#the frogs in the shower drain sang me a song last night

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 86)

Weiss meditated until night fell, her stomach started rumbling, and Taiyang had sent her and Pyrrha messages telling them that dinner was ready, and “Nora said she’ll try her best to leave some sweet potato fries for you guys, but she isn’t making any promises.”

Pyrrha helped pull her up again, this time because her legs had fallen asleep from how long she’d tried and failed to stay perfectly still. “Are you going to be alright?” she asked as Weiss tried to walk on her own.

“I’ll be fine!” Weiss replied as she winced with every step. “It’s just pins and needles, I’ve had worse!”

“Well don’t overexert yourself!” Pyrrha said. “All the progress you make in one hard day of working out and pushing the limit will all go to waste if you spend the next few days unable to move.”

Weiss cringed. “I know, but thanks for the reminder. Are you going to head back to the house, too?” she asked as she thumbed to the lights of Keeper’s Hollow off in the distance.

Pyrrha shook her head. “Not ideal to workout and build an appetite after you already ate,” she replied.

Weiss nodded. “Weights are in the shed over there,” she said, pointing to it. “Don’t worry about breaking anything: Fae creations were made to last.”

Pyrrha chuckled. “So I’ve seen. Good night, Weiss.”

“Night, Pyrrha,” Weiss replied, before she hobbled on back to the house.

Dinner was held outside, sitting on blankets and eating off banana leaves like the barbecue a little over a week ago.

Nora, Ren, Ruby, Yang, and Penny were all sitting together, helping Jaune with his Actaeon; from how most of them were trying hard not to laugh at whatever he said, Weiss figured it wasn’t going well. Blake and Qrow quietly kept to their own side, hungrily tearing through a giant pile of meat. On the other side, Winter bonded with Zwei, alternately petting him and summoning her elementals for him to play with, chief among them Idun.

Taiyang presided over it all in the center, standing over a giant cauldron full of bubbling oil, a massive pan of breadcrumbs and cut up ingredients beside him, and a rope fence around all of that. He looked up from the pot, waved with a gloved hand as the other manned an extra long pair of tongs. She couldn’t see his grin underneath the protective mask, but like Ruby, it was just too big and radiant to ever be hidden.

“Hey Weiss!” he called out as he turned over some food in the pot. “We ran out of sweet potatoes a while back, but we still got a little bit of everything else! Anything you want in particular?”

Weiss shook her head. “I’ll just take whatever.”

He nodded. “Got it! Just sit down someplace, and I’ll bring it over in fifteen minutes or so. Don’t step into the danger zone—hot grease splatters suck a whole lot more when you’re using Valley oil!”

Weiss eyed the pot, bubbling like crazy with a roaring fire underneath it. “I’m surprised you’re deep frying dinner, considering what got you in the hospital in the first place,” she said, eyeing the “bandages” still pulsing and wrapped around his arms.

Taiyang laughed. “What can I say? I missed Valley-style fried foods! Besides, just because you can end up getting hurt doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something—what’s life without a little danger and risk?”

Boom.

Taiyang shielded his face as a bubble of oil exploded. Weiss jumped back and made an ice shield.

“Just gotta make sure you’re prepared for it,” he said as he put his arm down, pointed at the grease stain on his apron, and the greasy patch of grass well within the rope fence.

Weiss dispelled the ice. “Right...”

“By the way, is Pyrrha coming back any time soon? Freshness charms be damned, you gotta have fried stuff fresh out of the pot!”

Weiss shook her head. “She’s training; might be an hour till she gets back.”

“Ah well, guess I’ll just restart the fire later,” Taiyang said as he started fishing food out of the pot and set them to the side to drain.

Weiss turned around and looked for someplace to sit.

Ruby caught sight of her, and suddenly stopped laughing; Yang did, too, and gave her a look that said it’d be best if she not join them. She turned to where Winter was, decided not to as she saw Zwei and her elementals showering her with wet, slobbery affection, physical or magical. She turned to Qrow and Blake, the latter’s ears perked and she waved her over.

