Ruby couldn't stop tracing Weiss's emblem with her finger, a dreamy smile on her face. Weiss thought it was the longest her girlfriend, no her fiancé, had ever been quiet since she had met her. Weiss had always envisioned the one getting proposed to. It would be in the most romantic setting, with the sun just touching the horizon. It would be perfect.1073Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfT3h9OSqio
Instead she had been the one doing the proposing. The location was, of all places, a hospital room. The sun was up and the skies overcast with people bundling up in preparation of the rain coming in.
On her emotional high she couldn't have thought of a better way to have done it. She sat with her back towards Ruby, so that it was easier for her. She couldn't help thinking feeling Ruby's finger on her back was the most intimate thing she had felt in her life. Not sexually, but as if they were bonding on an even deeper level. It was as if their emotions became one where the finger touched. She bent her head to enjoy it, unwilling to think of anything else.
Someone clearing his throat at the door made her jump back to reality. She never even heard him coming. That spoke volumes on how deep she had gone into hypnotic euphoria when you considering the throat belonged to Jaune. "How long have you been there?" Weiss asked waspishly, annoyed at the interruption. Behind him she could see Pyrrha looking over Jaune's shoulder.
"About twenty minutes. Wouldn't have interrupted but we have things to do, and we can't wait a week until you're done to congratulate you two."
"You- you- you jerk!" Weiss yelled. "You did look!"
"Well, I couldn't really stop myself," he said sheepishly. "You were acting all mysterious and stuff."
The euphoria was definitely gone now as she went to claw out his throat. She was stopped by a single hand on her shoulder. "It's okay Weiss. He didn't ruin the surprise."
"But I wanted you to be the first to know..," Weiss said, a bit dejected.
"Then think of it this way," Ruby soothed. "I was the first one to know because until I said yes there was nothing to know."
She gave Jaune a deadly glare, "Not good enough. You will pay." Jaune visibly swallowed. Weiss looked over at Pyrrha. "Don't worry, he'll live through it."
Pyrrha smiled her understanding. "If you think you can surprise him," she said proudly. The proud tone of her voice made it clear she didn't think that was possible. "He's all yours."
Weiss approached Jaune with menace; stopping close enough to hit him in the center of his armored chest with a finger. "I am not going to surprise you. You will know it is coming, and you will not be able to escape it. I want to see the fear in your eyes," she said, hitting him in the chest with each point. "So, how many have you told?"
"Uh..."
Of course. "You told all of them, didn't you?"
"No, not all of them," the dead-man temporized, trying to not dig his grave any farther.
It wasn't going to work. "Yang isn't answering her scroll still, is she?"
The walking corpse wilted knowing he'd be lucky if his grave was only six feet. "No, not right now."
The anger in her voice was unmistakable. "So you've told everyone except Yang."
"Pretty much yeah," Jaune acknowledged, getting ready to lie in the grave he had dug.
Weiss looked at Pyrrha again. "He'll probably be a bit singed, or frost bit. I haven't decided yet."
Behind her Weiss heard Ruby snickering through her hands. "I was having a perfectly wonderful bonding moment and now the mood's ruined." She turned onto Ruby. "Stop encouraging him!" Ruby couldn't hold it in, rolling backwards onto her back laughing harder and harder. "You're all hopeless!"
"Please stop... Can't breathe... Laughing too hard..," Ruby gasped.
"Serves you right," She looked at Pyrrha who she considered the only sane person in the room at this point. "So why aren't the others here then?"
"We drew straws," she said in a cheerful voice as if Weiss didn't look halfway to a blind age. Weiss wasn't, and everyone knew it.
None the less Weiss was going to hold onto the pretense. "Great. So who's next?"
"Nora," Pyrrha replied. Weiss had mixed feelings about Nora at this point. Yes, it had worked out for the best, but still she had nearly gotten Ruby to herself. No, she had gotten Ruby to herself for almost five months. That was still a point of jealousy that she dearly would love to express... violently. Yet Nora was a friend. Inside Weiss knew that without her Ruby wouldn't have ever been comfortable to act on her feelings, and then none of this would have happened.
