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rwbyremnants · 5 years

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=Chapter 36

Weiss had no idea how long had passed when she finally pushed up from beneath the rubble. Arms slid out from around her as she fought to wrench what felt like half of a table off of herself and shoved it to the side. She'd have a dozen bruises in various places, and some might get rather purple, but she had survived. They both had.

Or had they? Panicking, she turned to Yang and finished knocking water bottles and camera equipment off of her, then shook her by the shoulder.

"Yang?! Yang, wake up!"

Something was different about her voice; it was muffled. No, everything was muffled - and there was a persistent ringing that she hadn't quite noticed amid all the confusion. The more she thought about it, that was the only thing she could hear outside of her own heartbeat.

She was deaf. The minute she had felt cocky enough to think she had escaped relatively unharmed, she had lost all hearing. The end of her career as a singer. But she had to ignore that; there was only Yang, only making sure she was okay.

There was no response from her bruiser bodyguard. The bodyguard who had literally thrown herself back into the job and completed her mission with flying colours. She may have shielded Weiss from the impact, but she didn't get away completely unscathed. There was a gash on her head from where she had been hit, and her right arm appeared to have been struck badly also from the angle it was at.

In the distance, there was a faint muffled set of sirens, seeming to be heading this way. But Weiss wouldn't wait that long while Yang was out cold.

"Come on," she blubbered numbly, still bothered by how the ringing seemed to nearly blot out everything. Her hand passed over Yang's throat, and could feel a pulse; remembering something she'd seen on TV, she put a finger under Yang's nose and felt breath. She was alive; just knocked out, maybe. Relief flooded through her, and she took one precious moment to collapse on top of her bodyguard, letting out a single string of sobs.

"I'm so glad… I don't know… what I…"

Then the pop star was up, trying to tug Yang away from the floor. The girl was taller and heavy with muscle, so her work was really cut out for her, but she eventually managed to get the arm that looked like it could handle the abuse — the left one — slung over her shoulders. Her hand came up to clench hard on the wrist in a way that she could hold it for as long as she needed to, and her other arm slid around Yang's muscular waist. Then, little by little, she began to trudge toward the nearest exit.

"You can make it," she kept muttering, putting one shaking step in front of the other. Her damn platform heels… but there were rocks and broken glass everywhere now. Taking them off would cut her feet to ribbons; all she could do was remember how Winter had taught her to walk in them so many years ago. "You… we can do this. We'll make it, Yang - don't give out on me!"

Outside, the sirens seemed to get louder and louder as more emergency services were summoned to the scene. Ambulances, police cars, fire trucks; everything was gathered outside. Not to mention as Weiss pulled Yang out of the exit into the light of day instead, a huge crowd had also gathered. They were behind railings that had been set up, but it still meant the world was watching.

A few of the security staff could be heard muffledly yelling, along with a vaguely familiar voice. Many familiar voices.

"Hey, you can't be here!"

"Like hell we can't, that's my sister!"

"Yang?! Yang wake up!"

"Weiss… Oh, thank god you're okay."

The blue eyes of the poor diva flicked between all the faces, the blinking lights and popping flashbulbs, and she felt completely overwhelmed not being able to hear anyone properly; she knew people were trying to talk to her, but couldn't sort them out. All she saw was Yang being taken away, and she tried to jump after those stealing her, that wasn't okay, they had to be-

"WEISS!" a voice snapped, and she could finally focus on it, even if it was too quiet for the tone of voice. "Weiss, they're g-gonna take care of Yang, but you have to let them!"

"Wha…?" Finally, she saw Ruby's small face behind her glasses, and blinked down at her. "Oh…"

Sure enough, the paramedics had Yang and were checking her out. That was what was supposed to happen - the reason she had bothered bringing her outside, right? Finally figuring out that the worst of the crisis was over, she allowed herself to sag down into Ruby's restraining arms.

"Weiss! Weiss!"

Another voice was yelling out loudly. Even if it was one she didn't want to hear right now. Winter, who was running over as fast as she could on her own heels, right away kneeling by her and Ruby's side. She was among two people who she knew very well hated her at this time, but she didn't care. All she did was quickly try and dust the shrapnel off her body, tilting her head up to look at her.

However, the elder Schnee sister noticed a line running down from above Weiss’s left eye to just below it, one that was faintly bleeding. It was a wonder Weiss herself hadn't noticed a scratch like that, but given the circumstances she understood. Already she felt tears forming in her own eyes.

"I'm sorry… God damn it, you probably don’t want me here, but I-I had to make sure you're… you're okay."

Something struck Weiss about the moment, even as she flinched away from Winter's touches, especially in the areas where she was injured. Each time Weiss flinched, she pulled away. As if she were a burning flame and she'd be burnt to hold her for too long. The tears were beginning to intensify, very slightly. But it was enough for her to end up kneeling by their side, sobbing loudly.

For a while, she couldn't figure out what was amiss. Then her hand went to the oddity in question before her mind had quite grasped the concept. She could not remember for the life of her the last time Winter had cried. Truly shed tears, either from sadness or happiness or laughter, anything. Now she was touching the tears on her sister's cheeks in disbelief. They couldn't be real, could they? Not for her. Not after everything she had done.

“Why wouldn’t I want you here?” Stupid question. She knew it was the moment it left her lips, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

"I was wrong!" Winter shouted, the tears starting to fall now as she stared at the ground. "God I was so wrong. About Yang, about you, about everything. If you can never forgive me, I'd understand… But I don't know what I would have done if you’d. You'd have.…" Then she ended up sobbing even worse, unable to finish that sentence.

Weiss didn't have the emotional capacity to endure this moment, no matter how much she wanted to at least do her best. But she heard Winter's words, tried to internalize them as best as she could when she was already battered and wrung out. Her head nodded very vaguely.

"She's fine," Blake finally ended up telling Winter, trying to steer her away. Her voice might not have been warm, but it was at least civil. "Just… give her time."

Even though she had to choke back another sob, she nodded, hauling herself up from her knees and backing away from her for now, to give her that time to think on things. It was the least Weiss deserved.

But another thing she deserved to hear, even if it was muffled was Sun's voice when he called out toward them, holding a hand up high as he stood right by the ambulance. "Guys! She's waking up!"

At that, Weiss's head whipped around to see Yang getting up. Her entire being was focused on her, watching her rise; the rest of everything faded into the background. She couldn't make herself move, but she kept watching Yang make the transition from asleep to awake as if it was the only thing left to watch in the universe. She was aided into a sitting up position by two paramedics, one of which held open one of her eyes to shine a light into it, and then the same for the other one. After muttering to one another, the next one began to hold her right arm with both hands, gradually squeezing and journeying down the length of it. That was until she suddenly winced and yelped out in pain.

"Pretty sure your arm's broken. Get her x-rayed, as soon as you can."

"N-no," Yang told the paramedic, who was just about to try and help her up off the ground. She was still dazed and confused, blinking over and over to try and focus. But eventually there was only one thing she could focus on in the distance: Weiss. She didn't move, or say anything more. She waited for her to make the next move. No matter what it was.

Shakily, completely dazed, Weiss tried to stand — and would have gone down again if Ruby and Blake weren't there to catch her, to prop her up so she could take hesitant steps toward Yang. But when she got to within a couple of yards, she came to a slow halt.

"Xiao Long," she breathed numbly. It was all she could say, she didn't know what else to do, or say, or think anymore. Other than that she was where she needed to be for whatever was about to happen. Would Yang even talk to her now?

Both backing off and taking notes, the paramedics wandered away to tend to more patients that needed their help. One in particular who had been seated to one side a while ago in particular, but she was out of view. Along with the eyes of Penny, Sun, Ruby, Blake and Winter, an entire crowd was watching from behind the rails, trying to glean as much information as possible. There were even a few cameras that glinted in the sunlight, zoomed and focused on them. But Yang was oblivious. That, or she completely didn't care. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she looked back toward Weiss again, holding out her spare hand for her to take.

"I'm sorry," she began, allowing a few to fall as she licked her lips. "I'm sorry I'm such an idiot, for letting things go without any reason… I'm sorry for scaring the shit out of you three times now… but most of all."

She paused, swallowing so she could speak clearly.

"I'm sorry I'm so late in saying: I love you."

For a long moment, Weiss simply blinked as she let the words wash over her. Fresh, and bright, and fantastic. Loved her. Yang loved her. Something she suspected was true but dreaded was not. And there it was, out in the open.

Falling down into her arms, she mashed her lips hard against Yang's and pulled her into one of the deepest, most hungry kisses the two had ever shared in their lives. Her hands slid up into Yang's hair as she poured every last emotion she had left into that one singular moment, hoping she could do it justice, that Yang would feel the answer enough that she didn't need to hear the words returned. Not just yet.

And she did. Through their deep kiss and loving embrace, more tears had begun to fall beyond her control. Weiss loved her, truly loved her. After all this time, all this pain; Weiss loved her so much she was kissing her deeply out in the open. Winter had been so wrong about everything. Weiss really did value their love more than her reputation, and was proving it on front of God and everyone now. She couldn't help the fusion of crying and giggling she did back into Weiss's mouth, or the hand she slid into Weiss's hair to massage the skin there.

The audience… they cheered. There was a brief pause of surprise, but they cheered louder than they ever had before, some even whistling in joy. The world knew, the world had seen that they were in love, that they kissed. And it didn't care. It was just as happy as they were.