“Hey,” Weiss said as she sat down.

“Hi,” Blake said in-between bites of a porkchop.

“Sup, princess,” Qrow said as he munched on a giant drumstick.

Then, the three of them settled down for a wordlessly, mutually agreed upon silence.

Dinner was eaten, Jaune gave up on learning Actaeon for the moment, and Winter finally ran out of magic to sustain her elementals, Idun and the others sadly nuzzling and waving goodbye to Zwei before they returned to their soul stones or dissipated into the air.

Taiyang stayed behind to clean up while waiting for Pyrrha to come back. “I just got my arms out of that tank this afternoon, let me stretch them out some more; I’ll get sick of doing chores eventually, don’t worry,” he said when a few of the others had protested.

“Well, looks like it’s time to hit the hay!” Yang said as she stood up and headed to the house. “Get it? Because most of you guys are sleeping in the barn?”

Weiss and Blake groaned.

Nora snorted. “Hah! ’Hay,’ that’s great! Seriously, though, I am beat! Don’t know about the rest of you, but I am ready to get off the black moss tea and into the dreamscape! These past few days have felt like the longest multi-episode season finale ever!” she said as she walked into the barn.

Ren nodded as he followed after her. “Even for the Valley’s standards, this has been a lot...”

“Or the Queensguard’s!” Winter said as Zwei handed her a jar of dry bath. “I’ll just go get rid of the dog and elemental slobber smell before I head inside...”

“You don’t have to, you know!” Nora called out as she went up the stairs. “We’re all used to way worse smells!”

“I’d rather it not spread to my plushies, thank you,” Winter said as she headed off to a secluded area. “My Eluna already seems to permanently smell of tears and snot...”

“And despair!” Nora added. “There’s a LOT of that too!”

“What does despair even smell like?” Weiss asked.

“Like a combination of helplessness, terror, and regret,” Ren replied.

Weiss looked at him, before she shook her head and began to head inside, too.

“Hey Weiss?”

Weiss froze. She slowly turned around. “Y-Yes, Ruby...?” she asked as she forced a smile on her face.

Ruby hesitated for a moment. “Can we talk for a while? Alone? It’s really important stuff...”

“Can it wait till morning?”

Ruby shook her head. “It’s about your parole. Elder Goodwitch said I should tell you ASAP because she won’t have much time for anything once the Council kicks the fight against the Heralds into high gear.

“I also really want to talk to you about some other important stuff.”

Weiss reluctantly. “Uh, sure… where to?”

“Well, I’d say my room, but Yang’s sleeping over tonight, and I was going to say the barn, but then your sister might make that difficult, so you mind if we take a boat out to the water?”

Winter and Yang looked back from where they were, eyes wide in alarm.

Nora ran down the stairs and peered over the side. “Oooh, snap, I see dramatic build-up to a highly emotionally-charged scene that’s going to change everything!”

Weiss ignored her. “Could you let me change first? My clothes are all muddy.”

Ruby nodded. “Sure! I’ll just be waiting by the Tube station”

Ruby left the Hollow, Weiss headed back to the house to change. She tensed up as she neared Yang.

Yang raised her finger at her. “Just so you know: I promised Ruby I wouldn’t say or do anything about whatever you two are going to talk about, so say whatever you need to say. You’re safe—for now.”

Weiss nodded, before she headed up to the house, wondering just what exactly was in store this time...

The original waterway leading to Keeper’s Hollow had rarely been used ever since the Tubes were invented; save for large-scale construction work, clean-up for a week after the Flood, or the system suffering a catastrophic break-down, few ever took a boat out there, and rarely the whole distance to the second most remote residential areas in the Bastion.

It was a very different kind of swamp out there, the only signs of Fae civilization being the roots and plants that had been sawed off or hacked back to keep the way mostly clear, and the signs pointing the way to Keeper’s Hollow and back. Moonlight streamed in from the breaks in the canopy; frogs and birds sang their songs; ripples traveled over the surface of the water as Ruby rowed at a slow, steady pace.

