Chapter Text
= =
Ruby was in pain.
That was the first thing she noticed, with every inch of her body even down to her bones feeling as if it was clenching and shivering with waves of agony. It was numbed, as if the pins sticking into her nerves were slightly blunted, and her mind’s awareness of it all was foggy, but it was there regardless.
The light behind her eyelids was silver, and the air was cool as it washed over the few inches of her skin that were exposed with a soft kiss, the blankets covering everything below her waist were softer than she was expecting but still scratched lightly regardless. For a moment she could almost convince herself that she was home in her own bed of a morning, the sunlight breaking through storm clouds with whites and silvers just as they had the morning after her first night with Weiss.
But the sounds around her were wrong, with beeps and a low humming, and so that fantasy slipped away.
With a wince and silent groan, she forced her stiff eyes open and found herself looking up at a white tiled ceiling, strips of fluorescent lights bathing the room she was in with silver light dispersed enough not to sting into her sensitive vision as it adjusted far slower than it normally did. As awareness slowly returned properly, she turned her head slowly and slightly to see the source of the perpetual beeping, and watched her pulse beep on a vitals monitor hooked up to several places on her skin.
The sheets down near her thighs rustled, and her eyes flicked to the rest of the room, looking down at where a large mess of blonde hair was resting on the sheets, with Yang’s arms tucked underneath her head as her eyes were closed and her breathing coming in the slow movements of a restless sleep that had its grip on her exhausted looking sister. Bruises and cuts dotted Yang’s skin, the girl missing her jacket and being just in a dark orange tshirt and jeans, revealing the numerous injuries on her face, neck, collarbone, and arms.
Groaning as she shuffled yet again, Ruby tried to swallow, but her throat was painfully dry even despite the IV that she could tell was clearly providing her with fluids, and she sighed raspily in frustration.
Taking as deep a breath as she was capable of despite the pain, she tried to speak. “Yang…”
Even though it was quiet, and came out as rough and dry as sandpaper, Yang’s eyes clicked open instantly, the girl sitting up and her head whipping to Ruby’s in a movement that had her neck cracking and her immediately cringing at the pain of it. But the moment her lilac eyes locked onto Ruby’s exhausted silver, the breath left her body with such a rush her lungs crumpled in on themselves, and she immediately shot up the bed to her feet, her hands almost going to Ruby’s arm but diverting to the mattress right next to her at the last moment.
“Oh my god, Ruby… ” Yang’s eyes teared up in relief as she choked out a relieved sob, and she bit her bottom lip for a moment. “You’re...oh god…”
“Yang…” Her voice coming out a little stronger, Ruby’s lips twitched into a small smile. “You’re...you…”
“I’m here, babygirl. I’m here.” Giving a small smile of her own, Yang responded to Ruby’s pained and dry voice by immediately grabbing a backpack that had been resting against her chair and grabbing a water bottle from it. Taking a disposable cup that had been resting on a nearby counter, she poured a small amount in and lightly helped Ruby take small sips. “Easy, take it slow. Easy now…”
The water was wonderful on her throat and in her system, but Ruby took slow and light sips, resisting the instinct to gulp it all down in one go. Her throat hydrated, she was finally able to give a proper cough, but the pain on her chest from it was enough she briefly saw stars.
“ Holy… ” Coughing again, Ruby winced and slumped back onto her pillow, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again to look at her sister. “...you got me.”
“Of course I did, Ruby.” Reaching up, Yang softly ran the back of her fingers down the few inches of Ruby’s cheek that weren’t injured, and Ruby leant into the touch slightly. “Of course I did…”
Staring at her sister for a long moment, Ruby felt an emotional and grateful tear leak from her eye and drip down her cheek, swiftly lightly brushed away by Yang’s thumb. Yang looked beyond battered and exhausted, but her eyes were shining and the smile on her lips made it all seem to vanish from her face. Smiling back, Ruby leant into the touch for a moment before blinking and immediately jolting.
“What happened?? Where did--? Is Weiss okay?? What-”
“Easy, Ruby! Easy now.” Hushing her sister, Yang rose so she could sit on the edge of the bed properly and give Ruby a reassuring look, waiting for her to calm down again before letting out an exhausted breath and running her hands through her wild hair. “Shit, where to even start…? What’s the last thing you remember?"
That was an interesting question. Ruby’s memory was normally reliable and immaculate. While she didn’t have total recall, she remembered everything she learned and read, and normally her ability to recall memories stretching back a month or two came in picture perfect clarity. But her memories only stretched up to when Arslan had begun to torture her properly, and gradually grew foggier from there as her mind had escaped the pain and then bloodloss had kicked in.
As she remembered what Arslan had done to her, the beeping of her heartrate began to accelerate and her breathing came faster and more shallow, only to start to slow again when Yang immediately began to run fingers through her hair and hush her gently.
“Easy, sis...take it slowly. You’re safe now. I’m here. You’ve got all the time you need.”
Yang kept her eyes soft and reassuring, even though Ruby was staring down at the sheets and deliberately ignoring the sheer amount of bandages and patches covering her arms and bare torso, and she could feel several more patches dotted around her face and neck as well. It also explained the scratching sensation on her legs if they were bandaged and stitched up too.
Arslan hadn’t spared any part of her.
Swallowing the panicked lump that had appeared in her throat, Ruby let out a steadying breath.
“I remember...hearing that Weiss was alive, and that she was coming for Arslan and the others, and then...being hurt. A lot. Arslan didn’t even ask many questions once she...got into it.” Her breath shaking again as a flash of a dripping knife appeared in her mind’s eye for a moment, along with the memory of the smell of her own blood, she shook her head to banish it. “And then...I kinda remember waking up when you got me. Blake too?”
“Blake too. She was there.” Nodding in confirmation, Yang continued stroking Ruby’s hair as her sister sorted out her memories. “We all came for you.”
“Is...where’s Weiss? Is she okay? How is she okay? I watched her get-” Breaking out into coughs again as her questions came faster and faster, Ruby almost doubled over as her lungs and throat protested the rushing, and Yang’s hand on her shoulder helped guide her back onto the pillows. “Shit...ow.”
“Ow is right, Rubes. You got...well, you’re pretty fucked up.” Forcing a laugh and a smile, Yang’s voice and eyes were sad, but she was hiding it as best as she could and Ruby had no intention of hurting her by pulling it to the surface. “So take it easy.”
“...what happened to Weiss?”
Taking in a deep breath and letting it out through her nose, Yang looked...pensive, for a moment. As if she wasn’t sure about the answer herself and only had vague ideas, and none of them made sense to her. It was the look of someone trying to put together a puzzle even with the conclusion right in front of them, trying to figure out how it had been solved. Ruby recognised the look, because she got the same one when she did it, and there had always been some signs of resemblance between the two of them.
Eventually, Yang seemed to chuckle in bewilderment and shrug.