"Great, I have a front row seat to this," Ruby groaned exaggeratedly, waving her hands in front of her face. "Penny, shield my eyes!"

"Dork," Blake chuckled under her breath, sliding her hand into Sun's. She might have had mixed feelings about the occasion, but it could not be denied; they belonged with each other. Any idiot could tell.

But for one idiot, who was just about to be taken into another of the ambulances, she had also seen everything and wasn't quite as celebratory as rest of the world. As Neon observed the woman she was dating, watched as she kissed her seemingly not-so-ex girlfriend, she sighed sadly, looking down at her scratched-up knees. Her suspicions were right: she would never hold a candle to Yang. But for good reason. Yang had saved her life several times now, helped her figure out her sexuality first. She couldn't fault that Yang was a good person. And someone Weiss deserved.

“It was a blast while it lasted,” she whispered to herself before the doors shut.

However many minutes it had been, Weiss drew back and gazed up adoringly at the blonde, cheeks still wet and vaguely covered in dust from the blast. Yang's were as dirty, and she reached up to wipe the dirt away with her thumbs.

"The most beautiful thing I've seen in months," she breathed.

Yang could barely look back directly, both laughing and sobbing at the same time as she gently patted the side of Weiss's face with her left hand. Her right arm was still across her stomach, attempting not to move at all. Which had in fact reminded her: "I think we're gonna have to delay the full version of 'Changes Come'."

Thankfully, Weiss could hear Yang a bit better now; her hearing wasn't back to normal completely yet, but it was close. A wet sob of laughter floated out of her. "Dolt. I don't care about that right now; we have time. The important thing is that we have time."

"Yeah… We do." She wiped away the thin streak of blood across Weiss's eye that had formed. It was nothing serious, and she was unharmed, but the gash might scar if left untreated. They could worry about the aftereffects of it later. For now however, she let out a small chuckle of her own as she remembered something Weiss had picked up on in their phone conversation earlier. "And I can explain why I thought it was a good idea for me to get high, right?"

"Oh, fuck that," she sighed, leaning up to kiss her lips briefly again. Then she kissed them again, so tempting was the sensation. "You could tell me you were smuggling drugs from Mexico while you were gone and I wouldn't care; as long as you are here now, and we can start over!"

"We can…" She grinned, tears of happiness still streaming down her face while she looked up into her eyes. But now her confidence was beginning to return, as she asked a question that was Yang in every way. "Is this an appropriate time to ask for a bonus in my paycheque? Assuming you'll rehire me."

That did get Weiss laughing as she hugged her love, grinding her face into the neck despite how much taller Yang was; her silly heels helped with that. "You can have whatever you want. I'm all yours." Another light kiss before she whispered, "And you'll definitely get more salary if you're also collaborating with me; and you'll get ASCAP royalties from 'Changes Come', you know. All legit-like."

"I… have no idea what any of that means."

But as she giggled against Weiss again, the paramedic paced over to the small group that formed around the two girls, the other having already got the engine of the ambulance running. "Okay, we're gonna get Yang here checked out just to make sure there’s no concussion, and to get an x-ray on her arm. I can only offer one person to come with her."

"Weiss should." The sterner voice of Winter Schnee spoke again. She'd only just walked to rejoin the group, assuming she wasn't wanted in the time Yang and Weiss were reunited properly. Yet she was continuing to wipe away a few tears with one hand as she pulled her cellphone out with the other. "I'll get the rest of us a car, we'll meet you there."

Weiss didn't acknowledge Winter other than to glance at her briefly, but did look back at the paramedic as if to check if that were alright. He merely nodded, and began guiding them toward the back doors to load them in.

"We'll be right behind you!" Ruby called out from nearby. Weiss waved…

And as she was waving, she noticed all the shuttering cameras, the gaping mouths of her public. Almost all of them were fans, a few were pedestrians who had simply wandered upon the scene. Not a single person looked bored. She caught a few people clapping or cheering, pumping fists in the air. Some on their cell phones, telling their friends about this new scandal.

What should she do? Her father would be seeing this, most certainly - and everyone she'd ever worked with in the industry. Her phone would be ringing off the hook, and the fanmail would certainly skew in one specific direction from now on. So she decided to do something about it.

"I love her," she called out to the crowd, who went quiet when she began to address them – other than a few gasps here and there. A press conference about her sexuality was not what she had been prepared to endure today, so she tried to make it brief. "And I expect you vultures to respect our privacy. Even if you think this isn’t okay… she's still a person, and she saved my life tonight. So please, just keep all that in mind. Thank you for being here, and I hope everyone else is safe. Now… let the police do their jobs and figure out what happened."

Before she had even finished speaking, there was a thunderous cacophony of questions and protestations, but she ignored all of them to turn into the ambulance and join Yang. Before the doors closed, she made sure to seat herself in Yang's lap; putting her booty where her mouth was, so to speak.

Once the door finally shut, Yang immediately wrapped her good hand around Weiss, instinctively leaning her head on her chest. She was still dazed, even the short journey on her feet was enough to drain the energy from her; but she needed this. She needed to hold her diva however she could. She grinned as she remembered the words that had so foolishly brought fear to her the first time they were spoken. But now, they filled her with overwhelming joy. Enough for her to repeat them back to her again.

"I love you."

“I love you, too,” Weiss repeated immediately, only kissing her cheek now before leaning her head more comfortably against Yang's head, clinging closely. "And… I'm sorry again that I didn't figure out what Winter did. Should have known you wouldn't leave for no reason, and I didn't believe you did, I just… didn't know."

"It happened, we made it through… nothing we can do to change it." She spoke softly, stroking Weiss's back slowly in an attempt to calm her down. The subject of Winter was bound to come up at some point, Yang knew it. But with what she now knew about her, she didn't know what to tell Weiss.

"It was fucked up, what she did. But, go easy on her. She did help me get over here from Chicago."

"She did?" But she quickly recovered from that revelation. "Doesn't matter. She still nearly took you from me forever; I'm done with her. She doesn't deserve to be called my sister anymore."

As she continued to pet, she continued to stare outward while the ambulance began to move, bracing herself as best as she could without a seatbelt. This would be no easy task to convince her without revealing everything, but she had to try. It was the least she could do to make up for Winter's favour.

"She made a mistake. A mistake that could have had extreme consequences, yeah; but I genuinely don't think she knew what she was saying."

That made Weiss draw back, gaping at her. "I almost lost you forever, in more ways than one… and you're saying that I should let this go? When she… I mean, you're clearly a better person than I am, not that I didn't know that before. But I'm not sure I can do that."

"I'm not saying you should let it go instantly." She looked up toward her, only just managing to tighten her grip on her as they turned a corner to make sure she didn't fall off. "But, I'm saying there's more to it than 'I don't like my sister's girlfriend'. And… only she can tell you what that is."

"More to…" Her eyebrows knitted, and she gazed across at Yang for a few seconds. Trying to figure it out on her own, given that Yang clearly was unable to elaborate. "On the trip down, you got to talk to her, didn't you? She really talked to you and not just called you a bunch of unfortunate names?"

Nodding, she clung on again when she felt the ambulance go over a bump. And when Weiss came into contact with her right arm she winced in pain again, gritting her teeth for a moment. "Y-Yep. We came to an understanding; hell, we even hugged. Let's just say she's been in quite a fucked-up situation of her own.."

That single hint was enough to make Weiss's anger abate. "Oh no, is she okay?"

She deeply sighed. "You need to ask her that."

"Yang, you're scaring me…" But Weiss shook her head out. "Alright. Whatever happened, it doesn't excuse how she treated you, but… I'll hear her out, I suppose. Now…" Her arms wrapped tightly around her love. "No more about her. Tell me about you. I mean, I know you didn't have a great time up there, but I want to know everything. The good and the bad, all of it."

Clinging onto Weiss's side as best she could, she took another deep breath in and slowly let it out, raising an eyebrow. "Boy, are you in for a wild ride…"

The rest of the ambulance journey was filled with the two of them exchanging stories of their time apart. Their own 'single life' experience. Yang told Weiss about the unfortunate habits she delved into, about exactly how close she and Blake became at certain times, even about the job she had for a short while. Whilst Weiss told her of the interview and what happened backstage, about the relationship with Neon that had begun to blossom. There was a fair bit of guilt shared between them from how things turned out, but that could be dealt with later. After they were checked out.

And as they felt the ambulance come to a stop at the hospital, that would come very soon.

"Well, it sounds like neither one of us can really judge the other person, at least," Weiss was saying, attempting to be reasonable as they were herded out into the emergency room's reception area. There were already several other vehicles parked outside, and the room was busy with the friends and loved ones of those who had suffered injury from the multiple blasts. As they would find out later, one of Neon's backup dancers had a nasty puncture through her leg and would need a long convalescence before she could get back up and return to her craft. One stage technician was in a coma from the rig falling on him; he was expected to recover but they could not be certain how long it would take. Luckily, there seemed to be no fatalities, but all the reports weren’t in yet.

As they walked into the drab, cream-coloured room, Weiss laced her hand into Yang's uninjured one. Soon they would be separated, and she wanted to soak up every last second of time she could with the one she loved.

"Suppose not…" She squeezed Weiss's hand. It had been hard to confess such things, but at the end of the day, they were both single at the time. Both wanting affections and love in their time apart. Even if one was an ex partner and the other still hadn't officially ended. But now they were back in each other's company, none of it mattered. "Still… We're back together here, huh?"

