Chapter Text
Chapter 24: Explosive
“...Why did I agree to this…?” Ruby groaned, face down on the couch, trying not to move if she could help it. Her vision was swimming and most of the time, tipping sideways. Her head was pounding horribly, anything louder than someone breathing felt like a jackhammer breaking her skull and the slightest movement threatened to make her throw up the contents of her stomach, which is currently just an unhealthy amount of chicken nuggets they threw in the oven to stave off the drinking hunger they felt at four in the morning.
“Oh god,” Yang groans from the other couch, “I never want to drink ever again…” she mumbles before dry heaving and falling back down tiredly, “...I should’ve just gone back to sleep…”
“Urgh, shh, quiet, I need quiet,” Uncle Qrow mumbled, arm thrown at the back of his solo chair, head tilted up, “oh man… it’s been a while since I got a hangover this bad…”
“Why do you even have one? Don’t you practically drink for a living?” Yang snarks back, pushing herself up to sit down on the couch instead.
“Yes, My dearest niece and if this was any normal time, I’d be fine but I haven’t been able to drink anything since this mess started and my body just got shocked at the sudden drunkenness,” he rambled
“Ughhhh that’s so long to understand, my brain is hurting,” was the only intelligible reply Ruby gave, “you guys suck,”
“I made you guys some soup,” Ren chuckles, placing a couple of cups filled with broth, “I hope it’ll make you feel better,”
“Thanks kid, you’re a gem,” Qrow says with a lazy smile, wincing at every second he moved to get the cup, “I’m getting old if I have a hangover just from drinking three bottles of tequila, forgot the most important rule to not getting a hangover: staying drunk,”
“...Tequila!?” Yang says, “I thought it was whiskey!”
“Stop screaming, damn it!” Ruby growled.
“It was whiskey… at first… I lost count after our… fourth…fifth? flask,” Qrow smirked, “Somewhere along the lines, the whiskey became tequila laced with some… really good vodka and Ruby was belting out ‘Reunited’”
“And it does not feel good,” Ruby sat up slowly, making sure her movements wouldn’t make want to vomit too much.
“What brought this on, I mean… I get Qrow, Yang too, but… Ruby, you don’t drink,” Ren raised a brow in amusement.
“...Been stressed as fuck, I was told that alcohol was the solution…” Ruby clicked her tongue before slurping her broth, “Bullshit, Ren, I tell you, complete and utter bullshit,”
“Well, you guys better sober up soon, I don’t think Glynda’s going to appreciate her best agents being too hungover on the job,” Ren chuckles before heading back to the kitchen, “Oh and make sure to brace yourselves one they all wake up,”
“...Oh god… Glynda… fuck… I forgot about Glynda,” Qrow groaned, falling back into the chair.
“Oh no… the noise… the noise…” Yang buried her face further into the couch and all three of them groaned simultaneously.
“I repeat, you guys suck,” Ruby cradles her throbbing head earning a laugh from the dark haired boy in the kitchen.
—
The cold shower she took did help in a way, by that she meant that she moved too much and vomited on the toilet as she was scrubbing herself clean to get rid of all the sand clinging to her. She still felt like shit after but at least she smelled nicer.
Now, Ruby was wincing as the sun practically burned a hole on her eyelids. She clutched a giant two liter bottle of water as if it was her lifeline and steadily drank some sips off of it as she watched her friends train.
Glynda really laid it into them for doing what they did, she grabbed the bottle with a small amount of tequila away from them but in the end when everyone else had began training and they were about to leave, she placed a hand on Qrow’s shoulder and her uncle had given her a shot or three of the stuff too.
In some way, it did help. They talked about their fears and worries, about their dad and the situation with their moms… about the world potentially being closer to being taken over and how they knew what they were doing wasn’t enough and that everyone they cared about was in potential danger. They said their apologies and wishes to be there more for each other which ended up in tears, Yang crying, Uncle Qrow silently sobbing holding her and Yang, and Ruby practically wailing against them, and when they woke up passed out on the beach with Ren slowly nudging them, Ruby felt… safe. Safer than she’d felt the past month. So maybe drinking really was a great idea. They felt… they felt like they were back together… In sync, like they used to when they took missions all those years ago. Stronger together like a family again.
She could still do without the hangover. It hurt like a bitch… so badly that it was making her cuss non-stop. Ruby sighed, taking another sip from her water bottle. Hoping the pain would ease around the afternoon.