“Blake and I got to the Gala in time to find her, and we took her back to her place for one of her people to patch her up. She woke up, found out you were taken, she and Blake figured out who and where while I was dealing with Raven, and here we are. For a girl with a bullet wound in the back, she was pretty unstoppable the moment she found out you were in danger.” Chuckling yet again, Yang shook her head and tapped her hands on her thighs. “Can’t wait to hear that story, Rubes. You sure know how to pick ‘em.”
Staring at Yang in shock for a moment as she processed, Ruby felt herself tear up again as she processed that Yang had saved Weiss’ life, and she reached out with a hand to take one of Yang’s and give it a grateful squeeze. Yang met her eyes at the contact, and the two sisters simply held each other’s stare for a moment before she squeezed Ruby’s hand back and they both shared a small smile.
Ruby chuckled and gave a shrug.
“You’re one to talk. You and Blake, huh? She gave it away.”
Laughing, Yang shrugged in return with a smirk of her own, conceding the point with a playful nod before glancing over at the door and chewing her lip with a small thoughtful frown and then giving Ruby’s hand another squeeze, as if to reassure herself that Ruby was still there and still awake.
“Anyway, Weiss had to go get patched up the moment the three of us got you here, and then she pulled some strings to get you a private room and the best treatment imaginable.” Smiling, Yang shook her head in bewilderment at the situation between Weiss and Ruby once more, before letting it go without making any comments for now. “I’m not sure what happened at the warehouse, I’d already gotten you back to the car when that shit went down, but she’s okay.”
“...how long was I out?”
“Three days. They had to put you pretty deeply under because of, well…” Yang used her free hand to gesture to Ruby’s state, raising her eyebrows to emphasise the point, and Ruby nodded slowly in understanding even as concern and anxiety went through her features.
“...what about the Gala??? And Penny??? Who’s okay??? Is she okay??? ”
At Ruby’s second barrage of questions, Yang’s expression sobered and went uncharacteristically serious, and she hesitated before answering any of them. Taking a sip from her water bottle to buy herself a few spare moments, Yang bit the inside of her cheek lightly in thought.
“Not fully sure. I don’t get to know many details, since...well, I’m not ever able to be here for long. Blake and I kinda have to sneak in and out of the hospital, considering who we are and the fact the place is still swarming with cops. Even Weiss has to make sure she’s not seen in your room, for obvious reasons.” Chuckling and giving a resigned shrug at her situation, being one of Vale’s most wanted and the city being in a time of chaos, Yang’s tight expression was apologetic as Ruby nodded in understanding. “But I know Captain Nikos is still alive, that’s the best I’ve got on her. So’s the Pine dude from the council, since the news won’t shut up about him. He’s awake, but bedridden just like you. As for the Penny girl…”
Yang trailed off and her head dropped, breaking eye contact and chewing her lip. Wording her thoughts and choosing carefully how to say them, she started by giving Ruby’s hand a tight and reassuring squeeze in preparation before looking back up into Ruby’s scared and despairing eyes.
“She’s...alive. But that’s all I know, since nobody on the news or anything is talking about her at all.”
A ball of hot lead appeared in Ruby’s gut and scorched her as if her stomach was filling with bubbling oil. If nobody was talking about Penny surviving, that...wasn’t good. Closing her eyes, Ruby forced her foggy mind to compartmentalise it all as best as she could, but in her exhausted and still drugged state she couldn’t prevent a few more tears from escaping regardless.
Shuffling up slightly further, Yang sighed before leaning in and pressing her lips to Ruby’s forehead softly, running her fingers through her hair and resting her chin incredibly lightly on Ruby’s head, letting her sister wrap her arms around her and hug her. The movement hurt Ruby’s arms and chest badly, but she didn’t care as she burrowed into Yang and let herself cry.
There was nothing Yang could say to make any of it better, all she could do was hold her and stroke her hair as she cried it out, so that’s what she did. Holding her little sister as she should have been holding her for years now, it felt very different than it had when they were both teenagers.
But...as Ruby vented her sadness and pain and fear and anxiety into it, and Yang was able to soak it all up and take it onto herself as she held her close...some parts of it felt exactly the same.
= =
The sound of the door opening had Ruby’s eyes click open far easier than she was capable of the first time she’d awakened from sleep, and this time the roof was dark, the lights off, and the air was cooler than it had been during the day. The machines attached to her bed no longer beeped, turned silent at some point during the night as she’d rested, drifting back off shortly after Yang had been forced to sneak out before the next rounds of the nurses. Her sister had timed it perfectly, her watch beeping with precision, and with a quick kiss to Ruby’s forehead and a squeeze of her hand she had vanished.
Leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts, and with an exhaustion that had dragged her back into slumber as she had simply laid there lost in her own mind.
But now she was awake once again, the door opening and letting in some of the light of the hospital corridor outside, just enough to disturb her. The door closed quickly, returning the room to darkness, but the figure stepping in shone in the faint light available, her white hair rippling as it reflected the light while tied back in a basic yet beautiful braid.
Ruby’s eyes sought out Weiss’ own, and as they met stares Ruby gave the other woman a silent smile, prompting Weiss to step over to the bed and immediately sink down onto the edge of it just as silently. It went unspoken between them that they had to be quiet, that Weiss wasn’t supposed to be here and she was stealing a moment when she could.
It wasn’t like Weiss Schnee could be caught at the bedside of Ruby Rose, without it being a disaster for them both.
Weiss had a bundle under one arm, which she quickly placed on an empty chair nearby so she could cup Ruby’s face in her hands gently and, without any hesitation, press their lips together in a soft and soothing kiss. Ruby’s hands immediately went to her skin, one hand cupping Weiss’ jaw while the fingers of her other ran through the few loose strands of hair that were available, and each of them leant into the touch of the other.
Instead of words, the kiss simply continued, their noses brushing together in each gentle tilting of their heads and their breaths coming out in sighs. They were both alive, they were both okay, and they were together once more.
The events of the Gala and the rest of that night had awakened each of them to the truth of what they might be becoming to each other, but the words couldn’t be said. Not now, not here, and not yet.
So instead they touched, and tasted, and bathed in each other’s scent and presence and warmth as their lips languished on each other and Weiss shuffled slightly further onto the bed so Ruby didn’t have to lean up as much to reach her.
Eventually they broke it off, ending it in miniscule pecks to each other as they separated, Weiss leaning back just enough they could study each other and hear each other’s low voices, as if every word would be as secret as the meetings they had stolen and the moments that were theirs and theirs alone.
With her eyes adjusted to the low light of the room, Ruby could make out the stitches and tape on Weiss’ face, a large slice starting above the eyebrow of her left eye and trailing down over her eyelid and ending on the peak of her cheekbone. Her eye itself seemed to be undamaged, the blue of it sharp and bright and intact, but Ruby gasped regardless.
“Weiss...your face…”
Blinking, Weiss’ expression morphed from soft into one of complete incredulity, and she scoffed.
“You cannot be serious, Ruby.”
Tracing a light fingertip over the tape and stitches and patches on Ruby’s own face and neck, Weiss’ expression softened and faded, becoming replaced with something that Ruby had never seen from her before, but was recognisable in every soul;
Guilt.