"Hey," Weiss told her in a reasonable tone. "We never officially broke up; you just… took a vacation. Oh, and this is yours…"

Her left hand, the free one, reached up and took the snood off from around her neck, reaching up to loop it over Yang's head. It was a stretch, but she made it. Yang made out she was having to spit it out of her mouth, until it rested snugly on her neck again. Her sense of humour wasn't damaged in the blast at all it seemed.

"Ah, finally, my neck doesn't feel naked anymore…" And then she glanced at what else was around Weiss's neck. The guitar pick necklace. Even if it didn't match the concert outfit, she still wore it on stage. It was enough to bring a warm smile to her face, and a little chuckle. "You know, Ruby sent me a picture of you wearing that at the interview. Made me smile."

Glancing down, she saw what Yang meant and pursed her lips. "If you think I'm giving THAT back, you're deluded, Xiao Long." Then the doctors were escorting them in separate directions, so she leaned up and left Yang with a single parting kiss on the cheek and allowed herself to be seen to.

Though they asked all sorts of questions, Weiss's examination didn't take long. Her cuts and abrasions were lightly cleansed and tended if necessary; she had new Band-Aids on her legs and arms, one in the middle of her back. The cuts above and below her eye were slightly deeper, even though the eyeball itself had miraculously escaped injury; she needed a few simple stitches that would dissolve on their own, and then were also covered by bandages. They warned her that slight scarring might be a worry, but given everything else, she couldn’t pay that much credence.

A huge sigh of relief escaped her when they informed her that the temporary hearing loss was perfectly normal after being that close to a blast. A full recovery was expected. Though she might have a little recurring tinnitus, she also might not, and either way she would mostly live a normal life in that regard. Only when she felt something deep within her unclench did she realize she had been dreading that news a lot more than she expected.

When she was ushered back out to sign some forms, she immediately spotted the little group of her friends in the waiting room. Before she could get to them, however, she spotted someone else: a messy-haired Neon. Currently she was leaning on a single crutch by some friend’s side as they filled out a form, one who could easily have been mistaken for one of her backup singers or something. She'd described him before, of course. Flynt Coal. No doubt he had come straight to the hospital to meet with her as soon as the news hit the TV screens and radio stations.

But eventually she looked upward from the paper and spotted her, and seemed to sit perfectly still. Just yet, no words were spoken. She waited for Weiss to make the first move. She took the clipboard as she was expected, but walked over to Neon immediately afterward. Then she lingered awkwardly. The implication seemed to be that she wanted Flynt to leave so she could take his seat.

And after a moment, she seemed to realise that, and leant over to whisper at him. After a quick glance up and spotting Weiss himself, he stood up, passing over the clipboard to her instead. "I'll get us some coffee, gimme a shout if you need me." Pacing away past Weiss, he spared her a slight glare from behind the sunglasses.

But once he was away, Neon patted the empty seat. "Don't worry about him. He's just… protective."

Nodding, Weiss plunked down and sighed deeply and fully. She couldn't even bring herself to put pen to paper quite yet. "Wow… we really changed the face of Beach Fest forever, didn't we?"

"Nah. You just performed a Neon style show rather then a Weiss one." Her form was only half finished, but she sighed deeply, closing her eyes. "It was Adam that changed it forever. Speaking of which, they managed to find… what was left of him. He didn't make it, obviously."

"Good. I don't want to have to think about this happening all over again in fifty years when he gets out of prison, so… so good." Even if thinking about someone she had just talked to the same day being dead was terrifying in its own special way, no matter who he was.

"Don't like to wish that on anyone, but yeah. I don't have to worry about him fucking up my contract anymore."

"Are you okay? Is your ankle broken, or what?"

Straight away she looked down to the ankle in question, wrapped tightly with gauze, flexing her toes back and forth. "No break, but it's twisted pretty bad. It hurts to put weight on it, so I'm playing it safe for a while with this thing."

"Well, I'll just have to take care of you, that's all." She had already said it and was smiling slyly when she caught herself, blinking in surprise. "Oh, I… well, that's…" Her sputterings fell silent, and she looked down toward her own clipboard, flushing darkly.

"I'm gonna stay at Flynt's for a few days," she blurted out, barely even thinking twice about how harsh it sounded when it came out. But after she let that sit for a while, her expression turned from blank to more saddened. "It's… just to lay low. Paparazzi think me and Adam had a thing, frankly I don't wanna talk about him right now."

"Yeah, I understand," Weiss followed up quickly, still looking straight down at her papers. "You… yeah, you don't want to hear a lot of questions about it. I'll…" Her throat was threatening to close up, but before it did, she forced out, "Can I call you?"

Blinking for a moment, she sighed. Still gazing straight at the form. "As a friend? Yeah. As a girlfriend… I don't think so."

The whispered "Oh" was all she could say. She’d clearly seen the news. Of course she hadn't been thinking much about what would happen between her and Neon when she kissed Yang, when they reconnected in this way. That was obviously the problem; her joy was so complete that her new girlfriend had gone out of her mind so easily… it was unfair for her to expect anything more.

"Shit," she whispered a minute later, staring down at the tiny droplets blurring the pages. "I'm… gonna need a new form."

Putting down her own form instead, she at least powered herself to look at Weiss, her own eyes becoming watery. From the small smudges present in her eyeliner, it was obvious she had been crying beforehand. But now it was coming back again.

"Look, Weiss…" she said softly. "I… I kinda thought something like this would happen. I hoped it wouldn't, but… gut feeling I guess."

"Please tell me you at least get that… I never expected to…" Finally, the younger girl looked up at her, leaning in to keep her voice low. "Never expected that we'd even like each other in the first place, and then we did, and- but with Yang coming back, I don't know, I'm so confused! Because I still like you, but I can't deny I'm in love with Yang, so… so I don't know what to say to you, except that I'm so, so sorry!"

"And I know that," she assured her, shuffling around in her chair to face her properly. "Seriously, dude, I know you didn't mean to hurt me. I can understand, you know? You were both torn apart, but the feelings were still there. I know you can't exactly click your heels together and they're gone, and I don’t expect you to."

"But this happening doesn't erase how I feel about you, either," Weiss told her weakly, knowing it was futile, that she was just prolonging the agony. She felt stupid and childish, like she had dove head-first into a world she wasn't prepared to enter. And now she was going to hurt Neon no matter what she did.

"Me neither," she confessed, even allowing a tear to fall. But from her expression, it was like she'd done all the mourning over the relationship already. Now, it was just acceptance, facing the music. Which she could do with a faint smile. "You got yourself a keeper, though. Saved your fucking life – and selfless! Even though I’m ‘the other woman’, she took me right out to the nearest doctor before she rushed in after you. I can see why you fell for her."

At that, Weiss couldn't help the bittersweet smile that blossomed in her features. Which was proof enough that she really did belong with the bodyguard, after all.

"Alright. So… so I guess once the whole Adam thing dies down, we'll pick up our, um, friendship again? If you don't mind that I really messed it up the first time." Biting her lip, she added more quietly, "Which I definitely did."

Neon found herself finally chuckling again, grinning back with the same expression. They'd both accepted things were over, but both still wanted contact. That meant something. "Duh, you can't get rid of me that easily. Plus, who am I gonna gossip to when I got receipts?"

"Oh, you know it! I mean, Lavender's new look? Those are totally extensions!"

They passed a few more minutes chatting about nothing of consequence while they finished their forms. When she was done, Weiss saw Flynt was coming back with coffee, so she drifted closer and whispered, "I'll let you guys do your thing. Um… I'm really glad you're okay. And again, I didn't mean to lead you on, or-"

"Stop, alright? We’re cool," she reassured her, sitting herself more comfortably again for when Flynt would take her seat. However, she leant in close as well for a moment, whispering rather quietly, "And if that particular video is anything to go by, you two have a fantastic time ahead of you when you get to your hotel or whatever."

Letting out a giddy giggle, she tried to stifle it as quickly as she could before she whispered back, "I'll pass on your compliments. And… maybe the video, if Yang doesn't mind."

"Dude you don't have to do that. Would that be weird, getting off to a video of my ex and her girlfriend?" she asked a little louder than Weiss did.

Just loud enough for her sharply dressed friend to raise an eyebrow as he held the drinks for them both, waiting to take Weiss's seat. "Y'know what, I don't think I wanna ask."

"You don't," Weiss laughed, holding out her hand. "Hi, I'm Weiss - and you must be Flynt?"

Unfortunately for Weiss, he didn't take it. Nor did he even show he would make an effort to put the coffee down to take it. He only stared for a moment, glaring slightly. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Hey, she's fine," Neon called up, even smiling as he turned around to face her. "We hugged it out, and we're still friends. Don't need the mean guy act, okay?"

Rolling his eyes at her instead, he handed the drink over to her. "You're the boss." And then he turned back to Weiss again, expression significantly softer as he took her hand to shake in the end. "Yep, Flynt Coal. Heard you threw a chair to take out that creep. That's a gutsy move."

"Well, somebody had to do something," Weiss said bashfully. Then her expression hardened. "Yang made sure he'd never touch her again… I don't think it's what she meant to do, just get him out of the way so we could escape, but it turned out that he's gone and I can't say I'm too broken up about it."

"Yeah, girl. I've been hearing about him for months. I think I'll have to stop by blondie's and shake her hand myself."

