Chapter Text
Ruby was bored by Professor Port’s constant rambling about his ‘heroism’, and she couldn’t help but grumble under her breath. She glanced over to see Weiss diligently taking notes, and Yang on her scroll. Her other side was Blake, who seemed to be paying attention as well. She was ready to tune out until the sweet sound of class wrapping up finally came. "Ding Dong," she heard, and she perked her head up in anticipation of finally being free from class...
Class was finally over for the day! Eagerly, she sat up.
Before Ruby could say anything, Weiss’s scroll went off. She watched silently as her partner answered the phone while putting her stuff into her bag. Yang and Blake stared at her with curiosity as they put their stuff away.
“Really? Hmm, they’re in my room, I’ll have to go and get them. I’ll call you back.” Weiss said before she hung up the call. She turned to see her three teammates looking at her expectantly. “What?”
“Who was that?” Ruby asked.
“Nothing.” Weiss disregarded her and turned to the other girls and mouthed at them, “Meet me in the dorm.”
“I can understand what you’re saying.” Ruby deadpanned.
“Ruby, just… don’t come near the dorm. This is between us adults.” The Heiress said as she stood up and dragged both Yang and Blake out of the classroom, leaving their leader behind.
“Adults? You’re still kids…” Ruby grumbled as she sat up and grabbed her bag and exited the room. She looked in the direction of where her dorm was and sighed. She didn’t like being excluded so suddenly like this, especially with how Weiss had blown her off.
The sudden unexplained exclusion from her teammates’ activities made Ruby disregard her rumbling stomach. She wasn’t interested in eating anymore. Ignoring her bodily needs, she exited the classroom and went in the opposite direction that her teammates had left. Clearly, she wasn’t wanted now.
She paced the hallways feeling more and alone, realizing that this was the first time she had walked the halls alone. She was always with one of her teammates. It was both unusual and a shock for her teammates to exclude her to this degree. A thought flitted through her mind that perhaps she had been a nuisance and annoying to be around. But she quickly got rid of that thought, she was the team leader. There’s no way they would have any negative thoughts about her, right? Although Weiss may have some opinions…
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, knocking her out of her trance. Ruby stopped walking and glanced over her shoulders to see Pyrrha and Jaune behind her.
“Hello, Ruby.” Pyrrha gave the young leader a smile before showing a worried look.
Jaune gave the young leader a smile. “What’s up, Ruby?”
“Hello… I was just-”
Pyrrha noticed the paused and a small frown appeared on her lips. “It seems you didn’t have a destination in mind. Is everything alright?”
“I-” It was hesitation that stopped Ruby from saying anything else. In addition to being confronted so suddenly, it didn’t give Ruby much time to prepare. “I’m fine. I was just walking around.”
“We’re you hoping to meet up with someone?” Jaune asked.
“No… I-”
“Is everything alright, Ruby?” Pyrrha questioned.
Ruby paused, unsure of what to say. The last thing she wanted was to appear too sensitive or childish and didn’t want her friends to look at her any differently. “I-I’m fine!”
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. “You’re not fine. I can tell.”
“B-But really, I am!”
Jaune chimed in, “But you were literally pacing the hallways with a scary look earlier.”
“I-I wasn-” Ruby began but Pyrrha interrupted.
“Ruby, We’re your friends. You know that we care about you. You don’t need to tell us everything. Just whatever is on your mind.”
Uneasiness grew as Ruby stared at her two friends. But seeing her friends with worried expressions made it difficult for her to keep her doubts at bay. “It’s just my teammates.”
Pyrrha and Jaune shared a quick glance for a moment.
“Weiss got a call and dragged Yang and Blake away, while basically telling me to stay away.”
“Kinda rude.” Jaune mumbled.
Ruby nervously smiled and scratched the back of her neck. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone back to the dorm on my own since school started. I just kinda lost track of time thinking about... stuff.”
Jaune's expression brightened, and he leaned in slightly. “Stuff, huh? Well, whatever it is, just remember that you’re the leader of Team RWBY! If anyone can handle a little chaos, it’s you. Plus, I’m sure your next big adventure is just around the corner!”
“We’re going to be late!” A voice shrilled out of nowhere.
Suddenly, Ruby’s ‘missing’ team members were seen as they dashed from the entrance and towards the exit, away from the academy.
“Nooooo!” Blake yelled in horror as Yang dragged her across the pavement. “I want to read my book!”
“Shut up, Belladonna! No excuses!” Weiss snarled.