Because of these mixed emotions, above everything else, Weiss had made sure the two of them were never alone together. Weiss didn't trust herself.
"Anyways, we'll let you two have some more time alone before we send Nora in," Pyrrha continued. She had completely missing the emotional roller coaster Weiss's face had displayed right in front of her. She may be a good and loyal friend, and she was more socially experienced than her 'stuck on a pedestal' days, but she still had little hang-ups. One was not fully grasping body language and facial expressions. The rapid display of emotions Weiss had shown was like speaking a native tongue rapidly to someone who only knew it as a second language. It was kind of odd when you realize that Pyrrha's emotions were as easy to identify as her Emblem. "I'm sorry we interrupted."
"Yeah, congratulations," Jaune said nervously, and then left as if he was pardoned from a hanging. That was close to accurate actually.
She waited till the two were gone before turning around to face Ruby again. She needed that time to get those emotions out of her eyes. Weiss pasted a bright smile to show Ruby how much she loved her.
"Nope, that's not you," Ruby said instantly. "What are you hiding?"
Damn it, there were times that Weiss really wished her lover didn't know her so well. None of her masks worked anymore. Normally it was oddly liberating. Her masks were so much a part of her she didn't know how to drop them. Having someone see behind them regardless meant she didn't have to try. Then there were times like this, when she wished to avoid a subject. She tried one more time anyways. "It's not anything important."
"Are you still jealous about Nora?" Well, so much for that smokescreen. Weiss couldn't stop her eyes from going down, caught and unable to escape telling the truth. Not when it had already been said. "I thought so. I saw it as soon as Nora's name was mentioned."
Weiss was clearly upset at herself. "This kind of reaction is beneath me. It would be like you being jealous of Neptune or Rice. It was before there was an 'us.'"
Ruby shook her head as if Weiss was being even sillier than she thought she was being. "I am jealous. How couldn't I be? All that time I wasted when I could have been dating you, holding you, and loving you, lost to someone else."
For once Ruby's aim wasn't quite on the mark. "Exactly, but it's more than that. You were my first with another woman. Nora stole that opportunity from me to be the same for you."
Ruby smiled in that special way of hers. "Now that's silly. Boy or girl doesn't matter. You have more experience than me."
"Right, that's why I was a puddle after you finished with me the first time," Weiss replied sounding peeved.
Ignoring the tone Ruby had to acknowledge Weiss was right. "Okay, I guess I may have had a bit more experience. You weren't exactly bad yourself though."
"Are we remembering the same day?" Weiss asked in exasperation. "You took over and made me beg. Me. I have never begged. I have never let anyone take control over me. Ask Neptune. I have always been dominant. You overwhelmed me on every level." She'd never even guessed herself how much losing control would excite her. Ruby had, but how Weiss couldn't even guess. And Ruby had only gotten better at it since.
"It was the first time my heart was in it as well as my body. Up until then I had never experienced that." Ruby cracked a smile. "It's part of why I was so aggressive. I just had to show you how much I wanted you, how long I've wanted you, all at once."
If she hadn't been so frustrated at that moment she might have laughed. 'Aggressive' was one heck of an understatement.
"Dolt," Weiss said. "Leave it to you to succeed so well that it's almost a complete failure."
Nora prepared herself. Yang had referred to her as the Relationship Whisperer after she had helped her with Sun and Neptune. She really hoped she was going to live up to that title today. She had purposely waited until Ruby had been discharged and gotten to their room. Blake was keeping her distance as Nora had asked. They would be at their most comfortable and relaxed. She knew Ruby well enough to know she wouldn't fly off the handle, but she thought Weiss would take it as an attack, especially coming from her. She needed them both to be receptive.
Her normal way of talking would also lead to Weiss being on the defensive even if she was used to it. She had to take it slow and low. This was going to be irritating.
