Things are getting spicy!
REAPER IN RED
Chapter 16
Most of the day played out very much like it normally would, had there been four of us present instead of three. I was the first in the bathroom, since I woke up first. I brushed my teeth, took a quick shower -no point when there is no hot water-, then sat on the lid of the toilet and brushed my hair until it was time to flush. Then Blake would have her turn, followed by Yang. Weiss would usually go right after Blake, but with her missing...
My scroll buzzed on my desk. "Huh?" I turned to the noise.
"Hey, Rubes? You think I can thank Weiss when we see her for leaving me some more hot water in the morning, or is that just mean." Yang shouted from inside the shower.
I didn't bother with a response as I flipped over my scroll and read those six amazing words.
Meet me at the docks tonight.
I almost squealed with joy.
"Ruby? Was that you?" Came Yang from the shower again.
And again, I did not squeal with joy.
"A message from Weiss! A message from Weiss! Look Yang, Blake. She sent me a message!" I jammed my scroll into Blake's face, over top her book.
Blake peered up at me, making a face. How could someone have a smirk that expressed just how bored, annoyed and how little she cared? It was... kind of impressive.
"Ruby, I believe you. I don't need to have a scroll placed in front of me to reconfirm that."
"But, Weiss!" I shouted back. This was all too exciting. I had called her too many times. I had sent her so many messages. When I thought it was because it was me messaging her, I used Blake's and Yang's. I even used Jaune's! If anyone could get a reaction out of the ice princess, it was Jaune!
That meant they were in love right? Yang told me about the sacred female tradition of 'playing hard to get'.
"So, when are we going to grab her? Dibs on beating her up first for worrying us!" Yang said while drying her hair with an extra towel. I frowned.
"No Yang. As her partner, I get first dibs!" I grinned playfully. It was Weiss! We were going to get her back and all would be normal again. "Oh, we're going to meet her at the docks tonight. That's what her message told me."
It took us all of five minutes to decide that there was no way we were going to wait around for tonight. Classes be damned. If Weiss of all people was fine skipping a day of classes for this, then we would too. I wondered, what sort of detention I would get this time? But on the other hand, Oobleck was giving the first lecture of the day and I still could only understand every third word he said.
Packing up all of our gear and weapons, we found the first ship to Vale. Of course, the ship was heading towards the tourist district; not the closest of places to the docks, but at least we would be out of Beacon and away from the prying eyes -and punishing lips- of our professors. The area itself was bustling. Lots of people of every shape and size were walking the streets and into the many, many shops and restaurants and, was that a bakery we just passed? No, no Ruby. Weiss first, cookies second.
In my daze of cookie-filled dreams and ideas, I bumped into someone. Taking a look at who I ran into, I could only gasp in surprise when i saw that familiar red hair and green eyes. "Penny!"
Her head tilted. "Salutation, friend Ruby Rose."
"Hey look, it's Penny," Yang fake cheered, rubbing her neck sheepishly.
Penny's eyes darted to the blonde, "are you... looking for... your... friend?"
"Uh, ya. Yup. Still looking for her. We're actually heading to the do-cks." Yang coughed when Blake elbowed her in the ribs.
"Docks. Penny shall accompany you? To the docks. Friend Ruby. Blake. Yang. Many many people at the docks." Penny smiled. "Many many bad people," her smile widened. "I am combat ready!"
"Sure..." Yang exhaled.
We slowly set off once more, now with... Penny in tow. Something was off about her. She definitely didn't act like a normal human. But what else could she be? And why was her hand covered in blood that night? I slowed my pace, allowing Yang and Blake to take the lead, while I walked in-step with our new friend. i gave her a sidelong glance. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a normal smile and a skip in her step. She even hummed a tune. Then I remembered what Yang had said yesterday and I stared at her eyes.
Not a single blink.
"Hey Penny?" I began.
"Yes friend Ruby?" she responded merrily.
"Are you alright? You had blood yesterday when you visited Beacon..."
"I am alright. Alright indeed! Nothing happened yesterday," she giggled amidst a hiccup. "I am feeling a lot better, because I am combat ready!"
"Is that good?"
"It is superb!"
I didn't know what else to say. It was strange to say the least. And still, she continued along with us, letting Blake and Yang lead the way without a care in the world.
"What were you doing at Beacon?"
"Penny wishes to compete in the Vytal tournament." Penny responded immediately, still smiling.
"You seem different than last time I bumped into you... sorry about that again."
"I am no longer hungry! All things require sustenance. Sustenance is food! And food is meat and meat is best when fresh!"
I could only nod at that. Meat was sooo good! Our conversation slowed down after that, my focus and thoughts once more returning to my long lost partner. I was still just so happy she got in touch with me. I thought I had lost her for good. I would never have a chance to see her again and apologize and say it was all my fault and that I shouldn't have yelled at her or called her a monster, because who was I to judge that and -enough me. I was rambling in my own thoughts.
We walked for I don't know how long, but long enough for Yang to start complaining about how bored she was and for Blake to even suggest stopping to grab a tea. It didn't take us much longer to find a small coffee shop to sit down at. It was still mostly warm outside -the weather apparently would only get colder at night, not that I would know- so we sat in the patio at a small table with four chairs. We weren't the only ones outside though. No, there was another group of women, maybe in their 3800's... no, umm... I don't know how to gauge human ages. Middle aged? Late middle-aged? They had wrinkles and greying hair.