“Ruby…”
“No, Weiss. None of this is your fault.” Taking Weiss’ hand in both of her own, Ruby gave it a squeeze even as she pressed her lips to the back of it, staring into Weiss’ eyes. “None of it.”
“No. It is because Arslan and Ciel identified your...importance...to me that you were targeted so brutally. Perhaps if I had been more discreet, then-” Weiss cut herself off as she hesitated, breaking eye contact to look away, but Ruby simply kissed the back of her hand again and held it close to her own chest.
Guilt and shame didn’t suit Weiss, they sat in her eyes in a way that had Ruby’s heart ache, and the weight of them pressing down on the normally unbreakable mob boss’ shoulders had her in a posture that was almost unrecognisable. In the three years of Ruby’s pursuit of her, she had craved the day that Weiss might feel any sort of guilt for the things she’s done, for the day she’d see guilt in those flawless ice blue eyes.
That day had come, and Ruby wanted nothing more than for it to vanish.
Releasing one of her hands from holding Weiss’ so she could reach out and cup her cheek once more, Ruby guided Weiss to look at her again. The pair stared at each other once more, saying everything with their eyes that they had to, with Ruby’s eyes holding a firm reassurance while Weiss’ showed a vulnerability that slowly began to fade away. Leaning back down, Weiss pressed her lips to Ruby’s once more.
They allowed it to deepen slightly more this time, lips parting just enough their tongues could lightly dance with each other, and Ruby trailed her thumb along the skin of Weiss’ uninjured cheek while Weiss ran her fingers through Ruby’s hair in slow and experienced strokes. They had begun to learn each other in the week they had allowed each other to, so they melted easily into a rhythm and sensation that was becoming more and more familiar.
Eventually it slowed and lightened, Weiss sighing into it as Ruby whined at the loss but smiling against her lips regardless, and Weiss kept her forehead against Ruby’s even after their lips had separated. They each kept their eyes closed, Ruby listening to the ease of Weiss’ breathing while Weiss bathed in the soft scent of roses that persisted even through the scent of the numerous bandages and ointments on Ruby’s skin.
Five minutes passed in silence, simply bathing in the fact they each had survived mostly intact, and they were together once more.
Eventually opening their eyes and simply looking at each other, Ruby saw the bundle out of the corner of her eye that Weiss had been carrying on her way in, and she blinked at the strange mass of it.
“...uhh...whatcha got there?”
Blinking at Ruby’s distracted question, Weiss chuckled and straightened up, before reaching over and plucking up the bundle to pass to her.
“I bring this on behalf of Miss Coco Adel, who does intend on visiting eventually, but for now I have her and Velvet under protective observation until I trust that the danger has passed. But, in exchange for her... obedience, I agreed to deliver this for you. Freshly repaired.”
Holding her folded up cloak in her hands, Ruby’s eyes widened as she felt the soft material in her fingers, and she immediately brought it up and held it close. Of all the parts of her personal outfit that she and Coco had worked so hard on and made as representative of who Coco felt Ruby’s heart truly was, the cloak was what Ruby had attached to the most as Coco had applied every stitch.
So having it intact once more, freshly repaired of tears and the stitching fixed up, she held it close and sighed happily, Weiss watching with a soft smile as Ruby relaxed.
“There is something else from her as well.”
Ruby opened her eyes once more and looked up, watching curiously as Weiss retrieved her wallet from her pocket and opened it, plucking out what appeared to be a black business card and handing it over.
Recognising the feel of it and the design immediately, Ruby’s eyes widened as she guessed what it was, and she turned it over to reveal the symbol of Coco’s crosshairs, and woven into it were the delicate shimmering red lines of Ruby’s rose.
Smiling softly down at the gift from her friend, a gift that Ruby knew was far more important and personal than it looked at first glance, she spun the card between her fingers like a playing card, getting a chuckle from Weiss as the other woman watched.
Reaching over, Ruby placed the card on the bedside table, only to groan and wince as the stitches along her torso protested the movement.
Thinning her lips, Weiss studied her, taking in the patched up injuries. “How bad is the pain?”
“It’s...bad. Sore when I’m still, worse when I move.” Wincing as she was reminded of the pain and she felt it throb, Ruby eye’s then flicked down to where she knew Weiss’ own injury was present on her back. “What about you?”
“There’s a large degree of stiffness, but it has been treated well. Blake and my subordinate Neon did excellent work, which bought me the hours needed to conduct needed business before it was fixed up here. They expect I’ll make a full recovery. However, for now at least it is quite sore.” Sighing in frustration, Weiss sat up properly as she felt the injury on her back stretch and flex in response to the movement. “As for my eye, it stings with movement, but I expected nothing less. I was very fortunate that my sight was undamaged. It’s looking like it will be quite the impressive scar.”
“Yeah...you gonna tell me what happened, there? Yang gave me the basics, but she wasn’t at the warehouse when it...blew up?”
At Ruby’s curious tone, Weiss sighed and thinned her lips, her expression freezing over slightly as her mind went back to the full events of a few days ago. As the three days had passed, her thoughts and feelings on it all had changed once the anger and worry for Ruby had faded and had been replaced with the pain of betrayal and the aches of grief. While Arslan and Ciel had revealed their true colours, there was no removing the years of fond memories she had shared with the two women, particularly Arslan.
But things had gone the way they had, and Weiss had come out victorious.
“That was Blake and I, yes. Arslan and Ciel confessed their mutual betrayals, and were dealt with.”
Ruby was quiet for a moment, watching Weiss’ frozen expression and listening to the dulled tone Weiss had spoken in. “...I see. Right.”
“Do you disapprove? I will unashamedly bear it if you do. I will not regret my decision.” Looking over at Ruby again, Weiss’ eyes were firm, but there was no hostility in them as she simply waited for Ruby’s decision patiently.
There was a long minute of silence as Ruby stared at her with her own eyes sealed off in thought, contemplating all the events that had led up to where they were. The signs they must have missed, the mistakes each of them had made, and the things both of them had done. Both of them had blood on their hands. While Ruby had never personally taken a life like Weiss, she had guided Pyrrha to send cops to their death, where a few Bandits had lost their lives as well. She had given Yang the intel that had led to the raid on the VPD.
In her own influential way, she had pulled the trigger on quite a few people.
Justice and revenge were strange, strange things. Each of them had used to make sense, once upon a time.
The Schnee family had hurt Arslan, who had then sought revenge on the Schnee’s, who in turn sought revenge on her. A cycle of punishment and retribution and each person involved believing the one they were doing was justified.
“...I don’t know. I don’t know what reactions are right and wrong anymore, and which motivations do or don’t justify them.” Looking down at her lap, Ruby gripped the blankets and shook her head in defeat. “All the lines are so blurred, and greyed. I’ve never doubted your certainty on any of your decisions, but were Arslan and Ciel really able to commit to such a thing wholeheartedly, without any regrets at all?”