"Wish me luck," she said to Jaune and Pyrrha. She had to give this speech to them three years ago when they looked to be making the same mistake. It was the first time she had truly 'meddled' in someone else's life. It hadn't been her place, and she knew it. She could also see they had no idea what was coming. She acted then feeling guilty. Now, it was just part of who she was.
Walking across the hallway to the opposite door she knocked.
"Come on in Nora," Ruby said sounding cheerful. Having Jaune warn them she was coming had been a good move she decided.
One last calming breath and she opened the door. "Hi lovebirds!" she said with her usual cheerfulness that belied the serous thoughts hidden within. She automatically took in the scene. Ruby and Weiss were on their bottom bunk. Weiss was behind holding Ruby possessively. Weiss's arm tightened almost imperceptibly around Ruby as soon as she saw Nora. It had been the same with Jaune and Pyrrha. It was exactly what she had expected. There was more below the surface too. Stuff neither of them wanted to see.
Nora fully believed they were made for each other. She didn't think they did, no matter what they were saying to each other and to themselves.
"So I hear congratulations are in order?" she asked, still keeping the cheerful demeanor. Ruby snuggled in closer to Weiss with a contented smile. Nora decided her concern may go both ways. She'll have to figure that out. Weiss wasn't throwing daggers at her, but it was a near thing. Every inch of her said 'she's mine, so back off!'
She waited for some form of verbal confirmation from one of them. After a minute she knew it wasn't coming. "You know normally I don't mind being the one holding up the conversation, but this is getting kinda creepy."
At last a response came from Ruby. "Sorry, I'm just so happy right now. I'm going to be hers, and she's going to be mine. Could anything be more wonderful?"
Yeah, it was just as bad as she had feared, maybe worse. The potential mine field before her was intimidating, but if there was an explosion it was better if it was at her than at each other. "Probably not," she agreed. When in a minefield you might as well dance. "At least for now."
Weiss looked like she'd just been slapped, and Ruby looked confused. "For now?" Ruby asked.
"Of course. You two are made for each other. I knew that before you and I were going at it," Nora said cheerfully to Ruby. If that didn't get the reaction she was afraid of nothing would. Neither of them disappointed her. Weiss nearly went through Ruby to get at Nora; while Ruby fell off the bed and onto the floor nearly in tears. Nora didn't doubt she was contemplating how horrible of a person she was.
It's a good thing that people were so stupid when in a rage. Nora easily side-stepped Weiss's attack. "Whoa, did I say something wrong?" she asked, feigning confusion.
"How dare you!" Weiss spit.
"How dare I what? It's not like you didn't know, unless you were blind when you walked in on us. Why should I talk around it like it didn't happen?" Nora asked conversationally. A certain level of possessiveness was to be expected, especially for a new couple. That was the problem though; they were still a new couple. The insecurities that come with it hadn't been worked past, and they both had more reasons to be than most.
Weiss may look like she was back to her old self, but she had to still feel the lack of her family's name and prestige. It had been too much of who she was for too long. Without that she would doubt anyone would want her even if she didn't say anything. Ruby had it better, but there was a ton of guilt on her shoulders and Nora accepted her part in that.
Nora dodged another clumsy attack while Ruby actually started to cry. She had brought the problems to the surface, which had been ridiculously easy. "Weiss, rather than trying to kill me, perhaps you might want to take care of the woman you love?" Nora said helpfully. "She doesn't look so good."
That broke through the rage making her instantly be at Ruby's side to hug her close. "Ruby, what's wrong?" she asked, her voice filled with the emotion she claimed to never show.
Now to turn it around before she made her point. "You know Weiss, if this relationship of yours is this upsetting already, maybe you should move on?"
"No!" Ruby screamed instantly, her tears forgotten. She wrapped her arms around Weiss and pulled her in even closer than Weiss had tried. It looked almost like she was trying to merge with her.