"Oh yeah! How is she? The radio's going nuts saying you had to carry her out or something," the redhead asked, taking another sip of her coffee as she glanced back at the form.

"Incredible," she sighed, a dreamy look in her eyes. Then she shook herself and said, "Um, I mean… her arm is broken, and she took a really nasty bump on the head. But she's strong, she'll be fine soon. And…" She shrugged. "I do want you to meet her, even with, um, everything. And I want her to meet you. I know it might not seem like I'm serious, but you became a really important part of my life; she should know who you are."

Shrugging her shoulders, and giving a smug smile of her own as she brushed her hair back behind her ear, she spoke confidently. "It is true, I am amazing." But immediately it loosened, and she smiled. "We can go out for brunch some time. Or when you're both back in town we can have a girl's night in with some more movies you haven't seen."

Flynt shook his head. "You're still collecting those DVD's? You know iCloud's a thing, right? Save some space, girl!"

"Shut up, you loved coming over and borrowing my box set of Sherlock," Neon teased, holding a hand up and whispering. "He has a boner for Martin Freeman."

"Who's that?" Weiss laughed, looking between them. When they only blinked, she shrank back slightly. "What? What'd I say?"

"Right, problem solved. You and Yang are coming over to watch The Hobbit. I'll text you about it later, okay?"

Snorting, she said, "I'll put it on my calendar," waved and walked back over to drop off her own form before she rejoined her friends and family. Though her heart tugged at her as she left, knowing that was their final conversation as girlfriends… they would still be friends. Nothing wrong with that.

"Hey," Ruby greeted her as she approached, looking a little weary but in relatively good spirits. "You, um, want the rest of my candy bar? I already bit off it.… but I mean, I could pull that part off, it's no big-"

"I'd love some," she replied with a grateful grin. As Ruby busied herself segmenting chocolate, she looked around at the others. "So… what's new?"

"That Uber needs a five-star rating, it had Wifi!" But as soon as the words left Sun’s mouth, Blake immediately elbowed his side, which snapped him back to reality. "Oh, and uh… well, news is going crazy. There were a few cameras that caught what happened with Adam on the stage and how Yang shielded you from the explosion… aaaand…"

"And I'm afraid, your kiss is also everywhere," Penny admitted. She and Ruby both knew that this was a huge fear Weiss had, at least, the fear that her father would find out. And now that was going to be a reality, all she could do was nervously twitch. "I'm sorry, Weiss. I mean, no one's saying anything bad, but… we mean it's everywhere."

"Whoops," Weiss muttered under her breath. "Well… I guess that's my fault, not hers. But I don't have any regrets."

"You shouldn't," Blake put in with a gentle smile. "You looked like two girls who are really in love. Which is what you are; trust me, I've seen what Yang looks like without you in her life. It's not pretty."

"Winter just left to speak to your dad about what happened. And, uh, I think she also mentioned asking about Yang's job. All works out, huh?" The spiky-haired blonde grinned.

"Sure does," Blake said, a slight tightness in her voice. And when she heard that, Weiss remembered what Yang had told her about the two of them relapsing into a physical relationship. A spike of jealousy shot through her, as stupid as she knew that was; Blake was very beautiful, taller, and had a much fuller figure than she herself did. Maybe Yang would now be disappointed with her when they were in bed together.

"Oh, and the cops found Yang's guitar!" Ruby added suddenly, snapping her out of the downward spiral of thought. "It's still down at the station, but luckily you put her name and number on the back, so… yay!"

"That's great, Ruby," she sighed with a weary smile. Then she took the offered piece of candy bar and began chewing it — and finding that it had coconut, which she hated. Just this once, she kept that to herself.

"O-Oh… Weiss?"

As soon as Penny gained Weiss's attention, she pointed toward the door instead. Where the sterner Schnee daughter had just made her way back to the waiting room, having to open the door with her back as she held both a clipboard and a coffee in her hands. But when realising all eyes were on her, rather than everyone chattering to themselves, she only looked back toward them all with wide eyes. Unlike before, they lacked the confidence they once had. She looked more like a student who'd been called to talk in front of the class than one of the record industry’s top contacts.

The moment had come, it seemed. Rather than make Winter walk all the way over to them, to make this a public inquisition, she paced through the waiting room and held the door open to usher both of them outside.

Looking toward Blake and Sun for a quick moment, Winter noticed them both giving a quick thumbs up before she backed up instead, moving back out of the waiting room and into the rather empty hallway instead. In their days of preparing Yang for the concert, she had at least been talking to them as well, slowly gaining their trust, and them gaining hers in return. In the vulnerable state she was in, she needed all the friends she could get.

It didn't take much pacing for them to at least find a quiet area by the vending machines, and the abandoned table right by it. "Did you want anything to drink?"

Weiss didn't answer at first. When she did, once seating herself at the table and folding her hands primly on top of it, her words had nothing to do with drinks.

"Yang has implied to me that I should give you a second chance. Since you nearly drove her to suicide, and over extremely petty reasons, she must truly believe you deserve one. So… go on. Explain to me again why you thought it would be a good idea to threaten my girlfriend into abandoning me."

As Winter took a seat of her own, and toyed with the top of her cup for a moment, she couldn't keep eye contact with Weiss at all. Only stare blankly toward one of the many leaflets that had been left on the table. She swore she must have rehearsed this entire conversation at least fifty times in her head, maybe more. And yet everything she thought she would say, every point she'd bring up, had completely vanished.

"Please don't think it was because she was your girlfriend," she began, having to close her eyes. Even after this time, she was still struggling to come to terms with that truth it seemed. "Though that was a factor. And my problem wasn't with Yang as a person, because I clearly didn’t understand what kind of person she was. My problem was with what I… at the time, thought she had the potential to become."

"And what is that? My girlfriend? Eventually my fiancee or wife? The person who means the most to me in the entire world?" Sighing in disgust, she snapped, "If this whole thing really is just because you're jealous that I trust her more, then I'm not sure I want to hear anythi-"

"It was never about jealousy," she quickly retorted. Rather than toy with the cup any longer, she held both her hands together on the table instead, starting to lean forward into them. She knew from the start that she'd be unable to keep it together. "The industry you're in, it's full of people out there that want to take advantage. People that think just because they've helped you make a song that cheers people up, means they're entitled to certain fringe benefits. And from what I hear, you've had your own experience with one of those people."

"With one of- when have any of them ever come to m…" But then she remembered the man that had met his untimely — or perhaps very timely — demise underneath the Beach Fest stage. "Oh. Neon’s producer, yeah."

"And he is one of many. Behind the smiling faces and cheesy award ceremonies you see, there's a dark path that many have to take to get there. Particularly young women. Neon's had that experience first hand from the sounds of it, while you… haven't. There are always going to be people lurking around out there, hoping to take advantage of innocent young starlets. In one way or another."

She said nothing more to follow that comment. But that definitely showed Weiss that Winter had been doing a lot more than she ever realised for her future. After all, she was the one who handled all the contacts, all the record deals. All Weiss did was show up and do as she was told, perform to the best of her abilities and focus on that aspect of her career, smiling for the cameras. Before Adam Taurus, she'd never seen anyone who could be so corrupt.

"So you're saying…" Weiss suddenly grew even angrier, despite her newfound appreciation for her sister’s job. "You thought Yang was one of those people?! That she was capable of- of doing something like that to me?! Oh, Winter, I can't- how could you not know her even that well?!"

"I couldn't risk it!" she suddenly snapped back. That small sentence again. It was the very same that Yang said on the voicemail to Ruby, when she explained her reasoning for leaving in the first place. Voice quieting down again, she took a deep breath in to try and regain her composure, which was slowly breaking as it was.

"You and I have had the same upbringing from Father, heard him say the horrible things about… types of people he doesn't understand. And at the time, things we didn't understand, either. We never had a chance to learn differently. That, paired with the knowledge I've gained in this industry over the years…" Her voice was starting to crack now, hands holding one another tighter as she looked down toward her lap. She really couldn't even spare a glance. "I was so obsessed with protecting you from the bogeymen he put in my mind, and the very real ones I’ve met in the world, that I saw Yang as one of those threats and I… misjudged. I was wrong, so, so very wrong. And that mistake nearly cost a life."

At least this proved to Weiss now that Winter truly did appreciate the gravity of what she had done; she wasn't dismissing it out of hand, or pretending it wasn't her fault. It didn't really excuse things at all but it was less ugly than the image she'd had of Winter before now, walking around destroying their lives without even caring in the slightest.

However, there was something that bothered her. "You said… the knowledge you have gained in this industry. Have… I mean, do you know something that happened to someone? Or did you see something? Because it doesn’t just sound like stories from the news."

It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide this information by the minute. In the years she had kept everything a secret from her sister, it was unraveling in a matter of minutes. How could she be so foolish to let the situation get away from her this badly? Although she remembered what Yang had said on the plane. That she wouldn't tell, nor would she be concerned whether Weiss knew that information or not.

In the end, she opted to try playing it off. "You could say that," she began, hands clenching one another even tighter. "I… heard things in many of the directors and executive’s offices when securing your career path."