“Salutations Ruby my friend!” Penny grinned, giving her a two finger salute and a dazzling smile… much too dazzling for her current state to the point where she winced.
“Sup, Pen,” she said, trying to smile but ended up becoming more of a wince.
“I see that my sunny demeanor is causing you pain! I will tone it down,” Penny laughed before sitting beside her.
“Yeah, thanks, Pen, drinking sucks, never do it,” she murmured, “So… what’s up?”
“Oh, I was working on the new weapons and I found myself in a snag, I was hoping to get some way to fix it but after hours of working on the same problem I got tired and went out,” Penny explained, “Then I saw you here and I wanted to get some input but it seems you’re…”
“...Too shit-faced to even move?” Ruby supplemented earning a giggle from the orange haired girl.
“Precisely!”
Ruby couldn’t help but crack a smile, “I can help but… maybe when my skull doesn’t feel like it’s being split in half…”
“Oh! Then you should really be taking a nap!” Penny suggested, “Yang and Qrow are,”
…
“Those assholes!” Ruby said in indignation, saying it much louder than she expected, earning a look of confusion from the group who was training, “Sorry… carry on,” she says, putting on her formal act, clearing her throat a bit.
“I take it they told you to watch them and they’d—”
“They said they were just going to apologize to Glynda for being a horrible influence on me…” Ruby grumbled, “And told me I should keep watch of training and they’ll be joining me in a bit,”
“I’ll keep watch and document their progress,” Penny chuckles as Ruby slowly stands up.
“Thanks for being a pal, Pen,”
“Anytime, Ruby my friend!”
—
Weiss practically fell face first onto the bed as soon as their training for the day ended. Her limbs were sore and she knew she had bruises littering her body in odd areas and she only had to thank Nora for the experience.
Unlike Jaune who was still somewhat inexperienced or Ren who always held back when it came to training with her Blake. Nora didn’t hold back. As soon as Weiss had told her to take this seriously, the peach haired girl practically went for the jugular, punches so quick matching quick movements and she was practically thrown around like a ragdoll.
She had to bathe because of how much sand was stuck to her due to being thrown to the beach repeatedly. It was painful as hell and as much as she could proudly say that she was getting better when it came to hand to hand combat, she vastly preferred the calmer environment that came when she was just holding a gun and shooting.
She didn’t even get to talk to Ruby today, mostly because the girl was so hungover up until she fell asleep again around the afternoon. She asked Blake if she knew why they were up all night drinking but her best friend just shook her head so Weiss had no choice but to accept that for what it is. Chances are, Weiss knew why they opted to drown their sorrows in alcohol. Yesterday was… a lot for everyone and Weiss knew that it would be doubly so for the direct members of this family.
She laid down on the king sized bed alone, staring at the ceiling. The trio, Ruby, Yang and their Uncle had taken the living room over so everyone else had decided to just go back to their previous room arrangements for the night. Even Glynda had told their group to leave the three of them alone. It’s been a rough couple of days and only about to get rougher for their family.
Her thoughts were interrupted as her door knob turned, immediately she sat up and found the tired figure of her rose standing by the door way.
“Hey, Weiss,” Ruby smiles, gently closing the door behind her, “I hope I didn’t wake you up… I was just going to get some clothes and stuff, I wanna bathe again, it feels icky,”
She couldn’t help but return the smile, giggling softly, “You didn’t wake me up, how’s your first hangover?”
“Horrible… “ Ruby sighs, walking closer before finally plopping down on the foot of the bed, “I feel better now, I guess… still feel like my skull’s aching in places it shouldn’t,”
“Yeah, been there, Coco’s courtesy,” it’s practically why I haven’t drunk anything strong since,” she cracks another smile, scooting closer towards the silver-eyed girl. Ruby moved in accordance and it wasn’t long when they found themselves cuddling face to face, “So… How’ve you been… be honest,” she whispers as if they were the only two people in the world. Letting her fingertips glide on the girl’s cheek.
Ruby leans into the touch before intertwining the wandering hand with hers and placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand that had Weiss melting at the intimate action, “Better now… I talked with Yang and Uncle Qrow last night… It was… hmm… relieving to know that I wasn’t the only one who felt like a fuck up,”
“You’re not—”
“It’s fine Weiss,” Ruby cuts her off with a smile, “besides… I am better now… I meant it, well, maybe not entirely, currently my head still hurts but I’m doing better,” she said filled with conviction.