“In my position of commanding those who operate on the opposite side of those standard lines I’ve found that with enough incentive the dread of regret becomes negligible. Regret and shame can be compensated for and blanketed. And my father is a master of the art of making people make decisions in his favour by providing the right motivation that is too strong for regret.” Scoffing in disdain at the mention of her father, Weiss’ voice was soft and gentle for the rest of it, her own thoughts lingering on what Ruby had said.
Just as always, their minds were synchronized, and Weiss had spent enough time mulling over it all the past few days to know that everything had become far more distorted on her own end as well. What had been a structured and organised life had been thrown into disarray, with everything she’d thought she’d known about family and trust churned and mixed around. Sentimentality had been the weakness that had allowed her to be exploited, but also been what powered her to fight so hard to get back Ruby.
The Family had been torn apart by what had happened. Nobody knew who to trust anymore, and with one of her two Lieutenants and all four of that Lieutenant’s Captains gone, vaporised in the explosion, it left half of her empire crumbling. But the structure would remain standing, and things would recover.
But the trust that had been between everyone might never fully return.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Ruby speaking up.
“Your father?”
“...yes, Ruby. My father sponsored Arslan’s actions. Just as what happened with Winter; as soon as my power grew too threatening, he attempted to bring me down, and Arslan carried out that endeavour out of her own revenge.” Scoffing once more, Weiss shook her head in disappointment at the woman who had been her friend. “Yet this time she did not succeed in her goal. Largely...largely in thanks to you, along with Yang and Blake.”
When Weiss gave Ruby a small smile, it immediately vanished in confusion at the intense and thoughtful look that Ruby was giving her, looking as if she was structuring her thoughts at a rapid pace. Weiss waited patiently, her hands folded on her lap as she watched Ruby take in a breath and let it out slowly as the final preparation before saying what she had thought.
“Arslan didn’t succeed with Winter either, Weiss.” Biting her bottom lip as she looked into Weiss’ confused eyes, Ruby pressed on. “Winter’s alive. Arslan spared her life.”
She wasn’t surprised when Weiss simply stared at her with eyes that gradually froze over further and further as she lost herself in rushing thoughts. Flawless pale skin seemed to pale even more, and Weiss’ face melted of all expression, the woman seeming to turn to a marble sculpture if not for the ice blue of her eyes.
Weiss eventually shook her head slowly, not breaking eye contact the entire time. There was a fragility in her eyes, the glaciers worn down from too many things chiselling away at her. The walls cracked and chunks fell, and behind the thinning blue layers Ruby could see the ocean of the Weiss that only she ever saw and only in the rarest moments.
And then she knows it’s not just her that’s at the end. That’s in danger of being cracked open and flayed until the only layer left is the one that feels all the hurt. She can see that Weiss had been bled dry, inside. But nobody could see the crimson through the marble. Nobody but her, in the way she always knows what Weiss is thinking and what she’s locking away.
It’s how she knew Weiss was going to try and slit the throat of that forbidden hope and brush it aside.
“That’s...Ruby, I do not believe that to be…”
“It’s the truth, Weiss. Arslan... loved Winter. Loved her enough that even though she destroyed the Family she let Winter go. I got it out of her.” Reaching out, Ruby took Weiss’ ice cold hand and gave it a squeeze, making sure her eyes were gentle as she stared into Weiss’ unreadable expression. “That was one of the main reasons Arslan wanted to interrogate me; to see if I knew where Winter was.”
With a jolted movement, Weiss stood, releasing Ruby’s hand and taking a few steps away with her hands by her side. Visible only to Ruby’s eyes, chunks of ice fell from Weiss’ skin, dropping off her and turning an ice-sculpture like that out of a poet’s dream...back into a girl. Not a mob boss, not an Ice Queen, but the girl who had lost too much and almost died for it. With her back turned, Ruby couldn’t see Weiss’ expression, but she watched as the woman’s shoulders eventually trembled and shook slightly.
“...Weiss?”
From the hesitation in the movement it was clear Weiss wasn’t sure whether she wanted to turn, but she did, showing ice blue eyes that were cracked open and shedding overwhelmed and broken tears. Even for the Ice Queen of Vale, the past few days, the past few weeks , were too much, and some wounds still had blood in them for her to shed.
So when Ruby opened her arms gently, Weiss shamed herself by not even hesitating before rushing back over and burrowing into them.
Hiding her face in Ruby’s neck, Weiss trembled in her arms and cried, muffling herself as best as she could as Ruby held her tight, an arm around her back making sure to avoid her injury while she cupped the back of her head with her other hand to run fingers through the restrained strands of her braided hair.
Pressing a kiss to the side of Weiss’ head, Ruby closed her eyes as she whispered.
“We’ll find her. During all of this, we’ll find her. Somewhere, somehow. Okay?”
Burrowed into her neck, the sobs having faded and been replaced with silent gentle tears, Weiss gave a nod.
“My...my father will pay . For all of this. For all of it.”
“Yeah, about that…” The words having Weiss pulled up to look down into Ruby’s eyes, Ruby gave a thoughtful hum as her eyes steeled over. “I think I have a plan. It’s...going to be dangerous, and we’re going to need Blake and Yang. But I think we can do it.”
Staring down at her lover, at her...partner, Weiss took in the determination and the confident cunning in Ruby’s smile and the silver of her eyes, and she slowly raised an eyebrow as she saw no sign of doubt.
“Is that so? Well, you’re going to have to enlighten me-”
“Alright, well-”
“ After-” Weiss cut Ruby off with a finger softly on her lips, and a look in her eyes that Ruby could only interpret as... faith. “-you’re fully healed. Gives you time to iron out the kinks, no?”
Looking up into her partner’s eyes, Ruby pressed a soft kiss to the finger pressed against her lips and smiled at the slight pinkening of Weiss’ pale cheeks. When the finger slid away and Weiss lightly cupped her cheek properly, Ruby gave a soft nod of agreement.
“...okay. I’ll think on it while I’m stuck in here.”
“Good. It will take me time to...repair some of the wounds inflicted on my Family.” Sighing sadly, Weiss ran her thumb across Ruby’s cheek, before she thinned her lips. “And I believe Yang and Blake have some business of their own to sort out. Raven Branwen has not been kind to your sister in the aftermath of all this, and the corruption of the White Fang is apparently close to absolute and quite a few of the members who disagree with the new regime have fled the organisation in search of another path.”
Catching the fact Weiss had referred to the other two women by their first names multiple times now, Ruby raised her eyebrow curiously with a small smirk, prompting Weiss to give an adorable small frown in confusion.
“So it’s ‘Yang and Blake’ now, huh?”
At Ruby’s playfully curious tone, Weiss’ eyes immediately narrowed in exasperation before she gave a scoff and rolled her eyes dismissively, as if it was no big deal.
“I believe I have reached a close enough... understanding with the two of them over the past days to have reached that point. We’ve spoken quite a bit while you have been here.”
“Aww, do you like them?” Ruby stuck her tongue out cheekily with her toyish tone, and Weiss scowled for a moment before her own eyes sparkled in a way they almost never did, and she leant down so her lips were an inch from Ruby’s.
