*Story Start*
The window in Ruby's room creaked open, allowing Ruby to enter her darkened room.
Carefully and quietly closing the window behind her, she turned on her bedside lamp to reveal Yang sitting on her bed.
She wore a yellow tank top with a flaming heart and black shorts. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a simple braid, which seemed to stand out against her tanned skin.
As Yang stood up to approach her, Ruby could see her sister's scroll blink off.
Heyyy, Yang. What are you doing? Isn't it past your bedtime?" Ruby asked as she tossed her bag over to the corner.
"Rubes. First, that's what I should be asking you. Second, why were you out so late?" Crossing her arms, Yang levelled a motherly glare.
"I just had to grab something from the store; it's fine."
"No it's not, you can't just disappear like that and not let anyone know." This caused Ruby, Ruby and Naruto to stare her down, though Yang could only feel one of them.
"Yang, I say this with love, but stop trying to be mom. You're not her, dads not her, Uncle Qrow isn't her. The only one who could be her, was her. I don't need you to act like her to try and make me feel better-"
"Then what am I supposed to do then? I'm supposed to be the big sister here. We're supposed to be getting into trouble, stressing out our parents with dating, and be as thick as thieves. But I feel like you've been more distant ever since that day." This caused both Ruby and Ruby to recoil, with both of their hands drifting to the left side of their abdomen.
"..."
Neither said a word, not quite knowing how to respond to the situation.
Eventually, Ruby walked over to Yang and sat beside her. Pulling her into a sideways hug.
"Yang, I don't blame you-"
"Don't try that BS with me. I messed up. I almost got us both killed. And for what? Trying to find some deadbeat cow that didn't even want to be here? I have to be the worst sister ever!"
Yang nodded. "Yes, you fucked up. And it was bad." Yang visibly deflated. "But I don't blame you."
"Huh?"
"You were a kid. We still are kids. When mom went missing, dad shut down and Uncle Qrow had no idea how to raise kids. So its understandable that you'd want to try to find that cow. If she was even a quarter the mom that Summer was, then she'd be here and we'd never have this conversation."
"T-thanks. When did you get so mature? I'm the older sister here, right?" Yang asked as she nudged her sister.
"Unfortunately, I grew up quickly. If we had been born in any other universe, we would be sneaking out at night, going to parties, and making mistakes. But we weren't. Our world is filled with monsters that we are training to fight."
"But we don't have to be huntresses. You're a genius, Rubes; I doubt that there are any eggheads from Atlas who can match you."
"Yang...," Ruby stood up and placed her hand on her shoulder. "I'm not a genius, I just try my hardest to be better. But even if I decided to stop. If I decided that I was done being a huntress and worked in the civilian sector, I'd be haunted. People would be getting hurt or worse, dying, and I could've prevented it. If you can help people, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you. I could spend my days toiling away, trying to keep the world safe from behind some screen. But every time I'd see a report of Grimm ravaging some town or tearing apart some family, I'd be forced back to that moment. The one where mom didn't come home. The heartache, the loss, the despair. Knowing that if I had been a huntress, I could've prevented that. That I could have saved someone from the heartache of burying their family."
"But what about me!?" Yang asked as she prodded her chest. "Why do you have to sacrifice yourself? I don't think this family could handle losing another person."
"I know," stopping to wipe the tears from Yangs cheek "But I have to try. Things won't get better if no-one tries. I know that I'm not perfect. But I still have a lot of training to do before I come close to moms level. Even if I become the strongest huntress in history, that doesn't mean that I can't fail. And if I do fall protecting my family, then I'll know that I've lived a good life. But don't worry Yang, I promise that no matter what happens, no matter where I go, you will always be my big sister. And there's nothing that will change that."
Pulling Yang into a hug, she sent a small bit of aura into her arms, squeezing her tightly.
"Look, I'm so sorry that I've been distant. I've just been training because I've had this feeling that I'll need it in the future. But I'll take a break, at least until we head off to Beacon. So anything you want to do, we'll do. If you to go out and crash bars, let's go. If you want to stay inside and grind away at 'Heroes of Remnant' then we can. Whatever you want to do, we will."
"Thanks- wait. We head off? You mean when you head back to Signal and I go to Beacon, right?" Yang asked as she looked at her sister.
"No... I mean we." Walking over to her bag, Ruby pulled out a sealed envelope with the crest of Beacon emblazoned. "This envelope arrived today. I guess someone from Beacon saw me training. So they offered me a seat, and if I want to go then I just need to sign this and send it off." Handing it to her, Yang flickered between several shocked expressions.
"How...why...what? That doesn't make sense! You're Fifteen, Beacons enrolment age is at the lowest seventeen."
"Look, I know this is odd. But I haven't said yes. But I'm thinking of saying yes."
"WHAT!" Yang shot up and stared down her sister, the difference in height meaning that she was staring down at her. Ruby, in return stared back unflinching.
"Yang Xiao Long," placing her hand on her shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze, "Which would rather happen; You go to Beacon, while I stay here for two years. Only being able to see me via a Scroll video, and during the breaks. Or would you rather I go with you? We both get the best training that Vale has to offer. Signals great and all, but it's basically just Uncle Qrow."
Reaching over to grab the envelope, she placed it into Yang's hand.
