall with a slightly absentminded expression on his face, as if recalling some old memory. "You should've seen her back when she was building Crescent Rose; I swear, if they didn't close up the workshop for the night, she'd probably just have slept over."
"When do they close up?" Weiss questioned.
"At 7PM. Meaning..." he pulled out his Scroll and flicked it open, "in a bit over half an hour." His blue eyes shifted from the screen of the device and towards Weiss, looking at her curiously. "Why?"
Weiss exhaled a sigh and rubbed her eyelids, putting her book down beside herself. "I'm considering checking up on her. Maybe there's something I could help her with."
"Well, if that's the case, then maybe I could whip up some sandwiches real quick?" Tai suggested. "Ruby's bound to be hungry by now, and I imagine you must be, too."
Weiss gave Taiyang a smile of gratitude. "That'd be great. Thank you."
The workshop was silent when Weiss slipped inside. The overhead lights had been turned off, hiding the ceiling in shadows; while the still-lit desk lamps were doing an excellent job at illuminating their respective workspaces, they didn't do much to combat the semi-darkness pouring into the room.
Inside one of those circles of light, Weiss found Ruby, sitting hunched over a table further down the room; she was the only person in the workshop, the man Weiss had seen before long since gone.
As Weiss approached closer and Ruby's face came into view from behind a division wall, her lips curled into a tiny smile — Ruby was asleep at the desk, her head resting atop a pillow of her crossed arms. Ruby's hair was still done in a cute little bun on the back of her head, likely meant to keep it from getting in the way, and she was still sporting her working jumpsuit.
Weiss just watched Ruby nap for a short while, then gently shook her by her shoulder.
Ruby woke up with a start, frantically looking around until she noticed Weiss; recognition sparked in her eyes, soon followed by understanding and embarrassment. "Oh, hi." Letting out a quiet groan, Ruby rubbed the right side of her face.
"Slept well?" Weiss teased.
Ruby snorted. "Not really, but thanks for asking," she said, popping her neck loud enough for Weiss to cringe.
Glancing at the workbench Ruby had been napping at, Weiss noticed two medium-sized, oblong boxes made of some metal, undecorated save for Blake's emblem; tiny gaps between metal plates suggested that they could move, but Weiss had no idea how.
"So... is it finished?" Weiss questioned, pointing with her nose towards the objects.
"I've still got to paint it, but I can do that at home; other than that, yeah. Just lemme clean up the station real quick and we can go." Having said that, Ruby scooped a few screwdriver tips from her workstation and began putting them back into the box with the rest of the set.
"Do you want me to help with something?" Weiss asked, placing one hand on the table and leaning in over Ruby's shoulder.
"Nah, I've got it; you'd only get dirty."
Deciding not to argue, Weiss pulled up some chair and made herself comfortable while Ruby continued putting everything back in its place. Before long, the girl dusted off her hands and hoisted her newest creation off the table, tucking the boxes under her armpits as she stepped away from the station. She passed Weiss by, gesturing with her head that it was time to go.
Instead of going straight for the exit, Ruby diverged to the right and walked through the door Weiss hadn't noticed before, leading her into a small locker room. She approached one of the cabinets and unlocked it, pulling out her hoodie and duffel bag.
Taking off her boots, she quickly set herself free of her jumpsuit, dumping it into the bag along with her gift for Blake. Having put her shoes back on, she donned her hoodie, then untied her hair only to tie it back again, this time into her usual, low ponytail. Throwing the handle of her bag over her shoulder, she smoothed the wrinkles on her clothes and looked up at Weiss, giving her an easygoing smile.
"Good to go."
Now that the lighting was good and Weiss could finally take a good look at Ruby's face, she noticed a brownish smudge across Ruby's right cheek. Shaking her head amusedly, Weiss stepped closer and reached to her pocket, pulling out a tissue.
"Hold still for a second." Ruby blinked in slight confusion, but complied with Weiss' request nonetheless. Their eyes met after Weiss had gently wiped Ruby's cheek clean, the contact lasting for a second longer than was absolutely necessary. "You've had some grease smeared over your cheek," Weiss explained, crumpling the tissue into a ball and tossing it across the room into the nearby trash bin.
Ruby smiled in appreciation of the gesture. "Oh. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Wrapping her free arm around Weiss' shoulder, Ruby began leading her towards the exit. "So, off we go."
Weiss rolled her eyes, but leaned into that half-hug nonetheless, enjoying the warmth.
While it would likely come as a surprise to anyone who saw her only for the cool and collected exterior she presented to strangers, Weiss was actually very fond of physical contact. Touch was rather peculiar in that it had a way of conveying certain — often incredibly complex — ideas very efficiently. Perhaps it stemmed from the old wisdom of 'show, don't tell', but even a simple hug was a formidable opponent to even the most beautiful phrase expressing affection.