It was a peaceful, beautiful scene, marred only by the tension between them, growing ever worse as the minutes passed.

They hit the halfway point, Ruby pulled up the oars. Weiss kept on looking over the side of the boat, staring at the water, the trees, the animals that she could see. They drifted along in silence, until the tension grew too much.

“You don’t have to stay here in the Valley any more,” Ruby said.

Weiss blinked, turned to her. “Pardon…?”

“You don’t have to stay here in the Valley any more,” Ruby repeated. “I talked with Elder Goodwitch, and her secretaries are getting the paperwork ready so they can transfer you to Arethusa—it’s our biggest Fae settlement in Sekhmet. It might take a week or two because of everything else going on, and changing your identities since your family’s permanently banned there ever since the Scourge, and all.”

Weiss stared at her.

“You can take Winter with you!” Ruby added quickly. “And it’s not all hot, and dry, and full of sand like Zeal—Arethusa’s actually underground, smack dab in the middle of this HUGE oasis; it’s like an island paradise complete with a giant ocean inside a cave, and there’s plants, trees, and flowers everywhere!

“I’ve only seen holos of it, but they say it’s really nice! Elder Goodwitch even says she knows a senior water weaver who’d love to take you both on and train you.”

Weiss blinked. “Are you… are you getting rid of me...?”

“Well, not getting rid of you, exactly, since we won’t go through with the transfer unless you want to.” Ruby paused. “Do you, you know, want to move? Because—well, honestly I really don’t want you to, but it’s your choice in the end, and--”

“No.”

Ruby paused. “Sorry, what was that?”

“No!” Weiss cried. “I’m not leaving the Valley! Ruby, in case you haven’t noticed as I have, all of my attempts at fleeing from my problems in life have ended catastrophically, because it only ever seems to end with in me running smack dab into new ones that can turn out to be even worse than what I had in the first place!

“That things turned out so well for me in the Valley was only because I lucked out and ran into you, and not a Soul Eater or whatever the hell else is lurking out there that needs Keepers like you around!”

Ruby blinked, before her eyes brightened. “So you’re staying…?”

Weiss nodded. “Yes. I’m staying. My complete lack of desire to find out what sort of new problems I might run into in a place like Sekhmet aside, I’ve started to make a life for myself here, and most importantly, I don’t want to leave you guys behind here!”

“You guys are my friends!” she looked down. “… And I’ve… never really had those...”

Ruby put her hand on Weiss shoulder and smiled. “When we get back, I’ll go call Elder Goodwitch’s secretaries and tell them you’re staying.”

Weiss looked up and smiled back. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Ruby said as he pulled her hand back.

There was another long moment of silence, their smiles fading as the tension from earlier returned.

“So… since you’re staying and all… can I ask you a really personal question? About us…?”

Weiss frowned. “I… uh… sure.”

“Do you still like me, Weiss?”

Weiss blinked. “I…” she looked down and sighed. “I still don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Ruby smiled. “Don’t be.” She blushed. “But… you know, do you want to try and find out? Same way we did the first time?”

Weiss stared at her, her cheeks burning red.

Ruby began to sweat. “I mean, it’s totally okay if you don’t want to and I can understand that completely, but you know, the last time we did this in the honey dream it was really awful though I couldn’t blame you, but still I really don’t want that to be the last kiss we ever--”

“Ruby?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

Ruby did.

Weiss reached out with her bare hand, cupped Ruby’s cheek as she slowly brought her lips up to hers. Sweat began to drip down her forehead, her fingers trembled, and she could feel her gloved hand aching as the runes on her gauntlet clamped down on her magic.

Ruby smiled. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to, you know...”

“I do!” Weiss cried. “I’m just… nervous, is all!”

“Want me to meet you half-way?”

“No!” Weiss barked. “You just… stay there, because I want to be 100% sure I 100% want to kiss you!”

