Chapter Text
The bitter cold cut across their faces, leaving cheeks and noses raw and eyes irritated. It was getting warmer in Vale but it was still freezing in Atlas. Ruby thought she had been prepared for it, but even with her hood up, thick coat and pants she was still freezing.
Blake was cold, but she didn't show it as clearly as Ruby did. She hugged her coat closer to her chest and kept her eyes fixed ahead of her.
A light snow was falling as they trekked through the woods. The two were headed towards the thin trail of smoke that rose into the sky. It had to be Weiss. There was no way it could be anyone else. No sane person would run off into the woods in the cold like this. Or, an incredibly scared individual.
The trees started to thin out and opened up to a small clearing with cabins scattered around the area. Scratches and claw marks scarred most of the cabin's exterior. Some doors had been smashed to splinters, windows were shattered and walls were torn apart. Ruby stared at the scene before her and frowned. She looked to Blake, who had the same solemn expression as she did. There was a silent understanding between the two of them. Grimm.
Those sad feelings didn't linger too long. The pair saw where the smoke trail began and Ruby visibly beamed. She was about to blast off with explosive energy before Blake grabbed her hood and gave her a look. Even if Weiss was hurt they had to be cautious.
The two brought out their weapons and stalked towards the only cabin that seemed to show any signs of life. Said cabin looked just as ragged and worn as the rest of them, but emitting a slight warmth.
Ruby looked to Blake and nodded once. She inched the door open slowly and peeked through the crack. There was a faint orange glow that highlighted the room, and a pale figure that was lying on their side and facing the fire. When Ruby spotted the long white hair surrounded by small pools of dried blood, she burst in.
"Weiss!" She cried, immediately dropping her weapon then sliding on her knees to the older woman. Ruby was instantly worried when there was no response. Silver eyes flicked to the dimming fire before shooting over at Blake. Said cat faunus understood and disappeared out of sight.
Ruby quickly took off her cloak and wrapped Weiss up in it before holding her close to her chest.
Weiss was freezing. Ruby swore if she wasn't looking at a person she thought she was holding a block of ice. Concerned eyes traveled over Weiss' form, checking for any more cuts and bruises. Luckily there weren't any new ones. Her eyes fell to the bullet wound and she winced. Blood caked the clothing around it. The wound looked like it had been treated in some way. But it would still require professional medical attention. Finally, worried silver stopped on the scar over Weiss' eye. For a brief moment Ruby wondered if it even impacted her vision, but was interrupted when Weiss shivered.
Instinctively she held Weiss closer, trying to warm her up. The princess herself didn't wake, but she did shift slightly closer to the human heater that was Ruby. A small smile formed on Ruby's face. Things were gonna be okay...for now.
When Blake came back with a handful of firewood she saw the two snuggled up next to the dying fire. She walked around them to find Ruby's head hung low with the tips of her hair brushing the pale princess' face, asleep.
Not wanting to disturb them, she moved to place some wood in the fire and the rest next to the fireplace for later. Blake pulled up a chair closer to the growing heat source and waited.
When ice blue finally cracked open they were met with fuzzy vision. They squinted at first, then blinked to clear away the haze. What they didn't expect was the face of a long lost friend, Ruby Rose.
She screamed.
"Hey!" She pushed off Ruby with her good arm. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Ruby's head immediately snapped up and she winced, then shot her hand to the back of her neck.
"Ow! Ow! Oh gosh! H-hey Weiss!" She grinned awkwardly and she rubbed her aching neck.
"You were freezing! So I kinda held you until Blake got back with some firewood to make a proper fire. I think I fell asleep before she got back soooo..." she trailed off and sunk into herself as Weiss' glare tore into her.
Blake rolled her eyes.
"Typical behavior from a spoiled princess. Not even a thank you for saving your life."
Weiss' glare quickly fell on Blake.
"You are the reason why I was in danger in the first place!" Her arm snapped up to point an accusing finger at Blake but she instantly recoiled and held her left arm with a wince.
Noticing how her actions must have looked she quickly schooled her features to her indifferent mask. Ruby frowned at this. She shifted forward and gently tapped Weiss' arm. The princess jerked away.
"Don't." She warned. Unfortunately this didn't dis way Ruby from inching closer.
"Weiss. I at least need to wrap it properly before we take you to get you some help."
"Why would you want to help me?"
"Because..we're friends? I don't want to see you hurt like this."
Weiss' eyes narrowed at Ruby to silently analyze her expression for any sign of mistrust. When she couldn't find any she looked away then held out her arm. Ruby smiled gratefully at her before slowly lifting up her sleeve and carefully pulling the bloodied fabric over the wound. She slid her travel pack off of her back and then got to work. She did as best as she could to disinfect and treat what she could without causing serious pain.