“Nooooo.” Blake’s voice disappeared as the three figures disappeared.
“I found your teammates.” Jaune said with a grin as he turned back to Ruby. Then he felt an elbow to his stomach.
Pyrrha retracted her elbow and turned to Ruby, who seemed distraught by her team’s recent behavior. “Ruby.” What can she say? Play ignorance? Or break her promise with Blake and tell her?
“Hmm?” Ruby looked at her, and Pyrrha sighed to herself.
“You should follow them.” An advice that she wasn’t sure if she should’ve told the girl.
Ruby curiously stared at her and at Jaune.
Pyrrha looked at her scroll. “We should get going. I’ll see you soon, yeah?”
Ruby let out a small smile. “Of course.”
“See you later, Ruby.” Jaune waved and the two walked off, leaving the redhead alone with her thoughts.
Hmm, she should follow them, huh? With a burst of adrenaline, she pushed herself off the wall and used her semblance to catch up with her team. With them in sight, she had a split decision to decide if she should confront them or eavesdrop on them.
“Okay, we’re alone, right?” Yang said as she stopped at the landing zone for the dropships. “When will the next ship arrive?”
Ruby stopped and dashed to the nearest container and hid herself within the shadows. Luckily, she was close enough to hear what they were saying. But to remain incognito, she must remain in a place where she can’t see them.
“In 5 minutes.” The Heiress responded. “I’m surprised we made it after the trouble you gave us, Belladonna.” Weiss scowled at the Faunus.
“You gave us no warning!” The Raven-haired girl countered with annoyance in her voice.
“I was given no warning either!” Weiss snarled back.
“Calm down you two. Either way, we need this for the party.” Yang said as she tried to push the two girls away from each other.
Weiss harrumphed as she crossed her arms across her chest. Blake did the same. Yang could only sigh. She needed to change the topic while they wait for the ship to arrive. She turned to Blake, “Did you make sure to talk to the people about the party, and to keep it a secret from my sister?”
“Of course.” Blake answered. “I also instructed them to walk away if she asks anything.”
“Wow, harsh.” Yang chuckled but didn’t say anything else.
The Raven-haired girl groaned as a minute went by, “I want to go back. I really don’t want to do this.” Blake muttered, daydreaming about her books laying untouched on her bed. She just wants to read.
Weiss rolled her eyes and faced the Faunus. “I’ll buy you tuna.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Blake’s demeanor changed in a split second at the mention of tuna. Tuna is life, tune is everything. Tuna tops her books in seconds!
The air picked up and wind swirled around them as a dropship landed in front of them. Right on schedule. “Let’s go.” Weiss commanded and got on the ship. The two others followed.
Minutes later, the ship took off and flew away from the academy. The wind died down and soon silence took root.
Ruby rested her head against the cool steel of the container. They would go so far to make sure that she isn’t included? How harsh. Ruby thought with a dry chuckle. Another minute, she stepped away from the container and walked into the clearing. They were long gone for sure. And she doesn’t know when they’ll be back.
“Hello!”
The young redhead jumped at the enthusiastic voice and turned around to find a familiar voice on top of the container that she was just leaning against. “Sun!?”
“Hello!” Sun repeated as he jumped to the ground with ease. “What are you doing here?”
“I would ask you the same thing. Aren’t you supposed to be in school… in Haven?” Ruby asked with narrowed eyes. Was it the White Fang again?
Sun merely shrugged. “I decided to take a week off and run away and check on my friends from Beacon.” He then crossed his arms and continued. “But… I wasn’t expecting to hear that conservation. Neither did you, I assume.”
Ruby eyes widened at the exposure and shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’m going back to school. You should too.” She pivoted and walked away.
Sun watched the young girl walk away and an idea came to mind. And jogged to her side and took out two bananas and extended one to her. “Want one?”
Ruby stared at the yellow fruit and glanced at him questioningly. She was about the decline, but then felt her stomach rumble… Oh, what’s the harm? She pondered as she grabbed the fruit and unpeeled it. Sun did the same and they both enjoyed the bananas together.
A couple of minutes later, they stood in front of the entrance to Beacon Academy. Sun took the banana peel from Ruby’s hands and threw it into the nearby trash, along with his own. He turned back to the young leader and wrapped his arm around her neck.
“You know… if they’re going to have a party, so should we.” Sun grinned as he took out his scroll and took a picture of both him and Ruby.
Ruby has always been shy of having her pictures taken. So, when Sun did it, she wanted him to get rid of it. “C-Can you delete that…?” She asked meekly.
