it's been a minute, hasn't it? well here's the next chapter.
When Weiss had shoved her tablet into Blake's hands and ran out of Navigation, she was worried. She may not have known Weiss for very long but she seemed to be a clear-headed type. The, think things through before acting or speaking type. But she was nervous, spacey, and then panicked before she left. And she was fast, almost inhuman fast.
Before she could really think about it she hears a scream. Rushing into the hallway she collides with Yang, and they both stumble back a bit. "Did you hear that?" asks Yang, panic in her voice.
"Yes, but where did it-" Blake is cut off as they hear shouting and crashing coming from her left. "There."
They take off down the hall, hearing more crashing and banging, and then another scream. Yang shouts as they run, "Ruby are you okay?!" They speed through Sheilds, past Communications, and into Storage where they find a mess, "We heard crashing… what... What the hell happened here?"
Crates have been thrown around and some broken, Ruby is standing behind a crate, hands covering her mouth, and horror all over her face. Then she sees the blood. It's all over the floor, the walls, and it's all over Weiss. No, her front is covered in it. It's splattered on her face, staining the suit, and her stomach and hands are dripping in it. Then she sees that body that Weiss is standing over. Or what's left of it anyway. Under the blood, she can barely see the Orange space suit that all Crewmembers wear.
"Weiss?" calls out Blake, her hands shaking. Only now realizing that she had dropped Weiss's tablet somewhere. She vaguely wonders where it is.
Then Weiss mumbles something and runs off. Yang goes to Ruby to comfort her and ask what in the hell happened. Blake just stands there, taking in all the blood and destruction in the room. A shout from Yang snaps her out of her daze. They bring Ruby to the Medbay and Blake quickly checks her vitals. After that she gives Ruby a blanket, tells Yang not to push her too much, then leaves to check the body Weiss had left behind; grabbing a camera on her way out.
On closer examination, Cardin wasn't human. The hole in his stomach wasn't really a hole. It's a mouth with far too many sharp teeth in a circle, like an eel. Blake took pictures. She documented the organs that fell from a nasty wound just above his mouth, she documented his crushed remains of a skull and the head-shaped dent in the deck under it. Snapping as many pictures of the body as she could, she thought about Weiss.
Weiss somehow knew that Cardin was going to attack Ruby. Or at least, that's what Blake assumes Cardin was going to do. She can't see Weiss just doing this at random, she had seemed almost shy in the short time Blake has known her. And Blake is sure that Weiss has a crush on Ruby, so it only makes sense that she would protect Ruby if she could. But Cardin… she's barely seen him since they launched from Remnant. She had never liked him. Something about his smile came off as predatory. She feels no sympathy for him. Who knows, maybe Weiss did them a favor.
Lighty slapping her cheeks, Blake stows her camera away and puts on some medical gloves. Taking some samples of blood, muscle, and bone, Blake rips off her gloves and takes her samples back to the Med Bay for testing.
Walking in Blake glances at Ruby, she's curled up into a ball with the blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Yang isn't in the room. Ruby doesn't say anything as Blake starts to run some tests on the blood samples and stores the rest for testing later. It isn't until Blake is uploading the pictures from her camera that Ruby speaks up.
"She protected me you know," Blake looks away from her screen. Ruby seems so small curled up like that. It reminds Blake that she's the youngest on the ship despite being the Captain. Ruby takes Blake's attention as a signal to continue. "Cardin was going to eat me. He was right there. If, if she hadn't, if she hadn't killed him. I-I I don't think any of us would be alive right now."
"Ruby," Blake tries to cut in, but Ruby just talks right over her.
"She's not a monster Blake! I know Yang thinks she is, but she isn't! She saved my fucking life, Blake!" Ruby sobs, hiccuping and wiping her tears with the blanket. "She's not a bad person!"
There's a rattling sound in the vents but Blake ignores it in favor of comforting Ruby. Hugging her as she breaks down crying. Ruby doesn't speak again until Yang comes back with some hot chocolate. After a few sips, Ruby drops the bomb of what Weiss is. Definitely not human, but a man-eating monster in human skin.
Blake readys the tasers. They couldn't bring any kind of guns on their trip; out of fear of an imposter using them on the crew, but they were issued some very voltage tasers. And if Weiss could take out one of her own kind like it was nothing; then this might be a shoot first and ask questions later type of situation. Maybe Blake was wrong earlier, maybe Weiss was just taking out the competition. It doesn't matter.
Better safe than sorry, as her Dad always said.
Weiss hides in the vents. She feels like a coward. But she doesn't know what else to do. If Yang and Blake haven't already figured out what Weiss is, then they'll know once Ruby tells them what happened. They'll see her as a monster. The second she shows her face either Yang or Blake will shoot her, or throw her into the void of space, or both just to be safe. Weiss has seen the kind of weapons that Earth has made. For all the peace they talk about, they sure do love their art of war.
So Weiss stays in hiding. Moving around the vents as quietly as she can so they don't hear her. Weiss stops when she hears Ruby's voice. She sounds shaky and scared.
"She protected me you know… Cardin was going to eat me. He was right there. If... if she hadn't, if she hadn't killed him. I-I don't think any of us would be alive right now!"
Blake tries to talk to her but Ruby doesn't let her. Weiss feels herself cower at the sound of Blake's monotone voice.
"She's not a monster Blake! I know Yang thinks she is but she isn't! She saved my fucking life, Blake! She's not a bad person!"