Nora stepped back, watching it play out in front of her as she leaned on the other bunk bed. "If it's that easy to bring out your insecurities you two need to sit down and have a long serious talk," Nora pointed out. She looked at Weiss. "I expected you to be jealous; I didn't think you would actually try to physically hurt me with a single sentence." She shifted her gaze to Ruby. "And you, of all people, should know Weiss's heart well enough to know that the thought of leaving you is physically impossible for her. If you two haven't gotten past that, it looks to me like this engagement is more out of fear than out of love."
Both tried to deny it, neither sounded convincing. "All I'm saying is talk about it. It's between you two. I bring it up only because I want to see this come out right rather than another three years of denial and pain."
There was one last thing that Nora wanted to say. She knew Ruby needed to hear it and she believed Weiss did too. "Ruby, I know I was just a placeholder for Weiss. I could tell when you were thinking of her when we were together. It was better then. I don't hold it against you, and I forgave you as soon as I knew what you were doing." With any luck that would not only ease Ruby's guilt towards her, but it might reduce Weiss's jealousy. It wasn't just her Ruby needed to hear it from. "Weiss, you need to do the same thing for her. I understand if you can never forgive me, but save her this pain."
A pounding on the door interrupted the conversation. Nora was satisfied. The wounds would continue to bleed, but at least it was on the surface now, where it could heal properly and be stronger for it.
"Ruby, it's your sister! She's getting flown in!" Jaune said, pounding on the door a few more times. "I don't know how bad it is, but the rescue ship is asking for emergency personal to be waiting for them at the airfield. They'll be here..."
Nora doubted Ruby heard anything beyond that as she burst through the door, turning and running down the hall. "In about five minutes," Jaune finished unnecessarily.
Weiss was making her best attempt to follow in her fiancé's wake, but no one kept up with Ruby when she wanted to move. Nora did the same with Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren in tow.
Ruby looked down at Neptune's body. He looked dead. If the doctors hadn't insisted he would live she wouldn't have believed it. This wasn't her first brush with the cost they paid for their job. She had seen classmates being badly hurt, or even killed, but none of her friends. She had always been spared that until now.
She had checked on her sister first, of course, but she was unconscious from anesthetic.
Sun was conscious. He had gotten outfitted with a back brace, and then told them what had happened; all that he knew at least. It wasn't much. Hopefully when Yang woke they could get the full story.
"He's in a coma. It's stable and he'll come out of it but it's anyone's guess when," she'd been told. Comas were one of the worse possibilities for a Huntsman. While unconscious they couldn't apply their aura to heal themselves. Worse, their aura itself seemed to dim, as if their souls weren't completely there.
When he woke up Neptune would have a new reality to face. His once perfect image of cool was going to suffer a hit with the number of scars he was going to have. His nose alone would never look right from the multiple breaks. The right side of his face had up and down scratches that hit bone and part of his right ear was gone. He was going to need dental work as half the teeth on that side of his face were no longer there, and a large patch of hair was gone. For most Huntsmen the damage would be badges of honor. They'd go to bars and give some absurd statement about how if they thought that was bad they should have seen the other guy. Most huntsmen weren't as vein as Neptune.
Injury-wise he was an even bigger mess: broken bones pretty much everywhere, a hairline fracture on his skull, and several internal injuries. His surgeries had come first before Yang's, because they were the most life threatening. Yang had been kept unconscious the entire time though.
As Ruby understood it both Sage and Scarlett were already on their way to Vale. Like many teams after graduation Neptune's had gone on different paths. Also like most teams it took only a single word to come back together when they were needed.
"Ruby, Yang is out of surgery," A nurse said. She nodded her understanding and walked away from Neptune. Her sister was going to need her most right now, and it's where she wanted to be.
She looked at the members of JNPR. "Keep an eye on him for me, will you?"
"You didn't need to ask. Go." Jaune replied for all of them.
Both Weiss and Blake followed her without comment.
They sat silently watching Yang's motionless body for a half hour. She didn't look so bad if you ignored the bandages around her eyes. The doctors all agreed that she would regain sight. They had to admit that the surgery had turned out to be largely unneeded. The slice was quite literally perfect. Whether design or by accident was anyone's guess. Once she was conscious her Aura would fix the damage in a matter of hours. It should have healed before they even came to extract her in fact. Small traces of metal had been in the eye that had continued to irritate the wounds. That might have hindered the healing, but that shouldn't have been enough. The healing was progressing though.