“...perhaps so, as strange as that is. I blame your influence entirely. Afterall…” Giving a playful smile of her own, Weiss pressed a soft kiss to Ruby’s lips and whispered the rest. “I’ve found myself quite fond of you, Miss Rose.”
Freezing in surprise for a moment, Ruby couldn’t prevent the smile that touched her lips as she chased Weiss’ kiss, whispering in return. “As I am of you, Miss Schnee.”
“...I’m very glad to hear that. And...I’m very glad to see you’re alive. And that you’re okay.” Letting a small shiver of vulnerability enter her tone, Weiss closed her eyes as Ruby’s forehead brushed her own, and Ruby froze at the soft admission from the other woman.
“Me too. I was so scared, seeing you drop…”
Nodding, Weiss tilted her head up slightly in invitation, and Ruby would never have said no, pressing her lips to Weiss’ softly and risking slightly more affection than either of them normally dared. And when Weiss responded in kind, the ice around herself having cracked and crumbled far too much under the strain of the past few days to keep her from being human any longer, Ruby wrapped her arms around her and held her close.
These moments had to be stolen, but Ruby had realised days ago that she’d never regret or question the thievery ever again.
And from the way Weiss was kissing her and holding her, the feeling was mutual.
The feelings were mutual, between the woman thought to never feel anything, and the woman who trained herself not to.
Always in synchronisation, both of them thought of the conversation they’d had at that first lunch, what felt like an age ago. About what a great disappointment it would be to each of them if they were to lose each other to bloodshed. That it would ruin the game.
How true it was.
Though now it would be a loss far different, far scarier, and far... more .
Ruby pulled her closer.
= =
The moment Ruby decided she was fit to move around she slowly and gingerly swung her legs out of bed while staring her primary doctor right in the eye with a stubborn raised eyebrow that had him raise his hands in surrender as she rose to her feet with a heave and an arm around Nora’s shoulders. Arslan’s blade had gone deep into plenty of her muscles with savage slices, trapping her in bed for a week while the damage had been kept under observation and the new weaknesses had been tested, but she refused to stay down any longer.
Six days of inaction had driven her beyond the point of madness. Her co-workers were unable to visit during the work day, with things at the office and the precinct still in beyond chaos, and the other three women in her life were unable to visit except in short secretive bursts. Leaving her with far too many hours laying in her hospital bed and staring up at the roof, lost in her thoughts and her plans as things clicked together and were immediately discarded, new plans taking their place.
But no amount of focus on her scheming was enough to shut away the worst thoughts that haunted her.
So as Nora helped her sway to her feet, giving her a reassuring smile and nod as she helped Ruby to a wheelchair and lowered her down into it, she looked between Nora, Ren, and Jaune, with determined eyes and a clenched jaw.
“Take me to see them.”
Nora and Jaune glanced at each other hesitantly, uncertainty flashing over Jaune’s face while Nora’s jaw tightened but she otherwise didn’t show much of a reaction. Meanwhile Ren, hands folded behind his back as always and his posture tall, simply gave her a nod and stepped forward to help push her wheelchair.
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure. Don’t make me wait any longer, guys.” Letting out a deep breath accompanied by swallowing an anxious lump of dread in her throat, Ruby’s hands folded in her lap and she tapped her fingers together. “Please.”
After looking at Ruby, and then at each other for a few more seconds, Nora gave her a kind smile and nod, while Jaune let out a deep breath of his own and adjusted his uniform to buy himself a few moments. Everyone knew he came by the hospital every afternoon to swing by where Pyrrha was being kept, even when he didn’t have the time to check on Ruby. The man just couldn’t help himself.
So he was able to understand Ruby’s desire deeper than the others, and it had him the most nervous about her seeing it in the flesh for the first time. But he stepped aside, giving a nod of concession and putting his hands into his pockets as Ren wheeled Ruby past to lead the way, nodding to the doctor when the man told them not to keep her up and about for long.
They moved through the halls of the hospital silently, Ruby feeling her heart starting to hammer anxiously and she clenched her jaw, listening to the sounds of the hospital as she moved past it all. Machines beeped, doctors talked, patients groaned or spoke quietly to their visitors in the wards they passed. The streets had erupted into chaos, her three other companions had been filling in what they could, so the hospitals were all busy and the two largest were even gradually reaching capacity.
It was only going to get worse.
Ruby locked out the noise as best as she could as she was pushed past it all until they reached a large glass window looking into an observation ward, where a familiar tall and powerful redhead had her eyes closed and machines attached to every part of her as she laid in bed, far too still to be natural.
With a monitor showing her pulse being weaker than it should be but as consistent as it could be given the circumstances, Pyrrha was tucked in as comfortably as possible as she laid attached a large number of monitors and a few IV’s constantly giving her fluids and a few treatments. But there was only so much the hospital was able to do.
As Ren stopped Ruby in front of the window and angled the wheelchair so she was able to look in, Ruby couldn’t resist reaching out and pressing her hand against the glass. The doctors were still hesitant to allow people into the room, the risk for infection still being a high one since it would be a crisis added to the list of numerous others, so the best that four of the woman’s five best friends could do was stare in.
And stare in they did, Nora leaning into Ren’s side with wet eyes as Ren wrapped his arms around her and looked in as well with a calm and composed expression that Ruby could still see through and at the aching heart within. Meanwhile Jaune was at Ruby’s right side, close enough she could feel his body heat and see the pained twitching in his hands by his sides as he looked in at the woman he loved but had never told, unknowing she felt the same.
It was a regret that Ruby understood, in her own slightly distorted way.
Staring in quietly, her hand pressed against the cold glass, Ruby kept her voice low in the otherwise silent observation room.
“...any updates?”
At the question, Nora pressed in tighter to Ren, while Jaune let out a short breath and gave a slow shake of his head.
“Nothing. No sign of anything at all. She hasn’t stirred, her brain activity is still…” He cut off, the words failing and came out as a stammered breath, and Ruby reached up to take his hand and give it a squeeze, letting him squeeze and keep a hold on it for comfort. “...yeah. She’s in there, but deep. Nothing. They don’t know if... when ...she’ll wake up.”
Nodding in understanding, Ruby stared into the room at her friend, the woman who had always made it clear she had more faith in Ruby than anyone else did until she’d met Weiss. Pyrrha had been Ruby’s partner in a thousand cases over the past couple of years, their careers side by side and their victories beyond numerous, each of them having their name firmly printed in bold onto the legacies of the other. There was no version of each of their professional obituaries that wouldn’t include the other’s name alongside their own just as prominently.
Pyrrha had gone on missions into combat on Ruby’s tip and advice a hundred times, her trust in her absolute and formed through experience and time. And even Ruby with her memory couldn’t number how many times she’d picked up her phone to hear Pyrrha asking her to step into the interrogation room and stand across from some of the most dangerous people Pyrrha had ever managed to grab because there was nobody else Pyrrha trusted more for the job.