“Nope!” Sun grinned as he looked at the picture he took. A large grin was painted on him and a confused, yet shocked Ruby looked at the camera. It was a nice picture. He turned it around for the girl to see. “It turned out great!”
“Get rid of that.” Ruby blushed at seeing her embarrassing picture.
“Nope!” Sun repeated as he looked at his scroll again. “Should I send it to Yang and the others to show how much of a good time we’re having?”
“No!” Ruby jumped on him, small hands desperately grabbing for the scroll while Sun laughed at her failed attempts.
Several minutes of failure, there was a new presence and Ruby stopped moving and turned her head. Sun did the same.
Nora stood still; a large grin plastered on her face at the scene before her. Sun was on his back, his arm outstretched to keep his scroll away from Ruby. And Ruby was on top of him, while the Faunus used his free hand to push her away.
How could one not misinterpret the situation?
Ruby then realized the position she was in, and what her friend was thinking. Her face became red as she jumped off Sun and stood in front of Nora. “It isn’t like that! Sun just wouldn’t get rid-”
“Oh? It certainly does seem like it~” Nora grinned, her hand covering her mouth, a large smile behind it. “Tell me the details~”
“There’s nothing between me and Sun. I swear. Please don’t tell anyone this.” Ruby pleaded. She knows how much this girl like to gossip. It will spell disaster if this girl tells everyone else, especially her team. She wouldn’t be able to live it down.
“Oh?” Nora leaned towards Ruby, who in return leaned back at how close the orange-haired girl was. “I don’t believe you.”
“I swear!” She turned to Sun with pleading eyes. “Tell her!”
Sun was already on his feet and was about to open his mouth to help, but Nora spoke before he could. “Wait till Ren hears about this!” The hyper-active girl sang as she turned around and skipped away.
“No…” Ruby’s face became redder but couldn’t find the strength to move, not when she was this embarrassed.
The Faunus watched as Nora disappeared and turned to Ruby, who seemed frozen at the spot. He chuckled before he clicked on his scroll a couple of times before stepping next to the young redhead. “I was messing with you. Here,” He proceeded to delete the picture to show that he was just messing with her. “It’s gone now.”
Ruby didn’t say anything, her face was red.
Sun couldn’t deny such purity was this cute. “But you’re feeling better, no?”
That snapped her out of her embarrassing gaze and turned to the Faunus. It was true, she felt a little better. She gave the boy a small smile. “I am… Thanks Sun.”
Sun grinned back. “No problem!” He glanced at where the other girl was just at. “So… are you going to go after her?”
“Eh?” Ruby blinked and snapped her head towards the entrance. “Gah! Nora, wait!” She used her semblance and disappeared, leaving behind rose petals.
Sun stared after her and wondered what her team was trying to do. He knows that they are trying to prepare a party for the young leader, but… aren’t they going about this the wrong way?
…
“Finally, we’re back…” Yang groaned, hungry to jump on her bed and sleep. That’s all she wants to do. Sleep. Sleep. And more sleep. “Next time, I’ll choose Blake to do the planning.”
“I doubt Blake can do such a good job than me.” Weiss said.
“Do you really want to go there?” The Faunus retorted.
Yang sighed. The animosity between the Faunus and the Heiress kept growing. Why can’t they just get along? “Let’s pick this up tomorrow. We’re all tired.” She pleaded. She doesn’t want to hear them arguing as she is trying to sleep.
Weiss only tsked and looked away. Blake did the same. Yang sighed again, hoping that maybe Ruby can use her charm to calm them down. That always worked.
“Please! Please! You promised!”
A voice shrilled in a begging tone. The three girls glanced at each other curiously before approaching the scene where the familiar voice was heard. Only to find their leader begging for something from Nora.
“It’s not enough!” Nora grinned with a teasing sparkle in her eyes.
“You already had enough! What more do you want?!”
“Ruby?” Yang called out, curious to know what is happening between her sister and the hyperactive girl.
Ruby yelped and turned around. “Yang! You… you guys are back…” She muttered with a nervous grin.
“What’s going on?” Blake questioned as she looked between her leader and the orange-haired girl.
“O-Oh… n-nothing.” Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, grabbing the back of her hair for some hold on her composure.
Weiss felt tired and exhausted to really care about what was going on with her partner and friend. She rolled her eyes and approached the door to their dorm. “Whatever, I’m going to sleep.” She said as she raised her scroll to unlock the door so she could enter.
“Wait, don’t open it!” Ruby yelled, but she was too late.