Yang's head moved slightly and Ruby was instantly beside the bed. The blonde head moved again, and then the panic started. "No," Yang wailed repeatedly, stabbing at Ruby's heart with each one. She had to physically hold her sister down as she tried to get up. It was unbelievable. Yang was the strong one.
Weiss placed a comforting hand on her shoulder; which kept Ruby from feeding off of her sister's emotions. She smiled her thanks, and then started answering Yang's questions. She looked around several times. The rest of her team and Headmaster Ozpin watched, letting her take the lead. They all looked grim, even Ozpin who never seemed to look anything but calm bordering on bored.
Her sister's first questions were for Sun and Neptune, which was unsurprising to Ruby. She didn't understand it, but the three seemed to be getting along a bit better than was "normal," but who was she to judge?
It fell on Ruby to tell her, and she did it as gently as she could. Yang's question was pitched in a way that sounded like she expected to find out one or both were dead. From what Ruby had seen of both she wasn't surprised. The relief in Yang's posture was unmistakable.
Then on to the good news, letting Yang know that her eyes would recover.
Yang started to talk nonsense about how she'd been played and used, and defeated. This was not the Yang she grew up with. The longer she looked the angrier she became. Whoever had done this was going to pay.
Then came the story on what had been done. The methods were too close to be a coincidence. It was the same person who had gone after her and Weiss. Who was this and why were they after them? There was an echoing anger in Yang's voice, and in the faces of her friends. This had just become personal for all of them. It was no longer a random attack and Ruby and Weiss had been the ones unlucky enough to be chosen. Now it was someone specifically taunting them.
When Ozpin was done with his questions he left and Ruby couldn't wait to see that door close.
Ruby started with what she knew everyone had to be thinking. "Whoever it is wants RWBY." She looked over her teammates to see if there was anyone who thought otherwise. No one even flinched. For finality she ticked off the two attacks then looked right at Blake. "You're next."
Blake looked around. She obviously wanted to agree, but if she voiced it she was afraid that she'd be kept away from town. With all the work she's put into Phoenix, and the fragile state it's in right now, Ruby knew it would take a lot to make her stop. Yang stayed uncharacteristically quiet, and Weiss simply waited like a wall of ice. "I agree, however I have to return to town regularly. Phoenix needs my presence."
Knowing it and hearing it were two different things. "And we need you alive!" She regretted the outburst almost before she started to say it.
They stared each other down, both determined in their own ways. Ruby would not see another of her team taken down, and Blake wouldn't let fear interfere with her responsibilities. Finally Blake broke the silence. "There are things bigger than us," she said adding the strength of her convictions behind each word. "The success of Phoenix is more important than anything else has in my life. Even RWBY. Even myself!"
Ruby looked around, trying to find support from any of the rest of her team. What she got instead was an unexpected voice standing with Blake. "We'll help you then." Weiss's voice was soft, quiet. She had to know this was eating at Ruby. Hiding her feelings wasn't Ruby's strong point. "I promised you that I would do all I could to end the prejudice against faunus. I may not be a Schnee, but I don't go back on my word."
Blake looked at Weiss with thanks. "That proves you're better than a Schnee," she said. It didn't sound like a compliment to Weiss, but as an insult to her bloodline. Ruby expected to see something in her lover's eyes: anger, shame, at least a bit of unease. Nothing. She just accepted that her family was not liked and had earned it. In other words she accepted reality.
Taking one last look at Yang who still had a feel of defeat about her, she made her decision. They were all in now. Yang's body language showed some of her confidence return as Ruby worked herself up to a lather; ready to beat someone to within an inch of their lives. Then with a round of Yes's, (She'd asked for aye, the jerks), Yang finally joined the conversation. "Fuck yes!"1073Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMxRjvv0Sh