“Okay… if you’re sure, I won’t push anymore,” and silence enveloped both of them. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It was welcome. It was peaceful. Then it was Ruby’s turn to ask her the same question, “How about you? Are you doing well?”
And as she was about to answer ‘of course’, worried silver eyes practically bored themselves into her mind and Weiss had to rethink the answer. Was she alright? Physically, yeah, save for some bruises but… but she hadn’t really had enough time to assess the situation they were in for what it was.
They’ve been gone from their old lives for about a month and half now… Far away from home on a private island with people trying to kill them just because she loved the person actively going against the people who want to take over the world. It was crazy… crazier still about how she didn’t think about this until this moment when Ruby had asked her. All she’d done since was bury herself in training to run away from the reality looming above them.
When she didn’t answer for a while, Ruby just pulled her closer, placing a tender kiss on her forehead, “It’s okay that it’s not okay… I’m here… I’m right here,” They stayed like that and Weiss found herself relaxing… she didn’t want to cry but this situation they were in was just too far out her regular rhythm, she didn’t know how to approach it. So instead of letting her tears run, she focused on the scent of roses that clung to Ruby’s skin like always. She placed a chaste kiss on the girl’s neck before nestling closer.
“I’m scared…” her lips spoke before she could stop it, she had to shut her eyes tightly so that the traitorous droplets won’t pour from her eyes, “... I’m scared for our safety… I’m scared of what the enemy is going to do to us… to the world… I’m scared of what might happen to you guys and… I’m so scared…I don’t want to see any of you get hurt… I don’t want to see you hurt like that again,”
Ruby didn’t say anything but when she pulled away and stared into her eyes, the next few movements were filled with heat and passion. Ruby all but slammed her lips against her own, she felt Ruby moving over her until she was straddling Weiss. She pulls away briefly, letting them both breath for a mere fraction of a second before she dove again to capture Weiss’ lips once more. She felt Ruby’s tongue glide on her lips begging for an entrance and she let her. Ruby bites Weiss’ lower lip before letting her tongue slide inside. The silver eyed girl explored her mouth like she was desperate to know every single inch of it. Weiss wasn’t quite sure what was happening but for once… she let herself be free from all the things troubling her.
Her arms made their way to the back of Ruby’s neck, pulling the girl closer than ever. Sucking on her lips briefly, letting them drink in precious air before going at again. How long has it been since this started? Weiss wasn’t really keeping count. All she could feel was the desire that was welling up inside of her by the second. All she could feel was Ruby. Ruby’s lips, her body, her everything against Weiss’ own and she just let herself get lost all over again.
Once they both felt their lungs burning, Ruby pulled away, resting her head on Weiss’ chest as they both took deep breaths to catch the precious oxygen they gladly forgo in lieu of making out. They stayed like that, unmoving for a good few moments before Ruby pulls herself up and kisses Weiss a final time.
Less vicious but more… passionate, that it had her melting into the taller girl. They rested their foreheads against each other, “I love you,” Ruby whispers, “and if you promised me that if I do something wrong you’d stop me… then I in turn would swear to you that I’ll put a stop to everything that’s causing you fear… We’ll win this… I’ll win this… I have too much to live for to let this enemy get ahead of us,”
Weiss believed her.
“I love you too… so much…” she says, pressing a chaste kiss on the tip of Ruby’s nose, “but promise me, you’ll be careful,”
At this the younger girl smiles, “of course… after all, I won’t do anything to jeopardize a future of making out with you everyday… and then some,” she smirks, making Weiss go redder.
“Dolt,” she grabs a pillow above her and hits the girl with it, “it’s much too soon for that,” Ruby just laughs, pushing the pillow away. She pulls Weiss up and flips their position until Weiss finds herself straddling this charming girl beneath her. She let her hands play with Ruby’s hair. She always did know how to get Weiss to calm down or be at ease. It was like magic. Unable to resist those lips, she bends down, holding Ruby’s face tenderly as if she held the world in her hands before pressing their lips again. Short and sweet, filled with as much love as she can put in it. After that, she places her head on the crook of Ruby’s neck.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Ruby says and this time… Weiss believed it with all her heart. She closed her eyes and let Ruby’s calm breathing lull her to sleep.