Her fingers dug into the glass slightly as she looked in, and her jaw ground together as she stared at the pale and still form of her friend. The injuries to Pyrrha had practically ripped her apart, it was only pure strength and uncanny luck that had saved her, and there truly was no saying whether or not she’d be able to wake up. But Ruby believed in her, believed that she would. Pyrrha was strong. The city had lost perhaps its greatest protector in the subjugation of Pyrrha Nikos.
While Ruby had been tearing through the hallways of the gallery in the search for Penny, too many gunmen had walked up to the council and other authorities and opened fire, and only Pyrrha had managed to bring anyone down before she’d given into her own injuries. Even though Ruby knew that she wouldn’t have even been able to contribute if she’d been there, it likely just resulting in her own death or capture, there was still an oil slick along her insides that swirled with a current of what if .
Her boss was dead, the mayor was dead, the police commissioner was dead, three of the four other best regarded prosecutors in the office had been killed, and a dozen other members of the council and the city's elite as well. The city still hadn’t organised itself, scrambling to stop the entire structure from collapsing and the distraction allowing the streets the freedom to churn with blood and ash as the war had begun in earnest. Without any risk from the Schnee Family until it organised, Raven had been able to strategize for a war where she could commit her full strength against the White Fang without having to worry about her western borders.
And the Grim Faces were circling the Schnees like vultures and pacing along territorial boundaries like the rabid hungry beasts they were, snapping their jaws and taking pot-shots where they felt like it. But with Weiss alive and back in the game with a focus and coldness that had galvanised her Family into rallying and falling back into true rank and file, the damage to her power hadn’t been as much as Cinder had clearly been banking on.
After the one night of being open and genuine and the closest to emotional she was capable of, Weiss had vented enough to freeze over and straighten up once more, returning to who she was capable of being. Who she needed to be.
Ruby’s finger squeaked across the glass as her hand threatened to turn into a fist with the pain in her chest as she stared at her friend and the fury and grief from everything that had happened ate away at her. She still had nightmares of her own ordeal every night, on the nights she was able to sleep at all without sedatives to help her drift off, but her own mind was sharpening and structuring again with every passing day. It was nothing she couldn’t handle, even as the flashes of memory left her shaking and dreaming of hooks and a cruel laugh and smirk.
Closing her eyes as she dropped her hand from the window and released Jaune’s so she could fold both of hers in her lap, she knew what had to come next, and when she looked around at her friends she could tell they knew what she was going to ask, and were hesitating even more than they had for Pyrrha.
“Take me to Penny. Now.”
Shuffling, even Ren looked apprehensive, but he didn’t say anything, leaving it to Nora when his girlfriend ran a hand through her short orange hair and fixed Ruby with an emotional and uncertain stare.
“Ruby, that’s…”
“Just do it. She’s my best friend. Don’t you dare keep me from her.” Ruby’s eyes narrowed into a pushing glare even as she bit her lip and a tremor went through her body. What she’d hoped was a determined glare instead came out as pleading, and Nora hesitated for only another few moments before giving a nod.
When Jaune didn’t object, the man understanding how it would feel if someone tried to keep him away from seeing Pyrrha, Ren put his hands on Ruby’s wheelchair as well in order to take her to the long-term intensive care unit.
The halls gradually grew less and less occupied as they went, and again none of them spoke as they went even as the hallways grew quiet and the sound of their footsteps and the quiet squeaks of the turning wheels were the loudest noises they could hear. But there wasn’t anything they could say to prepare Ruby properly, she knew enough from what she’d managed to wrangle out of them despite how much they’d wanted to keep from her so that she’d be able to rest.
But Ruby would not tolerate being coddled or pitied any longer. Not an inch. Not the slightest bit.
So none of them gave any further objections or voiced any hesitations as they eventually reached the door leading into Penny’s room.
Pausing for a moment as if psyching himself up, Jaune knocked, waiting a few seconds before turning the handle and opening the door so they could step in and Ruby could be wheeled in.
The one bed in the room was occupied by Ruby’s best friend, the girl a true mess of stitches and bandages that were far worse than Ruby’s own, with both of her legs in casts and a patch over one eye to cover the one that was damaged beyond repair. But unlike Pyrrha, the other eye was open as Penny stared up at the roof.
She didn’t respond to the door opening or the others entering, simply continuing to stare up at the roof and calmly blink her free eye every few seconds as if everything was casual and okay.
“Afternoon Penny.” Nora spoke with a small and friendly smile. “We brought someone who can finally come and see you.”
No response or acknowledgement.
Ruby’s heart cracked open and began to bleed onto her ribs and drip down into her guts.
Closing her eyes in a slow and grinding acceptance now that she saw the reality with her own eyes, she went to extend her hand slowly, and looked over at the others to silently ask whether or not it was okay. Nora gave a small nod, sad and pained, and Ruby nodded in return before looking back at her still friend and reaching out to place her hand on Penny’s own.
“Hey Penny...I missed you…”
Penny’s hand was warm, but not as warm as it should have been, and when there was the slightest blip in her pulse at Ruby’s voice Ruby blinked in surprise and a small amount of excitement, whipping her head around to look at the others only to pause at the sad expressions on their faces. Meeting eyes with Nora, the girl being Penny’s other best friend, Ruby saw the pain in them as Nora shook her head slowly.
“...it doesn’t mean anything, Ruby. Just still little bits of proof that...she’s still somewhere in there, deep down.” Releasing Ren’s arm so she could approach and sit on the edge of Penny’s bed, reaching up to brush some of Penny’s hair from her face, Nora gave her friend a horrifically sad look. “...but she’s in there. She’s going to have a lot of scars, and her legs are never going to be quite the same again, not with the bolts in them. And her eye…”
Swallowing as she was forced to pause, Nora looked at Penny’s face, her gaze lingering on the bandage over Penny’s half-blindness, and Ruby saw as her jaw clenched in grief on behalf of her friend which was quickly followed by a swallowed and repressed fury. Nora’s anger was a covered up and blanketed thing, not like Jaune’s which did come out in bursts, and all three of Ruby’s friends had been feeling it as they’d been forced to deal with what Ruby had pinned was a form of survivor’s guilt.
“Her eye...well...yeah.” Swallowing once more, Nora swallowed her grief and anger back down so it didn’t break the gentle quiet that she knew Ruby needed in order to do her own thinking. “But...she ran away. And she hasn’t come back yet.”
Nodding, Ruby looked away from Nora when the girl finished speaking, and her eyes immediately went back to watching Penny’s awake but blank face.
Penny wasn’t built for what had happened. She was kind, and gentle, the sort of person who never killed insects and instead spoke to them even as she took them outside, whether they be spiders, moths, or even cockroaches. She had looked after a sickly father all throughout high school and university, liked to draw people even if she wasn’t fantastic at it, and cried at pet adoption commercials.
There wasn’t a single member of the prosecutor’s office with more faith in the law and in the good of mankind than Penny. The girl who had written a dozen papers on reforming the prison system to focus on rehabilitation. Who had quietly and sweetly lobbied for a dozen improvements for how small-time offenders were treated, raising her hand in meetings, talking to Glynda privately, even speaking in front of the council on a few occasions. They never paid her much mind, but she kept trying. Because that was who she was. The woman who always took the cases involving children and teenagers so she could talk to them with her sweet eyes and sympathetic smile.