To this, Weiss was silently thankful for Ruby's featherlight touch. It made Weiss wonder what experiences Ruby had gone through to be able to treat wounds so well. But she didn't ask and let Ruby wind the gauze around her arm and tape it down. With the same careful touch, Ruby slid the sleeve back down Weiss' arm and smiled brightly.
"There! All done! We'll have to change it every so often until we can get you proper help. But this should hold good enough!"
She cheered.
Weiss nodded. She wasn't happy that she was going to be taken somewhere to be treated. She felt fine on her own. Though she highly doubted she could fight her way out of this situation.
"Right. Thanks.." she sighed and cradled her arm with the other.
"What now?" She asked.
Ruby looked over to Blake in silent question.
"We should wait before going anywhere. When I was coming back from getting firewood it started snowing pretty hard." Blake spoke, voice as neutral as ever.
"Oh! In that case then I'll make us something to eat!" Ruby quickly slid over to the fire and began pulling out her cookware.
The room was eerily silent besides the crackle of the fire, sizzling of meat, and boiling of soup. It made the atmosphere very uncomfortable for two out of the three occupants. Ruby didn't seem to mind as she continued cooking, but Weiss and Blake were looking anywhere but each other.
Finally, the silence got too much and Blake stood up, pulled out a book from her pack and walked towards another room.
"Call when it's ready." She spoke before shutting the door behind her.
Weiss let out a sigh of relief. The tension in the room seemed to fade when Blake walked out.
"She's not very friendly, is she?" Weiss questioned with a quirk of her brow.
Ruby just chuckled.
"You know. If I remember correctly, you called me a dummy and other insulting names when we were younger. But Blake has her reasons to be distant and unfriendly. She's nice when you really get to know her. Like you!" Ruby turned to smile at Weiss, who just looked shocked at the compliment. She quickly frowned to hide the unscripted emotion.
"Things change..a lot has changed." Weiss looked down and was quickly lost in thought. It was true. A lot of things changed since they were younger, besides the physical appearance of course.
Ruby noted how Weiss' eyes didn't shine like they used to, and how she tried to hide what she was feeling. What she also didn't like was when she reached out to touch Weiss, the woman would just pull away and glare. Whatever happened to Weiss growing up apparently wasn't fun.
Ruby's life may have started out upsetting but she always had Yang. She shook her head, now was not the time to be thinking about her sister. It would just bring her down and the last thing they needed was more negative emotions. While cooking she occasionally stole a few glances in Weiss' direction. At first it was just to make sure she was really there. It had been far too long since they'd last seen each other. But as Ruby kept stealing glances she noticed Weiss' eyes quickly darting away from her whenever she looked over. This made Ruby smile.
"Do you remember when we used to play those boring board games that taught you all about how to run a kingdom and balancing money?" Ruby asked
"Oh, please, they were NOT that boring. I did learn quite a bit from those games. You just treated it like a joke. It's no wonder why you lost every time we played." Weiss gave a teasing smile.
"They are games! Those are supposed to be fun! Not boring! But ANYWAY!! What about when we used to run down to the lake and try to race ducks?" Ruby asked.
"YOUR version of 'racing ducks' was to throw a large rock into the lake to get them to scatter, whichever duck made it to shore first got to get the first bite out of your chocolate chip cookie. It was never a good prize. I only tried it a few times." The princess remembered.
"Yeah and you loved it!" She smiled.
The corner of Weiss' lip tilted up ever so slightly. She did. She really did. She remembered Ruby practically shoving part of the cookie to her lips just to try it. And when she did she was assaulted by chocolate and sugar. Two things her father barely let her have. So of course when Ruby introduced her to junk food she liked it. She was a kid. What kid didn't like junk food?
"Well. It wasn't terrible."
Laughter bounced off the walls at Weiss' statement. Ruby knew she loved it. She could remember those light blue eyes widen in surprise. Ruby figured that it was probably the first time Weiss had ever had chocolate.
"Okay well what about-"
"Ruby." Weiss' voice was stern.
Silver eyes widened in surprise at the sudden interruption.
"Yes? Weiss?"
"Why are you asking me all of these questions? About the past?"
"Oh, well I guessed you would be feeling a little down after everything, and I just wanted to remind you of something happy. I mean, I was happy when we were together and everything. Were you?"
Weiss stared at the floor for a long moment. She did think about the past sometimes simply because they were happy memories. But they also brought a great deal of remorse and pain.
"Yes. I was." Her voice was gentle and her expression was rather relaxed and peaceful. But almost immediately her brows furrowed and she shook her head.
"But things have changed, Ruby." Her voice was cold and distant, effectively ending their conversation.
Ruby sighed and just turned back to her cooking. She wondered what Weiss went through to be so..guarded and uptight. But thinking of it also just made Ruby upset because she wasn't there to help Weiss when she probably really needed a friend.
She stirred the pot while her thoughts came to a stop.
"It's ready!!" She called while pouring the soup into small plastic bowls.