Weiss leaves when she hears Ruby's sobs. Her heart can't take it, her chest has been aching since she hid in the vents. Now it feels like she's being stabbed deeper and deeper in time with Ruby's cries. Crawling away as fast as she can Weiss, finds a slightly bigger space that opens up just enough for herself to cruel up. So she does.
Forcing her body as small as she can manage Weiss tucks her knees tightly to her chest and lets herself cry. Grieving for the part of her soul that had dared to love Ruby. And grieving for her heart; which had endured so much, finally break. They would hunt her down. It'll only be a matter of time before they kill her. She has nowhere to go, and logic says it's kill or be killed.
But Weiss doesn't have the will to fight anymore. She's done more than enough killing in her life. She's tired. Tired of the blood that stain her teeth, and tired from crying.
Ruby has been tearing up the ship looking for Weiss, ever since Blake give her the okay. Yang made sure that she carried a stun gun with her alone with a knife that really should be called a dagger. It's been 3 days since the incident, as they've been calling it. 3 days and nothing from Weiss. There have been no sounds from the vents, no sightings of her on any of the cameras, and no food has gone missing. Not even the snacks that Ruby has left out for her. She just disappeared from the ship.
It feels like they've been trying to hunt a ghost.
"Do you think she ejected herself when we were sleeping?" asked Blake, over dinner just staring at her rehydrated meal. She had accidentally put too must water in it so it was extra mushy.
"No. I would have seen her on the cameras, and I've already checked the ship logs," said Yang as she shovels mush into her mouth. "There's been no activity outside of the 3 of us."
"Then she has to be in the vents!" shouts Ruby as she slams her fists on the table, rattling their plates and cups. "We have to find her! She didn't do anything wrong!"
Ruby quickly wipes her eyes before tears can start falling again. Tightening her fists in frustration. They didn't have long to get to know each other, but Ruby had really liked Weiss since the beginning. Ever since she had taken her helmet off Ruby had been smitten. How could she not be? Weiss was beautiful. Hair the color of snow that looked as soft as the clouds she used to watch as a kid. And eyes the same shade of blue as the ocean that surrounds Patch. When they had made eye contact, Rudy had felt her heart skip a beat.
The first time she saw Weiss smile, it felt like the best reward anyone could have asked for. Her smile could have powered the whole ship, just by itself. But despite how much Ruby had liked Weiss, she didn't think that Weiss shared her feelings. Back home Ruby had liked a few girls, but they never went anywhere, and when she went to the Space Academy she just never really had time to look for a relationship. But something about Weiss was different. Guess now the real reason why is obvious. After Weiss made her coffee, Ruby started to think that maybe Weiss liked her back. That maybe she had a chance for something more than just a nice friendship.
"We've checked the vents already," sighed Yang, the constant surveillance has been getting to her. "Maybe just should just smoke her out, like bees."
"That's not a bad idea. But it could damage the air filter and contaminate what oxygen we have," replies Blake.
"Then we just put our helmets on! Use these suits for something like they were designed for!" exclaims Yang. Seeing Blake, flinch Yang takes a breath to calm down. "Sorry… shouldn't have yelled. I'm just getting really tired of constantly checking over my shoulder."
Blake nodded in understanding. Everyone has been on edge and everyone is tired.
"Smoking her out could work," specks up Ruby, picking up her helmet and putting it on with a click. "We fill up our air tanks, and close off any vents that don't lead to the airlock."
"Ruby… are you sure?" asked Blake, concerned.
Ruby's shoulders moved up and down heavily, "We haven't found her. And we won't find her by doing what we've been doing. This," Ruby pauses, her helmet slightly turning away, then turning back. Yang and Blake's faces reflect in the tinted visor. "This might be the only way to find her, and make sure she's ok."
"And if she's not?" asks Yang.
"Then we help her."
Yang stands up so fast that her chair falls over and crashes to the deck. "She's not some kind of stray Ruby. She's a man-eating Ailen that has probably eaten and killed many people before us!"
"You don't know that, Yang!" shouts Ruby, her helmet slightly muffling her voice.
"And you do? We've known her for 2 months! And she barely talked to any of us! We don't know anything about her!" Yelled back, Yang. Leaving what she really wanted to say unsaid. But the message was clear.
You don't know anything about her.
"That's enough!" Blake stands up, her chair screeching against the deck. "We don't know what Weiss has done before we met her. But something about her is different now. Actions speak louder than words, and Weiss saving Ruby from Cardan says a lot about her."
Blake eyes Ruby and Yang for their reactions. Yang's shoulder which had gotten tense, start to relax, and Ruby calmly places her hands on the table, as if she were trying to ground herself.
"We smoke her out," says Ruby, with some strength in her voice. "Close all the vents but one, and get her into the Air-lock. We can figure out what to do from there."
With that, Ruby grabs her place, still with some leftover food on it, and leaves. Leaving Blake and Yang to get the plan ready. The silence is thick and heavy on their shoulders, but Blake shatters it.
"I'll go get the smoke grenades. Yang?" Yang looks away from the table at Blake's question. "I know you're just worried and have some valid reason for why, but I don't think Weiss wants to hurt us."
"I know," sighs Yang, picking up her chair and sitting back down. "If she wanted to, she would have already. But I know that Ruby likes her. Likes her a lot. I just don't want my baby sister's heart to get broken."
"... wait, you two are sisters?"
Blake may have access to everyone's records, but that doesn't show family ties.
also weiss has just been napping the whole time.