—
Ruby was sleeping wonderfully up until someone shook her frantically, waking both her and the girl she was holding.
“Hmmghk… what…?” she mumbles, rubbing her eyes tiredly, sitting up. When she opens them, the first thing she sees is an adorable looking groggy Weiss and a very panicked Penny, instantly her senses go into overdrive, “What’s wrong, Pen?”
“It’s your Father,” her blood goes cold and she apologizes to Weiss as she practically jumps off the bed and sprints off to where he was. She grabs a weapon on instinct and when she goes down the living room, she sees Glynda trying to fight back her still controlled father.
“Glynda!? What’s going on!?” she asks, rushing as fast as she could to help.
“I don’t know! One moment I was trying to carefully remove the chip, then the next, it was beeping!” Glynda replies, hitting Taiyang with a baton, the man just blocked it with his forearm. Before countering, grabbing the baton from Glynda’s hand and throwing it away.
“Beeping!?” she asks frantically. Crap, this metal staff on her hand wasn’t going to do any damage to him. They needed something to completely conk him out and sadly, they didn’t have any tranquilizers nearby.
“Jeez! Some of us are trying to sleep here!” she hears Yang scream, leaping off from the second floor and landing on her dad’s shoulders. She puts him on a chokehold as Taiyang fights desperately to get her off of him, “Ruby! Go find a tranq!”
She nods and sprints for the nearest medical supplies cabinet. Seeing that syringe with the familiar liquid brought some relief. She grins and immediately goes back to where her sister and Glynda and they looked like they were trying to wrangle a bull. She threw one syringe to Yang and another to Glynda and the three of them immediately got to work. Yang had stabbed him in the neck, Glynda in the chest and Ruby had slid past those strong arms and dove, stabbing the syringe on his legs. It only took a few minutes of being wrangled before he went slack, falling by their feet.
The three of them stared at the limp form of Tai, breathing hard and it was only then that the others had arrived. Jaune still wiping sleep off his eyes, “...What’s going on?”
After a while, they placed the man back on the bed he was laying on before the psycho freak out, “Did this… happen when you removed my chip?” Ruby asked, instinctively rubbing the back of her neck where the disc once was.
Glynda could only shake her head, “No… it didn’t… Penny and I were close to removing it when it started its godforsaken beeping began and he rose so quickly, attacking both of us,”
“...A fail-safe… this Watts and Fall wanted to make sure they always had a backup to control them with,” Qrows says in deep thought, “Let’s take it off as fast as we can,”
“I’m gonna need another person with really steady hands to assist us,” Glynda says, quickly putting herself back in proper surgical attire.
“I’ll do it…” Qrow nods, “and as for you kids…” he stared at the beeping disk, “Be ready for anything, I don’t like how this is going,” He didn’t want to jump the gun but just in case, he sent coordinates to quite possibly their last hope in the event something untoward were to happen.
And it was just a hunch, but they’d been through too much for him to let his guard down.
“Alright, Qrow, with me,” Glynda says and they got to work.
—
“This is making me antsy,” Yang mutters, jostling her leg furiously. They'd been waiting for hours now and it was roughly past two in the morning. Ren was trying not to fall asleep as Nora lay sleeping on his lap and Jaune was drooling on his arm. Blake was slowly losing her battle to sleep, every so often nodding off only to jolt herself awake and let the cycle repeat. Weiss was drinking bitter, black coffee to keep herself from falling asleep, eyes slightly red on the edges from having her rest cut short.
Ruby on the other hand, had her eyes set firmly on the screen in front of her. Lips set in a thin line and armed.
“You’re really not making it any better, Rubes,” Yang says, pulling Ruby out of her reverie, “Why the heck are you carrying?”
“I don’t know… but It’s about what Uncle Qrow said, something doesn’t feel right… “ she says, studying the radar in front of her. It showed not only any and all movements within the island but the comings and goings of what was happening aerially.
“Anything suspicious in the radar?” Yang questions, walking towards her.
“...None so far, I heard from Uncle Qrow that it would send alarms all throughout the island if something’s up but… it can’t hurt to be vigilant,” she replies, going through a search of all the island’s cameras surrounding the perimeter.