"Look, I'm not going to make the call. You are. If you want me to come with you, open the envelope then I'll sign it. Otherwise, torch it and I'll send a message to them that I'm not ready. I won't expect you to answer now, just make the choice soon. Now I'm going to rinse off, hope you have a good night Yang." Grabbing a bathrobe off her door and two towels from the linen closet, she closed the bathroom behind her. Leaving Yang holding the Beacon stamped envelope.
Closing the door behind her, Ruby hung the robe and towels up before turning to look at the mirror. Ruby sat on the windowsill while Naruto sat on the lip of the tub.
"Think she'll say yes?"
"Tough to say, but I think Yang would prefer to have us there so she can watch over us. That's why you gave her the choice right Naruto?"
"Exactly, trying to sneak behind Yang and Taiyang back would only make the issue worse. At least by giving Yang the decision, she won't be able to complain about you going."
"Good idea. Now... we just need to shower off the sweat."Ruby stated as they each seemed to wince at the smell.
"Ruby... do you need me to or-" Ruby held up her hand as she removed her dress to reveal the bodysuit underneath.
"I... can do it, I'll just hit the lights." Ruby flicked the switch, replacing the artificial light with the scant amount that poured in through the window.
Allowing the moonlight to blanket her, she undid the cloak and bodysuit to reveal her body, with underwear on.
Taking a deep breath, she slipped her underwear off and caught sight of her reflection in the mirror.
Dozens of scars littered her body, with the majority of them crisscrossing her limbs, obvious hallmarks of training. But the three long scars from her left shoulder, down to her right hip, resembling claw marks stood out the most. Staring at it, she could feel a dull pain radiating from each of the cuts. None more so than the three claw marks as they seemed to burn the longer she stared at them.
"That's enough of that." Ruby found herself throwing her cloak over the mirror, while Naruto and Ruby nudged her towards the shower.
"Let's just get the sweat off and go from there. No reason to stare right?" Naruto looked towards Ruby who nodded.
"Absolutely. Now look, if it starts getting to be too much, just let us know. We'll swap out and go from there, ok?"
Ruby just silently nodded and stepped into the bathtub. Taking a deep breath, she turned on the shower and allowed the chill water to hit her skin and distracting her mind.
Closing her eyes, she lathered up the loofa. Trying her best to ignore the feeling of the loofa rubbing against the scars, she let her instinct guide her hands to wash herself off. With her eyes still shut, she fumbled around to grab the shampoo and conditioner bottles.
Cleaning and conditioning her hair, she rinsed off and wrapped her body up tight in a towel. Now opening her eyes, she climbed out of the tub and clicked on the light to start drying her hair.
"Looks like we're going to need to touch up our hair sooner than we thought." Ruby pointed out as Ruby ran her hand through her hair, revealing blond roots mixed in with her red and black hair.
"Well we're going to have to fix it soon. I wonder what Yang'll say if we went full blonde?"
"Meh I think Naruto pulls it off better than we do."
"Don't sell yourselves short. Red and black compliments your face better than blonde, look." Snapping his fingers, Ruby's and Ruby's hair rapidly changed. Starting from the roots, their red and black hair shifted to a sunny blonde shade.
"We do look good as blondes, but I agree that it's not as good as our red and black mix." Ruby declared as she fluffed her hair.
"Maybe if we grew it out some more? That'll look better?"
Naruto rubbed his chin before nodding, snapping his fingers. With it, all of their hair grew down to their nape. Naruto's resembled a golden blaze, while Ruby's and Ruby's hair resembled a cascade of golden silk.
"Better... but it's more Yangs look." Ruby decided, causing Naruto to snap and a small puff of smoke to surround their heads, returning their original hairstyle.
"Maybe, but I say we'd rock that look if he added a bit more Ruby to it." Nodding sagely, Naruto nudged Ruby's arm so she'd grab her laundry on the way out. With how much they teased Yang about that, it'd be hypocritical of them to do so as well.
With everything gathered up, Ruby put on her robe over the towel, before sliding it out with ease. Carrying her clothes to drop them in her hamper, she saw the light leaking out from under Yangs door. Indicating she was still up, likely still contemplating what was said.
Easily sliding a clean pair of comfy undergarments on underneath her robe, she rummaged through her drawers for pyjamas before a blinking light from the drawer containing her charging scroll drew her attention.
Taking it out, she saw numerous notifications for missed messages from 'N30 Pal'. Opening the app, she saw several requests to join a game of 'Heroes of Remnant', and a string of messages.
-Hey.-
-You up?-
-I'm bored...-
-Hello?-
-Wanna play some Heroes?-
-Hey @Red_Spiral-
-You there?-
-Answer me!!!-
-My pops out and I wanna do stuff.-
-Fine, I'll join a pub game.-
- :( -
Opening up the chat, she decided to fire off a reply.
-Sorry for not responding. I was grabbing some stuff from the store. Do you still want to play tonight?-
-It's fine. Let's play tomorrow. Pops is back so I have to help him with his mess.-
-Alright. Hope you're doing ok. Have a good night N30.-
-You too spirals. TTYL.-
Putting her scroll away, Ruby grabbed her long sleeve wolf heart shirt and her white, rose patterned sweats, she hung up her robe and flopped back on her bed.
"Should we read a book before we go to bed?"
"Today was pretty packed, I'd say straight to bed, right Ruby?
Both turned to look at Ruby, but she was already drifting off to sleep.
"Guess that settles it."
Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think and anything else you might want to add.
See you next time, review, and let me know what you think or would like to see.
*End*