"What kind of things?" But she already knew Winter didn't want to answer. That much was clear. She didn't just seem disgusted, she seemed scared. "Winter… if these things were a threat to me, in the way Adam was a threat to Neon… why didn't you tell me? I could have been more watchful on my own, and not let you…"

Weiss’s voice got a lot flatter when it finally dawned on her. "Not let you have to do it all. Watch out for me… all this time, you've been babying me, and maybe it wasn't the wisest move in the long run, but I didn't even notice… that you were trying to shelter me."

Her older sister only continued to stare blankly at another leaflet as she finally let her hands go, and went back to toying with her cup. The fear and sadness that was mounting in her expression, she tried to put aside. And she sniffed, moving on with a stern voice again. "I don't know if Yang told you, but I want to tell you myself. If what you say about her being a potential wife is true, then you both have my blessing. Not that you need it. I think throwing herself between you and a bomb was more than enough to prove she deeply cares about you."

But now it was Weiss's turn to let her voice grow sterner. "Winter, what have you been hiding from me? How many times did I almost end up like Neon?" No answer, and her voice shook when she pressed, "If it's really that bad out there, then I don't want you going to any of those meetings alone anymore! God, you might be a jerk, but you're still a person, and… and I don't want you getting hurt like that!"

"It’s over and done with," Winter replied quickly. It was clear she really didn't want to continue. Weiss had plenty of evidence to draw her own conclusions as to what happened without her prying anyway, but the last thing she wanted was for her sister to follow those breadcrumbs. Taking a long sip from her coffee a moment, she eventually put the cup down and looked toward her instead. "And Yang has already made me promise that I’ll be more careful. Besides; despite what happened here today, your phone will be ringing off the hook now you performed at Beach Fest. They'll be coming to us for the deals now and that should be our primary focus."

"And to complain about how gay I am," she added, still watching Winter warily. The wheels were turning, but she didn't want to believe where they were taking her. Couldn't believe it. So for now, she pretended to believe the best… instead of the worst.

That comment managed to pull a slight smile to Winter's lips, and a light chuckle from her. After such a serious topic of conversation had been skirted around, anything else was a joy. "Perhaps." Although then she leant upright, straightening her posture to look at her again. A force of habit whenever she was about to talk business. Even though, this subject fell into both that and family.

"I've spoken to father as well, and… he's seen the news. He didn't really say much to me, other than he wants to talk to you before making any decisions. That includes Yang's employment. I thought it would soften the blow a little if I spoke to him first."

“Or that you could make sure he doesn’t hire her back.” Leaning against the table, she ran a hand through her bangs and let out a noise that was halfway between a groan and a sigh. "Ugh… how did he sound? Pissed off, disgusted? Or worse: that 'I'm very disappointed' thing?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. He had his serious voice on, like I was just a business contact rather than his daughter." Winter shrugged her shoulders, though upon finishing the last of her coffee, she started to rise from her chair, looking back toward the path to the waiting room for a moment, then to her. "Let's worry about Yang for now, even though she seemed to be doing okay."

"We should check on her. Let's go." As Weiss pushed up from the table, taking her drink with her, she began walking shoulder to shoulder with her sister. But just before they reached the waiting room again, she cleared her throat.

"When all this is over, and has settled down… we're coming back to this conversation. Don't think I'll forget."

"I'd rather not, but… it's better than no talking at all, I suppose."

But upon them re-entering the waiting room, the whole area seemed cheerier than it did before. It was certainly more alive and full of chatter. A quick scan of the room told Weiss that Neon and Flynt had left, as did a few of the other dancers who were discharged. But to one side of the room, there was a small crowd having gathered around her messy-haired girlfriend. Who was having to battle her sister out of one of the tightest hugs she'd ever felt. And with her right arm in a cast and a splint, that was no easy task.

"Quit blubbering, Li’l Flower; I'm fine! Just a break, it's not like it has to come off!"

"It better not!" Ruby was sobbing, though she also sounded happy. Right around that time, as Blake was pounding Yang on the back sympathetically, she looked around and spotted Weiss. "Hey - there's Weiss and Winter! HEY GUYS, we're over here!"

"I, uh, think they know," Blake chuckled.

"The small crowd didn't give it away." Winter joked. Actually joked with them this time - and not in a way that could be taken offensively or make someone else sound completely stupid. She really had changed her point of view, it seemed.

But now Yang finally managed to get Ruby to back off, she looked toward Weiss again. But first thing she did was cover up her left eye, imitating Weiss's bandages. "Arr, Captain Schnee's here for business."

"HEY!" Weiss piped up, somehow both smiling and letting her mouth gape open in offense. "Says the girl who might as well have a hook for a hand now! If I’m a pirate, so are you!"

"No, it's broken, not gone!" Ruby squeaked, seemingly more to reassure herself than because she earnestly thought Weiss needed the refresher.

"It's good to see you again," Blake told her in a gentle voice, though she couldn't meet her eyes. Now that the worst of the stress had passed, there was some unresolved business, and she was afraid how the high-maintenance diva would react to her.

And it seemed that worry was well-placed. Weiss walked over to where she and Yang were standing, Ruby off to one side. Her arms were folded over her chest, and her head angled back to try and meet the amber gaze that was dodging hers so effectively.

"Uh…" Sun looked between them both, able to feel the tension. Yet they hadn't even spoken to one another! Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Are we missing something here?"

But Yang only scratched her head nervously toward the two of them. "I, uh… told her about the thing me and Blake had while we were away…"

"That was quick," Blake muttered, fiddling with her fingers. "Look, it wasn't-"

"Save it, Belladonna." The sigh was put-upon, but also resigned. "It happened while Yang was… broken up with me, kind of. Whatever. I don't really have a right to judge what she did, and I have my reasons. So I can't really blame you." Weiss's eyes flicked to Yang. "Especially when I know how great she is."

All the while Yang was nervously rubbing the back of her head, looking upward toward the ceiling. Her expression could almost be compared to a child who stole from a cookie jar and got caught. Or in this case, the Blake jar. "Well… I guess on the bright side, it means I didn't have a chance to get rusty?"

"YANG!" Blake burst out, covering her face with one hand.

"Okay, okay, she's suffered enough." Taking pity on the brunette, Weiss patted her shoulder; though it was a stiff and formal gesture, at least she tried. "You'll pay me back by telling me any tips you might have, won't you?"

Blinking, the poor girl turned to Yang and Sun for assistance, hoping one of them could help her out of this mess. But Sun certainly didn't, he only shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, you bought this on yourself, babe! I’m totally an innocent bystander."

However, one comment did seem to lead Yang to a few thoughts of her own, completely unrelated to her temporary relationship with Blake in the time of absence. And that wasn't apparent until she suddenly slapped her hand to her face. "Oh shit! The bike's still at your place… God damn it, it's twelve hours away and I can't drive it back…"

Grateful for the subject change, Blake said, "Oh yeah, it is – what should we do? Greyhound?"

"Greyhound?!" Weiss scoffed, then turned to look at Winter. "We won't let them travel in such classless accommodations, will we?"

"Absolutely not. In fact, let me check the status of the jet. I'm pretty sure it hasn't even left the airport since our arrival," she reassured them, already taking out her phone to begin looking through the contacts. But she didn't hit the dial button until she looked back up to Yang again. "Consider it as a gift… And a thank you, for protecting my sister, even with all that chaos."

Even though she smiled back, there was something holding her back from being truly happy. And that was expressed as she flexed her fingers in the cast. "Thanks, but the bike's gonna have to be there for months yet. I can hardly ride with one arm."

A brief somber silence passed before Winter broke it by dialing the number and pacing away, heels clacking against the tile floors. Then the younger Schnee piped up, "Well… why couldn't we?"

"Uhh, she just said her arm's broken," Ruby whispered.

"I heard her, dolt," Weiss whispered back. Then she said louder, "But I mean, I've ridden before; maybe I'm not as great at it as Yang, but I could do a decent enough job to get us back to Nashville, I think."

"You ride?" Yet again Sun was hit by Blake in the side, but this time he reacted far more sharply, drawing back from the hand to minimise the pain. "What?! I'm just surprised! All that grace and glamour, I didn't expect her to be the biker type."

But Yang began to nod as she thought about that, considering the proposal. Technically speaking, Weiss was on a hiatus period of her career, at least until really hitting the studio to record her sophomore album. And what better way to find inspiration than…

"We could make it a road trip." Yang was beginning to smile even brighter than before as she looked down toward Weiss. "Take our time, see the sights, stop in a different hotel or motel each night then drive off in the morning… Just think of it as taking the long way home. A really long way."

Yang was only about halfway through speaking by the time Weiss's eyes lit up, sparkling in the fluorescent lighting. "You want that? Just you and me?" The hopeful smile was growing ever wider as she turned to Winter. "I… I don't have anything upcoming on my schedule, do I?"

Having just finished the conversation with the pilot and hung up, Winter shook her head. "We planned a month rest period, then the writers wanted to get back to working with you." But then she turned to Yang, giving a smile. "However, it seems you two come up with good enough music without writers yourselves."

"I won't be playing guitar for a little while." Yang reminded her, but gave a smile right back. "But once I get use of my hand back, we can work on something I think."

"On a few things." Then Weiss slapped her hand over her mouth when she realized how that came out sounding.

"Hey, it's not like we both don’t know how good she is with those hands," Blake put in.

"GUYYYYYYSSSS," Ruby wailed, leaning against Penny in her desperation to recover from her mind being invaded by such images.

Penny only cuddled her closely, petting her hair as she pulled her in towards her chest, pretending to glare at them. "Now look what you've done! You've scared the poor little sister."