As soon as Weiss opened the door, mountain of pancakes collapsed and buried the Heiress completely. The girl fell to the ground from the unexpected onslaught of pancakes.
Ruby trembled in fear as she watched her partner slowly sit up, pancakes slipping off her, while some remained on her. Weiss was too shocked to even remove the pancake that was resting on her head. “Ruby.” She muttered with a tone of displeasure and rising anger.
The leader felt dread sink in and dashed behind her sister’s back and held on to her for emotional support. “It wasn’t me! I swear. It’s not my fault! It was Nora! Blame Nora!”
One of Weiss’s eyes twitched as she stared at the state of their dorm. She couldn’t even see her bed. Couldn’t even see the floor. How was this Nora’s fault, Weiss does not know. But one thing she knew for sure, was that Ruby let this happen. “Ruby Rose.” She growled as she stood up from the ground and turned to face her partner with a scowl, intent to ‘lecture’ her.
But her plan was ruined as the redhead was no longer behind Yang’s back. Instead, rose petals floated slowly to the ground. Weiss tsked that her leader had run away.
Yang and Blake could only stare at the sea of pancakes. They had no idea what to do about this. But before anyone could decide what to do, it seems the universe had answered their plea as Nora pushed the three girls to the side and faced their dorm with pancake syrup in one hand and a fork in the other.
“Clean-up crew is here. I got this.” Nora licked her lips with stars in her eyes. She glanced at her friends, “Stay here.” She approached the dorm and closed the door behind her.
“What, is she going to eat all of them?” Weiss asked incredulously as she stared at the door. Yang and Blake said nothing as they stared at the door in bewilderment. Soon, slurps, burps, and chewing could be heard, and this went one for the next ten minutes. Then the door opened, and a blissful Nora stepped out. An empty bottle of syrup in her hand, and the fork in her mouth. She didn’t say anything as she walked past the girls.
When she stopped in front of her door, she turned around to face the three shocked girls. She had stars in her eyes as she took a step towards Weiss and grabbed the pancake that was still resting on her head and ate it with a cheerful grin. “Yum!” She cheered and took a step back. “Thank Ruby for the pancakes for me! Tell her I’ll keep my word!” With that, she went to her dorm and closed the door behind her with a loud slam.
It was silent for couple of seconds before Yang spoke. “That… was a thing.”
Weiss was still bewildered at how Nora could eat so many pancakes in such a short period of time. But there’s one thing that concerns her. “Ugh, I need to do laundry now.” She grumbled as she looked at her bed from the door. It looks clean. But… she rather be safe and just clean it before sleeping on it.
“I think I’ll look for Ruby.” Blake muttered as she turned around. She really doesn’t want to be in the same room as Weiss for the time being.
Yang stood quiet as her two teammates left in opposite directions. She sighed again. But a question that she was most curious about was, what happened between Ruby and Nora?
…
There were only a few things that Ruby is afraid of. Large crowds and Weiss’s ire. She could only hope that her partner would cool off when she came back. But, for the time being… she’ll lose herself in this amazing comic.
Blake followed the trail of rose petals that her leader left behind, and soon found herself in the library. And it didn’t take long to find the girl hiding in the comic section. She approached her leader, “Hey Ruby.”
Ruby froze and turned her head only to sigh in relief when she realized who it was. “Oh, it’s just you.”
Blake raised an eyebrow in amusement. “You’re that scared of your partner?”
Ruby chuckled anxiously. “Only when she… gets like that. I really don’t know how to handle people who are angry at me… or large crowds…”
Blake made a mental note of that and nodded in understanding. “I understand.”
“So… why are you here?”
“Need a break from her. She’s… difficult. I don’t know how you can deal with her as your partner.” She sighed.
Ruby laughed at that. “You and Yang both. She’s nice when you get to know her. But it doesn’t change the fact that she can be quite… scary.”
“By the way, Nora says thanks for the pancakes. And that she’ll keep her word.”
“Oh, thanks the dust…” Ruby muttered in relief.
Blake watched with amusement. “What was the deal between you two? What happened?”
“Oh… you know… girl’s stuff.” Ruby chuckled timidly.
Blake could tell that Ruby didn’t want to talk about it. She turned and faced the bookshelf. “Well… since we’re both hiding from someone, let’s read a book together?” She suggested as she scanned the many books on display.
Ruby stared at her teammate. Sure, they ran off to party or whatever without her, but this, right now, was nice. She smiled to herself and nodded. “That sounds nice.”