And there was a young couple about Yang's age. The boy's tail swished as he spoke with his girlfriend, who took a sip from her cup and ran a hand through her long white hair. Wait, white hair?
"Weiss!" I shouted, knocking my chair backwards and racing over to hug the girl.
"Get off of me you dolt!" She admonished, though returned the hug.
"This must be the famous Ruby Rose. Sup," came the grinning faunus boy seated across from her.
"I can't believe you didn't notice me when you came and sat down." Weiss huffed, "it has not been near long enough to forget who I am."
"I don't think anyone could forget who you are ice princess," Yang laughed, walking over to us.
"Hey!"
This was so amazing! We found Weiss! Weiss was here and she was safe and sound. She looked healthy, no cuts or scrapes or bruises of any kind. But the faunus! It was the rapscallion that Weiss wanted to follow.
"You're the rapscallion!" I shouted, pointing at the monkey faunus, who could only chuckle.
"It seems like my fame precedes me."
"Ruby, Yang, Blake... fourth girl whose name alludes me, this is Sun Wukong, student from Haven Academy."
"Hey, heard lots about you all. Nice to finally put some faces to names."
"You're... talking to a faunus?" Blake could ask, clearly in some sort of shock.
"I don't see why not. Talking with him has been truly informative." Weiss replied, sipping her coffee.
"No, nu-uh. You don't get to run off for three fu- flipping days and play it off like it was no problem." Yang glared at Weiss, her eyes flickering red. "Do you know how worried sick we all were? We spent every single day searching for you. I don't think Ruby slept at all since you left. I know I barely did. Every time I woke up, I could hear her outside, pacing the hall. And now you're just sitting there like it's nothing? No calls, no texts, just silence. We all thought you were hurt! Or worse!"
Weiss shrunk into her seat, not allowing herself to look into Yang's eyes. I know I was worried sick, but I still couldn't shake the fact that Yang had woken up multiple times throughout the night and I didn't even notice it. Did she see me? No, she would have said something... Back to Weiss. I gave her another hug. "We were all so scared. You don't know how happy I was to get your message. We all couldn't wait until tonight. We had to see you sooner than that. Just to make sure you were safe."
"Really? All of you? Even you?" Weiss looked shocked, as her gaze swept through the three of us.
"Especially me," I said with a firm nod. "I am so so so so sorry about what I said to you. It was mean and rude and I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore-"
"Ruby, I needed to hear that. I-I deserved everything you said to me. I was wrong. I knew my family operated in a legal and moral grey zone and yet I was still trying to take the high road. I want to apologize to you for that. And to you as well, Blake. I know how much you support faunus rights and yet I still coaxed you and berated you for your justifiable opinions. After talking with Sun these passed few days, I know better now just how wrong I was -I am-. Can you forgive me?"
Blake stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Of course."
I raised an eyebrow when Blake looked my way. She flinched. "I-I guess I have something to apologize for as well."
Looking around, she sucked in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. "I have something I should have told all of you much earlier. But, I wanted all of you to get to know me for me, before politics or... anything else came into play. I'm a faunus."
"What?!" Yang shouted before I had a chance to shush her. "Rubes, you knew?"
I nodded, "I found out a little while ago. Though, I guess it sorta just slipped out."
"I promise when we get back to Beacon I will tell you everything about me and why I guess I went a little overboard when you mentioned the White Fang. But for now, that's me. I'm a faunus."
Blake wiggled her ears underneath her bow. I giggled at the sight.
"It's my fault too. I also became a little too heated during that discussion," Weiss replied. "I have some history with the White Fang that is incredibly hard to shake, but I will tell all of you that when we return to Beacon, as well. But not today. We have something important to do. Since you all arrived early, I guess we should share with you all what we found out."
"Sun here discovered that the White Fang are planning to purchase dust and weapons from an unknown supplier. I didn't want to return to Beacon or to you without showing, in some small way that I don't hate faunus. I... was raised with incredibly biased views against them thanks to my father, but I truly don't hate them. I wanted to show all of you that I could differentiate between the faunus and the White Fang and I saw this as my opportunity to do so. But, then we found out just how big the area was, that the sale was happening at, and I knew we would need support. That was why I messaged you before and not after the event." Her head fell.
"I'm just glad you are safe." I smiled down at her. Once more, I gave her a hug. It was then joined by Yang, and then Blake. Team RWBY was back together and we were gonna kick some major butt.
More of a build-up chapter than anything else. A needed one of course, but still not as interesting as I would have liked.
dragonqueen1993 - Glad you found it interesting
lasereye27 - I really enjoyed writing for Weiss. Will definitely need to do that again in the future.
FN75 - Spoilers. ;)
Sonochu - Thank you for the review. The story will indeed change from standard RWBY canon and will begin changing a lot more and a lot faster very soon. But, I still wanted to lay the groundwork of the world, as well as some minor changes to the characters before things started going crazy. Some things will inevitably remain the same, but this story has a clear ending in mind. As for your suggestions for endings, I cannot say anything about what I have planned, but know that the ending had been thought out long before the first chapter was posted.
Alucard45 - All I can say is a promise that Penny is not a bot. You will either love her or hate her. Stay tuned!