Ruby chuckled. “Okay then...” she said a she closed her eyes and puckered up.

Weiss sucked in a breath; her whole body was trembling, sweat was pouring down all over skin, she could feel her gauntlet start to reach its limit as her magic only kept on building up.

Did she really want to do this?

Did she really want to risk finding out that she still loved Ruby?

Did she really want that fact affecting her decisions from then on out, prevent her from ever playing it safe and just assuming that she didn’t love Ruby, and then the both of them could easily move on?

Then, one of Nicholas Schnee’s most famous quotes came to mind:

“You know what? Fuck it.”

Weiss surged forward and kissed Ruby.

A lot of the romance novels she had read described a great kiss as “explosive.” In her case, it wasn’t figurative, as she could feel all of the magic body going crazy, every ounce of power inside her supercharged, and eager to escape wherever and whenever, damn the consequences.

Weiss whimpered, trembling, shaking, about to pull away before she froze their lips together again or worse.

Then Ruby took her gloved hand into hers, intertwined her fingers with hers, and pressed her palm right up to the leather. Without thinking, all that magic surged from Weiss’ body and into Ruby, ice blue tendrils arcing from her gauntlet like a blast from a fire hose, turning into a radiant silver just before they dove into the back of Ruby’s hand.

And just like that, Weiss felt completely calm, like a sea after a violent storm, the waves settling down until the surface was almost completely still. Then she felt something humming, singing with immense power, stirring the waters all over again but in a good way:

Her magic, but resonating in perfect harmony with something much, much greater.

Ruby pulled away, eyes wide open. “Holy shit!” she whispered as she let go of Weiss’ hand. “Weiss, you okay…?!”

Weiss responded by throwing herself at her, wrapping her arms around her back, pulling their bodies tight against each other as she locked lips with her once more.

She felt Ruby’s lips turn from hard like rock to soft like clay in an instant, moulding to the shape of Weiss’ mouth as she kissed back.  She shivered as she felt Ruby’s muscles tensing and rippling under her clothes, more powerful than ever as every fiber of her body was infused with magic—Weiss’ magic.

Ruby sucked on her bottom lip, wrapped her arms around Weiss’ waist and made it impossible for her to pull away. Not that she wanted to—no, she wanted more, more of Ruby, find out just what she could do to her with all that strength when she didn’t pull back, while all her magic coursing through her system made every last touch and kiss all the more intense, causing all sorts of strange, interesting reactions that didn’t even come close to anything she’d ever felt before.

Weiss moaned, a low, guttural sound in her throat, telling Ruby exactly what she wanted without saying a single word. But still, she broke the kiss, straddled Ruby’s lap, and put her hands on her chest and gently pushed her back, just in case she didn’t get it.

There was a mischievous, playful look in Ruby’s eyes as she tilted back… and proceeded to lose balance, fall right off her seat and to the back of the boat.

Thud.

“Ow…!” Ruby muttered, her neck awkwardly craned for her horns catching on the edge.

Weiss’ eyes widened in horror. “Oh my gosh—are you okay?!” she cried. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what--!”

“Weiss?”

“Yes…?”

“Could you help me up…?”

Weiss blinked, before she did, then quickly retreated to the other seat further up the boat, turned away from Ruby, her whole body shaking, and her face buried in her hands—it looked and felt like it was melting for how hard she was blushing, and all the sweat pouring down her skin.

Ruby sat back down on her seat and smiled. “Heh…” she as she rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m guessing that’s a ‘Yes, you still like me’…?”

Weiss didn’t reply.

“Should I start rowing back to Keeper’s Hollow?”

Weiss looked back at her and hurriedly shook her head, before she buried it in her hands once more.

Ruby giggled as she settled down and got comfortable. “Take your time, Weiss… I can wait.”

Note: For those curious, yes, this scene will get an alternate version when the main story ends and I begin the “Sexy Animal Noise” spin-offs.

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