"Oh she'll be fine." Yang couldn't stop giggling, even as she huddled Weiss toward her with her spare hand. After two months of being unable to do so, words simply couldn't describe how good it felt to finally have her girlfriend back in her arms.

Or at least, one of her arms.

#White Noise #freezerburn fanfic #rwby fanfiction #rwbyremnants

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mewmewchann · 6 years

Text

DanganRWBY (chapter 0) - Opening Ceremony

Everyone meets each other.

(Chapter 0 part 2 is done!) (feel free to send asks about this AU!)

“This doesn’t feel right at all...” Ruby muttered as Jaune led her through the hallways.

“See what I mean?” Jaune said, gesturing towards the walls around them. “Sure, we’re at Beacon, but we aren’t on familiar ground as far as I can tell.”

The hallways were almost the same as they usually were, except with the rows of lockers missing and some doors being boarded up.

One of them made Ruby stop in her tracks.

“I don’t think that one was there before.”

“What?” Jaune stopped walking. She gestured towards it. “This door. It definitely wasn’t here before.”

The door in question had been boarded up, like some of the doors that they had passed previously. There was a name plate on the top of the doorframe – where it would say what this room was for – but it didn’t say anything.

“Hm...” Jaune said thoughtfully. “This IS interesting...Let’s see if we find anything else.”

As the two of them continued walking, Jaune noticed another door that wasn’t usually in the building. It wasn’t boarded up, and the nameplate read “STORAGE”.

“Wanna check it out?” Ruby asked.

“We’re going to be late enough to whoever wrote that letter’s invitation as it is. We’ll check it out later.” He turned away from the door. “Let’s keep walking.”

Ruby nodded and followed him as he continued.

“From what I remember, the amphitheatre is...” He pointed. “This way. And that’s assuming they mean the one Ozpin talked to us in on our first day.”

“Most likely-” Ruby stopped again.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look.” Ruby pointed up at an area of the wall.

Another of the screens that she had noticed in the lecture hall was mounted where she was pointing.

“What the heck is that thing?” Ruby asked. “I saw one in the classroom, and I have no idea what it’s for.”

Jaune shook his head. “No idea.”

“Same here...But it gives me a bad feeling-”

Before Ruby could finish, the screen suddenly filled with static.

“Ah-!?” She jumped backwards, while Jaune’s gaze narrowed on the screen.

The static flurried around the screen for a few seconds before a voice came out of the speakers.

“Uh, testing...Testing...One...Two...Three- Aha! Got it!”

The voice sounded unnaturally happy, but had a digital edge that sounded very inhuman. The voice alone made Ruby shiver a little.

“Righty then!” The voice continued. “This is a reminder for everyone who hasn’t arrived at the amphitheatre yet to hurry the hell up! I mean, seriously! I stated the time in every single letter!” The voice sighed, but it sounded robotic and growl-like. “Whatever, point is, anyone who isn’t at the amphitheatre yet, move your asses!”

The voice cut off, and the screen cut to black.

Ruby’s eyes were wide with shock, still focused on the screen.

Jaune put his hands on his hips and sighed. “I guess that’s our cue to hurry up.”

Ruby was still in shock, and hadn’t moved. “Who...the heck WAS that!?”

“Once again, no idea.” Jaune replied. “But at least we know who wrote that letter.”

“Yeah, but...”

“But what?”

“Didn’t they say that they ‘stated the time in every single letter’?”

“What about it?”

“That means...There’s more people here!” Jaune stopped. “Really?”

“Yeah! If there was more than one letter, that suggests that there could be more people here!”

He thought for a moment. “Most likely...Either way, the best thing to do is to hurry up.” He turned around. “Coming?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

The two of them continued down the hallway, passing more doors – some being boarded up – until they got to one labelled “amphitheatre”.

“We’re here.” Ruby said.

“Care to do the honours?” Jaune asked, gesturing towards the door.

Ruby nodded and pushed the door open.

What she saw inside made her instantly step back in shock.

Everyone was there.

A number of the other students from Beacon, as well as some from the three other kingdoms had arrived in Vale for the upcoming Vytal Festival, and the majority of the students Ruby knew were standing there in the amphitheatre in front of her. Some stood in their teams, some stood closer to their closest friends; but everyone was there.

And they were all staring at them.

Everything was silent for a few seconds.

“Uh...” Ruby started. “Hey, guys!”

“Ah! Finally! More people!” An orange haired girl said, darting towards the two of them. She was wearing a sleeveless white top with a heart shape cut in the middle of the chest, with matching pink gloves and a short pink skirt.

She immediately starting shaking Jaune’s hand. “Jaune! You’re finally here! What took you so long?” She turned to face Ruby with a smile. “And Ruby too! It’s always good to see you.”

Jaune blinked. “...Nora? What are you doing here?”

“Could ask you the same thing, buddy!” Nora shrugged. “But we’re all here, so I didn’t bother.”

A boy wearing a dark green tailcoat with black and gold trim, white trousers, black shoes and with a long black ponytail with a magenta streak, as well as a faded pink lotus flower clutched in his left hand narrowed his eyes at her sternly. “Nora, please.”

“Okay Ren, no need to be a killjoy!”

“I’m not being a killjoy. You just need to calm down.”

“Well, it’s kinda hard to be calm when you get a mysterious letter inviting you to the amphitheatre after apparently falling asleep in a locker!”

“Wait a second!” Ruby interrupted. “You woke up in a locker too?”

Nora blinked. “Yeah. I thought I had blacked out after too much sugar or something, but turns out Ren woke up in one too.”

Ren nodded. “And before you asked, I’ve already asked them.”

“You mean they all-?” Ruby started.

“Woke up inside a locker and received an invitation summoning them here. Yes.”

“Hm...” Jaune said thoughtfully. “That IS weird...”

“Weird doesn’t even begin to describe it!” Nora replied, articulating her point by waving her arms around a little. “The fact that all 17 of us woke up in a locker can’t be coincidence, right?...Well, it was 17 last time I counted...”

“19.” A voice corrected.

“Huh?”

The voice had come from another boy near the corner of the room. He had spiky silver hair and wore a grey and black zip jacket, as well as black jeans and a large pair of black boots. He was standing next to a dark skinned girl with light green hair and deep red eyes.

“Sure, you counted 17,” he continued. “But with Jaune and Ruby, that makes 19 of us.”

Nora pouted. “Okay, no need to be a smartass.”

He tutted and rolled his eyes, prompting the other girl to shake her head.

“Wait, there’s 19, of us?” Ruby asked.

“What did I just say, little red?” The boy said cynically. “Doesn’t take a dust scientist to figure it out.”

“Okay Mercury, cut it out.” Jaune said.

Mercury smirked. “Oh look, blondie finally grew himself a pair!”

Jaune didn’t respond. He just glared at him.

The girl Mercury was with spoke for him. “Maybe Jaune’s right, we can save the conflicts for later.”

Another girl in the room adjusted the sunglasses she was wearing. “And do what?”

“Try to figure out what’s going on, duh.”

“Emerald has a point,” A boy next to the girl with the sunglasses said, who had dark scar-torn skin and blank eyes. “19 students all wake up inside a locker and find a letter telling us to go here. I know the professor throws his own students off of cliffs, but this is way too outrageous a stunt for even him to pull.”

“Wait, he threw you guys off a cliff?” A monkey faunus with messy blonde hair and an unbuttoned shirt said in slight disbelief.

“It’s a long story.”

While the two of them were talking, Ruby made a point to see who she recognised.

She had of course seen half of team JNPR as well as Emerald and Mercury, and had also noticed Pyrrha, team CFVY, team SSSN and even Penny, who was a robot they met from Atlas.

Before she could finish looking, someone tackle-hugged her from behind.

“RUUUUBYYYYYYY!!!!” The voice behind her said. “Oh thank goodness you’re here! I was so worried!”

Ruby recognised the voice instantly. “Yang-!?”

“Okay okay,” A second, calmer voice said, pulling Yang from on top of her. “You can give her some room to breathe now.”

“Seriously!” Another voice added. “Learn some respect for her boundaries.”

Ruby stopped and turned around, to find the rest of her team behind her. Blake being the one who pulled Yang off of her, and Weiss being the one telling her off for not respecting Ruby’s personal space.

“G-guys?” Ruby stuttered. “You’re here too?”

“Uh, hello?” Yang said, putting a hand on her hip. “We’re right in front of you!”

Ruby paused for a minute. “S-sorry...I’m still very confused as to what is going on.”

“Literally all of us are in the same boat here.” Blake replied.

“Make that a sinking ship.” Jaune said from behind them.

“Fine, all of us are in the same sinking ship.”

“Wait, Jaune, why do you think it’s sinking?” Ruby asked.

“This isn’t exactly a good situation, is it?” Jaune replied. “For starters, even though we’re at Beacon, we aren’t on familiar ground. And literally all of us woke up trapped in a locker. You try looking at the glass half full.”

“For the first time,” A boy with red hair and a smooth British accent added. “I actually agree with you.”

“Thanks, Scarlet. Anyway, we’re all in the same sinking ship. And none of us know who the captain is.”

“Well...” Ruby started, before another girl finished her sentence for her.

She had red hair tied up in a ponytail, green eyes, gold armour and a red sash on her waist.

“At least we’re here with people we know.” Pyrrha said with a smile.