“You know what, fine, I’ll take your word for it,” Yang pulls back, “I’ll grab my gauntlets just in case,”
Soon it was just her and Weiss again, the white haired girl placing a kiss on the crown of her head, “Alright up there, agent?” she asks. Ruby snakes an arm around the girl’s waist pulling her closer for a hug.
“I don’t know…something’s off, Weiss,” she pressed her face on the girl’s stomach, the white haired girl set the cup she was holding down and began running her hand through Ruby’s hair.
“Want me to get some supplies ready, to ease your worries a little?” Weiss asked and as soon as Ruby nodded, the girl pressed another kiss on her forehead this time before pulling away and waking Blake up. The two girls left with Blake slightly lagging and it was nice to know that her family trusted her instincts.
Next was Ren, who stood up and slapped his cheeks, “I’ll do a patrol around the island,” he states, “Better to have more eyes in person and if there is a threat, I’ll deal with them as best as I can,”
“Aww boo, guess if Ren’s gonna go out, I’ll have to too,” Nora yawns, getting up and grabbing her hammer, “Man, you owe me a lap pillow, love,” Ren could only smile and nod and the pair set off too. All that’s left was a bleary eyed Jaune, falling to the couch as soon as Ren got up.
“Wuh… What's going on again?” he asks.
Then their PA system comes to life and from the other side, it was Qrow, “Ruby, kiddo, need your help here, this pesky thing is more difficult to navigate than yours was and your hands are steadier than mine,”
She gulps, nudging the remaining person, “Jaune, keep watching the radar, I’m gonna go check on Uncle Qrow, Glynda and Penny,”
“Huh?... uh… okay?” He stood up and sat on the chair Ruby was using.
“Keep watch, is that clear?” she repeated worriedly. Jaune might fall asleep and miss something but she eased up when he sat straighter and gave her a serious look. “I’m watching,” he nods.
She jogged to where they were and as soon as she got in, Penny assisted her in the lab, telling her to wash her hands and everything that was going to be in direct contact with dad’s very open skin.
“...Anything I need to do before I… y’know, cut into my dad’s back?” she asked nervously.
“Follow Glynda’s instructions, don’t move anything unless you’re sure and try not to cut anything haphazardly cause one wrong move could damage his nerves and have devastating effects to his future well-being,” Penny chanted, “or… you know…”
“...Copy that, I’ll do my best,” the next hour or so probably had to be the longest hour of her life.
—
Jaune was for lack of a better term, “tired as all hell”. He’s been having his ass handed to him for the past few days. By the civilians no less. He just found out his sisters were technically MIA, the organization he wanted oh so desperately to be a part of was in shambles, the agents he looked up to were now enemies and the only ones remaining were them and he didn’t even know what odds they had in surviving.
He wasn’t good at math but the likelihood of them surviving was abysmal at best… right?
He sighs, eyes somewhat glazing over the radar Ruby had told him to watch. He wanted to roll into a ball and cry. Everything happening to them was so scary lately and honestly, his stupid, naive bravado had long faded and he was finally starting to see what Ruby had meant when they were just about to start looking for Torchwick.
…God she was right…
It wasn’t like an action movie where the main characters don’t die. This was reality… and the reality was that Jaune wasn’t this badass secret agent. He couldn’t do cool moves and he wasn’t saving any damsels in distress.
“How did Ruby and Yang do this for seven years… at the age of nine and eleven no less…” he mumbles to himself dejectedly. He wanted to be like them too, the coolest people to ever exist in his book. Getting to do all sorts of awesome stuff at that age… but it was only now that he was realizing the full weight of everything they had to go through…
Constantly being paranoid, vigilant, battle ready… never being able to fully enjoy the freedom of innocence. Having your hand be covered in so much blood and living with the nightmares that came with your acts. He was lucky. He was lucky he wasn’t awakened to that lifestyle and yet it took many bad things for him to realize that.
He wasn’t about to back out on his friends right now… but… after this was over… he can’t promise staying either. Maybe he could find something else to strive for… one that didn’t include killing so many people who wanted to kill you in return.
He’d most likely have to end that thought later because as his vision focused on the radar Ruby had to tell him to keep an eye on… something was getting closer and closer. His eyes widened in fear and he immediately pressed the alarm, screaming on the mic.
“EVERYONE, GET OUT NOW!” he said so panicked his voice cracked, “THERE'S MISSILE HEADING FOR US—!”