Sometimes words simply failed. Sometimes they weren't necessary. And sometimes it was the touch that felt more natural than speech. Touch was more personal, involving closeness and trust — something Weiss had been so sorely starved for for the most of her teenage years. To embrace someone, to rest one's head on a friend's shoulder, or to accidentally brush the arm of another while walking by their side — it was all so simple and effortless, and yet beautiful and filling one's heart with warmth; a proof that one was not alone. After missing physical contact for so long, Weiss felt blessed having such close friends as the ones she found in Ruby, Blake and Yang — doubly so considering how freely and eagerly the sisters showed their affection.
Though Weiss welcomed physical contact coming from her friends, she seldom initiated it without a good reason, afraid beyond reason of invading their personal space against their wish — most likely a byproduct of her upbringing. That said, she no longer had the same reservations with Ruby, with whom she was comfortable enough not to fear being pushed away.
As they traversed the empty corridors of the Academy on their way out, a rather loud growl came unexpectedly from the area of Ruby's stomach. Weiss eyed her amusedly, feeling a smirk creep onto her face, while Ruby let out an embarrassed chuckle.
"Sorry."
"It's alright. Your dad figured you'd be hungry and prepared us some sandwiches. I have them with me," Weiss said, patting her handbag.
At those words Ruby's jaw slackened in an expression of pure shock and outrage. "And you are mentioning that just now?!"
Laughing, Weiss grabbed her bag and outstretched her arm as far away from Ruby as she could, moving it out of her reach. "First, go and wash your hands."
Ruby and Weiss were sitting by a large fountain under the dark sky, with the massive form of the Signal Academy, incandescent in the light of numerous spotlights, towering over them.
Taking a bite out of her sandwich, Weiss looked at Ruby; the shimmering, soft glow coming from the lamps inside the pool danced across the girl's body in sync with the water rippling in the fountain, making for an oddly captivating sight. After admiring the phenomenon for a spell, Weiss spoke up. "Your old teachers seem to like you. Giving you keys to the rec room despite of you no longer being a student here, chatting you up for ten minutes..." she said, just barely keeping a playful smirk from spilling onto her face.
With her mouth full, Ruby let out an affirmative hum, bobbing her head to the side in a half-nod, half-shrug. "I guess so," she said after she'd swallowed. "Perks of being the kid of a teacher, I suppose."
"Lucky you."
Ruby laughed at that, shaking her head. "No, not really," she disagreed. "When you attend the same school some members of your family teach at, other teachers often end up having, well, expectations. Sure, they might have acted a bit more familiar with me than with most other students outside of classroom, but I still remember to this day the disappointed looks I've got from all of the combat instructors I've had before Qrow. I could see in their eyes what they were thinking—" she turned her face towards the street and glared at some imaginary person, scowling, then spoke in the lowest, most disappointed tone she could muster, "'what the hell, girl; your dad and uncle are some of the best fighters at this school — how can you be this bad at it?!'"
As she was saying that, she kept on accentuating her performance with animate gestures of her free hand, in the end contorting it into an upturned claw of frustration. Hearing Weiss' stifled giggle, Ruby grinned and, satisfied, once again dug into her sandwich.
"You are exaggerating," Weiss objected and nudged her with an elbow, incredulous, her voice colored with mirth.
Ruby's frame trembled with contained laughter. "Yeah, probably, but it really felt that way. And goodness gracious, was I really bad." She shook her head hopelessly, smiling. "Well, anyway, there was that, and also the fact that there's a certain... repute, let's say, coming from being 'the teacher's kid'. Y'see, I was never especially popular at Signal, mostly hanging out with Yang and a small group of friends, but if you went and asked some random student to show you Ruby Rose, there'd be a really good chance they'd be able to recognize me," she explained.
Weiss took the part about Ruby's alleged low popularity with a grain of salt, but simply nodded in understanding while chewing on her food.
Ruby carried on. "It wasn't all that bad; I was never bullied because of it or openly accused of getting preferential treatment, but the pressure was there, believe me."
"Well, on that front I can relate."
"Oh, I dunno; I think you've had it much worse."
Weiss shrugged, then popped the last bit of the snack into her mouth. Having wiped her lips with the piece of paper the sandwich had been packed in, she crumpled the wrap and stuffed it inside her pocket. "Eh, whatever. It doesn't really matter now," she said after swallowing. When she glanced at her partner, she noticed that Ruby had also finished with her food; seeing that, Weiss stood up and dusted herself off. "Let's go home?"
Taking her cue from Weiss, Ruby also rose from her seat. "Let's."
And so the two of them headed out, strolling lazily under the streetlights as they marched home.
Author's Note:
Hi there! I'm back, and only seven hours later than I've been planning to! Yay!
Seriously, Quiet Days should've been an arc, not a chapter. Oh well, I guess that hindsight really is 20/20. As per my custom, the update had turned out waaaaaay longer than I've initially thought, but, oh well. Fingers crossed I didn't bore you to death with certain scenes (coughpianocough). Apologies if I made any silly typos or mistakes; I'm sure that I'll find something to cringe at when I re-read the whole thing tomorrow, but for now I'm off to bed. As usual, I hope that you've enjoyed, and I would love to hear what you think.
January's going to be a bit wild, so I'd expect the next update no sonner than the second half of February.
See you next chapter, and happy new year!