“That’s right!” Another girl, Penny, added from nearby. “We’re all here with our friends!”

“Y-yeah!” Ruby said, looking towards everyone in the room, all people she recognised. “Even if we aren’t on familiar ground, we know that we can trust each other! And we can get through this together!”

The room mostly nodded in silent agreement.

“Well, can’t argue with your logic there, Ruby.” Jaune shrugged. “You always know how to keep our spirits up.”

“Yeah!” Nora added from nearby. “You’re like our personal cheerleader!”

“Y’know, I can’t disagree with that.” Sun also added.

Mercury looked over to Emerald, who shrugged.

“I guess.” He said.

“Well done, sis! You got the whole room going!” Yang said excitedly, tussling Ruby’s hair with a smile.

“Ah-! Yang, don’t mess it up!” Ruby started, fixing her hair as soon as Yang let go.

“Okay, okay.” Yang said, laughing a little.

Ruby stepped forward, so she had the whole room’s attention again. “Anyway, like I said, even if we’re in unfamiliar territory, we know we can work together! We’re all friends, we trust each other!” She started to smile a little. “We still have hope!”

“Hope, you say?” A voice said.

Ruby stopped in her tracks. “Huh-!?”

“That’s disappointing...You’re already having hope so early on.” The voice continued.

“Oh great...” Scarlet muttered, folding his arms angrily. “It’s that stupid voice from the screen again.”

“Hey, my voice is not stupid!”

“Wait...” Ruby started, turning around for a second to notice another one of the screens suspended on one of the walls, before turning around to the source of the voice. That IS the voice from that screen!

“Will we be able to find out who you are this time?” Coco asked, adjusting her glasses again.

“Don’t be impatient, I’m getting to it!”

“Just...” Ruby started. “Just who ARE you!?”

Almost as if on cue, as they were all focused on the small desk on the stage of the amphitheatre, something jumped up from behind it and landed on the surface of the desk.

It looked like a tiny anthropomorphic Beowolf, with one orange eye and one gold eye. A flame like tattoo surrounded the gold eye, and it had a big smile on it’s face.

The thing bowed. “Pleasure to meet you all. My name is Beochi, and welcome back to Beacon Academy!”

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ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years

Text

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 58)

Note: It is time.

Up until puberty came with all its raging hormones and confusing changes to her body, Weiss had never really been interested in romance.

Didn't have crushes on her classmates, adults, celebrities, fictional characters, or androids; rolled her eyes and tuned out whenever any of her classmates began to gush over how attractive someone was; and only participated in the Valentino's Day events because she didn't want to get lumped in with the pretentious and insufferable crowd who loved bragging about how they were exercising their right to do whatever the hell they wanted, oftentimes claiming some form of inherent superiority for not “following outdated traditions like blind sheep,” or something to that effect.

It didn't really help that her father's only concern about her crushes was that she either get involved with the children of Avalon's other elite, famous, and ridiculously wealthy (sans the ones of those that were even more controversial than him), and Winter only ever seemed to have crushes on soldiers, professional athletes, and of course, Guadalupe Garron, who Weiss now knew was both the sole official voice actress of Eluna, and the actual “mythological” figure herself.

(In retrospect, there was something quite different about Winter's gushing over the Eluna plushie.)

But all that changed when Clarita Nguyen literally came swinging into her life.

To kick-off the start of the school year, the various instructors, facilitators, and some alumni had a live show of the many extra-curricular activities Arcturus offered. The students either watched with mixed levels of interest, or hacked their holo-projectors to watch something more to their interest on HV.

Weiss herself was seriously tempted to follow suit, until the Dance Clubs segment ended.

“And now, for a very different sort of dance, combining grace, coordination, and violence!” the MC said. “Kicking off the Combat and Martial Arts Clubs is Ms. Clarita Nguyen, of the Swordplay Society!”

A replica of an Ancient Old World pirate ship was warped in on stage, holo-dummies of ferocious (if historically inaccurate) buccaneers appearing on deck, armed with cutlasses and pistols. The lights began to dim except for the stage's. All was quiet but for the murmurs of students still chatting with each other.

Then, laughter—excited, confident, and just the right amount of unhinged.

A spotlight tracked Clarita as she swung in on a rope, flying over just over the students' heads before she somersaulted through the air, and made a graceful landing right in the center of the deck.

The buccaneers all readied their weapons and cried out in pirate slang, more Hollywood than history. Like the knights when Abner had cranked the difficulty up to max, there was no fairness here, all hands on deck swarming her and climbing out from the rest of the ship to drown her in a sea of marauders.

But Clarita was more than ready for them, unsheathing her own sword and proceeding to decimate the entire crew.

Weiss was transfixed as Clarita effortlessly weaved around the pirates attacks be they blade or bullet, somersaulting through the air, maneuvering through every space she could squeeze in through, launching of walls or balancing on the rails to use every advantage available to her as she took them with perfectly timed thrusts and swings, oftentimes hitting them where they least expected it.

Weiss heart beat faster as dramatic music played alongside the sounds of violence and fallen pirates—though in retrospect, that was probably more because of the way Clarita laughed and smiled, the way her ruffled shirt and tight pants fit on her lithe and muscular figure, the incredible flexibility, acrobatics, and fighting skill she was gladly showing off.

She devastated the entire crew in less than two minutes, dozens of combat-grade holo dummies disappearing one after the other, and her never taking a single slash nor shot. The crew's Captain burst out of his quarters, roaring with anger as he unsheathed his blade, fire in his eyes and his mouth og rotten teeth curled into a snarl.

Clarita merely laughed and taunted him, drawing a C with a little N in the air.

The two clashed, swords sparking, blades locking, so close they could see the whites in her eyes and the tell-tale distortion of holo-dummies. The music swelled to a crescendo just as the Captain got the upper hand on Clarita, knocking her off balance.

The Captain let out a mighty laugh as he thrusted his sword for the kill…

… Only for his opponent to suddenly “regain” her footing, twisting and dodging the attack by less than an inch, raising her sword up to his neck and making him slit his own throat from his momentum.

The Captain fell, surprise on his face before dissipated.

The music reached its end and faded away.

The audience erupted into cheers.

Clarita turned to the audience and bowed, her eyes sparkling, sweat dripping down her caramel skin. “And those, students, are the kinds of moves you can learn at the Swordfighting Society!”

Weiss signed up as soon as the prompt came up.

She had a plan all thought up in her head: become one of the best students in class, challenge Clarita to a duel, and the moment she bested her in combat, confess her love for her!

… And it all fell apart her first day in the Society, when a much calmer but no less cheerful Clarita put down her and the many other lovestruck hopefuls as gently as she could, explaining it would be illegal for her to get into a relationship with any of her underage students, it would feel wrong for her to become their mentor then their lover, and most importantly, she was already taken, and happily so by a woman who had already bested her in one-to-one combat two decades ago.

Some quit on the spot, unable to face such rejection—oftentimes the first they'd ever experienced in their lives with how sheltered Arcturus kids tended to be.

Weiss stayed, if only because she didn't want her to know that her heart had been rapidly hacked apart like Clarita did a block of wood for the first day presentation.

The sessions passed, Clarita trained her and others in all the many types of blades, until they finally found her specialty in fencing. She taught her the proper form, the technique, and the rules, helped her discover just how fluidly and gracefully she could move, how devastating her well-aimed rapier thrusts could be, refine them both until Weiss was on track to becoming one of the best students in the Society.

It started to look like the plan might not have crashed and burned after all, that dogged persistence had paid off for her as it had for her grandfather, and she could challenge her to that duel after all. (People fell in and out of love all the time, she reasoned with herself.)

… And then, Clarita called her into her office in private, to discuss what she thought was stagnating her performance in the Society.

“Weiss, are you in love with me?” Clarita asked.

There was no malice, no annoyance, no slyness or suggestive undertones. Just curiosity, like she was asking her how her grades were.

Weiss began to sweat and blush. “N-No, absolutely not!” she stammered, lying poorly in the see-through, blatantly obvious, and poorly thought out way adolescents could. “What makes you…?”

“Once upon a time, I was a teenager too, Weiss, and I remember very well how I acted when I was in love with a woman I could never have—exactly how you've been acting.”

Weiss hung her head, ashamed, angry, but most of all, hurt.

“Do you wish to change instructors, Weiss?” Clarita asked softly. “I feel that I’m only holding you back because of how you feel about me, and I how feel about that.”

Weiss looked her in the eyes, and said “Yes.”

Her own eyes were red and welling up with tears, but there was proper decorum to be followed, even if your heart had been sliced up into ribbons, just after you'd finally sewn it back together.

Clarita nodded. “I’ll go ask my colleagues and see who would be willing to take you on instead.” Then, she opened her drawer and pulled out a physical business card—a real rarity those days. “And also: a recommendation for someone who can help you out.”

That someone turned out to be Dr. Coriander “Connie” Corazon, a therapist who specialized in counseling people questioning their sexuality identities and orientations but mostly for women. In her words, “Society may stop blinking an eye at queer couples doing basically anything, but there will always be girls wondering if they have a girl crush or just an actual crush.”

Jacques was willing to pay for the therapy, if only because he probably made a cost-benefit analysis, and the price of a scandal of his adolescent daughter pining after a married woman three times her age (who had also been her instructor, and was notably close to her) did not even come close to the price of keeping Dr. Connie on for a decade or more.