When everyone was arranged around the food Ruby set on the floor for them all, the awkward silence began to creep in again. Blake, without her mask, slowly ate in silence, Ruby had a mouthful of food, and Weiss just stared at her meal. She saw Ruby prepare it, but she was still wary as to whether it would kill her or not.
"It's not poisoned." Blake spoke, not looking up from her bowl.
"I don't find that comforting coming from you." Weiss growled.
There was a long pause before Blake took in a deep breath then exhaled.
"Ruby..please tell me how you two met. I find it hard to believe someone as kind as you, are on friendly terms with someone as rude as a Schnee." She said, stressing the end of her sentence.
Ruby, caught with her cheeks packed with food, quickly gulped down her food.
"Well uhh. We met in Vale a long time ago. Her family was new to the neighborhood and I saw Weiss always just outside alone. So I went over every day until she stopped trying to ignore me! And you remember the story about how I got my robot leg? That was with Weiss! I just..didn't think you'd really be interested in WHO at the time, heh..
But we were really close friends back then!"
"Yes, well, that was a horrible experience. My father was very upset with me for coming home with a bloodied eye. It was a miracle I didn't lose my vision and walked away with only a scar." Weiss added. "But that was the last straw for him. Ruby had already gotten me into a lot of dangerous situations over the two years we lived near each other. We left before I could say goodbye to her." She looked down and finally picked up her food, distracting herself from the lingering remorse she had for that day.
Ruby seemed affected by the mood change and sighed. "Yeah..but it's okay. Really Weiss. I know your dad was always pretty forceful and direct."
White brows pinched down in anger.
"Which is exactly why I was running away from him in the first place. He's terrible! First he decided to set up a marriage proposal for me. Then we start arguing about faunus rights. After that he-"
Cat ears hidden beneath a black bow perked up. "Why would you need to argue about faunus rights?" Blake asked, genuinely curious.
Not being too happy about being cut off Weiss just rolled her eyes. "He wanted to make them work longer hours with the same pay rate. I told him what he already was doing is cruel and argued that we start treating the faunus more as equals. We would see sales in Dust go up more. The White Fang would stop attacking every week, and the world could change around us by just changing one thing." She explained.
Blake's eyes widened and she looked to Ruby, who just smiled, then back to Weiss.
"Why would you care what happens to faunus?" She asked.
"Why would-? When I ran to get help for Ruby the first person I ran into was a faunus huntress. She could have looked at me and turned away given who my father is, but she didn't ask or think twice to help me. Without her help Ruby would have been killed and no doubt I would have been next. She even carried Ruby back to town after she fainted. I'm terribly sorry if I don't meet your expectations of a 'true Schnee.'" Weiss spat the last few words out with such venom Blake visibly recoiled.
"In all honesty. What you've thought of me is no different in how some people think of faunus. Everyone's grouped together. Some people think faunus are just slaves and murderers. And some, apparently including you, think all Schnee's want to just make their lives worse and watch the world burn. I don't see how it even concerns you. You don't look like a faunus at all." She huffed.
With narrowed eyes Blake stood up and carefully undid the bow on her head. Fuzzy, black cat ears twitched when they met the chillier air. "I think the politics on faunus rights greatly concerns me." Blake snapped.
Her eyes flicked to Ruby's.
"This doesn't change my decision." She growled before stomping off into the room she had come out of a few minutes ago.
Ruby just took in a deep breath and collected Blake's bowl.
"Things we're going so well too." She whined.
Weiss immediately felt bad, not by Blake's reaction or reveal, but because of how hurt Ruby sounded. "I'm..sorry. That was judgmental of me." She said.
Ruby shrugged.
"It's kind of true though. She's said some mean things about you and your family since we set off on this mission. I understand her anger towards the Schnee name. But I had hoped she could see that you weren't like the others." Ruby explained.
"You put too much faith in me."
"No. I know you're a kind person Weiss. It just takes some time to get that kindness out of you. But it's worth it. Even now that we've just found each other I don't regret ever meeting you." Ruby smiled at her, and Weiss found herself looking away and trying to hide her face within Ruby's cloak she was still wearing. Weiss loved it when someone praised her for accomplishing something. But for someone to compliment her and just her alone, it felt oddly comforting if not a little weird at first. Perhaps she really wasn't a screw up like her father told her time and time again.
Ruby gathered up the bowls and silverware into a pile to be cleaned later. She added more wood to the fire and then;
"Hey by the way. How did you learn to fight so well?" She asked.
Thankful for the distraction Weiss just smiled and she seemed to beam with pride. "Winter taught me." Was the simple answer.
The silver eye'd blacksmith just stared at Weiss with a confused look on her face.
"How did snow and ice teach yo-"
"Not the season you dolt! My sister!" Weiss screeched.
"Oohh! Right right! Sorry!!" Ruby cried.