Even though she was a prosecutor, underage and teenage offenders had no greater and more compassionate ally in the city than Penny Polendina. It was rare that those cases even went to trial at all, Penny dragging the public attorneys into small rooms, giving them some tea, and not letting them leave until it had been hashed out and agreements had been made.
Not many underage offenders went to juvenile detention if Penny Polendina took their case. And few, if any, reoffended after the kindness and compassion and assistance she gave them.
She didn’t have Ren’s adaptability, Nora’s zeal, or Ruby’s raw talent and intellect. She didn’t have their strength or their palm-punching determination. But she had the kindness none of them did, the faith in every person in the courtrooms she entered. The belief that there was no such thing as bad people, only bad circumstances and the results of them.
Faith that her own compassion was what the law and what justice was all about.
...and every bit of it was why she wasn’t able to even comprehend what had happened to herself, to such a point she’d run away.
A tear slipped down Ruby’s cheek as her head dropped and she rested her forehead on the back of Penny’s hand still gently clutched in her own. But she didn’t cry. Instead she simply stayed there, listening as the other three took turns talking to Penny and giving the unaware girl updates in soft voices until they’d run out of things to say.
Once Ruby could tell they’d reached that point, and her own gut was filled to bursting, she numbly nodded when it was time to leave, but not before pushing herself up from the chair with all of her strength so she could reach up enough to press a kiss to an uninjured spot on Penny’s cheek. The vital monitor blipped as Penny, on some level, felt it.
Ruby’s heart cracked open further. But still she didn’t cry.
When she was taken back to her room, she didn’t cry. As she laid in bed later that afternoon as most of the patches and bandages were taken off her body and all her wounds were revealed to her aware eyes for the first time, the ones that would fade obvious but the numerous ones that would leave vicious scars even moreso, she still didn’t cry.
Even though Nora’s eyes were agonised and even Ren’s were filled with a muted horror behind his composure, and Jaune’s jaw clenched in an angry and vengeful grief on her behalf, she still didn’t cry.
It wasn’t until the sun had set and the hospital was silent and eventually the door cracked open and a girl in leather biker pants and an orange tank top entered, that she curled up into Yang’s arms once her sister had rushed over to pull her close...and she cried. She sobbed, she screamed, she clutched Yang so tightly that Yang’s own injured ribs hurt but she didn’t say a word about it. Ruby spasmed and almost roared her grief into the muffling fabric of Yang’s shirt as her sister held her close and let her, with her lilac eyes closed and lips pressed to the top of Ruby’s head as a few silent tears of her own dripped from her eyes as Ruby’s despair whipped and flashed through the room like a maelstrom.
Even once Ruby cried herself into exhaustion, Yang stayed. She stayed past her alarm going off, tossing the warning to hell as she clutched her broken and exhausted sister close as she slept in her arms.
When Ruby groggily woke close to dawn, she was still wrapped in Yang’s tired but awake arms, while a soft-faced Weiss sat on the edge of the bed and was running her fingers through her lover’s hair, and a composed Blake stood on the other side of the room to keep watch on the door with her arms crossed and kind golden eyes.
= =
Ruby had been in the hospital for nine days in total when there was a knock on her door, the day before she was due to be discharged, and she frowned in curiosity as she closed the book she’d been reading that had been leant to her courtesy of Blake.
“Uhh...come in?”
Unused to people patiently and politely knocking, normally either sneaking in like the other three girls or bursting through it in the case of Nora leading the charge of her daytime friends. So as the door swung open slowly and calmly and revealed the form of Councillor Oscar Pine, Ruby straightened up and put the book to the side as she gave the man a nod of greeting and a small smile.
“Councillor, it’s good to see you. How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better, Miss Rose.” Chuckling, the man looked worse for wear, even though he was outright supporting himself on a cane due to the damage done to his lower torso and legs. It would heal more over time, but for now at least he was slowed. “And yourself? May I come in?”
“Of course sir, and I’m….honestly I’m bored silly. But I’m being discharged tomorrow, which I’ve been looking forward to.” Forcing a slightly wider smile when the man chuckled and closed the door behind himself when he entered, Ruby watched him curiously. “What can I do for you sir?”
“I was discharged two days ago, at my own insistence. Returning to work as soon as possible was my priority.” Groaning as he sank into the only mildly comfortable chair, Oscar rested the cane at an angle between his legs so he could keep his hands on the top of it. Silent for a moment as he organised his thoughts, he thinned his lips. “I’m unsure how much you’ve been keeping up with the state of the city.”
Sighing, Ruby swung her legs over the side of her bed so she could face the man properly, and folded her hands on her lap. Frankly she didn’t know much about the official state of the city at all, since the three other women only had updates about the underworld, and her daytime friends seemed determined not to ‘stress her out’ with details about what the ebbs and tides had been doing in her absence. It was frustrating, but they stubbornly kept at it no matter how much she pressed, and she had no wish to start a fight with them about it.
So she sighed and shook her head.
“Very little, sir.”
Oscar gave a hum as if he was unsurprised, sinking deeper into thought as he tapped the head of the cane with his fingertips. The man had always been quiet in the public eye, constantly overshone by his adoptive father and the progressive policies he put forward overruled by the rest of the council who were comfortable with the status quo that had them so well off and their donors and sponsors so cushy. But by everything Ruby had researched about the man, and everything she had faint memories of him when he’d been a member of her father’s gym even up until the end...she’d never found anything about him that made her hesitate to support him politically.
She knew from photographs, old news articles, and plenty of stories her father had told with a smile, that her father, uncle, and even her mother had been fond of the man when he was a younger member. And, if she was honest with herself, that was enough for her.
So even as he was clearly structuring his thoughts to word them in very specific and careful ways, she waited patiently without tearing him apart with her eyes too harshly.
Eventually he nodded as his thoughts clicked into order, and tapped his fingers on the cane once more.
“Until a certain degree of peace has been re-established, I have been put into the role of Interim Mayor, in a time where the burden and responsibility of knitting the threads of the city back together is going to be harder than ever.” Thinning his lips and giving a clearly exhausted sigh, Oscar deflated slightly and his grip on the cane tightened. “The news cycle is filled with more horror stories with every passing day. It is...a responsibility I do not believe anyone could truly be equipped for.”
Ruby gave a sympathetic nod as she regarded the man. Frankly she wasn’t surprised, if he was really the last member of the original council left he was the obvious choice to slide into the position until the city was calm enough that elections could be held. But the very thought of what it would mean having to take the weight of...especially so soon after losing his father alongside his colleagues...she couldn’t imagine how heavy the weight was going to be in the days to come for the man.
There was only one direction this conversation was going, and Ruby nodded slowly again as she organised her thoughts on it.
It didn’t take her long. She’d made her decision days ago when she’d seen it on the horizon.
“What can I do to help, sir?”