It all worked out wonderfully for Weiss, as the first handful of sessions were spent in painful, awkward silence, making small talk, and squirming and fidgeting when she ran out of meaningless topics. Dr. Connie had the patience of a saint, was a firm believer in the value of waiting for your clients to come forward with their issues on their own volition, and was still getting paid handsomely regardless of whatever happened.

Then, Weiss' broke like a dam and out came everything in a messy, disastrous flood of Teenage Angst, one that Dr. Connie dutifully waded through, sorted out, and tried to help funnel into healthy, mature drains and pathways so Weiss wouldn't drown in hormones, stupid impulses, and poorly thought-out plans.

The one session she remembered the most was when Weiss admitted that she wanted to try to ask a girl out--”and for clarification, we're in the same grade, she's less than a year older than me, and she's also a member of the Natural Body Improvement Club!” she snapped, her cheeks burning red.

“So, have you thought of what you're going to do on your date?” Dr. Connie replied.

“I… haven't actually thought of that yet...” Weiss admitted.

“Well why haven't you?” Dr. Connie asked.

And so began the recurring structure of their meetings: Dr. Connie asking questions, Weiss answering them, and the process repeating itself for however long it took for Weiss to finally admit or figure out just what exactly was the problem, if Dr. Connie didn't step in to explain to fill in the gaps of her knowledge and emotional maturity.

“… So what if she does say yes, she will go out on a date with you?” Dr. Connie asked.

Weiss groaned, her neatly tied hair now frazzled and a two strands less than when the session started. “I… I… I don't know!” she cried. “I guess we'll go out for chocolate shakes, or something? I haven't thought that far yet!”

“Because…?”

“Because what if she realizes what a giant bag of issues I am, and she decides to just lie her way out of the date, and say an emergency came up?! What'll it look like if I don't just take her on her word and decide to go launch an investigation, find out if she really did have something come up and she wasn't lying?! And what if she did have something come up, and she finds out that I made like a creepy stalker, and that just makes her so glad she couldn't go on that date because who knows what would have happened, now that she knows all these new horrible things about me?!

“How do I find out this a relationship with her isn't just going to crash and burn?!”

Dr. Connie smiled. “Ask her out on a date.”

Weiss groaned. “Isn't there some other way?! Preferably one I can use BEFORE I ask her out?”

Dr. Connie shook her head. “Last I heard, no one has cracked the perfect algorithm that'll completely, accurately decide who's going to be your 'perfect match,' and all the dating companies are still legally required to say that their algorithms can't 100% guarantee said match.

“So, we still have to find it out the tried and tested way: ask someone out, date them for a while, and see if you two will work out to the best of your abilities.”

“There has to be a better way!”

Dr. Connie smiled. “If there is, then none of us have figured it out yet.”

So now here Weiss was, sitting on the side of her hammock and hoping that the Fae had cracked the code.

It was morning when Ruby stepped back into their room, looking roughed up and tired, her clothes and scythe still faintly stained with blood and other stains. “Morning Weiss!” she said, waving lazily with one hand as she put away her scythe with the other.

She frowned as she began to pulled out her wrapped up mask from inside her cloak. “Rough night?”

“To put it lightly...” Weiss muttered.“… Hey, Ruby...? Can I ask you a question?”

“Could you make it an easy one?” she replied as she put away her mask and cloak. “I kinda really need to crash soon.”

Weiss blushed. “How do you know if you're in love with someone?”

“Oh, that's easy!” Ruby said as she walked over to her nest. “I kiss them.”

Weiss blushed. “Just like that…?”

“No, I ask them first, and most of the time there's a date before that!” she said as she sat down among her cushions. “Anyway, if it turns out I really like kissing them and want to do more of that in the future, I know I love them, not just like them.”

“Is that a Fae thing?” Weiss asked.

Ruby shook her head. “Just me. I can't be in a serious relationship with someone I can't kiss, let alone have fun making-out with.”

Weiss blushed even more. “How do you know that?”

Ruby sheepishly looked away, before she turned back to Weiss. “… Do you promise not to tell anyone?”

“Promise.”

“I tried making out with Lifira one time,” Ruby replied. “I hadn't kissed anyone real before, and I was really curious about how it was like, so I tried it on her.”

Weiss' face betrayed nothing. “So how did it feel like?”

“Awful. And I asked her to be really into it, and man, she was! But the thing is, there wasn't that something, and it just felt weird and unnatural, and then Yang caught me, and…” Ruby trailed off. “… Yeah.”

“Do you Fae have a word for that for that 'something'?”

Ruby shook her head. “Nah, it's all on you on whatever you want to call it. I don't know what it is for me yet, exactly, but I know it's not just kissing because Lifira was a pretty great kisser, just not for me.”

She yawned. “Was that all you wanted, Weiss? Because I don't think I can stay up much longer...”

Weiss opened her mouth. “No--” she blurted, before she shut her mouth.

Ruby looked at her. “No…?”

“No… I…” Weiss' face felt like it was melting. “Ruby, do you promise not to tell anyone, either?”

Ruby nodded, her sleepy face turning alert and serious. “Absolutely.”

Weiss sheepishly looked away, before reluctantly looking back at Ruby. “Could you… kiss me...?”

Ruby's eyes widened, her ears perked up.

Weiss started to sweat. “I-I know you like me, and I'm not sure if I like you back, and I'm kinda leaning on yes, but also no, and I just want to--”

She stopped as Ruby got up off her nest, walked over, and sat down beside Weiss.

Weiss gulped. “… Make... sure...” she finished, her voice barely a whisper.

“Someone please walk in on us,” she thought to herself. “Please, please, please...”

Ruby smiled at her, her sleepy eyes twinkling in the morning sun. “You can say no if you don't want to, Weiss.”

Weiss took a deep, not-at-all calming breath, then forced herself to bring her lips right up to Ruby's, careful not to smash their noses or foreheads together in decidedly unromantic and painful ways.

Her whole body began to tremble, sweat poured down her face as she closed her eyes, her face so close to Ruby's she just knew she could feel the intense heat radiating from her cheeks.

“Do you still want to…?” Ruby whispered.

“Y-yes...” Weiss whispered back.

She felt Ruby hold the back of her head, fingers threading through her hair, her touch only light enough to keep her steady, so much of her power and strength being held back because she knew any more would hurt her.

Weiss swallowed the lump in her throat.

She always knew that Ruby was powerful, in combat skill and in physical strength. She could and had crushed an entire armed mercenary company of rank 6 Queensguard Nominees without resorting to killing any of them if crippling most instead; easily wiped the floor with Cardin and his men while unarmed if invisible; and fought the dangerous creatures of the Valley on a daily basis without the slightest hint of serious injury, and from what she'd seen of her at the hot springs, any injury at all.

She could crush her, easily.

And yet she wouldn't, being very, very careful, holding back so much of her power, putting this much conscious effort and attention to make sure she didn't hurt her.

And Weiss found that she really, really, really liked that.

She closed the distance between their lips, surprising them both.

Weiss frowned, feeling like she was kissing a rock: solid and unmoving.

Then, Ruby got over the shock, started kissing back, physically pushing Weiss back from the strength she put behind it, before she quickly toned it down to just enough for her to really feel her lips on hers. She began to move her mouth against hers, now soft and warm, feeling like it was yielding exactly to the shape of Weiss' till they were a perfect fit.

Weiss felt a rush like the first time she'd held Myrtenaster, only instead of a dam breaking and her magic flooding out of her body, into the sword then back again several times as potent, she felt herself melt, delicious warmth spreading to every single part of her body, turning her into jelly.

Ruby caught her before she could fall and break the kiss, cradling the back of her head, cupping her lower back. Weiss could feel the touch of each finger send ripples across her skin, her grip tightening and loosening, too hard, too soft, until she found just right.

Weiss threw her arms around Ruby, pulled herself into her body, feeling her densely-woven muscles constantly shifting and tightening under her clothes. She made a noise, a sound she'd never made in her entire life, what sounded like a deep and guttural…

… Not a threat, but an invitation.

Ruby opened her eyes, half-lidded and with a mischievous look Weiss hadn't seen before. She broke away from the kiss for air…

… Or she would have, if she could.

Weiss' eyes fluttered open. She tried to ask Ruby what was wrong, before she found she couldn't move her lips anymore.

“Whut da phuck?!” Weiss mumbled.

“Ay fink yuu frovz arr lipsth togeverr!” Ruby replied. “Ay geth datz wut da tinggling wath!”

“Gonthlet! Nid tu get my gonthlet!” Weiss said, her eyes opening wide in alarm, her face burning bright red—sadly, it didn't do anything to melt the enchanted ice sealing their lips together.

Knock-knock.

“Weiss? Ruby?” Qrow asked. “I'm not about to walk in on anything, am I?”

They tried to answer him, but it only managed to come out as panicked, unintelligible, and muffled mumbling.

“… Okay: I'm giving you guys till the count of five to cover up, or try to make whatever is going on in there look less awful, then I'm opening the door. One… two… three...”

Weiss made a little dying noise.

Ruby tried to give her a reassuring look, but it was difficult to do so with just her eyes and eyebrows, and more so with their lips frozen together.

“… Four… five!”

Qrow carefully opened the door, and peered in.

Weiss squeezed her eyes shut.

Ruby sheepishly waved.

Qrow stared blankly at them.

“… I'll go get Penny...”

#rwby #the keeper of the grove #fanfic #white rose

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