At the way she voiced the question, the tone in every syllable, it was enough for Oscar to meet her serious gaze with one of his own, carrying every drop of the authority now on his shoulders and the years of being raised in it and trained for it by not just his own father, but by Ruby’s, learning strength from the same source she did.
So he didn’t hesitate, his eyes glowing and serious.
“After what you went through, and what you’re in danger of losing, nobody in this city has the right to ask you to take any more weight. Nobody has any right to ask you to do more than you already have.” Oscar’s lips thinned as he let out a regretful yet determined sigh. “But, I’m asking.”
“I’ll do it.”
Ruby’s eyes were just as determined as his own when she said it instantly without any hesitation, her mouth set in a serious line and her hands bundling up her pyjama pants in a fierce grip to prevent herself from trembling anxiously as the reality of the situation became real and it felt as if the concrete of the hard roads again solidified to catch her. She stopped falling through an uncertain and guideless darkness, unsure where to start, and the true foundations of everything she knew she had to do materialised beneath her feet.
Staring at her and meeting her eyes, studying her with a calm gaze, Oscar was silent for a few moments before his grip on his cane tightened for another moment and he nodded. Pushing himself to his feet, his eyes didn’t leave Ruby as she did the same, standing on her own two feet with ease as they crossed the distance to stand in front of each other.
It surprised Ruby that the man was only slightly taller than her, but it meant they could hold each other’s stare easily enough without either of them having to tilt their heads.
Oscar thinned his lips.
“If you're sure...then thank you, Ruby.” Taking one hand off the cane, Oscar extended it for her. “Nothing in this city could ever repay you for everything you’ve done.”
“That’s never mattered to me...Oscar?” The question at the end had Oscar nodding with a small smile, giving her permission, and Ruby reached out and took his hand in hers firmly. “I’ll do everything I can ...No matter what it takes.”
Shaking Ruby’s hand for a long moment, Oscar eventually released it and allowed his arm to drop by his side once more, supporting his weight on the cane with the other. Regarding his new colleague, his new right-hand, for a moment...he gave her a small but deeply grateful smile.
“You have grown into the most impressive young woman.”
“Thank you.” Chuckling, Ruby shrugged, even as she felt a strange pang in her chest at the small strange reminder that Oscar had known her as a baby when he’d been a friend and student of her parents. “I sure hope so, since I think I’m gonna need to be for now.”
Giving a chuckle of his own, Oscar nodded as he took a step back to begin to leave. “I agree. So...here’s hoping we can do it. We’ll make it official, but take a few days to recover and organise yourself. And to think over it further.”
“Sure. Sounds...sounds like a plan.” Letting out a slow breath, anxious enough it surprised her, Ruby sat back down on the edge of her bed as she gave Oscar a nod of farewell and the man closed the door behind him.
The door clicked closed, leaving the new District Attorney in her silent and terrified thoughts, as everything that was lying ahead became real almost beyond comprehension.
= =
The air of Weiss’ apartment was cool with the balcony doors open, letting in the early autumn air that would have had Ruby shiver if she wasn’t wearing a new jumper courtesy of Coco. It had been a quick but annoying process transporting her scarce belongings from her apartment to Weiss, and when the other woman had made room in her massive closet for Ruby’s own clothes and Coco had seen just how little she had and how much space was left over…
The woman had...assisted in filling those gaps.
Generously.
After what had happened, and now that Ruby had been officially sworn in as District Attorney as of a few days ago, the others had made it very clear that she was no longer allowed to live in her vulnerable and dingy apartment now that she was so important. Though they also didn’t bother hiding the fact they wanted her out of there just for their own personal reassurance for her safety.
Weiss and Yang had simply shown up at her apartment with bags, dropped them on her living room floor, and Yang had told her to pack while Weiss had simply raised an eyebrow with her hands behind her back.
There could be issues if it was discovered where she was living now, but Blake...had revealed that she had reconnected with a few friends who were in some useful places, that would be more than able to hide that information from becoming public or officially acknowledged.
Both Blake and Yang had been just as busy as Weiss during Ruby’s recovery.
And now it was time to get started, the four of them in the large space of Weiss’ combined dining room and sitting room as they looked up at the massive board that was covered in the large map that was Ruby and Weiss’ masterpiece, properly set up with every note and thread in place.
“Alright then…”
Looking between the three other women, Ruby met their eyes one by one. Blake simply put her hand on her hip in thought, staring up at the map, and gave a simple nod, meanwhile Weiss folded her hands behind her back as she always did and raised an eyebrow with her thoughts already far away. And Yang, for her own part, leant back on the edge of Weiss’ dining table, crossed her arms, and gave Ruby a small smile and a wink of agreement.
Smiling and giving a small roll of her eyes, Ruby took in a deep breath as she plucked a marker from the table and removed the lid, holding her breath until her still-battered lungs began to hurt while stepping over to study the map and notes and lines of thread from up close.
She let the breath out in a loud and braced hum.
“Okay...let’s get started. Weiss, what can you predict as the initial reaction from your father?”
“Not so simple a thing to estimate.” Drumming her fingers behind her back, Weiss thinned her lips as her eyes flicked to the photo of Jacques that was pinned to the board. “I believe our actions two weeks ago may have been enough to provoke true action from him. Which will take him time to prepare.”
Yang gave a deep frown as she glanced over at the woman, narrowing her eyes. “You sure…? I mean...I don’t know. All we did was kill his spies and blow up a warehouse.”
“ Yang. ” Scoffing, with addressing the other women by their first names growing more familiar to her by the day, Weiss rolled her eyes. “You know what I’m trying to say. But...you also do not know my father.”
“True, true. Okay. What about two warehouses?” Yang’s lips flicked into the grin she was no longer hiding when Weiss shot her a dry glare.
“And where do you suppose-”
As the two complete opposite women began to bicker, still waking up from restless sleep and coffee still soaking into both of their systems, Ruby refused to turn around and acknowledge it even as she gave a quiet sigh.
Blake stepped up next to her, sliding her hands into her belt, and glanced over with a resigned smile.
“It’s going to be a long war.”
A small chuckle from Ruby surprised her, and Blake’s eyebrows flicked up as Ruby gave a nod, the sound still leaving her lips, before the new District Attorney sobered and pulled one of the spare pins from the board to roll in her fingers for a moment.
“Yeah...it is.”
Giving a look over to Blake for a brief moment even as the two other women behind them woke themselves up by jabbing at each other, Ruby looked back to the board and stuck the pin into the photo of Jacques Schnee, another into Cinder Fall, and used thread to link the two of them to the question mark to represent the unknown figure that was Salem.
It was going to be a long war, and the lines had been drawn in the sand and already soaked in red.
The people they were up against had bled the city to scare it away from toeing those lines, broken the VPD to do the same, cut a chunk out of the Schnee Family, splintered the White Fang, and cornered the Branwen bandits.
The lines now drawn were deep and dark and lined with needles and blades.
But the four women were ready to cross them.
Taking the marker to the board, Ruby got to work.
= =